How do you feel about the main Tekkadan cast individually? :D
Do you think that the young member's hero worship of Mika made Mika uncomfortable or happy?
What, all of them? Sure, OK...
You didn't specify your criteria for 'main' here, so I'm afraid you're getting everyone with a sizeable role (my calibration of this is completely thrown after doing a whole deep-dive into all the crowd-fillers and extras). I've tried my best to write the first thing that comes to mind for each; there is of course a lot more to say about almost all of them. Spoilers, naturally, for everything in Iron-Blooded Orphans.
Mikazuki Augus: A perfectly ordinary lad, at least by his own assessment. That absence of ego means he doesn't see anything special about his capabilities, only caring how well he fulfils Orga's intentions. Equally, he does not judge other people by abstract standards, seeing them only for what they are. There's no room for prejudice when you don't have pretty stories to cloud your eyes. It makes him harsh and kind by equal measure. The world isn't a nice place but you don't have to respond with cruelty. Indeed, Mika cares far too much. That is what makes him a horror rather than a saint - the embodiment of the curse, "I would do anything for you."
I imagine he would receive the hero worship of the younger members with typical equanimity. He wouldn't understand why would anybody aspire to be like him. But it would be beyond his power to change, so why give it any further thought?
Orga Itsuka: If McGillis is the child who never grew up, Orga has the opposite problem. Haste is his great sin, ingrained by a lifetime stuck between a rock and a hard place. He lets Mika's belief weigh down on him until it crushes his good sense, then piles body after corpse upon his conscience, the price of trying to lift them to a better place. A more experienced person might have simply gone mad with grief. Orga never learned how to treat it as anything other than a spur to bigger and bolder gambles. In that, perhaps he is a good leader. But not the kind to build a lasting future. He needed somebody to tell him it was OK to slow down, and didn't listen when they tried.
Biscuit Griffon: Orga's right hand to Mikazuki's left. The angel to his devil? That would imply anything could have arrested the perilous dynamic driving his two friends. And they are friends, truly, the kind who can hurt each other deeply. Biscuit's death draws out Mika's anger like little else and the final disagreement preceding it sends Orga into a tailspin. Biscuit has better sense than them both, hearing the prophecy in his brother's suicide confession, realising they are reaching too far, too quickly. His home, his family, a perspective the others lack, lends him a more common kind of sense. Yet he follows his friends into hell even so. Doubting, yes, but never hesitating.
Akihiro Altland: A tragic figure, almost comically so. Everything about Akihiro is exaggerated save the personality underneath. He knows he's doomed from the start and time and again the universe takes from him, driving the point home. Does he dare to hope again after Masahiro, wrapping himself in the machine that killed his brother? It's not clear he ever dreams further than delaying death for as long as possible. But he does learn to live in the time he has. To be a decent person, to tell others they are cared for, to be truly seen in return. And at the end waits a death with meaning, a scarp of justice making all the difference to someone who was never less than human.
Eugene Sevenstark: The archetypal hypocrite, saying one thing while meaning another and yet who does that fool? Orga trusts Eugene enough to place lives in his hands, seeing through the yapping barks and pigtail-pulling. If Eugene had as much faith in himself, he'd be unstoppable. As it is, he is merely competent, doing what needs to be done while envying his leader so badly, he can't say what needs to be said. Orga was supposed to be better than him. Why, then, does everything go wrong? Eugene understands. That's his burden. He understands and thus holds back until it's too late to do anything except pick up the pieces. Maybe one day he'll be able to stop.
Norba Shino: The proof 'playing the fool' can be a conscious decision even for those prone to doing it on instinct. Shino is more observant than he appears, shifting to suit the needs of others, cherishing them for who they are. Does that help with believing nobody could feel the same about him? Would that then offset where it leads him, another human sacrifice, another body fed to the guns? He's as polyamorous as Mika, sharing his heart freely with engines of destruction, blood boiling, soul on fire. The pain lies in his realising there was room there for something flesh and blood as well, in selfish promises made oh so sweetly, toasts offered but never drunk.
Atra Mixta: Braver than most and less sheltered than many. She shares with the boys an enthusiastic embrace of notions taken from older people who seem to have their stuff together, coupled to a rock-solid sense of basic practicality. You better believe she doesn't get bullied when she's in charge of feeding everyone, and that she's making sure to delegate the housekeeping while she's stuck processing Important Relationship Data. Honestly, the fact she has Hush whipped into being her gopher inside a handful of episodes says everything you need to know. Loves Mikazuki and Kudelia in exactly equal measure, stubbornly reaching for the stars whatever the world puts in the way.
Takaki Uno: The Good Boy in a story that refuses to play by the rules of heroic narratives. It's little wonder he breaks, although in the final analysis this is for the best. Everybody in Tekkadan tries to follow the rules as they understand them, of life, of manhood, of survival. Takaki is the first to grapple with the disconnect between what he thought he should be doing and what he actually wants. Being a soldier was always a means of looking after his sister. Watching Aston die shatters the illusion it could also be the path to a happy future. Better a pencil-pusher than a king, if it means he and Fuka can flourish in peace. Better to seize the life-ring offered than stay on course for the iceberg.
Chad Chaden: A straightforward sweetheart if you ignore the grim comprehension of his place in the grand scheme of things. Chad's often very teenage behaviour - worrying he's left out of the gossip back on Mars, the way he follows Eugene's melodramatic lead over money not buying love - contrasts with the resignation depicted in the first frame where he appears and his no-nonsense, quick-thinking attitude on the battlefield. This is not someone who hesitates when there's a fight to be had, who nevertheless spirals when placed in a social context. It's another of many cases where Tekkadan members exemplify the contradiction inherent in 'child soldier'.
