Cagalli Yula Athha

Cagalli Yula Athha (transliterated as Kagari Yura Asuha [カガリ・ユラ・アスハ] in the original Japanese version) is a character from the Cosmic Era timeline of the fictional Gundam anime metaseries. She is voiced in the original Japanese version by Naomi Shindou and by Vanessa Morley in the English dub. Template:Spoiler Cagalli Yula Athha is the adopted daughter of Uzumi Nara Athha, Representative and "Lion" of the Orb Union. She is also Kira Yamato's twin sister, although neither sibling was aware of this until late in the Bloody Valentine War. While Kira is a genetically-altered "Coordinator", it is generally believed that Cagalli is a "Natural", which is stated in her official bios on Sunrise-run websites.

Gundam SEED

Trip to Heliopolis

In the original Gundam SEED series, Cagalli is first seen disguised as a civilian in Morgenroëte, the military factory where the Earth Alliance's secret mobile suits were being developed. The colony was subsequently attacked by ZAFT forces, who were quite eager to secure the new weapons. Upon discovering the units, she cried that her father was a traitor, presumably for letting Orb develop weapons for the Earth Forces. This was when she met Kira Yamato for the first time since they were separated at birth. Just prior to the destruction of the colony, Kira pushed her into a lifepod.

With the Desert Dawn

Cagalli reappeared later in the Bloody Valentine War as a member of the Desert Dawn Resistance Movement in ZAFT-occupied northern Africa. Here, she revealed her true identity for the first time as Cagalli Yula Athha, the daughter of the Orb Union's Chief Representative Uzumi Nara Athha. So in actuality, Cagalli was the Princess of a neutral Earth Nation, although she had decided to fight with the Resistance Movement in Africa on her own terms. During this time, she also encountered Kira Yamato again as he spent time on Earth with the Archangel ship. Initially, they seemed to clash with one another. When Cagalli first lays eyes on him since the attack on Heliopolis, she slaps him in the face because she had been so worried about him and was shocked to see him piloting a mobile suit. She later apologizes for her reaction, although her apology hardly sounds sincere.

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Cagalli furious after seeing Kira again

After a legion of ZAFT's BuCUEs under the command of the dreaded Desert Tiger destroyed the town of Tassil, Cagalli and several other members of the Desert Dawn recklessly chased after them. Several of the resistance fighters, including Cagalli's friend Ahmed El-Fasi, wind up getting killed. It should be noted that in the novelisation of Gundam Seed, it was Cagalli who suggested the chase in the first place; she apparently did not care that with the Desert Dawn's limited firepower, open warfare with BuCUEs will be suicidal. However, her blind optimism in the anime, along with her mindless retorts against Mu La Flaga (which gave the resistance members false hope), nonetheless contributed to the deaths of the Desert Dawn members, including Ahmed's. (The young boy tagged along with her for the chase. When one of the BuCUEs flipped the jeep they were in, Kisaka managed to leap off the vehicle, carrying Cagalli. Ahmed, however, was not so fortunate.) Fortunately, Kira arrives just in the nick of time to save Cagalli. After the battle, Kira gets out of the Strike Gundam and asks Cagalli what they are doing and says that it's foolish to die in the desert for nothing. She calls him a bastard and cries out that everyone fought bravely, pointing to Ahmed's body. Kira slaps her and asks her what she thinks they can possibly protect with only their feelings.

However, Cagalli and Kira soon become quite close as they shared a friendly affection for each other. When the two of them are sent to gather supplies, a twist of fate lands them in the headquarters of their adversary, Andrew Waltfeld, the Desert Tiger.

As Kira and Cagalli sit down for lunch, and she tells him that his love interest Flay Allster asked for fancy creams and lotions that are impossible to get. A waiter serves them lunch, and Cagalli explains to Kira that it's a kebab. As she is about to put chili sauce on her kebab, Andy rushes in and insists that she should use yogurt sauce instead. They both try to get Kira to use their sauce and end up covering his kebab with both of them. On a nearby rooftop, Blue Cosmos terrorists prepare to attack Andy. They fire a bazooka at Andy, and he kicks up a table and knocks Kira and Cagalli onto the ground. As more terrorists rush in with machine guns, Andy and his men pull out their guns and fight back. Kira picks up a gun and throws it a terrorist aiming at Andrew and then kicks him. Andy thanks Kira, and when he takes off his sunglasses and hat, Cagalli realizes who he really is.

