Cima Garahau (シーマ・ガラハウ Shīma Garahau?) is a character that appears in the OVA Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory. Her back story is given in the audio drama Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory - The Mayfly of Space and the subsequent Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Mayfly of Space 2 picture drama. A short excerpt from this radio drama was animated as a bonus on the second DVD of Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory released in the United States.
Personality & Character[]
Although Cima has a strong impression of a scheming, poisonous woman, her decisive character endeared her to her subordinates. It appears that Cima's personality was greatly influenced by her past, when her hometown Mahal was converted into Solar Ray and given a bad name by the Principality of Zeon's military.
While she had a harsh personality that did not tolerate any mismanagement, she also had strong feelings for her men in the Cima fleet, with whom she had shared hardships after the war, and this led to her popularity.
Skills & Abilities[]
Cima was a highly skilled pilot, and even competed with South Burning, the ace of the Albion Corps. In the manga "Mobile Suit Gundam 0083 Rebellion," she showed such skill that she was able to overpower Gato on board the AMX-002 Neue Ziel. At the same time, she also showed great talent in commanding MS units and fleet command, and helped the Cima fleet, which was called "a group of rascals," to become a powerful force. She was also a skilled strategist who, while continuing her pirate business, built her own connections and secured informal access to the Earth Federation Forces. She was also a woman of great skill in negotiating with a mixture of hard and soft negotiating techniques.
History[]
One Year War[]
Cima seeing the effects of G3 gas on a colony's population
In U.C. 0078, Cima was assigned to a Zeon marine fleet mostly made up of conscripts from the colony Mahal and non-citizens. Since the actual commander of the fleet, Colonel Asakura, was remotely appointed, Cima became the acting-commander, and the fleet became known as Marine Amphibious Unit (MAU) Cima.[1] In the manga "Mobile Suit Gundam 0083 Rebellion," she once served as an instructor at a military academy for a day, where she impressed the cadets and staff, including Clara Lodge.[2]
During the opening stage of the war, MAU Cima was ordered to carry out the injection of G3 nerve gas into defenseless colonies. Cima and her subordinates were greatly traumatized by this ordeal, but still carried out the orders.[1][3]
Post-War Era[]
Cima reacting to Asakura forbidding her from going to Axis
Following the Battle of A Baoa Qu, MAU Cima, along with other Zeon forces that refused to surrender, gathered at Karama Point. Some wanted to stay in the Earth Sphere and fight, while others wanted to retreat to Axis. However, Asakura forbade MAU Cima from going to Axis, saying that their actions were a disgrace to the name of Zeon forces. Cima exclaimed that all of their actions were orders from the homeland, to which Asakura replied that they may have come from the now dead Kycilia Zabi, and that they were a nuisance, before asking Cima and her fleet to take responsibility for their own actions.[1]
Angered at Asakura's abandonment, Cima's second-in-command, Deatroaf Kocsel, asked Cima to leave the Zeon remnants and take them back to their homeland Mahal, even if they would be arrested. Unbeknownst to them, however, Mahal no longer existed, having been forcefully evacuated and converted into the Solar Ray. With nowhere left to return to, MAU Cima, now simply known as Cima Fleet, stayed in the Earth Sphere. Having become a wanted B-class war criminal, Cima and her fleet drifted in space over the next three years, essentially becoming space pirates. During this time, her resentment of Zeon continued to grow.[1]
Delaz Conflict[]
Cima in U.C. 0083
When Aiguille Delaz developed the plan known as Operation Stardust, he approached Cima as he had need of the manpower that the Cima Fleet could provide - that said, Delaz did not trust Cima, and for good reason. Cima, upon receiving the offer, planned her revenge - she would seem to accept Delaz's plan, but would ultimately betray him, aiding the Earth Federation in crushing what seemed to be the final gasping breath of the Principality. Unfortunately for Cima, the involvement of the crew of the Albion would be her undoing - their untimely involvement during a covert meeting between the Cima Fleet and the Federation's battleship Birmingham, carrying Inspector General Admiral Green Wyatt, resulted in the loss of the Operation Stardust plans and the death of Albion's senior pilot, South Burning, would harden the young pilot of the RX-78GP01-Fb Gundam "Zephyranthes" Full Burnern, Kou Uraki, against the Cima Fleet and its commander.
In the waning days of Operation Stardust, Cima finally acted overtly, seizing the Delaz Fleet's flagship Gwaden and executing Delaz on the bridge. Unfortunately, the Albion crew arrived the site after stealing the mobile weapon RX-78GP03 Gundam "Dendrobium", despite the orders of the Earth Federation forces, the Albion crew treated Cima fleet as an enemy, and so Cima was forced to defend her fleet with the recently received AGX-04 Gerbera Tetra mobile suit. However, she soon confronted Uraki in combat, who was now piloting the RX-78GP03. The agile AGX-04 was no match for the raw power of her sister mobile suit, and Cima's short, tragic life was ended when her mobile suit was impaled on the mega beam cannon of the RX-78GP03 and it was fired at point blank range.
