Carmen

"*Close your eyes and listen to your heart...and write what you feel on the paper.*"

**Carmen** is one of the main protagonists in Caught in the Net: Technology. She is one of the two top students (next to Emilia) that excels in exams in their class.

## Biography

### Early Life

Over a year ago, Carmen was addicted to the internet and became friends with Dennis online. She was so badly addicted to the internet that she even skipped school and avoided people, which greatly worried her parents and her friends. But one day, a week before she and Dennis arranged to meet for the first time in real life, her mother was busy with an emergency at work, and she could not walk her younger brother from kindergarten back home, so she asked Carmen to help to walk him home. However, she was so engrossed in an online game that she lost track of time and she was a few hours late to pick her brother up, and it was raining at that time, so her brother stood for hours in the rain waiting for her.

By the time she remembered, it was too late, and her brother was down with a fever that would not go down for days and he was admitted to the hospital because of severe pneumonia. He eventually recovered, but he is now very weak as his lungs were clogged with fluid while he was ill.

Carmen was regretful over her brother and she completely stopped using the internet without saying goodbye to Dennis online and without meeting Dennis as they promised.

### Caught in the Net: Technology

Carmen made her debut in Book 6. When Miss Miyuki congratulated Carmen and Emilia for getting the first place in class at the same time, Carmen replied coldly to Miss Miyuki about she would also study hard although she could not be the top student in her class. She later argued with Emilia that the usage of internet for academic purposes would only let students being addicted to the internet. She explained that even though the internet contains a lot of information, it also has a lot of inappropriate contents. Carmen then recommended that students should read books to obtain knowledge and she believed that the information on the internet may also be found in books. When Dennis walked away from class, Carmen explained that his attitude was one of the consequences of addiction to the internet. She also warned her classmates the dangers of the internet.

On the next day, Carmen, along with a group of students whom supported reading books as a method of effective studying, fought with Emilia. Carmen then challenged Emilia to change the internet-addicted Dennis to a top student. Emilia angrily accepted her challenge and they both exchanged glares. After Dennis walked out of class, Carmen and Emilia were shown to be still glaring angrily at each other.

When Emilia succeeded in attracting Dennis' attention to access the website she made, Carmen just happened to walk past her and she showed a nervous look at Emilia. On another day, when Dennis came to school without his glasses, Carmen was shocked to see his new appearance, but soon got startled when Dennis said something weird to his classmates. After that day, Dennis started to use weird words to communicate with his classmates. As Dennis was talking to his classmates, Carmen stood in front of him and told him she did not understand why his personality changed drastically on that day, and she could not see signs of him wanting to change his personality, she told him that she would believe him on that particular day.

When Dennis yelled the weird sentences to Carmen, she was shocked and asked him worriedly what was he saying. In order to ease down the conflict that was about to happen, Emilia told Dennis that the teacher was looking for him and he hurriedly walked out of the class. Carmen suspiciously asked Emilia what had she done to Dennis. Emilia told Carmen that if Dennis was able to change himself and was willing to blend in with his school life, Carmen would not oppose her idea of using internet as a medium of study. Carmen then asked what method Emilia used to change Dennis' personality, Emilia told her that if she wanted to know, she had to agree with the usage of internet as a medium of study. As Candy JEM was discussing about the website, Carmen stood behind a wall, shocked to hear about the truth of the website.

After a few days, when a lot of classmates were asking Emilia about the advantages of using the internet, Carmen suddenly said that they did not know the dangers the internet might bring and when they got addicted, they would not be able to turn back again. She then accused Emilia of cheating her classmates into believing her and she warned her to stop before the situation becomes uncontrolled. Emilia told Carmen that if Dennis could change his attitude, she would not hinder her classmates to use internet for learning. When the classmates agreed with Emilia, she asked Carmen on whether she had evidence on her cheating her classmates. Carmen silenced herself when Dennis asked what was going on.

On the subsequent day, Carmen wanted Emilia to come with her for a moment. As Carmen and Candy JEM headed to a park, she told Emilia that she was very disappointed towards her. Emilia told Carmen that she did not know everything and Carmen asked her why she cheated Dennis. She then wanted Emilia to immediately stop her lies. As Carmen revealed herself to be Dennis' online friend, Aquacat, Emilia angrily asked her where was she when Dennis needed friends the most. Carmen then told Candy JEM that she already found out Dennis' true identity, but she did not know he was always looking for her. Carmen then told Candy JEM about her past. A year back before the series started, Carmen was badly addicted to the internet and it also affected her normal daily life. Her family and friends were very worried of her but she ignored their advice. She even thought that their concern towards her were restricting her. She then started to skip school, avoided contact with others and locked herself in her room all day long. A few days before she and Dennis arranged to meet, her mother had an emergency in work and asked her to fetch her younger brother home from kindergarten, but she was so addicted to online games that she forgot to fetch her brother from school. Her brother was forced to stand outside the school waiting for her to fetch him. After that day, her brother got a fever that would not go down for days. He was admitted to the hospital and the doctor said that he got severe pneumonia. He eventually recovered but his body became very weak because his lungs were once clogged with fluid.

### Season of Blossoms: Growing Up

Carmen was one of the female guests that were invited to Mia's birthday party.

