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Kazu Iida[1] is a character in Rooster Teeth's gen:LOCK. A rough, unwieldy military operative from Japan, he arrived at the Anvil as part of the gen:LOCK program alongside Julian Chase and several others, having passed the "Weller Test". He is voiced by Kōichi Yamadera.
Appearance
Kazu is a very tall, broad-shouldered and muscular man of Japanese descent, who has almost shoulder-length black hair held back in a topknot by a red band, hollowed cheeks and slight stubble surrounding a rough goatee. In his civilian attire, he wears a leather cut and various logos and designs on it, with red detailing on the back, lower chest and obliques. He wears black finger-less gloves, a large black belt, charcoal cargo pants and a black t-shirt. His only jewelry is a pair of gauge piercings in each of his earlobes.
His Experimental Science Unit armored body suit is black and red and has a glowing ESU logo on the chest. Over his legs, he wears a pair of combat pants with satchels strapped to both hips. He wears his leather cut over the torso section of his armor, and over his left arm he dons an armored pauldron that hinges at the elbow to a bracer on his left forearm. The pauldron also has a glowing white ESU logo on it. He wears a pair of knee-high reinforced combat boots, plated with metal at the heels and toes.
Personality
Kazu is known to be rebellious, insubordinate and something of a standout. His rebellious attitude cost him the respect and trust of his unit, who were very supportive of having him transferred to the Anvil simply to get rid of him. He is shown to enjoy the guitar, smoking and simply screwing around, doing things such as flipping a spatula into the air while on kitchen duty. Kazu is also protective of his guitar, as he chastises Caliban for handling it roughly upon his arrival at the Anvil. Despite his Japanese heritage, he finds manga to be "childish" and claims he himself has not read manga since he was a child - a statement Cameron MacCloud takes offense to.
In battle, Kazu is very hot-blooded and fearless, and he does not hesitate to attack Rob Sinclair's impersonator when the opportunity arises. However, this comes at the cost of wit and quick-thinking, as his inexperience with the combat gear leads him to accidentally slamming into a wall and being stepped on in his enthusiasm. Indeed, this is reflected in his combat style, focused mostly on constant attacking and brute force, often picking up any random object he can find and just hitting the enemy with it. Despite this, Kazu will not fight if he does not want to, and has no problem disobeying orders because of it.
Despite his chastisement of Cameron for her supposedly childish interest in manga, he does enjoy baseball, using it as a training exercise upon connecting and being uploaded into his Holon, vastly preferring it to football.
Kazu is apparently quite fond of beer, moaning for it after a long day of training with his teammates, and expressing relief when Yasamin tells him where he can get some.
History
Background
Sometime after the fall of New York City, Kazu passed the "Weller Test" and was identified as one of the few people in the world with gen:LOCK compatibility, and was eventually transferred to the Anvil to join with Doctor Weller and the ESU to further the project, much to the delight of his unit.
Arrival at the Anvil
After apparently sleeping most of the way there, Kazu arrives at the Anvil with Cameron, Valentina Romanyszyn and Rob Sinclair, where the group is greeted by Doctor Weller, his robotic assistant Caliban and the first two gen:LOCK recruits: Julian and Yasamin Madrani. Kazu complains about Caliban's rough handling of his guitar, and bemoans the long journey he has taken when it is revealed there is no guarantee he will stay. Afterwards, he is taken into the Anvil.
Later, the team suits up in their new combat suits (during which Kazu complains about the tightness of his), they are taken to a waiting room where, after a short period of time, MPs suddenly burst into the room with intent to arrest Rob, who has been replaced by a Union spy. The spy quickly dispatches the MPs with Nanotech and makes to escape. Kazu attempts to stop him by leaping after him with the combat suit's enhanced strength, but ends up slamming into a wall, briefly incapacitating him. After recovering, Kazu and the others follow the spy to Doctor Weller's work space, just in time to see the spy unsuccessfully attempting to upload into a Holon, dying in the process.
Profile
The following information accompanies Iida's profile in the Character Reveal Teaser #3:
NAME: IIDA, KAZU
RANK: SERGEANT
FORMER ASSIGNMENT: MOBILE ARMOR GUNNER
DETAIL REPORT:
VANGUARD JG▮▮▮▮ REPEATED
DISCIPLINARY INFRACTIONS DEMOTED
ON ▮▮▮▮ TO MESS DUTY WITH UNIT VG ▮▮▮▮
Abilities
gen:LOCK Compatibility
Kazu is one of the few people in the world capable of undergoing gen:LOCK. By having his mind digitized, he can be placed inside a Holon and operate it as if it were his own body, giving him a much greater degree of control than traditional pilots.
Trivia
- Kazu is the only character thus far not to speak English. Instead, most his dialogue is translated through subtitles. In-universe, thanks to technological advancements, his words are shown to be translated into English on Valentina's MR overlay; the reverse is presumably true.