Karai

Karai (辛い) is a fictional character in several installments of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) media franchise, where she is usually one of the highest-ranking members of the Foot Clan. She was originally introduced in Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird's comic book series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 1992.

In some incarnations of the character (in particular the 2003 cartoon, the 2012 cartoon, and the 2010s comics), she is closely related to the Shredder as his adopted daughter or biological granddaughter, but in her original incarnation she was completely unrelated to him. Her name is a Japanese word that roughly translates into "extremely severe".

Mirage/Image comics


In Mirage Studios' Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles by Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird and Jim Lawson, Karai is introduced as one of the leaders of the mainstream Foot Clan in Japan (a member of its Council of Five) who came to New York City to restore order in the "City at War" story arc. Ever since Leonardo killed the Shredder (Oroku Saki), the Foot faction in NYC has been in chaos, with different groups warring with one another for ultimate control, save for Shredder's Elite, who have been carrying out seemingly motiveless attacks on the other factions. Karai captures Leonardo and offers the TMNT a deal: if the Turtles kill the Elite, she will offer them a truce with the Foot Clan. After debate, the Turtles finally agree to seek Karai's assistance in dealing with the Elite. As they reach her skyscraper headquarters, they find dead Foot guards and the Foot's leader cradling the body of a dead girl. It is revealed that the girl was Karai's daughter, and in despair, she makes Leonardo swear he will help her kill all of the Elite. During a final confrontation, five Elite face off against the Turtles, Karai, and her Foot Soldiers. The disguised Karai, wearing the Shredder's armor, orders the Elite to commit seppuku, but only one does; after a hard fight, the Turtles and Karai are the only ones left standing. Karai thanks the Turtles for their help, but they answer she owes them nothing but her word, to which she agree, saying that "no longer will the Foot Clan bother you", and returns to Japan.

While Karai never properly appears in Volume Three of the TMNT Image Comics series, it is revealed that Karai has been deposed as the leader of the Foot in Japan and is presumed to be dead. Had this series continued, Karai would have been revealed as the person behind the mask of Lady Shredder, a character introduced in the series' final issues as a third contestant vying for leadership of the Foot. However, this was later changed in the semi-official (developed using notes from the Image Comics series' writer Gary Carlson, but otherwise fanmade) continuation, in which Lady Shredder was revealed to be Tang Amaya, an entirely different new character who was also retconned to be the real identity of The Mistress (from Tales of TMNT) and Headhunter (from Big Bang Comics), and the sister of Tang Shen (the Chinese lover of the Splinter's master Hamato Yoshi).



In the more recent Volume Four comics by Peter Laird and Jim Lawson (without Eastman's involvement), Karai has returned to settle in New York and is using a high-tech armor. She asks Leonardo to help capture alive one of the mysterious warriors that are giving much trouble for the Foot everywhere. When Leonardo sees right through her lie about certain mystic books, even as she is usually a good liar, he suspects that something is either greatly troubling her or something is controlling her. A few weeks later, Karai visits a local high-profile nightclub, meeting Casey Jones, still longing for his wife April O'Neil who has gone on a soul-searching pilgrimage. Karai brings Jones to her private condo, where he awakens naked and remembering nothing of the previous night. He later discovers a noticeably light-hearted Karai knows something of the night before, but is hesitant to tell him. According to Peter Laird, "What's happening with Mike, and with Karai and Casey, will have significant consequences." Fans have speculated that Karai eventually gives birth to her and Casey's child. Laird also noted: "It's possible that at some point we may know more about Karai's origin and her daughter. I'm not sure exactly how old Karai is, but it might just be that her daughter was adopted. In general, I consider the time span between Volume 2 and Volume 4 to be about fifteen years."

Karai also appears in three stand-alone stories in the non-canon Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series, including the stories of her youth and possible future,  as well as in the comic book adaptation of the 2007 animated film.

2003 animated series
An alternative version of Karai (voiced by Karen Neil) is a major character in the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series by 4Kids Entertainment and Mirage. Abandoned by her parents at a young age, Karai was taken in and adopted by Ch'rell, the Utrom Shredder (in the original comics, the Shredder's only daughter was biological offspring named Pimiko and Karai had no relation to him ). Trained in ninjutsu and an aspiring practitioner of bushido, Karai first appears as one of the highest-ranking members of the Foot Clan, similar in status to the Shredder's adopted son Hun (who holds a grudge against her); eventually, she becomes the clan's leader. Throughout the series, she appears both as an ally and enemy to the Turtles, sharing a complicated relationship with Leonardo. Karai was the only Foot member who knew that the Shredder was really an Utrom. After Ch'rell's exile at the end of Season 3, Karai spent all of Season 4 and Season 5 trying to make the Turtles pay for this. When she appeared as a guest of April and Casey's wedding, her vendetta with the Turtles was confirmed to be finally over.

