Characters

I decided to put all the characters on one page, since there's so few characters anyway. (I'm just doing the major ones--the boys, the girls, the bad guys, and a couple minor characters).

Warning: This page does contain spoilers, and now that I have seen the whole series, it contains spoilers for the whole series.

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Gawl (Gaaru in Japanese) is the character for whom the show is named. He came with Kouji and Ryo from the Earth of 2145 in order to stop Takuma Nekasa from discovering the include cell. As the strongest generator of the three, he is the one who goes out and fights the evil generators until episode 9 when Kouji and Ryo finally generate after Gawl is captured by Saito. Unlike Kouji and Ryo, he is rarely serious; in fact he likes to make jokes and generally act irresponsible. He is also very into food. When it comes to fighting, though, Gawl is a serious fighter who doesn't give up.

Gawl has a lot of trouble with Masami. Their first meeting in episode 1, where she thinks he's a stalker, doesn't go well, and things don't get too much better. He also worries about whether she'll find out their secret--in his intro to "Curiosity" he says that "either she'll stumble onto a secret she can't handle, or I'll have to kill her." This tension continues on till about halfway through the series. However, after that, the guys' mission becomes so urgent that the tension collapses, and we don't see them fight anymore.

Gawl also becomes very close to Natsume, to the point that when he finds out she has died in episode 10, the rage and sorrow causes him to generate and go into overload, so that he does not even recognize Ryo and Kouji and goes on a rampage against Ryouko's evil generators and eventually against Ryouko herself. In the end of episode 12, when it seems hope is lost, it is because of Natsume, who comes to him in a dream, that Gawl gains enough hope to help save the world and prevent the future that he, Kouji, and Ryo came to the past to prevent.

Kouji (also sometimes spelled "Koji") is the quiet, mature one of the trio. He speaks rarely, but when he does what he says is profound. In other words, he's the epitome of the phrase "still waters run deep."

Kouji is the one who realizes the trio only has three months to complete their mission (based on the date on a newspaper) and is the one who initially tries to persaude Takuma Nekasa to stop his research. He also talks to Saito about her views in episode 5.

In episode 9, Kouji finally generates and we see his generator form. It's a robot that has some human-like hair on its head that resembles his. Saito calls it (and Ryo's) an "inferior model," but Kouji seems to fight pretty well in it.

Kouji plays a pretty big role in the last three episodes. He, with Ryo, tells Masami the truth about them and about Natsume's fate in episode 11. In episode 12, Kouji helps Ryo and Masami wake Gawl up so Gawl can project his thoughts into the wormhole that was created when he resonated with the Ring Tower and help prevent the future they came back in time to prevent. Kouji also meets himself--as Kanae--in this episode. (See Kanae's bio for more).

Ryo is my favorite character in the series. While he is quiet and pensive like Kouji, he does have a passionate side, as seen when he tries to plead with Nekasa to stop his research, and also with Masami's mom about renting a room in their house. He's the computer whiz of the group; it's with his laptop that they find a place to stay. It's also because he found some records in a computer that the trio went back in time in the first place.

Ryo has a lot of unsettled things in his past. His dreams toward the middle of the series reveal that he created Gawl. But the image he sees of himself is of a menacing figure, which implies that he regrets what he did. He doesn't talk about it, though, so we'll see.

In episode 9, Ryo finally generates, along with Kouji. His generator looks similar to Kouji's, only with lighter hair. In episode 11, Ryo, along with Kouji, is who tells Masami the truth about them and their mission. In episode 12, Ryo helps Kouji and Masami wake up Gawl so Gawl can save the world. Ryo also meets himself--as Nekasa--in this episode (see Nekasa's bio for more).

Masami is the main female of the show. It is her riding by on a bicycle that brings the boys into our view in the first episode. She also adds quite a bit of comic relief to what might otherwise be a pretty serious show. But she has some character of her own. She does worry about the boys, especially later in the series when they seem to be gone from the house more often. And she is always trying to figure out what they're keeping under wraps. In other words, she's actually pretty smart. I seriously doubt Kouji and Ryo really fool her with their cock-and-bull story about Gawl training for the Olympics (when he's really fighting evil generators).

Masami lives with her mother, Keiko, in the town of Ohju, near Ohju Academy. Aside from school, she also works at Ohju Burger. Natsume is her best friend, as clearly revealed in Natsume's flashbacks and letter to the guys in episode 10. Besides Gawl, who really bugs her, Masami also seems to be on pretty bad terms with Saito; they very clearly dislike each other.

