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For the character from the live action remake, see Zandra.
Villain Overview

Katherine de Pharoa Rii (リー・カザリーン・ド・ファロア。), more commonly known as Katherine Rii (リー・カザリーン) (birthday: May 1), is a major antagonist of the anime series Voltes V.[1] She is Prince Heinel's aide who is secretly in love with him. She and Jangal Rui have protected Heinel from Emperor Zu Zambajil's numerous attempts to have him killed. She was voiced by the late Noriko Ohara.

In Voltes V: Legacy, Katherine was adapted into Zandra and portrayed by Liezel Lopez. The adapted character would deviate significantly from her 70's counterpart.

Appearance[]

Katherine has pale skin, elegant black eyes, and an ovalline face. She has long, wavy amber-blonde hair that reaches her hips and is tied into a French braid bun at the top. Two wispy strings of hair hang behind her ears. She wears lipstick. Her horns are brown and sprout from the sidees of her head, being of a curved shape. Her arms and fingers are tiny and of a thin shape.

Ri Katherine 3s

Katherine's fan

She wears a light blue dress (that appears to be white in some frames) with pink underskirts and pink frilly sleeves. It is also parted in the middle. The dress is volominous and covers her legs, and when she is on her knees, spreads around the floor, giving the image of spilled water. Around her throat is a wide pink ruffle neck collar attached to her dress, and underneath said collar are two strings. She also wears a golden necklace with a blue oval-shaped jewel. As per custom for Boazanian women, a veil hangs from each of her horns. The veil extends past her hair to near her knees. In episode 3, Heinel cuts her veil in half, but it can be assumed that she has spares as the veil re-appears in every episode regardless of what damage Katherine sustains.

Sometimes Katherine dons an exotic fan, likely from the hide of a Boazanian animal. The fan's outer feathers are baby pink, with a smaller layer of bubblegum pink near the root and purple at the core. The fan usually has four, five or six feathers depending on the frame. It's feathers heavily resembles that of a peacock's. She sometimes uses the fan to hide her face as she laughs.

In episode 30, Katherine disguises herself as a woman named "Jane" to lure Kenichi and kill him. As "Jane" Katherine dons a white sheet on her head to hide her horns, while wearing purple clothing. Despite the paper-thin disguise clearly revealing her face and some of her hair, and her voice being unchanged, it manages to fool Kenichi. It is only after the bomb explodes (thus blowing away the white sheet) that Kenichi realizes that it was Katherine all along.

Personality[]

Katherine is gifted at manipulation and fond of tricking others to gauge their true intentions. She has provided many devious schemes for Prince Heinel to fight against Voltes V, having impressed him with her loyalty. She is deeply devoted to Prince Heinel, and will scrutinize things to the farthest degree to ensure his safety. She overhears Zuhl's plot to have him killed and tells him, which enrages him and Duke Zaki, and similarly foils Bergan's plan to have him killed. As a result, Emperor Zambajil's assassins deem her a nuisance and despise her. Katherine is also a sadist and laughed heartily at the thought of killing the Voltes team, and killing Zuhl after he was exposed for trying to kill Heinel.

Despite this, underneath Katherine's exterior is a sweet and kind girl that has a lot of empathy for others. Katherine didn't look down on Heinel for having a "traitor" father and instead felt like protecting him from the nobles that shunned and bullied him. She felt sympathy for Girion and was against his execution in spite of the fact that he insulted Heinel and took the side of the Voltes team. Katherine is also good friends with Jangal and they have a mutual bond over wanting the best for Heinel. In spite of being raised in an environment where she was taught that honour is second to none and war is glorious, Katherine was able to recognize that the true nature of war is cruel and unforgiving, and it does not determine who is right, only who is left.

She is terrified of Heinel's relentless drive for war as her biggest fear is losing him. Throughout the series, she changes from a woman who supports him blindly to begging him many times to not throw his life away in an endless war. However, Heinel brushes this off as her not understanding him.

Unbeknownst to Heinel, she is in love with him. She refuses to move when Heinel brandishes a sword at her, saying she will give his life for his conquest, and Heinel finds himself unable to harm her. When he chooses to fight for Boazania after being exiled, she begs him to go to safety to no avail. Despite believing that every noble should lay down their life for Boazania, Heinel refuses to let Katherine fight and wants her to be safe. Eventually, she takes a bullet to save him and confesses her feelings. Katherine was not sad when she died, because she was able to spend her last moments with Princr Heinel, who she loved. As he held her, Heinel realized that he was in love with her too.

Biography[]

Katherine was born in Boazania to a noble family. As she had horns, she was allowed the privilege of joining Boazanian aristocracy. Under the Boazanian caste system, those without horns were forced to live as slaves to those that had them, and like most Horned Boazanians, Katherine looked down on her Hornless counterparts.

