Kira Yamato

Kira Yamato is the main protagonist from the Mobile Suit Gundam SEED franchise.

Kira is the adopted son of Caridad Yamato and is Cagalli Yula Athha's twin brother. He pilots the GAT-X105 Strike, the ZGMF-X10A Freedom and the ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom.

Appearance
Kira is a slim-young man with a brown hair and purple eyes.

Personality
Kira has a dislike of war and conflict, he is more than willing to fight if it means protecting his friends and loved ones. Due to his kind and sensitive nature, he is said to be too soft for war. During crucial moments, he can be stubborn at times. As the series progresses, Kira becomes traumatized by the people he has killed and the ones he failed to protect, showing that he is atychiphobic (afraid of failure) and resulting in him to becoming obsessed with protecting the Archangel. After his fight with Athrun, Kira begins to wonder what needs to be done to end the conflict(s) and comes to realize that he needs to prevent as many tragedies as possible by trying to fight without killing anyone. However, he is sometimes still forced to kill on the battlefield.

By the Second Alliance-PLANT War, Kira's overall personality is calmer, mature, and philosophical. He has gained respect from soldiers in Orb's military due to his piloting skills and being the brother of Orb's ruler. Kira often acts in a fashion which would best be described as being that of the reluctant hero; this maybe due to Kira not viewing himself as a leader type, being a Mobile Suit pilot, often leaving leadership decisions to Lacus or Cagalli.

Abilities
Kira has a sharp sense and rapid information processing ability; He is shown to have great adaptability through his constant improvement of the Strike Gundam's incomplete OS to enhance its performance to match with the combat situation he faces, to include space, Earth's atmosphere, under water and desert environments. Kira has exceptional mobile suit shooting precision which has became the core of his piloting style, after acquiring the Freedom Gundam, as he always try to disable the enemy mobile suits without lethally harming the pilot by aiming for weapons or body parts except the cockpit. He was shown to be overwhelmed by the Providence's DRAGOONs at first; however, he was able to follow and predict the weapon's movement afterwards. By the end of the Second Alliance-PLANT War, Kira was able to singlehandedly shot down all of the DRAGOONs from the Legend Gundam.

While lacking any true form of military training, Kira's fighting ability developed quickly and greatly as his time in combat increases, along with his mastery of SEED mode. In contrast to his piloting capabilities, Kira is shown to be inexperienced with handguns, preferring not to use them, as shown when he throws a gun at an assailant during a terrorist attack instead of firing it. He has to be reminded by Mu to remove the safety on his gun in episode 44 while in pursuit of Rau on Mendel station. By the Second Alliance-PLANT War, however, his handgun skills have improved significantly seen in the second assassination attempt on Lacus Clyne at Copernicus City on the Moon.

