Karai
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Karai is a fictional female ninja character in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise.
Karai premiered in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic books, and later as a somewhat different character in the 2003 TMNT animated series. Karai is also the final boss in the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo versions of TMNT: Tournament Fighters (also a playable secret character in the latter version). In an interview between Newsarama and Kevin Monroe, it was confirmed that Karai will be in the new TMNT movie.[1]
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[edit] Name
Karai is a Japanese word commonly used to desribe the flavor spicy/hot. However, karai can also mean extremely severe, harsh, strict or storm. Karai shares the same kanji as the word tsurai which means difficult, painful, or cruel.
[edit] Mirage comics
In the Mirage Comics' City at War series by Jim Lawson, Karai is the leader of the Foot Clan in Japan who came to New York City to restore order. Ever since Leonardo killed the Shredder, 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 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 rooftop of her skyscraper headquarters, they find killed Foot guards. The Turtles scramble through an open door and find the Foot's leader cradled over the body of a dead girl, surrounded by even more dead Foot Soldiers. It turns out the girl was Karai's daughter. In despair, Karai makes Leo swear he will help her kill all of the Elite.
While Karai leads a troop of her Foot Soldiers on patrol, an Elite spies Karai and her band and is shocked, because he thinks he's seen his Master, the Shredder (in reality it is only Karai wearing Shredder's armor). During a final confrontation, five Elite Guard face off against the Turtles, Karai and her Foot Soldiers. Seizing the opportunity to confuse and deceive, the disguised Karai orders the Elite to commit seppuku, but only one does. Others are not so easily deceived and demand to see "Shredder's" face; Karai removes the helmet and throws it at the Guard, saying: "I will show you my face! Look well, fools... gaze upon the face of vengeance... and see your doom!" After a hard fight, the Turtles and Karai are only ones left standing.
Karai thanks the Turtles for their help, but they answer she owes them nothing but her word. "I will keep my word, Turtles. No longer will the Foot Clan bother you. We have our world... and you will have yours," Karai answers. Once the reorganization of the Foot in New York is complete, Karai will return to Japan: "There... I will spread the ashes of my daughter on Asana Bay and perhaps... begin the healing of my ravaged heart."
In the more recent volume 4 comics Karai now resides in New York. The Foot has had much trouble involving mysterious warriors. They wiped out the Foot every where else in the world except New York. Karai asks Leonardo to help capture one of the warriors alive. Later she lies to Leonardo about the Foot containing certain books on the mystic arts. Leo notes to himself that he could see right through her lie, and remarked that she was usually a good liar. Leo even suspects that something is either greatly toubling her, or that something is controling her. This storyline is still on going, and with the current hiatus of the volume 4 comic it is likley it will not be resolved for some time.
[edit] 2003 animated series
In the series, she is a member of the Foot Clan, second in authority to Shredder. Karai was abandoned by her parents at a young age, but Oroku Saki (The Shredder) found her and took her in. From there, he taught her the ways of ninjutsu, raising her as his daughter.
Karai, voiced by Karen Neil, appeared in 18 episodes:
- City at War, Part 1
- City at War, Part 2
- City at War, Part 3
- Rogue in the House, Part 1
- Rogue in the House, Part 2
- Space Invaders, Part 2
- New Blood (a.k.a The New Guard)
- Mission of Gravity
- Hun on the Run
- Same As It Never Was
- Exodus, Part 1
- Exodus, Part 2
- Bad Day
- Still Nobody
- Scion of the Shredder
- Prodigal Son
- Good Genes, Part 1
- Good Genes, Part 2
[edit] Season 2
As in the Mirage comic book, Karai originally comes to New York in order to restore peace to the city after the Shredder has supposedly been defeated. She meets with the Turtles and Casey Jones, and, after a brief altercation, she proposes an alliance with them. Karai promises that the Foot Clan will not attack the Turtles again if they agree to the alliance. All accept this proposal, apart from Raphael, who refuses to team up with the enemy.
Karai impersonates the Shredder (voice, armor and all) in order to bring together the Foot, the Purple Dragons, and the Mafia. They all meet at the Foot stronghold, and a battle begins. During the battle, Karai is hit, which causes the Shredder's helmet to fall off, exposing her face. Realizing that someone has been impersonating their master, the Foot turn on Karai. The Turtles and Casey Jones enter the battle. Just as Karai and the Turtles are about to be blown away, Raphael enters along with Splinter. Together they defeat the Mafia, Foot, and Purple Dragons. Karai makes the Foot swear allegiance to her.
The next time the Turtles come in contact with Karai is when they trace a Mech-Splinter bot, which has attacked them, to the Foot stronghold. The Turtles, unaware that the Shredder is again in control of the Foot, decide to eliminate him once and for all. Hun and the Elite capture Leonardo, Raphael and Splinter, and to test Karai's loyalty to him, the Shredder orders her to finish them off. Hun decides to make things more interesting, and allows Leonardo to fight Karai (since they both have katanas.) Leonardo defeats Karai, and gives her a chance to follow her own code of honor instead of the Shredder's. She is unable to kill Leonardo, meaning that she is unable to follow the Shredder's way. Michelangelo, Zog (a Triceraton soldier) and Donatello regroup with the others, and together they defeat Hun and the Elite Foot Ninja. They then leave Karai on her own. Splinter and the Turtles defeat Shredder once again (or so they think) thanks to Zog's sacrifice. Karai finds the Shredder, however, still intact, minus a right leg, and they take off in a helicopter.
