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Katz Kobayashi (カツ・コバヤシ Katsu Kobayashi?) is a fictional character from the Universal Century timeline, appearing in Mobile Suit Gundam and Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam.

Personality & Characteristics[]

One Year War[]

Orphaned during the incident at Side 7 and finding himself aboard the Federations new White Base Assault carrier, Katz quickly adjusted to his new life and would often join his fellow orphans Letz and Kikka in assisting however possible, even when the crew tried to dissuade them.

Gryps Conflict[]

During the Gryps Conflict, as a result of idolizing Amuro's accomplishments from the One Year War from the perspective of a child, Katz has grown incredibly headstrong, reckless and overconfident to the point he wanted to join the AEUG. He would often charge into battle against strong enemies like Paptimus Scirocco, Haman Karn, and Yazan Gable, which would ultimately cost him his life in his efforts to prove himself a hero.

History[]

One Year War[]

Born Katz Howan, he is one of three orphans brought onto the White Base during the One Year War. While aboard the ship, Letz, Katz, and Kikka became a combination of mascots and troublemakers for the ship, and were involved in several incidents, including Ramba Ral's last ditch attack on the ship, as well as Char's infiltration of Jaburo, when they helped to dispose of the bombs. The latter incident lead to their being allowed to stay on the ship, even when the White Base left Earth to return to space for the final offensives at Solomon and A Baoa Qu. After the Battle of A Baoa Qu, the three kids showed their Newtype abilities, when they reached out to allow Amuro Ray to find the lifeboat on which the White Base crew had escaped the ship.

Gryps Conflict[]

Katz 0087

Katz in AEUG uniform. 0087

After the One Year War, Katz, Letz and Kikka are adopted by Hayato Kobayashi and Fraw Bow. During this time, Katz learned how to pilot mobile suits while helping out at his foster father's museum, piloting Zeon mobile suits from the One Year War. Like his foster father Hayato, Katz is impulsive and reckless, not to mention dangerously naive. Unlike his siblings, Katz, inspired by his memories of Amuro and the White Base Crew surviving the One Year War, actively wished to join active military service, much to the concern of Fraw.

By the time of the Gryps Conflict, Katz now feels he's old enough to follow in the footsteps of his childhood heroes, and after helping Amuro escape Earth Federation surveillance, joins up with the Karaba resistance fighters.[1] Katz and Amuro would rescue his adoptive father's forces by crashing a fighter plane into Buran Blutarch's NRX-044 Asshimar, and Katz is able to bail before their plane makes impact.

After officially joining Karaba, Katz sneaks into the RX-178 Gundam Mk-II during the next skirmish, but ends up crashing the unit into the water and finding himself isolated. He is eventually rescued by Kamille, having been forced to pilot the Rick Dias, and Quattro Bajeena's Hyaku Shiki. Katz is able to, however, damage Rosamia Badam's Gaplant, allowing Kamille and Quattro to finish the unit. After the battle, Hayato promptly hits Katz for his reckless actions.[2] Nonetheless, Katz is allowed to go to space to fight alongside the Anti Earth Union Group, an ally of Karaba.[3]

Katz would learn how to pilot the MSA-003 Nemo and is soon assigned with Kamille at the Argama. There he meets Titans Officer Sarah Zabiarov when she surrenders and claims that the Titans were planning to drop colonies at Granada. Though several crew members question the validity, Katz finds himself too attracted to Sarah to think clearly. When a battle soon breaks out with the Titans attempting to move as Sarah claimed, Katz is tricked into bringing Sarah back to her RMS-106 Hizack, and she immediately escapes back to her allies. Before leaving, she does at least provide Katz the tip that the Gaplant's fatal weakness was its blind spot was directly underneath it while in MA mode. As a result of his actions, Katz is detained as soon as the other pilots return.[4]

Now moved to the Radish instead, Katz is held in reserve when another battle breaks out. Once again disobeying the order to stay behind, Katz pilots the G-Defenser for the first time and assists Emma Sheen against Yazan Gable's forces. Thanks to Katz's arrival, Emma is able to use the RX-178+FXA-05D Super Gundam. Yazan quickly notices the G-Defenser after it unloads the Super Gundam's weapons and chases after Katz. Though Katz evades Yazan's attack, he is forced to land on an abandoned Zeon Gwazine. Noticing that a Hizack pilot had escaped, Katz arms himself and investigates the ship's interior. Emma soon exits her unit to search for Katz, and the pair are held hostage by the Hizack pilot, but the battle between Yazan in his ORX-005 Gaplant and Kamille in his MSZ-006 Zeta Gundam saves them as an attack blasts the pilot away. When Yazan and Kamille brawl within the ship, Katz is able to save Kamille by distracting Yazan with a damaged MS-14 Gelgoog. When he and Emma return to the Radish, Katz's punishment is annulled thanks to his contributions, and is made the official pilot of the G-Defenser.[5]

