Gandal

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gandal
Grendizer character
Created by Go Nagai

General Gandal is a fictional character featuring in the works of mangaka Go Nagai. He is one of the villains of Super Robot series Ufo Robot Grendizer. He first appears in the series' second episode. Under the orders of King Vega, he is in charge of invasion of Earth by the Vegan empire, but lets his right-hand man Blaki do much of the dirty work during the show's first season.

Lady Gandal, episode 2.
Lady Gandal, episode 2.
Lady Gandal, episode 74.
Lady Gandal, episode 74.

Gandal's unusual feature is to share his body with a feminine creature known as Lady Gandal. In the show's first season, his face actually splits open to show the diminutive figure of Lady Gandal from the inside. After Gandal is wounded in episode 27, Lady Gandal appears in a different way: her face replaces Gandal's when she speaks and she sometimes takes control of their common body. This is a similar masculine-feminine duality to the one seen in Baron Ashura, another Go Nagai villain but, unlike Ashura's feminine and masculine sides, Gandal and Lady Gandal have two distinct personalities.

Gandal is a brutal and scheming military man, but not particularly imaginative and extremely loyal to King Vega. Lady Gandal is sometimes depicted as more cunning and ruthless than him. After too many defeats against Grendizer, Gandal is forced by King Vega to share power with Minister Zuril.

In the show's last episode, Gandal fights against Grendizer using his own robot. After he fails, narrowly escaping with his life, Lady Gandal becomes frustrated and takes control of their common body, in an attempt to murder King Vega and then propose a truce to planet Earth. Gandal retakes control of the body and shoots him/herself in the face, killing Lady Gandal. Though wounded, Gandal then goes to fight Grendizer again, only to die in battle.

[edit] Trivia

In the French versions of Ufo Robot Grendizer, Gandal was called Commandant Minos, and Lady Gandal was called Minas. In the American version, he was known as General Belicos.