[edit] Season 3
After the Triceraton invasion, Oroku Saki decides to use his resources to help restore the devastated Manhattan and gain the favor of the city's mayor. His real plan, which is eventually revealed, is to use the reconstruction efforts as a way to retrieve alien tech left over from the invasion, which he would then use to build a spaceship from which invade the Utrom homeworld. Karai secretly meets with the Turtles, and agrees to help them to disable the Triceraton anti-gravity generator in order to return the city of Beijing, which the Triceratons have suspended high above to the Earth, to the ground. After a successful mission, Leonardo tries to convince Karai to leave the Foot (who think she's dead). Karai says that she cannot turn her back on her "father", regardless of his evil.
In a future meeting, the Turtles, Splinter, Professor Honeycutt (the Fugitoid), Leatherhead, Casey & April O'Neil successfully infiltrate Shredder's new stronghold and discover his true motives in helping the city. The Shredder has to leave earlier than planned due to successful inflitration by the Turtles and Bishop/Dr. Stockman and his forces. Leonardo says that he cannot allow Shredder to leave the planet, since he is planning to invade and enslave the Utroms. Karai says that the Utrom are evil - they have hunted her "father" all his life. Leonardo tells her that she has been lied to, as it is the Shredder who is evil.
Shredder is almost defeated. He is saved by Karai, and they leave in the spaceship along with Dr. Chaplin. The Turtles and Splinter manage to board before the spaceship takes off. They encounter the Shredder once again, but are defeated this time by his new exo-suit. During the battle, Leonardo is stabbed accidentally by Karai. Shredder is about to finish him off, but Karai intervenes and tells him that the Turtles are defeated, and to leave them in their own dishonor. Shredder smacks her aside and is about to kill her when the ship is attacked by Agent Bishop/Dr. Stockman. The Turtles, with the help of Professor Honeycutt, successfully blow up the ship, but the Utroms teleport in just in time to save everyone before the ship is destroyed. The Shredder is tried and exiled to an ice asteroid. Karai and Dr. Chaplin are sent to jail on Earth. As she is led away, Karai tells Leonardo that this isn't what she wanted.
[edit] Season 4
In Season 4 Karai is revealed to have escaped capture as at the end of Exodus Part 2, the Utroms teleported her and Dr. Chaplin away to Earth to be taken to the proper authorities, though it is possible she escaped in transit or from the jail. Karai then ordered the Mystic Foot Ninja to attack Splinter and the Turtles again, in which they were previously unsuccessful. This was done while they were meditating, which was disrespectful. Failing again, she again entered their chamber, now wearing the Shredder's blades, and states her anger at their failure. They protest, saying Shredder had more respect for their power. She replies that as long as she holds the Heart of Tengu, she owns them.
At the end of the episode Still Nobody, Karai dedicates a statue to her "late father" Oroku Saki in the Oroku Saki dedication Memorial Library (located in the Foot's original N.Y. base) and tells the press in this museum that she will carry on for him and his humanitarian ways, he loved the city and sadly tells them he was taken from them too soon. When Karai enters a room with Hun, Hun questions how could she serve the Shredder when he was an alien slug. Karai claims he gave her a life and seriously vows to hunt down the ones who destroyed him (Shredder) and make them pay with their lives.
Karai eventually becomes the greatest enemy the Turtles have, becoming a female version of the Shredder and destroying their lair with an army of the Foot, now highly improved. She blames the Turtles for her father's defeat, and swears to avenge him. It would seem that the code of honor she had is gone, replaced with a blind rage and hatred. She fights Splinter, proving to be too much for him, and crushes the orb given to him by the Utroms that lets him see his Master Yoshi. She then seemingly kills Splinter, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo, vowing that Leonardo is next.
However, unknown to the Foot, the Turtles faked their deaths in order to escape. Karai is confronted by Leonardo. During the duel, Leo tells Karai he once thought she understood honor, but now realizes she is no better than her father. Karai loses the duel, but not her life as Leonardo gives her a second chance and tells her to stay away from his family. Before leaving, he severs the head of Oroku Saki's statue. Karai is last seen holding the head, surrounded by Foot ninja.
Not soon after Karai, still consumed with her desire for revenge, commands the Foot Mystic Ninjas to find Leonardo. The Mystics tell the new Shredder that they have no respect for her or the Utrom abomination that was her father, who they only followed before out of ignorance, and her now only that she wields the Heart of Tengu.
The Mystics put into action a plan that will free them from their servitude. They convince Agent Bishop that the Heart of Tengu could help him cure the mutated creatures that are plaguing New York. One of those mutated creatures is Donatello. Bishop tells the Ninja Turtles that he will help cure their brother, but first he needs the Heart of Tengu that Karai possesses. The three remaining brothers sneak into Karai's building and try to steal the item without a fight. However Karai finds the trio and a fight ensues. The Ninja Turtles escape via helicopter, but Karai demands Leonardo face her. Leonardo almost does so, but Michelangelo convinces his brother to let it go. The Turtles escape with the Heart of Tengu. With the artifact away from the new Shredder, the Foot Mystics betray Agent Bishop and destroy it, freeing themselves of Karai's control.
[edit] Movies
It was revealed at Comic-Con by director, Kevin Munroe, that Karai will finally make her big screen debut in the new Ninja Turtles movie, TMNT. Munroe has said that Karai will be carrying on the legacy of The Shredder, and she will be helping the villain, Max Winters, in his scheme for world domination. She is seen briefly seen twice in the theatrical trailer for the movie, in one shot she is fighting Leonardo, and in the other she is standing outside the Foot HQ while dozens of Foot Clan members run out.
