Frau Bow

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Frau Bow (フラウ・ボゥ) is a character of the anime series Mobile Suit Gundam.

[edit] Frau in Mobile Suit Gundam

Frau Bow was Amuro's next-door neighbor on Side 7, and made it her personal responsibility to manage his welfare, as his father was constantly away, developing the Gundam. Before the war, she frequently stopped by his house, bringing him food and making sure he eats and sleeps and bathes. Frau ends up losing her mother and grandfather in the Zeon attack on their colony, and later becomes the surrogate mother of the three White Base orphans Katz, Letz and Kikka. In the rare moments when they weren't by her side, Amuro's ball-shaped robot Haro was usually found rolling right behind her. At first, Frau served as caretaker for the three orphans while doing anything required of her on the side. But once Sayla became a pilot, Frau officially filled in at Sayla's old job as Bright's communications officer, though she still looked after the orphans.

Deep down, Frau harbored strong romantic feelings for Amuro, feelings that clearly weren't requited. This was perhaps clearest when the White Base crew met the sparkly and pretty Lieutenant Matilda Ajan and had the ship's male crew, Amuro in particular, wrapped around her finger with him harboring a strong adolescent crush on the lovely Lieutenant. When Amuro's prowess as the pilot of the Gundam grew along with his unequaled Newtype powers, he began to alienate his comrades and retreat from Frau. She and Hayato then gravitated towards each other when Hayato confessed his yearning to be as good a pilot as Amuro.

After the events of the original Gundam, Frau married Hayato, became pregnant with his child, and adopted her three orphan wards. During Zeta Gundam she loses her son Katz in the Battle of Gryps, and then in Gundam ZZ she was tragically widowed when Hayato was killed during the Colony Drop on Dublin.

However, in the Z Gundam movie compilations, ZZ Gundam is retconned out of existence, creating a happier ending for Hayato. However it is still discussed whether the movie compilations should be considered canon or not.

[edit] Frau's Name

Like Sayla, Char, Ryu, and Bright, Frau's name is highly unusual, though not that unusual for Yoshiyuki Tomino considering his penchant for naming his non-Japanese characters strangely (See Aura Battler Dunbine). In German, which is Frau's nationality, the title of "Frau" is analogous to "Mrs.". This leads to one of two conclusions:

• Her name is really Frau, even though she is 15 years old and unmarried.

or

• Her name is Farrah, and was mistranslated back into English as "Frau". This would then make it possible for her to be named after either Farrah Fawcett or Clara Bow.