Touma Kanou

Touma Kanou is a fictional character in the Super Robot Wars series. He has appeared as a playable character in Super Robot Wars Alpha 3. In canon, he pilots the DaiRaiOh.

Personal Data

Name: Touma Kanou
AKA: Toujin
Voice Actor: Yasuyuki Kase
Status: Human
Affiliation: Alpha Numbers (Alpha 3)
Personal Relatives And Affiliations: Minaki Tomine (Love interest)
Mecha: RaiOh (Alpha 3), DaiRaiOh (Alpha 3)
Theme Song: Toushi, Hatenaku ("Fighting Spirit Without Limit", used when piloting the RaiOh), Shippuu Jinrai ("Swift Wind, Divine Thunder", used when piloting the DaiRaiOh)

Personality And Traits

Touma Kanou is a hot-blooded character, has a strong sense of justice, and is probably one of the most innovative Banpresto Original pilots, as he invented new, stronger attacks with each upgrade to his machine (Rising Meteor and JinRai to RaiOh and DaiRaiOh, respectively). In Alpha 3, Touma is initially trained by Tetsuya Tsurugi of Great Mazinger and Guy Shishio of GaoGaiGar, and then later hones his skills with many pilots from almost all the Super Robot series (e.g. Kazuya from Tosho Daimos and Fan Li from Gaiking - the Alpha Numbers encompasses several gifted athletes). In his battles against the Balmarians, he develops a fierce rivalry with Baran Doban.

History

Touma Kanou works as a part-time delivery boy. While delivering goods to the Tomine Labs, the Balmarian begin their second invasion of Earth and attacks the city where the labs reside. Taking no chances, Minaki Tomine, the daughter of the lab's director, persuades Touma to pilot the experimental RaiOh robot, in order to fight the invaders. Although Touma has no piloting experience, the strength of the machine is more than a match for the Balmarians, and he successfully defeats them. He then joins the Alpha Numbers, and receives piloting training from Tetsuya Tsurugi and Guy Shishio.

At times, the LIOH System within the RaiOh would kick in, feeding Touma large amounts of adrenaline to power his attacks and increase his piloting abilities. But continued usage of the system takes a heavy toll for him, as he goes berserk in one mission, and begins to attack his allies. It would take Sanger Zonvolt in his Dygenguard to bring him under control. Seeing that the LIOH system cannot be used for Touma, Minaki replaces it with the Direct Motion Link System, giving him easier maneuverability and control with the machine. In addition, Touma invents the Rising Meteor attack, surprising the Alpha Numbers at the speed of his training and skill.

The conflict with the Balmarians would create a rivalry between Touma and notable Balmarian Baran Doban. His encounters with Baran and his Bemidoban would result in the RaiOh severely damaged after one sortie. This would give Minaki the opportunity to finally give the robot its intended upgrade. The DaiRaiOh would eventually roll out, customized so that only Touma would be its pilot - in fact, any other pilot would have trouble simply "walking". Its power becomes incomparable to the obsolete RaiOh; to emphasize, in its first sortie, Touma destroys 100 Balmarian units single-handedly with ease.

Touma and Baran would do battle again, but ends up having his DaiRaiOh damaged, with parts of the armour over the right eye destroyed, leaving behind a distinctive scar. Touma requests that the scar stays on the DaiRaiOh, but Minaki equips an eye-patch over it. After one sortie, which ends up having Touma taken to the medical ward in the Archangel battleship from injuries during battle, Touma becomes increasingly depressed that he doesn't have enough strength with the machine to fight his enemies, and asks Minaki to reinstall the LIOH system. Although unwilling at first, she complies and has the system built back into the DaiRaiOh.

Hazal Gozzo and his Vaikran would prove too much for the Alpha Numbers in one battle, and Touma activates the LIOH system in order to face him, but ends up being beaten back. However, he refuses to be defeated once again, and musters up all his courage and skill, along with the encouragement from his allies, to stand up and keep fighting. This flow of emotions completely overpowers the LIOH system, to the point where the system's limits are practically broken by Touma's own strength. With Minaki activating the plasma drive in the machine to its maximum, he delivers the thunderous, new JinRai technique to Hazal, driving him and his forces to retreat. With a new attack at his disposal, Touma, filled with greater determination to win, leads the Alpha Numbers to the Balmarian homeworld to end the war against Earth.

He and his allies manages to defeat the spirit emperor, Ruach Ganeden, but Keisar Ephes was still a threat to Earth, if not, the entire galaxy. Touma would eventually deliver the final attack to Keisar Ephes, in coordination with Sanger as Keisar Ephes threatened to harm Minaki, and destroy him. Though both Touma and Sanger would almost be considered missing in action after the destruction of Keisar Ephes, both of them managed to return safely. The events of Alpha 3 concludes with Touma, now working as a pilot for experimental robots for the Tomine Labs, under Minaki's supervision.

Notes

In Alpha 3, if Touma Kanou is not chosen as the main character, Sanger Zonvolt would become Baran Doban's combat rival for the duration of the game.

Touma also made a cameo in Super Robot Wars Original Generation Gaiden.