The Brave Fighter of Sun Fighbird/Characters

Fighbird and the Space Police

In General

• Combining Mecha: Figbird fuses his android body with his Cool Jet to form Fighbird, whereas the Guard Team guys can combine into Guardion or Super Guardion and Ace Baron can use the other Baron Team members plus his own tank body to form Guard Baron.
• Energy Being: None of them have tangible bodies, which is why they merge with diverse machines: an android (Katori), Hiroshi's rescue machines (Ace Baron), Satsuda's police car (Guard Star), Yoshiko's ambulance (Guard Rescue), a local firefighter truck (Guard Fire) and a Cool Plane (Guard Wing). Hiroshi lampshades the trope when he describes Fighbird as a "cosmic life form" that his metal body is bound to.
• Space Police: As it befits the Brave meta series. 

Fighbird/Yuutaro Katori

The main character, a commander of the Space Police and leader of an SP unit sent to Earth to stop Draias and his followers. He inhabits an android body created by Dr. Hiroshi Amano and lives with the doctor's family, posing as Hiroshi's lab assistant.

• Achilles Heel: Since he has an android body, stuff that decomposes or mutates non-organic matter can be pretty deadly to him (and by extension, the Space Police's vehicle bodies).
• Adorkable: By the wazoo, as his innocence and kindness come off as very endearing. The famous "Is this a pigeon?" scene comes off from him seeing a butterfly for the first time ever and trying to describe it to Satsuda.
• Adrenaline Makeover: Once Per Episode, Katori pulls the trope when he gears up to fight the villains. He takes off his white lab coat, removes his glasses, and as he gets ready he looks VERY dashing.
• All-Loving Hero: He's exceptionally kind and gentle to nearly any living being he comes across, genuinely tries to see the best in everyone, and adores Earth with all of his heart.
• Badass in Distress: More than once, he's caught in hostage situations where fighting back will only get other people hurt.
• Beware the Nice Ones: A sweet and naive young man who is very good at fighting either in or out of his mecha and can become a fearsome force to be reckoned with to those who he considers enemies. It's quite the treat to see him go from his Nice Guy persona to a Hot-Blooded badass at the flip of a switch.
• Big Brother Mentor: Kenta and Haruka adore him, and Kenta calls him "Katori-niichan" (Big Bro Katori).
• Bunny Ears Lawyer: An extremely good fighter (whether as Fighbird or as not), a powerful Technopath and a capable leader of the Space Police... and also immensely naive and a bit childlike in "real life", since he's not from Earth and is barely aware of human social conventions.
• The Captain: When on the battlefield, he's a completely focused and VERY efficient leader.
• Clark Kenting: Putting a pair of Purely Aesthetic Glasses and a lab coat on him is seemingly enough to make him unrecognizable.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: In his Katori persona, his blue hair is normally combed. When he goes into his Fighbird one, it shifts to more typical Shonen Hair until he has to properly transform.
• Fish Out of Water: Katori has zero idea of how human societies work and how people interact, being an alien. A good part of the series' humor relays on him learning about society as a whole and often Comically Missing The Point, though around the second half of the story he seems to have begun to adapt more or less well (aside of some blunders).
• Friend To All Children: He seems to have an instinctive ability to get along well with kids. Woe betide anyone who threatens children in his surroundings, and double if said kids are Kenta and Haruka.
• Friend To All Living Things: He also tends to interact well with animals. One episode has him happily rescuing a bunch of goats belonging to a shepherd boy and they quite like him too.
• Hot Blooded: As the protagonist of a Super Robots series, that's to be expected. Katori is normally gentle and naive, but when he gets a challenge or is in front of his enemies, he plays the trope straight to the freaking letter.