The last three episodes reveal that Masami really cares for Gawl, despite the fact that they fought a lot, since as soon as she hears about the explosion at Mount Ohju in episode 11, she apparently assumes Gawl is involved in it (which he is...the explosion was caused by his fighting while on overload) and rushes off on her bike to find him and the other guys. At some point, she almost gets crushed by an evil generator when a tall white generator saves her. When Masami looks up into the white generator's eyes, she realizes the generator is Gawl (though we get the impression here that she suspected this before but was not sure).

It is in this state that Ryo and Kouji find her shortly after. They tell her everything about them, Gawl, and their mission, as well as about the fate of Natsume, which they confirm for her by giving her Natsume's letter to read. At this last piece of news, Masami breaks down in tears.

But her sorrow is soon interrupted by the arrival of Kanae and Takuma in a helicopter. They fly by Central Mountain (the main tower of Oju Academy) where they see Gawl (as a generator) fighting Ryouko (in her generator form). Masami is distressed at Gawl's condition and at the fact that, from where she is now, she can do nothing to help him. Later, Kanae takes her, Kouji, and Ryo to the rooftop of Central Mountain so they can wake up Gawl, since there is no other way to keep the future the guys came to prevent from happening once more.

The show ends with Masami and the guys paying respects at a grave (it's not marked, but we can assume it's Natsume's), where Masami asks Gawl why he didn't just start things over (which would mean Natsume would still be alive). But he says he likes the present day. Masami agrees and promises to help the guys build a better world.

Natsume is Masami's best friend, or at least it seems so. She makes her first appearance in episode 2 ("Flowers and Girls") when Masami is giving the boys a tour of the campus. They find her in the greenhouse watering flowers.

Natsume is very quiet, preferring to be by herself most of the time. She does hang out with Masami some, though, and in a later ep gets her tickets to some sold-out concert. But Natsume spends most of her time around the boys, observing them. I think she even gets close to a generator fight once or twice, and the boys didn't seem as fazed as if it had been Masami.

It is gradually revealed that Natsume is not really human (it always happens in sci-fi series, doesn't it?). Well she is, sort of. But Saito created her (as a sort of "test tube baby") to be a living camera for her so she can spy on the boys in places her normal cameras can't reach. (Since the last three episodes tell us Natsume is a clone and that Ryouko has been known to clone herself, it is likely Natsume is a clone of Ryouko).

In episode 10, Ryouko tells Natsume to kill the boys, saying there is no one else she can depend on to get close to the boys without arousing suspicion. Natsume, however, secretly disobeys Ryouko. She writes a letter to the boys explaining everything -- that she knew who they were, that she was a puppet of Ryouko, and that now she plans to disobey Ryouko and to sacrifice herself for their and Masami's sakes. The guys try to track her down, but the last trace they find of her is her pager, lying under leaves on a cliff and clearly singed, suggesting an explosion recently occurred and that Natsume is clearly dead. This discovery causes Gawl to become enraged and to go into overload as a generator, which leads to further problems as the series progresses toward its finale.

Natsume is also very close to Masami, as revealed in her flashbacks and letter in episode 10, where she says Masami was the first person to bring her out of her shell and to call her a "best friend." She also tells the guys in her letter that she is sacrificing herself so that Masami and her mother will not be sad but will be able to live a normal, happy life.

In episode 12, we find out that Natsume is the guys' genetic mother. The eggs used in the artificial fertilization that created them were Natsume's and were saved by Ryouko in the past (2007) for the express purpose of making generators from them.

Ryouko Saito (the only character known by her full name) is the main villain of the series. She's a biology professor at Ohju Academy. Or at least she pretends to be. She is really a first-generation member of Kubere, the evil organization responsible for the misuse of the generators, and which is known as Auge (or Oju, the conglomerate that started the city of Oju) in 2007. She is a lookout for them, and that is why she traveled back to 2007--to keep an eye on the guys.

And boy does she keep an eye on them! She uses her cameras to constantly spy on them, and where her normal cameras don't reach, she uses Natsume, who she cloned (from whom, we're not told, but since it's mentioned that Ryouko is known to have cloned herself several times, Natsume may be a clone of Ryouko herself) and uses as a living camera. She also saves eggs harvested from Natsume with the intention of using them for generators later on (as was indeed done, since Natsume's eggs were used to create Ryo, Kouji, and Gawl).

In episode 9, Ryouko reveals her true intentions to the boys and discovers that Ryo and Kouji can generate as well, though they are only Phase 1 generators (a lower stage than Gawl, who, according to Wikipedia, is likely a stage 2 or 3 generator). They, however, escape her.

