Juro Kurabe

''This page is about Juro Kurabe, who is sometimes referred to as Juro Izumi. For other characters referred to by the same name, please visit Juro (disambiguation).''

Juro Kurabe (鞍部 十郎 Kurabe Jūrō) is a protagonist in 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim. He is the pilot of Sentinel No. 13.

Profile
Kaiju Buff

A mild-mannered young high school student trying to live a normal life in the 80s. Rarely excited, he is fond of campy old sci-fi movies, with their giant robots and space invasions. But it seems like everyone in his life is trying to manipulate him for their own ominous ends...

Relationships
Tamao Kurabe (Grandmother)

Megumi Yakushiji (Love interest/Roommate)

Kyuta Shiba and Shu Amiguchi (Friends)

Iori Fuyusaka (Friend)

Story
In 2064, in Sector 2, Juro Izumi, under orders from Chihiro Morimura, saved Ryoko Shinonome from a Kaiju attack in Sentinel No.13. Juro told Shinonome that they need her to save the world as a Sentinel pilot.

When the Kaijus launched their full-scale attack on Sector 2, Juro participated in the battle to defend the city center alongside Shinonome (in Sentinel No.14), Ei Sekigahara (in Sentinel No.15), Tsukasa Okino (in Sentinel No.12), eleven unmanned Sentinels (No.1 through 11) remote controlled by Renya Gouto, and four Sentinels controlled by AIs Kisaragi (No.16), Miura (No.17), Tamao (No.18), and Hijiyama (No.19).

Though the Sentinels initially had the advantage, Sekigahara's Sentinel No.15 suddenly infected all other Sentinels with the malicious code DD-426, paralyzing them all. In order to save the Sentinel pilots, Morimura ordered them to be forcefully transmitted out of Sector 2. Since there was no time to adjust the settings, the Sentinels were all transmitted randomly, with no way to tell where they would go.

Juro and No.13 were transmitted to Sector 3, in 2024, right in front of Megumi Yakushiji and her friend Tomi Kisaragi. Juro and Megumi would eventually fall in love with one another. In 2025, Kaijus attacked Sector 3 as well. With No.13 being the only Sentinel in the Sector, Juro, despite pleas from Megumi, deployed alone to protect Megumi and her city.

Despite his Sentinel being infected with DD-426, which should have killed him in minutes, Juro somehow continued fighting for over two hours through sheer force of will. Ultimately, however, he was still defeated. After the Kaijus destroyed Sector 3, Juro fainted in the arms of Megumi.

Half a year later, Juro and Megumi were both transferred to Sector 4, 1985, by Morimura, where they became students at Sakura High School. Due to his severe brain trauma caused by DD-426, Juro's personality was reshaped by the Tamao Kurabe android, giving him a new personality and a new set of memories: mild-mannered student Juro Kurabe, the grandson of Tamao Kurabe.

In the mean time, Morimura attempted to recreate her former lover, 426, by transferring 426's memories into Juro's mind. Unbeknownst to her, the violent memories of 426 and Juro's mild artificial personality was creating an incompatibility that threatened to destroy his mind. This also caused Juro to begin seeing 426's memories in his dreams.

Megumi was broken hearted that Juro had completely forgotten about her. Taking pity on her and suspecting that Morimura was recreating 426, the Tamao Kurabe android allowed Megumi to live with Juro on two conditions: that Megumi always treats him as Kurabe Juro, without telling him anything about his past; and that Megumi tells her immediately if Kurabe begins to refer to himself as Izumi Juro again.

Initially living alone after his grandmother left to visit a relative, Juro was shocked when Megumi moved into his house, acting as if she had known him for a long time. He was even more shocked when his friend and neighbor Natsuno Minami dropped off Keitaro Miura at his house, asking to let him stay until Tamao returns.

