Karen Akaai

"*I am the Pretty Guardian who fights for love and for beauty! I am Sailor Venus! In the name of the New Venus, I'll punish you with the power of love!*"
— (Neo) Sailor Venus's Introduction
**Karen Akaai**
 (赤愛 華恋, *Akaai Karen*?) is one of the main characters in Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Neo. She is the current version of **Sailor Venus**
 (セーラーヴィーナス, *Sērā Vīnasu*?). She is one of the granddaughters of Minako Aino and Rei Hino, a daughter of their son. Her older sister is Nanami Akaai.

## Appearance

### Civilian

Karen is a lightly tanned and slender young woman. She has brown eyes with a burgundy tint to them and black hair in an uneven bob. She has noticeably dark makeup and three piercings in her left ear and two in her right, along with a black choker. Upon getting her transformation charm, Karen wears it on her choker.

She is usually seen wearing her school uniform. The uniform consists of a white long sleeved blouse with red sleeve cuffs and a red notched sailor collar with a white stripe. There is a red pleated skirt with a frilly white petticoat underneath, the frills can be seen peeking out. A blue tie is tied underneath the collar and there is a white triangular area underneath the collar that run adjacent to the collar. The triangular area has a red stripe on it. Karen wears black platform oxford shoes and pastel yellow leggings as part of her school attire.

### Sailor Guardian

Sailor Venus wears the standard uniform for the Neo Sailor Guardians. She dons a chest-armored white leotard, white fingerless gloves with three red arm fittings that go up to the elbows, yellow skirt with a white v-shaped puffed belt, yellow sailor collar with two white stripes, and white shoulder pads with a yellow tint. She wears red platform pumps with a strap over the ankle. Sailor Venus has a cyan bow affixed to her sailor collar with a round yellow gem in the center, and a yellow bow in the back on her skirt. She wears a red choker with her transformation charm on it.

Sailor Venus has a golden tiara with a yellow gem in the center and a small yellow bow clipped to the back of her hair. Once transformed, Sailor Venus takes on a yellow manicure.

## Personality

On first impressions, Karen appears to be somewhat hostile and intimidating. She is curt and blunt with others and won't hesitate to tell them to back off. This has caused her older sister some anguish because Karen as a result doesn't have friends. However, Karen is actually very kind deep down; she makes sure that her teammates are okay after a battle and makes sure anyone caught in the crossfire of the combat is tended to. She remains straightforward and serious when it comes to most things.

According to Nanami, Karen would rather spend her time listening to music and reading manga than go out to movies or picnics. She has a tense relationship with her sister due to them being polar opposites but she cares deeply for her sister and will go out of her way to protect her. As children, Karen often fought bullies and kids that were mean to her older sister. Karen is competitive with Nanami over everything to the point of being petty.

## Sailor Venus

Neo Sailor Venus is the technical title for the second Sailor Guardian named Sailor Venus that is used to differentiate between the different holders of the name. Because her grandmothers are no longer actively using the titles of Sailor Venus and Mars, Karen assumes the name Sailor Venus rather than Neo Sailor Venus and her sister is Sailor Mars rather than Neo Sailor Mars.

Sailor Venus is the leader of the current generation of Inner Sailor Guardians, the title passing down from mother to daughter based off of generation. Sailor Venus has powers over light and metal.

Karen can transform into Sailor Venus by calling out her transformation phrase as long as she has her transformation item with her.

## Nomenclature & Etymology

### Etymology

**Karen** comes from the kanji 華 (flower) and 恋 (love).

**Akaai** is the combination of the kanji 赤 (red) and 愛 (love). Combined, Akaai means "love that is red." However, the name is actually a pun because it sounds similarly to "akai," which carries the same meaning as Aka and are the same kanji.

## Trivia

* Karen supposedly was originally planned to be Sailor Mars but Aneko Fujiwara scrapped that idea because it would be too predictable and would mean that Nanami would be too similar Minako for her liking.
* In the extra pages of volume 2, Karen is shown reading a manga entitled "Knight of Vampiric Memories." It's a reference to Matsuri Hino's manga *Vampire Knight*.
	+ Nanami teases Karen for reading "thousand year old manga," which Karen responds with throwing a shoe at her sister.
	+ Aneko Fujiwara stated later in her author notes in volume 3 that she very loosely based Karen's personality off of "the stoic and cold but well meaning love interest," from a certain vampire manga. It can be assumed that Karen was inspired by Zero Kiryu from *Vampire Knight*.
* Karen enjoys listening to punk rock as seen in Act 3.
* Sailor Venus's shoulder pads' yellow tint is a stylistic choice. Her shoulder pads do not have the yellow tint in universe.