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For the antagonist from Gatchaman Crowds see Berg Katze (Crowds)

Berg Katse
Berg Katse high res
Kanji

ベルク・カッツェ

Rōmaji

Beruku Kattsue

English

Berg Katse

Characteristics
Race

Genetically modified Human

Gender

shape-changing mutant, shifts between being male or female at will

Age

28 (series planning), 30 (compilation film)

Hair Color

Blond

Eye Color

Gray-blue

Occupation

Commander of Galactor Forces

Personal Status
Status

Alive (Gatchaman episodes 1-105), Dead (Gatchaman episode 105)

Relatives

Unnamed mother and father

Voice Actor

Mikio Terashima, Hiroko Mori (episode 31), Toshiko Sawada (episodes 32-33, 46, 70), Aiko Konoshima (episode 102) (as Female Commander), Kaneto Shiozawa (OVA), Ai Orikasa (female form, OVA), Yō Kitazawa (Tatsunoko Fight)

First Appearance
Anime Debut

Gatchaman Versus Turtle King

Berg Katse (ベルク・カッツェ), alternatively spelled Berg Katze (see Trivia), was the second-in-command officer of Galactor, working directly under the true leader, X.

He posed as a major antagonist in Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, appearing or influential in every episode to carry out the plans of Galactor for world domination. He was later revealed to have been manipulated to join Galactor by X in order to become his pawn.

Background[]

Berg Katse was created by the alien Leader X to lead the terrorist organization Galactor to take over the world. He is a mutant entity, created through the fusion of fraternal twins while they were still in the womb.

Because his individual component parts were male and female, Katse's body was left unstable and shifted between forms almost every year in his life, forcing him to hide his identity until he could control the shape-shifting in his adulthood, becoming a master of disguise as a result. Katse was able to move locations so easily with each year due to the fact that his father worked in the importing and exporting business, which allowed for these frequent moves. This bizarre burden led him to be easily recruited and manipulated by Leader X when he contacted Katse, and convinced him that he was a superior being.

Katse being composed of two people also enabled him to bear an exceptionally high strength and IQ, although this intelligence was only displayed when he attended schools as the female student, as professors who taught him in his male form believed the boy to not be as intelligent. It can be assumed that his strength was likewise linked to the male form.

In the dialogue of "Duel at Galactor Island", it is said that Katse had been involved with Galactor at least a decade prior to the start of the series (placing him at around 20 years old, if going with the detail from the movie where X came to Earth 30 years ago).

Appearance[]

Berg Katse True Form High Res

Berg Katse unmasked

Berg Katse's most recognized appearance is his masculine form, in which he wears a purple bodysuit and matching mask with long, bat-like ears. He wears a long purple cape with a red interior, a black belt with a large shield-shaped buckle, and red boots and gloves. He also notably wears pink lipstick.

Throughout the series, Katse takes on many disguises, both of men and women, and can easily shed them off to reveal his default costumed form beneath. Katse's true unmasked appearance is ultimately revealed in episode 102, confirming that he is the same person as the mysterious female Galactor commander; he appears noticeably effeminate and androgynous when unmasked, with large lips, long dark blond hair and grayish-blue eyes.

In the woman form, Katse goes quite through a few different fashions, and either wears her hair up in a bun or in a long, flowing ponytail. Due to the different staff that worked on each episode, "Galactor's Lady Commander"'s facial features can also greatly differ.

OVA[]

Katse's design was somewhat updated and altered for the OVA. Instead of eye lenses on his mask, Katse has a blue visor. The mask also has pointed extensions protruding off of it, and the ears are squared-off. He wears a violet and red bodysuit, beneath layers of a white overcoat and deep purple cape.

This Katse's unmasked appearance is also feminine, though his hair is a much lighter blond and his irises are golden rather than any shade of blue. The brief appearance of the woman Katse at the beginning of OVA 2 shows her to wear her hair up, as opposed to having it be loose like the default mode, though her eyes are deliberately obscured.

Cancelled Imagi Film Project[]

In various pieces of concept art, Katse was shown to be a tall, beastly alien man with a pasty, dessicated-looking complexion. He would wear a more futuristic, armored suit in shades of black and purple, along with an updated version of his bat-ear mask and a long, purple cape with a high collar.

A "civilian" guise, seen in another piece of art, had Katse shielding his face from view with a hooded, dark cape that he'd wear over a white suit jacket and a pair of black pants.

As this version of Katse was envisioned as a male alien overlord, there is no shape-shifting or even any disguise as a woman.

