Kai Kitazawa
Kai Kitazawa (北沢 海) is a human who works for Machine Robo Rescue. He is a member of the Red Wings, co-piloting Wing Liner and acting as back-up Robo Master for the team along with Lin Haruka.
Kai is calm and level-headed, though sometimes overcautious. He is an 11-year old computer expert and the only halfway sane person on the Red Wings team, which leads to him becoming a frequent target for verbal and physical attacks from both Lin and the equally deranged Taiyoh Ohzora. Kai is in short a bookish, indoors type.
Fiction[edit | edit source]
Machine Robo Rescue cartoon[edit | edit source]
- Voice actor: Chihiro Kusaka
Kai joined MRR Commence the Rescue Combination!! and presumably looked at someone funny, as he was assigned to the Red Wings team along with Taiyoh, Lin and the preening Ace, under the tutelage of the similarly unbalanced Musashi Miyajima. He undertook his first mission soon afterwards, co-piloting Wing Liner on the way to a forest fire in the Central Mountain Area. Blazing Fire Fighter! Kai's computer skills were put to use when the Sky Dolphin went out of control, as he was able to help Lin and Taiyoh regain control of the aircraft's systems remotely from Wing Liner and land it successfully. The Thunderous Stealth Robo He was then part of the effort to find Hideki's cat Laura. Emergency! Enter Battalion Kai was later named as a back-up Robo Master for Red Wings Aim to be a Robo Master! and aided the rescue effort when climbers were trapped on Himaru Mountain. Clash! Jet vs. Stealth After a guilt-ridden Taiyoh briefly walked out on MRR, Lin was transferred to Jet Robo for a rescue, but Kai found the job of running Wing Liner solo to be exhausting. Thankfully Miyajima was able to talk Taiyoh into returning. Look Out! Combination EX
When the sensationalist and irresponsible reporter Charmy Sato worked on a show about MRR his irresponsible attitude led to his cameraman Kijima walking out. Without missing a beat Charmy appointed Kai as a replacement, and Kai just went with it. However, when Charmy's tinkering with the safety systems of a floating industrial complex in order to make a more exciting show inevitably caused a genuine emergency by switching off the fire prevention systems. With a Gura Gorro around too the central island was cut loose and set on collision course with another part of the complex; however, Lin and Kai were able to convert the Wing Liner to robot mode in time to prevent catastrophe. Industrial Complex Panic! His family were all present with an air of quiet, polite approval during MRR's open day. And Taiyoh is Fine! He later attempted to put his skills to work on identifying Jay, though his efforts were stymied by the only sighting being made by Taiyoh, whose drawing skills were awful. The Invincible Hyper Stealth Robo! The after-effects of a vaccination prevented him from piloting the Wing Liner to Nananaghake, with Ace instead being joined on the mission by Ken Minami. Ken's Rescue Spirit! He listened intently to Ace's lecture on fire storms, and thus knew what to do when such a blaze broke out at an industrial complex. He helped evacuate Jun's class, there on a trip, and worked with Lin to activate Wing Liner Robo, helping bring the fire under control. Fear of the Fire Storm
Along with Miyajima, Red Wings were sent to visit the spaceport Ikaros 1 - with Kai alternately exciting and terrifed about going into space. The station was then attacked by Jay and Stealth Robo. While the Fire Team fought the damage caused Lin and Kai searched for any trapped victims - finding Ryo Mizushima and two of his friends, as well as shuttle pilot Honda Sohachi, who was soon injured saving one of the kids. The group took shelter onboard Shuttle 12, and were eventually forced to launch before the section they were in was jettisoned to save Ikaros 1 from destruction. Debut, 30000 Metres! The shuttle then became stranded in Earth orbit, and damage to both Jet Robo and the mental state of Taiyoh held up rescue attempts, before the shuttle was captured by Jay and Stealth Robo, who intended to use the the occupants as bait. Good Luck Taiyoh Honda informed the pair of Taiyoh's traumatic history but with a little careful manipulation from Miyajima the other cadets conspired to get Taiyoh instead of Ace launched on the rebuilt Shuttle Robo, who was able to drive off Stealth Robo and help the shuttle to the apparent safety of the International Space Station - Kai was assaulted by Lin tried to share all the nice things she'd said about Taiyoh. Taiyoh Ohzora, Into Space! On arriving at the ISS they found it overran by giant killer plants and set off to help the crew evacuate. Taiyoh was separated and blown into space when one such plant separated him from Lin and an injured crewman. Lin attempted to reach him while being tethered to Kai, but was unsuccessful; thankfully he was saved by the arrival of Ace and others in Machine Commander, which then went on to the Moon. Save the Space Station! There he made up half of the audience for Alice's production of The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, being reduced to tears by the spectacle. When the Moonbase 13 mine was threatened by a rockslide he and Alice dithered behind and fell underground, discovering the Mars probe buried underground before the pair were distracted by Stealth Robo - who they mistook for an alien. Lunar Rescue, Begin!
