Anavel Gato
Nightmare of Solomon
Appearances
Manga	PoYC Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Hero of Stardust Nightmare of Solomon Gundam 0079 - Nightmare of Solomon Go! Go! Our V Gundam
Photo Novel	Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory (Novel)
OVA	Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory: Episode #1 - #13
Game	Mobile Suit Gundam: Encounters in Space
Voice Actor
Japanese	Akio Otsuka
English	Kirk Thornton
Profile
Hair Color	White
Age	25
Birth Date	0058 U.C.
Died	November 10, 0083 U.C.
Status	Killed in Action
Gender	Male
Love Interests	Nina Purpleton
Affiliation	Principality of Zeon Delaz Fleet
Occupation	Mobile Suit PilotMobile Armor Pilot
Rank	Lieutenant Commander
Mobile Weapons AMX-002 Neue Ziel MS-06R-1A Zaku II High Mobility Type MS-09F Dom Funf MS-09R Rick Dom MS-14S Gelgoog Commander Type MS-14A Gelgoog RX-78GP02A Gundam "Physalis"

Anavel Gato (アナベル・ガトー, Anaberu Gatō^?) is a character appearing in the anime OVA series Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory, set during the Universal Century time line of the fictional Gundam universe. He is voiced by Akio Otsuka in the original Japanese and by Kirk Thornton in the English dub.

Background

Anavel Gato is a member of the Principality of Zeon's elite palace guard unit, the 302nd Patrol Squad. During the One Year War, at the Battle of Solomon, Gato earns the nickname "Nightmare of Solomon" for singlehandedly holding off an Earth Federation pursuit force while Zeon forces retreat. Rumor has it that Gato was lured away from the main battle due to the misconception that the Gundam had been destroyed. He joins Aiguille Delaz's fleet late in the war, and withdraws with Delaz and his supporters after Gihren Zabi's assassination at the hands of Kycilia Zabi, his sister. He returns to the earth in October of UC0083 to seize the RX-78GP02A Gundam "Physalis", and later uses this Mobile Suit's nuclear weapon against the Earth Federation's Naval Review.

Gato is a skilled pilot and a man of few words. Throughout Operation Stardust, he repeatedly clashes with the Federation pilot Kou Uraki. Gato is mortally wounded inside the captured colony cylinder as he reprograms the thrusters to enable the colony to fall on North America. At the conclusion of Operation Stardust, Anavel Gato orders the remaining Zeon troops to charge for the Axis Advanced Fleet. Although they fight bravely, most of the Zeon pilots attempting to break through Federation lines are killed, including Anavel, who chooses to kamikaze the AMX-002 Neue Ziel into one of the Federation's Salamis-class cruisers.

During Operation Stardust, Anavel Gato has command of his own fleet, which is centered around Gato's flagship, the Musai-class cruiser Peer Gynt. His fleet is destroyed at the conclusion of the operation.

Although Gato is the series' nominal antagonist, he is a man of honor and a soldier through and through who cares for his comrades, and seeks to vindicate the memory of his family and friends who died at the hands of the Earth Federation. Unfortunately, this is countered by his sheer fanaticism toward Zeon's (i.e. Gihren's) ideals, such that Gato has no qualms committing wanton genocide against Earthnoids (which is one of Operation Stardust's focuses with its colony drop) as long as its in the name of Zeon's "freedom" and "independence". In fact, much like Delaz, he is heavily biased in his claims for Zeon and against the Federation, such that he willingly ignores the late Principality's own atrocities during the One Year War alongside certain events, namely M'Quve's attempted nuclear missile attack at Odessa (which invalidated Delaz's revelation that the Federation violated the Antarctic Treaty with the Physalis as, beside the fact the treaty had become defunct after the OYW, Zeon violated the treaty first and when it was still active) and the fact Side 3 held independence long before the One Year War.

In spite of his bias and questionable morals however, Gato ultimately proves right about the intentions of the Earth Federation, whose corruption emerges in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (albeit not without incentive from Operation Stardust).

Gallery

Anavel Gato (Gundam Perfect File)

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Trivia

• In the PS2 video game "Mobile Suit Gundam: Encounters in Space", Gato's Gelgoog is depicted as using an unique prototype beam rifle which is longer and more powerful than the standard Gelgoog rifle. In the game, his English voice is provided by Ted Cole.
  • The prototype beam rifle also appears in various SD Gundam G Generation games.
• In the PS2 video game "Mobile Suit Gundam: Encounters in Space", after completing the first half of Mission 2 in Anavel Gato's Ace Pilot story, Char Aznable, "The Red Comet", will offer you support in the MSN-02 Zeong. If the player accepts, Gato will poke fun of the fact that the Zeong has no legs, and Char will simply reply, "According to the engineers, the legs were just for show."
• In a "what-if" scenario in the PS2 video game "Mobile Suit Gundam: Encounters in Space", Anavel Gato engages Amuro Ray as one of the potential bosses in Stage 3 of the White Base campaign during the Battle of Solomon. Although the battle between the two ends in a stale-mate, Amuro comments that Gato could have finished him off if their battle had gone on longer.
  • Obviously this is quite apocryphal as Amuro was powerful enough at that stage to go against other Newtype pilots like Char and Lalah, whereas Gato, for all of his skill, was still an Oldtype along the same lines of Ramba Ral, the Black Tri-Stars and Dozle Zabi.

• Gato's callsign "Walfisch" is the name of an uninhabited German island, in the Bay of Wismar in the Baltic Sea. Walfisch also means 'whale' in German.

• Anavel Gato also appeared as a NPC in Dynasty Warriors Gundam, piloting his custom Gelgoog. He comes back as a playable character in Gundam Musou 3, piloting the RX-78GP02A Gundam "Physalis".