Personality[]

Berg Katse is very foul tempered and is known for dark mood swings to the point of hysteria. He is incredibly loyal to Leader X, and commands the Galactor soldiers with brutality and intimidation. Katse is known for being merciless and cowardly and always escapes capture, often leaving Galactor soldiers to die. Whenever he fails a mission, he will grow concern because of the wrath from Sosai X.

OVA[]

In the OVA, Katse's personality is rather different, but no less sadistic. Unlike the original series, where he was quite flamboyant and, at times, silly and comical, the OVA gives him a more calm and cold personality, as well as being far less cowardly and more competent. He is also noticeably much less sympathetic in the OVA, where he is well aware that X plans on destroying the earth, and willing to go as far as to sacrifice his own life to help X achieve his goals.

This is a massive contrast to the original series, where Katse is being fooled by X into thinking that he is helping Katse become the new ruler of the earth, without knowing that X actually plans on destroying the earth and views Katse as expendable.

Cancelled Imagi Film Project[]

In the scrapped Imagi Studios movie, Katse was to be very cold and calculating, similar to the OVA. He is also much darker and sadistic, down to violently torturing Dr. Nambu.

Abilities and Equipment[]

Disguises[]

Katse is a master of disguise, having already been switching between the forms of a man and woman for most of his life. This makes Katse able to blend into environments of people, and can fool everyone (even the most advanced technology).

Intelligence[]

Katse, as a result of having a pair of brains fused together, has an IQ of 280 or higher. This allows him to formulate complex plans that would normally take years of consideration for the average person. In the field, he can command plans on the fly even when he goes awry.

Combat[]

Katse is a highly skilled fighter, able to fight against several enemies at once, even the whole Gatchaman team with all of his skills and equipment. This is due to the fact that, as with his intelligence, he has twice the muscle strength as a typical human before even taking into account any strength-bolstering methods he may have undergone.

Bolster[]

Katse commands a flying saucer, a Devil Star hovercraft, where he commands his troops. He is capable of piloting it in a manner that not even the God Phoenix can pursue it.

History[]

Katse spent most of his life abducting, recruiting, torturing, and killing his rivals (as well as soldiers) for pleasure, out of loyalty (or fear) from Leader X, and to keep Galactor's intelligence classified. It is especially important that nobody knows the true identity and nature of Berg Katse. Despite being so insecure, there were many times that he took pride in being a superior mutant.

In episode 67, Katse thought it strange to destroy The Mantle Project, which is something that he could have used after conquering Earth. Leader X wanted Katse to talk about something else. X would later even admit to himself that he has no intention for Katse to rule Earth.

Eventually, Katse learned that Leader X was only using him like a chess pawn and that he had no more need for him or the planet Earth, despite being promised conquest of Earth by X many times. However, not even X wanted Earth any more. X, furious at the loss of his home planet Selector, decided to destroy Earth instead. Blindsided, Katse committed suicide by jumping into a pit of magma, rather than continuing to live with the knowledge that he was just a mutant.

Moments before his suicide, Katse expressed that he had wanted to live his life as two separate humans. He also assisted the Science Ninja Team by saying it is futile to stop the Black Hole operation, since Katse trusted X and followed his orders. It was also impossible to avoid this, since Katse could not leave Galactor. Doing so would have resulted in rejection by everybody else, as well as being executed by X.

In the OVA remake, he is instead fatally stabbed by Ken, but confidently warned that his death is irrelevant as Galactor is far from defeated.

Alterations in International Adaptations[]

USA[]

It is common for Katse to be rewritten as an alien in the English-language versions of the series, with the exception of the ADV Films dub sticking close to the script on the origins. Even then, however, the dub opts to call the Lady Commander guise by the more descriptive names of Madame X or Madame Rahl.

Battle of the Planets (1978)[]

Katse was renamed Zoltar and was described as an alien overlord from the planet Spectra who wished to conquer the galaxy. Mark attempts to unmask him at one point, revealing a long mane of blond hair, but Zoltar manages to get away and leaves Mark wondering if Zoltar could be a woman. However, this thought of Mark's is not followed up on, while what turned out to be Katse's female form was adapted into at least four different women through the series:

  • Zoltar's twin sister Mala, praised highly by The Great Spirit for her beauty and her dedication to the planet. To hint upon her connection to her brother, she uses the surname "Latroz" as part of an alias.
  • A Spectra agent named S-9, described as the most brilliant spy of the organization.
  • A Spectra agent that goes by Ms. Ostric
  • Yet another agent known only as Hanna , who apparently poses as a galactic rock singer when not up to her evil plans.

