Renae Jacobs and Minae Noji
 

I know that these two are going to be on season 3, and I have a few guesses.

Renae Jacobs- She was the voice of April, back in the original cartoon. And with the official description for Buried Secrets, I think Jacobs will voice Mrs. O'Neil. Somehow, the thought reminds me of Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated.

Minae Noji- Portrayed Karai in the 2014 movie. So I have a few theories on her. 1) Karai's mutation possibly damaged her throat. 2) Doing the voice of a younger Karai. 3) Only voicing Karai's mutant form.

Speaking of Mrs. O'Neil, there's a possibility that she went insane at some point before Rise Of The Turtles.

Renae will probably be April's mom in Buried Secrets.

What makes you say that?

The episode description for Buried Secrets says that she was frozen under April's relatives house.

Renae being April's mom seems a given, but I'm thinking Minae may very well be in the same position, what if she's Tang Shen?

That'd be cool. What if instead of connecting with Splinter around the camp fire, they contact Tang Shen instead? Like how she was with Leo in the IDW comics.

But how do you went insane some time before Rise of the Turtles?

I'd assume it was before Kirby moved to NYC with April.

Less Kelly Hu is always a bad thing. But then, how can that strong of a woman take such a dumping on her character and girls in general without saying screw it?

In case I haven't made it clear: I love Kelly Hu. Moreover, respect her probably more than I respect anyone in the film industry; either sex. She's now in her forties, and somehow she's simultaneously prettier than many women half her age and buffer than many men. And that's a cred she's held for a long time; as a child she both fought boys in the street for money, and won Miss Hawaii. This explains why she's perfectly comfortable with the fact that she's a sex symbol, and then turn around and crusade for democratic rights in Asia and promote charities to help placate our troops when they're lonely. The one obstacle that she hasn't really surpassed, at least in animation, is type-casting. But then, who else could creators want for a powerful Asian woman other than possibly the most genuinely powerful Asian woman alive? Kelly Hu deserved to be Karai in live action, though it's probably for the best that she wasn't in the PDverse. (Though I had a suspicion it might've been Rina Takeda; given that her reputation as an exploitation star would've fit Bay's crass tastes, but I under-estimated the degree to which Bay could de-Japanize a movie.)

Bottom line, if you say Kelly at the panel, ask what she thinks of the show's treatment of women. It's possibly the most enlightening thing you'll here there.

But Kirby doesn't seem all there, maybe he buried her himself and then told April her mother was lost to them.

Maybe he is not the real Kirby or Kirby's not her real father, who knows.

I think it would be cool if Minae voiced Tang Shen. I do think Renae will voice April's mom though. As for Kirby, I do think there's more going on there than meets the eye.

It said they found an abandoned Kraang ship under the farm. And they uncovered April's lost mother. It didn't say anything about her being frozen.

No, but that's what speculation is for. They could either find her or find more about her under that ship. We'll just have to wait and see.

Maybe Karai had a best friend back home in Japan, and she started to worry when she didn't get no communications from Karai, so came to the Us to check things out. Something like this I'd love to see. Nick bought the TMNT rights, and while it's great that they are using well known characters, I also like it when they create their own as well.

Good lord this post. Does the drama lord shtick come from practice or just naturally?

Kelly Hu was already at the San Diego Comic Con panel and personally cited Karai getting mutated as her favorite part of the show, so clearly she sees Karai's development and challenges as something more than 'dumping on her character'.

As for the portrayal of woman in the show, Karai and April are two of the most colorful characters and enjoyed by many fans watching, both boys and girls. For you to storm in and whine about how they're a 'poor representation of females' makes you come off as some holier-than-thou jerk who loves to put words into people's mouths.

Take one second to actually THINK and question the flaws of your zealot crusade. If there is any enemy to be had here, it's most likely with Playmate and their hesitation to sell female toys to their majority young adolescent boyhood audience. With that in mind, it's not hard to see why there's not many females on the show: most male characters that fill up the ratio are nothing more than one off mutants or bumbling idiots to be pushed around by Shredder.

In fact, April and Karai make up 2/3 of the Turtle's real connection to the outside world.

Long rant, but I find your post borderline zealotry, convinced that Kelly Hu is some poor woman trapped lending her beautiful voice to this terrible misogynistic show.

Which I highly, HIGHLY doubt is the case.

Yes, I agree with that. I love the pizza kid and the tea time girl the best along with Murakami.

I remember how people were so enamored with Rahzar but it only ended up going no where. It was like the writers themselves were bored with the character so they put shiny stickers on him to make him interesting.

