Inaho Kaizuka

Inaho Kaizuka (界塚 伊奈帆) is the main protagonist of the ALDNOAH.ZERO television series. Originally a student enrolled at Shinawara academy, he continued to pilot his training Kataphrakt, the KG-6 Sleipnir, throughout the Second Earth-Mars War despite it having a successor; the KG-7 Areion.

Personality & Character
As a young teenager he had average height and short tousled black hair. His eyes, with their burgundy irises, gave Inaho his characteristic blank gaze. His high school uniform consists of a white shirt, red tie and white sweater, along with a beige blazer on the outside and dark brown pants.

He has a highly intelligent mind but he struggles with relating to others and expressing himself. After the time skip, he seems to have improved in this area, making polite small talk and observe certain physical details, contrasting with his normal silent behavior. While others often perceive him as lacking emotion, his sister Yuki Kaizuka has stated that he does not openly express them well, but that she can see them.

His emotional detachment, along with his piloting skills and intelligence has resulted in him being a tactical savant. He is the only character who has successfully defeated a Martian Kataphrakt. During a typical battle he could analyze his opponents, finding drawbacks or weaknesses to exploit. However, he does not communicate effectively, and is often criticized for not sharing his plans with others and only giving them orders. He values people not by rank, history, nor affiliation, but by utility.

Skills and Abilities
Inaho is a gifted tactician who can come up with effective and often unpredictable strategies quickly against overwhelming enemies and seemingly impossible odds.

Inaho has a great knowledge and understanding of Sciences, Physics in particular, and generally use it to decipher the enemies skills and create a good counter for them.

He is also a very skilled pilot of his signature Kataphrakt, the KG-6 Sleipnir despite his minimal military training. Inaho is able to defeat multiple Martian Kataphrakt pilots by combining his strategy and cunning with his sheer piloting skills.

Following his recovery, Inaho displayed even more impressive skills. An example of this was his use of grenade launcher rounds that produce heat to counter an advancing enemy Kataphrakt while going through the enormous ice-field it had produced. His cybernetic eye has enhanced his abilities, the 3D tracking feature can allow him to determine a person's mass using the Law of Conservation of Momentum.

First Earth-Mars War
Inaho was born in 1999, the year the war began. After their parents were killed, Inaho lived with his sister. In his youth Inaho was proven to be a smart child and his intelligence earned him the ire of bullies who would make his life miserable everyday. Eventually Inaho had his revenge by using a trap that badly injured his tormentors. This act forced him and Yuki to move from the orphanage to an apartment paid for by the government and away from the orphanage they were raised in. In an act of irony, Yuki ended up being raised by Inaho and was in a sense a parental figure to his sister.

Operation Earthfall
Inaho Kaizuka cooked a meal while the news report stated that the goodwill visit of Asseylum Vers Allusia, Princess Royal of the Vers Empire was a mere three days away. But while there was a growing sentiment worldwide to welcome her, tensions were also rising. Expert opinion was divided on the subject of this imperial visit, whose aim was the easing of interplanetary tensions between Mars and Earth. His sister, Warrant Officer Yuki Kaizuka walked into the kitchen and yawned Inaho good morning. Inaho asked her if she preferred a rolled omelette or scrambled eggs while the report continued on the television, she wanted an omelette but Inaho already made them scrambled. Inaho had already eaten. Today was Yuki's shift as drill instructor. She was shocked that she was late, wondering why he didn't wake her up. Inaho proceeded to leave for school, telling Yuki to put the dirty dishes in the sink.

He, along with his friends, attended the parade where Princess Asseylum Vers Allusia. The princess was then apparently killed by a missile attack. Shortly after, the Orbital Knights declared war on the Terrans and invade Earth. Inaho's daily life has changed with the start of the Second Earth-Mars War.

