Gaara Info

Physical Appearance

Hair - Gaara's hair is short and spiky, dark red in color. His bangs are a little shorter on the left side of his forehead to expose the 'ai' kanji tattoo. Three years later, his hair is slightly longer (he looks really good like that too), but otherwise no real change. Interesting to note is that Gaara is the only male anime character I've ever seen with his personality and red hair. Red hair usually signifies a fiery, outward personality (such as Renji of Bleach, or Reno of Final Fantasy VII). It makes Gaara unique amongst a handful of spiky redheads.

Eyes - Gaara's eyes are pupiless and a pale icy green. They have a slight almond-shape to them, lending to him an Asian-esque look. The most noticeable thing about his eyes are the dark, thick rims around them. No, this is not mascara. Or eyeliner. Or anything emoboi related. It's actually bags around his eyes from lack of sleep, lest the Shukaku eat away at his personality while he does. Honestly, I don't think insomnia actually gives you eyeliner-like marks around your eyes. I personally think it's Kishimoto's excuse to make Gaara look scary and awesome. Not that I mind, since he does indeed look rather cool. His eyes, though not explicitly stated, may also be his equivalent to Naruto's whiskers--his Bijuu is the tanuki, or raccoon-dog. Tanukis have dark rings around their eyes--just like Gaara.
Tattoo - 愛 Just above his left eye, Gaara has the kanji for 'love', pronounced 'ai', scarred into his forehead. He did this using sand, which is kind of scary. Even scarier is how neatly and prettily he did it. Gaara must have an artistic streak.


Height - Okay, I need to poke fun at this, just because I love you, Gaara. If there was ever an 'evil midget', it was Gaara. He is short. He's still short in comparison three years later too, ha-ha. It really detracts from his "OMGZ EVIL" aura once you notice it. I almost never let it go nowadays.
Also, it should be noted that timeskip! Gaara is shorter than Naruto. It's not a small difference--on the contrary, it's pretty significant. More room to laugh at Gaara, ha-ha.
Gourd
Thought I'd do a mini-section on the gourd. It's basically...a giant gourd that's almost as big as he. It's usually tied to his back by some sash or belt or something, and I suspect it's light enough so he can move normally. Either that or Gaara must be hiding some pretty impressive physical stamina. Anyhow. The gourd is tan in color and cracked along the sides, and has some interesting 'E' shaped, black patterns on it. It contains the special chakra-infused sand that Gaara constantly reuses. There are several interesting theories on what the gourd actually 'is'.
Default outfit
This is the outfit Gaara is first seen in.

Jumpsuit - I can't tell if it's separate shirt and pants or a jumpsuit, but to me it looks more like a jumpsuit. Anyhow, it's dark brown, and short sleeved. The pants are slightly baggy, with pockets (possibly for shuriken and kunai, though I've never seen Gaara use either). The sleeves expose a few inches of fishnet underneath.
Sash/Belts - Gaara wears a white/dark red (depending on anime or manga) sash draped over his body. It basically crosses over his chest and comes down to hang between his legs. He also has a large belt-thing that crosses opposite the sash. I think this is what holds his gourd up, since the sash looks a little too slack to hold that large of an object. This is where Gaara hangs his hitai-ate, which is red in color.
Sandals - Gaara has interesting sandals. Okay, that was a stupid comment. Anyway, they're black/dark brown to match his outfit, and they're slightly different from Naruto and co.'s shoes in that the big toe is separated from the rest, like a thong sandal. es, I am a total geek for character design. >_>
Colors - I just felt like making a comment on the color scheme used in this outfit, since it really fits his image of being from the desert. The white sashes in particular do this, since in many desert countries, people wear a lot of heavy, white fabric to protect themselves from the heat. Though Gaara doesn't do the same thing with his sashes, it certainly does a very desert-like feel to him. The sandy and earthen-tone colors of the other parts of his outfit lend to this image as well.
As a child
The outfit Gaara's wearing in his flashbacks to his early childhood.

Poncho...thing? - Gaara wears this odd little thing that looks like a cape that drapes around his shoulders and upper body, with a high collar that covers up most of his neck. It's a slight beige-greenish in color.
Shirt/Pants - Underneath the cape, little Gaara wears dark blue pants and a matching shirt, with a beige sash around his waist. The pants come up in light blue cuffs at the end. Little Gaara wears sandals similar to the ones he wears when he's older.
Second outfit
Because I really don't know what name to give it.

