Kat (Gravity Rush)
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Kat, known in Japan as Kitten, is a fictional character and the
protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a ...
of the '' Gravity Rush'' series. A young woman with
retrograde amnesia In neurology, retrograde amnesia (RA) is the inability to access memories or information from before an injury or disease occurred. RA differs from a similar condition called anterograde amnesia (AA), which is the inability to form new memories f ...
, she awakens in the city of Hekseville after falling from the sky, and sets out to discover the origins of her power to shift
gravity In physics, gravity (), also known as gravitation or a gravitational interaction, is a fundamental interaction, a mutual attraction between all massive particles. On Earth, gravity takes a slightly different meaning: the observed force b ...
. She becomes a hero to the people of the city after defending them from the threat of mysterious creatures called the Nevi. Her powers stem from Dusty, a supernatural, catlike organism that is bound to her, and whom she later realizes is a type of being known as a guardian. Her rival and, later, ally is Raven (Crow in Japan), a fellow shifter with a crow guardian named Xii who is said to be Kat's other half. Kat was noted by the developers as a fan-favorite character, and has received critical praise for the unique nature of her powers, leading to inventive gameplay scenarios, as well as her optimistic personality, which runs in contrast to typical
superhero A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...
es. In addition to the two ''Gravity Rush'' games and an
anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...
short, she has had numerous
cameo appearance A cameo appearance, also called a cameo role and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief guest appearance of a well-known person or character in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking on ...
s in other titles of varying genres, and been depicted as an
action figure An action figure is a poseable character model figure made most commonly of plastic, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, military, video game, television program, or sport; fictional or historical. These figures are usually ...
.


Characteristics

Kat is a young woman with dark tan skin, red eyes, and blonde hair. She wears a black romper held on her body by elastic, decorative pieces and accessories of gold metal. She also wears a cape-like scarf on her back, a matching
headband A headband or hairband is a clothing accessory worn in the hair or around the forehead, usually to hold hair away from the face or eyes. Headbands generally consist of a loop of elastic material or a horseshoe-shaped piece of flexible plast ...
, and two
bracer A bracer (or arm-guard) is a strap or sheath, commonly made of leather, stone or plastic, that covers the ventral (inside) surface of an archer's bow-holding arm. It protects the archer's forearm against injury by accidental whipping from th ...
s, as well as tall socks with gold
high heels High-heeled shoes, also known as high heels (colloquially shortened to heels), are a type of shoe with an upward-angled sole. The heel in such shoes is raised above the ball of the foot. High heels cause the legs to appear longer, make the we ...
. Aside from her normal outfit, she is able to equip a number of alternate outfits, some mission-specific, including a
French maid ''French maid'' was a term applied in the Victorian period, Victorian and early 20th-century periods to a lady's maid of French nationality. A lady's maid was a senior servant who reported directly to the lady of the house, and accompanied h ...
uniform, a ''
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'' costume, and a
downloadable content content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can be added for no extra cost or as a form of video game monetization, enabling the publisher to gain ad ...
costume based on 2B from '' Nier: Automata'', a
crossover Crossover may refer to: Entertainment Music Albums * ''Cross Over'' (album), a 1987 album by Dan Peek, or the title song * ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987 * ''Crossover'', an album by Intrigue * ''Crossover'', an album by ...
decided on the spot when developers from both games met at a PlayStation Matsuri event to celebrate ''Nier''s Japanese launch in February 2017. Her personality is heroic, "naively innocent" and upbeat. Dusty is able to transform into a larger and more powerful being, Panther, when in combat, and Kat can temporarily merge with Dusty for enhanced combat strength and health recovery, a transformation called "Panther Mode" that is unlocked for free use in ''Gravity Rush 2''.Tutorial: Panther Mode: Hold touchpad when Kat's Panther Power is full to transform into the Panther. While in Panther Mode, Kat will recover health and unleash devastating attacks. (''Gravity Rush 2'' Episode 19: Dimmed Light) Xii is capable of a similar phenomenon, becoming Phoenix. In that game's DLC (
downloadable content content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can be added for no extra cost or as a form of video game monetization, enabling the publisher to gain ad ...
) chapter, ''The Ark of Time - Raven's Choice'', Bit, one of the world's gods and creator of the guardians, reveals that both Kat and Raven are two halves of a single being.Bit: Raven, you can't do this alone. ..Your other half. The other Shifter. You need to come together. ..Yes, the other Shifter's guardian can help. Together, you can be whole. (''Gravity Rush 2: The Ark of Time - Raven's Choice'' Episode 6: Unshed Tears) When Kat combines her guardian with Raven's, they create Gryps, a far larger
griffin The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (; Classical Latin: ''gryps'' or ''grypus''; Late and Medieval Latin: ''gryphes'', ''grypho'' etc.; Old French: ''griffon'') is a -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk ...
-like creature with immense power. If Raven initiates the transformation instead, they create the similar
Sphinx A sphinx ( ; , ; or sphinges ) is a mythical creature with the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the wings of an eagle. In Culture of Greece, Greek tradition, the sphinx is a treacherous and merciless being with the head of a woman, th ...
.


