Karen Low

Karen Low
Karen Low in Episode 20.
Status	Alive
Origin	China
Affiliations	Märchen Tashinhai Consu (former) People's Liberation Army (former)
Occupation	Minami Amada's secretary and bodyguard Chan Guoming's head of security/secretary (former) People's Liberation Army officer (former)
Weapons	Pistols
Manga debut	Chapter 15
Anime debut	Episode 6
Japanese voice	Saori Kato
English voice	Shelley Calene-Black

Karen Low (カレン・ロウ, Karen Rō^?) is a former People's Liberation Army officer who subsequently served as Chan Guoming's head of security and officially as his secretary before she was replaced in the former capacity by Lee. Following Chan's death she was later taken in by Minami Amada and currently works as her secretary and bodyguard.

Appearance

Karen is a fair-skinned woman with dark shoulder length hair and blue eyes. During the two year timeskip her hair has grown out past her shoulders. She has worn a variety of outfits, ranging from a long-sleeved white blouse and grey skirt with black stockings to a short-sleeved black shirt and cargo pants when in the field in South Africa. In her capacity as Minami Amada's secretary her attire is less formal than when she worked for Chan Guoming.

Karen has been noted to have a cold piercing gaze but still beautiful.

Personality

While she was Chan's secretary, Karen was very focused and determined to help him achieve the Tashinhai Consu's goals, mirroring his ruthlessness. She suffered a severe blow with Chan's death and lost her sense of purpose, greatly mellowing out as a result. This resulted in her accepting Minami Amada's offer to become her secretary as she was left with no viable alternatives and was stuck in Africa. Nonetheless, she has accepted her new role.

Relationships

Karen was fiercely devoted to Chan, who she idolised. Minami observed that this devotion as bordering on a love for him. She saw him as the personification of combat and emulated his fighting style. Her defeat by Koko's Squad tarnished her reputation and she was forced to beg to be allowed to redeem herself, although her pleas fell on deaf ears. Chan's death left Karen bereft of purpose, allowing her to be easily recruited by Minami. Karen accepted the change in circumstances and has come to faithfully act as Minami's secretary and bodyguard.

Karen vs Valmet nell'episodio 7.

Valmet was initially a rival of Karen's as they were enemies when their respective squads faced each other. After Karen's men were wiped out and she was injured but spared by Valmet, she vowed revenge and later had the opportunity to do so in Country D, shooting her several times. However, after recovering from her injuries first, she left Valmet alone after waking up next to her in an Alexandrian hospital room. The two nearly renewed their rivalry after coming face to face aboard an HEAS-SL control ship but were stopped by Koko Hekmatyar and Minami and had to drop it. Karen also got into a fight with Mildo after the latter threatened Minami and beat her up, forcing a concession, but the two did not bear each other any malice as neither was serious about the fight. Likewise, although Jonah had shot her to save Valmet, Karen did not bear him any ill will after he approached her in South Africa.

Abilities

Like Chan, Karen specialised in the dual wield. However following her defeat by Valmet she has not used this fighting style since, carrying only a single pistol. Karen is also skilled in hand to hand combat although what form of martial art she uses is unknown. She has a tolerance for cold temperatures as she was not outfitted with the same arctic gear that her men in South Africa were during their mission to abduct Minami.

Equipment

• Customised combat rig
• Glock 17
• SIG Sauer GSRs which can accommodate bayonets that can fit on the Picatinny rail

History

Karen was a lieutenant in the People's Liberation Army serving under Chan, having previously encountered Kasper Hekmatyar's bodyguards in Tajikistan. She thus bore a grudge against Kasper because of her defeat.

Plot

African Golden Butterflies Arc

Karen and Chan meeting with Scarecrow in Episode 6.

Chan and Karen were first introduced while meeting with Scarecrow in the Abu Dhabi International Airport. After she lit Chan's cigar Scarecrow wondered if it was a legitimate Cohiba cigar or fake. She remained silent when he accused Chan of being an arms dealer as he could smell the money, which was almost as good as her, only reacting slightly when Kasper Hekmatyar was mentioned. When Scarecrow left the conference room to take a call from his informant, Karen approached the PMC operator that Scarecrow had brought as his bodyguard. She distracted him by hiking up her skirt before hitting him with a series of attacks he was unable to fend off, taking out her frustration at Scarecrow on him until Chan told her to stop so she would not kill the man. Karen composed herself, took off her bloodied stockings, and cleaned the blood off her face before they left. Scarecrow saw them walk out, but did not follow. Karen confirmed to Chen that their unit had already arrived in South Africa before they boarded their flight.

