Mobile Suit Victory Gundam is currently experiencing a surge in popularity and more people than ever before have been exposed to its peculiar, desperate and endearing cast. While many people are enamored by the borderline-psychotic Katejina Loos, few find much value in her boyfriend/commander who is the series’ respective masked ace (whether they like it or not!). I find this saddening as I’ve always been fond of Cronicle Asher, and have been increasingly passionate about him in recent years. It’s primarily Western viewers that take issue to him, as I’ve seen mostly sympathy and sometimes praise of him by users online from Japan and other countries. I’m still trying to determine what causes this difference in attitude between domestic and overseas fans, but I can at least explore why I’m not on the same wavelength as other Americans who’ve seen Victory. So hop inside an Einerad and take a wild ride through my analysis of some insufferable redhead from a 30+ year old cartoon who stole my heart. (There are spoilers sprinkled throughout.)
I feel sorry for him
After my first viewing of Victory, Cronicle was the one character that left the biggest impression on me. I also watched Victory way too early in my Gundam “career,” so my perspective may be a bit warped. I barely knew who Char was when watching V in early 2010, so I didn’t know to make any comparisons between Cronicle and any other character beyond “oh, he’s the masked guy of the show, just like Zechs, Schwarz, Harry and sort of Jamil.” (Wing, G, Turn A, and X were the only Gundams I saw prior.) I was able to assess him independently of the franchise’s established tropes, but admittedly I did not fully understand him even with the context of Victory itself until many years later.
The anime barely discusses Cronicle’s (and Maria’s) adverse childhood, which would give much more context to Cronicle’s motives. His and Maria’s story is one of rags to riches.
Maria and Cronicle were both born and raised in an Albanian-governed colony in Side 1,
Victory Gundam Book 2, Chapter 8, translated by Lagrange Point Press
where the first practical space colonies were built. Though it was among the newer colonies
within Side 1, it still boasted a longer history than any of the colonies in Side 2. Their parents
divorced and abandoned them when Cronicle was three, so Cronicle’s only memories were of
being raised by his older sister.
Growing up in such an environment meant that Maria had learned how the world truly
worked. Womanhood came at a young age for her. By her late teens, she was spending time
with a number of men in exchange for money.
It’s a strange leap of logic for divorce to automatically lead to the neglect of children, so there had to be more going on that broke this family apart. Furthermore, there is no way Maria resorting to prostitution as a teenager1 to keep a roof over her and her baby brother’s head wasn’t deeply traumatic for both of them. It is this line of work that leads Maria to becoming pregnant with Shahkti, and this pregnancy awakens her spiritual abilities. The first miracle Maria performs is healing the injuries Cronicle sustains after he’s hit by a car. The anime and novel timelines are inconsistent, and the photo from episode 8 doesn’t help, but supposedly a young Cronicle2 tries to traffic drugs to earn money so he doesn’t have to live with his sister anymore, which is how he ends up severely injured. After Shahkti is born, Maria decides to begin healing other people throughout the Albanian colony as she’s able to make more money from this than by selling her body. Cronicle takes it on himself to promote these services by videotaping Maria performing her miracles and selling these videos. These videos somehow reach Fonse Kagatie of Jupiter, who pays Maria a visit. Before they know it, 21 year old Maria and 12 year old Cronicle are taken to Side 2 Ameria to assist in the founding of the Zanscare Empire. A very young Shahkti, however, is sent away.
One could say that Cronicle rode the coattails of his sister and guardian, and later tries to use her for power. That like Kagatie, Cronicle wants to conquer Earth and be an emperor in his own right. I don’t quite see it that the way. I think he sees Maria in a ruling position as protection from their former horrible life, and pride and corruption sadly grows from that. Had he developed a stronger conviction earlier in life, perhaps he wouldn’t have become evil.
