User blog:CrystallicWolf108/Pure of Heart Proposal: Katsu Umino

Alright, time for a pure of heart proposal! My newest story has a candidate I think can qualify. Katsu Umino!

What's the Work? Who's the Candidate?
Starbound: The Black Nebula is a Starbound fanfic that I wrote on Wattpad. It’s a story that’s basically an origin story on this crew called the Black Nebula.

Katsu is one of the crew members, and one of the main characters too. In fact, even though he is a deuteragonist, he has the most screen time out of all the other heroes. So he's the central character in a way. So anyway, Katsu is an energetic and kindhearted hylotl nerd who is fascinated by other cultures, and fights for equality. Not only that, but he also wants to be a protector, so he and Tori graduated from the protectorate, but sadly didn't receive their matter manipulator thanks to the ruin destroying earth and the protectorate. Despite this, he still continues to protect people with what he has. He's a kind and supportive friend, and wants everyone else to be happy.

What has he done?
Katsu has done... a LOT of admirable deeds. I'll explain as much as I can but not everything.

Firstly, when the ruin disaster struck, Tori was grabbed by one of the ruin's tentacles, and was about to die, but then Katsu saved her. He also intended to save others, but he didn't have the time, which he feels really bad about to this day. Once he was away from earth, despite not receiving his matter manipulator, he protected people all the time, whenever possible. So that counts for admirability, right?

Meh, if your not convinced, well that's good because we've barley got into it yet. Katsu is shown to be willing to stand up for people, as shown when he stopped Tatasia from killing an ex-miniknog, who at that moment was just minding his own business. He also agreed to help track down Desert Tumbler after hearing how dangerous he was. When Desert and a bunch of gangsters attacked a town, Katsu's selflessness really shined here. He was trying to get civilians to safety, but when he was in between an innocent family and a murderous gangster, Katsu was willingly putting himself in danger to shield the family and stop the gangster. He even literally TOOK A BULLET for the family, TWICE. THAT shows how heroic he is. Eventually he was able to defeat the gangster, and get out alive. But unfortunately, the house opposite him blew up with hostages in it, which he felt bad about not being able to save them.

Later on, when he learned Ethyl's backstory, and how he was an outlaw in the past, instead of arresting him for old crimes, Katsu managed to turn Ethyl's life around for the better, and let him join the protectorate, allowing him to finally fulfill his dreams after all those years, which was also basically what turned the Black Nebula into a crew. How kind!

A week later, shit... went down, but it allowed Katsu to shine more. When Tori was captured by Mika, who was threatening to burn her and the entire village alive if he didn't turn up, Katsu was willing to sacrifice himself to save the entire village and Tori. But then Ethyl came up with a better plan to save them all, which he agreed to. Katsu then proceeded to save Tori from being burnt alive, right after Mika lit her stake on fire, and then apologised to Tori for not telling her about the floran and hylotl conflict in the past.

Later on, they all learned that Mika was planning to destroy the entire solunar nexus star system, so the black nebula crew went to the FEO's base to confront them. During the battle, Katsu (alongside Tori) destroyed 3 fuel stations, and saved three planets from being destroyed. But SUPRISINGLY ENOUGH, even after EVERYTHING that Mika did to both him and everyone else, Katsu STILL tried to reason with her, questioning if Mika was still herself, and trying to talk her out of what she was doing. While it didn't work, the fact he was willing to reason with someone so nasty really goes to show. But when Mika refused, he decided it was best to defeat her. But after Ethyl killed Mika, the base was about to blow up, so when Ethyl told Katsu and the others to leave without him, he was very reluctant to do so. Even after the end of the story, he still does what he does, protecting innocent people.

Admirable Standards?
Katsu is selfless, willing to protect innocent people, saved Tori's life twice, saved 3 planets from being destroyed, and tried to reason with an NPE villain. That's admirable enough in my book, even if all the heroes are pretty admirable.

Corrupting Qualities?
Alright, I'm going to have to debunk and explain things. While Katsu doesn't have any corrupting qualities, some things he does may be mistaken as such.

One, his value for his reputation. Katsu does value it, but that's not why he wants to be a hero, so it isn't selfish or arrogant, his heroism is 100% genuine. The only reason Katsu valued it was so people would feel safe around him, kind of like All Might. He felt genuinely upset when everyone hated him, because he was so overworked with trying to preserve his reputation, to the point where it impacted his performance as a protector, to the point where he ended up having a breakdown from the stress. Heck, during the story, part of Katsu's arc was not caring what everyone else thought of him, and eventually he stopped caring what everyone else thought of him. So, even if you considered it corrupting, it's subverted. He learned it wasn't healthy to care about what society thought. But again, valuing your reputation isn't corrupting as long as it's not all you value, and in Katsu's case, he valued way more then just his reputation.

Two, him getting angry at Mika and almost punching her... Ok, I don't know why I have to explain why this ISN'T corrupting. It's literally just a heating up period, and it's 150% justified. Mika was being a snobbish asshole who was mocking the destruction of earth, the occasus cult's crimes and other races, and even kept insulting Katsu and Tori. Katsu did his best to contain his anger, and even when he had his fist raised, Mika said "Go on, hit me.", but Katsu eventually realised punching her wasn't worth it. So no, this is NOT a corrupting quality. It's a heating up period, do your research. Everyone gets angry from time to time, and Katsu getting angry at Mika was justified.

The Hylotl in general tend to sometimes be arrogant, condescending and snobbish, but Katsu lacks any of those traits. He's quite the odd one out in his race, being more energetic and open minded. Overall, Katsu lacks any corrupting qualities, unlike the rest of the crew. He is a genuinely kindhearted and supportive guy, who while he does have his flaws and a lot of self confidence issues, still proves to be a great hero. Heck, even in story, Desert refers to him as "Pure of Heart".

Conclusion?
Katsu is kind, heroic, selfless and brave. He may think he's pathetic, but he's not even close to that.

Easy Yes.