Drake

Gender: Male

Rank: Lieutenant Colonel

Affiliation: United Kingdom Marine Mage Unit

Position: Commander; battalion commander of a multinational volunteer force

Voice Actor: Toshiyuki Morikawa

Drake is a young, sharp-featured officer with the calm presence of a seasoned commander.

He is highly skilled as an aerial mage and also has extensive experience as a field officer, making him a valuable asset in multinational operations.

Because of this reputation, he is often assigned to joint missions involving forces from the United States, the Federation, and other allied powers.

From his own point of view, however, this mostly means being handed one troublesome battlefield after another.

Drake frequently finds himself forced into operations where he must face Tanya Degurechaff and her unit.

He knows very well how dangerous Tanya is, which makes his assignments especially unpleasant.

Rather than being reckless, he is the kind of commander who understands risk, logistics, discipline, and the unpleasant reality of political decisions.

That makes him a practical soldier, but also a man who has plenty to complain about.

After Mary Sue becomes one of his subordinates, Drake’s troubles increase dramatically.

Mary often acts on emotion, ignores orders, and charges ahead without understanding the political and military calculations behind a mission.

Drake is frequently left trying to control her, correct her behavior, and prevent her from causing disasters.

Mary, for her part, tends to see him as an annoying superior who gets in her way.

Drake is generally portrayed as calm, competent, and experienced.

He is not eager to chase glory, and he has a realistic view of war that makes him wary of poorly trained troops and politically motivated operations.

In conversations with his uncle, he complains about being forced to satisfy politicians’ vanity with units full of inexperienced recruits.

He even grumbles about how much the bereaved families’ pensions might cost, showing his dry humor and grim sense of battlefield reality.

Despite his belief that he is simply being burdened with troublesome work, his superiors actually think highly of him.

In the original novel version, Drake fills the role of the lieutenant colonel who commands Mary Sue and leads multinational forces.

In the first season of the anime, Sir Isaac Dustin Drake appears instead and takes over part of Drake’s original role.

William Douglas Drake later appears in the film as Isaac’s nephew and as a promising young talent of the Drake family.

His film appearance, personality, and role are largely based on the original novel’s Drake.

In the film, William Douglas Drake serves as the battalion commander of a multinational volunteer force on the Eastern Front.

He is assigned to joint operations there and, just like in the original story, struggles to deal with Mary Sue’s impulsive behavior.

He also speaks with his uncle Isaac, helping connect the anime’s altered character arrangement with the original version’s setup.

Drake is acquainted with Andrew, who accompanied the multinational unit on the Eastern Front as a war correspondent.

In later years, Andrew also interviews him, showing that Drake’s battlefield experiences became part of the historical record.

In the original novel and anime-related portrayal, Drake is usually depicted as a composed and seasoned commander.

In the manga version, however, he is shown as somewhat more hot-blooded and aggressive.