### A Class Effort: Leadership

A few of the classmates in Candy JEM's class were discussing about either of the excelling students (Emilia and Carmen) could have be the class' monitor. Eavesdropping on the few, Emilia immediately glanced at Carmen, who was busy reading a book.

When the whole class was held back for a discussion on planning their booth for the upcoming bazaar, Emilia pointed out certain ideas that might work as a theme for their class own booth if they we're combined together, leading to the agreement and approval of most classmates, including Carmen.

Carmen was seen exiting the classroom with boxes loaded with items crucial for their class' preparation. And was approached by Dennis, whom volunteered to offer help. Later during Candy JEM's singing performance for their class' booth, Carmen, dressed in a blue, angel-like dress could be seen together with Alex watching the performance.

### On Our Own: Self-Reliance

Carmen was seen panicking along with the rest of the students when Miss Miyuki said that there was a change in the trip the class had one in the Bazaar. Later on, she could be seen in the bus to Cameron Highlands and later on that day, she was shown being partnered with Dennis while blushing. The next day, she was shown with Dennis while they were visiting the Honey Bee farm in a few panels and that night, she was also shown saying goodnight to Emilia.

## Appearance

Carmen is a slim young woman around average height. She has shoulder length, sky blue hair; her hairstyle's most distinctive trait is her bangs being pinned to the back with various ribbons. She has large, sky blue (sometimes emerald green) eyes and wears circular-lensed glasses. In a flashback on a year ago prior to the series, she was shown to have short shoulder length hair with her bangs still pinned back with ribbons.

## Personality

> "*One of Candy JEM's classmates who ties with Emilia in scoring the highest grades in class. She is intelligent, but cold and arrogant.*"
>
>

-Carmen's personality and introduction as shown in the Characters' page.

Carmen is characterized as a hardworking and talented individual. And also one of the smartest students in the class next to Emilia. Despite being intelligent and wise, she sometimes tend to display lack of modesty and arrogance, as shown when she coldly responded to Miss Miyuki's encouragement for her and Emilia for acing in the exams. Her faults for her attitude include her cynical and cold outlook on people (such as Emilia and Dennis) and ditching her online friend Shadowmoon without providing a reason.

Despite the negative traits of her, Carmen also has a heart of gold. As shown when her younger brother got sick and received permanent complications because of her, she forbade herself from using the internet to prevent any further consequences; Carmen regretted not replying Dennis for her sudden disappearance and later made up for him as an apology for her actions.

As the series developed, Carmen started to develop mutual feelings for Dennis, and frequently blushes whenever the two got involved in several events.

## Abilities

### Mental Intellect

Carmen had displayed a high level of intelligence, as shown when she get the first place in her class. She is also one of the smartest students in her class.

## Relationships

### Family

#### Parents

Not much interaction were seen between Carmen's parents and their daughter, except that they were mentioned to be worried for Carmen when she got addicted to computer games.

#### Younger Brother

Though there were not much interaction shown between Carmen and her younger brother, Carmen cares for him as she blamed herself for her brother's illness. She also shut down her account as Aquacat ever since her brother had pneumonia.

### Friends

#### Emilia

Due to the fact that Carmen and Emilia are competitors when it comes to academic studies, the two showed hostility towards one another and when Emilia said that the internet has a lot of benefits, Carmen challenged Emilia to change Dennis' addiction to the computer to prove that her sayings were true. They then continued to compete on which learning method was more effective.

But after the events of Caught in the Net: Technology, the two had put down their rivalry and displayed a friendlier demeanor towards one another, as shown when Emilia shook hands with Carmen and promised to overcome Dennis' addiction to the internet together.

## Other Media

### Candy Careers Card Game 1.0 and 2.0

Carmen, along with many other characters, are depicted and designed in several cards as performing different types of occupations. She is depicted as:

* Hotel Concierge
* Potter
* Astronomer
* Music Producer
* Print Journalist

## Trivia

* Carmen's official eye color is sky blue, but at times, it is emerald green in color. It may be either: the reflection from where the light is shining that makes them green, or it could simply be a coloring error.
* In the official Candy Series character stats, some information of Carmen are revealed:
	+ Carmen's astrological sign is Capricorn, therefore her birthday falls between December 23 to January 20.
	+ Carmen's favourite things are books.
	+ Carmen's hobbies are reading and surfing the Internet.

## References

1. ↑ Carmen's blood type in Character Information, see Trivia
2. ↑ Carmen's astrological sign in Character Information, see Trivia
3. ↑ Carmen's likes in Character Information, see Trivia
4. ↑ Caught in the Net: Technology, page 109
5. ↑ Caught in the Net: Technology, page 110
6. ↑ Caught in the Net: Technology, page 110
7. ↑ Caught in the Net: Technology, page 111
8. ↑ Caught in the Net: Technology, page 7
9. ↑ Caught in the Net: Technology, page 15
10. ↑ Caught in the Net: Technology, page 108-109
11. ↑ On Our Own: Self-Reliance
12. ↑ Caught in the Net: Technology, page 15
13. ↑ Top of the Class: Academics, page 17
14. ↑ Caught in the Net: Technology, page 108-112