His relationship with the children of the show is strained but he seems to want to protect them, and that is why he despises Üso. Üso being a child soldier and pilot of the “Victory type” creates a moral conundrum for Cronicle because he may not be able to kill a kid no matter how dangerous the kid is. A 13 year old being a highly skilled pilot is also a huge threat to Cronicle’s already fragile pride. Üso’s role is also what drives Katejina away from the League Militaire, and it’s highly amusing to think the shared hatred of a middle school aged boy (or rather, how the League Militaire exploits this boy and turns him into a major asset in the war) brought her and Cronicle together (beyond the kidnapping, of course). The writers of the show seem unsure how to handle a rivalry between an adult3 couple and an early teen without making the adults look vile. I don’t think Cronicle takes pleasure in beating Üso in the few instances he can as much as he seeks retribution for all the trouble Üso causes him. To me, it’s extremely interesting that Victory‘s two main villains have such a wavering sense of self that a particularly special child is their #1 enemy. I also wonder if Katejina had not come into his life, would Cronicle have been more willing to cut his losses and desert Zanscare once he realized he has to fight kids.
Meanwhile, the relationship with his niece Shahkti is heart wrenching because she is a reminder of his and Maria’s past. To drive a wedge deeper between them, she refuses to cooperate with the plot to make her Maria’s heir as much as Cronicle refuses to call off all attacks and somehow end the war at Shahkti’s bequest. One could argue that he’s only nice to Shahkti because he wants to use her, though he seems fine with Suzy and Karlmann tagging along as stowaways too. Maybe he’s hoping to convert these kids to Mariaism, and/or believes they’re in greater danger remaining with the League Militaire. It’s as if the three kids and Katejina are refugees in Cronicle’s eyes and not hostages he’s taken from the enemy.
It’s extremely silly but Flanders of all characters being the first to warm up to him appears to be the show’s attempt at communicating that deep down, Cronicle’s a good person who’s forcing himself to be bad. This is further reinforced by Shahkti’s insistence that she can convince him to call a ceasefire. Eventually she realizes she’ll never be able to get through to him, and maybe he really did have a kind soul, but hatred and a lust for power consumed him. Guess we can’t always trust doggies and their instincts.
Cronicle’s perpetually unhappy demeanor is due to his rough upbringing, and because he struggles to be accepted by his peers in BESPA who don’t take him seriously. In the novels, Cronicle is given a choice by Kagatie to either follow Maria’s footsteps as a political figure, or enlist in Zanscare’s newly formed military. Cronicle chose the latter. Maria didn’t think her brother was suited to be a soldier but couldn’t convince him otherwise. In the anime canon, there are slightly conflicting stories. One source4 says Kagatie hates Cronicle and sent him to the front lines presumably with no choice, to hopefully die. Another5 says Cronicle chose the military to separate himself from Maria as she became the leader of a new religion/world order. The series proposal states Kagatie “seeks to mold Cronicle into a hero for his own propaganda.” In all settings, it seems Cronicle’s military career is his attempt to prove everyone in his life wrong and that whatever he puts his mind to, he is capable of doing. Yet his demeanor communicates that he’s constantly doubting himself, and maybe praying that one day all his efforts will met with a great reward—the entire Earth ruled by Maria, or merely a life free from the desolation he was born into.
With all of this in mind, I’ve come to the conclusion that Director Tomino and his writers couldn’t quite agree on how to write such an insecure antagonist. Katejina, Shahkti and Maria are also inconsistent in characterization to the point of seeming erratic and while any or all of them can easily be dismissed as unlikable, I just feel sorry for this entire dysfunctional “royal” family.
He’s hilarious
During my second viewing in 2015, I could not stop laughing at Cronicle’s mishaps. I understood he’s a bad person, yet I still found him endearing because he wasn’t as sleazy or sadistic as many of his comrades are. He seemed tragically misguided and having someone trigger-happy like Katejina under his wing didn’t help. Meanwhile, he’s the occasional victim of Tomino Slapstick and watching him fall or get injured is comedy gold.
