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While starring many of the familiar faces from Katamari Damacy, the ShiftyLook webcomic takes a different spin on several of them, as well as introducing new characters. Keep in mind that the tropes here relate to their appearance in the comic, and not their appearance in the games.

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    The Royal Family 

The Royal Family of the Great Cosmos

The Prince

Our hero and the default star of the comic.
  • The Leader: Develops into this over the course of the comic.
  • Straight Man: Compared to his father and most of his cousins, the Prince is pretty serious-minded. When Ace makes it clear during the UFO arc that he resents the Prince for always being the hero, the Prince calls him out on that sort of thinking, saying that now isn't the time for Ace to to take out his frustrations on him.
  • Suddenly Voiced: The Prince actually speaks in this comic, compared to his status as a Heroic Mime in most of the games.
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy: Made even clearer in the webcomic.

The King of All Cosmos

The current ruler of The Great Cosmos and the Prince's father. Not the best dad, frankly. Has a tendency to break things and foist the responsibility of fixing them onto others.
  • Beard of Sorrow: During his Heroic BSoD, he inverts this by shaving off all his facial hair. It grows back very quickly, however.
  • Break the Haughty: A series of misunderstandings and the revelation people consider the Prince more reliable than him shatters the King's already fragile pride. Afterwards he goes back to normal, though is shown to be a bit wiser.
  • Everything's Better with Rainbows: As always, the Royal Rainbow can be used to haul Katamaris back to space.
  • Inferiority Superiority Complex: Starts showing signs of this after he can't help Ace, which only grow more obvious as a series of misunderstandings lead to him starting to seriously question whether he's still capable of leading.
  • It's All About Me: Even when expressing concern over not being able to help Ace with a problem, he seems more worried about whether this means he's getting old and out of touch than anything else.
  • King of All Cosmos: Obviously.
  • Papa Wolf: Seeing his son and some of his cousins in danger triggers a Let's Get Dangerous! moment.
  • Remembered I Could Fly: Near the end of the Black Hole arc, he abruptly realizes that he didn't need to hire a bounty hunter to find his son, because he can simply use the Royal Rainbow to the same effect.
  • Sacrificed Basic Skill for Awesome Training: After his extensive knowledge of all things katamari-related fails to help Ace, the King wonders if he has this problem.
  • So Proud of You: During a big speech, he makes it clear that, despite his strictness he is immensely proud of the man the Prince has become. He also gives credit to all the cousins.
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy: Lack of parental recognition seems to run in the family, which the King comments on at one point:
    King of All Cosmos: Shame. Resentment. An inferiority complex. These are feelings any good father instills in his son.

The Queen of All Cosmos

The beautiful and much beloved wife of the King.
  • Modest Royalty: In her first speaking appearance, she speaks much less formally to her son and one of her nephews.
  • Out of Focus: Compared to her husband, at least. She doesn't appear until halfway through the comic.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: Easy to pull off compared to her husband.

