Ah yes, Gawl Kudo from Generator Gawl... of all the characters that have managed to work their way into my heart, this one is probably among the hardest to explain. All of the other characters can qualify as being ambitious or dedicated, powerful or disciplined. Gawl possesses some of these traits, but he also has something beyond that as well.

Probably one of the qualities that endeared Gawl to me when I saw him for the very first time was his almost child-like innocence and desire to please as he appears in the first episode. Of course, Gawl is infinitely more complicated than this, but it formed the basis for my opinion of him - that innocent and energy that he displays in the beginning remains with him through the entire series.

It is almost immediately obvious that there is something different about Gawl. Then again, his companions Ryo and Koji do not necessarily do a better job of blending in either. All three of these boys have come from the future on a mission to stop a certain discovery from taking place, and thus adverting a major disaster in their own time. Ryo and Koji are the obvious brains out the operation, leaving Gawl with the role of brawn - to protect his companions from the stream of Generators sent by the organization Kuvele - a powerful group from their own time - to kill them and preserve the timeline.

Upon arriving in the past Gawl and the others take up residence with Masami and her mother, an almost ideal family from only a few years in our future. A good bit of the comedic elements in the series take place due to the interaction between Gawl, Masami, and her best friend Natsume. And all the while the three boys attempt to complete the mission...

Gawl is possibly the most tragic character I have come across in an anime series, as it is later revealed that Ryo and Koji are attempting to stop the scientist who develops the process that is used to create the Generators from ever making his discovery. But Gawl is himself a Generator, one of the most advanced models, who was created by Ryo while the scientist was working for Kuvele in the future. And thus the eventual completion of their mission could possibly result in not only Gawl, but all three of the boys being wiped from existence.

What truly made Gawl an endearing character to me is that he is aware of what will happen if their mission is successful. But instead of facing the world with a depressed determination, or a stoic cynicism, Gawl remains one of the brightest and most cheerful characters I have ever encountered. Nothing seems able to damage the smiling, cheerful attitude that Gawl constantly projects. He acts almost feral - in a rather adorable manner - some of the time, with his concerns in life seemingly limited to food, sleep, play, and battling Generators in his transformed state.

The creators of Generator Gawl could have simply left him with this personality, filing him away as a simple minded soul without a brain cell in his head. But many times during the series Gawl proves that he could very well be a match for Ryo and Koji - if he were willing to focus his energies towards his studies and science instead of fighting. He presents an incredibly interesting facade - and when the reason that Gawl's perpetually cheerful attitude is revealed, it provides him with another fascinating facet of his personality.

When Ryo and Koji were developing Gawl's generator form for Kuvele, he was forced to undergo a series of horrific tests in order to determine the full extent of his powers. The process left him battered in both mind and body - enough so that he was willing to die during what he believed to be the final test rather than face another day. But Gawl finds a reserve of strength that allows him to survive, and in doing so reshapes his entire outlook on the world. He finds the will to survive, and beyond surviving he discovers how to enjoy life - even if that life is as one of Kuvele generator test subjects. But after the trio travels back in time to stop the creation of the generators once and for all, Gawl manages to truly shine - a caged bird that is finally allowed to fly free.

So here is to a character who dares to be something more than the norm - someone who dares to live his life to the fullest, without worries, even though he is never sure what the next day may bring.