Ride Mass: Too damn young for this, with all the deceptive confidence that entails. He'd argue he's as capable of the others, which only adds to how messed-up it is that this is his life. Curiously, Ride possibly has more schooling under his belt than others in his cohort: he isn't present at Kudelia's lessons yet seemingly reads off Yamagi's pad with no problems in the second season. What he definitely possesses is artistic talent, his graffiti habits inspiring or directly causing the Isaribi's redecoration. Imagining where that might take him in a kinder world is a dead-end question. He exists in this world and no doubt, after it's all over, he's still claiming to be exactly where he wants.
Yamagi Gilmerton: Deserves to wear the Iron Flower as much as anyone else. Yamagi's key characteristic is competence. He is a capable mechanic. He can do basic chemistry at the drop of a hat. He scales a downed mobile suit. He works hard during battles, taking the lead among his fellow grease monkeys. Not to mention that he's sharp-tongued enough to throw sarcasm at Yukinojo and the new recruits alike. More than that, though, he believes in Tekkadan, in fighting for what they have, in keeping going because to do otherwise would betray the dead. Important though it is, reducing to him to his crush on Shino does him a disservice. His rage at Orga encompasses so much more.
Aston Altland: Mika to Takaki's Orga, the emphasis placed on what happens to him as the possibility of a better life looms over his existence. Galan Mossa compares Aston to a dog but what he experiences is a very human mistrust of welcoming embraces and fine words he's no framework to navigate. He dies wishing he didn't have to go, cursed with the knowledge he had something to live for, and the worst of it is that he isn't Mikazuki, granted the solace of beliefs fulfilled. Aston smiles in the face of oblivion, destroyed by his own reflexes. The only comfort is that his death strips the scales from Takaki's eyes, pushing his friend out of danger for good.
Dante Mogro: The kind to compensate for having been shoved to the bottom of the heap by trying to prove he's better than that. From his glee at hacking the Hammerhead, to trying to pilot Barbatos, to wanting to paint kill-counts on his mobile suit, everything Dante does has an egotistical bent to it. And yet he winds up looking after kids at an orphanage, giving them the care he was denied, as human debris. There's a story there, one that happens off screen and in the gaps between what is shown. More than anything, he serves to show variety in reactions to terrible circumstance. You wouldn't think to look at him that he'd once been a slave. Perhaps that's the point.
Derma Altland: Afflicted by the same struggles as Aston yet even before they leave the Brewers, he was the more optimistic of the set. That morbid talk of reincarnation suggests someone seeking hope in despair. His reaction to Akihiro's words of comfort too, giving in to the tears and the vulnerability - here at least there is a straight line to passing that down to the next generation. It's the biggest triumph in the series that some of those found in the direst of straits make it out the other side, finding a place to be, if not perfectly happy, then comparatively content. That's what the pain and death was for, ultimately. Derma embodies this, missing arm and all.
Hush Middy: Not quite the protagonist of another tale. Hush has the makings of a Standard Issue Hero, with his childhood trauma over a dead best friend and his ambition to prove himself. Yet he comes up short in temperament, ultimately a follower, a caretaker, a second-fiddle. Mikazuki is whatever's necessary to carry out Orga's orders; Hush only aims for 'better than Mikazuki'. It's not a matter of training or experience or exercise reps that defines the Devil of Tekkadan (who is of course not 'heroic' in the sense being toyed with here). Hush lacks the drive, belief, the absolute faith necessary to even come close. But he keeps trying his best, right up until it kills him.
Zack Lowe: A different kind of fool. Zack comes to Tekkadan for glory, with seemingly no clue what he is letting himself in for. He's socially a cut above the rest and isn't even an orphan: his dad gives him other options, although he chooses not to consider them until it's clear how bad things have gotten. Reality takes a while to sink in, the good and the bad, his idolisation of those around him and confusion at how they act gradually eroding down to simple concern for them. That's why it hurts him, to see plainly the dreadful reality they're rushing towards. What he misses is that everyone else sees it too. They simply lack the things he so casually left behind to join them.
Dane Uhai: What makes somebody irredeemable? The blood on Dane's hands is not explored, merely stated, to underline that this is the only place he could find a a second chance. There's no way to assess his past sins, which he obviously regrets and wishes to escape. But what would an assessment mean, weighed against his stoic, calm, even friend demeanour in the present? He is surrounded by other killers, selling their souls for tomorrow, whose humanity is centred, never overlooked or forgotten. Each character on this list gives us a different angle to study it, to understand. It should be no surprise that they would understand Dane in turn and welcome him into their family.
10 Years have passed since the McGillis Fareed Incident, and democracy is at a shaky edge of existence within the perma-military organization "Gjallarhorn"
Two women will rise to meet an impossible challenge, and come face to face with the pillars of their respective societies, and the darkness contained within....
I'm finally getting through my backlog of commissions after a very busy and stressful time in my life and a friend had asked for a Iron-Blooded Orphans inspired piece and so this is what I came up with. I really wanted to lean into the "messy print" aspect in this piece and I think I did well. Hope I did the Tekkadan boys proud alongside all you IBO fans out there! Thanks for looking!
P.S. My commissions are still open! Looking to pay off just a few more things and get more settled into my new apartment!