When Minami and Mokoena went on their butterfly hunt in the mountains, Karen and her squad monitored her progress. Following the arrival of Koko's Squad she attempted to lay an ambush for them which was ruined when Jonah successfully used the ploy of yelling Minami's name while spraying ahead of him in an attempt to flush them out. One Karen's men panicked, causing the others to return fire and betray their positions. Enraged at this, Karen drew her pistols and fixed bayonets, executing the soldier who had broken under fire. Valmet, who saw this, suddenly recognized Karen's fighting stance as being identical to that which Chan had displayed when he wiped out her UNFID platoon years ago in Country D. She broke cover and ran straight for Karen, engaging in a running firefight with her. The two eventually locked arms when Valmet closed and she introduced herself to Karen, demanding to know about her technique. Karen, however, refused to answer and Valmet vowed to force her to talk.

Karen calls Chan in Episode 7.

Although Karen managed to kick Valmet's pistol away, she was unable to hit her. While she reloaded Valmet revealed that she uses the same fighting style by the man who wiped out her unit years ago. Despite being armed only with her knife, Valmet dodged Karen's shots and was able to stab her left arm. Karen flung her pistol at Valmet and managed to cut her forehead, but when she tried to reload the second one Valmet dashed in and slashed her leg, cutting away her ammunition belt and crippling her. In response to her cries of pain, Valmet berated Karen for being weak and questioned how someone like her could be in command, but stopped when she recalled her own experience after losing platoon years ago. After Lehm brought Valmet back to reality and talked her out of torturing Karen to make her talk, Karen told Valmet who she was before the latter departed. Valmet decided to let Karen go and then learned who she was when the latter volunteered this information and vowed to kill her. Karen and Lehm then called their respective bosses to apprise them of the situation. The former was apparently recovered and later taken to Tashinhai's base in Country D.

Hill of Doom Arc

Karen begs Chan in Episode 11.

After she recovered, Chan relieved Karen of her duties as his secretary and head of security, replacing her with Lee. Karen was crushed by this development and begged for the chance to serve Chan in any way. She was so distraught that Lee was able to pull her off Chan and push her to the ground, and found that she could no longer pull rank on him as they were now equally ranked. Karen pulled herself together and saluted Chan, telling him that she would return the next day.

On the day of Valmet's attack on the natural-gas processing plant, Karen awoke at the Star Ocean Restaurant in Chinatown due to the heat and departed for the plant after taking a shower. She found the African workers in consternation that Chan and the guards had been wiped out, and was devastated to find him dead in his office with Valmet's knife embedded in his desk. Vowing, revenge, she ran out of the office and drove off, finding Jonah and Valmet on the outskirts of Chinatown. She drew her pistol and opened fire, causing Valmet to shield Jonah and be hit several times. Seeing this, Karen sorrowfully cried out that she hated the world before taking two shots from Jonah.

Pendulum Arc

Koko had Valmet and Karen taken to a hospital in Alexandria, where they were placed in the same room side by side. After recovering, Karen awoke in the night and after contemplating a sleeping Valmet next to her, fled the hospital.

Serpent Looking Up to the Heavens Arc

Minami decides to take Karen in in Episode 13.

Karen made it all the way to Port Elizabeth, where she was found in the parking lot of a supermarket where Chan's restaurant used to be by Minami and Mokoena. Minami instantly recognised her and revealed that she knew about her background as well as that she had been in Country D and Alexandria. Karen was unable to effectively respond as Minami bombarded her with questions and offered to make her her third secretary. She was taken back to Märchen and cleaned up, telling Minami what had happened to her. Despite her previous run-in with Koko's Squad, she became Minami's third secretary and helped Mokoena out with chasing away corporate spies and the CIA in the form of Scarecrow and Schokolade as well as trying to track Minami down when she skipped out on an appointment with Malin. One day Minami told her that they would be going to the Solomon Islands.

Here, she came face to face with Valmet again on an HEAS-SL control ship prior to the launch of the final Hek-GG rocket. Koko commented on her presence but Minami explained Karen's new role. After she approached Valmet a fight was averted when Koko and Minami stepped in.

New World Arc

At the opening of the second Märchen factory, Jonah approached Karen and asked her if she was now working for Minami. They were thus seen together by Minami and taken on an impromptu butterfly hunt by her without Koko's knowledge. When she asked what they were talking about, Karen was vague but Jonah admitted that he had shot Karen. Minami quickly dismisses this as Karen was now fine now and admitted that she just took them for a walk. When they saw Koko off at the airport the following day, Minami expressed a desire to grope Valmet's breasts after Koko did the same, and Karen told her that she was not into that sort of thing.

Karen checks a punch after Mildo concedes in Episode 20.

That night they had dinner at a Japanese restaurant with CCAT. Karen remained silent during Minami and Curry's discussion until Mildo threatened to beat up Minami. She then stood up and laid her pistol on the table after Minami told her not to use any weapons. Karen then wrapped a napkin around her right fist as Mildo pointed out that she had lost to Valmet before they began brawling. Karen got the upper hand and was able to pummel Mildo until the latter conceded, allowing the meal to resume. Afterwards, she told Minami that her hand was fine and that neither she nor Mildo had gone all out during the fight.

Trivia

• Minami placed 14th in a character poll conducted by Sunday GX which ran from June through September 2012.