Prior to her birth, the 123rd Emperor of the Boazanian Empire, Oral, had a nephew, Gohl, who was born hornless. Gohl incited several slave rebellions over the planet because he wanted a just society where the Hornless Boazanians weren't treated as slaves. While Gohl had once been in line for the throne, when his cousin, Zambajil, exposed him for being Hornless, he was made a slave and separated from his wife, Lozaria. Lozaria died in childbirth. He eventually escaped to Earth, but was recalled back by Zambajil, and then jailed after he refused to use his skills in science and technology to aid Zambajil's galactic conquest.

Unbeknownst to Gohl, the child that Lozaria died giving birth to was the Prince of Boazania, Heinel. Heinel, born to a deceased mother and a father imprisoned for crimes against the state, was raised by his maternal grandparents. Since he was exiled from the Palace due to Gohl's betrayal, Heinel grew a strong hatred of him. While he was of royal blood, he was never respected by his fellow nobles, instead being brought up hated and shunned by them. He was labelled as a traitor's son, and made to suffer repeated humiliations based on his father's actions. The nobles of Boazania scapegoated him for his father's actions, claiming that he would also grow up to be a traitor. Fellow noble children would also pelt him with sticks and stones any time he was in public, to the point it wasn't safe for him to go outside. Only his maternal grandparents showed him genuine love.

One day, Katherine saw Heinel being bullied and felt protective of him. She befriended Heinel, and they became very close. The Rii family was also close with Heinel's maternal grandparents, and when they passed away, the Rii family took him in and raised him alongside Katherine.

Emperor Zambajil secretly despised Heinel because he was the true heir to the throne. He only appointed him a position in the royal court out of reluctance. However, he hid this from Heinel.

Knowing that he had very little chance among the ruling class, Heinel decided to earn others' respect through military. He graduated as the top cadet at the Boazanian Institute of Military Sciences and Warfare and became a proud warrior. Katherine at some point became an expert in the field of science, specializing in zoology.

After several years, Emperor Zambajil launched an invasion on Earth led by Prince Heinel. Katherine aided him in his efforts, alongside a General, Jangal, and another sceitnist, Zuhl. The Boazanians managed to lay waste to countries all over the world, including three million fatalities in Italy, burning Buenos Aires to the ground, destroying the Twin Towers and cutting off all commmunication between London and the rest of the world. Many survivors were forced to retreat for their safety.

Unbeknownst to the Boazanians, during Gohl's stay on Earth, he fell in love with a human woman from Japan, Mitsuyo Go, and had three sons with her, Kenichi, Daijirou and Hiyoshi. Foreseeing the Boazanian Invasion, he created the robot Voltes V to defend the Earth, alongside Mitsuyo, and two close friends of theirs, Professor Hamaguchi and General Oka. The robot was made with the explicit purpose of protecting Earth from any and all threats, and three of it's pilots were the aforementioned Go children. The other two pilots were Megumi, General Oka's daughter, and Ippei, Professor Hamaguchi's grandson.

Mitsuyo and Professor Hamaguchi summoned Kenichi, Daijirou, Hiyoshi, Ippei and Megumi to enter their respective vehicles and form Voltes V.

At first, the team manage to successfully defeat the first Beast Knight sent by Heinel's forces, Dokugaga. However, Heinel then deployed Baizanga, a stronger Beast Knight that manages to subdue the robot. Fearing for her children's safety, an injured Mitsuyo abandons her hospital room and enters a jet plane, where she flies into Baizanga, killing herself but managing to free the robot. Kenichi is broken and screams in shock, before brutally beating down Baizanga. The Voltes team mourned the loss of Mitsuyo, with Hamaguchi becoming a surrogate parental figure for them afterwards. From then on, they would fight the Boazanian's forces to protect Earth.

Heinel's repeated losses were a source of frustration for him, especially as he felt humiliated at losing to a race he considered inferior. He would punish his aides for their losses, except Katherine, who he had a soft spot for. Jangal was at one point arrested and Zuhl was whipped as punishment for failing to defeat Voltes V. Heinel at one point manned a Beast Knight himself and came close to defeating Voltes V, but due to Zuhl and Zaki's sabotage, Hamaguchi ordered them to take advantage of it's weakness and overload it with energy, causing it to explode.

Unbeknownst to Heinel, while Katherine and Jangal are loyal to him, Zuhl isn't. Zuhl was working with Zambajil to get rid of Heinel, but was caught in the act and executed. In his stead, Zambajil sent Belgan, a scientist who specialized in making Maxingal alloys. He produced armoured Beast Knights that managed to put up stronger fronts against Voltes V, but still failed to defeat it. While spying, Katherine would catch Heinel performing a religious ritual involving slitting the throat of a bird and pouring it's blood in a chalice. Katherine was horrified, as the ritual was only done by Boazan warriors prepared to die, but Heinel firmly told her to leave and think nothing of it.