Karai made her animated debut in Season 2, in the series' loose adaptation of the Mirage Comics' "City at War" story arc. Karai arrives in NYC after hearing the news of the gang war taking place after the Shredder's reported demise, quickly enlisting the aid of the Turtles to stop it, with a promise an end to the Foot's feud against them in exchange for their assistance. Leonardo, believing that Karai is honorable despite her legacy, convinces Donatello and Michelangelo to aid her (Raphael initially refuses). Together, Karai and the Turtles eventually retake control of the New York Foot and consequently its underworld. However, the end of the story reveals that Karai has been manipulating the Turtles and working with the not-dead Shredder all along. In a homage scene, the way Karai held Leonardo hostage is exactly how the Shredder held him in the first live-action film to force the other three to surrender.

Karai and the Foot reappear as a fully healed Oroku Saki retakes control of the Foot. Realizing that their agreement with the Foot had been retracted, the Turtles decide to face the Foot again. When forced to fight Leonardo, and despite his lack of resistance, Karai proves unwilling to kill him. Karai's internal conflict—loyalty to the Turtles vs. loyalty to her father—is the main thrust of her storyline in Season 3, as she is pulled from both directions to take a side during their various encounters, even working together with the Turtles at times. She also appears in a cameo in Japan. Karai manages to stay in the graces of both sides until the Turtles face the Shredder again in the season's finale, where she stabs Leonardo in the shoulder, although she later prevents the Utrom Shredder from killing the Turtles while they are unconscious. In the end, the Shredder is taken prisoner and exiled, while Karai and the young head of the Foot's scientific division Dr. Chaplin are also captured and taken back to Earth. A "Future Karai" also appears as a villain in an alternate-future episode "Same As It Never Was", in which she is serving the Shredder following his successful conquest of the Earth. She and her robots kill Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raphael, but she is then herself killed by the missiles fired by April. (In the first drafts of this episode, her title was Princess Karai, and April would get into Karai's "Dark Princess outfit" to defeat the Shredder and take control of the Foot in guise of her. )



With her father gone and dead in the eyes of the world, Karai takes over the Foot as well as the name of The Shredder (in a deleted scene she even says that Karai "no longer exists", completely replaced by The Shredder ). This new Shredder "would retain the traditional iconic elements, but have a different treatment" Furious at what she saw as a betrayal by the Turtles, Karai spends the season plotting her revenge against them, first attacking them on the psychic plane via Foot Mystics, and later coordinating and leading an assault against them at their lair. She later once again duels Leonardo, who defeats her but then departs with the warning to leave his family alone, giving her one last chance for redemption. Karai next faces the Turtles during their attempt to retrieve a Foot amulet called the Heart of Tengu, but failing to stop them despite her efforts.

Unknown to the Turtles and Agent Bishop, who initially charged them with retrieving it, Heart of Tengu was a mystical artifact that allowed the Foot to control its Elemental Mystics, who are in reality the heralds for a man-demon that had centuries ago terrorized Japan as the Shredder. The destruction of the artifact unleash a chain of events that results in the resurrection of the demon, whose first target is Karai for "usurping" the Shredder's name. Despite her efforts and those of the Turtles (who believe her the key to stopping him), the True Shredder bests Karai in battle, seriously injuring her. Rescued by the Turtles, Karai heals and, recognizing the threat the demon Shredder poses, agrees to a "temporary" alliance with her enemies. It is soon learned that because she shares the Shredder's mantle, Karai has the latent psychic ability to lower the Shredder's defenses through a shared link. This allows the Turtles an advantage in their final conflict with the demon, in which Karai helps pave the way for her namesake's destruction, while Dr. Chaplin helped to co-ordinate the battle. After the victory, Karai and Dr. Chaplin depart hand-in-hand, with her promising him to worry more about their immediate future.



Karai is not involved in any main storylines in the Season 6 in which the Turtles and Splinter travel a hundred years into the future. However, she is seen during the events that would have occurred after the Turtles' return from the year 2105, as Karai has abandoned her grudge against the Turtles and is eager to become a student of the Ninja Tribunal, but Leonardo is obsessively distrustful of her, almost ruining Karai's burial ritual of the Shredder and accusing her of being a traitor, in effect leading to his own banishment from the Tribunal. Karai makes her appearance in the Season 7 storyline in the series last season's finale, having been invited to attend the wedding of April O'Neil and Casey Jones, and arriving at the ceremony with Dr. Chaplin by her side. She and Chaplin later assist the Turtles in fending off the sudden onslaught of Cyber Shredder.