In the manga "Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Hero of Stardust," she turns to the Federation for revenge against Zeon, but she was only after money, not permanent residency on Earth, and had the intention of continuing her pirate activities against the Federation. However, when she failed in her betrayal, she was abandoned by Bask Om and died under intensive fire from the orbital fleet.
Stardust Rebellion[]
In the manga Mobile Suit Gundam 0083 Rebellion, an adaptation of the Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory OVA written by original series director Takashi Imanishi, Cima's role is substantially increased. When the AGX-04 Gerbera Tetra is delivered to her by Clara Lodge, she rejects Clara's offer to join her marines on the Cima Fleet because she fears anyone else joining her and being branded a war criminal. Cima has a deep history with several characters including Geil Hunt and expanded history with Admiral Delaz.
When a stolen colony was planned to drop on Von Braun, Cima opened negotiations with O'Sullivan, demanding concessions from Von Braun's civilian leadership. Explaining that the Federation would not be able to help avert the colony crash, Cima offered assistance only if they provided fuel for the colony, allowing it to reach the real target, Earth. [4] She had been in contact with Jamitov Hymen and Bask Om.
In the aftermath, she was thought to have been killed by Bask Om's bombardment along with the Gerbera Tetra, but in fact, she was not aboard the Gerbera Tetra, as it was being remotely operated to attack his ship. Then, together with other Marines, including Kocsel and Clara Lodge who had survived, left for Jupiter as a member of the Jupiter Fleet. She took the alias "Ephemera Hunt" but was still tracked down by Alice Miller who was desperate for evidence of Bask Om's conspiracy. Although she was surprised to hear that the Albion crew were being investigated and tried, she was not willing to assist her onetime allies. Although unable and unwilling to provide material evidence of her involvement and the conspiracy, she directed Alice Miller to Kurena Hacksell. [5] With that, Cima departed and claimed that she was leaving the Earth Sphere behind permanently.
Gallery[]
Figures[]
Notes & Trivia[]
- Cima is remembered by Japanese fans for one of her lines in the anime: "ほら言わんこちゃない!" ("hora, iwankochanai!", Kansai Japanese of "I told you so!") As a result, it became commonly used even in standard spoken Japanese. The influence is still felt to a certain degree years later, as it is often heard from non-Kansai-based characters in various types of media.
- A Cima's look-alike was featured in episode 8 of Gundam Build Fighters Try TV series, along with other look-alikes of famous Gundam female / cross-dressing characters including Nina Purpleton and Laura Rolla.
- According to the animation on One Week War in Gihren's Greed: War for Zeon Independence, she was the pilot of the Zaku I that gassed Shiro Amada's home colony in Side 2. This was later referenced in SD Gundam G Generation DS, in a special battle encounter between Cima and Shiro.
- In Mobile Suit Gundam: Encounters in Space, Cima joins the Titans in the ending of her Ace Pilot episode. However, due to them using her Cima Fleet as just "cleaning up their dirty work," she leaves them and is never seen again.
- In Gihren's Greed if the player is playing the Federation and accepts Cima's proposal she joins the Federation along with her crew and survive the events of Stardust.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory - The Mayfly of Space
- ↑ Rebellion 11, p. 43
- ↑ Whether Cima was aware of the true nature of the gas differs based on the source. The Mayfly of Space implied that she knew, while Mobile Suit Gundam: Gihren's Greed and Mobile Suit Gundam 0083 Rebellion state that she believed they were sleeping gas.
- ↑ Stardust Rebellion 11
- ↑ Stardust Rebellion 16, 130
External links[]
Stardust Memory characters
| ||
|---|---|---|
| Earth Federation | Albion | Kou Uraki | Chuck Keith | South Burning | Eyphar Sinapus | Alpha A. Bait | Bernard Monsha | Chap Adel | Mora Boscht | Akram Harida | Ivan Paserov | Jacqueline Simone | Peter Scott | William Morris |
| John Cowen | Alloys Mozley | Dick Allen | Raban Karcs | Kalent | Green Wyatt | Hawkins Marnery | Gene Coliny | Nakohha Nakato | Y. Bicock | Jamitov Hymen | Bask Om | ||
| Zeon Remnants | Anavel Gato | Aiguille Delaz | Cima Garahau | Neuen Bitter | Gaily | Adamski | Bob | Karius Otto | Bily Glardle | Draize | Heintz | Bergman | Deatroaf Kocsel | Kult | Wolfgang Wall | Yuri Hasler | |
| Anaheim Electronics | Nina Purpleton | Kurena Hacksell | Lucette Audevie | Nick Orville | O'Sullivan | Poral Guilish | |
| Von Braun | Kelley Layzner | Latuera Chapra | Peter Purpleton | Joshua Purpleton | |