Katsuma

"“You told me I had the strength of the moon that delivers darkness to the world, but I'm here to show you you're wrong. The moon brings light and hope to everyone! I can too!” ―Katsuma to Dai Shi" Katsuma (カツマ) is a recurring character in the Cross Crisis Series, introduced as one of the original characters and the secondary antagonist/anti-villain of the crossover fighting game Namco X Capcom: Crisis, before returning as an anti-hero in Super Hero Taisen XX: Lost Heroes, and a playable character in Super Project Cross Tag Battle and Project X Zone 3: War of Infinite Worlds – Ultimate Edition.

He is an enigmatic and slightly unlucky knight under the supervillain guise Moon Knight (ムーンナイト) who serves the executives of the Great Lunarium Kingdom and is often the subject of neglect and abuse.

Appearance
Katsuma is a slightly tall muscular young adult man who has short shaggy brown hair and dark grayish-blue eyes. His costume is mainly dark gray with black and white outlines on the back and front torso and thigh parts of the uniform, white gloves and boots with gold outlines, purple shoulder pads and red outlines on his collar. The uniform has golden crescent-shaped decorations with small ones on his knees and the back of his hands, and a giant one on the chest armor.

His helmet's base has the same color as his uniform and it has red outlines on the front, blue-teal eyes with yellow scar-like mark under them, a giant gold crescent-moon-shaped decoration as his horns, another smaller scarlet-colored one on the forehead and a teal translucent head guard at the top. He wears a belt that has a moon-shaped buckle with a green jewel on the center and wields two guns that are attached to the sides of his belt.

Personality
Katsuma has a somewhat slightly unstable personality, an inferiority complex that was formed out of his neglect and constant bullying by his superiors. Though his loyalty didn't waver, the fact that he was being pushed around by Lunatemis and the others didn't exactly give him the most positive outlook on them. However, after he was nearly killed by a trap set for him and Silva Star by the executives during their battle on Earth, he became filled with rage to the point where he was even willing to become one with Dai Shi just to get revenge on his bosses.

Throughout the course of the game's events, under Dai Shi's influence, Katsuma seemingly shows no compassion for everyone around him or remorse for betraying his kingdom and its rulers, with his obsession to overthrow and humiliate them as his primary priority. He is also apparently brutal and merciless towards his enemies or just people who stand in his way, and obsessed more and more with power. However, it may not seem to be case as shown as when he saved a little child from a collapsing building in the middle of a battle against Volthur and his friends, much to their confusion. This was the result of Katsuma fighting back Dai Shi from within, since while he resents Lunatemis and the others for what they had done to him, he never wanted to harm anyone and just wanted to be loved or at least appreciated by someone whom he can depend to at times when he's uncertain, with Katsuma foolishly thinking that Dai Shi would be that person. Even after fighting alongside his former enemies to defeat Dai Shi for good, he still feels overwhelming guilt for releasing the evil entity and committing atrocities while under his control, which leads to Katsuma banishing and distancing himself from people out of fear that he might hurt them since it's possible his negative aspects still remain.

Namco X Capcom: Crisis
Katsuma is the supervillain Moon Knight and an executive, the only male one in the pack, who was very loyal to the six higher elite executives of Lunarium composed of: Princess Lunatemis, his childhood friend and ninja Kaguya Tsukikage, the moon priestess Oboro, the fighter Serena, the pirate Efanatika and the magical girl Diana Aman. Members of the Lunarian society is divided into caste-like sections based on the crests on their eyes, with Katsuma having the lower-class Crescent Moon crest at birth. As a result of that, he was treated as a gofer and lapdog by the female executives, neglected and bullied constantly, not helping with his lack of combat prowess and skills which often led to his failures and defeats in battles, especially in his fights against Silva Star, the premiere superhero of Earth. To further complicate matters, whenever an executive becomes a subject of failure, he is punished severely for it, and Katsuma has been the subject of neglect and abuse constantly. Furthermore, whenever her female bosses make a mistake, they would also pin the blame on him.

One day, during a battle between Moon Knight and Silva Star, Lunatemis and her allies suddenly spring a trap on them, nearly killing them. When Katsuma regains consciousness, he finds himself in a mysterious room where he meets an ancient spirit of evil named Dai Shi who promises him everything he desires should he release him. Katsuma is so filled with feelings of anger and betrayal, knowing that he is only seen by his superiors as collateral, that he doesn't hesitate to follow Dai Shi so that he could get revenge on the executives and overthrow them for treating him like dirt and stomping him around. After releasing Dai Shi from his tomb, he is put under the influence of the Emperor of Darkness and given new abilities such as the horrific Emblem Steal that takes away the crest from anyone, even the most powerful people in the kingdom. Katsuma uses it to his advantage, taking away Emblems from his executive superiors, including Lunatemis and even her mother and Queen, Lunarverse 13th, and solidifying himself as the supreme ruler of the kingdom. He soon takes Lunatemis' position of command of the attacks against the alternate universes, allied with the champions of the Dimensions of the Azure Void.

However, during the course of the game's story, Katsuma shows signs of hesitation and compassion, confusing the heroes, including the newly-recruited Volthur, he fight against. Katsuma begins to fight back the Dark One that is residing in him from within, but he fails and completely falls under Dai Shi's control. By exploiting what little there is left of Katsuma within him, the heroes are able to defeat Katsuma, expelling Dai Shi from his body and forcing him to retreat. Unfortunately, Dai Shi was able to take with him the moon crests of power that Katsuma had stolen with his Emblem Steal ability, as well as his. The guilt-ridden Katsuma estranges himself from others for a while until he joins them for one last confrontation against Dai Shi.

After Dai Shi is defeated, Katsuma thinks that Lunatemis and the others would never forgive him for betraying the kingdom and committing treason while he was possessed by Dai Shi and puts himself into exile, distancing himself from everyone out of fear that he might anyone again or be another subject of failure like he always has been. Before Katsuma walks off into the unknown to be alone and comprehend what he had done, Volthur assures to him that it is not really his fault and it is never too late to change.

Super Hero Taisen XX: Lost Heroes
Volthur meets Katsuma once again, who is still in a self-imposed exile and walking in long way to redemption. He asks for the Moon Knight's help in the battle against Barago and Juza Yumihari's evil alliance, but he is reluctant to fight again alongside others.

Trivia

 * Aside from Akito Kurusu, Katsuma is the only other character introduced in the Cross Crisis series that has appeared in more than three games within the series.
 * His name is based on the same character from Evil Woman Executive visual novel and anime.