Katherine was desperate to stop Heinel from dying and planned to kill Kenichi. She sent him a letter claiming that she was a Hornless Boazanian woman named "Jane", and she knew where his father was, and she would tell him if he met her at a Church. She also told him to come alone as she was scared of being caught by forces of the Boazanians. Kenichi eagerly believed this, and without bothering to verify if it was true, met Katherine at the planned position. The church was rigged with traps and explosives, but Kenichi managed to survive them while shielding "Jane" with his body. Unfortunately, the explosion of one of the bombs caused Katherine's veil to fly off, revealing her horns. Kenichi then realized that he had been tricked. Katherine tried to stab him with a dagger, but he shot her. As she managed to enter her spaceship, Heinel sent her a transmission and ordered her to come back to their base, furious at her reckless behaviour, which Katherine obliged to.

Heinel planned to take advantage of this situation as without Kenichi, the Voltes team couldn't form Voltes V. He arrived to the location and challenged Kenichi to a swordfight. As they duelled, Kenichi told Heinel that he swore to defend Earth, which Heinel mocked. He also told him he had Boazanian blood, which Heinel refused to believe. Heinel managed to knock the sword out of his hand, assuming that he had won. However, as they were on ice, Kenichi slid to Heinel's legs, knocked him over, and grabbed his horns before taking back his sword. Heinel became enraged that Kenichi would dare to touch the horns of a Boazanian, and angrily charged at Kenichi. As their swords met, they passed out and fell into the sea. Katherine used her saucer to rescue Heinel and take him back to the base.

After they were bandaged, Heinel scolded Katherine for her actions, but she thanked him for saving her life. He told her that he only did it out of honour, as it would look bad if she, a noble Boazanian, died.

Jangal is curious about Kenichi's claims of being Boazanian. He finds it hard to believe that a planet like Earth, that is 14,000 light years away from Boazania, would be able to have a Boazanian diaspora. However, he quickly comes up with an idea to prove Kenichi is telling the truth. He plans to infect the boy and his siblings with a virus that only Boazanians can overcome. He tells his plan to Katherine, who tells Heinel. Heinel initially disapproves and calls Kenichi a liar, but Jangal brings up the possibility of Voltes V being in cahoots with the Boazanian resistance, claiming it is necessary to verify it for the very reason. Heinel gives him his permission, and Jangal puts the plan in action.

Luring the brothers with a hologram of their long-lost father, Kentaro, Jangal infects them with the virus. When they recover from it, Jangal and Heinel are shocked to see that Kenichi was telling the truth. This exacerbates Heinel's desire to defeat the Voltes team, calling the Go brothers a disgrace to their race.

One day, Heinel's witnesses his forces suddenly abandon him. Katherine informs him that saucers are leaving the base, and Jangal finds out that most of their army is gone. Shocked, he demands to know what's going on. Gurul and Belgan then send a transmission to Heinel from Gurul's ship, They tell him that because he has failed to produce a single victory over Voltes V, Zambajil has exiled him. They both laugh at him before ending the transmission. Heineltries to hide his tears, but is unable to. After he regains his composure, he declares that he will still fight Voltes V, and asks that Katherine and Jangal, his two most loyal aides, put their trust in him. They do, and Heinel presses a button that reveals the true form of the secret base.

Gurul and Belgan lure Voltes V into Heinel's secret base. They manage to break in, while looking for the Go brother's father, Kentaro. In actuality, Gurul and Belgan discovered the rebel's secret base and took Gohl back to Boazania, where he was held prisoner - Zambajil wanted to use his talent in science to strengthen Boazania's machinery. They are confronted by Jangal, who challenges them to a fight. Jangal ends up losing. Being surrounded, he admits defeat, and asks that Daijirou give him back his sword. Daijirou is unsure, but Kenichi believes that Jangal doesn't mean to harm them and tells him to give it back. Jangal then apologizes to Kenichi for lying and tells him that as Boazanian, it would be a great dishonour for him to live after losing a battle, so he takes his sword and stabs himself in the stomach. Willingly committing suicide, his last words are praising Prince Heinel and pledging his loyalty to him.

The Voltes team are horrified by the sight, while Katherine and Heinel are bewildered, not expecting Jangal to go out like that. Before he bleeds to death, Jangal reveals to Kenichi Goh that Goh is imprisoned on Boazania.

Heinel, desperate to regain his honour, attempts to pilot a ship to fight the Voltes team. Katherine, however, shoots him with a stun gun and takes him to Boazania, while Gurul and Belgan try to blow up the Earth with a magnemite bomb.

