Karen Kino

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“	The only one worthy of standing at Kaguya's side is none other than president Shirogane!	”
—Karen, Kaguya-sama wo Kataritai Chapter 1 Page 5

Karen Kino
Name	Karen Kino
Kanji Name	紀 かれん
Rōmaji Name	Kino Karen
Nickname(s)	Shiptrash (by Kozue Makihara)
Gender	Female
Profile
Eye Color	Brown/Lavender (Manga) Lavender (Anime)
Hair Color	Brown
Personal Status
Status	Alive
Occupation	Mass Media Club President Kaguya-sama Fanclub (Co-founder)
Grade	Junior (2-C) (former) Senior (3-A) (former)
Relative(s)	Unnamed Father
Portrayal
Japanese VA	Madoka Asahina
English VA	Lindsay Seidel
Media Debut
Manga	Chapter 1
Anime	Episode 1

Karen Kino (紀 かれんきの かれん, Kino Karen) is a supporting character in the main series and one of the main characters of Kaguya-sama wo Kataritai. She is a member of the Mass Media Club and the daughter of the CEO of Kino Publishing.

Origin

Karen is based on Ki no Tsurayuki (紀 貫之), a famous poet from the Heian period of Japan and one of the more popular candidate for being the author of The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter.

Appearance

Karen is a schoolgirl of average height with long light brown hair, that are separated in the middle. She wears the standard Shuchi'in Academy girls uniform but she and her best friend Erika are been shown with many different matching outfits in official art.

She was initially shown with brown eyes, but this was changed to lavender in later appearance.

Personality

She is a major fan of Miyuki Shirogane and Kaguya Shinomiya, often fantasizes about the two of them as a couple, and draws her own manga based off these fantasies. She also has a knack for picking up on people's romantic feelings, being the only one of her friends who was aware of Maki's crush on Tsubasa.

History

Karen appears since the first chapter of manga as a minor character as well as Erika Kose.

She befriends with Erika Kose, Maki Shijo and Nagisa Kashiwagi since childhood.

Etymology

• The name Karen is written in hiragana (かれん), which has no special meaning. However, when written in kanji, it could possibly mean:
  • 花恋 (2) - "flower, blossom" (花) (ka) and "love" (恋) (ren).
  • 華蓮 (3) - "flower, petal" (華) (ka) and "lotus, water lily" (蓮) (ren).
• Karen's surname Kino means "chronicle" (紀).

Trivia

• Karen is shown to know about bugs like the lacquer tree cockroach (a trait that she shares with Kaguya Shinomiya and Chika Fujiwara) and lacking fear, even saying that it is noble to show compassion to them because the president would do the same. but didn't hesitate to kill one German cockroach because according to her it is was a pest.
• Karen seems known to be the most fanatical shiptrash in the Academy.