Sousuke Sagara

Sousuke Sagara is the main protagonist of the light novel and anime series Full Metal Panic!. He is an approximately 17 year old sergeant within the paramilitary counter-terrorist force, Mithril. He is a member of the SRT (Special Response Team) of the Western Pacific Battle Group "Tuatha de Danaan". His call sign is Urzu-7 and his ID number is B-3128, and operates as team point-man as an Arm Slave specialist.

Overview
Sousuke Sagara is approximately sixteen to seventeen years old. A sergeant within the paramilitary counter-terrorist force, Mithril, he serves as a member of the SRT (Special Response Team) of the Western Pacific Battle Group "Tuatha de Danaan" and is assigned to the assault submarine of the same name. His commander is Captain Teletha Tessa Testarossa. His call sign is Urzu-7 and his ID number is B-3128. Serious and dedicated, he operates as team pointman as an Arm Slave specialist. Sousuke's ethnicity, nationality and date of birth are somewhat of a mystery. Within the novel universe he is of Japanese descent. Contrarily, in the manga, he is Afghan; having been born in Afghanistan and then, after a set of events, returned there and was raised there by General Majhid, a man he was meant to assassinate. In the anime, he is from Helmajistan, which is a fictional country that is meant to represent Afghanistan. His exact date of birth is also unknown, but assumed to be, and placed in his records as, July 7, 1984.

It is also important to note his name, as it is spelled on the helmet by Kalinin and is the name he goes by now, is not the name that was printed on the inside of his shirt as a child in the original Japanese content. The words printed there were 'Sousuke Sangal', which is the name of a place, not a person, making Japanese fans wonder if it is moreso the name of the place he and his mother were headed, or came from, and not his name. He has dark brown hair and dark grey eyes, as well as a small, visible cross-shaped scar on the left side of his chin. He is literate and fluent in English, Japanese and Persian. He can also speak some Russian as well as several local Afghan languages and dialects fluently. As a child, he was raised as a Muslim and soldier in Afghanistan, but, as a teenager, he does not follow strict interpretations of Sharia law like the people who raised him. This is because of his subterfuge, and not necessarily because of his belief system. In the 6th book, he is shown worrying more about Ramadan than Christmas, but his consideration is depicted on a partial combat basis ("It was a time when Soviet soldiers would lower their guard").

In his daily life, Sousuke is depicted as quite secularist. He is shown eating pork and his refusal of alcohol is made purely off of the fact that he clearly shows a genuine distaste for it [The Second Raid]. He is capable of reciting the Qur'an from memory, probably due to his childhood in a Muslim country, but finds classical Japanese literature, poetry and history extremely difficult to comprehend. In addition to being a capable Arm Slave pilot, Sousuke is a specialist in Arm Slave operations and maintenance, improvised explosives, small arms, survival training, anti-armor combat, trap setting and camouflage. Additionally, he is proficient in logistics, demolitions, breach and forced entry, covert intrusion, and hand to hand combat. His background and experience as a guerrilla fighter, and later a mercenary soldier has made him much more sensitive and knowledgeable about tactics and methods more commonly used by guerrillas than government trained regulars.

Personality
Sousuke is unfortunately not very good at social interaction off the battlefield. He constantly causes many problems for Kaname Chidori due to his military nature. Even in school he carries a gun with him although it is loaded with non-lethal shells. He is also very bad at blending in with normal members of society due to his nature (i.e. following Kaname with stalker-like aspects and jumping off a train to follow her). That is, he has no readily available "civil" concepts about life, like entertainment or anything recreational and tends to horribly misinterpret the actions of people around him(like considering a guy who dumped his girlfriend a high-level tactician who is to be reckoned with). This is shown throughout the main series in multiple episodes, and the Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu! series focuses mainly on this aspect. This part of his personality is indeed one of the main sources of the series' humor.His previous name during his guerrilla days was Kashim which was given to him by Majido, a strategist of the guerrilla forces in Helmajistan.It is assumed that he changed his name to Sagara Sousuke when he left Helmajistan. While in Helmajistan he had a close friend named Zayid.

Abilities
In addition to being a capable Arm Slave pilot, Sousuke is a specialist in Arm Slave operations and maintenance, improvised explosives, small arms, survival training, anti-armour combat, trap setting and camouflage. Additionally, he is proficient in logistics, demolitions, breach and forced entry, covert intrusion, and hand to hand combat. His background and experience as a guerrilla fighter, and later a mercenary soldier has made him much more sensitive and knowledgeable about tactics and methods more commonly used by guerrillas than government trained regulars.