Doyle, one of the Hornless Boazanian rebels, flies a ship and disposes of the bomb. He then reveals that Big Falcon is actually a spaceship, and the Voltes team, alongside Sakaonji and Doyle, go to Boazania to free Gohl.

In episode 38, the Voltes team make their way to Boazania. When Zambajil sees them coming, he dispatches Bergan and Gururu to deal with them. While they initially seem victorius, the tides turn when Voltes V overpower them and bypass Sodom and Gomorrah, planet Boazania's defense system. They make it to Boazania and Doyle incites a rebellion, telling the slaves the time has come to rise up. The slaves overtake the nobles' castles and begin destroying the Boazanian's forces. Gurul and Belgan attempt to stop the starship, but are destroyed the Voltes team. Kentaro/Gohl, who is in prison, is broken out by the rebels. He cries upon hearing his three son's voices.

Katherine, fearing for her life, cannot bear to look at the rebellion and withdraws herself in her castle. The ruckus causes Heinel to wake up, and he asks Katherine where he is. Katherine informs him they're in Boazania, in the castle she was born - and that the rebels have taken the planet. She shows him footage of Voltes V idecimating the Boazanian military and tells him that the nobles are fleeing en masse. Infuriated by their cowadice, Heinel sets off to join the battlefield, even though Katherine begs him not to. She tells him that Zambajil doesn't care for him, but he says that he must do it for his honout. As he exits her home on his horse, he yells at Katherine to save herself.

Prince Heinel 2z

Heinel berates the nobles for abandoning Zu Zambojil

Heinel makes his way to the castle, where he berates Boazanian nobles for defecting and threatens to kill anyone who abandons Zambajil. As a result, he is shot at by one with a gun, but Katherine takes the hit for him and dies. Heinel holds her and begs her not to die, but she passes away, after telling him she loves him. A weeping Heinel realizes he loves her as well.

Prince Heinel 2w

Heinel and Katherine's last moments

Heinel then sets his eyes on a room in the Golden Castle that has a statue of Godol. He makes his way to the room and prays to the statue, mentioning the prophecy that Godol would make a Boazanian who is a true warrior the savior of Boazania. He promises Godol that he is being genuine from the bottom of his heart. To prove his "purity of intent" to him, Heinel jumps into the flames. As he plunges, he lands in a cockpit, and realizes that the statue was actually a giant mecha, and an automated message plays saying that he grants his power to anyone who wishes to defend Boazania. Heinel then locates Voltes V and engages in a battle, which eventually results in Voltes V toppling over Godol. The Voltes V team are shocked to discover that Heinel was the one who had been piloting it.

Determined to kill him, Heinel then tosses a sword at Kenichi and challenges him to a fight, despite Kenichi telling him the fight is pointless. The two engage in a swordfight, and as they both break their swords, Heinel yells that the fight isn't over yet and pulls out a dagger. Kentaro instantly recognizes it and asks Heinel where he got it, to which Heinel responds by saying that it doesn't matter and he can't distract him. However, he does say that it is the dagger his mother gave him before she died.

Kentaro then says it does matter because it is the dagger he gave to his first wife, and says it has twin doves on it. Horrified, Heinel looks at the dagger, notices the twin doves, and realizes that Kentaro is right. He feels ashamed that he had been participated in a meaningless war against his family.

Just then Zu Zambajil appears, having tried to escape with a wagonload of riches and a grenade. Once he realizes that he is cornered, he attempts to shift the blame to Heinel, saying that the earthlings should hate him since it was his idea to invade Earth (even though it wasn't). Angered, Heinel yells "What?! I thought you were on the side of good, but you're just a materialistic bastard! DIE!!!" and flings the dagger at him, killing Zambajil. Unfortunately, Zambajil accidentally drops the grenade in the process, causing it to explode and engulf the castle in flames. Heinel then saves Kenichi from the fire and willingly accepts his death, but not before biding a farewell to his newfound family, despite Kenichi screaming "brother" at him and trying to save him. Kentaro also acknowledges Heinel as his son before the flames swallow him whole, while Heinel calls him "dad...!".

Relationships[]

Heinel[]

Scar rook 3h

Heinel telling Katherine his backstory.

Katherine loves Heinel, but he doesn't know it. Heinel is convinced from his traumatic childhood that he is unworthy of love, and instead pays attention to superficial things such as royal titles. As a result, he is oblivious to Katharine being sweet to him, and only focuses on her rank as his underling. Heinel doesn't understand that she loves him, and assumes that all her actions as for the sake of the Empire. When he saved Katharine from mortal danger, he justified it by saying that it was because she would disgrace Boazanian nobility if she were to die before an Earthling.