Watching him flounder throughout the show is wildly entertaining and he comes across as a more grounded antagonist than many of the others in his archetype. I don’t want Char™ Ver. 2.153 Premium Edition, I want a submissive, somewhat neurotic man constantly struggling between his ideals and the expectations placed upon him. Wait, isn’t that just Char, just without the theatrical charm and manipulation? Anyway, I love watching Cronicle grovel. I also enjoy seeing him light up around Pippiniden, Katejina and Shahkti because they give him brief respite from his constant misery. Other than having Katejina, he seems very alone in his quest to prove himself.
The late Tomoyuki Dan’s performance is another big part of what makes Cronicle so fun to watch. He nailed sounding both authoritative and pathetic when voicing Cronicle in the show and his game appearances. The way how his voice waivers with bewilderment one minute, then belts out commands from the depths of his chest, and then gently explains to his niece why he has to steamroll an entire a city for the good of humanity makes me giddy. I lament that Victory didn’t get the animated SD Gundam treatment since Dan would have done spectacularly voicing Cronicle in a outright comedic setting.
Now that he’s been recast for UC Engage, I’m extremely curious how the same voice actor for Akihiro (Iron Blooded Orphans) will pull off Cronicle. From the cutscenes I’ve seen so far, Yasuaki Takumi has the right cadence, but his timbre is more a generic “ikemen” tone compared to the unique wavering grit Dan gave to Cronicle. (It’s hard to put into words; maybe I should make a comparison video once Crossover UCE is completed.)
Cronicle strives to be a decent gentleman, and occasionally succeeds at this, but then turns around to do something trashy. He’ll call Üso a “polluter” but then land his Zolo on a field of growing vegetables and not care if a forest burns down. He may genuinely respect women, but he seems ok with killing masses of people on Earth at the same time. It really makes you wonder what makes him loathe Earthnoids so much, and if it’s primarily Earth’s men he hates but he can’t find a way to spare all of Earth’s women and children from this war. Is creating a nation of Spacenoids back on humanity’s original home really worth genocide, even if life in space is horrible? This contradictory ideology makes both Cronicle and Zanscare as a whole so absurd.
Finally, his biggest source of ridicule: the nonsensical mask. Technically, Cronicle is the first TV Gundam “Charclone” since the only masked Char-expy to precede him is Carozzo (and Zabine if you want to stretch the definition of “mask”) in Gundam F91, a film. That said, it really seems like the mask was just added to please sponsors because it ends up serving no narrative purpose whatsoever. Cronicle says himself it’s to protect him from dust on Earth, but then he takes it off to go undercover there, and then wears it in space whenever he’s engaged in battle. It may be for emotional support more than anything else and that’s downright hilarious.
It’d make sense if he was indeed immunocompromised or had breathing difficulties thanks to growing up as an impoverished Spacenoid. But no, he just gets a face sock that may or may not soak up all his sweat, tears and snot while carrying out his duties as the not-prince of Zanscare. In its defense, the plain facemask is line with Victory‘s efficient art direction, as it takes away the need to draw his mouth and nostrils whenever he’s wearing it.
He’s too dang cute
Something tells me his relationship with Katejina informed his design. The masked guy is usually inexplicably handsome but I think part of the idea behind Cronicle was to make him physically and emotionally enticing to someone like Katejina, making him the Zanscare Kool-aid that converts her.
In Hiroshi Ousaka’s rough drafts, he looks more aggressive, and then “smoother” in his finalized design. I’m really curious what led to adding the goofy rattail. It would’ve made more sense to just give him long hair that he ties back (like 0083‘s Gato) but it was da 90s! By 1992-93, rattails were the new mullet. (And maybe Sunrise/Bandai specifically didn’t want another samurai-esque ponytail wearer.) The trendy hairdos that many of the Zanscare characters have crack me up. Aside from the kitsch style, there is something fiercely attractive about Cronicle’s wavy red hair.
It’s in my third viewing (via the blu-rays) that I noticed certain animators and illustrators draw him more handsomely than others. He’s furrowing his brows 95% of the time, wearing his dumb mask whenever in battle, and then so many cuts of Victory’s character animation are off-model anyway, that he just looks like a deranged jerk more often than an attractive young man. Whenever he’s drawn by Ousaka himself, Shukou Murase or a few others, it’s a treat since they went out of their way to make him look good. Generally, Cronicle looks better in promotional and game art than he does in most of the show itself.
