"Kitties can't quit!"
Battle Kitty is an Netflix Original interactive animated series/video game hybrid, brought to you by Matt Layzell (The Amazing World of Gumball, Apple & Onion), and released on April 19th, 2022.
In it, the eponymous, extremely powerful, and face-meltingly cute Kitty journeys to Battle Island with their best friend, an orc literally named Orc to defeat various monsters across the widely varied Realms of Battle Island, and ultimately, defeat the Last Monster and become the island's champion.
It won't be easy though, even for such a super-powered feline. They'll need to contend with tricky challenges, dangerous traps, and the machinations of ZaZa Royale, the daughter of the warrior who so far, has come the closest to becoming the Champion, to reach the Ancient Ruins where the Last Monster lairs.
And when they do, they may discover that they have more of a history with and connection to Battle Island than they ever imagined...
Tropes appearing in this Western Animation series:
- Ability Mixing: Kitty can not only gain powers from wearing magical bows, Orc can fuse two to grant fused abilities.
- Abusive Parents: Orc’s father in spades, as he spent his son’s entire childhood belittling and bullying him for not being as stereotypically brutish as the other orcs and openly favors Orc’s two idiot brothers.
- Angel Royale turns out to have been this as well, as she had so obsessed with seeking revenge on and defeating Kitty to earn her long sought after title of Champion that she was willing to go as far as possessing her own daughter, who she has already abused and neglected enough to leave ZaZa deeply scarred, in order to force her to be a puppet for her battle.
- The Ace: Angel Royale, ZaZa Royale's mother. She was the only warrior ever before the events of the story to reach the Last Monster, was repeatedly noted to have shattered every record of the island's challenges before that, all while wielding a massive spear that takes effort for her daughter to even lift, and is so revered by Battle Island's inhabitants that huge statues of her can be found in just about every region. Even ZaZa, who has her own issues with her, has nothing but respect for her skill and strength.
- Ambiguous Gender: Kitty has a masculine-sounding voice but doesn't mind wearing feminine clothing (such as a bright pink bow as the page image clearly depicts) and the show itself never refers to Kitty by any specific pronoun. The most logical conclusion is that Kitty is non-binary, but this has yet to be confirmed or denied.
- Attack! Attack! Attack!: Kitty's normal strategy is to power through battles and overwhelm opponents with their speed and strength.
- Attack Its Weak Point: The Grease Monster. All a warrior has to do is trigger the bomb on his head to make him explode.
- Badass Adorable: Kitty could give the likes of Kirby and The Powerpuff Girls a run for their money in both adorableness and badass-ness.
- Bait-and-Switch: The Hydra Monster is built up as a ravenous unseen horror lurking in the depths. What do we get? A flamboyant two-headed squid who simply loves to dine on the choicest fashions instead of warriors.
- Big Brother Mentor: Iago somewhat filled this role for Kitty and Orc during their time in Warrior Park, basically helping them adjust to how things work on Battle Island. Orc meanwhile saw Iago as more of a Sexy Mentor and spends a good amount of the series crushing on him. By the end, Iago and Orc eventually agreed to start officially dating.
- Big Head Mode: One of Kitty's bows is a Big Head Bow. As it implies, it massively enlarges their head.
- Camp Gay: Iago eventually starts a relationship with Orc and is easily the most flamboyant one of the cast.
- Cuteness Overload: Kitty is undeniably cute to everyone who sees them, and almost kills a bunch of warrior friends they just made by posing with their bow to demonstrate it as a weapon.
- Cycle of Hurting: In the Warrior Park short, "Kitty Walk", Kitty inflicts an overly-long and repetitive juggling air combo on a scary looking man simply for startling them and Orc in the middle of doing their eponymous Kitty Walk. The man tells them afterward that he simply wanted to join them, so they let him do so.
- Elemental Powers: By changing into magical bows that Orc makes, Kitty can gain fire, ice, lightning, bubble, and many more different powers. Orc can even combine bows to create even more effects!
- Female Gaze: For a TV-Y7 rated series, the behinds of the male characters are rendered with... quite a bit of attention to detail. Iago especially.
- Ham-to-Ham Combat: Just about any scene where Kitty and ZaZa are interacting with each other can be this.
- Hat of Power: Orc can create various magical bows that give Kitty powers when worn.
- Inventional Wisdom: For some reason, Orc's magical sewing machine has a button that makes it bring objects to life but also makes them murderously evil. And it's a Big Red Button (or pink, rather) innocently shaped like a heart.
- Klingon Scientists Get No Respect: Orc was ostracized on Orc Island for his interest in fashion and orc magic like magical singing. This makes his dad something of a hypocrite for still having his magic but keeping it hidden.
- Level Ate: Mt Spicy Ice is a volcanic mountain range that is also covered in snow that resembles ice cream swirls. Acidic Dunes has rock formations that resemble cavity-ridden teeth to imply the dunes are mounds of sugar.
- Magic Music: Orcs have knowledge of magical, operatic songs. Orc practices one that releases a World-Healing Wave that repairs destruction, buffs up a frail old lady, and makes a flower sprout. However, according to Orc, the magic is kept in their tails and most have their tails cut off. The Orc King tells his son he's had his magic all along but hid it. This explains why he's worn that spike on his rear.
- Mentor Archetype: Angel Royale's ghost turns out to have the power to manifest to Kitty using her statues scattered throughout the island. She assists Kitty and Orc numerous times, mostly with advice, and more directly on one occasion. She turns out to have her own reasons for wanting Kitty and ZaZa both to reach the Ancient Ruins...
