Shin Matsunaga

Shin Matsunaga (シン・マツナガ) is a fictional character from the Universal Century timeline of the anime Gundam metaseries.

Background
In the Mobile Suit Gundam fictional world, Shin Matsunaga was a Zeon ace pilot during the One Year War. When his talent was recognized, his mobile suit's head and left shoulder were painted white, thus giving him the nickname The White Wolf (Hakurō 白狼), which was later expanded into "The White Wolf of Solomon" when it became clear the space fortress Solomon was his base of operations. For much of the war Shin served as the bodyguard of Vice Admiral Dozle Zabi, whom he greatly respected, during the Admiral's frontline inspections. Due to their warrior-like mentalities, both considered each other brothers-in-arms. His mobile suits included a Zaku II, Gelgoog Jager(Officially he never had a Gelgoog Jager). Ironically, he was not at Solomon when the battle occurred, having been recalled to Side-3 shortly before the operation began. Shin's nickname "White Wolf" came not only from his white colour scheme, but also his preference for close combat. Matsunaga was reported to have shot down 141 enemy MS and sunk six ships.

Gundam Evolve
In Gundam Evolve: 09 there is a character code-named Grey Wolf who pilots a yellow Zeta Gundam. While his name is never specifically stated, his physical appearance matches that of Matsunaga. In addition, he is referred to as a former Zeon ace pilot and a Grey Wolf emblem similar to Matsunaga's White Wolf emblem is located on the Zeta's shield.

The Zeta's yellow colour is the result of being covered in the same anti-beam coating as AEUG's Hyaku Shiki. While understanding the value of such a coating, it does not stop Grey Wolf from complaining that he wanted the Zeta to be coloured Grey.

Interestingly, Grey Wolf does not seem to have strong Newtype abilities; while two other pilots are able to sense the approach of a Psyco ship, he is not. During the subsequent battle, Grey Wolf pilots his Buster Zeta into the mobile armor in an attempt to expose the enemy's movement patterns to White Unicorn, another Zeta pilot.

Two other Zetas in the same movie; one is coloured in the purple-and-white colour scheme of Amuro Ray (and Amuro himself is implied to be the pilot) and the other is painted in the red-and-black colours of Johnny Ridden (though it is a young Newtype girl named Yurii Ajissah who is piloting it).

Trivia
Due to the lack of original material about Matsunaga's background and activity, there are various theories and conflicting information created by fans. Some noticeable suggestions include the following:


 * According to the story script in the Mobile Suit Gundam: Encounter's In Space video game's Ace Mode, He was a close friend of Dozle Zabi during his childhood as the two families were close in business relationships, both fought side-by-side as MS pilots during the One Year War, and the Matsunaga family was a firm supporter of Zeon's independent movement.
 * It is also stated in Mobile Suit Gundam: Encounter's In Space that Shin was recalled to Side-3 shortly before the battle of Solomon in order to acquire the newly completed MS-14Jg Gelgoog Jäger.
 * Based on the aforementioned Gundam Evolve, it is also speculated that he served with the Anti-Earth Union Group (A.E.U.G.) / Karaba, under the codename "Grey Wolf", but the reason why he did not join the Neo Zeon is left unexplained (speculated to be because his ideologies clashed with the newer Zeons).
 * According to the Ghiren no Yabou (Gihren's Greed) games, Shin Matsunaga does join A.E.U.G at one point.
 * However in Ghiren no Yabou: Axis No Kyoui V, Shin Matsunaga can join A.E.U.G once the law stat is high enough. However the reason why he joined up is unknown and this would be classified as an unlockable pilot.