Karen Araragi

Karen Araragi is one of the main characters from the Monogatari Series anime and light novels.

Karen is the middle Araragi sibling, a sports maniac and self-proclaimed superhero. Together with Tsukihi, she performs what her brother calls "community service" and "playing heroes" as the combat specialist of the Fire Sisters. She is a black belt martial artist and is actually taller than Koyomi. She is excitable, rash, and tends to act before thinking, which leads to trouble in "Karen Bee", when the con artist she goes to confront counterattacks her with the sting of a supernatural bee. The venom gives her a terrible fever, and after a lot of... er, convincing (read: beating Koyomi into the pavement), Koyomi and Hitagi go to deal with the con artist in her place.

Stuff happens in "Tsukihi Phoenix" that leads Karen to be less hostile towards Koyomi in general, convincing her to act the part of the "good little sister who always does what her brother says". She has a hero-crush on Suruga, with whom she becomes friends in the same arc. In "Tsubasa Tiger", Hitagi convinces her to invite the temporarily homeless Tsubasa to stay in the Araragi household.

She has a boyfriend who apparently strongly resembles her brother, right down to being shorter than her.

Appearance
Despite being younger, Karen is taller than Koyomi — a fact that often dismays him — and is the tallest of the three siblings at 170cm (5'7"). Karen ties her black hair into a ponytail on the right side of her head and uses a similar hair accessory as her sister (both their accessories have a sunny side-up egg design). She also has dark gray irises like her siblings.

Reflecting her tomboyish lifestyle and energetic personality, Karen's outfit consists of a yellow hoodie and pants, a black tank top, red socks and white running shoes.

Personality
Befitting her name, Karen is a hot-blooded girl who acts as if she is a superhero who has the duty of protecting others from danger. She likes to imitate characters from various tokusatsu live action series like Dekaranger. Fortunately, she manages to pull it off due to her flexibility and quick reflexes, which are a product of her constant exercise and training, which involves practicing karate and capoeira, among other martial arts.

Her personality often collides with Koyomi's more laid back personality more recently, especially since Koyomi has developed a certain degree of anxiety over his sisters' safety due to his experiences with the supernatural. In fact, he has called Karen's habit of acting like a superhero alongside her sister a "travesty". Along with her sister, Karen does not believe in the supernatural. At times, she acts like a bit of an air-head.

Abilities
Karen is a sports prodigy and very gifted in combat.

Trivia

 * Karen's first name means "burning compassion". Alternatively, it is a pun on calendar: "calendar" is written in katakana as (karendā), and means (koyomi) in Japanese.
 * Although lacking major roles in Bakemonogatari, she and Tsukihi narrate the previews for the next episode. They continue this role until about halfway through the series when previews stop appearing.
 * Karen is seen wearing a Bruce Lee outfit thinking he does kung fu.