Katharine herself is shown to be devoted to Heinel. When Heinel was punishing his comrades for being unable to defeat Voltes V, while Zuhl and Jangal cowered, she did not move when Heinel brought his sword to her head, stating that she was willing to bear any punishment from him for the sake of his conquest. As a result, Heinel's hand began shaking, unable to bring himself to harm her, though he had cut her veil. He then praised her and said that for her dedication, she can lead the next attack. Katharine always indulges his plans without question and when she gets the opppurtunity to be in charge of guiding Beastmen, she eagerly takes it. She is also violently protective of Heinel due to the multiple assassination attempts he faces due to his position, though this could also be from a place of possessiveness. Much like how Heinel prides himself in being a Boazanian noble, Katharine prides herself in being his right hand. She constantly praises him and encourages his aspirations to colonize the earth. However, when it becomes clear that Heinel is dedicated to fight to the death, Katherine becomes worried because she doesn't want him to die, and tries to save him.

When she learns that Zuhl planned to kill Heinel, she sadistically laughed at the thought of strapping a bomb to him without his knowledge and detonating it.

Katharine is also the only person Prince Heinel confessed his traumatic and humiliating backstory to, something he never did to anyone else. Throughout the series, it is shown that out of all his allies, Heinel trusts her the most.

When she hears that Heinel was sent a new assassin by the Emperor, Bergen, she becomes upset and asks Heinel if he thinks she and Jangal are of no use to him, implying feelings of jealousy/insecurity. Heinel reassures her that he does not.

When she sacrifices himself to save him and confesses her feelings, he realizes that he loves her as well.

Several pieces of supplementary material regarding Voltes V state that Katherine and Heinel are childhood friends.

Jangal[]

Katherine and Jangal respect each other as co-workers. Apart from Heinel, they are the only ones each other trust. They both are protective of Heinel, and when they suspect that he is in danger, they often work together off-screen to save him. They also tend to gossip with each other about the Boazanians from Emperor Zu Zambajil's court. The two were close friends and when he died, Katherine shed tears.

Giligan[]

When Katherine witnessed Giligan's prowess in the field, she remarked that he was a handsome man. However, when Heinel has him executed, she is forced to witness and turns away, horror-struck.

Development[]

Ri Katherine 2t

Marlene (on the right), from Roman Album 14 "Chodenji Machine Voltes V" 1978 Tokuma Shoten. Illustration by character designer Yuki Hijiri

According to the Japanese Wikipedia entry for Voltes V, Katherine had a younger sister, Marlene de Pharoah Rii. She was originally planned to flee to the Earth and develop a faint romance with Kenichi. According to Yuki Hijiri's rough design, she was scheduled to appear in Episode 9, and the design picture depicts her wearing a dress and wearing an aristocratic outfit with two horns.

In the unaired episode, Marlene reveals to Kenichi that Katherine was born with horns but she wasn't, and Katherine hid Marlene and raised her in secret until she was found out and forced to be a slave. While the episode never aired, the script for it has been publicized.

Katherine's motif is an insect, hence two horns emerging from the temporal region.

Quotes[]

I offer my life to the cause
~ Katherine in episode 3

Katherine's laugh

Oh...ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!
~ Katherine's laugh
Heinel, please don't waste your life on these earthlings!
~ Katherine when she sees Heinel performing a ritual done by warriors who are ready to die
The Emperor has abandoned you! Why fight for an emperor that has no concern or confidence in you? Why?
~ Katherine questioning why Heinel keeps fighting
I won't let you go! I won't! I'll never let you go!
~ Katherine begging Heinel not to fight

Episode Appearances[]