- Overly Long Gag: The bread and butter of the show's humor. Many times, moments that could have been played more seriously turn hilarious for going on WAY longer than they reasonably need to. Often, multiple times an episode.
- Patchwork Map: Considering the world of the show works like a videogame, this is to be expected especially in regards to Battle Island. The different areas are as follows: The beach where warriors first enter. Warriors Park, a sprawling training facility where warriors can mingle and hone their skills before moving on to the real challenges. Mt Spicy Ice, Ice cream mountains containing red hot volcanic mines. Neon Cove, the underwater residential hub of the island where one can find not only the latest fashion trends but also Angel Royale’s lavish mansion. Cashino Woods, a casino-themed forest more likely to empty one’s wallet before their health bar. Sky Co Docks, shipping hub and den of pirates overlooking a toxic sea. Acidic Dunes, the desert where a warrior will likely lose their mind trying to find their way among the sugar sands. Dark Web Woods, an eerie haunted forest of computers where one may become a glitch themselves. Ancient Ruins, the mysterious ancient labyrinth resting at the end of the island where only a select few have reached.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Kitty. They're small enough to fit in most overhead compartments and are strong enough to topple towering terrors.
- Prehensile Hair: Zaza Royale has a massive ponytail that she regularly uses to whip or just shove away anyone who annoys her. At one point she uses it as a weapon to try and spear Kitty. She can also use it to hack computer devices.
- Puzzle Boss: Some of the island monsters count as this:
- The Mole Monster in Cashino Woods requires you to memorize its patterns in order to hit it when it pops out. However, Kitty manages to beat it by simply overwhelming it with a tidal wave of kitty clones.
- The Witch twin monsters require two people, usually a warrior and their squire, to solve a riddle where the solution is to act positive towards each other in opposite of the bickering witch sisters.
- The Crate Monster simply requires those seeking it out to sort out the mess inside itself by placing mechanical pieces into their proper slots.
- Rhymes on a Dime: The Target Monster loves to rap when introducing himself.
- Sorting Algorithm of Threatening Geography: Battle Island plays this mostly straight:
- The First Monster guarding the way into the rest of the island from Warrior Beach is actually tougher than most monsters encountered later on because he's actually there to test the warriors' determination in the face of adversity.
- Warrior Park is one giant training center where warriors can sharpen their skills. It only requires 3 Monster Keys to advance from, and the challenges range from the dangerous, but not lethal Racer Monster and Boxing Monster, to Target Monster who is infamously the easiest monster on the island—with good reason, as it just floats harmlessly about 5 yards away from the Warrior, waiting for them to hit its target, not even moving around to make it challenging. Kitty nevertheless struggles against it because they've never used a bow and arrow before, and ZaZa ends up needing THIRTY TRIES to beat it.
- After that, the next Realm contains three zones with two keys each: Mount Spicy Ice and Neon Cove, which are threatening but not overly difficult, and Cashino Woods, which while challenging to obtain its keys, is much more likely to take a warrior's money than their life.
- The realm after that is where things get REAL: Acidic Dunes, which is as inhospitable as it suggests, and its warriors have mostly abandoned hope or been driven mad by the Mirage Monster, Sky Co. Docks, where warriors who act like "goody-two-shoes" are routinely beaten up and humiliated, and let's not forget Dark Web Woods, with threatening, tricky, and above all deadly monsters who nearly steal Kitty and Orc's souls and come close to glitching Kitty and Za Za out of existence.
- And of course, after those comes the final level: The infamous Ancient Ruins. Squires and weapons are forbidden to enter its labyrinth, which itself can only be described as a Platform Hell which only Angel Royale ever survived to so much as reach the Last Monster. Anyone who dies on Battle Island becomes trapped here as a ghost. When Bozark enters along with Kitty and ZaZa, he gets killed—and even becomes a ghost—in SECONDS. And that's not even getting into what happens when Kitty finally reaches the Last Monster's lair...
- Super Not-Drowning Skills: Neon Cove is an underwater city enchanted so visitors can breathe there without any equipment.
- Symbolic Blood: Iago suffers a lot of bleeding injuries in his introduction that maintains the content rating by it being deep blue and him claiming it's blueberry jam, even though it only comes out of his body whenever he's injured.
- Take That!: Cashino Woods is one to loot boxes and similar mechanics, with Orc's manual stating that the games there are explicitly designed to suck up all your money.
- Toilet Humor: A lot of the humor in the show revolves around poop, farts, and butts.
- Trapped in Another World: What lies behind the final gate? Apparently, it's a portal to what is presumably Earth.
- Underwater City: Neon Cove is this, a city built into the underside of a floating island in the second realm. It is considered a hub for the latest warrior fashions and is also the home to ZaZa's family mansion.
- Valley Girl: Much of the cast, including main characters Kitty and Orc, fall under the trope. In fact, it seems being fashion conscious and speaking like one is one of the requirements of being a warrior.
- Wham Episode: The Ancient Ruins are one right after another. Not only is Kitty revealed to be the Last Monster and that Angel was leading them and ZaZa there for a chance at a rematch, but after defeating her and entering the portal, Kitty finds themself in what appears to be the real world as a normal cat. And not long after, everyone in Battle Island except Orc and his dad are frozen, Orc's dad reveals ZaZa is Orc's sister, and something comes out of the portal and starts changing Orc after saying he went against his function...
- World of Ham: Battle Island, full stop. Even the behavior of the named Warriors in the show is merely above-average for the general population.
- Wretched Hive: The Sky Co. Docks region, described as a "polluted pirate harbor in the clouds", and home to numerous pirate warriors that love causing trouble.