This is what makes me worried about Karai. Her entire character was finding the truth and now that's done, what's there left to do but add stickers?

Hahahaha.... what kills me is that people seem to have developed this misguided idea that a show about MUTANT NINJA TURTLES needs to pander to gender equality. :trolleye:

No, it doesn't need to pander to anyone, and it's probably best adding to the show in a manner that suits the storyline rather than looking forced... however diversity is nice and would be good to see them shore up the thin spots a bit over time.

I agree completely and I've enjoyed the female characters throughout the entire franchise (mostly comics) as much as the males.
However, what I DON'T enjoy are these cries of "the show mistreats women".
What an ill-founded, dumb argument that is...

Although I was bothered with Ciro comments of portraying woman as only femme fatales and good girls, I only have a real problem with April. Karai is fine and I hope that she continues to be a interesting character and not be forgotten like Rahzar.

I didn't have a problem with Ciro's comments because he's right that women can be portrayed that way a lot, and he probably didn't want to do that too much with this show. I like what he's doing so far, and I don't think anything bad will happen to Karai at all. She'l get cured eventually and things will go back to where they need to be. But I am curious as to if she'll show them that she can retain her human form as well because we only saw that once.

This. This is what you watchers should be worried about, in my humble opinion.

One of my greatest fears for season 3 is that they just leave Karai wandering around only showing up for 10 seconds an episode so everyone can go OH LOOK IT'S KARAI.

I can see the reason for not building on Rahzar as in the end he's just another of Shredder's henchmen, but Karai is far more than that.

I know you can say this of every season, but I believe S3 will be the time when we either start to worry about the decline of the show's overall quality or if we can breathe a sigh of relief. As for now, I'm excited for where they'll take the characters, the Turtles, Splinter, Shredder, Karai, all of them.

Also excited for the Krang plotline to be wrapped up (Ciro confirmed) and for them to begin building on something new.

Oh, he confirmed that, did he? The same Ciro who confirmed that the Karai and Apritello storyboards were completely fake?

There's a big difference between trying to cover up a leak of a big plot point and outright confirming yourself that a plotline is being wrapped up.

This, seriously. :trolleye:

I second this. When are you guys going to get it through your heads that Ciro can't confirm leaked storyboards at the risk of spoiling the plot? It's common sense, people!

That was my thought. I'd love to see her with a voice and in GCI. Yoshi too for that matter, since we've only seen them in b&w flashbacks or photos.

Honestly, I think that's what they are going to do for the most part with her. I think she could lend a helping hand and vanish and I think she will be the drive or motivation for a lot of the characters (Splinter/Leo/Shredder) but, I honestly, HONESTLY don't expect a happy ending for Karai until the series is about to end.
I can't see them throwing Karai into the mix, much like they didn't throw Slash in the mix. She'll be an ally from a distance I think through out most of season 3.

I can say I'd be somewhat disappointed. It feels with that way that they went through this entire 'Karai is Splinter's daughter' awesome plotline just to realize at the end that they couldn't have Karai with the Turtles because it would make them too strong or something.

Only thing to do now is wait for tomorrow's panel and the rest of season 3. I'll stay optimistic but also critical as it comes along. Fun times ahead.

I'll believe it when I see it. With stuff coming out about April's mom, I'm expecting another season and a half to involve the Kraang somehow.

Well, Ciro didn't say exactly when the plotline would be wrapped up. All he said was that it will eventually be wrapped up.

Production art has suggested the mutant form of Karai is called Kiba, like a split personality so you could well be right there.

And if that's true, that would be awesome for her to have a different voice than her human form.

Is that a play on the word "cobra"? And if Karai gave that nickname to herself, Mikey won't take it kindly. Nicknaming mutants is his thing.

Names usually mean something in TMNT so I googled Kiba.

According to Wikipedia, there's an anime called Kiba. It says that Kiba either means 'fang' if you use it as a full word. If you split it into two word Ki and Ba, it apparently means 'spiritual place'.

I'm all for Minae Noji voicing Tang Shen.

Omg. What if Tang Shen turns out to be actually ALIVE?

I think it's safe to bet that Renae is voicing April's Mom (Only makes sense).
As for Minae Noji I'm gonna predict Tang Shen in a flashback.

I believe it was confirmed Renae is voicing April's mom. As for Tang Shen possibly being alive, that would be cool, but I highly doubt it based on the fire and what happened. I think she's going to stay dead and will only appear in a flashback if that.