Gaia

Name: Gaia

Weapon: The Armour Basara, a mechanized armor exoskeleton made to be the most advanced weapon the world has ever seen, and the Bad End, a large tsurugi zanbato said to be made in consideration of east meets west design and aesthetics

Nationality: Japan

Sex: Male

Height: 214cm

Weight: 91kg

Age: 39 (Battle Arena Toshinden) 40 (Battle Arena Toshinden 2) 41 (Battle Arena Toshinden 3)

Blood Type: O

Occupation: Master Monk

Family: Ellis (daughter) Kaede (wife, deceased) Unnamed son (deceased)

Appears in: Battle Arena Toshinden Battle Arena Toshinden 2 Battle Arena Toshinden 3 Battle Arena Toshinden Remix

Gaia is a character in the first three installments of the Battle Arena Toshinden series. Serving as the main antagonist and an unlockable character in the first game, he later becomes one of the secondary protagonists for the series and a regular playable character in the following two games.

In the first Toshinden, Gaia was the monstrous final boss (except on the harder difficulty settings where Sho Shinjo was fought as the true final boss if the player beat every other character without losing). Wearing his armour, he took on the appearance of a Japanese warlord except for the 2 huge extra arms coming from his shoulders and ending in yellow claws. He would have been an extremely cheap character except for his one glaring weakness: Gaia is the second slowest character in the games. His jump, which launched him so high it gave both players time to think about their next few attacks before he landed, almost made up for it though.

In the second Toshinden, Gaia has cast away his armour and is revealed to have middle-back length silver hair and brown eyes. He wears gold-with-black-trim chest and shoulder armour, baggy red pants, and black and metal knee-length boots. His attacks had been toned down substantially from the first game; he could no longer kill in 4 hits. Also, he no longer had his impossible high jump. In return, he was made slightly faster and easier to use.

Story

Gaia and his wife Kaede were both part of the Himitsu Kessha that sponsored the Toshindaibukai tournaments. His wife was at that time the Uranus of the organization, making up part of the "Divine Four" (the four highest positions in the organization under the leader). Gaia himself was practically a loyal member of the Himitsu Kessha and was at the time considered into being promoted to the Divine Four via his own past contributions for the organization so that he could work alongside with Kaede, but the woman who would potentially become the next Uranus had personally thought and decided that it would most certainly be a liable risk to have them both in the Divine Four via her own scheming machinations for the Himitsu Kessha. During a trip to New York City, Gaia, Kaede, their unnamed son, and their daughter Ellis were driving in the family vehicle when it had shockingly and unexpectedly spun out of control and exploded. Gaia and Ellis miraculously survived, but Kaede and their son were not as lucky.

Gaia had personally knew and realized that it had been no tragic accident and from there, he left Ellis in the care of a visiting circus so that he could pursue his family's assailants without any hindrance. In due time, Gaia was soon promoted into the Divine Four, and he eventually learned that the woman who had became Uranus in Kaede's stead had masterminded on what had happened with the car crash. Filled with personal hatred for the new Uranus, Gaia had bide his time to train himself to avenge his family, and when the time came, he illegally held the Toshindaibukai in search of strong warriors to aid him in his vengeful attack against her. Gaia had met Eiji Shinjo at the tournament while searching for his older brother Sho Shinjo. Gaia announced his proposition to Eiji, but before Eiji could accept or refuse, Chaos: another member of the Divine Four, intervened and stopped the fight. Chaos told Gaia that he had been labelled as a traitor and marked for death. Gaia knew he had no other choice but to flee, for if Chaos had found him, Uranus couldn't be far behind, and he could not take her down on his own.

One year later, while still on the run, Gaia received an invitation to participate in the upcoming second Toshindaibukai tournament. Gaia realized that he could run all he wanted, but Uranus had an easier time finding him than she did breathing. He cast off his armour, and holding back nothing, fought against Uranus with everything he had and this time, he was fighting on Eiji's side. Gaia fought his way to the organization's headquarters, meeting up with his daughter Ellis there. After telling her his true story, he went further into the tower and fought with Chaos. The fight ended in a draw, and after Gaia discovered that both Uranus and Master had already been killed by someone else (Sho), he walked out of the tower, half-fulfilled, half-revenge starved.