As he missed the first round of evacuation, he had to catch up but along the way, he met a disguised Princess Asseylum and her handmaiden Eddelrittuo. They were finally picked up by an evacuation vehicle were on their way to the refugee boats, where they were finally be able to escape the city. However, they stopped when they had to rescue Rayet Areash whom Inaho's sister Yuki Kaizuka is carrying in her KG-7 Areion's hand. Suddenly, Sir Trillram attacks Yuki in his Nilokeras and incapacitated her. With the Areion stuck on the evacuation vehicle, they inadvertently rescued her while trying to escape the city. Inaho showed his first moment of tactical ingenuity when he told the driver of the vehicle, Inko Amifumi, to brake and then accelerate, giving the vehicle more speed to outrun the Nilokeras. One of Inaho's friends, Okisuke Mikuni, climbed to the top of the vehicle and tried to save Yuki by getting her out of her Areion's cockpit, but the Nilokeras caught up to the vehicle by cutting through buildings. He loses his balance and was about to be thrown off into the Nilokeras when Inaho grabbed his hand. Nevertheless, it was futile when the Nilokeras created a shock-wave, enough to make Inaho lose his grip. Okisuke was immediately disintegrated by the Nilokeras' barrier. Although he just saw one of his friends die, he did not lose composure and informed everyone in a calm manner about what just happened. It was then that Inaho finally decided to join the battlefield, along with the rest of his friends. He set up a plan in stopping Trillram and explained it back to Inko and Calm Craftman, pulling along Princess Asseylum and Rayet, whom his sister had just saved, to participate in. While the two girls rode in an armored carrier to attract Trillram attention, Inko and Calm, in their own Kataphrakts, tracked down the external cameras of the Nilokeras and shot smoke bombs to them in order to block the Kataphrakt vision. When Trillram was led to the bridge he was shot at from underneath, which causes the bridge to fall. He landed in the water, meanwhile Calm follows the plan, finding an opening in the Nilokeras' barrier and told Inaho, who rushed the Nilokeras with a knife wielded by his KG-6 Sleipnir. He cut straight through the armor in the opening, before firing inside of it with his 75 mm Canon. He explained the plan and the indestructible Kataphrakt obvious weakness, at the same time delivering the finishing blow while declaring his revenge for Okisuke.

Assault on UFE HQ
Just as Warrant Officer Kaizuka came into the room to find Inaho, Slaine, Count Saazbaum and the Princess escaped in the Tharsis together through the roof Castle Saazbaum. Inko screamed loudly as she discovered Inaho's body with his head surrounded with a puddle of blood. They both carried Inaho's body to the Deucalion. On the bridge the rest of the crew were barely conscious while Soma Dr. Yagarai tended to Lt. Marito's head. Warrant Officer Kaizuka and Inko arrived on the bridge with Inaho's body. According to her, the Bullet went through the temporal region via the left eye socket and thus required three cc's of adrenaline administered as emergency treatment. Dr. Yagarai was horrified and Inko continually asked him if he could save Inaho. Dr. Yagarai asked for immediate surgical treatment and the transfusion. Warrant Officer Kaizuka said they had tools and facilities in the underground shelter so she asked Capt. Magbaredge to order the Deucalion to lift off, but it appeared hope was lost because the Aldnoah Drive was offline. Capt. Magbaredge asked Warrant Officer Kaizuka where Princess Asseylum was. Warrant Officer Kaizuka stared at her brother's body and saw the bookmark she gave him on his chest stained with blood, and began to cry. Inko cried loudly at the possible death of her close friend. Warrant Officer Kaizuka aw that some of the blood did not belong to Inaho, but was in fact blood splatter (from Asseylum). Some of the tears that had fallen onto Inaho's body ram into his mouth, bringing Asseylum blood with them. The light of Aldnoah began to shine from Inaho's body and Capt. Magbaredge realized that Princess Asseylum has given Inaho the activation factor via blood, as well as the saliva from when Inaho gave Asseylum a mouth-to-mouth. Warrant Officer Kaizuka raised her brother's hand to touch the Aldnoah Drive and it worked.

Return to the Battlefield
While heading to the Deucalion after being ordered to by General Headquarters, he stopped to defeat the Martian Kataphrakt Elysium. After encountering the Entropy Dilution Field, he figures out that since ordinary bullets are being deflected because of the Meissner effect, he then decides to use the explosion from the grenades to create air bursts. This allows him to get right in front of Yacoym, enabling Inaho to shoot the Elysium at point-blank range, destroying it. He was been presumably deployed all throughout Eurasia and the Far East, holding back the invasions by the Vers Empire.

