Hikari "Kari" Kamiya

Hikari "Kari" Kamiya, known as Hikari Yagami (八神 ヒカリ) in Japan, is a fictional character in the anime and manga series Digimon Adventure and its sequel, Digimon Adventure 02. Although her first name is "Hikari", in the English version, she primarily goes by her dub-given nickname, Kari. First appearing in the film Digimon Adventure (1999), Kari has made regular appearances in the television series as a main character and also in other supplementary medias.

Titled "the eighth DigiDestined child" (八番目の選ばれし子供), Kari is partnered to Gatomon and is the younger sister of Taichi "Tai" Kamiya. She is also the rightful holder of the Crest of Light (光の紋章) and the Digi-egg of Light (光のデジメンタル).

Description
Kari is described to have a "gentle personality" but "balances it out with her unresting heart's strength" when faced with an enemy. Although she is a "pocket mystic", she is full of compassion and patience, and everything she does is for the right reasons. Because she had a weak body, she was ill before summer camp started, and thus was not able to travel to the Digital World on the DigiDestined's first trip. Kari admires her older brother Tai and is seen as an equal to T.K Takaishi.

In the sequel, Digimon Adventure 02, Kari has matured into a "smiling, charmingly energetic, and bright girl", but has also become "mischievous" and "playful". She now dons a digital camera as a trademark item instead of her camp whistle. Davis Motomiya develops an unrequited crush on her and vies for her affections several times.

Pilot film
Kari made her first appearance in the short pilot film Digimon Adventure (1999), which was combined as the first part of Digimon: The Movie (2001) was localized. The film depicts her first encounter with a Digimon as a toddler as well as the events that drove Tai and herself to live in Odaiba.

In the television series
Succeeding the film, Kari later made regular appearances starting in the second half of Digimon Adventure (1999) as a new main character, where she is awakened as a new DigiDestined. Initially known by the title "the eighth DigiDestined child" (八番目の選ばれし子供), she joins the other DigiDestined to fight Myotismon. The trip results her in making her first trip to the Digital World, where she is faced with a new danger that threatens the world's existence. In this series, Kari is in second grade and is eight years old.

Kari becomes one of the main characters in Digimon Adventure 02 (2000) along with T.K. Taking place roughly four years after Digimon Adventure (two and a half years in the original version), Kari is now in seventh grade and twelve years old (fifth grade and eleven years old in the original version). She is in class A with T.K. and Davis and regularly lends a helping hand in taking care of the Digital World. At the end of the series, Kari becomes a teacher and has a son who is partnered with Salamon.

In the video games
Kari makes a cameo as a non-playable character in the WonderSwan game Digimon Adventure: Anode/Cathode Tamer, where she is captured by Milleniummon and jailed with Matt and Joe until Ryo Akiyama comes to their rescue.

In the game Digimon Tamers: Brave Tamer, Kari and Gatomon are attacked by Myotismon, and Ryo has the option to save her over T.K. and Mimi Tachikawa. Following the end of the battle, he allows Gatomon to join his party.

In other films
Kari makes an appearance in the film Our War Game! (2000), the second part of the localized Digimon: The Movie, which takes place on the spring break after Digimon Adventure. but with little influence in the movie's overall plot. In the film, she attends her classmate Senri's birthday party, and thus is unable to come home to help fight off Diaboromon.

When the film featurette release of Digimon Hurricane Landing! and its second part, ''Supreme Evolution! The Golden Digimentals, which also made the third part of Digimon: The Movie, Kari makes her first appearance in the Digimon Adventure 02'' timeline as she races across the United States to help stop Wendigomon, succeeding in releasing the Digi-eggs of Miracles and Fate for Willis.

The sequel of Our War Game!, Revenge of Diaboromon (2001), takes place on the spring break after Digimon Adventure 02. Unlike Our War Game!, however, Kari is actively involved in stopping Diaboromon's second attempt at destroying the world before the final battle.

In the manga
Kari makes an appearance in the manga Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01, where she and the other Adventure 02 DigiDestined encountered Parallelmon, who absorbed her, T.K., Yolei, and Cody, and inadvertently sent Davis into the "V-Tamer 01" world, where he met the Tai of that series. Kari and the others helped Davis from inside the monster by recreating the Digi-Egg of Miracles. With the monster destroyed, Davis and his friends returned to their continuity.

In the CD dramas
Kari is featured in supplementary audio dramas released on CD during the television series' run, most of which consist miscellaneous adventures with the other DigiDestined that do not relate to the overall plot of the show. These include a comical battle with Mimi over identifying the person in Izzy's love letter and becoming trapped in a store by Boltmon on Valentine's Day. In an audio drama released years after the end of Digimon Adventure 02, Kari reveals that she is making a video tutorial for new DigiDestined children.

Development
Kari's character was designed for the pilot movie storyboard by Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru. In an exclusive interview released with the Digimon Adventure DVD box on December 21, 2007, producer Satoru Nishizono revealed that as the staff had agreed on deciding Tai's name, he had tried to name the other characters similarly with kanji that related to "luck." Kari's Japanese name, "Hikari" (ヒカリ), which meant "light", was coincidential in regards to her Crest and Digi-egg. Originally, Kari was not supposed to appear as the eighth DigiDestined, but as a side character who was only Tai's little sister with a sixth sense. However, the producers decided to include her when wanting to introduce a new character.

In Japan, all of Kari's appearances were voiced by Kae Araki. In the English dub, Lara Jill Miller provides her voice.

Merchandise
During the run of the television series Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02, Kari was included in merchandise such as trading cards. In Japan, her character was also given three theme songs: "Holy Light", "Yasashī Ame" (やさしい雨), and "Reflection" (リフレックション). All songs were performed by her Japanese voice actress, Kae Araki. Her only character CD single, Yasashī Ame: Best Partner 11: Hikari Yagami & Tailmon (やさしい雨 ベストパートナー⑪ 八神ヒカリ&テイルモン), which also included Gatomon's (Yuka Tokumitsu) solo "Getting Up" and their duet "Shining Star", debuted at #83 on the Oricon Weekly Charts and stayed there for one week.

Reception
In a series of online polls conducted on Toei Animation's Digimon website, Kari was ranked 4th by Japanese voters as their favorite DigiDestined. When the same question was asked two more times, her rank fell to 5th, and then 6th, but finally landed at 1st. In addition to this, Kari is ranked 1st as whom the voters would want as a younger sister and as the best-looking DigiDestined in the spring. She placed in 3rd as the DigiDestined who the voters thought was the strongest and as the best-looking DigiDestined in the winter.