It's especially apparent in the flashbacks with his mother. By the time the arc is over, he's not only matured on the personal level, but he acquits himself well when fighting BETA for real in close quarters, earning a modicum of respect from the rightly resentful members of the battle-hardened Zhar Battalion. Took a Level in Badass: He started the Kamchatka arc as a skilled but self-centered pilot who had zero combat time.Subverted the Boening head engineer assigned to the XFJ Project, who worked with his mother in the past, specifically asked for him, with a promotion waiting for him at project completion. While Project PROMINENCE isn't a crap posting, it's also being done as punishment, because nobody else at Area 51 will ever fly with him again. Reassigned To Yukon: Comes with being an Expy.The pregnant Mira, fearing she and their child will be used as political leverage against Masatada, chose to leave the latter and go into hiding on her own will. It's eventually revealed that he was killed by the G-bomb detonation during the Yokohama Hive operation. His father was revealed to be Masatada Takamura, a high-ranking Imperial Royal Guard and specialist in R&D, the designer of the Type-82 Zuikaku, who was forced to come back to Japan without knowing Mira Bridges, Yuuya's mother, was pregnant that is, he's Yui's elder half-brother. Parental Abandonment: His father left their family and went back to Japan, and later his mother died of an illness.Oblivious to Love: Even if he isn't as dense as other characters with this label, he's a bit slow in picking up on how he affects the female Eishi around him.New Meat: Started out a bit clueless about how things go down in the real world, since he had no combat experience at all.Vincent remarks that this seems to be a habit with him. The Nicknamer: Even on his first day as part of Project PROMINENCE.Yuuya has adequate skills to make use of both of these melee weapons. Multi-Melee Master: The Shiranui Second carries a Type-74 PB Blade, a sword like weapon, and a pair of combat knives.Multi-Ethnic Name: His mother was an American of Caucasian descent who gave him a Japanese given name because his father was Japanese.Long-Lost Relative: Yuuya Bridges, Yui Takamura is your younger half-sister.Fast & capable in all-range combat with guns and blades, with specialisation in CQB.
Character Development: Grows from being whiny, bratty & selfish test pilot into a mature & downright dangerous Eishi.
Battle Harem: Much like Takeru Shirogane in the main series, he's a Chick Magnet for female TSF pilots.Of course, that all changes in episode 9. Ace Pilot: He's a very talented pilot, and has a knack for understanding the TSFs he flies, but prior to the story he has no real combat experience with the BETA.Half-Japanese, half-white, he holds anti-Japanese sentiments born from his childhood experiences. A talented US Army test pilot sent to the Yukon Base in Alaska to become the chief development TSF pilot of the XFJ Plan.