Jeri Katou

Infobox animanga character
name = Juri "Jeri" Katou
color = Yellow
series = Digimon


caption =
first = Episode 1, "Guilmon Comes Alive"
last =
creator =
voiced by = Yoko Asada (Japanese)
Bridget Hoffman (English, Series)
Philece Sampler (English, Movie)
oaux1 name = Japanese name
oaux1 = Juri Kato
aux1 name = Digimon
aux1 = Leomon (deceased)

Jeri Katou, known in Japan as nihongo|Juri Kato|加藤 樹莉|Katō Juri, is a fictional character from the Digimon Tamers series. Jeri is voiced by Bridget Hoffman in the TV series, and by Philece Sampler in the movie 'Runaway Locomon'.

Usually shown with her sock puppet early on in the series, Jeri is a cheerful and sweet person who is always there to encourage her friends, though her later descent into despair has led some fans to deem the character as "feeble", while others view her as a tragic figure on line with Wizardmon of the Adventure universe. It is made clear that Takato Matsuki has a crush on her, and by the end, it seems that the feeling is mutual. [Notes on Jeri from "Digimon Tamers" head writer Chiaki J. Konaka, http://www.konaka.com/alice6/tamers/characters/juri-e.html]

Jeri's family owns a small tavern in Shibuya, where she works sometimes waitressing and even helping her father to handle drunk customers, as she says when she's kidnapped by Orochimon in the Digital World. Her father is a good-hearted but very severe person who didn't know how to handle Jeri's raising after his wife's death; at first he's seen as an extremely cold man, but that facade breaks when he tries to rescue Jeri on his own after she's kidnapped by the D-Reaper.

Digimon Tamers

At first, Jeri is not very important to the series. She just plays as a school girl Takato has a crush on and won't become a Digimon tamer until later on. It might be said that she is a sort of perfect child, because of her cheerful and happy personality. However, there was a scene when she had claimed she was not interested in digimon, but had cards dropping out of her pocket when she fell. She was known for her dog-shaped sock puppet from her brother, which she uses to strike-up conversations.

Where Kazu and Kenta ran away when the existence of Guilmon (Takato's partner Digimon) was proven, Jeri was quick to befriend the strange digital life-form, becoming the first non-Tamer to do so.

Jeri is into the DigiBattle Card Game and has some very rare cards in her possession. Takato's friend Rika Nonaka gave her some pointers on what cards to use, and that is how the friendship between the two of them got started. Jeri becomes a Tamer and her partner is Leomon, although when he first appeared, she didn't exactly show that and rather chased him like a madwoman, calling him her Prince and looking almost starstruck at the sight of him. She eventually becomes Leomon's partner before she and the other Tamers (including Kazu and Kenta) headed out into the Digital World in search of Calumon.

Jeri proves herself to be a very capable Tamer with potential for greatness (she used the extremely powerful and rare Lady Devimon card on Leomon to destroy the evil digimon Orochimon who had kidnapped her), but unfortunately her career is cut short when Beelzemon destroys Leomon and uploads his data.

Following this Jeri becomes withdrawn, believing that her destiny is to be alone. Some time during their return to the real world, Jeri's cheerful facade is ripped away and through flashbacks and a brief explanation she delivered to Takato, her less-than-cheerful past is revealed. Her biological mother had died a while ago and when Jeri met her stepmother, she didn't give her a chance, so deeply traumatized she was over the death of her real mother. Jeri came to think she was a bad person, because she knew her stepmother was a nice woman, yet she couldn't empathize with her. She also thinks over and over about the words that her father said after her mother's death, which Leomon repeated before dying: "it's all because of Destiny."

Jeri showed no sign of caring about what was going on around her and she kept on looking into her now dead D-Arc. The only real reaction came when Takato and Guilmon, now fused into Gallantmon, were about to kill Beelzemon after defeating him; she yelled at them to spare him, and when Beelzemon asked her why, she tearfully said she didn't want anyone else to die because of her. When she disappeared for a moment and then came back, her eyes were different, as if something possessed her, and she had an evil smile, even after the kids were back in Tokyo.

It is later discovered that this was not Jeri rather it was the D-Reaper's Agent 1, by discovering its "wings", who assumed Jeri's form to learn all she could about the Tamers. The real Jeri had been taken away and placed in a space within the D-Reaper. The Agent 1 said that Jeri was the perfect being for the D-Reaper as it used her sadness to strengthen itself.

Meanwhile, Jeri's puppet was being controlled by the D-Reaper and it was trying to convince Jeri that humans don't deserve to live. D-Reaper was able to feed off her negative emotions, but gradually, thanks to Calumon she decided to speak up and reject the idea of real death. She spoke what Leomon had spoke (while he was destined to die, she still had a lot to live for, and so did the others) and was rescued by the other tamers. While she was still in the D-reaper, it is discovered that she cared a lot for Takato, for she said "I don't want anyone to be hurt, especially not Takato." And when Takato went into the D-Reaper, he found that Jeri was unconscious, he woke her up and Jeri hugged him.

By the end of the series, Jeri snaps out her depression, thanks to Takato and Calumon, and realizes that humans can make their own destiny and that she was never meant to be alone.

Digimon Tamers: Runaway Locomon

Jeri not only attended Rika's birthday, but she along with Calumon also helped Rika's grandmother, Seiko Hata with all the decorations as well.

Notes