Mikazuki Augus

Mikazuki Augus (三日月・オーガス Mikadzuki Ōgasu?, commonly called Mika) is the protagonist of the Mobile Suit Gundam IRON-BLOODED ORPHANS television series. He is a member of Tekkadan and former member of the third group of Chryse Guard Security and is the pilot of the ASW-G-08 Gundam Barbatos.

Personality & Character
Mikazuki is a calm and collected individual with a head for the big picture.[1] He has an easygoing personality and is devoted to his comrades.[2] He is cold-blooded to his enemies, fighting them, particularly Gjallarhorn, without any sense of honor. He is deeply loyal to his friend Orga Itsuka, and steadfastly follows any order or request without question. On the other hand, due to his background as a child soldier, he has difficulty interacting with people outside of Tekkadan and has a limited understanding of girls and relationships.

Because of his aloof personality and difficult childhood, Mikazuki has trouble interacting with others in topics that do not directly involve warfare; even if he is working to be more open about his emotions. Also, he seems to favor violence whenever he comes across an enemy, whether he represents a threat or not. For example, in his fight with Crank Zent, he refused to show sympathy towards his opponent, who clearly showed remorse at having to fight children, because he had killed his comrades. Another instance of his repression was when he attempted to strangle Gaelio Bauduin for almost running over Cookie and Cracker Griffon, even when it was an accident and the twins desperately begged him to stop. This is eventually brought to attention when Kudal Cadel accuses him of enjoying killing people. Mikazuki is subtly, yet visibly disturbed by this.

Starting from the death of Biscuit, he developed a vengeful personality. He declares whoever blocks his way is his enemy and he will fight to crush them instead of fighting for survival, and will press Orga into allowing him to do so.

Skills & Abilities
Mikazuki is the most experienced mobile weapon operator in CGS, thus he was assigned to pilot the Gundam Barbatos.[1] He has received the Alaya-Vijnana System surgical treatment three times and survived.[3] The system grants excellent spatial awareness and is required to pilot the Gundam Frame based mobile suit (such as the Barbatos) to their full potential.[3][4] Thus, Mikazuki had high compatibility with the Barbatos.[3] In the battle against Graze Ein, Mikazuki managed to obtained higher reaction speed from the Alaya-Vijnana System, leading to Barbatos having better movements. However, this came at the cost of his sight in the right eye and the use of his right arm although they recover their function when he enters Barbatos.

He never attended school and thus could not read or write[3] but Kudelia is in the process of teaching him how. Mikazuki hopes that one day he would be able to read all-sorts of books so he can learn about vegetables. This is so he can own a farm like Biscuit's grandmother does, as he once told Orga.[5]

P.D. 315
An orphan who lost his parents, he was in an alley way with his friend, Orga Itsuka where they had an encounter with a hostile person. Orga's right arm was wounded and his head was bleeding. Mikazuki fired his gun at the man and killed him before he could harm them any further. While the recoil made him fall on his back, he wasn't injured and was eager to ask Orga what to do next. Orga responded saying they need to leave as far away from that place as possible and find a place where they truly belong. When Mikazuki pressed on as to what that place is like, Orga became flustered but said that he didn't know but they would eventually find out.[6]

Some time later, he and Orga were recruited into Chryse Guard Security and placed in the third group. As both of them were illiterate, they received Alaya-Vijnana system implants to process the data required to pilot Mobile Workers. The implants would also prove to be useful when Mikazuki later pilots the Gundam Barbatos. Out of the ten people including Mikazuki and Orga who were given the surgical procedure without anesthesia at the time, only six survived unscathed while the others were either crippled or died from the surgery.

P.D. 323
Using his custom TK-53 CGS Mobile Worker, Mikazuki was in a practice match against fellow mobile worker pilots including Akihiro Altland. He easily shoots down nearly all of his training partners and comes out with no paint rounds on his machine. Mikazuki's group was later selected as the escorts for Kudelia Aina Bernstein. Later on, she introduces herself to the third group, and requests Mikazuki to show her around. During the tour, she wanted to shake hands with him, but he rejects since his hands were dirty. He implies that they are not on equal terms to begin with.

