Kat (Gravity Rush)

Characteristics

Kat is a young woman with dark skin, red eyes, and blonde hair. She wears a black romper held by elastic and gold metal accessories, a cape-like scarf, a matching headband, two bracers, tall socks, and gold high heels. She can equip alternate outfits, including a French maid uniform, a Phantasy Star Online 2 costume, and a downloadable content costume based on 2B from Nier: Automata. Her personality is heroic, naively innocent, and upbeat.

Dusty can transform into a larger being called Panther, and Kat can merge with Dusty for enhanced combat strength and health recovery, a transformation called Panther Mode. Raven's guardian Xii can become Phoenix. When Kat combines her guardian with Raven's, they create Gryps, a griffin-like creature; if Raven initiates the transformation, they create the similar Sphinx.

Appearances

Kat awakens after falling from the sky into a playground in Hekseville, a city attached to the World Pillar. With amnesia, she seeks her origins and begins helping people, eventually defending the city from the Nevi and becoming known as the Gravity Queen. She conflicts with Raven, a fellow gravity shifter, who later becomes her ally in saving the city from the Sea Anemone, an anti-Nevi weapon created by Alderman D'nelica. The anime OVA Gravity Rush: Overture bridges the first and second games, showing Kat teaming with Raven against creations of Dr. Brahman.

In Gravity Rush 2, Kat is taken to the parallel universe Jirga Para Lhao, saves its people, and returns to Hekseville to foil Dr. Brahman's plans by defeating his adoptive daughters Durga and Kali Angel. In the postgame, a Shining Girl beckons her up the World Pillar; Kat realizes she is Queen Alua of Eto, who was thrown down by adviser Xicero. She escapes King Cai, stops the Shining Girl (Elektricitie), and prevents the city's destruction by a dark force merged with Cai's guardian Wolp. She seals a black hole, seemingly perishing, but a final scene shows her encountering Raven a year later.

Development

Kat's gravity-shifting abilities were inspired by The Incal, a graphic novel by Moebius and Alejandro Jodorowsky, and her cat Dusty by The Eyes of the Cat. Scenario writer Naoko Sato initially worried Kat would seem too Japanese for overseas audiences and that a young female heroine would be judged as inexperienced and prone to death, but an American staff member encouraged him to retain her characterization. The developers tried to make Kat appear exotic and not belonging to any real-world country, including having her speak a nonsense language.

Sato decided to have her comment on absurd situations to appeal to Western audiences. A scene where Kat attacks Syd after seeing him change clothes was modified after overseas feedback, resulting in Syd slipping backwards in panic after Kat's bath towel comes loose.

Sato felt Kat's personality was well-received overseas. Concept and in-game artwork was drawn by Shunsuke Saito, who continued to post fan art and animations for years, including a diagram of how Kat puts on her outfit and interpretations of a younger and older version. He departed Japan Studio on March 31, 2021.

Reception

Ludwig Kietzmann of GamesRadar+ praised Kat as unflinchingly upbeat and a delightful klutz, stating that her optimism in the face of clumsiness made her special and in lock-step with the player's journey. Jenni Lada of Siliconera admired her personality in Gravity Rush 2, calling her conversations delightfully optimistic, sometimes snarky, and always heartfelt, and described her bond with Raven as feeling like sisters. Steven Strom of Paste Magazine noted that Kat's amnesia freed her from typical superhero origin stories, and that she helped people due to natural empathy rather than past tragedy, using her powers for smaller, kinder acts of heroism. Richard Eisenbeis of Kotaku called Kat an accidental mass-murderer due to collateral damage despite her pure intentions.

Did You Know?

• An articulated Figma figure of Kat was released in 2017, featuring Lunar and Jupiter style gear, different faceplates and hands, and a rendition of Dusty.
• The crossover costume based on 2B from Nier: Automata was decided on the spot when developers from both games met at a PlayStation Matsuri event to celebrate Nier's Japanese launch in February 2017.