Shin Matsunaga

Infobox animanga character
name = Shin Matsunaga
series = Mobile Suit Gundam


caption = Shin Matsunaga as depicted in Gihren's Greed
first =
last =
creator =
voiced by =
alias = White Wolf of Solomon
age = 24
born = UC 0055
death =
nationality = Principality of Zeon
relatives =
divider = yes
aux1 name = Allegiance
aux1 = Principality of Zeon
aux2 name = Rank
aux2 = Ensign
Lieutenant
Lieutenant Commander (after being declared MIA)
aux3 name = Mobile weapons
aux3 = Gelgoog Jager
Gyan
MS-06F Matsunaga Custom
MS-06R-1 Matsunaga Custom
MS-18E Kampfer Shin Matsunaga Custom

A fictional character from the Universal Century timeline of the anime Gundam metaseries.

Background

In the Mobile Suit Gundam fictional world, Shin Matsunaga was a Zeon ace pilot during the One Year War. When his talent was recognized, his mobile suit's head and left shoulder were painted white, thus giving him the nickname The White Wolf ("Hakurō" 白狼), which was later expanded into "The White Wolf of Solomon" when it became clear the space fortress Solomon was his base of operations. For much of the war Shin served as the bodyguard of Vice Admiral Dozle Zabi, whom he greatly revered, during the Admiral's frontline inspections. His mobile suits included a Zaku II, Gelgoog Jager(Officially he never had a Gelgoog Jager), and a Gyan (Which was never used if he had one at all.). Ironically, he was not at Solomon when the battle occurred, having been recalled to Side-3 shortly before the operation began.

Shin's nickname "White Wolf" came not only from his white colour scheme, but also his preference for close combat. His most well-known tactic was using his Mobile Suit's generally superior thrusters to move in close to a target and then use his Heat Hawk to carve it into pieces. This was very effective against warships, once he was close enough he no longer had to worry about their powerful beam cannons and their close combat weapons were often too weak to do any significant damage.

Shin is also reputed to be a "defensive Newtype".

Gundam Evolve

In Gundam Evolve: 09 there is a character code-named Grey Wolf who pilots a yellow Zeta Gundam. While his name is never specifically stated, his physical appearance matches that of Matsunaga. In addition, he is referred to as a former Zeon ace pilot and a Grey Wolf emblem similar to Matsunaga's White Wolf emblem is located on the Zeta's shield.

The Zeta's yellow colour is the result of being covered in the same anti-beam coating as AEUG's Hyaku Shiki. While understanding the value of such a coating, it does not stop Grey Wolf from complaining that he wanted the Zeta to be coloured Grey.

Interestingly, Grey Wolf does not seem to have strong Newtype abilities; while two other pilots are able to sense the approach of a Psyco-Gundam, he is not. During the subsequent battle, Grey Wolf pilots his Buster Zeta into the mobile armor in an attempt to expose the enemy's movement patterns to White Unicorn, another Zeta pilot.

Two other Zetas in the same movie; one is coloured in the purple-and-white colour scheme of Amuro Ray (and Amuro himself is implied to be the pilot) and the other is painted in the red-and-black colours of Johnny Ridden (though it is a young Newtype girl named Yurii Ajissah who is piloting it).

External links

* [http://side7.gundam.com/whitewolf/ Unofficial Fansite]
* [http://side7.gundam.com/rgz/chara/matsunaga.html Unofficial Biography]