Jumpsuit - Much like the original one, except now dark maroon-red instead of brown. It's also long-sleeved now, and the fishnet now goes down to Gaara's wrists. Other than that, he hasn't changed much--his sash and belt are still there. My friend says that this outfit makes it look like he's perpetually wearing pajamas, ha-ha.
I wonder if there's a reason behind Gaara suddenly changing outfits for no reason (especially when anime characters rarely change outfits). Both Kankurou and Temari change clothes as well. Oh well, I'm not complaining. Outfit change is nice, even if he looks kind of weird.
Kazekage outfit
Coat - Gaara now looks very sleek and mature in his new outfit, which mostly consists of a long black (not sure about the color, since I've yet to see an official colored art of his new costume) trench coat. It has a high collar, long sleeves and extends to his ankles. It's split in the back, probably to allow movement. He looks very good in it. Yes. *kunai'd*
Pants - Gaara's pants match the dark color of his coat, and extend over his ankles. There are...strange white bands on different parts of his legs (one at his lower thigh, and two placed mid-shin). I have no idea what they are for, but they sure look pretty awesome.
Belts - Gaara wears a white vest-thing across his chest, tied into place by two belts looping through it and around his back. This is what holds his gourd up. He also has two belts across his waist, with one slightly drooping on the right.
Physical - His hair has grown out, though he still allows his scar visibly exposed. He's also taller, though he still manages to be shorter than his siblings and I think to some extent, even Naruto.

basics
Name: Gaara
Age: 12 years (Part I), 15 years (Part II)
Height: 4'10"/146.1 cm (Part I)

Weight: 86 lb/39 kg (Part I)
Features: Red hair/green eyes
Blood Type: AB
Birth date: January 19
shinobi
Ninja Registration ID: 56-001
Affiliation: Sunagakure (Village of the Hidden Sand)
Rank: Genin (Part I), Kazekage (Part II)
Team: Team Baki; Gaara, Temari, Kankurou
Milestones
Graduated at: 12
Chuunin Exam Completion Age: Jumps directly to Kazekage
Became Kazekage at: Presumably between 12-15.
Extra
Favorite Foods: Ground liver, salted tongue
Least Favorite Foods: Sweet bean jelly, marron glace

When we first meet Gaara, he is serious and composed, and radiates a scary sort of aura. As Naruto soon sees during the chuunin exams, Gaara isn't afraid to kill anyone that crosses his path. He rarely smiles, and when he does, it's the chilling smile of a killer. He's also slightly instable--when he smells the chance to kill a strong person, he goes psycho. At that point, he won't stop at anything to hunt down this person and kill them--when Lee is allowed to escape his grasp alive, Gaara goes to his hospital room and attempts to kill him in his sleep. Though being the youngest of the three Sand siblings, Gaara's tendency to flip out at the slightest thing has caused Temari and Kankurou to fear him, and the two often resort to pleading desperately for him to calm down. Of course, that's not all there is to Gaara--he does have reasons for being like this.

After Naruto gives Gaara a new reason to live, Gaara is much more supportive and gentle. Before he becomes Kazekage, he tells Kankurou that he wants to become part of the village, and be needed by others as its Kazekage. Gaara demonstrates this when he shields Sunagakure from Deidara's bomb, at the expense of his own safety. You can even note the personality change in the way is face is drawn. Before, he usually had a nasty, cold look to his face, almost always carrying an expression of indifference or hatred. Now it's possible to see a more relaxed, tranquil look. Perhaps this change is best symbolized by how he offers a handshake to Naruto as a sign of friendship, instead of the other way around.