Aside from the animators’ inability to keep him on-model, his eyes are his second most attractive feature… if you can ignore the randomly changing eyebrows. It makes one wonder if Sunrise didn’t bother specifying anything about his brows in Victory’s color guides. Personally, I prefer it when they’re a shade of red, since black is too stark and implies his hair is dyed, which is just too bitter a pill to swallow! I’m too attached to the idea of young Maria looking after her poppy red haired baby brother than Cronicle having naturally dark hair and being vain enough to dye it such a flashy color. But back to his eyes: one good thing about his mask is it doesn’t conceal these sad yet sharp chartreuse eyes. (See what I did there?)
Both the Zanscare uniform and BESPA normal suits are weirdly sexy. I am transfixed by the way this attire clings to Cronicle’s body. For everyone else, Katejina made the normal suit sexy by being shown with it unzipped with nothing underneath, but imagining Cronicle wearing his suit the same way drove me so bonkers that I’ve drawn such filth multiple times. I really like the fit of uniform too. Shoutouts to his “yuppie suit” as well, which are apparently his street clothes and not strictly business wear.
Supposedly, Cronicle is not very tall. I think the animators forgot this though because he isn’t much shorter than the other men in Zanscare. The implication that many of them are under 6 feet tall is pretty damn funny. For Cronicle specifically though, being vertically challenged may be another aftereffect of his childhood in dire poverty. It certainly adds to his image as an insecure little loser…
This section’s gone on long enough but there are moments like the gif below that make me wanna join the cult of Mariaism. I cannot comprehend how in a massive franchise filled with ikemen of superior character, this ketchup-haired bastard managed to become my “side piece” (since I am already mentally married to Turn A‘s masked weirdo).
I’m in love with a hypothetically Good Cronicle more than the Actually Bad Cronicle
I too wish that Cronicle defected from Zanscare and fought to free his sister from the clutches of Kagatie. I’m convinced his double downing on what he thinks is loyalty to his sister is another example of Tomino’s “sabotage” to Victory. Director Tomino appeared to want to make a more morally gray show with pathetic villains especially since by the early 90s, Zeon and Char were seen as cool and extremely marketable. Cronicle is an Anti-Char.
Katejina is part of his downfall as much as he’s a part of hers. She can’t really exist as a character the same way he could without her though. The manga demonstrates this but in a really goofy way. For a little kids’ manga, the entire plot of V was simplified, and Cronicle without Katejina just comes across as hot headed bad guy. While much of the novels await translation, I already get the impression that version of Cronicle doesn’t need much help in his path to villainy, but “rescuing” Katejina definitely gave him a morale boost. Meanwhile, the anime heavily suggests that Cronicle did not belong in Zanscare, or specifically BESPA. No one there other than Katejina respected him, he’s constantly having to do things that violate his morality in order to preserve his standing (and his life), and Katejina joining his forces is the one key thing that kept him “trapped” in this toxic relationship with the empire. Not having any emotional support (or sexual motivation…) could have pushed him to abandon his silly ambition of “fighting the patriarchy” from within. We’ll never know.
Perhaps this is best saved for another article I want to write about my favorite couples throughout Tomino’s works, so I’ll briefly go into why Cronicle and Katejina’s dynamic is so interesting. It’s more than two rotten people enabling each other; it’s some sort of role reversal thing that I find extremely appealing. On the surface, the basis for their relationship is Katejina is attracted to Cronicle because he can make her into a princess of Zanscare. However, V also sets Katejina up as someone who strives to be a warrior who can protect Queen Maria (like a Royal Guard). This desire extends to the queen’s hapless brother as in the show, she comes to Cronicle’s rescue on multiple occasions. It seems while Cronicle is set up to be both “the Char” and Tomino’s proud/loyal knight archetype, both those roles eventually go to Katejina instead, rendering Cronicle a reverse “peace princess” (a “violence prince!”) and Katejina his knight.
