Karen Ichijo

Karen Ichijou
School:	Yagami High School
Birthday:	January 7th
Class:	2-C
Japanese Voice Acttress	Yuuka Nanri, MAKO
English Voice Acttress	Carrie Savage

Overview

Ichijou Karen is one of the quieter girls of 2-C, but don't let her timid looks and fragile body fool you. She is one of the strongest girls in School Rumble, rivaling both Suou Mikoto and Lala Gonzalez in strength and athleticism.

Ichijou's story focuses mainly on the relationship between her and Imadori Kyousuke, and her major contribution to 2-C's victory in the Sports Festival.

Ichijou first debuts in Chapter 47 of the manga and episode 14 of the TV series (she had a very minor role in Ep. 7). She appears on the cover of manga Volume 5. She has her own image album at no.6, and is the lead singer for Class 2-C's band.

Talents

One of Ichijou's defining features is her supernatural strength. She is able to lift a piano by herself, and crush an apple with one hand.

Her strength comes from her constant training in the art of wrestling. She is in the wrestling club along with Mihara Kozue and Lala Gonzalez. Her wrestling skill is only rivalled by Lala Gonzalez at this point. Ichijou is also able to perform several pro-wrestling move, including the famous German Suplex, and her own version of the Frankenstiener, called Nymph's Dance. For a list of Ichijou's combat moves, as well as moves by other characters, go to the SR Combat Guide page. Oddly enough, Karen does not conciously use these moves. Instead, whenever she is challenged, her body reacts on it's own. After completion of the move, Karen returns to her normal self, and often apologizes to whoever was on the recieving end of whatever devestating move she just preformed.

Ichijou's athletic talent does not end at just wrestling. She, along with Hanai Haruki, forms the most formidable Kibasen Team at the Sports Festival. Here, Karen displays excellent agility and dexterity by climbing the 2-A pyramid with ease in order to get their rider's headband, then nibly returning to her mount. The combination of these two enabled the class of 2-C to snatch victory from their rivals, the class of 2-D. She also joined the newly-formed girls' basketball team, though it's unclear whether she remained a member after the Basketball Arc, or if, like Suou, she retired from basketball following the team's first match.

If you think that Ichijou only has physical talents, you will be surprised to know that Ichijou can sing very well. In fact, she can sing in English as well. She is the lead singer for Class 2-C's band.

One talent she has not mastered, however, is getting Imadori Kyousuke's attention, since Imadori mainly cares about large breasts. She is also very self-concious and introverted, blushing when complemented on her figure (Sagano does this in the bath house S2 Ep 4).

Personality

Karen is very shy and caring, but also very responsible and hard working. In Ep. 7, she is the only student who cares about doing the job they were assigned (cleaning the pool). She also works for a moving company, where the manager refers to her as Ichi-san. While this sort of work perfectly suits her strength, it causes her to feel less feminine, in that she can often outlift the guys (as seen in Ep. 14). Her shyness often causes her to be less self confident in personal affairs, but she tries hard.

Her caring for others is seen in several places as well. In Ep. 18, during her date with Imadori Kyousuke, she saves him from Tennouji Noboru by scaring the big goon off. Saving Imadori has become somewhat of a theme for Karen, since recently, Karen has been saving Imadori from the assaults of Lala Gonzalez, who can't stand the "banana-otoko". After her date with Imadori, Karen is seen comforting a depressed Tsukamoto Tenma, who is incidentally depressed because she found out Imadori doesn't like Karen in a romantic way (ah Tenma, you matchmaker you). Neverthless, Karen is kind to Tenma, and tells her it's ok. Still another example of her caring is seen in the Survival Game, where she refuses to shoot at Suou Mikoto out of fear of hitting her friend and teammate Sagano Megumi.

Having a quiet and shy personality, Karen is often not confident or even aware of the great ability she possess. She is a great wrestler, but really doesn't think so. She is also very shy, especially around guys, which makes it all the harder for her to approach her love interest, Imadori.

Relationships

Love Interests

Karen's first date with Imadori

Imadori Kyousuke

It is unknown why Ichijou would like a playboy like Imadori. Maybe it's because Imadori is the first person to treat Karen like a girl, albeit for personal reasons (Imadori offered to move some boxes for Karen, but only because they were lighter). Yet she tries hard everyday, from taking Tenma's advice, to dressing differently to get Imadori's attention. Although her shyness and her lack of breasts seem to uninterest him, but he seems to truly care, getting her out of situations, she is in love with and has a hard time confessing, trying to find moments (to which make imadori scared). In School Rumble Z, it seems the love for him detereorates and which frustrates her to the point of her going to tears, but her friends assure her that he will give her a ring. (Although imadori misinterprates and gives her a wrestling match) which ends with her winning, and going into tears because she feels like everything is slipping away but hanai stops her and imadori gives her a ring commenting on how she's a beautiful winner, which makes her smile. (It is unknown if this means they're engaged and the timing of the event is still somewhat unknown.)

Family

Ichijou Kosuke

Karen is Kosuke's older sister. Imadori came over to Ichijou's house to play Dojibiron with Kousuke once, much to Ichijou's agony (Imadori was caught rummaging through her drawers and other private artifacts). You can also thank her brother for getting Imadori to come to her house.

Karen's Mother

Karen's mother, who hasn't appeared, but confirmed by her.

Best Friends

Karasuma Ooji,Fuyuki Takeichi , Sagano Megumi , and Yuuki Tsumugi

With Karen, these four make up class 2-C's band. They practice a lot for the Cultural Festival, and even make grand costumes very similar to the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper costumes. Karen also eats lunch often with Yuuki, Megumi, 2-C representative Ootsuka Mai, and Lala Gonzalez.

Tsukamoto Tenma

Karen is also good friends with Tenma, largely because Tenma helped Karen address her feelings for Imadori. She provided Karen with both supplies and acted as a substitute for Karen's wrestling match so that Karen could go out on a date with Imadori.

Rivals

Lala Gonzalez

Ever since Lala was caught off guard by Ichijou's German Suplex, the two form both an inseperable bond of friendship and rivalry. In fact, Lala is one of Ichijou's best friend, and you can say the same for Lala. Yet on the sports field, the two are archrivals, from the Sports Festival to wrestling. The two worked at WAS Burger for the summer as well.

Suou Mikoto

Although they are normally friendly towards each other, Karen and Mikoto are fierce rivals when it comes to athletics. So far, neither has been shown to be superiour to the other, for although Karen won the Kinbensan match, Mikoto bested her in the Survival Game.

Mihara Kozue

Since Mihara also likes Imadori, she and Karen could be considered rivals in love, though the characters are never actually depicted as being in conflict.