Appearances

Kat initially awakens after falling out of the sky and landing in a playground in Hekseville, a city attached to the World Pillar, a massive, vertical stone
cylinder A cylinder () has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an infinite ...
with no obvious bottom or top. Realizing she has
amnesia Amnesia is a deficit in memory caused by brain damage or brain diseases,Gazzaniga, M., Ivry, R., & Mangun, G. (2009) Cognitive Neuroscience: The biology of the mind. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. but it can also be temporarily caused by t ...
, she sets out to look for the origins of her gravity-shifting powers and begins helping people in Hekseville. Eventually she discovers the threat of the Nevi, mysterious interdimensional beings that begin attacking the citizens of Hekseville, and becomes the city's defender, the "Gravity Queen". She comes into conflict with Raven, a fellow gravity shifter of unknown origin, who later becomes her close friend and ally, helping her save the city from the Sea Anemone, an anti-Nevi weapon created by the ruthless Alderman D'nelica. A two-episode anime
OVA , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and special episodes of a series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the ...
, ''Gravity Rush: Overture'', bridges the gap between ''Gravity Rush'' and ''Gravity Rush 2'', showing the daily life of Kat, who teams up with Raven in a final confrontation with a new mysterious enemy, later revealed to be creations of Dr.
Brahman In Hinduism, ''Brahman'' (; IAST: ''Brahman'') connotes the highest universal principle, the ultimate reality of the universe.P. T. Raju (2006), ''Idealistic Thought of India'', Routledge, , page 426 and Conclusion chapter part XII In the ...
, a deranged scientist who presents himself as the city's savior from the Nevi, but actually seeks to permanently slow down time. In ''
Gravity Rush 2 ''Gravity Rush 2'', known in Japan as ''Gravity Daze 2'', is a 2017 action-adventure game developed and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 4. It is the sequel to ''Gravity Rush''. Directed by Keiichiro Toyama, the co ...
'', Kat is taken through a portal into a parallel universe, that of Jirga Para Lhao. She saves its people from oppression and goes back to Hekseville, where she foils the plans of Dr. Brahman once and for all by defeating his adoptive daughters,
Durga Durga (, ) is a major Hindu goddess, worshipped as a principal aspect of the mother goddess Mahadevi. She is associated with protection, strength, motherhood, destruction, and wars. Durga's legend centres around combating evils and demonic ...
and
Kali Kali (; , ), also called Kalika, is a major goddess in Hinduism, primarily associated with time, death and destruction. Kali is also connected with transcendental knowledge and is the first of the ten Mahavidyas, a group of goddesses who p ...
Angel. While the game seemingly ends, Kat is confronted by a mysterious Shining Girl in the postgame who beckons her up the World Pillar. Climbing to its top, she realizes that she is actually Queen Alua, ruler of the kingdom of Eto. Xicero, an advisor, attempted to murder her for wanting to save Hekseville from an oncoming
black hole A black hole is a massive, compact astronomical object so dense that its gravity prevents anything from escaping, even light. Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will form a black hole. Th ...
. She escapes the clutches of the evil gravity-shifting King Cai and returns to Hekseville, where she stops the Shining Girl's true form, Elektricitie, and then prevents its destruction and rebirth at the hands of a dark force that has merged with Cai's guardian, the
deer A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) ...
-like Wolp. She seals away the black hole, seemingly perishing in the process. A final scene, presumably from Kat's perspective, shows her encountering Raven a year later, as Raven reacts with shock. In the side-story ''The Ark of Time - Raven's Choice'', a prequel to the second game, Kat is shown helping Raven in an attempt to open the Ark, an ancient transportation device carrying lost children from Boutome, a makeshift town at the very bottom of the World Pillar. Dr. Brahman's plan to unlock it backfires, freezing time and damaging the fabric of the universe, and causing beings called Collectors to appear that threaten to destroy the Ark. Dusty ultimately assists Raven in reuniting with Kat, and Raven prevents Kat from being purged from existence, fusing Xii with Dusty to defeat a giant Collector. In games unrelated to the ''Gravity Rush'' series, Kat appeared as a playable DLC character in ''
PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale ''PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale'' is a 2012 List of crossovers in video games, crossover fighting game developed by SuperBot Entertainment and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita. It features ...
'' and '' Everybody's Golf 6''. A costume of Kat was added to '' Ragnarok Odyssey Ace'', and she was added to '' Destiny of Spirits'' as a summonable spirit. A robot dressed as Kat makes a cameo reference in the '' Astro Bot'' (2024) under the name "Gravity Shifter".


