Domon Kasshu

CANON HISTORY: Thanks, Gundam Wiki.
CANON PERSONALITY: Domon began his journey as an extremely impulsive, angry man driven almost entirely by a desire to free his father and find his brother who he believed betrayed them. He would crash into other people’s fights just to interrogate them on said brother’s whereabouts, and always attempt to smash his way through problems with maximum force. Over time, he would come to learn how to control his anger and focus on issues more important than his immediate enemy, but that does not mean he has become less emotional, only that he no longer loses sight of everything else in his rage.

However, despite his deep-seated anger issues, Domon is a proud martial artist, in the grand tradition of wuxia heroes for whom honour is paramount. He was taught that martial arts is the best way to take a measure of a man, and that it’s easier to understand them through their actions and their fists than through their words. For him, being honourable exists on a different axis from merely being good or evil, and he’s more likely to show respect for someone who has bad goals but does them in a direct, fair way than someone who cheats for the greater good.

That said, it does not mean he is the sort of man who can abide evil. He possesses a strong moral compass, and always tries to protect the innocent and do right by others, something he considers more important than any single person or bond. The difference is between whether he treats his opponents with respect, or simply as obstacles that need to be taken out.

The traits most desirable in a martial artist are frequently the opposite of what is expected in polite company though, and Domon will freely admit that he’s an awkward person who does poorly with subtlety. After all, naked sincerity, single-minded dedication, and yelling attack names really loudly tend not to translate well into normal conversations. Still, he does tend to get along well with children for those exact reasons.

With adults, especially within the context of the Gundam Fight, Domon has a tendency to rankle. He declared loudly that he would win the Gundam Fight without losing a single match, which was taken as a sign of disrespect, as though there was anyone there who planned on losing. As it was his job to defeat everyone, Domon clearly saw little value in making friends, and most of the other Fighters clearly saw him the same way.

On the other hand, for the few people he has bonded with, mostly the other members of the Shuffle Alliance, Domon’s loyalty is unquestionable. They view each other as worthy rivals, driving all parties to ever greater heights through friendly competition, and coming together in the face of any greater threat.

As a martial artist, Domon embodies the motto of the School of the Undefeated of the East: “Zenshin, keiretsu, tenpa kyouran” or renewal, shattering of old logic, and overturning the orthodoxy. This means a hunger to try new things, challenge traditions, and never seeing any enemy as too big for him to pick a fight with. This can be seen in the speed at which he picks up new techniques, and how readily he questions common wisdom no matter the source, even if it’s from his own teacher.

His rejection of orthodoxy and his tendency towards the emotional does make him a hero who has no problems with weeping openly, breaking down into tears several times throughout the series, first when he meets his master again after many years apart, and later when he loses his loved ones to the machinations of the Devil Gundam and the Gundam Fight. He’s generally not afraid to be totally embarrassing, up to and including loudly declaring his love in front of the entire world and shooting a beam in the shape of a heart.

Domon is loud and brash, but his growth as a martial artist are also accompanied by his growth as a person, and while he never becomes someone who is quiet and thoughtful, his meditation and training do eventually bring him a clarity of thought backed by a fundamental optimism. In many ways, he eventually comes to represent the platonic ideal of a martial artist, which is only fitting for the winner of the Gundam Fight.

SKILLS/ABILITIES: Domon is an expert martial artist in a world where being an expert martial artist means being able to do all sorts of superhuman things. He has stopped a giant mecha’s sword with his own human sized blade, punted an entire building into the air with the help of one person, and caught bullets out of the air between his fingers. He also appears to have the ability to shoot energy from his hands, split into shadow clones, and survived 2000 Gs, though it’s not made very clear where his own martial arts ends and his Gundam’s mechanical ability begins in those cases.

He claims he doesn’t have any skills apart from fighting, but he does seem to be fairly skilled with machinery, able to rig up system bypasses and other minor repairs on his Gundam. He does need a dedicated mechanic for any serious work, though.