bushidork | App for Jaeger Academy

OOC Information

Handle: Bennu
Over 18?: By lots
Preferred means of contact:

himewako, AIM - mofunari

Character Information

Character Name: Sugane Tachibana
Character Age & Birthdate: 19, August 2, 2001
Character Canon: Gatchaman Crowds

Character AU History:
Sugane was born and raised in Miyagi prefecture in Japan. He led a normal, happy childhood and had big dreams of taking over his father's kendo school one day (or at least being captain of the kendo club all the way through middle and high school.) However, it was not to last. In 2011, while Sugane was at school, the Tohoku earthquake hit. Sugane's school was badly damaged in the quake, and it seemed like he might not survive. It was only through the brave efforts of a young rescue worker that he was saved at all. The man stayed with him and did all he could for him. When seeing Sugane's tears, the man told him not to cry and that instead he should find someone to protect himself one day. Sugane has held those words close to his heart ever since.

Sugane lost not only his school, but his home and his parents in the quake. Orphaned, he was sent to live with relatives in Tachikawa in Tokyo. He tried to keep in contact with his savior over the internet during that time, but after about four years, his messages stopped being returned. That was when Sugane decided that it was time to stop relying on the person who saved him and to start working on following his words instead. He applied himself even more to his schoolwork and his martial arts training with the intention of joining the police force or the army. However, it was around this time that the PPDC started hiring pilots for the Jaeger Program. Sugane was immediately captivated by the idea. What red-blooded Japanese youth doesn't want to pilot a giant robot, after all? Becoming a Jaeger pilot became his new dream and he's been working on preparing himself to follow it ever since.

Upon completing high school, Sugane immediately submitted his name to every testing center he could, finally landing himself the chance to prove himself. The Academy being opened in Valparaiso was the chance he needed, so now he finally has a chance to make his dreams come true and become someone who can protect not just “someone,” but “everyone.”

Character Personality:
Sugane is the quintessential “straight man,” the person who manages to be grounded, serious, straightforward, and normal no matter how strange things around him get and who doesn't hesitate to balk when the strangeness goes a little too far for his comfort. In canon, he takes dealing with aliens and being a superhero in stride, but when faced with an artistic free spirit who thinks out of the box and defies social conventions, he's reduced to flailing, screaming mess when faced with her various shenanigans. Sugane himself is very by the book. He takes himself and his life seriously, applies himself fully to his studies and his training, and doesn't allow much time for frivolity. He can laugh at other's jokes, but isn't really one to make them himself. He can produce an art project if assigned one, but there is a distinct lack of creativity or originality in the things he produces.

Sugane is a good soldier with a great deal of respect for the chain of command. He is never shown to act without orders or to protest what his superiors tell him to do. He feels that existing systems and sets of rules are in place for a reason and doesn't really question what that reason is in most cases. If it's what's necessary to keep things running smoothly and keep things in order, he'll go along with it. However, that doesn't mean he's rigid in his thinking or dogmatic in any way. If something spurs him to reexamine a situation or a way of thinking, he's more than capable of changing his mind and finding his own answer. However, he won't change his mind on anything unless he has the chance to evaluate it on his own and make his own conclusions. Simply telling him that he's wrong and you're right isn't going to cut it. He needs to come to an understanding on his own.

Sugane's way of thinking is criticized by Hajime in canon as being “straight ahead all the time” and while he does learn to broaden his horizons a bit, this will always be essentially true. Though, as said before, he's capable of reexamining his thoughts and coming up with new answers, the quickest way between two points for him will always be a straight line. His observations of situations and the solutions he's able to come up with are neatly shaved with Occam's razor. For example, when he sees a man not give up his seat for an old woman on a train, he's angry because he sees it as rude and disrespectful towards one's elders and feels that the man should stand, but he's scolded by Hajime because he hasn't taken into account the fact that maybe the man himself is sick and needs the seat, an assumption he'd never think to make on his own.

All his seriousness aside, Sugane is very enthusiastic and tends to throw himself headfirst into whatever he chooses to apply himself to. He also has a tendency to go a bit overboard in his enthusiasm and and use his flashiest skills not so much out of the desire to impress others, but more because he's giving 110% when only 90% is really necessary to get the job done. He generally doesn't go overboard and need to be reined in, but he can come off as trying too hard or showing off by people who don't understand that it's not ego driving his actions.

Sugane is the sort of person who latches onto their heroes and admires them, but doesn't necessarily idolize them. When he's saved by Jou in canon, he focuses on to what he told him: to “make sure he protects someone someday, too.” He devotes himself to learning how to fight with a sword and become a hero himself, rather than trying to copy how Jou fights or trying to get him to notice him. It pleases him to no end to be praised by someone he admires, but it isn't something he actively seeks out. He's more concerned with improving himself on his own terms. He also doesn't put his heroes up on a pedestal. When Jou withdraws emotionally and refuses to fight in canon, it's clear that Sugane disapproves, but he gives him his space and it doesn't affect his own fight at all. In fact, he's the one who reminds Jou of what being a hero means and inspires him to return to the fight.

Why is your character joining the Jaeger Academy?: Sugane wants to be a hero and protect people. It's as simple as that. If it catches the eye of the man who saved him back then and he manages to prove himself to him, that would be the best bonus ever, but it isn't something necessary for him. What's important to him is keeping Earth safe from Kaiju.

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