Andy brings Kira and Cagalli with him to the palace where he is headquartered. Though they want to leave, he wants to thank them and clean up Cagalli since she is covered in chili and yogurt sauce. When they go inside, Andy has his girlfriend Aisha take Cagalli away to be cleaned up. He pours himself and Kira some coffee, and Kira examines a miniature of the space whale fossil. Andy identifies it as the 'Evidence 01 Whale Stone' and says it's an interesting piece. It is proof that extraterrestrial life exists in deep space, but he finds it troubling: Though it looks like a whale with wings, why would it have wings? Cagalli sits in a bathtub while Aisha picks out a dress for her. (In the Special Edition of SEED, this has been retconned into a shower scene that contains a bit of fanservice.) Kira and Andy discuss the whale, and Andy says that it's at the root of the war between Naturals and Coordinators. Aisha brings in Cagalli in a nice dress, and Kira calls her a girl. When she gets mad, Andy and Aisha laugh at them. After a tense exchange between Andrew and Cagalli where the girl questioned Andy's motives, Andy asks Kira how, as a mobile suit pilot, he thinks the war will end. He pulls out a gun and asks Kira if a war ends by killing all enemies. He says he saw Kira fighting and knows he's a Coordinator, which surprises Cagalli. He says that Kira may fight like a berserker, but he can't escape from a palace filled with Coordinators. He also says he doesn't know why Kira is fighting his own kind, but as long as he pilots the Strike Gundam, they're enemies. He puts the gun away, claiming that his home is not a battlefield where they are enemies and tells them to go home. Although the sequence of events after the assassination attempt is most certainly a plot by Waltfeld to confirm his suspicions of their identities, Cagalli's blurting when Andrew reveals his guess of Kira being a mobile suit pilot only serves to affirm Waltfeld's suspicions, not only of Kira being the pilot of Strike, but also a Coordinator.

Later, while traveling on the Indian Ocean, Kira remembers his encounter with Andy and their final battle. He thinks about the death of George Allster and the destroyed civilian shuttle and begins to cry. Cagalli comes out on deck and finds him crying, so she hugs him and tells him everything will be okay. She finds herself holding his hand and tells him not to get the wrong idea, she simply wanted him not to cry anymore. They sit down together, and she asks him why he is with the Alliance when he is a Coordinator. He remembers being asked that many times. She asks about what Coordinators can do, and Kira says that their abilities come from studying and training, not just by virtue of birth. Flay walks out to the deck and stops when she hears their voices. She goes back into the hallway and takes off her uniform jacket. She goes outside in her undershirt tied in a knot and asks Kira why he didn't invite her out. She then holds him and asks him to come inside. Cagalli decides to leave to stay out of their way, and Flay eyes her jealously.

First encounter with Athrun Zala

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Cagalli Yula Athha after meeting Athrun

Sometime later, Cagalli's FX-550 Skygrasper craft was shot down after aiding the Archangel as a pilot in a brief battle against ZAFT forces. In a twist of fate, she was marooned on an island with ZAFT mobile suit pilot Athrun Zala. Initially enemies, they soon called a truce in order to co-exist with one another. However, their different view points pertaining to the war clashed and it didn't seem that they would ever agree. Yet, by sharing their varying opinions, both Athrun and Cagalli began to experience an inner revelation- Was this war really necessary? It was evident how quickly one tragic battle was used as justification for more killing. It was another sad reminder of the needlessness of war for both parties. Not long afterwards, both Athrun and Cagalli were rescued off the island. But, when they parted it was more with fondness than anything else. Little did they know that they shared a mutual friendship with Kira Yamato and would be seeing each other again on several occasions. It's during these encounters that an affection seemed to be growing between the two. Later in Orb, Cagalli tries to help Kira's internal suffering by reuniting him with his family, but he refuses to see them at that moment, telling her to apologize to them for him. Cagalli's worry over Kira's health and state of mind culminate in her embracing him tightly before he left Orb with the Archangel, telling him not to die and to come back to see her again.