She then sends Natsume in episode 10 to kill them, but as Natsume doesn't do it, Ryouko ends up having to take matters into her own hands. She sends generators after a overloaded Gawl and finally confronts Gawl herself in her form as a Phase 5 generator (yes, she can generate too...who knew?). Because she is way more powerful than Gawl, she easily pins him down and extracts his generator core, without which he cannot generate and is left pretty much defenseless. Gawl manages to strangle Ryouko, though, and she turns back to normal, albeit semi-naked like Gawl. But she generates again when Kouji and Ryo (as Kanae and Nekasa) come upon her and generate in order to keep her occupied while the other Kouji and Ryo, along with Masami, run off to save Gawl.

In the end, when Gawl uses his power to destroy the wormhole, restore the world, and prevent the future he, Kouji, and Ryo came to prevent, Ryouko is destroyed by the blast. We can assume she died, as we don't see any more of her.

Kanae is Saito's mysterious partner. Little is known about him except for this. Also it seems like they do not have the greatest of relationships; they seem to disagree on some things. Kanae first appears in shadow with Saito in episode 1, then in person in episode 2.

Kanae seems to make a turn away from evil when we see him react in episode 10 to the fact that certain tubes are being stored in a special compartment by Ryouko. He later meets up with Ryo, Kouji, and Gawl and tells them things will end soon, then directs them to Nekasa's lab, where they find Natsume's letter. (My guess is that the English title of episode 10, "The Janus," may refer to Kanae, since Janus is the name of a 2-headed Roman god of "gates, doors, doorways, beginnings, and endings" [according to Wikipedia], though it may also refer to Natsume).

In episodes 11 and 12, Kanae turns good and actually helps Kouji, Ryo, and Masami get to Central Mountain to save Gawl and change the seemingly destined future that is coming. He also tells them about Natsume being the guys' genetic mother and that (and this is the big bombshell) he is actually Kouji!

What happened was that when Gawl fought Ryouko the last time (since the present they are seeing has apparently happened before), his energy resonated with the Ring Tower and created a wormhole, as it's done now, and Kouji/Kanae was sucked through it into the past (1999 to be exact). He still had his memories as Kouji, however, and went looking for Ryo, who he knew was also sucked through the wormhole, and most likely Gawl too, though Kouji/Kanae does not specifically mention him. Luckily, he had time because in 1999 include cell research had not yet begun. He then changed his name to Kanae and went undercover, becoming Ryouko's assistant at Oju in order to gain her trust and find out her plans.

But he was not able to do anything about her plans, even when he found Ryo, who came to Oju Academy as the molecular biologist Takuma Nekasa, because Ryo had lost his memories. So he bided his time and waited till the Ryo, Kouji, and Gawl we know came to Oju, and then, when the time was right, he put his own plans into motion -- namely helping Ryo, Kouji, and Masami out so the future he knew would come if something wasn't done could be prevented.

Takuma Nekasa is a minor character in Generator Gawl (showing up only in episodes 2, 4, 9, 11, and 12), but he is really important to the plot. He discovered the include cell that made making generators possible in December 2007. But the boys are out to thwart this research by going back in time to talk him out of it. They thought they'd have a year to do it, but instead they only have three months, and Nekasa isn't budging, claiming his research will be a huge jump for mankind from an evolutional standpoint.

In episode 12, it is revealed that Nekasa is really Ryo! When Kouji/Kanae got sucked through the wormhole, Ryo/Nekasa did too, but unfortunately for Ryo, he landed in the past with no memory aside from a very little memory about the include cell. He joined the staff at Oju Academy as a molecular biologist named Takuma Nekasa so he could study and research the include cell. When he first came to the Academy, Kouji/Kanae, of course, recognized him immediately. However, seeing as Ryo/Nekasa had no memory of being Ryo and might reveal their identities to Ryouko if he did remember who he and Kanae really were, Kouji/Kanae did not try to recruit him in the cause of stopping Ryouko's plans.

This revelation causes the Ryo we know to become greatly ashamed, realizing he was the one who created the include cell they were trying to prevent from being created. Kouji also says that Nekasa being Ryo made sense because the technology of 2007 was not at a point to come even close to creating the include cell, but someone from 2145 Earth -- like Ryo -- would know about it and be able to put it into play in the past.

Keiko is Masami's mom. She and Masami live in a small Japanese-style house near Ohju Academy. I think it is a sort of boarding house, which is why it was listed in the student housing directory for Ohju. We don't really learn much else about her, except that she does yoga. Also her husband is nowhere to be seen, so I'm guessing she's a divorc�e, or maybe had Masami out of marriage...but the divorce thing sounds more likely.

Keiko doesn't show up very much. She's in the first 2 episodes, episode 7, and the last 2 episodes, but that is all.