Trivia

 * Like Luke Skywalker of Star Wars, he was raised by his aunt and uncle whereas his twin sister was adopted by politicians.
 * In the history of Gundam, Kira is the first protagonist character that joined his antagonist group (ZAFT) that he had been fighting against in both wars. Yet he didn't have much of a choice since his love interest Lacus Clyne becomes Chairwoman of the PLANTs. However, it should be noted that, despite being non-canon, the crew of the White Base joined the Char Aznable-lead Principality of Zeon at the end of Mobile Suit Gundam: Awakening, Escalation, Confrontation with the exception of Amuro Ray, who is killed before the story's end, and Kai Shiden, who returns to Earth, having gotten tired of the fighting.
 * Kira and Lacus were never shown to have kissed each other on the lips in the series. But in the Gundam Seed Character Theater, it was shown that Kira and Lacus kiss each other on the lips. Furthermore, Sunrise released an official image of the couple about to kiss.
 * The Astray X manga features mercenary Canard Pars, the only failed Ultimate Coordinator prototype known to survived. Canard, consumed by an inferiority complex and hatred towards Kira, and constantly thought fruitlessly searches for him with the intention to defeat him and become the true Ultimate Coordinator. During the course of the series he abandons this goal and finally comes to terms with himself. It is unknown whether Kira is aware of Canard's existence. However, the two Ultimate Coordinators meet directly each other in Super Robot Wars W, as rival at first, and as ally after Canard joins Valstrok (the battleship of the game's protagonists', Kazuma and Mihiro) as has been done previously by Kira.
 * In Delta Astray, Reverand Malchio refers towards the children playing that "Master Kira Often played with the Children". This could show more of Kira's soft side and more of his character outside of the battlefield.
 * Matt Hill voices Soarin' in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, alongside SEED voice actresses, Maryke Hendrikse who voices Spitfire, Tabitha St. Germain who voices Rarity and Chantal Strand who voices Diamond Tiara. These three voice Lunamaria Hawke, Flay Allster and Lacus Clyne respectively.
 * Kira Yamato, has been ranked among the most popular of anime characters. He's been placed first in male character rankings from issues of NewType Magazine for the last decade up until January 2015 when he was surpassed by Bellri Zenam.
 * In many installments of the Super Robot Wars franchise, Kira has been called out on his actions during various moments of both Gundam SEED and Gundam SEED Destiny. One of the more recognizable moments has Kamille Bidan, Quatre Raberba Winner, and Neon Genesis Evangelion's Shinji Ikari berate Kira when he attempts to talk down to Sai when he had the mental breakdown about how no one understands how he was thrust into a war as one of the two sole defenders of the Archangel when the rest of them assures they went through the same things as he did.
 * Kira's Japanese voice actor, Soichiro Hoshi is also the voice actor for Brera Sterne in Macross Frontier. Both Kira and Brera are rivals to the protagonists of their respective series and both pilot mecha that are technologically more advanced than most other mecha in their respective series; the ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom and the VF-27γ Lucifer. The two met and serve as formidable characters in Super Robot Wars L, Super Robot Wars Z2 Saisei-hen, Super Robot Wars Z2 Hakai-hen and Another Century's Episode: R.
 * Kira appears to be capable of displaying some newtype abilities such as the newtype flash effect when he launches Strike Freedom's Super DRAGOONs for the first time. He was also able to sense the presences of those who are also presumed to be newtypes such as Mu La Flaga/Neo Roanoke and Rey Za Burrel which also led to speculation that he is a newtype. In Gundam Musou series, Kira will become a newtype after completing some requirements in the game. But in Super Robot Wars series, newtype is not listed as one of his passive skill/ability, which still makes the uncertainty whether he is a newtype or not.
 * Unlike in the TV series, in Super Robot Wars J Kira was first aroused his SEED Factor at his battle with Andrew Waltfeld's BuCUE.
 * In some Super Robot Wars series, Kira was rescued by different characters after his brutal battle with Athrun in Orb, which resulted in the destruction of their units, GAT-X105 Strike and GAT-X303 Aegis. Only in Super Robot Wars W was he rescued by Lowe Guele, the person who saved him in the original story.
 * There is a curious occurrence of him surviving battles in his mobile suit which would normally kill the pilot.
 * In most video games such as Super Robot Wars series, every enemy units that was defeated by Kira will explode without remnants, just as if the unit was defeated by the other characters. A contradiction to Kira's habit to spares his opponents' life. However, it should be noted that one of his mainstay spells is "Mercy", which allows an opponent to stay alive with 10 HP should Kira's attack be enough to kill them, which goes along with his character.
 * In reference to his no kill rule, there is a hidden unique mechanic to his build. he doesn't gain bonus morale for defeating an opponent like other characters do, to resemble his sparing nature. To balance, kira has higher base stats, likely referencing to his status as the Ultimate Coordinator.
 * Kira won the Anime Grand Prix award as the best male anime character in 2002 and 2005, and selected as the runner up in 2003, 2004 and 2006. It was an achievement that can not be exceeded by any other male Gundam characters so far. His achievements can only be defeated by his lover, Lacus Clyne who won the award in 2002, 2004, 2005 and 2006 and won the 2nd place several times as the best female anime character.
 * Kira is second protagonist of Gundam series ever to win Animage's Anime Grand Prix Award besides Kamille Bidan who had won in Animage's Anime Grand Prix1986. Another Gundam series' character who ever won the same tribute are Duo Maxwell, Athrun Zala, Four Murasame, Elpeo Ple and Lacus Clyne, where none of them have played a role as the protagonist in their series.
 * The only moment where Kira is seen wearing the ZAFT red pilot suit in the anime is during his first action with the Freedom Gundam.
 * In the Omake Gundam Seed Character Theater, it is implied that spicy foods are Kira's favorite.
 * A recurring joke in Dynasty Warriors Gundam: Reborn had Kira depicted as being very humble about formalities, constantly dismissing formal titles and ranks from his peers and subordinates, such as Admiral Yamato and Mr. Yamato. He always replied to it with insistence that he just be called Kira.
 * The character Tusk from Sunrise's CROSS ANGE Rondo of Angel and Dragon anime is based off of Kira. Both characters have short brown hair and purple eyes, are highly skilled fighters and come from a subspecies of human that are heavily discriminated against. Both characters have also miraculously survived from sure-death encounters.