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"Hey! Ohayō gojaimasu!"

― Karen's habit of using broken Japanese.

"Yoko, Shinobu, and..."

― Karen trying to memorize the other girls' names.

"Ayaya! Ayaya!"

― Karen's nickname for Aya Komichi.

Karen Kujō (九条 カレン Kujyō Karen?) is one of the main characters in the Kin-iro Mosaic series.

Appearance[]

Karen is a cute, fair-skinned girl with hip-length, pale-blonde hair that is worn loose with a small amount pulled into a bun on the left side of her head and light purple tsurime eyes. She has more English features than Japanese features as noted by other characters such as Yoko.

She wears the school skirt and top with a dark blue Union Jack design on it, a pink-striped bowtie, and a pair of dark blue socks. She wears her own red sneakers with the Union Jack design. During summer, Karen switches for a sleeve-less parka reminiscent of her jacket.

Her casual attire is fairly normal with a mixture of playful and feminine.

Personality[]

Karen is a carefree, happy-go-lucky person who tends to get excited or passionate about new things fairly easily. She is never afraid to try something new or risky, but sometimes her imagination gets the best of her. She is very charismatic and is friends with just about everyone in the class to the point that they have begun to feed her during class break once she befriends them.

While she can come off a little immature or selfish, she is very affectionate with friends or even some strangers, and she values her friendships with everyone. She is extremely loyal but enjoys teasing people she is close to. She also tends to be one of the few girls to make a perverted comment or joke.

She usually speaks slightly broken Japanese (presumed to be on purpose) when communicating with her friends, but she can speak fluently sometimes; much to her friends' surprise.

Like Alice Cartelet, Karen is very fond of Japanese culture and she usually ends her sentences with "ですよ" (desu yo) wherever applicable.

Karen also comes from a massively rich family, which is her parents and herself. This often surprises her friends apart from Alice, of whom, it is assumed has always known about Karen's wealth. Karen's family wealth is expressed mostly when Karen turns up in a motor-home of grandeur size and explicit quality (the trailer being of house-like design in the interior) to meet her friends, and when Shinobu Ōmiya and Alice go to meet Karen at her place, which turns out to be an entire block of flats. Also, in certain flashbacks, Karen's house in England appears large (like Alice's) and richly decorated on the inside, which also suggests her family's state of wealth.

Manga[]

In the manga, it has been revealed that Karen simply told her father that Alice Cartelet went to Japan and that she wanted to study more about the Japanese culture and her father happily allowed her to live in Japan as well.

Relationships[]

Shinobu Ōmiya[]

Karen enjoys playing with Shino and hanging out with her. She loves to get Shino's attention, and sometimes enjoys using it to tease Alice; when she isn't actually aware that she is doing it. Similar to how she bonds with Yoko over poor grades, she is able to also bond with Shino.

Alice Cartelet[]

As she has known Alice the longest, Karen is very close to her. Since they were little she has admired Alice, who originally was actually bigger than Karen. For a while she felt neglected as Alice began focusing more on her Japanese studies. After being ignored, Karen went out and didn't return home. It turns out she fell from a bridge onto the grass below, having fallen unconscious for a few hours and was unable to stand due to a sprained ankle. With it being late and the sun setting, she became increasingly worried until Alice finally found and rescued her. Since then she has continued to look up to Alice and considers her to be her hero. She loves Alice and they have a sisterlike bond.

Isami Ōmiya[]

Karen is not shown interacting with Isami as much as Shino, Alice or Youko Inokuma has. However, since she met her, she has admired the model's talent and beauty.

Aya Komichi[]

Karen has fun teasing Aya, who she nicknames as "Ayaya" after Aya tried to introduce herself to Karen. Aya does not like the name, but after a while, she stopped protesting it so much. Karen is also one of only a few characters who are aware of Aya's crush on Yoko, along with Kōta Inokuma and Mitsuki Inokuma (Yoko's younger siblings). At the end of the series, Aya, Karen and Yoko begin attending the same college.

Youko Inokuma[]

Karen and Yoko get along well due to their similar energetic and bright personalities. They both do poorly in school and both have large stomachs to enjoy eating, similarities that they are able to bond over. At the end of the series, Aya, Karen and Yoko begin attending the same college.

Honoka Matsubara[]

Karen warmed up to Honoka quickly as the first girl in class to notice or speak to her. Since then, Honoka developed her own blonde-hair infatuation over Karen. Their bond grew significantly in their second year, when they exchanged phone numbers and began hanging out together.

Akari Kuzehashi[]

At first, Karen had a lot of trouble with her new teacher due to being a thoughtless student. She start helping Akari smile more after learning Akari's similar Tsurime eyes trouble. As a result, they are close as student and teacher. But this doesn't mean Akari allows her to act up or slack off.

Etymology[]

  • Karen's surname Kujo means "nine" (九) (ku) and "article" (条) (jo).
  • Karen's given name (可憐) means "pretty" in Japanese.

Trivia[]

  • Karen's flower motif is the Anemone.
  • While she has an official Kanji given name, it is rarely mentioned.
  • Karen is half-Japanese and half-English.
    • Karen seems to be a homage to Jotaro Kujo from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, Jotaro's mother is of British descent (due to her father being born to England) and his father is a Japanese man named Kujo.
  • Karen is good at most sports and does really well even if she doesn't know the rules.
  • When Karen is shocked and sullen, she lapses into talking too fast in English.
  • Karen is similar to Kobato Hasegawa from Haganai:
    • Both are blonde (in Kobato's case, it's mixed with brown).
    • Both are transfer students.
    • Both are scared because of their blonde hair (in Karen's case, one episode only).
    • Both have their childhood friends are also the main character.
    • Both slowly gather friends (in Karen's case, one episode only).
  • Karen is also similar to Alice Kirkland (Fem.England) From Nyotalia:
    • Both are blonde.
    • Both can speak English (in Kin-iro Mosaic, Karen is half British, so she can speak English).
    • Both have a hair pin on the right side of their hair.
  • Karen has a fast metabolism and can eat a lot of food without gaining weight.
  • As of Season 2, she is often depicted asleep in class.
  • Karen's eye color in the anime is not consistent.
    • Most of the time is is purple, but certain instances make them appear brown.
  • Any Japanese Karen has learned was from reading manga.
  • Karen has appeared in every episode of the series except Episode 2.

Gallery[]

Main article: Karen Kujō/Gallery.
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