Alfred Izuruha

Alfred Izuruha (アルフレッド・イズルハ, Arufureddo Izuruha^?), or simply Al (アル, Aru^?), is one of the main characters of Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket.

Personality & Character

Al is an eleven-year-old boy who lives in Libot, Side 6 with his parents. He is an average student and known for getting into mischief with his friends Chay and Telcott. His hobbies include photography and video recording.

Living in a neutral colony, Al developed a romantic view of warfare, and is fascinated by the conflict that raged outside his peaceful haven, especially the mighty mobile suits.^[1]

He has a distant relationship with his father, who works for the Earth Federation and is often absent. His next-door neighbour is Christina Mackenzie, who is a big sister-like figure to him.

History

As a naive young boy who lives in the Libot colony of neutral Side 6, Al has little real idea about the war outside that is ravaging the Earth Sphere, and is fascinated by tales of mobile suit combats. He has a special interest in Zeon's Zaku mobile suits, which he regards as "cool". One day, Al meets a rookie Zeon pilot, Bernard "Bernie" Wiseman, whose Zaku is disabled and crashes after a short battle with Federation forces in the colony. Al develops a good friendship with Bernie (who claims to be just 1 kill from becoming an ace), unknowing that Bernie will be part of Zeon's Cyclops Team intending to attack the secret Federation research facility in his own colony.

Knowing nothing about the plan, Al assists Bernie in gathering information about the Federation facility. However, his belief in Bernie begins to shake when Cyclop Team's surprise attack on the facility ends with failure and severe civilian casualty. When Operation Rubicon fails, Bernie confesses to Al that he is in fact a rookie pilot, and the colony is subjected to a Zeon nuclear strike unless the Federation's new NT-1 "Alex" Gundam is destroyed before Christmas Day. Bernie chooses to run away, much to Al's angry dismay, but changes his mind later and states that he will stay and fight the Gundam in order to save the colony. Al helps Bernie repair his broken Zaku and set up booby traps. On the day of the battle, Al goes with his mother to pick up his father from the spaceport, only to be told that a nuclear-armed Zeon fleet aiming for Libot has been successfully intercepted by the Federation forces. Al, realising that Bernie no longer need to risk the fight, rushes to the site and tries to stop Bernie from fighting Gundam Alex. He only arrives to witness the end of the battle, where Bernie's Zaku explodes in front of his own eyes. Adding to his horror, the pilot of the Gundam, who was severely injured by the battle, was Christina Mackenzie, his close friend and Bernie's love interest.

After this battle, Al plays the disk that Bernie left for him in the event that he should die. Bernie tells him not to hate the Gundam pilot (Christina) or the Federation as they are merely fighting for what they believe in. Later, as he heads back to school, which was damaged during Operation Rubicon, Al encounters Christina as she is getting ready to head back to Earth. When she asks Al to say goodbye to Bernie for her, the poor boy chokes back tears and tells her that he'll be sorry as he missed her, keeping the tragic fate of Bernie to himself.

Later at the school, Al breaks down in tears while listening to his principal give a speech about the costs of war, which he realizes full well (unlike his friends Telchott and Chay) isn't cool, even though sometimes inevitable.

Trivia

• Alfred's original Japanese voice actor, Daisuka Namikawa, was a child actor at the time of recording; because his voice deepened over the years, the role was recast with Kumiko Higa for future appearances. However, Namikawa would return to the franchise as the narrator in the SD Gundam G Generation game series.

Gallery

Alfred gazing

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References

1. ↑ Simmons, Mark and Wright, Benjamin (2002) Animerica Gundam Official Guide (p.31)