Episode Air date Episode name Screenplay Storyboard Staging Animation director Does Katherine appear?
1 June 4, 1977 Invaders from Outer Space Taguchi Shoichi Yoshiyuki Tomino Yoshiyuki Tomino Akihiro Kanayama Yes
2 June 11, 1977 Advance to Struggle Taguchi Shoichi Takahashi Sukesuke Yuichiro Yokoyama Akihiro Kanayama Yes
3 June 18, 1977 Tactics taught by Gravestones Masaki Tsuji Yoshiyuki Tomino Yoshiyuki Tomino Akihiro Kanayama Yes
4 June 25. 1977 Evil Shadow Super Sword Gomu Fuyoshi Kazuo Terada Kazuo Terada Sasamon Nobuyoshi No
5 July 2, 1977 Battleship Mikasa Calls For Crisis Taguchi Shoichi Takahashi Sukesuke Yuichiro Yokoyama Takahashi Sukesuke Yes
6 July 9, 1977 Inakake! Eiffel Horse Masaaki Sakurai Yoshiyuki Tomino Yoshiyuki Tomino Akihiro Kanayama No
7 July 16, 1977 New member Takko-chan Taguchi Shoichi Masakazu Higuchi Yuichiro Yokoyama Norio Shioyama Yes
8 July 23, 1977 Conspiracy of the Underground Castle Gomu Fuyushi Kazuo Terada Kazuo Terada Akihiro Kanayama Yes
9 July 30, 1977 A big pinch caused by a dream! Masaaki Sakurai Yoshiyuki Tomino Yoshiyuki Tomino Sasamon Nobiyoshi No
10 August 6, 1977 Cannot Combine with Voltes Taguchi Shoichi Takahashi Sukesuke Takahashi Sukesuke Takahashi Sukesuke Yes
11 August 13, 1977 Revived Voltes V Taguchi Shoichi Hiromichi Yanagi Yuichiro Yokoyama Saburo Sakamoto Yes
12 August 20, 1977 Voltes Resurrection Gomu Fuyoshi Yoshiyuki Tomino Yoshiyuki Tomino Akihiro Kanayama Yes
13 August 27, 1977 The Father of Conspiracy Calls For Crisis Taguchi Shoichi Kazuo Terada Kazuo Terada Norio Shiomiya Yes
14 September 3, 1977 Father and son trap Masaki Tsuji Hiromichi Yanagi Yuichiro Yokohama Akihiro Kanayama Yes
15 September 10, 1977 Emperor's gift Masaaki Sakurai Takahashi Sukesuke Kazuo Yamasaki Takahashi Sukesuke Yes
16 September 17, 1977 Falcon in danger of destruction Gomu Fuyushi Yoshiyuki Tomino Yoshiyuki Tomino Saburo Sakamoto Yes
17 September 24, 1977 Sprinkle love and tears Gomu Fuyushi Kazuo Terada Kazuo Terada Sasamon Nobuyoshi Yes
18 October 1, 1977 Father! The Earth is Near! Taguchi Shoichi Yuichiro Yokoyama Yuichiro Yokoyama Akihiro Kanayama No
19 October 8, 1977 Cry in your father's chest Taguchi Shoichi Tomino Yoshiyuki Kazuo Yamazaki Norio Shioyama No
20 October 15, 1977 The Mystery of Numbers Written in Blood Masaki Tsuji Takahashi Sukesuke Kazuo Uehera Akihiro Kanayama Yes
21 October 22, 1977 Secret Base of Intrigue Gomu Fuyoshi Kazuo Terada Kazuo Terada Saburo Sakamoto Yes
22 October 29, 1977 Traitor's Plan Taguchi Shoichi Yuichiro Yokohama Yuichiro Yokohama Sasamon Nobuyoshi Yes
23 November 5, 1977 Puppies, Walk to tomorrow! Yumiko Tsukamoto Takeshashi Sukesuke Kazuo Yamazaki Takehashi Sukesuke Yes
24 November 12, 1977 New General's challenge Taguchi Shoichi Taro Isohama Kazuo Yamazaki Akihiro Kanayama Yes
25 November 19, 1977 Self destruct! Super elctromagnetic ball! Gomu Fuyoshi Kazuo Terada Kazuo Terada Norio Shioyama Yes
26 November 26, 1977 A mysterious flying mecha Gomu Fuyoshi Yuichiro Yokohama Yuichiro Yokohama Akihiro Kanayama Yes
27 December 3, 1977 The identity of the mysterious hawk mecha Taguchi Shoichi Yanagi Hiromichi Masuji Harada Sasamon Nobayoshi Yes
28 December 10, 1977 Kentaro Go's secret Gomu Fuyoshi Kazuo Terada Kazuo Terada Akihiro Kanayama No
29 December 17, 1977 Hero of Boazania Gomu Fuyoshi Yuichiro Yokohama Yuichiro Yokohama Akihiro Kanayama Yes
30 December 24, 1977 One-on-one combat with the earth at stake Masaaki Sakurai Kazuo Yamazaki Kazuo Yamazaki Akihiro Kanayama Yes
31 December 31, 1977 Defense Minister Oka scatters into the sky! Masaki Tsuji Taro Isohama Aoi Akira
Kase Mitsuko
Sasamon Nobuyoshi Yes
32 January 7, 1978 Jungle Chase Gomu Fuyoshi Kazuo Terada Kazuo Terada Akihiro Kanayama Yes
33 February 4, 1978 Devil's Bacteria Attack Gomu Fuyoshi Taro Isohama Yuichiro Yokohama Norio Shioyama Yes
34 January 28, 1978 The Fire of Hatred Calls For a Crisis Taguchi Shoichi Kazuo Yamazaki Kazuo Yamazaki Saburo Sakamoto Yes
35 February 4, 1978 Requeim for star warrior! Masaki Tsuji Taro Isohama Takao Yotsutsuji Sasamon Nobuyoshi Yes
36 February 18, 1978 Underground castle attack begins Taguchi Shoichi Kazuo Terada Kazuo Terada Akihiro Kanayama Yes
37 February 25, 1978 Farewell! Enemy Commander Heinel! Taguchi Shoichi Yuichiro Yokoyama Yuichiro Yokoyama Norio Shiomiya Yes
38 March 11, 1978 Launch into the universe! Masaki Tsuji Taro Isohama Takao Yotsutsuji Saburo Sakamoto Yes
39 March 18, 1978 Boazania's Great Offensive and Defensive Battle Taguchi Shoichi Kazuo Yamazaki Kazuo Yamazaki Akihiro Kanayama Yes
40 March 25, 1978 The Crumbling Tower of Evil Taguchi Shoichi Kazuo Terada Kazuo Terada Akihiro Kanayama Yes