Development

Kat's gravity shifting abilities were inspired by ''
The Incal ''The Incal'' (; French: ''L'Incal'') is a French graphic novel series written by Alejandro Jodorowsky and originally illustrated by Jean Giraud (a.k.a. Mœbius). ''The Incal'', with first pages originally released as ''Une aventure de John Di ...
'', a 1981 graphic novel series by Moebius and
Alejandro Jodorowsky Alejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky (; born 17 February 1929) is a Chilean and French Experimental film, avant-garde filmmaker. Known for his films ''El Topo'' (1970), ''The Holy Mountain (1973 film), The Holy Mountain'' (1973) and ''Santa Sangre'' ...
depicting a sprawling city. Its main character was shown being thrown from a building in one of its earliest moments, similar to how Kat "falls" through the air. Her cat Dusty was inspired by ''The Eyes of the Cat'', a 1978 work by the same authors.
Keiichiro Toyama is a Japanese video game director and designer, best known as the creator of the ''Silent Hill'', '' Siren'' and '' Gravity Rush'' franchises. Biography Toyama was born in 1970 in Miyazaki Prefecture, and studied art in Tokyo Zokei University ...
, the series' director and designer, stated that he made Kat a female lead so that she would look "cute" even if the player failed, because her movement was difficult to control. During the development of the original ''Gravity Rush'', scenario writer Naoko Sato was initially worried that Kat would come off as "too Japanese" for overseas audiences, which the game was also targeted at, and that being a young or female heroine would be a negative. Saying that Japanese audiences felt that youth and innocence was "sacred", while foreign countries judged it as "inexperienced and prone to death", Sato thought that a "cool and tough" female heroine would be better received. However, he was encouraged by an American staff member to do what he was best at, and decided to retain Kat's characterization. Nevertheless, the developers attempted to appeal to overseas tastes when creating Kat's visual appearance and dialogue. The development team went through many iterations of Kat's design, trying to make her seem exotic, like she did not belong to any particular real-world country, including the "nonsense language" she speaks. Sato believed that
Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...
audiences found characters who react realistically to situations relatable, so he decided to have her comment on the absurdity of situations within the game through her dialog. A scene in which Kat attacks Syd after she sees him changing clothes was modified due to feedback from overseas players, who felt her reaction was too violent and unfair to Syd, ultimately having Syd slip backwards in a panic instead after Kat's bath towel accidentally comes loose. Ultimately, Sato felt that Kat's personality was well-received overseas, with reviews describing her as "likeable". Kat's concept and in-game artwork was drawn by Shunsuke Saito, who continued to Tweet additional
fan art Fan art or fanart is artwork created by Fan (person), fans of a work of fiction or celebrity depicting events, Character (arts), character, or other aspect of the work. As fan labor, fan art refers to artworks that are not created, commissione ...
and animations of her on his personal account for years, including a diagram of how Kat puts on her signature outfit, and personal interpretations of a younger and older version of her. He departed
Japan Studio Japan Studio was a Japanese video game developer of Sony Interactive Entertainment based in Tokyo. It was best known for the '' Ape Escape'', '' LocoRoco'', '' Patapon'', '' Gravity Rush'', and '' Knack'' series, '' Ico'', ''Shadow of the Colos ...
on March 31, 2021.


Merchandise

An articulated
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figure of Kat was released in 2017, featuring two equipable sets of gear representing her Lunar and Jupiter style, different faceplates and hands, including a special one holding an apple as a Good Smile order bonus, and a rendition of Dusty.


