Frau Bow

Infobox animanga character
name =
series = Mobile Suit Gundam


caption = Frau Bow circa UC 0079
first = Episode 1, ("Gundam Rising"),
Mobile Suit Gundam
last = Episode 14 ("Amuro Flies Again"),
Zeta Gundam;
ZIII: "Love Is the Pulse of the Stars" (movie compilation)
creator = Yoshiyuki Tomino
& Yoshikazu Yasuhiko (character design)
voiced by = Rumiko Ukai (Japanese)
Kristie Marsden (English, MSG)
Melissa Fahn (English, MSG I-III)

alias =
age = 15 (MSG)
22 (Z)
gender = Female
born = UC 0064
death =
nationality = Earth Federation
flag|Germany|name=German ethnicity
relatives = Fam Bow (mother, deceased)
Grandfather (deceased)
Hayato Kobayashi (husband, deceased)
Katz Hawin Kobayashi (adopted son, deceased) Letz Cofan Kobayashi (adopted son)
Kikka Kitamoto Kobayashi (adopted daughter)
divider = yes
aux1 name = Allegiance
aux1 = E.F.S.F [MSG] , Civilian [Z]
aux2 name = Rank
aux2 = "Jõto-hei", "Superior Private"
aux3 name = Mobile weapons
aux3 =

nihongo|Frau Bow|フラウ・ボゥ|Furau Bō, also known as nihongo|Frau Kobayashi
|フラウ・コバヤシ|Furau Kobayashi, is a key character from the Universal Century (UC) Gundam universe, first appearing in the groundbreaking 43-episode 1979 anime series nihongo|"Mobile Suit Gundam"|機動戦士ガンダム|Kidō Senshi Gandamu.

With the exception of a few mobile suit pilots on a reconnaissance mission for the Principality of Zeon, Frau is the first character we see and hear in the Gundam universe, even before the protagonist Amuro Ray. At the beginning of the first episode of "Mobile Suit Gundam", we see her arriving at Amuro's house in their home colony of Side 7 on the morning of September 18, UC 0079. Frau is fifteen, Amuro's close friend, and devoted to his welfare to such an extent that their neighbor and classmate Hayato Kobayashi, with a crush on Frau, refers to her as his "best friend," and is envious and resentful of him.

With Amuro's parents separated and his father Dr. Tem Ray frequently away on business for the Earth Federation's Project V, Frau takes it upon herself to make sure that the perhaps charitably-described "engineering nerd" or "mecha otaku" eats, sleeps, bathes, lives in some degree of cleanliness, and, when we first see her, follows military evacuation orders.

Frau eventually manages to alert Amuro to the ongoing evacuation and the need to leave, but when the colony is attacked by Zeon's Zaku II mobile suits, she loses her mother and grandfather -- the rest of her family -- in an explosion. Indeed, she only survives because she had been chasing Amuro as it happened to make sure he was all right.

With this pivotal and catalytic moment in the story, things change forever. Seeing Frau prostrate with grief and shock, Amuro literally forces her to run for her life -- then, deeply angered and moved by witnessing her in such pain, decides to retaliate by jumping into the Federation Forces' experimental RX-78-2 "Gundam" mobile suit.

Amazingly, Amuro succeeds at MS combat despite having only the Gundam's manual in his lap, and they both escape Side 7, along with other civilians from the colony, aboard the Earth Federation Space Forces (EFSF) ship "White Base". What follows is the story of "Mobile Suit Gundam".

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Frau in "Mobile Suit Gundam" (UC 0079)

Frau and Amuro become crewmembers of "White Base", along with Hayato and other Side 7 civilians Mirai Yashima, Sayla Mass, Kai Shiden, and Ryu Jose, along with the children Katz Hawin, Letz Cofan, and Kikka Kitamoto. Under the leadership of officer candidate Bright Noa, the "ad hoc" crew not only survives, but, with Amuro's growing skill as a pilot, becomes a serious threat to the Zeon forces and a crucial part of the last three months of the One Year War.

After "Mobile Suit Gundam" (UC 0087)

After the events of the original Gundam, Frau married Hayato, became pregnant with his child, and adopted Katz, Letz, and Kikka. During Zeta Gundam Katz is killed in the Battle of Gryps, and though she does not appear in Gundam ZZ she was tragically widowed when Hayato was killed during the Colony Drop on Dublin.

The "Zeta Gundam" movie compilation trilogy presents an alternate ending in the place of the television sequel Double Zeta "(Gundam ZZ)", however Hayato does not appear at the end of the movie.

Frau's Name

Frau Bow is the only major character in Mobile Suit Gundam to be frequently called by her full name, though she is also addressed in a more typical manner by first name only.

[http://fraubow.com (from Sanjuro Hanabatake, Histoire d'Bow)]

Like Sayla, Ryu, and Bright, Frau's given name is highly unusual, though not extraordinarily unusual for Yoshiyuki Tomino considering his penchant for naming his non-Japanese characters strangely, at least in the ears of non-native speakers of Japanese. (See "Aura Battler Dunbine"). Indeed, when "Mobile Suit Gundam" was released in Italy, the character was one who had her name changed (from "Frau Bow" to simply "Mirka"), along with Amuro, Mirai, and others.

Tomino has stated Frau is of German ethnic descent, and although the name seems oddest if primarily viewed as the title "Mrs.", it should also be taken into consideration that in German, "Frau" is used to refer to a mature woman, as opposed to an immature girl, and not solely as a representation of marital status.

However, "Frau" is also the German noun for "wife", and this could be interpreted as a comment on her significant (and thoroughly-invested) relationship with Amuro.

In addition, there is speculation that Frau's character is modeled after Jazz Age silent film star Clara Bow, both in appearance, and particularly with regard to the 1927 movie "Wings".