Katz Kobayashi

Infobox animanga character
name = Katz Hawin Kobayashi
series = Mobile Suit Gundam
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam


caption =
first = Episode 1, Gundam Rising (MSG)
last = Episode 50, Rider in the Skies (MSG-Z)
creator =
voiced by = Fuyumi Shiraishi (Japanese, MSG)
Cathy Weseluck (English, MSG)
Keiichi Nanba (Japanese, MSG-Z)
Sean Broadhurst (English, MSG-Z)
Daisuke Namikawa (Japanese, MSG-Z I-III)
alias = None
age = 8 [MSG]
15 [MSG-Z]

born =
death =
nationality = Earth Federation
relatives = Frau Bow (adoptive mother)
Hayato Kobayashi (adoptive father; deceased) Letz Cofan Kobayashi (adoptive brother)
Kikka Kitamoto Kobayashi (adoptive sister)
divider = yes
aux1 name = Allegiance
aux1 = E.F.S.F [MSG]
AEUG [MSG-Z]
aux2 name = Rank
aux2 =
aux3 name = Mobile weapons
aux3 = RX-178 Gundam Mk-II
MSA-003 Nemo
MSA-005 Methuss
FXA-05D G-Defenser

Katz Hawin Kobayashi is a fictional character from the anime series Mobile Suit Gundam and its sequel Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. In the first series, he was one of three children on board the "White Base". Seven years later in Zeta Gundam, he joined the AEUG in their fight against the Titans. Although he had skills as a pilot, his naviete and recklessness made him a thorn in the side of his superiors and ultimately led to his downfall.

Mobile Suit Gundam

When the colony where the Earth Federation had spearheaded their top secret V-project came under attack by Zeon mobile suits, Katz boarded the White Base along with dozens of other civilians, including Letz Cofan and Kikka Kitamoto. Separated from their mothers, the three children quickly attached to Frau Bow who looked out for their welfare throughout the rest of their time on "White Base". When their ship was docked in Jaburo, Katz and the other two children ran off from the rest of the crew and stumbled upon the factory where the Earth Federation had built dozens of new mobile suits, the RGM-79 GM, right when some Zeon soldiers were planting bombs to blow them up. When the children were discovered, the Zeons tied them up and left them to die when the factory exploded. However, the children managed to untie themselves, collect the bombs, and drive off in a jeep with Letz at the wheel. They were soon joined by Amuro Ray, Kai Shiden and Hayato Kobayashi, who helped them finish the job. Afterward the Jaburo personnel strongly recommended that the three children stay on the base, but they preferred to stay on the White Base with Frau and the others. The children later played a crucial role in helping Amuro escape the destruction of A Baoa Qu in the final battle by using their Newtype powers to guide him. After the war, they were adopted by Frau and Hayato who were later married.

Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam

Seven years later during the Gryps Conflict, Katz along with Frau (who by this time was pregnant with Hayato's child) and his adoptive siblings paid a visit to Amuro. While the rest of his family was respectful towards Amuro, Katz was disgusted by what he perceived as his former hero's cowardice and made that perfectly clear to him. He and Amuro later joined up with Hayato along with some other members of Karaba and the AEUG on board the "Audhumla". However, after another fight with Amuro, Katz impulsively stole the Gundam Mk-II when the Audhumla came under attack by Titans pilot Rosamia Badam. Although Katz helped drive Rosamia off, his recklessness nearly cost him his life and got him reprimanded by Hayato. Unfortunately, Katz failed to learn from this experience and continued to make all sorts of blunders later on when he went up into space with Char Aznable to join the AEUG. He did, however, learn to keep his guard up after his infatuation with Titans pilot Sarah Zabiarov caused him to let her escape the "Argama". He also saved the plight of Kamille Bidan when he was about to be captured by Jerid Messa and Mouar Pharaoh and when Kamille was about to be killed by Yazan Gable, which warrants a mere warning by Henken Bekkener not to sortie without permission like he had done in this battle. Yet throughout the rest of this conflict, Katz continued to let his emotions get the better of him and cause him to shoot his mouth off whenever he disagreed with his superiors or sortie without permission. He saves Kamille again when he and Sarah were about to be killed by Jerid in the Byalant and Sarah later comments that he has become a lot stronger since their last encounter. Katz retorts that it was all thanks to her deception. Nevertheless, Katz still harbors feelings for Sarah and skips a meeting in order to observe her while she is sitting in the brig just before the battle where she escaped again. At one point, he attempted to kill Paptimus Scirocco out of hope that Sarah would think more clearly, but instead he inadvertently killed her when she took the shot that was meant for Scirocco. Although it was his fault that Sarah died, Katz blamed her death on Haman Karn and he again sortied without permission when Kamille went off to fight her. Seeing that it would have been futile to simply tell Katz to go back to the "Argama", Kamille threatened to shoot him if he didn't. He backed off on this threat when Fa Yuiry intervened, but Katz once again nearly gets himself killed when he tries to take out Haman. In his final appearance during Operation Maelstorm, Katz saved Emma Sheen from Yazan Gable. At one point, however, he loses his concentraton and crashes into an asteroid, sending his Core Fighter out of control and causing him to lose consciousness. Yazan fires at the Core Fighter and sends it on a definite crash course with Katz still inside. Before that happens, Katz has a vision of Sarah who tells him that despite everything that happened, she was glad that she met him and assures him that they will be together again. Katz finally dies when his Core Fighter crashes into another asteroid, but his spirit reappears to warn Emma about the impending danger when Yazan is about to shoot her from behind. He also reappears alongside Sarah and several other characters who died during the final battle between Kamille and Scirocco.