Second Encounter with Athrun

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Cagalli shocked after learning that Athrun and Kira were best friends

After an intense battle where Kira and Athrun almost kill each other, Cagalli finds the latter lying unconscious on a beach. When Athrun regains consciousness, Cagalli points a gun at him and demands to know what happened to Kira. In a daze, Athrun laments that he killed Kira and is upset that he had to take such action against his own former best friend. When Cagalli angrily demands to know why Athrun would do such a thing, he snaps back that Kira killed ZAFT comrade after comrade and his anger at Kira finally reached a head with Nicol Amarfi's death. Cagalli responds by passing on the same teachings her father had long attempted to pass onto her, screaming at Athrun that killing for vengeance will never bring peace but simply more conflict.

Before releasing him back to ZAFT, Cagalli gives Athrun the green stone that her late friend Ahmed El Fasi (who had unrequited romantic feelings towards her) bequeathed to her and says she doesn't want anybody else she cares about to die.

Later when Kira returns to Orb aboard the Archangel after acquiring the ZGMF-X10A Freedom, a tearful Cagalli embraces him and knocks him to the floor. Cagalli then beats him up, calls him an idiot and sorrowfully tells him that she feared she'd never see him again. Kira assures her that he is indeed alive and that he kept his promise to come back which shocks yet comforts her almost immediately. Kira then explains what happened between him and Athrun. Firstly, he killed Nicol, but in the next battle Athrun killed his friend, Tolle Koenig, while he was piloting the FX-550 Skygrasper, the same one formerly piloted by Cagalli no less, which makes her shudder.

On Board the Archangel

Cagalli eventually joined the crew of the Archangel when the ship arrived to Orb shortly before the Earth Alliance invaded her country. During the invasion, Athrun joined the fight in the ZGMF-X09A Justice, the Freedom's brother unit. He was originally sent to retake or destroy the Freedom, but instead he helps Kira and the others stave off the Earth Alliance. After doing so, a tearful Cagalli runs up to Kira and Athrun as they meet face-to-face and hugs them both.

Although they finally manage to patch things up, this happy reunion is quickly ruined when the Earth Alliance attacks again and Uzumi Nara Athha sacrifices his life in order to prevent them from getting their hands on the mass driver. Before that happens, however, he gives Cagalli a photograph of her and Kira when they were babies - in the arms of their birth mother, Via Hibiki - and tells her that although she is leaving her father, she won't be alone, for she will be with her brother.

In the final phases of the Bloody Valentine War, she piloted the MBF-02 Strike Rouge as a member of the Three Ships Alliance. Although she is a Natural, in battle she is also capable of going into SEED Mode like Kira and Athrun, as evidenced when she avenges the deaths of Astray pilots Asagi Caldwell and Juri Wu Nien. In SEED mode, she is comparable in combat skill to her brother (as he normally fights).

During their time together as part of the Three Ships Alliance, Athrun and Cagalli begin to develop romantic feelings for one another. Before the final battle, Cagalli declares that she won't let Athrun die. She also will not allow Kira (or in her own words "That guy who's probably my little brother") to die either. During the final battle, Cagalli saves Athrun's life in the destruction of GENESIS by reminding him that he has the courage to keep on living, causing Athrun to vacate the set to self-destruct Justice, board the Strike Rouge and escape with her. Together, they find Kira floating in space not far from a heavily-damaged Freedom; after they both shed tears of joy, they proceeded to rescue Kira and recover the Freedom so that it can be rebuilt.

Gundam SEED Destiny

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Representative Cagalli Yula Athha on the bridge the Minerva

Two years later, Cagalli reappears in Gundam SEED Destiny...

After the war she was appointed Representative of Orb, but was manipulated by Yuna Roma Seylan to endorse the alliance between the Earth Alliance and Orb, an alliance that eventually forced Orb to deploy their units against ZAFT forces. With Yuuna and Cagalli betrothed from young age, by their parents' arrangement, Yuuna also tried to marry her. Just before the ceremony, Kira "kidnapped" Cagalli and took her again on the Archangel. At first Cagalli lashes at out at her brother and friends, claiming they've made a foolish move that is bad for Orb; this is answered by Kira, who accuses her of being the one who has made a mistake in allowing Orb to side with the Earth Alliance, making them definite targets to ZAFT. Cagalli tearfully acknowledges her mistake and is comforted lovingly by her brother Kira. She assumes a bridge position, taking the communications role previously held by Miriallia Haw (who would take over again upon returning to the crew at a later date).