• Idiot Hero: Subverted: he comes across as this often, but it's out of being a Fish Out of Water than anything else. He further subverts the trope by being scaringly competent when in missions.
• Instant Expert: Subverted with his handling of anything technological (he's a Technopath), but played straight when he instantly learns how to surf and plays the ocarina like an expert right after finding one.
• Interspecies Friendship: As an Energy Being in an android body, he has these with several humans: the Amano children, Dr. Amano, Ippei and Goro, Kenta's school friends, little Kaoruko...
• Interspecies Romance: He can also potentially have this with either Yoshiko or Momoko, two women from Earth who develop feelings for him. It's left open ended, though out of both ladies, he's closer to Yoshiko.
• Lethal Chef: His cooking makes Ippei and Goro go pretty much blue in the face. It's understandable: up until then he had never cooked anything so, even when he can eat human food (though it's not his main source of energy/nourishment), he had next to no references about human tastes. 
• Love You and Everybody: In his and the Space Police's home planet everyone loves one another as soon as they're born, save for truly unredeemable people like Draias. In episode 16 he tells Yoshiko that he loves and admires her and Satsuda; she almost thinks it's a Love Confession and gets a bit flustered, before realizing what he exactly meant.
• Malaproper: Not being a native Japanese, at times Katori tends to mess up with the language.
• Naked First Impression: When Fighbird fuses with Hiroshi's android in the first episode, one of his first actions as Katori is to use the silicone foam that Hiroshi keeps around to 'recreate' his human looks, based on a drawing made by Haruka. This doesn't include clothes, so when Kenta and later Hiroshi and Haruka arrive, Katori is completely naked and doesn't seem to acknowledge it as he politely introduces himself to the Amanos and even to Haruka's pet monkey Champ. A very red-faced Haruka tells Kenta to get him some clothes as soon as it's possible.
• Nice Guy: It's hard to find a nicer person than him!
• Playing With Fire: Fighbird's more powerful attacks involve a BIG Flaming Sword, and later a just as big fire cannon.
• Precision F Strike: When Ippei and Goro help Katori defuse a Hostage Situation involving Haruka and Kenta early in the story, he screams "now I'm really PISSED OFF!!" before turning the tables.
• Ridiculously Human Robot: Thanks to his android body, Katori is more or less able to pass perfectly as a human. As long as he doesn't goof up.
• Savvy Guy Energetic Girl: Tends to genderflip the trope when he's either with Haruka or Yoshiko.
• Saying Too Much: An early Running Gag has Katori sometimes almost spilling the beans about the Rescue Forces to people he barely knows, so Kenta and sometimes Haruka have to tell him to shut up.
• Ship Tease: With Yoshiko, and to a smaller degree with Momoko.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: On one hand, Momoko falls for Fighbird because he rescues her when she needs it. On the other, Yoshiko falls for him for his kindness to people in general.
• Superpower Lottery: Both coming from himself and from the android body built by Hiroshi. He has Super Speed, Super Strength and the sturdiness to handle both (from his body), Technopathy (he's able to use near any machinery and technological appliances by analyzing them on sight), empathy (i.e, he tells Kenta that he trusts Hiroshi completely because he and his companions can sense that his lab is filled with a positive energy, born from the prof's sincere desire to bring world peace), Super Senses (especially hearing and sight) etc..

Guard Team (Guard Star, Guard Rescue, Guard Fire and Guard Wing)

Fighbird's companions, who come to Earth with him. They fuse themselves with local vehicles.

