| “ | I'm the best thief in the business, not the most famous. I need to watch my step to keep it that way. | „ |
| ~ Kasumi Goto |
Kasumi Goto is a supporting protagonist in the original Mass Effect video game trilogy. She is a young Japanese woman who is believed to be the 'best thief in the universe' and certainly lives up to that theory, being able to steal many different things without a criminal record. Very few people have ever heard of her, and fewer can claim to have seen her in person. She is one of the two Mass Effect 2 squad members available only through DLC, the other being Zaeed Massani.
She is voiced by Kym Hoy.
Personality[]
Kasumi thinks very highly of herself, being fully aware of her exceptional thieving skills; when asked by Shepard if opening Hock's extremely secure vault would be a problem, she simply reminds him/her that she's the best thief in the galaxy. True to her claims, Kasumi is exceptionally intelligent, being able to deduce all of the steps to take down the vault's defences in mere seconds. She is very careful and cautious, using a password and advertisement to contact Shepard instead of meeting him/her in person, in order to ensure it wasn't a trap. As she puts it, she's the best thief in the galaxy, not the most famous, and has to maintain a low profile in order to keep it that way
Despite her status as a thief, Kasumi is shown to have a kind heart; she rescued a child prodigy from slave-traders who planned to sell her on Omega, receiving a painting from her in return. She is also capable of showing respect for her enemies, listing multiple things she admires about Donovan Hock despite the fact that he killed her partner and lover, though she gets really angry when he speaks ill of him. She also admires the salarian Spectre Jondum Bau despite him trying to arrest her, saying that the galaxy need more Spectres like him, and even helps him stop an indoctrinated hanar diplomat from dooming his entire species, possibly at the cost of her own life.
An eternal optimist, Kasumi always assumes a situation could be worse e.g. when on a derelict Reaper filled with husks that's slowly crashing into a star, she's relieved that it isn't full of rats, However, she is horrified by the thought of children being experimented on, which is what was happening in the facility where Jack was once held. She also has a sentimental side, as shown by her desire to keep the files of Keiji's graybox in spite of the danger they could put her in. Her sentimentality is also shown by the fact that she used to leave red roses in place of whatever she took, not realising how silly and unproductive it was until she met Keiji.
History[]
Kasumi and her partner Keiji Okuda shared a very intimate relationship during their time together, always kissing and showing other forms of affection whenever they can. Kasumi, nicknamed "Little Bird" by Keiji, surprised him by decorating their Illium apartment in a romantic atmosphere, staying cloaked until Keiji found her by feeling the air. She rewarded him with a kiss and pushed him over to the bed strewn with petals, discussing Keiji's recent acquittal. Kasumi revealed her worry and covert presence at the trial, and she reiterated her desire to stay by his side.
Kasumi felt it was time to start anew and for Keiji to leave the "boring" Alliance, so Keiji shared with her his plan to steal from Donovan Hock on Bekenstein. She has never been to Bekenstein before, and easily persuaded she started to perform some of her tricks on Keiji in bed.
Less than a day later above Bekenstein, Kasumi led Keiji around the bowels of a ship looking for a good jump point out: an empty escape pod chute. She had the pod "repaired" back at Illium to account for any bookkeeping discrepancies. Keiji was beginning to have doubts on the heist, but Kasumi was confident on doing it. Arriving at the jump point, they kissed again before skydiving, using flight suits Kasumi tested on an earlier job at Sur'Kesh. Kasumi found the freefall vista beautiful, perfectly timing their chute release for a safe but stylish landing on their intended location. Keiji commented on his girlfriend's flashy stunt, who indicated that the show was meant for him before locking lips again against the skyline.
Kasumi cloaked and scouted ahead inside the building, counting six professional guards on patrol. She surmised that the expense of hiring the guards must mean that their objective is still inside, so she set about to distracting them while Keiji went on ahead.
The master thief extensively used her cloaking, martial skills, and a decoy program given to her by Keiji to thrash heavily-armored individuals unable to see where she's coming from. By the time they recovered, Kasumi was bidding them farewell as "she" (her decoy) locked a secure door between her and the guards. The real Kasumi and Keiji exchanged status updates, but hearing Keiji's abrupt scream made her panic and race toward his last known location.
The guards noticed her true whereabouts and resumed pursuit. Two of the guards caught up with her, only to be beaten with their own batons. Kasumi unlocked a door at the end of a hall at the third floor, only to see Keiji lying in a pool of his blood. She cradled the dying man in her arms and swore not to leave him, but guards were pounding behind the resealed door. Keiji beseeched his Little Bird to survive, and to retrieve his stolengraybox so they could be together again. Kasumi tearfully complied and left his body behind, activating her cloak and vowing to make good on her word.
