Short Answer: Kira Yamato is called Jesus cause no matter how many times he faces situations where any human being would most certainly die from, he doesn’t die or appears to die but actually doesn’t. What also add to him being called Jesus is that fact that in Gundam SEED and Gundam SEED Destiny, being the ultimate coordinator, he almost has no equal when he gets serious in battle, showing Mobile Suit piloting skills that one may call God-tier.
Let’s take a more in depth analysis of why Kira Yamato is called Jesus, or Jesus Yamato.
Warning! Spoilers ahead!
Kira Yamato in Gundam SEED
Background
During the start of Gundam SEED, we know Kira is living the life of a student in ORB and seems to have advanced knowledge in technology and robotics, as shown when he is told by his friends that their professor was looking for Kira’s assistance on something. It was also pointed out that this was not the first time that Kira was asked by the professor to help out with something. We also know that Kira has no Mobile Suit training at this point. It’s even made more obvious that Kira and his friends, although having an interest in robotics and technology, wanted nothing to do with Mobile Suits used in war or the war itself. It is stated in a later episode of Gundam SEED on why Kira and his friends decided to live in ORB.
“What you say may be correct, that there is a war going on outside of our world, but we don’t agree with it! We dislike war! That’s why we chose to be here, in neutral territory!”
Kira Yamato to Athrun Zala
In Gundam SEED, when ZAFT commenced their attack on ORB’s space colony Heliopolis, they were faced with a young Kira Yamato that was new to the cockpit of a Mobile Suit. Despite his inexperience, Kira manages to completely rewrite the OS of the Strike as well as combat an enemy Mobile Suit and still manages to win.
In the first arc of Gundam SEED we also learn that Kira also knows that he is a coordinator. A human being that has been enhanced physically and mentally. Which can explain how Kira was able to rewrite the OS of the GAT-X105 Strike and fight an enemy at the same time. That is something that even very skilled coordinators will fail to do. An example would be Nicol Amalfi and the Blitz. When Nicol first got in the cockpit of the Blitz, he was unable to move it until he was done configuring and upgrading the OS of the Blitz. With this in mind, it gives you an idea of the mental skills and capabilities of Kira Yamato.
Later in Gundam SEED, Kira Yamato joins the Earth Forces and ironically enough, does not get military Mobile Suit training what so ever. Perhaps it is due to the fact that he is already seen as the best pilot in the Earth forces because he is a Coordinator. During this arc in Gundam SEED, Kira faces off with the ZALA team a number of times. From these Fights we can see Kira’s skills improve as well as his emotional strength.
Personality
In the start of Gundam SEED, we see an easy going and laid back Kira Yamato. A Kira Yamato that only wants peace and wants nothing to do with war. Although this may seem like the personality of an apathetic person, Kira Yamato is actually a very kind and caring individual. We also see in SEED that Kira has a strong sense of responsibility for the wellbeing of his friends, enough that he even sets himself to kill his childhood friend Athrun Zala in order to protect his current friends.
At the start of Gundam SEED up to the middle arcs, we can see an emotionally weak Kira Yamato. In these parts of the show we can see that Kira is heavily influenced by his emotions by and not his logic, which is quite ironic given that he is a Coordinator. That is not to say that Coordinators are without emotions. It’s just means that Coordinators are more level headed compared to Naturals.
However, as the story progresses, we can see Kira Yamato’s emotional build strengthen. He is no longer heavily influenced by his emotions and he knows what it is he protects now.
Fights
Kira Yamato vs ZALA team
In Kira’s first battle with the ZALA team, it was his first time piloting a Mobile Suit. To make matters even harder for him, it was technology that was new to everyone, even the Coordinators were impressed enough that some of them praised the naturals for having built something so complex as the G-weapons.
Regardless of the new technology and it being Kira Yamato’s first time piloting a mobile suit, Kira was still able to take down one of the members of the ZALA team. A pretty impressive feat for someone who was spending life as a peace loving student in a neutral space colony.
Numerous encounters with the ZALA team come after and all end with Kira Yamato fending them off. One encounter ends with Kira wounding the face of Yzak Joule, the pilot of the Duel. Another battle ends with Kira killing Nicol Amalfi.
Even though Kira is put up against four red coat ZAFT pilots, he always manages to pull off a win. Especially when he activates his SEED Factor. Things like these add to the idea of Kira being an almighty in the universe of Gundam SEED.
Kira Yamato vs Athrun Zala
This fight is what started the jokes and memes about Kira Yamato being Jesus. In this fight, both Kira and Athrun go all out. Fueled by hatred, they try their hardest to kill one another. Forget the idea that they are close childhood friends, in this moment, all they could see was an enemy that they had to kill.
Despite Kira Yamato being the ultimate Coordinator, the fight actually ends with the Aegis, Athrun’s Mobile Suit grappling the Strike, Kira Yamato’s Mobile Suit, by the torso before he ejects and the Aegis self destructs. It must be emphasized that in this fight, Athrun had disadvantages in this fight but because he was low on power. Athrun’s Mobile Suit was specially designed for close combat fighting he would have won the fight if he didn’t run out of power.
If you consider grappling the enemy by the torso and then blowing up your own Mobile Suit as a last resort winning move, then Athrun pulled it off amazingly.
KIRA ONLY HAD THREE SECONDS TO GET OUT BEFORE THE AEGIS EXPLODED.