• A Day in the Limelight:
  • Chapter 14 is dedicated to the members of the Guard Team, especially Guard Fire.
  • Later, there's a whole episode dedicated to Guard Wing's conflicted relationship with the other Guards.
• Arrogant Kung Fu Guy : Wing is the Space Police version of this. Even Katori, who's very much TheCaptain and quite the BenevolentBoss towards his companions, has difficulties dealing with him.
• Badass in Distress:
  • In episode 22 Guard Wing is defeated by the Death Team and nearly forced to carry a bomb. While he does manage to rescue Katori and Kenta from Shura, he needs the Baron Team to help him later.
  • In episode 26, Dr. Jango kidnaps Yoshiko at gunpoint and Guard Rescue attempts to throw him off his vehicle body, but Jango is carrying a grenade and has a hidden bomb somewhere. This means Rescue is stuck in a Hostage Situation and cannot join the Guard Team until his companions locate the bomb and use their own energy to contain its destructive waves.
  • At the very end, the Guard AND Baron Teams try to destroy the Devil Tower on their own. They end up captured by Organic Draias, and Fighbird's last battle with Draias is their only hope.
• Barrier Warrior: The Guard Team can gather their own energy and create a protective shield strong enough to contain a bomb strong enough to blow up an airport.
• Berserk Button:
  • No one should ever belittle Guard Fire's firefighting duties. Or service vehicles' duties in general. Those who do, like Kenta's otaku classmate Akira, will be given a scathing "The Reason You Suck" Speech. Though he'll be appeased if the culprit apologizes and means it.
  • Guard Wing may be a Jerk Ass, but he hates cruelty and abuse as much as the other Space Police members do. When Shura beats up Katori while Zol keeps Kenta hostage, he gets so angry that he breaks some powerful restraining bonds and tries running Shura over.
• Blow You Away: Guard Wing uses his turbines to create wind blasts, and Super Guardion can do as well to freeze his targets.
• Big Damn Heroes: In episode 22 Guard Wing subverts it (by being captured by Draias and Co.when he attempts to fight them alone) and then plays it straight (via rushing to free Katori and Kenta from Shura, giving Katori a chance to fight back.)
• Combining Mecha: Star, Fire and Rescue can combine into Guardion, and when Wing joins in they become Super Guardion.
• Deadpan Snarker: Guard Star sometimes shows quite the wit. It doesn't help that he masquerades as Satsuda's police car.
• Good Is Not Nice: Guard Wing is the goddamn definition of this trope. He thinks Earth is a really nice place and is sincerely loyal to the SP's mission but he's also quite the JerkAss and terrible at teamwork, which often causes friction between him and his teammates.
• The Gunslinger: Guard Star's WeaponOfChoice is a beam gun.
• Improbable Weapon User: Guard Rescue has what in practice is a gigantic bandage roll in his arsenal.
• Nice Guy: The Guard Team members (save for Wing) are pretty nice "dudes", unless they're SERIOUSLY angry.
• Making A Splash: Guard Fire uses high-pressure water blasts to attack the enemies.
• Mid-Season Upgrade: The arrival of Guard Wing prompts one of these for Guardion.
• Pet the Dog: Guard Wing gets a moment like this at the end of episode 27, when he's a vital part of Hiroshi's plan to help Fighbird and yet he says that they should thanks Professor Amano and not him
• Precision F-Strike:
  • When Guard Fire runs off at some point despite Guard Rescue's warnings, the normally level-headed Rescue refers to Fire as "a pain in the ass"
  • Episode 18 shows Rescue swearing quite a bit as he's infected with TheVirus and heavily incapacitated as a result.
  • In episode 22, Wing is subjected to Electric Torture AND forced to carry a bomb by Shura, whom he calls "an asshole".
  • Episode 26 has Star dropping a "oh, DAMN it!" when Yoshiko tells the police that Jango has planted bombs somewhere.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Guard Star sometimes gets to play the role... as much as he can while being a police car.
• Running Gag: Guard Star tends to run off to help Fighbird, so Satsuda is often left alone and believes that his "car" has been stolen.
• Serious Business: Guard Fire takes his role as a firefighter truck very, very, VERY seriously.

Ace Baron and the Baron Team

Ace Baron is another of Fighbird's teammates, who fuses with the vehicles that Dr. Amano created as part of his Rescue Forces. The main part of his soul resides in a huge tank.