Gjallarhorn assaults the CGS Base during the night, and Mikazuki quickly deploys out on the battlefield to counterattack. As the battle gets worse, he rushes up into the enemy frontlines and is joined by Akihiro, together they eliminated all of Gjallarhorn's Mobile Workers in close combat. In the midst of the battle, three of Gjallarhorn’s EB-06 Graze appear, and Orlis Stenja begins his attack on the CGS mobile workers for sport. Mikazuki asks Orga about their next step, and he is ordered to fall back. Mikazuki was then seen approaching the Engine Room which houses the ASW-G-08 Gundam Barbatos. He waits as Nadi Yukinojo Kassapa places the Alaya-Vijnana System/Mobile Worker cockpit into the Barbatos' empty cockpit. Afterwards, they start up the machine and Mikazuki receives a feedback shock from the system and a nosebleed. Meanwhile on the surface, Orlis’s Graze is about to strike at Orga. Barbatos appears and pummels the Graze with its mace killing Orlis instantly.

The remaining Graze pilots were momentarily stunned, but they quickly regained their composure. Crank Zentthen asked Ein Dalton to back him up as he charges towards Mikazuki/Barbatos. To counter the attacks, the Barbatos hovers over to the retreating Gjallarhorn Mobile Workers, making it hard for Ein to shoot at Mikazuki without hitting his allies. They then engage in close combat as Crank Zent joins in. As Nadi had forgotten to refuel the Barbatos thrusters, the Barbatos begins to run low on fuel. Crank noticed the Barbatos' thruster problem, and later escaped with Ein by exploiting it. Mikazuki then received another bout of feedback shock from the Alaya-Vijnana System and his nose starts bleeding. Despite this, he tried to chase after the two retreating mobile suits but soon faints. After some time, he wakes up in the Gundam and then walks back to the CGS Base passing by Atra Mixta.

Kudelia gives her gratitude to Mikazuki for protecting her, but he coldly replies that he doesn’t need it. She expresses that she feels responsible for the numerous deaths of his allies, but he responds, “They all died because of one mere person like you? Don’t look down on my comrades.”

Later on, Mikazuki is working on Gundam Barbatos when Orga asks him for a favor. He takes the gun without hearing the details, and tells Orga that he will do what he decides on.

After the CGS' First Corps wakes up from eating a meal with sedatives in them, they are greeted by Orga, Mikazuki, Biscuit, Eugene, and Norba from CGS' Third Corps. During their mutiny, Mikazuki shoots Haeda Gunnel, commander of the First Corps and defies Sasai Yankus without hesitation. Third Corps then takes over CGS and after settling down, the alarm goes off. Crank Zent of Gjallarhorn’s Front Line Troops appears and requests a duel between him and CGS. Mikazuki is then “told” by Orga to kill him and deploys in Gundam Barbatos. The two Mobile Suit pilots then greet with each other’s name and rank as the battle begins. Mikazuki eventually deal a serious blow when he launched the 'Needle' (a spiked rod) from the Barbatos' Mace into the chest of Crank's Graze. As Mikazuki was about to deliver the final blow, he sees Crank as the Graze's cockpit armor was lost during the earlier attack. He then gets out and points his gun at Crank. Crank requests for Mikazuki to kill him since he can’t end his own life due to his severe wounds. Mikazuki accepts but he notices Atra’s lucky charm bracelet on his left wrist, and hides it behind him. He then proceeds to fire at Crank before the latter could complete his thanks to Mikazuki. After that, he enjoys the scent of Atra’s bracelet. Mikazuki returns back to base and likes the company’s new name, Tekkadan.

Few days after the battle, Mikazuki continue his usual routine just as before. He then worked with Nadi to service the Barbatos. The duo was then visited by Orga and Biscuit, and Nadi told them he would do as much as he can on the Barbatos considering it is hundreds of years old, and that he is only a mobile worker specialist. The next day, Mikazuki notices that Kudelia looks troubled and invites her to Biscuit’s Grandmother’s cornfield. At the cornfield, Mikazuki meets with Atra and he thanked her for the bracelet. He later grabs onto Kudelia as she lost her balance while harvesting the corn. He was glad to hear that Kudelia was feeling better and told her how cheaply the corns were being sold. He also revealed that Biscuit's salary was used to help maintain the cornfield, and they talked about the Human Debris. A while later, Cookie and Cracker screams as tires skid and Gaelio comes out to see if the girls are alright but instantly has his throat caught by Mikazuki. While the angry Mikazuki has Gaelio faintly calling for help, the girls recover and inform that Mikazuki has misread the situation. While Mikazuki apologizes, Gaelio throws a punch out of anger and misses. Both McGillis and Gaelio then notice the Alaya-Vijnana System implants on Mikazuki’s back/upper spine. McGillis questions about the activities related to CGS’ Battle but Biscuit and Mikazuki act as local commoners and denied knowing anything. The group (Mikazuki, Biscuit, Kudelia, and Fumitan) return back to the base and notice the new Tekkadan’s insignia in the form of a red flower replacing the CGS logo.