This adaptation did not cover Episode 102, where the female commander and Katse were revealed to be one and the same. In addition, Gatchaman episode 88 was the earliest episode that Sandy Frank had translated that involved the female commander, causing a massive rewrite to the plot to remove any possible hints or a direct connection between "Hanna" and Zoltar. The episodes featuring "Mala" happened to be among the last episodes to be dubbed, where the writers finally decided upon a familial connection.

Due to the fact that Agent S-9 has the same design as Mala in her second appearance, an identical voice, as well as the fact that S-9 escaped successfully, some fans theorize that the two could in fact be one and the same (although others would feel that the script writers would have connected them if that was so, besides the improvisational nature of the adaptation). "Hanna" is also stated to only be a codename of the mysterious Spectran agent, who just so happens to look like a younger Mala. The Spectran women with speaking roles (Mala, S-9, Ostric) also happened to all be voiced by Takayo Fischer, who had joined the later portion of the voice-over sessions to handle other female characters that required distinctive voices.

G-Force: Guardians of Space (1987)[]

In this version, Katse was renamed Galactor (which was previously only the name of the organization) and once more described as an alien being. The female commander's early appearances made it into this adaptation, although she explains that she's simply a follower of Galactor, and goes by aliases such as Ms. Tompkins or Veronica.

The early pitch pilot by the Media360Group instead had Katse renamed to be Commander Zol.

Eagle Riders (1996)[]

This adaptation mentions Katse in passing early on as the alien invader Lukan of the Vorak race, and states that he was the father of Mallanox. However, this remains in question due to Saban's inconsistent dubbing practice and attempts at rewriting Mallanox's origin.

Harmony Gold's dub of the OVA series (1997)[]

The Harmony Gold dub of the OVA renamed Katse to Solaris, and once more described him as an alien. Unlike the Japanese audio, the same voice actor was utilized for both forms of Solaris.

Voice Actors[]

Katse was originally voiced by Mikio Terashima in his male/base form, while his female form went through three voice actresses through the course of the series: Hiroko Mori in episode 31, Toshiko Sawada in her appearances in episodes 32-33, 46, and 70, and Aiko Konoshima in her final appearance in episode 102. Another actress, Shima Sakai, voiced Katse's "Lady Second" disguise in episode 29.

The OVA series had Katse's male form voiced by Kaneto Shiozawa, while Ai Orikasa voiced the female half.

In the game, Tatsunoko Fight, Yo Kitazawa voiced Katse.

English Adaptations[]

  • Battle of the Planets: Keye Luke
  • G-Force: Guardians of Space: Bill Capizzi (Sparklin Entertainment), John Ferguson (Media360 Group pilot)
  • OVA: R. Martin Klein (Harmony Gold), Edwin Neal (Sentai Filmworks redub)
  • ADV/Sentai dub of series and movie: Edwin Neal

Katse's "Lady Commander" side (and adaptations of such)[]

  • Battle of the Planets: Takayo Fischer
  • G-Force: Guardians of Space: Barbara Goodson
  • OVA: R. Martin Klein (Harmony Gold), Claire Hamilton (Sentai Filmworks)
  • ADV dub: Laurie Gallardo (episodes 31, 32, 33, 70, 102), Kira Vincent-Davis (episode 46, also voiced the "Lady Second" disguise in 29)

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • Berg Katse's name comes from the German words for mountain (Berg) and cat (Katze) which can also be translated as wildcat or lion and alludes to his cat-like costume. The name is also alternatively spelled "Berg Katze" due to this, and appears that way in Gatchaman Crowds as well as in Sentai Filmwork's English subs for the sequels. Because the katakana reading is Berukku, and not Beruggu, some Tatsunoko merchandise would also occasionally use the English spellings of Beruck Katse and Berc Katse.
  • Katse's late voice actor in the OVA, Kaneto Shiozawa, was known for voicing other characters who were also feminine in appearance, had long hair and often wore lipstick, such characters include Merill "Benten" Yanagawa from Cyber City Oedo 808 and Rudolf Hagen from AIKa.
  • Neither of Berg Katse's previous voice actors, Mikio Terashima and Kaneto Shiozawa, were able to reprise the character in the video game, Tatsunoko Fight, due to the former being too old to voice the character, and the latter tragically passing away from an accident before the game was made. As a result, Yo Kitazawa was hired to become Katse's new voice actor for the game.
  • Katse's English voice actor in the ADV Films' dub, Edwin Neal, is best known for also playing The Hitchhiker from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Development Period[]

  • The model sheets and planning notes give Katse's age as 28 years old[1] (though sometimes interpreted as 29, such as in a typo in the Columbia DVD transcription), although this is never commented upon in the series. In the compilation movie, Katse is instead stated to be 30.
  • Said characters notes also state that Katse also likes to tame wild animals. Most of his titan-sized mechas are designed after animals, for example Mammothoon seen in a few episodes. His secret base in Pursue Katse! is also surrounded by wildlife.