• A Day in the Limelight: Episodes 22 and 31 give the Baron Team quite the chances to shine.
• Big Damn Heroes: The Baron Team's speciality.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: While all the Space Police members have shades of this, Ace Baron is the biggest example.
• Energy Being: And this time, Ace Baron fuses with several vehicles: a tank (the main Ace Baron entity), a trailer (Road Baron), a small drill tank (Drill Baron), a Cool Boat (Aqua Baron) and a mini-jet (Sky Baron).
• Meaningful Rename: "Ace Baron" is a nickname given to him by the Amanos, his true one is never really revealed. He likes "Ace Baron" well enough anyway, so he doesn't mind.
• Nice Guy: Ace Baron is very kind and gentle.
• Precision F-Strike: In episode 22, when Guard Wing is thrown off the Monster of the week's back as they fight, Ace Baron catches him mid-air and calls him "a pain in the ass"
• Ramming Always Works: His Finishing Move, the Thunder Crash
• Tank Goodness: Ace Baron fused his soul with a huge tank, and this is the result.
• This Is a Drill: One of the Baron Team's best weapons, courtesy of Drill Baron.
• The Voiceless: Only Ace Baron gets to properly speak.

Human Characters

Kenta Amano

The first human that Katori properly interacts with and befriends in the series. He is one of Dr. Amano's grandchildren, a cheerful fourth-grader who accompanies him on his Space Police missions.

• Accidental Pervert: During his and Katori's rescue of a kidnapped girl named Cathy Hillman, he tried to bring Cathy closer to keep her safe but accidentally touched her chest. The already stressed and terrified Cathy slapped and yelled at him for it, and once everything was cleared up she teasingly called him "Mr. Pervert".
• Action Survivor: The kid manages to escape from very dangerous situations thanks to his wits and a bit of luck.
• Adorably Precocious Child: A good-hearted, eager, emotional young boy who does his best to help Fighbird.
• Book Dumb: He's not intellectually-inclined and Haruka accuses him of embarrassing her at school in these regards.
• Bratty Half-Pint: Like any kid his age, he can be very hard to deal with at times.
• Catch Phrase: "Miracle [adjective of choice]!!"
• Cheerful Child: When at his best, he fits in perfectly.
• Green Eyes: Comes with his frank, child-like personality.
• Hot-Blooded: Kenta has strong emotions and is very open about them.
• Inter Generational Friendship: With Katori, who has the looks of a young adult and by Space Police standards is old and experienced enough to be a commander.  
• Jumped At The Call: He pretty much rushed to grab the chance to be Katori's companion.
• Kid Appeal Character: Kenta was clearly created and written so younger viewers would identify with him.
• Kid Sidekick: He joins Katori's missions as a sort-of watcher, giving him advice and keeping communications with the base. And he's pretty good at it, too!
• Mister Exposition: He's often seen explaining how humanity acts and reacts to Katori.
• The Napoleon: He seems to be rather bothered by his short size at times, and Momoko playfully lampshades it once.
• Picky Eater: He doesn't like fish, much to his grandpa's unamusement.
• Puppy Love: His crush on his classmate Youko is a driving force behind the plot of one episode.
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: He and Haruka genderflip this even harder than Katori ever does with Yoshiko or Haruka herself.
• Spanner in the Works : Draias' invasion of the USA would've been completely succesful... if not for Kenta capturing and pretty much killing a Teshita mook on his own. That led to Hiroshi examining its corpse, finding the Teshitas' weakness AND developing a series of countermeasures that Guard Wing soon carried out, weakening Draias and Co.'s position enough for Fighbird and his teammates to fight back.
• Took A Level In Badass: While Kenta never becomes a frontline fighter for obvious reasons, he does get more efficient and cool-headed as Katori's companion as the series goes on.
• Undying Loyalty: Towards his beloved "Katori-niichan"
• Who Wears Short Shorts? : No matter what outfits he wears, they'll always include short pants.

Haruka Amano

Kenta's more level-headed cousin, who is also his classmate and another of Katori's friends.