    Major Cosmic Cousins 

The Cosmic Cousins

Ace

An orange and yellow Royal Cousin with a football-shaped head, and the Prince's self-declared rival. First appears in the UFO arc as the Prince's "backup", though he has other ideas in mind.
  • The Ace: Initially appears to be one, as well as a case of Always Someone Better; however, it later becomes clear he just sees himself as one.
  • Attention Whore: Wants to be the one that everyone praises and hails as a hero, rather than letting the Prince and the King get all the attention.
  • Believing Their Own Lies: Appears to sincerely think that the Prince is a selfish glory hound only out for himself... when really, it's more like Ace is projecting all of his own issues onto him.
  • The Bully: Definitely isn't above just flat-out tormenting the Prince, as seen during the Thanksgiving strip.
  • Comically Missing the Point: Due to his delusional, self-centered way of thinking, what's really happening tends to go straight over his head.
  • Cool Shades: Has a pair that he's always donning whenever he thinks he's looking good.
  • A Day in the Limelight:
    • Immediately following Opeo's mini-arc, he gets one focusing on his attempt to become more popular by pursuing the arts.
    • Shares his second focus arc with Sherman.
  • Driven by Envy: Thinks that the Prince hogs all the credit for everyone else's hard work.
  • Everyone Has Standards: Ace is a prideful jerk, but he's fairly nice to Opeo.
  • Foil: To the Prince. On top of being his self-declared rival, his character development tends to be minor/going in the wrong direction, compared to the Prince gradually gaining more confidence in himself.
  • Insane Troll Logic: Prone to this. For instance, during his Day in the Limelight, a simple misstroke with his paintbrush leads to him deciding he needs to grow a mustache to match.
  • It's All About Me:
    • During the UFO arc, he'd rather see the UFO escape with all the stolen cows and his own cousin Daisy than let the Prince save the day.
    • His reaction to Sherman needing help rebuilding a body is "What's in it for me?"
  • Jerkass: He's pretty self-absorbed and rude to the Prince. When Sherman admits that he tricked Ace into restoring his body, Ace kicks him off the mountain.
  • Pride: Very prideful.
  • Psychological Projection: His attitude towards the Prince amounts to this, as he effectively accuses him of being just as selfish as he is.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Delivers one in "Called Out", oblivious to the fact that if anything, HE should be the one on the receiving end.
  • The Resenter: Due to his insistence that the Prince unfairly gets all the credit for his hard work.
  • Unknown Rival: He wants to be the Prince's rival, but Prince would rather not have anything to do with it.
  • Wants a Prize for Basic Decency: Which he confuses with Dude, Where's My Respect?.

Daisy

A carefree and laidback Second Cousin in spotted jersey cow-style clothes, with tiny hooves for hands and pale pink legs. Debuts in the UFO arc.

Macho

As his name implies, this broad-shouldered Second Cousin's impressively strong. However, he's not the type to go throwing his weight around.
  • Actual Pacifist: He really doesn't like any suggestion of having to use his strength against others.
  • Gentle Giant: He's the biggest of the cousins, but he's not very confrontational.
  • Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Has this dynamic with Ichigo.
  • Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: While physically stronger, Macho is sweeter, gentler, and generally less aggressive than Ichigo.
  • Moe Couplet: Usually shows up with Ichigo.
  • Straight Man: One of the least "quirky" cousins, so he shares this role with the Prince. Also a Foil for Ichigo.

Ichigo

A cute Royal Cousin who boasts a sweet 'strawberry figure'. Size doesn't matter much with Ichigo, who's more than capable of holding her own.

June

A completely innocent and carefree Royal Cousin. Jokes are completely lost on her, as she often seems to be off in her own little world.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: The type to go chasing butterflies while dramatic plot points are playing out. Also manages to completely miss being led through a maze of lasers.

Ryu

A Half Cousin who has embraced the way of the Ninja. He's supposed to know some really mysterious moves, but not even the King has seen him perform any of these mystical arts.
  • The Ace: Highly regarded among his cousins.
  • Small Role, Big Impact: While unable to participate in the Future!Prince Arc due to his ongoing absence, the training he's given Opeo helps the accident-prone cousin keep his positive attitude, and Ace apparently respects him enough to try and consult him as well.
  • The Unseen: He is referenced throughout the comic, but never actually makes a physical appearance.