Basic Attacks

Nearly everything Gaara uses is based upon sand, whether it be the special chakra-infused sand in his gourd, sand from the environment or sand he has converted from dirt. From what I have seen, all of his combat techniques are ninjutsu; I have yet to see him use genjutsu (I doubt he could anyway, given his mental instability), and the gourd and auto sand shield make it nearly impossible for him to use any sort of taijutsu. Even when he uses weapons, they're created from his sand. Gaara in general is a long-range fighter--during most fights he does very little dodging. In fact, he just stands there, lets the sand shield block him from close-and-long range attacks, and then manipulates sand to attack his opponent from afar. Gaara places equal emphasis on defense and offense--he has two main methods of protecting him, as well as several techniques of attack.
Some of the ways in which Gaara manipulates sand are definitely very creative and eye-popping. You never knew you could do so much with just sand.

gourd and sand
All of Gaara's attacks stem from his ability to control whatever sand he has at his disposal. The sand he has in his gourd, as Kiba notes, 'smells of blood'. This is because Gaara reuses this special sand over and over to kill people. Though he can control any type of sand, controlling the sand in his gourd comes easiest to him. The ease in procuring his materials for offense and defense make Gaara an extremely dangerous opponent.

shinobi jutsu

Sabaku Kyuu (Desert Coffin) - Gaara uses chakra to engulf an opponent completely in sand, immobilizing them and sometimes suffocating them. Gaara has one hand performing the hand seals, and the other is out extended in front of him, open. He usually follows this jutsu up with the deadly Sabaku Sousou (see below).

Sabaku Sousou (Desert Funeral) - The follow-up to Sabaku Kyuu, this makes the sand around an opponent implode and compact together, crushing their body and resulting in instant death. There is almost no way to escape the technique, especially if immobilized by Sabaku Kyuu. When Gaara has his palm open during Sabaku Kyuu, he closes it sharply to perform Sabaku Sousou, almost as if imitating the contracting motion of the sand. At one point in the manga I noticed he said "Sabaku Kyuu" instead of "Sabaku Sousou" while he was crushing Deidara's arm. DX

Sabaku Rou (Desert Prison) - A huge mass of sand rushes out to imprison the enemy. I haven't read back to Part I for a while, but Gaara uses this against Deidara in an effort to stop the Akatsuki shinobi's movements. Sabaku Rou is HUGE--it looks almost like the Shukaku's claw, in fact.

Suna no Tate (Shield of Sand - The automatic sand shield that acts independant of Gaara's will. Whenever Gaara is danger of harm, it flicks up to guard him from damage. It can withstand nearly any standard attack, whether it be shuriken projectiles, needles, or even explosions. It has been defeated by Lee's high-speed taijutsu, in which the sand shield can't keep up.

Suna no Yoroi (Armor of Sand) - The armor of sand is an extremely thin, but dense layer of sand that lies directly on Gaara's skin, protecting him should the Suna no Tate fail to protect him. However, this requires an immense of chakra to compact the sand together, and it slows the user down as a result of the extra weight. Thus, Gaara only uses it unless he absolutely has to. But the effectiveness of the jutsu is undeniable--it can more often than not render an attack absolutely useless. It's also why Gaara appears 'cracked' when he gets attacked.

Suna Bunshin (Sand Doppelganger) - Gaara's version of the Kage Bunshin, he creates a doppelganger out of sand. He uses this in the fight against Lee, right before Lee lands the final blow of his Lotus technique. He also uses it against Sasuke in their Chuunin Exam match. This is another one of Gaara's many defensive techniques to keep himself unharmed. Interestingly, the sand clone can move just as flexibly as a real human.

Ryuusa Bakuryuu (Quicksand Waterfall) - Gaara manipulates sand so it acts like a massive tidal wave or water fall. He uses this against Lee, sweeping him off his feet and causing him to lose control. Gaara also uses this as a prelude to Sabaku Rou in his fight vs. Deidara. This jutsu uses and somehow procures an immense amount of sand--it literally is a 'sea of sand'. I'm guessing it also uses up a lot of chakra.

Sabaku Taisou (Imperial Desert Funeral) - The counterpart to Ryuusa Bakuryuu, Gaara compacts the huge amount of sand created by the former technique in a style similar to that of Sabaku Sousou. As one might expect, quite a damaging jutsu. (For comparison's sake, those dots are Lee and Gaara)

Sabaku Fuyuu (Desert Suspension) - Gaara uses sand to levitate himself in the air. Versus Deidara, he hops onto this flying wave of sand, so he can fight the bird-mounted Deidara. Gaara can also levitate a sphere-shaped shield of sand in the air, as he shows in the same fight. This shield, probably sourced from his automatic sand shield, is extremely quick.