With Taiyoh away, he and Ace were joined by the Utada brothers in dealing with a tower block fire. But only after he had noted that Lin seemed to be missing Taiyoh - and got beaten up as a result. Enter! BL Machine Robo He and Lin again activated Wing Liner when Colonel Hazard and BL Fire Robo attacked an industrial complex. Colonel Hazard's Trap! When the Disasters caused an earthquake in South America, Kai and Sayuri helped track its' epicentre to Hazard's new Catfish device. Combine! Machine Commander Robo He was one of the cadets who holidayed on Sayuri's island, where he kept out of the water in favour of pandering to Alice. Later after hearing the island was haunted, he scoffed, believing ghosts to be scientifically implausible. Nevertheless he was as startled as Taiyoh, Sayuri and Lin when they mistook a pair of Gura Gorros for such a thing. Summer Holiday! Fear Vacation Kai later attended a ceremony honouring MRR at the Space Agency, and helped evacuate civilians when first Stealth Robo and then BL Drill Robo arrived. Stealth Robo's Fierce End When Makoto landed a date with a young doctor Kai used his computer skills to first identify her as Aki Saotome and later spy on their date. After the terminally ill girl died he attended her funeral. The Story of Makoto's First Love Red Wings were later sent into the Amazon after a plane crash, resulting in Ace and Taiyoh getting lost in the jungle along with a survivor named Ricky. Lin and Kai's attempts to contact them were stymied by Hazard using a communications jammer - and Kai's habit of getting distracted by rare butterflies - so they had to simply use Wing Liner Robo to look for them - which worked out, as it promptly tramped the device without anyone bar Hazard realising. Ace, Taiyoh and Ricky were then recovered, having avoided a fire started by BL Fire Robo. Survival of the Fittest!
During a subsequent trip to the Machine AI Laboratory Kai was as annoyed as the rest by Professor Suidōbashi's seemingly pedantic criticism of the cadets' performances in various simulated scenarios, and was able to use his analytical skills to argue back to some extent by pointing out MRR's many successes in the field. Along with the rest of the cadets, she came to realise that the Professor was simply trying to improve their ability to rescue people. The Mysterious Superhero Captain Miracle After an amnesiac Jay was recovered and taken into the care of MRR, Kai was among the few who believed Jay had changed from the outset. Be Reborn, Jay! Nevertheless, he joined Taiyoh and Lin in disbelief as Jay repeatedly failed (or refused) to salute Ace correctly. Birth! V Stealth Robo Later when Taiyoh set out to rescue a fishing ship trapped by a typhoon in Machine Commander, Kai was the first to notice the weather's strange behaviour, and attempted to warn Taiyoh that it was artificial. The Strongest Combination! Machine Commander Robo V At the welcome party Taiyoh suggested (and Daichi actually organised) for Jay, Kai joined Alice on stage in a smart suit but didn't really do anything, possibly due to her rampant egotism. Daichi's Resolution When it was announced that Lin, Alice and Sayuri would be representing MRR at the Kansai Disaster Prevention Festival Taiyoh objected; Kai tried to intervene in the argument but instead got attacked by both Taiyoh and Lin. Salute to the Gura Gorro After an oil tanker collided with the liner Poseidon within sight of Rescue Headquarters and a freak sonic resonance disabled the Leader Robo the cadets were led in with limited back-up. However, Kai was able to use the Aider Robo Supporter Robo to combat the fires on the ship. Machine Robo Out of Action!
Kai's computer skills were unable to find out what was happening on an island cut off by strange weather phenomenon, even when Jet Robo heaped the pressure on him. Later the whole team set off to the island, where Kai helped evacuate trapped civilians in Wing Liner while they came under attack from Kaiser-G. Activate, Kaiser-G! With Taiyoh and Jay seemingly missing the team still had to combat numerous emergencies caused by Kaiser-G, who then proceeded to Tokyo and directed the meteorite Tartarus towards Earth. A Looming Catastrophe! Rejoined by the missing members the whole team went in to try and fight Kaiser-G, but even with Wing Liner Robo and the other transports backing the Machine Robo up they were helpless against the Disaster's gravity powers. However, a team of cadets were able to planet explosives onboard Kaiser-G himself, leading to the destruction of both the Disaster and the meteorite. All Hands on Deck, Save the Planet! After attending to several other emergency calls, Kai graduated from MRR alongside the rest of the class. Fly, MRR!
Years later, after the formation of International Hyper Rescue, he served onboard the MRR Space Station, where his computer and culinary skills were put to use supporting Jay and V Stealth Robo in protecting Earth from meteorites. Machine Robo Rescue Special - New Year's Day!
Notes[edit | edit source]
- Supplemental material establishes that his birthday is August 30 and was born in Saitama.
- For whatever reason Kai uniquely never gets a focus episode in the whole series, never has his motivations for joining explored, never even getting to activate a single Machine Robo (only Lin suffers the same fate, but at least gets put in charge of the Gura Gorro Rescue Squad and often merely functioning as a foil or stooge to other characters in comedy bits. Even his future career is being Jay's assistant and feels like they added him in at the last minute.
