White Lotus or 2003 Karai or 2012 Karai

[PApagreg]

Which is the better character

[CyberCubed]

White Lotus? Who is that?

[MikeandRaph87]

Which is the better character

I think you mean Lotus Blossom, the errily similar yet prexisting to Karai, female ninja.

1.Karai (2003) I knew of her thanks to one of the Tournament Fighter variants from 1994 as a kid and knew she was Shredder's successor in the black and white comics. Her backstory and her waivering between good and evil due to her loyalties as a ninja. It was one part of her storyline that didn't maek sense, between season 3 and 4 she puts on the Shredder suit with no lead up. Thankfully, her Shredder days were just two stories. It was great to see some sort of resolution to her plot though it would be nice to see if the Foot Clan was shut down. A layered and driven character and a great player under The Shredder. I just don't want her around all the time.

2. Lotus Blossom. Decent minor character and nice to see a female in the field. She had more developement than most any character that had just two appearances adn was well done even with the plot forshadowing Eddie Murphy's Haunted Mansion in her second and final appearance. Her character also got the rare resolution. Why she went to work for Krang in the first place though?

3. Karai (2012) Its great that she again has the waivering loyalties between right and wrong due to her ninja code and adoptive father caught between her. Only Shredder's adopted daughter is Splinter's biological daughtr adding anew layer of personal animity between Splinter and Shredder. I don't care for her design as far as her blonde back hair goes and so far she is not as interesting as Karai was in the 2003 cartoon even with the added wedge between Splinter and Shredder in her character's origin. She is okay and has potential. The character may grow on me.

[Ch'redder]

No idea who this Lotus person is, and it's still too early for me to compare the 2003 and 2012 Karais.

[Shark_Blade]

2k12 Karai of course.

White Lotus sounds like a chinese side-dish in a menu. :lol:

[Candy Kappa]

I hate 2k3 Karai with a passion. I'd say Nick Karai is a more interesting character then Lotus Blossom, although. Not on the list, Mirage Karai knocks all out of the water

[ninjafowlkes8705]

2003 karai

[redsai4lex]

2k3 Karai- she has the most character development, but that could just be because 2012 Karai is still a character that is in the process of revealing more development. Either way, Karai eventually becomes an ally instead of an enemy to the TMNT. 2012 Karai is now however going to be made out to be more like an actual sister to the Turtles though instead of just an ally.

[Shark_Blade]

D'aaw, and Leo is having a crush on his step sister. No, wait a minute. Actually Leo and his brothers were adopted, and Karai is blood related to Splinter.

Awkward..

[The Big Bad]

Of the three characters mentioned here, the 4Kids version of Karai, without a doubt. I've never "met" Lotus Blossom, and I know the show well enough to suspect that if I did, I wouldn't find her anything other than embarrassing. I liked Nick's take in her first few episodes, but I'm not exactly optimistic about where the arc is taking her.

4Kids' Karai Saki, on the other hand, is my favorite character in the show, and possibly all TMNT-dom. The show didn't always treat her right--the season five finale reduces her to a prize for Chaplin, and her absence in Season 7 is baffling, given the storyline--but to me, she was always fascinating in her messed-up-ness. What's more, given my issues with the Mirage Karai--see below--I still think that, in the end, making Karai the Shredder's daughter was brilliant. Far from placing her in the Shredder's shadow it made her vital to the overall story in a way her original counterpart never was, after "City at War".



As for the other incarnations of Karai...

Film: She's there, and is pleasantly Karai-ish. Not a lot to say about her.

Mirage: To be honest, I've never felt that she's had enough character to be interesting outside of her very specific niche, and I suspect that's why a) she's never had much of an impact outside of "City at War", and b) why alternate interpretations of her have caught on. This isn't to say that there's anything wrong with her being unrelated-but-for-a-common-employer to the Shredder, just that very little was done with it. There's not a great Karai story, and that makes me sad.

IDW: I've not been able to get a bead on this version of the character. Part of me thinks she's an idiot for ever deciding that bringing The Shredder back to life was a good idea--just what exactly is a man centuries out of time supposed to contribute?--and part of me wonders just what exactly her role in the story is supposed to be.

[TMNTmousers]

2003 Karai for sure.

[Foot Soldier Clang]

I loved Lotus Blossom. I wish she had more appearances in the OT.

[Shred87]

2k3 karai... Jury still out on the nick version tho

[turtlefanforever]

But lotus, she destroyed shredder she was beating the turtles by herself. Karai is nasty though. I would have liked to see the development of lotus more. She could be the most powerful female ever.

[RaphAndDonnie]

I like Lotus. Her two appearances left me wanting more, perhaps a story arch even though I like the fact that the OT's episodes are mostly stand a lone. I don't have much exposure to 2k3 Karai so I can't give an opinion on her. I like 2k12 Karai. Her being Splinter's daughter- like MikeandRaph87 said- adds a layer on animosity to the two.