One night, while taking a detour on his way home, Juro witnessed Sekigahara shooting the heavily damaged Tamao android (which had been taken over by 426) in front of Tokisaka Shrine. When Juro approached the apparently destroyed android, 426 transferred himself into Juro's nanomachines. Appearing to Juro as Kyuta Shiba, 426 manipulated Juro's memories to make him think that he was a long time friend of his and tricked him into hiding the destroyed Tamao android into a nearby dumpster.

Hiding inside Juro, 426 appeared as the talking cat Fluffy to Megumi, offering a "contract" to her in exchange for restoring Juro's memories. Meanwhile, as Shiba, 426 began manipulating Juro's memories by providing him with "video tapes", causing Juro to perceive 426's memories from a third-person perspective, similar to watching a movie, thus preventing his personality from breaking down.

Events
Click to Expand:
 * Sentinel Pilot Juro Izumi No. 025
 * The Sentinel Infection Incident No. 030
 * The Boy from the Future No. 031
 * Deployed Too Early No. 040
 * Izumi, Unreturning No. 042
 * Precious Memories No. 045
 * Tears No. 046
 * The Dream Team No. 050
 * Dreaming of Sumire Bridge No. 052
 * Dreaming of UFOs No. 053
 * Iori Who Leapt Through Time No. 054
 * Memory, Interrupted No. 077
 * Cleaning Duty No. 078
 * The Life of Natsuno Minami No. 084
 * The Univited Housewife No. 105
 * Another Freeloader No. 115
 * A House That Shouldn't Exist No. 116
 * Intrusion No. 144
 * A Talking Cat No. 145
 * The Shootout Dream No. 146
 * The Contract No. 149
 * Daily Life is Strange No. 157
 * Medication Record No. 158
 * Sentinel No.13 : Activate No. 159
 * Holder of the Key No. 179
 * Even So, I'll Do It No. 195
 * The Girl Who Talks to Cats No. 196
 * Jealousy No. 197
 * Juro Izumi No. 200
 * Terrible Dream No. 201
 * Our Video No. 202
 * What I Can't Tell Miura No. 203
 * Megumi and Shu's Promise No. 209
 * Shu Amiguchi-Witch! No. 212
 * It's Not Magic No. 216
 * An Ugly Flame No. 221
 * I Don't Know a Shiba No. 225
 * Kurabe's Talking to Himself No. 226
 * Deja Vu No. 236
 * 48Q No. 237
 * Visitors from Outer Space No. 239
 * Who Are You? No. 240
 * The Tamao Android No. 245
 * Pursuers No. 246
 * Is It Working? No. 248
 * Passing By No. 249
 * Juro Runs No. 250
 * Survival Plan No. 252
 * Days Long Gone No. 253
 * Message Service No. 270
 * The Little Mastermind No. 271
 * Fluffy and I No. 284
 * The Beginning No. 287
 * Juro Kurabe No. 288
 * The Last Hope No. 305
 * Planet RS13-Alpha No. 306
 * Dawn No. 308
 * Five-Year Reunion No. 311

Pilot Skills

 * Level 5: I'll Protect You All - The more members on the strike team, the higher all stats increase.
 * Level 10: Movie Addiction - WT recovery speed increases when deployed in consecutive battles.
 * Level 15: Kaiju Nerd - The more Kaiju there are, the higher all stats increase.
 * Level 20: Never Again - Attack increases when terminal defense rate is 40% or below.
 * Level 25: Restored Memories - Increases all stats.
 * Level 30: The Only Neat Thing to Do - WT recovery speed significantly increases for the strike team in the final battle.

Etymology

 * The name Juro means "ten" (十) (jū) and "son" (郎) (rō).
 * Juro's surname Kurabe means "saddle" (鞍) (kura) and "part, department, category" (部) (be).

Interesting facts

 * Director George Kamitani found Juro's story the hardest to write, as he started on it first back when the game’s system itself was not fleshed out yet.
 * Juro and Megumi Yakushiji's story was inspired by the 1980 film version of the romance manga series Tonda Couple.
 * Juro's level 30 skill, "The Only Neat Thing to Do", likely took its name from a science fiction short story by James Tiptree Jr.