Judau Ashta

Judau Ashta (ジュドー・アーシタ) is the 14-year old protagonist in Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ. He later returns under the alias Grey Stoke (グレー・ストーク Gurē Sutōku) and is a supporting character in both Mobile Suit Crossbone Gundam: Skull Heart and Mobile Suit Victory Gundam Side Story.

Personality & Character
Best friends with Iino Abbav, Judau comes off as cocky and smart-mouthed, and always suffering from greed during the beginning. But his need for money is only because he wishes to help his little sister, Leina Ashta, go to private school and have a better future than he will. Because of this, he often skips out on school to work as a junk dealer and bring in materials for money, and even tries to avoid Beecha at times to avoid giving him a cut. He also resorted to stealing the Zeta Gundam multiple times before becoming a full-time pilot. Above all else, Judau can't stand adults, blaming them for the war that is now occurring.

But his attitude slowly begins to change as he later becomes a pilot, soon wishing to end the war while trying to protect Leina. He believes that the war should be stopped, and views the fighting as pointless as more and more lives are being lost each day, some of which have included his friends, such as Ple. His views on Bright and the rest of the Argama also change as well, becoming good allies with all of them and even changing their own opinions regarding the war, such as when Bright had the chance to destroy a colony, but did not when Judau convinced him. He also develops a sense of sympathy even toward his enemies; in spite of his distaste for Haman he did offer to let her come with him (showing that he did possess a degree of sympathy towards her) and was genuinely saddened by the death of Chara Soon.

He is not afraid to speak his mind to anyone, no matter how harsh or blunt it may seem, as sugar coating it would not make the situation any better. In some conversations, especially in the Super Robot Wars series, this has often raised a few questions to his teammates, and even doubts.

Skills & Capabilities
Judau is not quite skilled in combat, but does know how to sneak around at times to avoid detection, though it is mostly in an environment he knows, such as the Junkyard in Shangri-La. His real power comes in handling a mobile suit. While sloppy at handling the Zeta Gundam, he manages to improve and perform well with the ZZ Gundam. And while training and fighting in that, he was able to effectively pilot other suits such as the Hyaku-Shiki and defeat enemies his friends were unable to.

His most notable ability is his Newtype powers, which may be the strongest in the series, or at least rivaling Char Aznable according to Haman. With his powers, he is able to combine the ZZ Gundam without the need for two more pilots during the finale, and can even create a barrier to survive some attacks when pushed to his limits.

Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ
At the start of the series, Judau and his friends are poor junk dealers at the space colony of Shangri-La in Side 1. Judau is rather loudmouthed and straightforward, but has a good heart and displays powerful Newtype abilities. He has a younger sister named Leina whom he cares very deeply for. Their parents moved to another colony to find work and they send money back to them.

While scavenging for junk one day, Judau comes across the escape pod of Titans pilot Yazan Gable, who managed to survive the Gryps Conflict that concluded Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. Discovering that the Argama was in port at the same colony, Yazan forcefully brings Judau and his friends along to help attack the ship. Judau breaks free from Yazan in order to steal the Zeta Gundam and sell it. He and his friends attempt this numerous times but fail, usually ending up saving the Argama instead from Yazan or Neo Zeon troops. They ultimately befriend the crew and join the AEUG, where they become known as the "Gundam Team," with Judau piloting the Zeta Gundam.

Judau's mission eventually becomes personal when the Neo Zeon kidnap Leina. He often goes into battle against orders since he was so desperate to save his sister. During one of these attempts he infiltrated Axis, where he formally met Elpeo Puru, as well as having a first encounter with the Neo Zeon leader, Haman Karn. Ultimately Puru would defect to the AEUG thanks to her connection with him. Just before the Neo Zeon forces launched their formal invasion of Earth, Judau met Haman Karn again. Haman was intrigued by him, both because of his power and because he was trying to find someone else during the middle of a war. She invited him aboard, and they had a brief discussion. Haman tried to recruit him in the process, but failed when her men inadvertantly interrupted her. This would not be the last encounter that the two had; while Judau always refused Haman's attempts to recruit him, they also began to discuss their differing philosophies on life, causing Judau to at the very least develop a sense of sympathy towards her.

During the fighting in Dakar, it seems that Leina has been killed by a falling mobile suit, causing Judau to almost loose his resolve to fight. Ultimately he sensed that she was still alive and continued piloting, though everyone else began to suspect that he may have lost his mind. During the Colony Drop of Dublin, Judau witnessed the destruction of the city, and suffered another blow when Elpeo Puru sacrificed herself to save him from Puru 2 and the Psyco Gundam.

Eventually, Judau receives the Double Zeta Gundam (ZZ Gundam) from Anaheim Electronics and becomes its pilot. When Glemmy Toto declared his insurection, Judau and his friends used the Nahel Argama in order to take the fight to Neo Zeon. In the climactic Battle of Axis, Glemmy Toto perishes at the hands of Roux Louka, while Judau defeats Haman in a one-on-one Mobile Suit battle. Judau offers to let Haman come with him, but Haman rebuffs him and instead kills herself after she realizes she is surrounded by her enemies. As she died she said that she was glad to have met "such a good kid". Judau is reunited with Leina, who was alive after all thanks to Sayla Mass. He and fellow pilot Roux Louka subsequently quit the AEUG and join the Jupiter Fleet, heading to the planet Jupiter to start a new life.

Gundam Evolve
In the Gundam Evolve 10 animated short, while en route to Jupiter, Judau pilots the MSZ-010S ZZ-GR, and is assigned to protect/escort the space transport ship Jupitris II by Roux Louka on his birthday. While on the recovery mission he encounters Neo Zeon remnant forces pursuing a AMX-004 Qubeley Mk-II. Seeing the Qubeley posing no threat, Judau assists it in destroying the Neo Zeon squad composed of Doven Wolfs riding on sub-flight platforms, allowing the Qubeley to land safely on Jupitris II. The last scene reveals that the Qubeley was piloted by someone whose pilot suit resembles the one belonging to Puru Two, which may hint that she was a surviving Puru Two clone like Marida Cruz.

Side Stories
Judau also makes an appearance in the Mobile Suit Crossbone Gundam: Skull Heart manga series by Yuichi Hasegawa. He pilots the Gump (a battle-worn ZZ Gundam in disguise), and goes by the alias Grey Stoke (the now old aged Judau Ashta should be around 60 years old). He enlists the help of the Crossbone Vanguard members to prevent the Jupiter Empire from getting their hands on Amuro Ray's combat data which is embedded in the computer of an ancient Core Fighter, fearing that the latter would create a super weapon from it.

He re-emerges in the Mobile Suit Victory Gundam Side Story by the same author. This time, Judau is just almost 20 years older and is still seen piloting the Gump and assists Uso Ewin in battling the Zanscare Empire. He is still involved with the Jupiter Fleet and is "leader" of the Jupitris-class Heinlein. He oversees the Dandelion colony, which is revealed to be populated by Newtypes, a number of which are in cold sleep. After successfully defending the colony with Uso and Kamui Gian from Scale Sarpris's attack, he leaves the Solar System with Kamui in the transformed interstellar spaceship Dandelion to Proxima Centauri, which would be colonized in U.C. 653.