Yuki Kaizuka
Yuki is Inaho's older sister. They have lived together in an apartment since their parents passed away. While Inaho seems like a neat and organized person, his sister is a little lazy and carefree, although they get along well-enough at home. She is also very caring towards Inaho, often worrying over him. Yuki is very proud of her brother and trusts his ability. Yuki often calls him by the nickname "Nao".

Calm Craftman
One of Inaho's classmates and friends.He highlights the parallels between Inaho and Odin; both use a Sleipnir, and lose one of their eyes.

Inko Amifumi
Inko is Inaho's childhood friend and classmate. The second ending theme indicates that they attended middle school together, and were in the same class at least one year. Following the attack on United Forces of Earth Headquarters, the Aldnoah drive of Castle Saazbaum had been successfully deactivated and Inko cries loudly when she finds Inaho injured by Slaine's gunshots. She helps Yuki to carry Inaho back to the ship, upset at the possibility he might die.

Following the battle with the Elysium, he hugs her tightly and smiles, something he rarely does.

Rayet Areash
They don't converse with each other much at first, having only met when she participates in his plan of stopping Trillram and the Princess' case later, not to mention both of whom are somewhat apathetic. Rayet seems to distrust Inaho at first, but her respect for him grows over time as she watches him take down the Martians. Eventually, she drives a motorboat and comes to his aid before anyone else can, which the latter gratefully accepts with a smile. After she fails to kill the Princess, Inaho stops Rayet from shooting herself and declares that he couldn't care less if she were a Martian or a Terran.

After capturing Mazuurek, Inaho convinces Rayet that she has changed and she even helps him to help Count Mazuurek escape.

Asseylum Vers Allusia
He was the first Terran that the princess met on Earth, following her disastrous first visit. The princess trusts him enough to reveal her true identity to him. She also seems to hold Inaho in high regard as he is capable and knowledgeable. It is currently unconfirmed if Inaho feels any romantic feelings for Asseylum and vice versa, however, he does seem to trust her, and is willing to protect her. It seems however, that he eventually gains stronger feelings for the Princess, recalling their moments together with a smile on his face.

Slaine Troyard
In their first encounter, Slaine in his Sky Carrier and Inaho in his KG-6 teamed up to defeat the Hellas. Inaho referred to Slaine as "Bat" because of the design of his Sky Carrier whereas Slaine calls Inaho "Orange" because of the color of the KG-6 he pilots. Their encounter ended with Inaho shooting Slaine down, for refusing to answer why he wants to see the Princess, believing him to be an assassin. Slaine seems to despise Inaho after the event, and stops Inaho from approaching Princess Asseylum body, shooting him without hesitation when Inaho draws a gun on Slaine.

When he encounters Slaine within the orbit of Earth, he calls Slaine "Gull", based on the appearance of the Tharsis that Slaine pilots. Reading up data on the Tharsis, he learns Slaine's real name at last.

Darzana Magbaredge
She tells off Inaho for withholding knowledge that the Princess was alive. She often refers to him as "Kaizuka Junior".

Trivia

 * Natsuki Hanae who voiced Haruichi Kominato of Diamond no Ace, and coincidentally, Kensho Ono, also voiced Todoroki Raichi in the same series.


 * Natsuki has also voiced Ken Kaneki in Tokyo Ghoul alongside, Sora Amamiya, who voiced Touka Kirishima.


 * Inaho's birthday was originally stated to be December 7, 1999 but this was later retconned to be February 7. December 7, 1972 was the launch date for Apollo 17, a major event in the series' backstory.


 * The nickname Slaine gave to Inaho, "Orange", is coincidentally the same nickname used by Jeremiah Gottwald in Code Geass. Notably both of them have a near-death experience but were saved; the aftermath was that the two had their body enhanced with cybernetics where both have an ocular implant in the left eye.


 * Although the analytical engine in Inaho's eye usually communicates with his brain directly, in the last two episodes it "talks" to Inaho with a series of electronic beeps which he can understand. In the final battle, it is to assist him in Kataphraktos combat. This could be a reference to Star Wars where Astromech droids such as R2-D2 can communicate with their pilots using beeps during Starfighter combat, although in Star Wars, the pilots understand because the on-board computer translates the droids' signals into a readable language.