During the night time, Mikazuki takes his turn keeping watch and is visited by Kudelia. They then have a conversation. The next morning, Atra appears with her belongings proposing to work as a Tekkadan cook. Mikazuki lets her in the group by stating how delicious her cooking is and receives additional Mars Palms. After Tekkadan launched into space and is surrounded by Gjallarhorn space forces, Mikazuki deploys out of the space shuttle in the Gundam Barbatos to retaliate against the attack. He draws the Grazes away from the shuttle and avoids damage with his movement. Coral then decides to engage in close combat and manages to overpower Barbatos, however Mikazuki is saved by the timely arrival of the Graze Custom piloted by Akihiro. Coral meets his end as Gundam Barbatos launched the mace's needle into the Graze's cockpit. Mikazuki then continues his attack on the remaining Grazes, backed by Akihiro. Gaelio and his Schwalbe Graze later appears and engages Mikazuki/Barbatos. McGillis also sorties with his Schwalbe Graze later and noted that Mikazuki's evasion pattern is not in any attitude control system. He then attributes it to the Alaya-Vijnana System, and notices that Barbatos' back thruster's Nanolaminated Armor is more worn out. He then proceeds to attack this weakness, but MIkazuki quickly catches on to his plan. The two Schwalbe Grazes gave Mikazuki a hard time, and he was forced to eject the Barbatos' left forearm armor to free the Barbatos of the McGillis' Schwalbe Graze's wired claw and avoid a fatal blow. The Barbatos was then restrained by the wired claw fired from Gaelio's Schwalbe Graze and was pulled towards Mar's atmosphere. Through their exchange of communications, Mika and Gaelio recognizes each other. Mika calls Gaelio 'the one next to chocolate man', with the 'chocolate man' being a reference to McGillis as he had gave some candy to Cookie and Cracker as an apology after the accident at the cornfield. Mikazuki managed to free Barbatos and hit Gaelio's Schwalbe Graze with the mace when the Barbatos charges towards the latter. Mikazuki and Barbatos was then picked up the Isaribi and escapes.

Relationships
He and Orga have known each other from a quite young age. They have an incredible loyalty to each other, each motivating the other to reach their full potential.[1] Mikazuki obeys any order or plan Orga poses, without question. Their deep trust allows them to cover each others backs, and is their greatest strength. She has a crush on Mikazuki.[2] Kudelia seems to have taken a liking to Mikazuki, commonly coming to him for advice.
 * Orga Itsuka
 * Atra Mixta
 * Kudelia Aina Bernstein

Notes & Trivia

 * Mikazuki (三日月?) is the Japanese word for "Crescent Moon". When he talks to Kudelia in the CGS control tower in episode 5, this fact is one of the reasons why he wants to visit Earth; so he can see his namesake with his own eyes. The fact it is transliterated as Mikazuki in Latin differently to the way it is pronounced, Mikadzuki (みかつき?) is highlighted in episode 6 by Elgar and Embi who are learning how to read and write with, Mikazuki, Takaki and two other children under the guidance of Kudelia.
 * His family name Augus (オーガス?) has the same Katakana as the titular mecha of the 1983 anime Super Dimension Century Orguss.
 * In February 2016 issue of NewType magazine, Mikazuki Augus was ranked the second best male character.[7]
 * Mikazuki's personality resembles that of Mobile Suit Gundam Wing protagonist, Heero Yuy, and Mobile Suit Gundam 00 protagonist, Setsuna F. Seiei . All three have loyalty towards their friends, are merciless killing machines towards their enemies, and are the pilots of the titular Mobile Suit of their respective series. All three also share a similar lack of emotion shown externally, leading many to believe that they are emotionless.