Other media[]

Books[]

Ri Katherine Set Magazine

Katherine in the July 1980 issue of 月刊OUT

According to the Roman Robo Anime Climax Selection, Katherine and Heinel were foster siblings and her mother was his wet nurse/nanny. After Heinel's grandparents died, the Ri family raised him alongside Katherine. It also states that as children, Katherine saw Heinel being bullied and felt protective of him. She is also older than him. However this is never touched on in the anime, and the anime implies otherwise as Heinel explains his backstory to her (something which would have been unnecessary if they grew up together since she would already know that). By it's nature, the Roman Robo Album takes a lot of liberties with the canon of Voltes V.

The August 1978 issue of Animage features a Prince Heinel memorial special titled "Prince Heinel Forever". Katherine makes an appearance in a few pages.

According to her profile in the Encylopedia of Monsters 53rd edition (published by Keibunsha), Katherine and Heinel are childhood friends and she adores him very much. It also states she is the authority of biogenetics in Boazania. The Encyclopedia also lists her height as 168cm and her weight as 49 kilograms.[2]

The February 1980 issue of the 月刊OUT magazine series contains sketches of Heinel and Katherine. In the July 1980 issue of 月刊OUT, Katherine and Heinel appear in a mini comic written by Yuuki Masami. In the comic, Heinel has a gun. When Katherine asks where he got it from, he says Kenichi gave it to him. However, Katherine breaks the gun in half (presumably out of jealousy), upsetting Heinel. Meanwhile Kenichi is holding a sword. When Ippei asks where he got it from he says Heinel gave it to him. Ippei then yells that he wants something too. In the next scene, Heinel is asks Katherine what she will do for the next beast fighter, and she replies "it involves frogs". Heinel then looks through a box that says "frog", while saying "this?". The next day, while Ippei and Kenichi are having breakfast, Big Falcon announces "Beast fighter sighted" while Kenichi mutters "again?". When the Voltes team see the beast fighters, it turns out to be a group of frogs that call them "mama" ("まま").

Video games[]

Super Robot Wars A[]

After the decisive battle at the Underground Castle, even if Godol is destroyed, Heinel still retaliates and tries to fight, but he is put to sleep with a tranquilizer gun by the hands of Katherine who does not want him to die. It is presumed that he fled with Katherine to some distant star. He never learns that the Gou brothers are his half-brothers.

Super Robot Wars R[]

After Heinel pilots Godor, Katherine escapes with him in a spaceship provided by Leria.

Super Robot Wars J[]

Katherine dies protecting Heinel from Bergan's attack. Heinel swears her death will not be in vain, and with Jangal, he prepares a final attack.

New Super Robot Wars[]

Katherine appears as Heinel's assistant and dies protecting him from Zuhl's attack.

Super Robot Wars DD[]

Katherine appears as a background character alongside Heinel.

Skills[]

  • Knowledge: Katherine is a skilled scientist and biologist. Heinel remarks that she has extensively studied the species of earth to create beast fighter bodies. In many episodes, she is shown to use her knowledge to manufacture beast fighters.
  • Espionage/spying: In many episodes, Katherine spies and eavesdrops through various means, to gather information on those she deems suspicious.
  • Manipulation: She knows Kenichi wants to see his father again and banks on it to lure him out and try to kill him.
  • Knife-wielding: In episode 30, she reveals that she hides a dagger underneath her clothing and tries to kill Kenichi with it.
  • Piloting: She can pilot Boazanian saucers with ease.
  • Preparation: Episode 40 reveals that Katherine had a rocket prepared for rations that would last years in case the Boazanians lost the war in her ancestral home.

