Player Name: kelly
Age: 29
Contact: k3llyb3an
Timezone: EST

Character name: Gundam Tanaka
Age: Virtually simulated as being 17
Canon: Danganronpa
Canon point: Completion of Chapter Four
History: Wiki link


Three key adjectives: Eccentric, Insecure and Kind

Influential Events:

"I was born as a result of a union between a human and a demon, and my existence was shunned by both races..."

Gundam grew up as an only child, most likely the product of an affair. Because of the circumstances of his birth, neither the paternal or maternal sides of his family or even his father acknowledged his existence and ostracized him. Only his mother took responsibility for her son and raised Gundam as a single parent completely on her own. Gundam views his mother as an ‘angel’ for raising him on her own and resents his father as a ‘devil’ for not being around for either of them.

Gundam loved his mother dearly, so much so that he would even force himself to eat her burnt and ill tasting cooking just to spare her from crying. It's implied that Gundam's mother might have passed away at some point before he entered high school, leaving Gundam completely isolated and convinced he would always be alone from that moment forward. Gundam grew up feeling like an unwanted outsider by society and also never really developed any strong relationships with anyone outside of his mother.

As a result of weak social skills, Gundam was uncomfortable being around others and actively looked for ways to avoid them as a child. Even the act of holding another child's hand was an overwhelming concept for Gundam and he would feign illness to hide in the Nurse's office to avoid it. He grew up avoiding social situations and physical interaction with others. He continues to struggle to relate to other people and even benign physical intimacy as a result. Where he was unable to bond with human beings, led him to develop his interest in forming bonds with animals.

Because he grew up shy and insecure he created an exciting and unique personality for himself based on evil powers and the occult. At first the things he says seem to just be the rantings of a delusional lunatic and incredibly hard to understand. Yet almost everything he says derives some basis in reality. Gundam's proclamations that poison flows through his body and will render mortals to ash if they touch him is derived from the amount of burnt terrible food he consumed to keep his mother from crying. If one takes the time to engage with him and read between the lines of the overly dramatic way he says things, it's not impossible to recognize what he is actually saying underneath all the theatrics.

"They dare give an earthly title to this Supreme Overlord of Ice?!"

In his canon universe it is tremendously important for individuals to have a unique talent. Gundam’s talent as the Super High School Level: Animal Breeder is what distinguishes him from everyone else in the world. Because of Gundam’s talent he is invited to attend Hope’s Peak Academy, which is a prestigious school devoted to finding and shaping young talented individuals into a future of Hope.

Gundam’s talent is titled the Super High School Level Animal Breeder and involves working with and understanding animals in a capacity that no one else in the world has managed. Gundam deeply loves and cares for animals, liking and respecting them even above human beings who he holds in low regard. What makes Gundam unique from other breeders and animal lovers is that he’s literally able to communicate with and in turn understand animals. He's successfully bred species back from the brink of extinction and he’s been able to tame any animal, even the most wild, with his abilities. Since Gundam has such a hard time relating to people, it's through animals that he's able to express how loving, caring, and nurturing he truly is beneath his Supreme Overlord persona. Animals have made a significant impact on his life and his most favorite things in the world are his Four Dark Devas of Destruction – four hamsters that he's actually trained to live on his person.

It's here cultivating his talent at Hope's Peak Academy that Gundam Tanaka spends his high school years experiencing the wonders of friendship, love, and togetherness with his beloved classmates and like at least eight more hamsters...

...but none of that matters because he doesn't remember any of that.

"My beloved, deadly foes!"

What Gundam does remember is showing up to school on his first day of class, but never actually getting to experience Hope's Peak Academy at all. Once all sixteen of his classmates entered their classroom, a most un-cute anthropomorphic rabbit ensnared them in it's trap. With a magical wand, the very fabrics of time and space were torn asunder and he and his classmates were left to suffer through-- The Lovey-Dovey Heart-Throbbing School Trip.

What Gundam did not realize was that as part of an attempt at a rehabilitation program for the members of the notorious group the Remnants of Despair, he was sent to participate in the 'Neo World Program.' The program was designed to reverse the manipulative effects Junko Enoshima the SHSL Ultimate Despair had on him and his fellow Hope’s Peak classmates (plus Hajime Hinata) that led them to start the Tragedy. The Tragedy was a period of social unrest that led to meaningless chaos, violence, and death throughout the world which Gundam helped to unleash on the world.

This program was originally meant to create a virtual reality for Gundam and his classmates wiping out their memory of being the Remnants of Despair. Here they were all supposed to learn how to work together, build friendships with classmates, and grow as individuals in the pursuit of Hope. Just like they had done once before at Hope's Peak Academy, before they were all engulfed by Despair, except this time on a sunny tropical island. At the completion of the program, they would wake up in their own bodies again with their rehabilitated personalities and have no recollection of their misdeeds.

However, the program was manipulated by Junko Enoshima and turned into a “killing game” scenario where Gundam and his classmates’ were pitted against one another in the pursuit of Despair. Despite Junko’s manipulation of the program however, Gundam was still able to grow as a person in the simulated reality because some of the original programming remained in the virtual simulation. Through interacting with classmates and getting to know them more intimately the protagonist of the game, Hajime Hinata, was able to collect Hope Shards and slowly add information to each character’s student Report Card.