Opeo

An accident-prone Royal Cousin who's always covered with bandages. Despite his horrible luck, he's developed a sunnier attitude ever since he started apprenticing under Ryu, as he hopes it will make him stronger.
  • Amusing Injuries: A magnet for these. The worst of it probably came about when he jumped for joy and landed hard on the floor of Ryu's dojo, badly mangling his body. Of course, it's Played for Laughs and he shrugs off those injuries a strip later.
  • Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Opeo's Katamari Fundamentals reveals he has some issues with this, at least when rolling katamari.
  • The Baby of the Bunch: The book commentary says it best.
    Alex Culang: I'm not sure that Opeo is actually any younger than the other cousins, but he is essentially the baby of the family. We have all had that younger relative who constantly skirts the line between being a nuisance and being endearing.
  • Bounty Hunter: Gets hired as one to hunt down the 'missing' Prince for the King.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Certainly one of the more 'out there' cousins.
  • Cute Clumsy Guy: He's usually seen crashing into things, which inevitably hurts himself.
  • A Day in the Limelight:
    • Opeo Quest, following his quest for milk.
    • Shares the Tournament Arc with Lucha.
  • The Fool: He's... not all there.
  • Highly-Visible Ninja: He's in-training to become a ninja, anyway.
  • Imaginary Friend: Has an imaginary puppy called Tedward.
  • Non-Standard Character Design: While he has Black Bead Eyes like all of the other cousins, his are drawn as narrow, upright ovals, while the rest have wider, rounder and thicker eyes.
  • Perpetual Smiler: Not to the same extent as June, but he can smile through some pretty nasty stuff.
  • Skewed Priorities: During the Black Hole arc, he's more focused on completing his assignment and catching the Prince than the crisis at hand.
  • Upgrade Artifact: The magic sword of Frosty Peak makes him stronger and cooler.
  • Walking Techbane: His ability to catch inscrutable diseases allows him to contract a computer virus. This proves crucial to stopping Roboking when Opeo accidentally sneezes on him.

Foomin

A Royal Cousin with a distinctive U-shaped head, who has thus far only briefly appeared during Ace's Day in the Limelight.
  • Death Glare: The look she gives Ace when the King jacks her katamari.
  • Dude, Where's My Respect?: During her initial appearance, the King casually steals the katamari she was rolling and then throws it away.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: She can be seen playing on the Mushroom Planet in the first comic.
  • Running Gag: The second cousin (Daisy being the first) to make several non-speaking appearances. Lampshaded in "Countless Cousins" when the Prince rolls her away from a speech podium:
    Prince: Sorry Foomin, you can speak later.

Odeko

This Royal Cousin boasts a distinctly elongated head. This doesn't actually make him any taller than the other cousins, since his face is in the same position as most of them, but that doesn't stop him from being very proud of his height.
  • Goggles Do Nothing: When first introduced, he's wearing a pair of round-lensed goggles, which he quickly removes and stashes in a pocket.
  • Pride: The King's in-game profiles stated he was always proud of his height; now we know he's also very prideful about his intelligence.
  • Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Prone to this at times.
  • The Smart Guy: How he presents himself.

Sherman

A half cousin/snowman who has the ability to keep his icy body solid all year round... usually, anyway.
  • Brick Joke: The king's profile for him in-game always harped on how his claims that his body could melt were an Informed Ability, as he never wanted to demonstrate it. His debut in the comic revolves around his needing some help rebuilding his body after it's melted.
  • Dissonant Serenity: Despite his unfortunate condition when Ace finds him, he's remarkably upbeat.
  • The Power of Friendship: A big believer in this.
  • Snowlem: The friendly type.

Lucha

A highly competitive cousin who's always eager to show off his skills.

    Minor Cosmic Cousins 

Minor Cosmic Cousins

Cousins who've appeared in the comic without playing any major role.

L'Amour

This second cousin loves love and enjoys spreading it however she can.

Miso, Nik, and Ban-Ban


Kenta, Odeon, Johnson, Huey, Pu, and Slip


Nickel, Mag, and Shikao


Pokkle

    Other Returning Characters 

Other Returning Characters

Michiru Hoshino

The youngest member of the Hoshino family. During the events of Katamari Damacy, she appeared to be highly sensitive to the state of the Great Cosmos, sensing whenever something had been restored.
  • Call-Back: Her first line in the comic.
    Michiru: "Oh! I feel it. I feel the Prince of All Cosmos!"
  • A Day in the Limelight: One arc starts with her as the viewpoint character, as she receives a message from the Cosmos and tries to deliver it to the Prince.
  • Hero Harasses Helpers: Though she wants to help the Prince deal with the UFO, he's more concerned about ensuring she stays safely out of harm's way.