How a Drawing Mistake Changed Katse's Design[]

Katse's initial design was to have him wearing a green, lion-like costume and having a much more traditionally masculine-looking face . This design was scrapped due to being interpreted and used for the Turtle King Commander in the first episode by mistake, necessitating a new design to be made for Katse's scene. Some tie-in manga and merchandise, however, were made while Katse was still set with the old design and so some viewers may be confused to see a green-dressed "Katse".

Hisayuki Toriumi would later recount how the change in design happened[2], with it being his mistake that created the situation:

"There was a Commander who appeared in the first episode, and was defeated by Gatchaman and the others. He was wearing a cat mask. That was Katse, though. I didn't know him well, so when I saw the script, I thought, "Oh, there's a commander here, so let's use this character." So that's why Berg Katse became that commander. In the beginning, Berg Katse is only glimpsed a little on the TV screen. When I was directing and the name Berg Katse came up, I said to the president Tatsuo Yoshida, "There is no character design for Berg Katse" because there was no character design. Then he said, "I drew it correctly." I said, "No, there is no character design," and he said, "This is it!" pointing to the character from before and I said "What?! I already killed that one." That is how Mr. Kuri created the character we see today. Look at that, here it is. I thought it would be better to have a more androgynous image."

The Original Intent for Katse's Identity and that of X[]

In the planning table for the series, Katse was noted to be modeled after the actress Kim Novak[3], already intending for a feminine image. However, the circumstances of Katse's sex-shifting and dual gender identity were not set in stone early in the series, other than being a master of disguise and the Lady Commander being strongly hinted to be him.

In that original planning chart, Katse was also described as being female (though a misprint in the Columbia liner notes interprets the kanji as "male"), but that her specialty is to "disguise as anyone, men and women equally" and a special trait of hers being that of a "very beautiful woman". The gorgeous woman setting may have already been inspired by the Galactor leader in Space Ace, but reworked for this sort of series.

Early drafts of The Plan to Assassinate Dr. Nambu also refer to the Lady Commander in parentheses as "actually Berg Katse", indicating the intent for them to be the same entity early on. It was then decided to hide this detail in later drafts so the voice actors and other staff would not catch on, simply referring to the villain as "The Lady Commander". Other details in early episodes, such as Katse wearing a ring when disguised as Dr. Takahara, were also meant to be small hints towards the character's true identity.

The writers' room continued the intent of Katse secretly being a woman working in disguise through the series, helped by fans' ongoing speculation at the time of "Is Katse a woman?". However, owing to the ideas of Hisayuki Toriumi, this changed during the final period as he opted to have Katse be a mutant that could easily switch between being man and woman (and explaining such improbable disguise techniques), but it would also be a tragic aspect of his identity that left him unable to be an typical human like others or a pair of twins that should have been born. This turning point first came in the development of episode 88, where the rewrites in the plot introduced the angle of not only a mysterious young girl genius that went to school, but a young boy that would appear at schools between the years she did. The scenarios of episode 102 and those after would also change in turn, once it came time for Katse's unmasking.

Originally, Katse would be demoted by X after her unmasking by the Science Ninja Team, and would wind up allying with them to fight him, revealing that X was a computer AI she made that had grown out of control into its own entity. She and the Ninja Team would battle against 8 other Galactor captains, only for her to wind up killed by X. This outline existed up until the planning for the final few scripts, with the scenario of episode 103 originally uncovering the truth behind X. However, Toriumi's new ideas for Katse and X (along with his plan to have Joe on the verge of death) resulted in substantial alterations and a new direction for those scripts and the final two to showcase his new ending idea with a threat of Earth's destruction.

It is to be noted that while the mutant setting was iconic enough to carry through to the OVA remake, there are other iterations like Jinzo Toriumi's novel "The Condor Flies!" where the original idea of Katse being a powerful, wicked woman that's a master of disguise is upheld. The live-action movie also plays with this in having its Katse (the third in line for such an identity) be Joe's fiancee Naomi, who is also shown to take on the form of the Galactor executive Ilya.

Apocryphal Sequel and Remake Plans[]

Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (remake)[]

  • In the settings for a project seemingly intended as a "requel" to the first series, Katse was revealed to have survived in being remodeled as a cyborg, and would be the sub-leader of Galactor once again.

References[]

  1. Columbia DVD vol.5 liner notes, "First series proposal"
  2. Toriumi, Tatsunoko screening pamphlet, 1978
  3. Columbia DVD vol.5 liner notes
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