Reception

Ludwig Kietzmann of ''
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'', describing ''Gravity Rush'' as a "beautifully disguised
superhero A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...
game", praised Kat as "unflinchingly upbeat" and just trying to figure out her place, and contrasted her exuberant personality and scarf with the typical notion of a superhero as a "tortured dude in a
cape A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment of any length that hangs loosely and connects either at the neck or shoulders. They usually cover the back, shoulders, and arms. They come in a variety of styles and have been used th ...
". Noting that she was a "delightful klutz", an aspect that tied into the game's initially imprecise controls, he stated that "there's an art to being utterly graceless in ''Gravity Rush''". Writing that he imagined her apologizing to the people caught up in her gravity powers as she passed by, he concluded that Kat's "optimism in the face of her innate clumsiness" made her special, with her inelegance causing her to be believable and in "lock-step" with the player's own journey. Jenni Lada of ''
Siliconera The GAMURS Group, simply known as Gamurs, is an esports media and entertainment publisher. Established in 2014, the group operates multiple brands focusing on the esports and entertainment news markets, including the websites: ''Dot Esports'', '' ...
'' expressed similar admiration for Kat's personality in ''Gravity Rush 2.'' While she characterized Kat's mysterious origins as unremarkable, she nevertheless stated her belief that Kat's "delightfully optimistic, sometimes snarky, and always heartfelt" conversations with other characters made the game feel more plausible and sold her as a heroine. Describing Kat and Raven as feeling like sisters, she said that it was a "wonderful thing" seeing them open up and care about one other during their bonding moments. Steven Strom of ''Paste Magazine'' stated that while Kat's amnesia was clichéd, it freed her from the typical superhero
origin story In fiction, an origin story is an account or backstory revealing how a character or group of people become a protagonist or antagonist. In American comic books, it also refers to how characters gained their superpowers and/or the circumstances ...
, noting that such elaborate backstories reflected a cynical lack of belief that superheroes would perform selfless acts without an outside reason. In contrast, he highlighted that Kat helped people due to her natural empathy rather than a past tragedy that befell her. He called what Kat does with her powers "endearing", since she uses them for "smaller, kinder acts of heroism", "literally gain nga wider perspective on the world". Richard Eisenbeis of ''
Kotaku ''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier. History ...
'' called Kat not "exactly the ideal heroine", characterizing her as an "accidental mass-murderer" due to her penchant for
collateral damage "Collateral damage" is a term for any incidental and undesired death, injury or other damage inflicted, especially on civilians, as the result of an activity. Originally coined to describe military operations, it is now also used in non-milit ...
, despite her pure intentions. Patrick Klepek and Austin Walker of ''Vice'' stated that, in ''Gravity Rush 2'', while Kat is initially a "cheery optimist" who assumes the best in people and is easy to fool, she gradually has her eyes opened to the inequality of Jirga Para Lhao and must become less naive to take on the oppressive Council that controls it. Klepek called one of his favorite moments in the game the choice to let Kat decide whether to deliver a barrel of fuel to the wealthy upper residents, or instead violate her orders and assist the poor lower denizens. They were divided on their opinion of the game's
epilogue An epilogue or epilog (from Greek ἐπίλογος ''epílogos'', "conclusion" from ἐπί ''epi'', "in addition" and λόγος ''logos'', "word") is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature, usually used to bring closure to the ...
, calling it "forced", but also saying it provided thoughtful context for Kat's attitude after falling from Eto. They called her motivation to shelter evacuees from below an impactful moral choice, and an impressive metaphor for a national leader facing a
refugee crisis A refugee crisis can refer to difficulties and/or dangerous situations in the reception of large groups of refugees. These could be Forced displacement, forcibly displaced persons, internally displaced persons, asylum seekers or any other huge ...
. Sammy Barker of ''
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'' wrote that Kat had been "mistreated" by Sony, citing the company's rapid shutdown of the ''Gravity Rush 2'' servers and the closure of Japan Studio, as well as her apparent removal from a banner celebrating
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on the
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, calling it a "cardinal sin".


References


Game quotes

{{Gravity Rush Female characters in video games Video game characters introduced in 2012 Queen characters in video games Video game superheroes Video game characters who can move at superhuman speeds Fictional characters with gravity abilities Fictional characters with amnesia Teenage characters in video games Fictional martial artists Gravity Rush (franchise) Sony Interactive Entertainment characters