He develops many different relationships with characters throughout the game, Hajime Hinata and Sonia Nevermind both become Gundam's first true friends. Sonia also develops an interest in Gundam romantically. Souda Kazuichi actively quarrels with Gundam as a romantic rival. Nekomaru Nidai who Gundam uh. Challenges in a duel to the death. As friends do. Gundam started the simulation unsettling everyone on the island with his odd personality and generally avoiding interacting with them as often as possible. After the first murder, Gundam was far more interested in searching for his missing earring than he was investigating the death of his fallen classmate. As time went on however, Gundam was able to form real and meaningful relationships with his class. They fight together, they laugh together, they cry together, they kill and die together! This is the first time that Gundam could recall that he was really forced to be around such a big group of people with no escape. As a result he became quite attached to his classmates and the more time he spent with them, the more he wanted to protect and befriend them.

"Your blood will drench the foundation of my empire!"

Gundam's desire to protect the friends he'd grown close to is what ultimately leads to his demise. Eventually Gundam and the others remaining become trapped in a fun house with no means of escape nor food to sustain themselves. None of them are permitted to leave and none of them will be permitted any food until a murder is committed by someone in the group. They manage to endure three full days of this treatment, growing weaker as they slowly starved to death. After Hajime declares that he would rather starve and die than ever kill one of his friends, Gundam realizes that without a murder everyone is going to die and no one will be saved. In that moment, Gundam realizes that in order to save the majority of his friends from perishing, he has to become the blackened and has to kill someone. This is the first time since his mother, that Gundam has cared so much for another human being.

Gundam goes through a series of trials to prepare for his murder plot. To obtain the "Ultimate Weapon" that resides in the fun house, he traps himself in "The Final Dead Room." He can only escape the room by solving a series of complex puzzles which ultimately culminates into a game of Russian Roulette. Surviving, Gundam learns that the building structure of the fun house is the "Ultimate Weapon." Using this knowledge, Gundam creates an intricate and elaborate murder plot and lures Nekomaru Nidai into a duel to the death. Gundam left opportunities for Nekomaru to decline the fight and escape, but Nekomaru is able to recognize Gundam's true intent. He agrees with Gundam's intentions and enthusiastically accepts Gundam's challenge to fight to the death. It's a fair fight in which either one could have been the victim or the murderer. Gundam ultimately wins, incapacitating Nekomaru with his hamsters, and then murders him utilizing the structure of the fun house to drop Nekomaru to his death. It's clear from the risky methods Gundam uses to commit his crime, that he's not ultimately concerned with surviving this ordeal. He's doing this for the benefit of the group at large.

Gundam actually confesses to the crime in the first few minutes of his trial, outing himself as the "Ultimate Weapon," but given his propensity for theatrics no one takes him seriously. As a result he spends the trial nudging his classmates along in deducing the structure of the fun house and how it was used to kill Nekomaru. Eventually it becomes clear that because of a flawed alibi, Gundam was the only one who could have committed the murder. Gundam doesn't offer much of a defense of himself until he's prompted by Sonia to do so and even then his arguments are weak and simple to strike down.

It's only when Nagito Komaeda suggests that Gundam ambushed Nekomaru and attacked him dishonorably that Gundam takes serious offense to the accusation and begins to argue back. Gundam doesn't mind being seen as an evil murderer. He takes serious issue with the implication that he would do something so deceitful and the assumption that Nekomaru did not willingly and nobly engage in their battle. After some arguing back and forth, Hajime's and Nanami Chiaki's conclusion of events finally satisfy him into a confession. Still devoted to his evil Overlord persona so he can garner no sympathy from anyone, Gundam encourages all his remaining friends to condemn him for his crime with no hesitation.

"Giving up on life and choosing death... is nothing but a blasphemy toward life!"

With his final words Gundam explains the circumstances of his face-off with Nekomaru. Gundam praises his fallen friend as courageous for dying when someone here needed to die to prevent everyone else from starving. Gundam admonishes the rest of the group for simply giving up and resigning themselves to their own deaths, hoping to inspire them to fight against their circumstances going forward no matter what.

Despite Gundam's villainous protests to the contrary, eventually his classmates realize that Gundam had much kinder intentions than he would ever admit. He committed murder so no one else would have to and he sacrificed himself as the blackened to give everyone left a future they would fight for. Believing his purpose in this world has been fulfilled, Gundam entrusts his hamsters to Sonia, and accepts his execution and death. These are the first human beings Gundam has ever been able to call his friends. Gundam's sacrifices himself to give his friends a profound appreciation for the life they have left to live and the will to fight to preserve that life against all odds.


Link to Samples: Link to Sample 1; Link to Sample 2

Chosen path: Warlock
3 Abilities:

Talent
Technically Gundam doesn't have any "powers" in canon, despite what he insists. However, his talent is described as being far beyond the limitations of other animal lovers and breeders. His talent is described as being able to tame any animal by being able to hear their voices and thoughts so he can successfully communicate with them.

Otherworldly Patron
An unknown hell hound monstrosity, who strongly resembles a creature who's namesake is an otherworldly exclamation which incites terror in the hearts of mortal men: Boo...!

Eldritch Blast
Use of magic to create a force of energy that expels from the hands.

Why this path?: Gundam's a pretty eccentric and weirdly... charismatic person who already likes to carry on like he truly does have occultist abilities. Plus my dog foretold this path for me and we must respect the will of causality.