Suna Shigure (Sand Drizzle) - Gaara rains sand down on his opponent from above, and an alternative way to lead up to Sabaku Sousou. The wide range of this jutsu can coat the entire area in sand, which gives Gaara the ability to attack from nearly everywhere. Gaara uses this jutsu to prove Kimimaro wrong when the other smirks that Gaara cannot attack if there is no sand on the ground.

Daisan no Me (Third Eye) - An eye made out of sand. Somehow, the sand condenses to form what looks like a perfectly normal eyeball (as normal as a socket-less eyeball gets, at least). It 'spies' for Gaara when he's enclosed within his sand-sphere defense shield. He also uses it to get answers during the first part of the Chuunin Exams.
shukaku-related
Tanuki Neiri no Jutsu (Feigning Sleep Technique) - Gaara uses this jutsu to force sleep upon himself, thus allowing the Shukaku to take over his body and personality. If an opponent breaks the spell of sleep, the Shukaku is sealed back into Gaara once again.

Saikou Zettai Bougyo: Shukaku no Tate (Extremely Hard Ultimate Defense: Shield of Shukaku) - A highly effective, but high-chakra technique in which Gaara summons a shield resembling the Shukaku to defend himself. Gaara calls this up against Kimimaro, whom at the time has the 'ultimate offense'. Gaara loses in this small clash, but manages to survive due to Kimimaro's sickness kicking in and killing him.

Mugen Sajin Daitoppa (Wind Element, Infinite Sand Storm) A huge cloud of sand blown at high speed, enough to knock the opponent off his feet. Gaara uses this when partially transformed. It also has the capability to destroy Naruto's Kage Bunshins all at once, easily rendering that jutsu ineffective.

Transformation - No real name for this, I just wanted to cover Gaara's transformations into Shukaku. Gaara can transform parts of his body into the Bijuu, whether it be his arms, legs, a tail, etc. Interestingly enough, Naruto, through copying Kakashi-sensei's () "1000 Years of Pain" joke jutsu, finds that Gaara has a weak point underneath his tail when transformed. Gaara can also transform entirely into Shukaku, though he enacts the sleep-forcing jutsu when he sees that he's losing against Naruto and Gama Bunta.

His attitude

Social, Easy-going, Sympathetic, Diplomatic, Outgoing, Laid-back, Creative, Unpredictable, Artistic, Flexible, Moody and Brooding.
Blend of opposites. Shy with some and bold with some. Introvert and Extrovert. Unpredictable and may seem to have calm exterior. Strong creative strain. Good at spotting problems and skirting them. Like city environment. Get bored easily. Everything they do is compelling. Never take things for granted. Appear mysterious. Contribute harmoniously to society.
Dislike to touch or be touched by others.

His Story

I am Gaara, the ninja who has the shukako spirit. It is the living incarnation of an old monk, who was sealed up in a jar of tea in my village. My mother died when she gave birth to me. I was nurtured as the salvation of the village. And so I am the Kazekage's child. My father taught me the inner most secrets of the Shinobi, and pampered and protected me, and for a while, I thought that was love. And that was when everything started. In the six years that I lived, my father tried to destroy me more times than I could count, but the sand protected me because of my mother's love. And yet, the only feelings I have for my family are the ones I would like to wrap around their necks, hatred. My father, the Kazekage, created me as the ultimate weapon, but I eventually became a threat to the village I was meant to save. By the time I was six, I was a figure of terror, to them, I was a relic of the past that they wished would disappear. So you see, I had failed at the one purpose I had been given life. What then was left for me? Why go on living? For a long time, I couldn't find an answer for that. Bu tin order to live, you need a purpose. And to exist for no reason is the same as being dead. Then in time the answer came to me, to put it simply, my reason for living is in the killing of others. For years, I had lived in fear of those who were sent to murder me, but now I am at peace. I killed many 'would be' assassins. And it was while I was doing it that the truth was made clear to me. I live sully for myself I love only myself. As it was the death of my mother that first gave me life, now it is the death of others that sustains me, that makes me almost happy to be alive. But later on I discovered what real love was like what having friends was like. Pain, Suffering... even joy are all parts of friendship. I had people who cared about my existence for the first time in my entire life. I will no longer kill for my own joy and amusement. I will kill to protect the ones I love.