Karai also makes an appearance in the 2009 animated film Turtles Forever, in which she frees Ch'rell from the clutches of the 1987 series' Shredder, Krang, and Rocksteady and Bebop. She then aids the Shredder in modifying the Technodrome with Utrom technology. The Utrom Shredder, consumed with rage for revenge on the Turtles, wants to destroy every dimension where the Ninja Turtles exist even though it will most likely destroy himself, but Karai intervenes, rescuing the classic Turtles. In the end, at the Turtles Prime dimension (Mirage Turtles), Karai fights alongside the Turtles, as well as 1987 series' Shredder, to stop the her father's insane plot.

The series' supervising producer Lloyd Goldfine envisioned the cartoon Karai as "sleek, no-nonsense, commanding, Japanese accent." The original comics' (and Karai's) original co-creator and the show's consultant Peter Laird agreed, but emphasised that she is also "a powerful and dynamic individual". Laird opposed to have "all kinds of goofy, ludicrous weapons systems built into Karai's new Shredder armor" and to the proposal that she would have an ability to teleport, as he thought it would be cheating. He was also "disappointed" to see Karai at April and Casey's wedding and fighting on the side of the "good guys" in the end. Regarding Karai being called "Leo's girlfriend" by the time of the show's third season, Laird noted that "contrary to what some TMNT fans might fantasize, Turtles don't mate/have love affairs with humans."

TMNT


In the 2007 animated film TMNT, Karai is a new character in the film series, based on Karai from the 1990s comics. Voiced by Zhang Ziyi and shown wearing a full-body black armor with a hood on her head and a short cape, Karai is the Japanese Foot Clan boss and has came to take over the New York Foot after the Shredder's death. This version of Karai may or may be not related to the Shredder; in the bio text of her action figure in the film's merchandise she is described as being the Shredder's daughter but no clear indication of this was given in the actual film. Karai was one of favorite comics characters of the writer and director Kevin Munroe and he "was the one who really pushed for Karai" to appear in the film. Talking about a possible sequel to the film, as well as about comics, Munroe said he would "love to see us explore the Karai and Foot Ninja thing a little more".

Karai is the new leader of the Foot, hired by the mysterious billionaire Max Winters to help him and his Stone Generals hunt down the thirteen ancient immortal monsters. She fights with Leonardo (whom she clearly recognizes) and rejects his offer to help them, also engaging in battle with April O'Neil while the Foot battles the Turtles and their allies. During the tide of the battle, both the Foot Clan and the Turtles realized that Winters, revealing himself to be an immortal warlord named Yaotl, only wanted the monsters to be returned to their world to undo the immortality curse he and his Stone Generals had endured. Unfortunately, the Stone Generals have betrayed Winters by deliberately missing the final monster and intend to use the portal to finalize their conquest of Earth. When the Stone Generals offer the Foot a chance to join them in world conquest, Karai refuses, saying that they would honor their contract to Winters. Aided by April and Casey, she then leads her ninja in retrieving the last of the monsters. In the end, Karai parts ways with the Turtles peacefully, but gives a cryptic last word that Turtles "have passed" something (she refuses to elaborate) and "soon we will have further business together; the kind that involves familiar faces from your past", hinting on the Shredder's upcoming return (which was indeed being planned for the film's sequel).

IDW comics


A different character named Karai - a girl with purple hair claiming to be the Shredder's granddaughter - appears in IDW Publishing's ongoing, re-imagined Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series by Kevin Eastman, Tom Waltz and Dan Duncan (later also Andy Kuhn and Mateus Santolouco). Duncan posted a character design sketch of her on his deviantART account, writing that he prefers to "refer to her as Shredder's girlfriend." Waltz said about the future issues: "I can't say much yet other than Karai has played a pivotal role in the events leading to Saki's return."

IDW comics' Karai was introduced in May 2012 in the issue 10, where she captures Splinter.

2012 animated series


Another new interpretation of the character appears in the 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series, where she is voiced by Kelly Hu and was introduced on February 1, 2013 in the episode "New Girl In Town". According to Nickelodeon, "as lethal as she is beautiful, Karai brings a whole new level of chaos and complication for the Turtles." Nickelodeon published early character design sketches of their interpretation of Karai on the Internet.

In the Nickelodeon series, Karai is a teenage (16-year-old) rebellious member of The Foot and a master kunoichi with strong ties to the Shredder. She was later revealed to be the Shredder's adopted daughter. According to IGN, "while Karai does seem to be fairly loyal to Shredder, there's no doubt that she's at least somewhat open to walking the line with Leo and the others."