Jumboman

A giant robot superhero who protects the Great Cosmos.
  • Ascended Extra: The Jumbomen are recurring extras/minor characters in the Katamari games, but here, Jumboman actually shows up in a major role to save the day.
  • Big Damn Heroes: During the UFO arc, he does his best against the mysterious invaders and shows up to help the Prince in the climax.
  • Humongous Mecha: As always.
  • The Power of Friendship: Makes a speech about this.

The RoboKing

After the King suffered a minor accident in Katamari Forever and was knocked out cold, the Prince and several of his Cousins built a robotic stand-in to cover for him. Unfortunately, not only was he highly neurotic, depressive and obsessive over his mistakes, he feared becoming obsolete...
  • A.I. Is a Crapshoot: After the events of Katamari Forever, he's revealed to have become an antagonistic figure.
  • Faceā€“Heel Turn: He's determined to prove himself superior to the original King, regardless of what it takes.
  • Replacement Goldfish: Served this purpose in Katamari Forever, and was rather depressed about it.
  • Shut Up, Kirk!: Refuses to listen when the Prince tries giving him a "Not So Different" Remark.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: The Robo King went from being a rather passive character to an insecure and downright megalomaniacal villain.
  • Unexplained Recovery: The King had him rolled up and turned into a star, but he recovered from that enough to continue overseeing all his assigned levels.
  • Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: He's so determined to prove he's more than a cheap knockoff of the original that he ends up accidentally creating a Cosmos-destroying weapon.

    New Characters 

New Characters

The Cow-Loving Aliens

The antagonists of the first arc, who appear in a UFO and begin stealing cows and everything cow-related they can find. Turns out that they're moo-men and moo-maids from a faraway planet.
  • Aliens Steal Cattle
  • But What About the Astronauts?: The main crew of the saucer were on a mission away from their home planet when it was destroyed. They've been tracking down survivors ever since.
  • Doomed Home Planet: Which was destroyed by a moo-teor.
  • Easily Forgiven: Once the King finds out about their motives, he decides to use the Prince's katamari to help them, and even lets them keep everything they stole.
  • Flying Saucer: Their transportation vehicle of choice is this.
  • Motive Decay: They freely acknowledge that by the time they realized they weren't rescuing other survivors, they were too caught up in collecting to care.

The Future Prince

Escaping from a Bad Future, the Future!Prince arrived in the past hoping to prevent the disaster from taking place. However, he finds out he only jumped back three hours...
  • Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: His speech bubbles are a distinctly different shade of green than the Prince's.
  • Cool Shades: Wears a nifty-looking visor along with a matching belt. They're from a Present the Prince rolled up during the UFO arc.
  • No Time to Explain: He's not willing to explain to the past Prince or anyone else what they're out to prevent until the party's all been gathered and they're well on their way.
  • Plot Tailored to the Party: Specifically sets out to collect cousins with the talents required to save the world.
  • Set Right What Once Went Wrong: His main motivation.
  • Stable Time Loop: After successfully preventing the disaster, he travels back in time again to ensure the universe stays saved.

Lovelorn Guy

A fellow who recently went through a bad break-up and hopes to win back her heart by asking for the King's help. Directs the Prince to roll up all of his ex's favorite things in a special katamari.

  • Insecure Love Interest: In his case, he has the power of hindsight on his side: looking back, he can identify all the ways he let her down before and is out to prove he's changed enough that things will be different.
  • Verbal Backspace: While gathering things to prove how he's matured, he declares that he's ready to buy a car, get a house, start a... have multiple houses...

Lady in Blue

The Lovelorn Guy's former girlfriend.

  • Amicable Ex-Girlfriend: Though she's surprised when he shows up, she doesn't act upset or annoyed, and lets him down as gently as possible.

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