Alex Rosewater is the main antagonist of the mech anime series The Big O. He is the chairman of the ruling corporate organization known as Paradigm Corporation. He is the archenemy of the series' protagonist Roger Smith.
Biography[]
He is the founder of Paradigm Corporation and he was the son of Paradigm City's founder. In the Season 1, Alex Rosewater sends his secretary Angel to find some Memories into the sea. However, the expedition (alongside Smith) caused an old Megadeus to rise out of the water and begin ravaging Paradigm City. A frustrated Rosewater calls the Military Police and orders to let the Megadeus do some cleanup before attacking it, and watches with interest Smith putting down the mecha with his own Megadeus Big O.
He convokes Roger Smith to propose him to investigate with the Military Police because of his successful criminal arrests. Rosewater received some worrying letter announcing that “in seven days, the world will be reborn”, and is fearing that a disaster happens in Paradigm City the Heaven’s Day (the letter was sent to Rosewater seven days ago). Smith accepts the offer.
The threat happens to be real, as a seed put into a sort of jewel left by an eco-terrorist disguised in Santa Claus, grows into a climbing plant. However, the plant’s lifespan was very short and dies some minutes after. Rosewater, about to evacuate, notices the danger is over and makes a remark that Heaven’s Day is God’s son day.
Next, Rosewater gives a mission to Roger consisting to give a severance pay to Michael Seebach, a former employee of Paradigm Press, who Smith thought he died. The pay is $1,000,000,000, much to Smith’ surprise. Rosewater assures Smith is allowed to use whatever methods he wants to give the check to Seebach, and tells the reporter is at a place called JFK Mark. It’s revealed that the man’s true name is Schwarzwald and that he plans to destroy the city with the Big Duo, his own Megadeus. Rosewater witnesses the combat between him and Big O.
In another episode, Rosewater is informed by Angel he is goes out of Paradigm City to see the author of a mysterious book about the Memories. The official is not concerned, proclaiming the awakening has begun.
In the second season, he orders his hitman Alan Gabriel to eliminate the people of Paradigm City who have Memories. Eventually, Smith finds out that he plans to let people who live outside the Dome to be completely wiped out by a piece of an ancient aerial city falling onto Paradigm. Angel also sees a plan of a city on Rosewater's desk. Fortunately, Smith is able to prevent the city's piece to kill many people thanks to his Big O.
As Season 2 goes on, Alex develops a messianic complex, after reconstructing Big Fau and starting to pilot it. Initially, he is rejected by the megadeus as its pilot after using it to easily destroy a Union megadeus. After the Union megadeus was dealt with, Big Fau displayed the message "Ye Not" as it fired its dorsal beams into the already damaged cityscape. He manages to get it to work properly only after rigging it with Dorothy's memory core, so it is unknown if he is indeed its true pilot. After he enters the megadeus for the second time, his mental state seems to continually degrade much like Schwarzwald's did after coming into contact with Big Duo. During the Union bombardment of Paradigm, he declares that he will create a new world and destroy those who don't deserve to live in his world, specifically the people who live outside the domes and the Union. It is revealed in Act 25 by Big Fau that he is not really Gordon's son but merely one of his many artificial children. As his battle with Roger drags on, Big Fau inserts cables into Alex's back, apparently fusing itself with him. Though half of Big Fau is vaporized by Big O's Final Stage weapon, Alex survives and aims to finish Roger off, however, before he can do so, he is erased by Big Venus.
Personality[]
Rosewater is very elitist, showing nothing but hatred for the poor people of Paradigm. His hatred is such that the fact that a celestial object falls near Paradigm, endangering the population living around the domes, suits him perfectly. According to him, Paradigm's true citizens are those living within the domes. He is also misogynistic, saying the women are sensitive and weak.
Alex is shown to be power hungry, and he stops at nothing to have it. A bit childish, he believes he is privileged to be the son of Gordon Rosewater. His childishness is best seen when he crafts a miniature version of Big Fau to play with it in Act 22.
Gallery[]