• A Girl And Her X: She owns a very cute pet monkey, Champ.
• Girly Girl: She keeps her long brown hair in a braid and tied with a white bow, dresses quite girlishly and wants cuter clothes, is good at house chores and cooking, adores flowers...
• Green Eyes: In a lighter tone than Kenta's, and they go well with her sweet temper.
• Hidden Depths: She seems to be an amazing artist, since Katori's basic physical appearance comes from a sketch she made following her idea of "the perfect man".
• Invisible Parents: Her parents live and work in Germany; that's why, unlike Kenta who lives with his Education Mama Akiko, she lives with Dr. Amano. She's seen contacting them over the phone, and later they show up in person and are shown to be pretty decent people.
• Little Miss Snarker: When in a bad mood, she spares no one from her dry wit.
• Modesty Shorts: Tends to use these under her skirts.
• Nice Girl: If no one is a fool around her, she's the sweetest and cutest 10-year-old girl ever.
• Only Sane Man: Often ends up playing the role, despite being a little girl.
• Plucky Girl: Haruka is upbeat and strongwilled, and few things ever bring her down.
• Precocious Crush: She's hinted to have one on Katori. Then again, who can blame her?
• Shipper on Deck: In chapter 14 she spots Kenta's crush on a girl named Youko Miyata VERY fast and encourages him to tell her about his feelings for her before she has to leave to the USA. She also happily tells Katori and Hiroshi about it, and insists on Kenta contacting her on the phone and giving her a Love Confession.
• The Three Faces of Eve: She's a little girl with super cute looks, so she's the Child to Yoshiko's Wife and Momoko's Seductress.
• Team Mom: She's the most mature member of the Amano family, and she's no older than 10. Plus she's often seen doing chores around her grandpa's house, cooking, handling finances, etc.
• Tsundere: A Type B, as she's sweet and cheerful until someone (usually Hiroshi, Satsuda or Kenta) sets her off. Not even the almost fearless Katori wants to be there when she's seriously angry.

Dr. Hiroshi Amano

Kenta and Haruka's grandfather, who serves as Haruka's guardian since her parents are working abroads. He is the scientist who created Katori's android body and the machines inhabited by the Baron Team.

• Absent-Minded Professor : A rather child-like scientist whose inventions sometimes backfire on him.
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents : To Haruka's dad Tasuku, and to Haruka and Kenta in a Parental Substitute way.
• Beware the Silly Ones : He may be the local Absent-Minded Professor, but when it IS time to get 100% serious, he goes all the way. i.e, he's seen working hard and with complete focus during in tight spots like the USA invasion and when he's looking for a cure for Fighbird and his companions, as their energy levels plummet due to Jango's meddling
• Bunny Ears Lawyer : He often acts like a child despite being in his 60's, but his inventions somehow always save the day. Plus he *did* create several rescue machines and their android handler, which do their work VERY well after Fighbird and Ace Baron choose them as their vessels.
• Butt Monkey : Often a "victim" of his own failing inventions.
• Children Raise You : Kenta and especially Haruka are at times more mature than he is.
• The Cuckoolander Was Right : Because yes, his rival Dr. Jango IS a freaking menace to world peace. Especially after Fighbird comes and tells the Amanos about his and Draias' deals.
• Cool House : Hiroshi lives in what seems to be the biggest house in his neighborhood. It's located near the sea, it IS huge at first sight (and that's not counting his lab, located underneath the house itself), and it even has an inside pond AND some authentic palmtop trees!
• Cool Old Guy: Hiroshi may be a bit of a ManChild, but he is a very kind person. 
• Elaborate Underground Base : He basically turned his basement and its surroundings into this.
• Glory Hound: He really wants to be recognized as a great scientist and a genius, even if he tends to deny it.
• Love Freak: He also really, really, REALLY wants World Peace! Which is the other reason why Katori and Co. trust him blindly, they sense that his desire for it is completely genuine.
• Mission Control: Hiroshi tends to direct Fighbird's sorties from his laboratory/the Rescue Force's main base, located under his Cool House.
• One of the Kids: He sometimes acts more child-like than his own grandkids.
• Parental Substitute: To Kenta and especially Haruka.
• Secretly Wealthy: The reason why Satsuda is obsessed with Hiroshi's supposed theft of 3 billion yen is that he can mantain a huge house but refuses to explain WHERE he gets enough money for that.
• Shipper on Deck: He's also quite invested on Kenta liking Youko during episode 14, calling her "[your] girlfriend" and trying to use a test phone call during a communications crisis to have him speak to her. Sure, he wanted to see if Kenta was able to test the strength of the comm lines, but he still was quite into having Kenta pull a Love Confession .
• Spanner In The Works: He just happened to create an android and several rescue machines that two members of the Space Police, Fighbird and Ace Baron, deemed as good enough to merge with so they could stay on Earth and start fighting against Draias' plans for WorldDomination. If not for Hiroshi (and to a smaller degree Satsuda, Yoshiko and her medical team and the local firefighting squad, whose vehicles host the soul of other SP members), it would've been FAR harder for them to succeed in their mission.
• Tempting Fate: In the first episode he tells Haruka and Kenta that someday "a brave energy cosmic being will come from afar and Katori Yutarou will come to life"... and five minutes later, that's exactly what takes place.

