Makoto Kato, maiden name Makoto Harada, was the chief nurse aboard the United Nations Cosmo Navy battleship Yamato during its first voyage to Iscandar in 2199. Following her marriage to Saburo Kato and the end of the first voyage, she retires from nursing and cares for her ailing son.
History[]
Early Life[]
Prior to the departure of Yamato, Harada was based in the central hospital located near the United Nations Cosmo Force Far East Sector Headquarters, working as a nurse for Doctor Sakezo Sado[1] ("Messenger of Iscandar", "Toward a Sea of Stars").
2199: Voyage to Iscandar[]
Harada continues to perform diverse nursing duties alongside Dr. Sado in Yamato's medical section, conducting physical examinations, treating injuries, and assisting in surgical procedures (e.g., "Wish Upon a Star", "The Wolf from Another Dimension", "Out of the Forest of Memory"). She is also designated as a field medic, and accompanies Yuki Mori, Susumu Kodai, and the robot Analyzer to the surface of Enceladus to attend to possible survivors of the crashed destroyer Yukikaze[1] ("Gravestone on a Frozen Field"). Harada is an important caregiver for the ship's commanding officer, Admiral Juzo Okita, as he struggles with Planet Bomb Syndrome. Although she typically respects patient confidentiality, she privately informs her shipmate and romantic partner, Lieutenant Saburo Kato, about the admiral's declining health on one occasion (e.g., "Wish Upon a Star", "The Planet That We Head For"). She is also present when Lieutenant Yuki Mori briefly wakes from a coma, and when Mori dies shortly afterward ("Memories of the Blue Planet").
Harada attends to her nursing duties in the Yamato medical section.
Harada maintains her loyalty to the ship's command structure during an attempt to seize control of Yamato, and assists Sado in detaining a pair of mutinous security personnel in Okita's quarters ("A Choice for the Future").
Harada meets Lieutenant Kato as a patient just before Yamato's launch, and they gradually form a relationship over the following months. On the return trip to Earth, she discovers that she is pregnant with Kato's child and informs him during a tense conversation ("The Forever War"). The two are married very soon before the voyage ends ("Memories of the Blue Planet").
2202-2203: War with Gatlantis[]
Makoto helps Saburo to make a difficult choice.
Taking her husband's name, Makoto Kato gives birth to a boy, Tsubasa Kato, and leaves nursing in order to give full-time support to him and treatment of his own Planet Bomb Syndrome ("Tension – Reach the Embassy on the Moon"). While Makoto and Saburo watch over Tsubasa at a dedicated treatment center on the Moon, Makoto tells her husband that he should join their former Yamato shipmates in their unauthorized journey to the planet Terezart, and assures him that he would be doing it to protect both Tsubasa and herself, and to repay the debt owed to Queen Starsha Iscandar for saving Earth three years earlier ("Clash! Yamato vs. Andromeda"). She remains at the lunar facility with her child, and as the new war against the Gatlantis Empire approaches the Moon, she comforts him while being evacuated to Earth ("The Fated Showdown!").
Personality[]
Chatting with Saburo Kato about events aboard Yamato.
Harada is an efficient nurse who is dedicated to her work. She often projects a competent and cheerful demeanor both while working and during her off-duty time, although she is prone to occasional clumsiness ("Gravestone on a Frozen Field"). While not working, Harada indulges in gossip[1] ("Point of No Return", "The Planet That We Head For").
As both a spouse and a mother, she provides a source of steady support[2] ("Clash! Yamato vs. Andromeda").
She can drink a great deal of alcohol, beyond what some of her Yamato shipmates can handle ("Farewell to the Solar System").
Gallery[]
Notes[]
- Makoto Harada shares the surname of Harada Sanosuke, a troop captain of the Shinsengumi.
- In Space Battleship Yamato 2199, Harada's character fills the nurse role that Yuki Mori performed in the original series.
- She also prominently demonstrates ahoge (アホ毛), translated as "idiot hair," an exaggerated lick of hair that stands up and away from a character's head and often indicates a cute, naïve, and/or not especially intelligent personality.[3] She no longer has an ahoge in Space Battleship Yamato 2202: Warriors of Love.