As loyal as she is, I don’t know if Katejina would’ve followed him if he defected. She seemed dead set on achieving some sort of revenge against people on Earth, and if he didn’t serve as an easy way into BESPA, Cronicle would have been useless to her. As for Cronicle, there are two key moments when he should have deserted: after being ordered (and threatened) by Tassilo to maroon Fuala, or after Pippiniden betrays him during the Earth Clean Operation. I wonder if the reasoning behind not allowing Cronicle a heel-face turn was to not over-complicate the plot. Katejina was complex enough, so Cronicle needed to be simpler.
Ultimately, Zanscare is Cronicle’s family. Insubordination would mean losing his life to the guillotine (or vacuum of space) at worst, and losing what few family members and friends he has at best. Most of us would have liked seeing him risk it all to stand up for what is right. Sadly, that is not what Tomino and Sunrise chose to portray in 1993’s Gundam entry.
A final note about a redeemable Cronicle (spoilers for the show’s ending)
His demise in the anime still feels excessively cruel and I don’t find as much humor in it as most people do. It’s a divine punishment Üso had to deal to Cronicle after he repeatedly failed to rise above the cesspool that is Zanscare (and killed a shitton of civilians). The timing of it was definitely some kind of pisstake by Director Tomino and I won’t forgive him for it! Since I often dream of compilation films that clean up a lot of the show’s messes, I envision a slightly more dignified death for him in this version. I could go as far as fantasize about the power of Angel Halo and Shahkti’s prayer making him finally snap out of his hatred of Üso and remorsefully surrendering instead of forcing Üso to have to kill him, but that’s silly. I definitely wish he actually mourned Maria’s death (and not in the goofy way he does in the manga); I assume that’s what he was doing in the episode he’s absent before the finale, and is why he switches to a dark gray normal suit from a yellow one.
He’s not exactly a loser
It’s necessary to set the record straight and show that Cronicle at no point “failed upward.” No, he doesn’t have a kill count as high as Üso. He may be a loser for being a cowardly hypocrite and I won’t argue against that. But he redeems himself as a Zanscare soldier multiple times throughout the show. He earned his place in the Yellow Jackets prior to landing on Earth and later his commanding positions (even if the latter is mostly for plot convenience).
People laugh at how Üso kicks Cronicle out of his Shokew’s cockpit, but fail to acknowledge that Cronicle was completely blindsided. It’s implied he hadn’t been on Earth for very long and no one would have expected a freaking paragliding 13 year old to collide with a mobile suit in mid air anyway. Üso is also exceptionally strong for his age. The whole point of the show is that Üso is an extremely gifted child, and adults simply cannot achieve what he can. That said, despite failing his first mission in the show, Cronicle goes on to succeed almost everything he’s ordered to or sets out on his own to do:
- Captures Count Oi Nyung (episode 6)
- Escorts Commander Fuala safely into space from Arti Gibraltar (14)
- Rescues Captain Tassilo from his wrecked ship (21)
- (Barely) rescues Queen Maria after Üso captures her (26)
- Disables Big Cannon’s remote detonation with a bomb and then redirects its aim away from Zanscare by having Katejina shoot his disabled Contio so it explodes near the Cannon (27)
- Takes out two Shrike Team members in the two aforementioned missions (RIP Peggie and Junko)
- Commands the Motorad Fleet (28), even after Pippiniden’s betrayal (36)
- Neutralizes both the Jeanne D’Arc and Reinforce Jr. (50)
- All while training Katejina, who miraculously achieves ace status in less than two months
Combat-wise, he generally fares better in space than on Earth. What’s more interesting he is labeled as a Newtype or has it as an obtainable ability in various games, like Try Age and SD Gundam G Generation World, though he rarely displays any abilities associated with being a Newtype except for a few brief moments in the show (including in the final episode, thanks to Angel Halo). It’s never cut and dry whether Cronicle is truly an ace in his own right or if he just stumbles his way to success thanks to luck, sucking up to his superiors, and Katejina’s support. Perhaps that makes him even more interesting. He’s a winner and a loser depending on who you ask.