Inspector Satsuda

A stubborn police inspector obsessed with the idea that Hiroshi is a white-collar criminal. His police car is actually Guard Star.

• Ambiguously Brown: He's far more tanned than the major part of the cast, probably due to field work.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: Thick black ones.
• Butt Monkey: Sometimes tends to be at the end of all kinds of comical misfortunes, with episode 3 as the biggest example.
• Defiant to the End: He pulls this in episode 21, when Draias and Co. conquer the USA and slate him, Momoko, the President of the USA and others for a nasty Public Execution via firing squad. Lots of things can be said about Satsuda, but he's NOT a coward.
• Friend on the Force: As the series goes on and Satsuda has to work with the cast for one or another reason, he evolves into this. It certainly helps that his police car is a member of the Guard Team.
• Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: An example of Good Smoking, as he may be harsh around the edges but has a kind heart underneath.
• Greater Need Than Mine: Despite all of his flaws, Satsuda sincerely wants to keep order and protect people. There's a big reason why Katori tells Yoshiko in episode 16 that he loves and admires the TWO of them for their effort to help those in need.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's obsessed with blaming Hiroshi for a certain crime, despite having zero proof hat he actually commited it, and can be a huge annoyance at times. But he truly cares about doing his job well and, when push comes to shove, he does try hard to protect the people who need him. In fact, when he finally finds out about the Space Police, he becomes a stalwart ally and is more effective.
• Last Name Basis: To the degree that no one learns his actual first name.
• Sick Episode: He once joins a search for missing people under a heavy rain, despite having a serious fever. He refuses to stay aside even when one of his fellow policemen offers to take over, until he really cannot go further and Yoshiko manages to convince him.
• Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist: He's otherwise more or less competent policeman, but he always fails in regards to proving that Dr. Amano stole three million yens in a huge robbery that took place many years ago. Because yeah, Hiroshi DIDN'T do it. He DID do something illegal, however...
• Throw the Dog a Bone: He sometimes shows sincere and very praise-worthy bravery, and finally joining the Space Police's cause is very good for him.

Dr. Yoshiko Kunieda

A kind-hearted doctor who often crosses paths with Katori and suspects that there's something going on with him. Her ambulance is actually Guard Rescue.

Momoko Yamasaki

A plucky reporter who frequently gets caught in whatever mess Fighbird has to clean up.

Akiko

Kenta's serious and no-nosense mother.

Ippei and Goro

Two young men who begin as petty thieves and trick Katori into helping them with their thefts, but ultimately start looking for more honest ways to earn their yens.

Professor Hillman

A well-respected man of science and Hiroshi's best friend, one of the few scientists who have him in high regards.

Draias and his followers

Draias

The main antagonist, an extremely powerful and extremely evil energy being who chooses Earth as a potential base to start his conquer of universe.

Dr. Jango

An evil scientist and Hiroshi's long-time rival, who allies himself with Draias.

Zol and Shura

Draias's minions: Zol is the short guy, Shura is the big one. They're energy beings that merge with androids created by Dr. Jango.