The battle between the AEUG and the Titans would soon attract the attention of Haman Karn's Axis Zeon, which aimed to take advantage of the splinters within the Federation. Haman's forces would intervene during a Titans attack on the Argama. As a result, Melanie Hue Carbine orders the Argama to establish contact and form an alliance with Haman, but Katz is among those apprehensive of trusting the remnants of Zeon. Quattro would ultimately discard the idea when he caused an uproar in Mineva Lao Zabi's presence and a three-way struggle would soon begin.

During the battle at the Gate of Zedan, Katz exits with the MSA-005 Methuss, but as he leaves the Argama, he senses Sarah once again. When Sarah attempts to get both herself and Kamille killed, Katz's appearance distracts Sarah long enough to stop, and he is able to save Kamille from Jerid Messa's RX-160 Byarlant. Katz would personally cuff Sarah upon return to the Argama, and Sarah mentions that Katz had grown since their last meeting.[6]

Still unable to drop his obsession with Sarah, Katz skips an important meeting to keep monitoring Sarah and is promptly slapped by Kamille for failing to look at the bigger picture. As all three forces were preparing for the destruction of the Gate of Zedan, Katz departs with the G-Defenser to support Emma. During the battle, Katz senses that Sarah had escaped once again and chases after with his fighter. Sarah soon tells Katz to fire at her if he wishes to stop her from returning to Scirocco, but Katz continues to reason with her. They are soon joined by Emma, but Sarah responds that, while she is touched by Katz's sincerity, it is far too late for her, and she immediately flees, and Katz is unable to bring himself to shoot her. Bright later orders a retreat when Gryps collides with Axis and causes debris to fly everywhere.[7]

During the intermission, the AEUG learn that Titans' leaders have made contact with Axis Zeon while Quattro is meeting Mineva. Katz quickly leaves with the G-Defenser with Kamille following to rescue their superior. Katz enters the Gwadan in the hopes of killing Scirocco. As Kamille had followed, against the AEUG's claim of only sending one unit, Katz is detained, but he breaks out and is later rescued by Quattro. Katz is soon ordered to escape, and Quattro promises to personally deal with Haman and Scirocco in his stead. Paptimus is able to use the chaos in the ship to assassinate Titans leader, Jamitov Hymen, and pins the blame on the Axis Zeon forces to allow him to rise as the Titans' new leader.

The Titans are soon ordered to engage the Zeon forces and chaos erupts as the AEUG send their mobile suits out as well. Katz would intrude in a battle between Haman's AMX-004 Qubeley and Scirocco's PMX-003 The-O, taking a clear shot on the latter. To his horror, Sarah immediately rushes in and shields Scirocco from the attack and is killed. Despite her demise, Sarah holds no enmity towards and urges Katz to flee and evade Scirocco's wrath. Katz would be saved when Reccoa Londe instinctively moves in front of The-O and stops Scirocco from attacking further.[8]

Katz would blame Haman for Sarah's death and rushed to attack her during Operation Maelstrom, but he is reprimanded by Kamille. When he refuses to budge on his stance, Kamille threatens to shoot his ally down if he will not follow orders. Fortunately, Fa Yuiry arrives and defuses the situation, and Katz volunteers to distract Haman without impeding Operation Maelstrom. When Haman exits the Gwadan for battle, Katz ambushes her and grazes the Qubeley's leg. Haman's support units soon arrive and attack Katz, but Fa returns with the Metthus and helps Katz withdraw.[9]

Katz would be present during the final battle at Gryps, where he would support Emma against Yazan's new RX-139 Hambrabi team. Despite being told to return to safety after dropping off the Super Gundam's equipment, Katz insists on fighting and is able to shoot down Yazan's wingman, Ramsus Hasa. Unfortunately, Katz would be too distracted after dodging Yazan's attempt to retaliate and crashes into a meteorite. The impact causes him to slip out of consciousness, allowing Yazan attack the prone G-Defenser and causing it to crash and explode on a sunken ship. In his last moments, Katz is able to meet up with Sarah's spirit and is assured that they will stay together forever.

Katz's death sends a shockwave to the other members of the AEUG, and is even able to trigger a sensation within Reccoa. After his death, Katz's spirit would attempt to aid Emma in her duel against Yazan by warning her of his location.[10] He would also appear among Kamille's fallen friends during his final charge against Scirocco.[11]

First Neo Zeon War[]

Katz briefly appears as one of the spirits protecting Judau Ashta from Haman Karn.