The Archangel left Orb, now Alliance territory, and hid underwater until the Dardanelles Battle, where Cagalli in her Strike Rouge tried unsuccessfully to stop Orb's units from attacking ZAFT units. With some encouragement from Lacus, she would try again to stop Orb in the Battle of Crete, although she would eventually fail again. At the end of the Battle of Crete, a few defecting Orb soldiers under the orders of the late Captain Todaka joined the crew of the Archangel. Cagalli also used the Strike Rouge to fight in the Battle of Berlin and later used it to retrieve the injured Kira Yamato after the Freedom is destroyed by the Impulse and its battered cockpit fell into the sea with an unconscious Kira still inside.

When Archangel arrives at Orb, she receives a new high-performance ORB-01 Akatsuki mobile suit that was constructed for her on the orders of the late Uzumi Nara Athha to replace her Strike Rouge after Kira has to take it into space to protect the Eternal. With the new Mobile Suit, Cagalli is able to lead a strong counter-attack against ZAFT and also able to keep Shinn's Destiny at bay long enough for Kira to arrive in his new Strike Freedom along with the Infinite Justice (initially piloted by Lacus for its landing but soon brought into battle by the injured Athrun) and force ZAFT out of the area. After Orb forces defeat the ZAFT assault in the Second Battle of Onogoro, Cagalli presents a global television broadcast, but is interrupted when "Lacus Clyne" pirates her broadcast. Shortly thereafter, the real Lacus reveals ZAFT's duplicity on global television.

Afterwards because she would be too busy with her responsibilities as Orb's leader, Cagalli was forced to remain behind in Orb when the Archangel was to head into space. However, Cagalli handed over the Akatsuki for Neo Roanoke to use in her stead. She also entrusted her friend Meyrin Hawke to take care of Athrun Zala for her and removed the ring he had previously given her. Cagalli spends the remainder of the series coordinating Orb and watching the final battle at Messiah.

Fan Reaction to Destiny, FINAL PLUS Addendum

Many fans of Gundam SEED Destiny were outraged that out of all the original characters from Gundam SEED, Cagalli seemed to have the worst lot. Namely, this included being manipulated by the Seylans, her frequent crying spells (with her freezing up versus taking action like she would have in the previous series), and her absence from many battles. This is understandable, in a sense, since Cagalli was placed in many no-win situations and had to struggle with Uzumi's legacy, as well as her own coming of age and the rude awakening that meant seeing Shinn's side of the story. Even after this character problem appeared to be 'rectified', following her reunion with the Archangel's crew, her rescue of Kira, subsequent appearances in battle and how she took over Orb definitely, the ire lingers on.

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Cagalli and a PLANT representative in a peace conference (C.E. 74)

A new OVA was aired on December 25 2005 that tied up some loose ends in the Cosmic Era storyline. The OVA added in a scene where Cagalli embraced all of her friends one-by-one before they left Earth, including Athrun. This is shown after the scene in episode 45 where Cagalli removed her promise/engagement ring Athrun gave her. Overall, the scene did show Athrun and Cagalli fans hope for the future, though it appears she is not shown wearing the ring again. She has apparently decided her duties to Orb are more important at this time than her romantic relationship with Athrun. Though the relationship is a work in progress and Meyrin and Athrun are not romantically together at the end of Final Plus, Cagalli's absence from the final scenes of Final Plus that involve Athrun is suspect that the Athrun and Cagalli relationship will need a lot of work in future. More substantial closure/restoration of the matter may be covered in the upcoming Destiny Special Edition, which is said to retell the story solely from Athrun's point of view.

In the manga series Gundam Seed Destiny: the Edge (which shows Athrun's side of the story as well), Athrun was depicted as in love with Cagalli, but he didn't know how to express it, or if he should do so (He's aware of Yuna's politically-arranged engagement with Cagalli.). On Cagalli's part, she knew that "Alex" had feelings for her but didn't know if they were romantic in nature (a not so subtle reference to her twin brother's relationship with Lacus Clyne in Gundam SEED though in Destiny the two finally did enter an actual relationship, whether Athrun and Cagalli will end up the same way is not yet known). Also, in this series, Cagalli removed Athrun's ring much earlier (before her marriage ceremony with Yuna in fact).