Kelly Hu has only learned later "about her and the different versions" from reading TMNT wiki. She said that she "was pleasantly surprised at how edgy and cool she was -- and skinny!" She said: "I love the way she looks. I do not recall if I had a picture before I started. You know, it is really just my own voice though. I try pitching it up a bit to sound younger like more around 20." Hu said: "'I have to admit that I've never seen any other version of Karai, so I really have nothing to compare her to -- which is kind of a good thing, because then I just get to play her as I see her myself. But she's sort of feisty, badass and kicks butt. She gets to have a little going on with Leonardo. What I like about playing this character is she's not all bad. She has a conscience that she has to wrestle with...But see, I don't know about the other Karais or storylines in other series, so I don't know how it matches up, if it's the same or different or what.'"

Asked about what she thinks "makes Karai such a popular and unique character," hu answered: "I think people love these little tough girls. She's got lots of attitude and she's sarcastic at times. You just never know what she's going to do. She's always surprising you – you think she's going to turn one way and she goes the other." Speaking of the character played by her in X2, she added: "You know, Lady Deathstrike is iconic and so tough. I think Karai would really give her a run for her money, though. That would be a good one – I'd be interested to see that!"

Fighting games


Karai is the final boss in the 1993 Sega Genesis (Mega Drive) and Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) versions of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters, fighting without use of any weapon. Karai was notorious as an extremely difficult boss to defeat (especially on Genesis) and is a secret player character in the SNES version (in the Genesis version she is only unlockable with the use of a cheat device). Because of the relative obscurity of the TMNT Mirage comics (as compared to the 1980s cartoon and the films), many players did not recognize Karai in Tournament Fighters and assumed her to be an original character created by Konami.
 * In the SNES game, "a very strong fighter by the name of 'Karai'" is announced to be "still alive" and challenges the winner of the titular fighting tournament, making her the final boss to beat. Her appearance in the SNES version is roughly based on this from the Mirage comics but in-game she is looking androgynous and confusingly masculine.
 * In the Genesis version, however, Karai is much more feminine and quite similar to the SNES game's original character Aska, appearing brown haired and wearing the Shredder-style armor without a helmet or blades and bare thighs and thong. She also has a different backstory in the Genesis game, in which she has sent the Turtles' clones to kidnap Master Splinter into Dimension X, and is suddenly revealing herself to be the true mastermind behind this at the end of the game, following the player's defeat of Krang (in addition, the regular ending has Karai saying that it was only her clone that has been destroyed, as she can be truly killed only in the alternative ending after finishing the game at the hardest difficulty setting).

Karai (voiced by Karen Neil) is one of the selectable characters in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash-Up (2009). Karai is wielding a single sword and, while not the most powerful, she is the fastest and most agile character in the game. Her appearance is that of the 2007 film and she is described as being the Shredder's daughter. Karai's alternative costume resembles the Amazonian Blade Bots (aka Karai-Bots) robots created by Dr. Chaplin in the 2003 cartoon's episode "New Blood" (also featured in "Same As It Never Was"). The image created for the play's "Girls of Gaming 8" shows her with a longer hair and wearing the Shredder's armor. According to Prima Games' official guide, Karai (rated 10/10) is the best overall character in the game, thanks to her fastest speed and one of the top jumping abilities, as well as unique combo opportunities, but she is less adventagous against other agile characters.

Beat'em up games
Karai (voiced by Karen Neil) is a boss character and an unlockable player character in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Battle Nexus (2004), in an encounter loosely based on the 2003 cartoon's episode "Rogue in the House Part 2". Her appearance is that from the cartoon series and she is armed with dual swords and also has a special move of unleashing multiple kunais in every direction. In the game's story mode, the Turtles meet Karai after she very uneasily decided to obey the Shredder's order to put them to death. After defeating Karai in combat, Leonardo pleads for her to choose honor over the loyalty to the Shredder, even going as far as allowing her to strike him down if she chooses so, but she finds unable to do so and asks him to kill her instead. Leonardo refuses in turn and leaves, telling her that he believes they will one day understand each other. According to Prima Games, Karai is one of the toughest opponents in the game's Foot Fight tournament mode.

Karai (voiced by Karen Neil) is the penultimate boss in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: Mutant Nightmare (2005).

Karai's voice (by Jennifer Morehouse) can be heard and she has a cameo in TMNT (2007). Karai also serves as the second boss in the TMNT game for the Game Boy Advance.

Karai is also a boss in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Arcade Attack (2009), her appearance reflecting her Back to the Sewer/Turtles Forever design.

Merchandise
An action figure of the cartoon Karai in her Shredder armor (with a removable helmet) was released by Playmates in 2005, packed with bonus DVD. A larger action figure based on as she has appeared in TMNT (featuring a changeable head, with or without the face mask and hood) was released in 2007, also by Playmates.