Shinn Asuka

==Notes & Trivia==

*Shinn has only been seen piloting Gundams rather than any other Mobile Suit.
*Shinn along with [[Kou Uraki]] and [[Mikazuki Augus]] are the only three protagonists to be defeated in the end in their Gundam storylines. With Kou being unable to prevent Operation Stardust, Shinn being soundly defeated at Messiah, and Mikazuki succumbing to his wounds and passing out from blood loss (although Mikazuki succeeded in holding off [[Gjallarhorn]] forces long enough for most of his comrades to escape).
*Shinn seems to have forgotten or does not even know that Freedom was involved in the death of his family members two years before he joined ZAFT. Instead of indicating anger or surprise, Shinn looks puzzled in his first meeting with Freedom as a ZAFT pilot as if he's just seen it for the first time, when the Freedom intervened in the war between ZAFT and Orb Forces.
*The death of Shinn's family is similar to death of Fraw Bow's family; both families die because of a wayward shot from Mobile Suit's weapon while fleeing on a highway, with Shinn and Fraw being the only survivors.
*Shinn's name may be a reference to Kenichi Suzumura's role in Macross Zero, where the main character was named Shinn Kudou and was an orphaned refugee.
*In the first ''Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny'' game, ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny: Battle Assault]]'' (GBA), Shinn has no SEED Factor animation in his awaken mode. This is due to the game being released before episode 12, [[Blood in the Water]], aired. The only characters with Seed Factor in the game are Kira Yamato, Athrun Zala, and Cagalli Yula Athha.
*On August 8, 2011, Shinn's voice actor, [[wikipedia:Kenichi Suzumura|Kenichi Suzumura]], got married to [[wikipedia:Maaya Sakamoto|Maaya Sakamoto]], none other than [[Lunamaria Hawke]]'s voice actress.
*Shinn, along with his family, makes a cameo appearance in episode 36, [[Decisive Fire]] , of the HD Remastered Version of ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED]]''. He was seen again briefly in episode 39, [[Trembling World]] at the ZAFT military academy along with [[Lunamaria]], [[Meyrin]] and [[Rey Za Burrel]].
*The names of the swords of Shinn's two mobile suits may reflect Shinn's status in the series. The Sword Impulse's weapon, deemed "Excalibur" (King Arthur's sword), reflected him as a hero. The Destiny's weapon, deemed "Arondight" (Sir Lancelot's sword), showed him falling into an anti-hero classification. Evidenced by the fact that Lancelot in Arthurian lore was once a hero that became an enemy.
* Coincidentally, Shinn bears a very similar name to the protagonist of ''[[w:c:ultra:Ultraman Dyna (series)|Ultraman Dyna]]'', [[w:c:ultra:Shinn Asuka|Shinn Asuka]]. Also, the titular hero's Flash-type's color scheme is also similar to the Gundams' traditional white, blue, and red, and his Type Change ability parallels that of Impulse Gundam's [[Phase Shift armor|VPS armor]].
**Amusingly enough, the actor for ''Dyna's'' Shinn Asuka (Takeshi Tsuruno) mentioned the [[RX-78-2 Gundam]] as his favorite Mobile Suit in an interview.
*[[w:c:fafner:Kazuki Makabe|Kazuki Makabe]], the protagonist of ''[[w:c:fafner:Fafner: Dead Aggressor|Fafner: Dead Aggressor]]'', looks very similar to Shinn. This is because both series share the same character designer.
*Kenichi Suzumura also voices [[Wilfrid Kijima]] in ''[[Gundam Build Fighters Try]]''.
*In [[w:c:superrobotwars:Super Robot Wars V|''Super Robot Wars V'']], Shinn gets a color-themed nom de guerre in a similar vein to [[The Red Comet]] and [[Ramba Ral|Blue Giant]]; the character [[w:c:crossange:Rosalie|Rosalie]] from Fukuda and Sunrise's other mecha anime, [[w:c:crossange: CROSS ANGE Rondo of Angel and Dragon|''CROSS ANGE Rondo of Angel and Dragon'']] calls him "The ZAFT Blue Lightning" based on the most prominent color on his [[ZGMF-X42S Destiny Gundam]].<ref>[[:File:Super Robot Taisen V - Walkthrough - Scenario 16 (Arzenal Route - Chitose) Bonds Renewed|Super Robot Taisen V - Walkthrough - Scenario 16 (Arzenal Route - Chitose) ［Bonds Renewed］]]</ref>
**On a more humorous note, while Athrun finds the ladies of the same series to be attracted to him, Shinn has a much more negative opinion shortly after meeting them, referring to the Norma as "the island of terrible women", which may be a reference to how the characterization of many female characters early in that show rubbed viewers the wrong way.
*Though he has never actually equipped the Destiny Silhouette, Shinn uses it in [[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Battle Destiny]]'s Another Arc Mission, "Indestructible Impulse". He calls for a new Silhouette pack after every defeat (Force, Sword, Blast and Destiny) with a voiced line, getting noticeably impatient (not to mention angry) with each equipment change.
*In Gundam SEED DESTINY Suit CD Vol. 6's Suit Mini-Drama "Academy Advancement Exam", Shinn is depicted as a student who isn't too fond of academics, but can do very well if he puts his all into it. At first, he doubts that knowing the theories behind MS Piloting will help them in the long run and believes that practical experience is best. Despite this, he still borrows note copies from Lunamaria (who copied from Rey's notes only select portions that she believes will appear in the exams). The results were awful as expected and on top of that, all three of them were called out for having almost the same answers for the free essay part (since the notes were mainly Rey's personal observations of piloting theories aside from the information gleaned from lectures). Determined to get himself out of this rut, Shinn studies hard and gets a better score in the make-up exam, beating even Rey.