Trivia

• The first time we get a hint to Kira & Cagalli's true relationship is in Episode 14 (the recap show). A woman (Caridad Yamato) is shown clutching infants Kira & Cagalli during a flashback. The image is also shown on the back of the 3rd Gundam Seed DVD (US release).

• Her early and later revealed relationships to Kira may be a nod to the similar relationships and revelations of Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia from the Star Wars series. Her bathing scene and subsequent wearing of a dress in Andrew Waltfeld's home may also be a nod to Leia's "court dress" scenes in Jabba's palace.

• She is referred to as the "Goddess of Victory" during her stay with the resistance group, Desert Dawn.

• Her image song, Precious Rose is performed by Shindou Naomi (her voice actress), and is featured on the second "SEED Suit Drama CD."

• A running gag in SEED is that she is sometimes mistaken for a boy. This isn't just because of the character's tomboyish nature and apparel; Shindou Naomi usually provides the voices for young boys in other anime series. It should also be noted that in most of these situations almost ended up with the person who said it was facing the ugly end of Cagalli's fist.

• Before knowing her true identity, both Kira and Athrun had been rough to her (Kira slapped her in the desert while Athrun tried to kill her on their first meeting.).

• Compared to her brother Kira and lover Athrun, Cagalli's marksmanship abilities with firearms appear to fall somewhere in the middle. Her marskmanship is better than Kira's (not to mention she actually knows to take off the safety well before rushing into danger) but pales in comparison to Athrun's. Hilariously, after seeing how Kira prefers to use guns (as throwing objects), she later emulates this action during the time she was marooned with Athrun.

• Despite the fact that she and Kira Yamato are twin siblings, she insists that Kira is her "little" brother. This is most likely due to his meek nature in the first series. It should be noted that Kira was taken from his mother's womb early in his development and placed into an artificial womb while Cagalli was born as a Natural in her mother's womb, so the two could literally have been born at the same exact time.

• According to an interview with the director, her name is named after Japanese word kagaribi (a watch fire or a bonfire).

• Shindou Naomi also voiced Eileen Canaver, the deputy leader of the moderate faction of the PLANT Supreme Council, in Gundam Seed. This may be a nod to Cagalli and the ideals of Orb. (peace/neutrality)
• There are several references to "dawn" in groups/objects around her.

1. Her love interest, Athrun Zala's first name means dawn or daybreak.
2. The last mobile suit she pilots, the Akatsuki, means "dawn" in Japanese.
3. The resistance group she joins is known as the "Desert Dawn'.
4. The disastrous counterattack after the ZAFT attack on Tassil took place at dawn.
5. The company that built the original 5 Gundams, Morgenroete, is based in Orb. "Morgenroete" is German for dawn.
6. The song that plays while Cagalli and Athrun clash at their first meeting (SEED Phase 24), and at the end of the First Battle of Orb, in which Representative Atha sends Cagalli away before his sacrifice (SEED Phase 40) is titled Akatsuki no Kuruma (Wheels of Dawn). The album cover of said single also shows Cagalli, according to Amazon.com's listing.

• Also, she has links to the colour red as well.

1. The "Rouge" in the name of her first mobile suit means red in French.
2. Her love interest, Athrun Zala, mostly pilots MSes which were either red or pink.
3. Her image song is "Desert Rose"; roses are mostly known for the red colour.

• She rescued both Kira and Athrun twice. For Kira, she did both her rescues while piloting her Strike Rouge (once at the end of Gundam Seed, where the Freedom was badly damaged by Rau Le Creuset, and again in Destiny, after Kira's defeat by Shinn Asuka). For Athrun, she rescued him after his detonations of his MSes (She picked up an unconscious Athrun after the detonation of Aegis and persuaded him to leave with her on the Strike Rouge before Justice detonated.).

• In the prelude (Phase: 00) of the manga series Gundam Seed Destiny: the Edge, her informing Athrun of her name and her words to him in the aftermath of Strike's first destruction were mentioned as part of Athrun's memories of the first war. (Their subsequent entry and escape from GENESIS was covered in Phase: 01.)

External links

• Three Princesses
• Fanlisting for Athrun and Cagalli