Trivia[]

  • The Rii family were one of the few nobles that didn't ostracize Heinel over his heritage and treated him like one of their own.
  • Katherine's star sign is Taurus.
  • She has the same voice actress as Hiyoshi Go.
  • Unlike most of Heinel's aides, Katherine never trusted Zambajil from the start. It was only Heinel who she pledged loyalty to.
  • According to the Japanese Wikipedia entry for Voltes V, her full name is Rii Katherine de Pharoa (as Japanese names put surnames first, in Western order this would be Katherine de Pharoa Rii.[3]
    • Her middle name may possibly be derived from the word "Pharaoh", befitting to her noble heritage and similar to how Heinel's name is derived from "your highness".
  • Katherine's name was changed in various dubs of Voltes V:
    • In the English dub, she was known as Zandra.
    • In the Italian and Greek dubs, she was known as Kazarin.
  • Character designer Yuki Hijiri has drawn nude/erotic art of Katherine before as fanservice in the official art book Chodenji Machine Voltes V 1978 Tokuma Shoten.
  • Some English translations of Voltes V spell her surname as Rhi or Rii.
    • Some English translations of the Super Robot Wars video game series spell her name as Katharine.
  • Katherine's laugh is known as the "Ojou laugh" in anime/manga.
  • Katherine is prone to doing the Yamcha death pose whenever she falls over (once in episode 30, again in episode 38, and again in episode 40).
  • She has similarities with Miia and Raiza from the other Robot Romance Trilogy anime.
    • According to a Japanese poll done in 2000, Katherine won the title The Most Lovable Female Enemy of Tadao Nagahama's works, receving 50% of the votes from readers. Other candidates for this poll were Miia from Combattler V (45%) and Raiza from Tosho Daimos (5%).[4]
  • Katherine shows signs of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD):
    • Fear of abandonment: When she learns Zambajil sent Heinel a new general, she gets distressed and asks Heinel if she is of no use to him. He reassures her that he doesn't view her as useless. She goes through extreme lengths to avoid perceived abandonment, like volunteering herself for dangerous missions or killing Kenichi herself, and when Heinel is angry, she gets upset. She is also extremely distressed at the thought of losing Heinel in war and tries several times to get him to abandon his conquest for honour.
    • Impulsive behaviour: In episode 30, she stages a plot to secretly kill Kenichi. She does this by sending him a letter under the alias "Jane" stating that if he wants to see his father, he must meet her at the church in the next morning (while secretly rigging the church full of explosives to trap and kill him). However her "disguise" is merely a sheet that hides her horns, and it never occured to her that the aftermath of the bomb explosion would obviously blow it off and expose them to Kenichi. As a result, Heinel had to intervene and rescue her. Even after that, she still insisted in being the one who should kill Kenichi, disobeying Heinel's orders again.
    • Paranoia: She is deeply paranoid of everyone she encounters and goes through great lengths to discover their true motives, often by surveilling them without their knowledge or testing them to see how they'd react. She even spies on Heinel as he practices a blood ritual in secret room in episode 30, which nearly gets her killed as Heinel gets startled and throws a sword near her head before realizing it is her.
    • Black and white thinking/splitting: She views people as either "with Heinel" or "against Heinel".
    • Favourite person: She views Heinel the most important person in her life, and she seeks reassurance, approval, guidance and validation from him. When Heinel tells her that he didn't save her because he cared for her, and instead it was because it would look bad if a noble died, she becomes distraught.
    • Unstable self-image/alternating between devaluing and idealizing: Seems to think nothing of her life. In episode 3, she accepts Heinel's punishment of being cut down by his sword for losing to Voltes V, saying that her life's mission is to aid his conquest. Unbeknownst to her it was a loyalty test and he only cuts her veil, before telling her that she can lead the next beast fighter attack. At the same time, she prides herself in being a noble Boazanian, and laughs at the thought of humans being capable of feeling love, because she thinks they are inferior to Boazanians.
  • Katherine is a foil to Mitsuyo Go, Gohl's second wife:
    • Both are scientists (but while Mitsuyo specializes in technology, Katherine's strength lies in biology and nature).
    • Both wear their hair in the same braid.
    • Both fell in love with a man from Boazanian royalty, and dedicated their lives to their respective causes.
    • Both gave their lives saving someone they loved.
  • Katherine owns two horses.[5]
  • In the Japanese version of the show, Katherine sometimes speaks in third person.
  • Katherine's name is derived from the Greek word "Katharos" (καθαρός) which means "pure".[6]

External Links[]

Navigation[]

            Villains

Chōdenji Robo Combattler V
Campbellians
Empress Janera | Warchimedes | General Dungele | Oreana | Great General Garuda | Miia | Narua | Girua

Voltes V
Boazanian Empire
Emperor Zu Zambajil | Prince Heinel | Zuhl | General Gurul | Belgan Do | Marquis Zaki | Jangal Rui | Katherine Rii

Tōshō Daimos
Baam Empire
Olban | Richter | Georiya | Raiza | Balbas | Gurney Halleck | Aizam

Other
Sakamori Miwa

References[]

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