It makes things a lot more personal and you can really feel Splinter and Shredder's hatred towards each other. I like her as an enemy and, if she ever does become a good guy, It'll be nice to see her working with the turtles and possibly even reconnect with Splinter.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

I've never "met" Lotus Blossom, and I know the show well enough to suspect that if I did, I wouldn't find her anything other than embarrassing.


Actually, she was anything BUT embarrassing. She was well-written, interesting, and had one of the best (if briefest) arcs in the series. Though she only had two appearances, she was shown to be resourceful, intelligent, and cunning. She bested Shredder single-handed, fought Leo to a stand-still (and then beat him with a trick sword), and managed to be one of the few characters to actually "sniff out" the Turtles' lair. All in her first appearance! Her second involved a ghost-emperor and the concept that she held the reincarnated spirit of the ghost's wife.

[Pterobat]

Actually, she was anything BUT embarrassing. She was well-written, interesting, and had one of the best (if briefest) arcs in the series. Though she only had two appearances, she was shown to be resourceful, intelligent, and cunning. She bested Shredder single-handed, fought Leo to a stand-still (and then beat him with a trick sword), and managed to be one of the few characters to actually "sniff out" the Turtles' lair. All in her first appearance! Her second involved a ghost-emperor and the concept that she held the reincarnated spirit of the ghost's wife.

Meh.

I wasn't too impressed with Lotus Blossom. Yeah, she was a strong fighter, but otherwise there wasn't much to her in terms of personality or anything memorable, except for being one of the few ladies in the old cartoon / the franchise.

Her second appearance *tried* to give her some character, by giving Lotus a sense of disconnect with the modern world, which was explained by her turning out to be that same reincarnation. But it came out of flippin' nowhere and was never hinted at in the first episode.

Oh, and she had a terrible fake accent even worse than 4Kids Karai.

Other than that, I was mostly impressed with 4Kids Karai. I think the writers dropped the ball on her in later seasons. Her inability to commit to one cause was fine, as was her blind loyalty, since characters shouldn't be 100% rational. However, it never lead to the final crash-and-burn for Karai, and her story arc just fizzled out as she became the victim of Tengu Shredder, and just some generic ally.

I like some parts of her story in other words, but not where it ended. I'd hesitate to call her the best incarnation of Karai.

Mirage Karai's idependence was good, but she's a there-and-done character whon it's hard to get a bead on.

Nicktoons Karai isn't done yet, so we can't pass judgement on her as a character.

With that, probably 4Kids Karai is the closest to my favourite incarnation of the character, but take that with a huge grain of salt.

[Leofan26]

I like them all, tough choice...Out of these girls so far I'd say 2003 Karai, I liked her story arc with Leo and how every thing was done. Guess I'll see how they do 2012 Karai before actually judging.

[pdizzle]

2003 version kari as of now.....maybe it will change when the nick series establishes it story more deeply

[pannoni1]

My ranking:
-2003 Karai
-Mirage Karai
-Nick Karai
-2007 Movie Karai
-Lotus Blossom
-IDW Karai

I agree that 2003 provided the most dramatic story and is one of my favorite things about the 4kids series, especially during Season 4. She is also the only Karai to have the Shredder mantle.

Mirage Karai is the classic interpretation, and the Volume 4 portion is very emotional that leads to her being bitter, and lots of that of course influenced the 4kids version.

Nick Karai is still in development, with the origin being the most interesting of them all, and seems to be a good fighter. I feel this could move up or down depending on how she's handled in the future.


The 2007 movie had the Karai vs. April battle and had a fairly emotional story that made you feel excited enough for a sequel that could contain Shredder's return, and similar to Season 4 of 4kids, became the primary antagonist. It doesn't quite feel fulfilled enough to rank it higher.

Lotus Blossom is notable for introducing the female ninja that predates Karai which gives it some relevance. However, she doesn't seem to be as emotional as Karai and the second episode of her appearance feels more like a dream than reality.

Lastly comes IDW Karai, but since she hasn't appeared too much, doesn't provide enough justice to give this a good ranking. We'll see how IDW treats her in the future, so there is potential here.

[Shiro Kame]

I loved Lotus Blossom. I wish she had more appearances in the OT.

Me too. She was portrayed as a highly skilled ninja warrior with intelligence to match.

[Cipher]

IDW: I've not been able to get a bead on this version of the character. Part of me thinks she's an idiot for ever deciding that bringing The Shredder back to life was a good idea--just what exactly is a man centuries out of time supposed to contribute?--and part of me wonders just what exactly her role in the story is supposed to be.
I've actually come to really like IDW's Karai. She's just a total bastard. I think her one-shot sufficiently sold me on the idea that she would, when approached from beyond the grave, feel some obligation to 1) complete this long-standing request from her clan, and 2) I think she was really looking for the kind of martial arts and ninja-tutelage she couldn't get in the present day. And then he weaseled his way to the top in a way I don't think she fully anticipated.

That aspect, though -- the Shredder being so capable hundreds of years into the future -- doesn't quite sit well with me.

But, yeah, Karai herself is as effectively despicable a villain as the series has, and much more interesting than Shredder for the fact that she doesn't always get her way.