Mass Effect 2[]
Kasumi can be recruited as a squadmate for the Suicide Mission. Commander Shepard finds her at the Citadel, where Shepard meets Kasumi on an advertisement. After talking, Kasumi agrees to work with Shepard and goes to the Normandy.
Kasumi can be found settling aboard the observation deck, surrounded with her personal items (some items being highly valuable and stolen), paintings and books. She comments on her adventures of stealing, her time with Keiji and her passion for reading books. Kasumi also comments on the Normandy and it's crew, including their behavior and personality. Kasumi also seems to have a crush on Jacob Taylor, commenting on whether Jacob loves "Japanese girls with a penchant for kleptomania". Jacob, however, doesn't take notice of this.
Shepard can aid Kasumi on her loyalty heist mission to the planet Bekeinsten in order to infiltrate the vault of a weapons dealer and smuggler named Donovan Hock, and retrieve her former partner Keiji's graybox. Shepard and Kasumi are successful and manage to acquire the graybox. Kasumi manages to open Keiji's graybox and is able to examine memories of Keiji, including his time with Kasumi. In one of the memories, Keiji leaves a recorded message, warning Kasumi about a specific classified information in the graybox, and that, if exposed, it will have high implications for the Alliance. He requests Kasumi to destroy the graybox in order to protect her. Kasumi is reluctant to do so, as the graybox also contains her time and relationship with Keiji, and the graybox is all that is left of Keiji in her heart and mind. Commander Shepard can then decide on whether to keep the graybox or destroy it.
Kasumi takes part in the suicide mission of stopping the Collectors, and can either survive the mission or get killed depending on Shepard's actions.
Mass Effect 3[]
Provided she survived the suicide mission in Mass Effect 2, Kasumi returns. On the Citadel, Kasumi anonymously tips a salarian Spectre named Jondum Bau about hanar operatives being aware of an Alliance black ops raid into batarian space. Bau contacts Shepard to help him in this case. He reveals that he has been attempting to catch Kasumi for years, though he admits to have great respect for Kasumi's hacking and tech abilities.
Kasumi appears to Shepard. They learn that the secret information that Keiji had kept in his graybox was that of the Alliance raid on a batarian science lab (where batarian scientists were studying a Reaper corpse). Due to how dangerous the information could spark a human-batarian war if leaked out, Keiji kept it secured in his graybox.
While Shepard is roaming around the Citadel trying to find leads to the case, Kasumi enquires about the Normandy crew. Most especially, she enquires about Jacob, revealing that Jacob's presence could bring her back to the Normandy, also showing that Kasumi still has a crush on Jacob. Bau and Shepard's case lead to a hanar diplomat, who took part in the scientific study of the Reaper corpse with the batarians, but got indoctrinated. The hanar attempts to disable the hanar homeworld of Kahje's automated defenses with a virus. Kasumi rushes into action and stops the virus, but the console is booby-trapped, and it explodes, seemingly killing her.
After Bau leaves, Kasumi reveals herself, having faked her death to escape from Bau trying to arrest her and also from Shepard trying to recruit her to the war. Kasumi still refuses to join the war, but Shepard manages to convince her to help on the Crucible project, since it would need hacking expertise, and also allures her to the expensive tech that would be lying around that Kasumi would acquire. Enticed by this, Kasumi agrees and mentions that it's nice working with Shepard again.
In the Citadel DLC, if Shepard discovers a suspicious device in the Silver Coast Casino, it reveals Kasumi's plot to rob the casino, as she is seen entering the casino with her rob crew. When Shepard encounters her, she explains that the casino-goers will not miss a few credits, and that the money can be put to better use aiding the war effort and refugees. She admits that although she likes raiding Cerberus bases, she adores being a thief. Shepard can then tell her to call off her plan or allow her to continue the heist.
Kasumi can be optionally invited for Shepard's big party. In the party, unlike many of Shepard's friends, Kasumi can't stay in one place and prefers to stalk out Shepard's apartment under Tactical Cloak or specifically decloaking to interject in conversations. Later on, Kasumi poses uncloaked at the group photo later when Shepard calls everyone to the living room.
During the final battle on Earth, Shepard can contact Kasumi via hologram. She reports that the Crucible is good to go, not knowing what it'll do but assured that whatever it is it's going to be big. She tells Shepard that if the Commander survives, she will buy drinks. At the end, if Commander Shepard activated the Crucible and chose to merge organic and synthetic life, and if Shepard convinced Kasumi to keep Keiji's graybox in Mass Effect 2, she can be seen in the aftermath cutscenes holding hands with a hologram of Keiji. If Shepard chose to destroy or control the Reapers, Kasumi will be seen holding Keiji's graybox.