A New Translation[]

In A New Translation, Katz dies from crashing into a meteorite while avoiding Yazan's Hambrabi's beam shots. While his spirit appears to persuade Sarah's to give Kamille his way to Scirocco, he does not appear to support Kamille during his final charge.

Gallery[]

Character Designs[]

Anime[]

Notes and Trivia[]

  • In the English dub of Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, Katz's name is pronounced /kɒts/ instead of the real-world /kæts/.

References[]

Earth Federation White Base Amuro Ray · Bright Noa · Sayla Mass · Hayato Kobayashi · Kai Shiden · Ryu Jose · Fraw Bow · Mirai Yashima · Sleggar Law · Marker Clan · Oscar Dublin · Omur Fang · Job John · Sunmalo · Tamura · Paolo Cassius · Vammas · Howard · Maximilian · Kal · Humrau
Jaburo Officers Gopp · Woody Malden · Kolin · Antonio Callas
Luna II Officers Wakkein · Robinson · Reed · Camilla
EFSF Officers Tianem · Elran
EFF engineers Tem Ray · Mosk Han · Seki
General Revil · Matilda Ajan · Shin
Principality of Zeon Char Aznable · Degwin Sodo Zabi · Dozle Zabi · Garma Zabi · Gihren Zabi · Kycilia Zabi · Lalah Sune · M'Quve · Jimba Ral · Black Tri-Stars · Cecilia Irene · Miharu Ratokie · Cucuruz Doan · Challia Bull · Simus Al Bakharov · Dren · Gadem · Darota · Butsham · Vice · Lang · Torgan · Smith Onizawa · Sagred · Madison · Ghien · Li Hwan · Jittal · Bamlo · Kom · Fix · Matthew · Bison · Beebe · Klink · Habe · March · Delamin · Godard · Goro · Hamble · Guevil · Joyce · Kamp · Keji · Mile · Miru
A Baoa Qu Garrison Asakura · Twanning · Rio Marini
M'Quve's subordinates Uragang · Judock · Barom
Dozle's subordinates Conscon · Lackoc
Ramba Ral's Corps Ramba Ral · Crowley Hamon · Clamp · Tachi · Cozun Graham · Acous · Zeygan · Stetch
Akahana's team Akahana · Ivanov · Callahan · Lasa · Marcy · Boraskyniv
Char's troops Denim · Slender · Gene · Crown · J.Q. · Kohm
Patrol corps Cuaran · Giyal · Sol · Ross · Magu
Mad Angler corps Flanagan Boone · Connolly · Carioca
Zanzibar soldiers Mulligan · Tokwan · Dimitri
Civilians Katz · Letz · Kikka · Kamaria Ray · Fam Bow · Cameron Bloom · Icelina Eschonbach · Eschonbach · Persia · Coaly · Smith · Pero · Rolland Chuan · Chiyo · Kum · Milly Ratokie · Jill Ratokie · Bergamino · Haro
Zeta Gundam characters
Anti Earth Union Group Kamille Bidan | Quattro Bajeena | Bright Noa | Emma Sheen | Henken Bekkener | Reccoa Londe | Fa Yuiry | Katz Kobayashi | Blex Forer | Apolly Bay | Roberto | Astonaige Medoz | Hasan | Anna Hanna | Toraja Toraja | Tripper | Samarn | Saegusa | Manity Mandana | Abu Dabia | Caesar | Callman | Hayai | Manack | Torres
Earth Federation / Titans Jamitov Hymen | Paptimus Scirocco | Jerid Messa | Four Murasame | Reccoa Londe | Rosamia Badam | Sarah Zabiarov | Bask Om | Buran Blutarch | Kacricon Cacooler | Franklin Bidan | Hilda Bidan | Jamaican Daninghan | Mouar Pharaoh | Yazan Gable | Ramsus Hasa | Dunkel Cooper | Ted Ayachi | Gady Kinsey | Loren Nakamoto | Gates Capa | Namicar Cornell | Ben Wooder | Ajis Aziba | Sydle | Adol Zeno | Haifan | Dava Balo | Masada | Matosh | Kitchman | Sorama | Kara
Axis Zeon Haman Karn | Mineva Lao Zabi
Karaba Amuro Ray | Hayato Kobayashi | Kai Shiden | Beltorchika Irma | Luio Woomin | Stephanie Luio
Civilians Wong Lee | Shinta | Qum | Mirai Noa | Mezun Mex | Haro
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