Kira, who was in the cockpit of the Strike only had three seconds at most before the explosion happened. Take note that before the explosion, the hull of his cockpit had been torn away by the Aegis during the fight. Taking that into consideration, Kira Yamato was trapped in his cockpit and had nothing to protect him with only three or so seconds left before the Aegis exploded. Anyone watching the show or reading the manga would come to the conclusion that Kira, as amazing as he was being the ultimate Coordinator, could not possibly survive this.
However, much to the surprise and amusement of the Gundam SEED community, Kira Yamato is shown at the end of the next episode, in the PLANTs, in a bed at the Clyne residence, under the care of Lacus Clyne. In the next episode, we can see Kira Yamato wake up in a bed in the PLANTs. He has a few patches on his head but other than that, he is ok. He even gets out of bed and says that he needs to go back to Earth now to stop the war.
Adding the fact that Kira “came back to life” as well as his “God like” skills, we can see why people labelled him as “Jesus” or “Jesus Yamato”.
Here’s a video of Kira fighting Athrun to the death!
Kira Yamato in Gundam SEED Destiny
Background
In the first half Gundam SEED Destiny, Kira Yamato is not the main character as the show mainly revolves around Shinn Asuka and Athrun Zala. However Kira Yamato still plays an important role. He is shown in Gundam SEED Destiny as someone who is determined to see things right the way the say it. He is also shown as someone who understands the reasoning of other people but he still uses his power to make what he believes is right a reality. In Gundam SEED Destiny, Kira Yamato is a Mobile Suit pilot and a visionary using his overwhelming power to be heard by both the Earth Forces and the PLANTs.
Personality
Although Kira was a passive character in the first half of Gundam SEED Destiny, in the second half, Kira is more focused and determined with his decisions and actions. He sees through what he deems to be the best course of action but he is still the peace loving individual from Gundam SEED. Kira he takes a more active approach, even diving into battles that did not involve him at all.
In Gundam SEED Destiny, we can see Kira taking on the role of a vigilante. We can see a Kira that is no longer only concerned with the wellbeing of his friends but of humanity as a whole.
Fights
Kira vs Shinn Asuka
When Kira and Shinn first face off during operation Angel Down of ZAFT, Shinn comes prepared. Shinn had thoroughly studied the Freedom and practiced a battle simulation designed by his comrade, Rey Za Burrel. Shinn himself is a very skilled pilot even though sometimes he lets his emotions get the best of him. His skills are acknowledged by ZAFT as he is made a member of F.A.I.T.H.(Fast Acting Integrated Tactical Headquarters). Combining his skills and his battle plan, Shinn was able to defeat Kira Yamato in battle.
How Shinn Asuka defeated Kira Yamato is something that has been greatly discussed in the Gundam SEED community and that is because the way Shinn did it should have killed Kira Yamato right then and there.
During the final moments of the fight, Shinn took an anti-ship from the Sword Silhouette and plunged it in the torso of the Freedom. Since the cockpit of the Freedom is located in the chest area, and the anti-ship sword of the Impulse was plunged in the torso, Kira would not have died of this immediately, however, considering his Mobile Suit is nuclear powered, the destruction of the Freedom came with a nuclear explosion. An explosion that has never been seen in the Gundam SEED universe.
The explosion of the Freedom was so great that the shockwave and winds from it were enough to move the ZAFT warship, Minerva. After the blast, when the air cleared up, we see the wreckage of the Freedom floating in the sea and surprisingly, a very damaged but still managing to fly, impulse.
Two questions come to mind here.
How did Kira Yamato survive such a blast? and How did the Impulse not get destroyed when it was so close to the Freedom?
In the next episode, Kira pulls another “rise from the dead” trick. This only gave the Gundam SEED community more reason to continue to label him as “Jesus Yamato” or “Jesus Kira”.
Here’s a video of Kira Yamato and Shinn Asuka’s fight!
Interesting Topic!
Have you ever wondered why people are questioning why Kira Yamato lives through his battles that seem like certain death, but when it happens to other characters, no one really questions it?
Take the situation above, the battle between Shinn and Kira as an example. We know that a single shot from a beam riffle or a missile can damage a Mobile Suit, even if it has Phase Armor on. However, in that particular scene, even if Shinn’s battery was still in the green, he was so close to the Freedom that his Mobile Suit at the end looked like it melted. The head was destroyed by the beam saber of the Freedom and the limbs of his Mobile Suit were all blown away but his Mobile Suit was still there, flying.
I don’t know about you guys, but to me that just seems a bit too much. Then again this is Gundam SEED Destiny and if great characters die, the show would not be as great as we want it to be.
You might also like: Code Geass
What would you say if I told you that there exists a mecha anime that has smart characters, great pilots, romance, drama, comedy, action and supernatural powers, all mixed together without each part overpowering the others? I hope you say that it sounds great cause it is! The name of this anime is Code Geass! Just like Gundam SEED and Gundam SEED Destiny, this anime is another mecha that also deals with war because of race and identity. What Code Geass has however that Gundam SEED does not is it’s supernatural powers aspect. Some characters in the show poses powers that can either turn the tide of the war in their favor or be their undoing.
The most amazing thing about Code Geass though is that it’s main protagonist, Lelouch Lamperouge holds a grudge against the emperor, the conqueror of many nations, for killing their mother and abandoning them in a war-torn country. Lelouch swears that even if he stands alone, he’ll use his intellect to bring down the britanian empire and you will be amazed at how little by little his intelect helps him get closer to his goal.
If you want to know more about Code Geass, you can check out our Code Geass articles by clicking here!
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