He’s relatable
Like Cronicle, I have Resting Bitch Face™, my failures haunt me, I come from low socioeconomic standing, struggle to fit in wherever I go and to prove my worth, and am pretty clumsy. I see a lot of myself in Cronicle and it makes me feel a bit dirty. But it also makes me feel less alone.
Cosplaying Cronicle after revisiting Victory a third time helped me form a deep connection with him. At first it was mostly a joke, but eventually portraying a “failguy” character ended up helping me cope with my own failure to become independent from my toxic family.
As time went on and I learned more about Cronicle and Victory overall, my attachment grew exponentially. Now I (almost) proudly proclaim Cronicle as my favorite Gundam villain. It’s difficult to not internalize the hate he gets from other English-speaking fans, and I have the urge to “defend” him, or explain his appeal, but cannot do so in a manner suitable for social media. That is what inspired me to write all this. I also think others don’t realize he’s quite a provocative character that embodies Tomino’s frustration with his own creations, the animation industry and humanity overall. He possesses some of Char’s worst qualities, yet supplementary material insists he’s somehow a good person only being evil for validation and survival. It’s better to contextualize him within all of Tomino’s work rather than strictly Gundam. People will argue whether or not he’s the Char of Victory or if Katejina is, if he’s more of a Jerid or a Garma, and it’s all rather pointless. I feel the same way about Turn A‘s Harry Ord in that these characters should be assessed as individuals within their own stories. Yes, there are many tropes, archetypes, expies and homages within both the Gundam franchise and Tomino’s filmography, and acknowledging them is fine and dandy, but they shouldn’t be leaned on so heavily when determining the quality of a character.
Beyond that, I can understand why someone with a weak conviction yet stubborn sense of nationalism is disliked. I have more respect for those who criticize Cronicle by directly analyzing the material than those who bingewatch Victory and just conclude “he sucks.” Sometimes he’s even accused of things he’s not guilty of, like being stupid and useless, grooming Katejina, or worst of all, being sexually attracted to his own sister, with is further proof that Tomino Gundam continues to be misinterpreted. I live for the idea that Cronicle trolls the audience with his existence. The masked aces that follow too closely to Char and are portrayed in a way the commands respect bore me. You’re forced to think “what the hell is this underpants-on-head freak’s problem?” to gain any appreciation for this Anti-Char. The ultimate question is, why are some Gundam antagonists more acceptable to like than others? Aren’t they all murderers, terrorists and war criminals? If I really wanted to poke the hornet’s nest, I’d ask Katejina fans why they love her but deem Cronicle to be irredeemable trash. Or I’d ask the same about Char (and some his other expies), Haman, many other Zeon or other enemy faction characters. The answer would boil down to personal taste more than any objective qualification.
Those who’ve made up their mind of his worthlessness will unlikely pursue further understanding of Cronicle Asher, but I hope this post offers a different perspective those who are ambivalent or even want to like him but struggle to do so.
- The anime scenario retcons this by stating she was only a fortune teller instead. She still has Shahkti by a man who’s identity is never revealed, and the nature of their relationship is kept secret as well ↩︎
- Going by the anime’s timeline, Cronicle was 9 when Shahkti was born. This means he was younger than Suzy when he takes up a life of crime on Side 1 Albania! And younger than Üso when he “evangelizes” Maria’s spiritual services! This means he is likely older in the novels. Guidebooks state he was indeed a juvenile delinquent, but make no mention of his part in spreading Mariaism prior to Kagatie’s involvement. ↩︎
- Katejina is officially 17 and it doesn’t sit well with me since she could be the same age as Cronicle and effectively be the same character because there are plenty of immature and impulsive 20 year olds. But Tomino & co chose to have her be underaged because Japan (and much of the world) idolizes/fetishizes youth. ↩︎
- The Official Gundam Fact File 55 ↩︎
- Newtype 100% Collection 21 Mobile Suit Victory Gundam Vol. 1: Uso’s Battle ↩︎