Upon learning that himself, his daughter, and the rest of his friends were targeted to be blood sacrifices for the destructive fighting god known as Agon Teos, Gaia had decided to enter into the third Toshindaibukai in order to stop Abel and his evil plan to bring Agon Teos into the world. While his daughter had fought against a tribal boy named Atahua, Gaia had found himself fighting against a tribal giant named Tau. After a fierce fight, Gaia was surprised to see that Tau had forfeited the match to him and that Atahua had done the same thing for Ellis. In the end, Gaia and the rest of the Toshinden fighters were successful in defeating the Soshiki, thus stopping their evil plan to bring Agon Teos into the world.

Since then, Gaia has gone back home to be with Ellis and the two of them have retired from the sport of fighting.

Game Endings

Battle Arena Toshinden Ending

Is there no one that can defeat me?

Is there not a worthy opponent among you?

Come, you who dares to challenge me!

Battle Arena Toshinden 2 Ending

Gaia was sure it was Uranus who had led the secret Organization into evil.

But it was too late to do anything - The Master had already started out on his path of destruction.

Now Gaia has triumphed; the Organization is defeated and the Master destroyed.

But as he looks at the fallen Master, he remembers Ellis, and his victory suddenly seems hollow and meaningless...

Battle Arena Toshinden 3 Ending

Gaia's ambitions ended up causing tragedy, but he put his life on the line and fought to save the fighters he had led into disaster.

The battle was like none ever seen before, but Gaia had steeled himself for anything and in the face of his power and resolve the evil plot was foiled. It was his courageous stand that saved the fighters who had been targeted by the Organization.

Having established peace and triumphed over evil Gaia can finally sheath his weapon and lead a life of solitude.

Move Lists

Gaia can be seen as an overpowered individual as the final boss from the first game. From the second and third Toshinden games, the damage from his moves are drastically altered to make balance like the other characters. Gaia remains very damaging when he unleashed his overdrive from his heavily large broad sword.

Special Attacks

• Botan: Gaia unleashes a fire breath with the use of his harisen to damage his opponent.

• Ougi: Gaia slashes his opponent with his large broad sword in three hits.

• Tsubame: Gaia unleashes an ice crescent projectile towards his opponent. It is also used as part of his combo.

Overdrive

• Tsuki no Wa: Gaia jumps and makes a downward drill stab to deal critical damage on his opponent. Can only be done if his Overdrive meter is full.

Desperation Move

• Gouka no Kurenai: Gaia unleashes a very powerful fire projectile on his fist to heavily knocks his opponent if it connects. Can only be done if his heath bar is flashing red. In Toshinden Subaru, Eiji uses Gaia's desperation move as his second secret move but it was different than Gaia's.

Voice Actors

• Daisuke Gouri (games) (Japanese)
• J.S. Gilbert (Toshinden Remix) (English)
• Bin Shimada (OVA) (Japanese)
• Alfred DeButler (OVA) (English)

Development

Gaia's unarmored form originally saw him imagined as a leaner and thinner but still muscular warrior, and with his demon facemask hiding his mouth. His fighting style and weapons saw him wield a traditional daisho in a double handed fighting style, with others depicting him with a leaner tsurugi and a small kunai, to two large maces.

Trivia

• In comparision with Street Fighter, Gaia, at least in the first game, is the equivalent of M. Bison, who also wears a dark red uniform, is the host of the tournament and who uses incredibly powerful fighting techniques.
• In the Game Boy version of Battle Arena Toshinden, Gaia appears in both his original outfit and his outfit from 2 as separate characters.
• Gaia likes tuna dishes.
• His pastimes include horseback riding and training.
• Gaia is skilled at performing magic.
• His most treasured thing is the picture of his family years ago before that fateful calamity, kept in a locket.
• Gaia's favorite color is metallic silver.

Gallery