Kari Kamiya

Kari Kamiya (八神 ヒカリ) is a character in the and  series Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02. Kari is a DigiDestined, partnered with, and embodies the trait of Crest of Light. She is the younger sister of Taichi "Tai" Kamiya.

Kari and Tai's English dub surname is a mistranslation of the original name "Yagami". Kari's Japanese name, "Hikari" (ヒカリ) means "light", a unique parallel with her crest's name. Also, her original full name "Hikari Yagami" translates to "light of the 8 gods", a possible reference to the number of the DigiDestined in the first season.

Appearance
In 1995, Kari is a little girl with short brown hair and eyes. She wears a red shirt with long sleeves, yellow pants, pink socks, and shoes of undetermined color. She also carries a gray whistle with a pink cord. She has two pajamas; one is a pink shirt and pants. The other is a yellow shirt under a brown bodysuit with buttons near the neck, and a koala-shaped hood.

At age 4, she wears a pink sleeveless dress, and hot pink shoes.

At age 5, Kari is a bit taller. She wears a dress with three buttons in the top of the back, socks, and shoes, all of undetermined color. Her pajamas are a buttoned shirt with short sleeves, and shorts, all of undetermined color.

By 1999, Kari is a bit taller, and her hair has grown a bit. She now wears a yellow shirt with two white buttons in the top, a pink scarf around the neck, pink pants, white socks, red and white sneakers, and her whistle. She gives her whistle to when leaving the.

Her pajamas are a beige buttoned shirt with long sleeves and white buttons, beige pants, and her whistle. She is usually barefoot while in her pajamas.

On March 4, 2000, she wears a pink dress with long sleeves, and a white collar with red borders and a red ribbon attached to it, cream colored stockings, and brown shoes.

On May 2000, when Gennai summons her back to the, she wears a sleeveless pinkish orange shirt with a white collar, pink shorts, yellow shoes with white soles, and a very similar whistle to the one she gave to Gatomon.

By 2002, Kari is much taller, and now pulls her bangs to the left with a red hairclip. She wears a sleeveless white and pink turtlenecked shirt, pink fingerless opera gloves with an oval cut from the top of the palms, yellow shorts with a brown belt, white stockings, and pink and gray boots with black soles. She carries a digital camera hanging from a yellow cord from her neck.

During summer, she wears a pink sleeveless top with three red lozenges on the chest, a yellow kerchief around the neck, a pink wristwatch on her left wrist, a black and red wristband on her right wrist, purple shorts with a brown belt and a pocket for her camera, white socks, and white and yellow sneakers with a wing motif.

During winter, she wears a long sleeved pink sweater dress with red pockets and collar, light green tights, and brown boots. Outside, she wears a white beret and a red scarf. While in Hong Kong, she wears her scarf around her waist.

On March 25, 2003, she wears a pink dress under a blue jean jacket, yellow pants and pink shoes.

In 2027, Kari is an adult. Her hair is now long, and she pulls her bangs to the left with two red hairclips. She wears a pink shirt with buttons running down the collar and white pants. Her ears are pierced and she wears yellow studs.

In the cover art for Digimon Adventure: Character Song + Mini Drama 2, Kari wears a Christmas costume; a red dress with three white buttons in the top, and a white ruff on each end, and a red hat with a white ruff on the bottom and a white ball in the tip.

In the cover art for Digimon Adventure: Character Song + Mini Drama 3, Kari wears a yellow with a pink ohashori and a pink ribbon on her head.

In the cover for the Digimon Adventure: Takeru Takaishi & Hikari Yagami notebook, she wears a sleeveless turtlenecked shirt, a whistle around her neck, yellow shorts and white socks.

In the cover art for Digimon Girls Festival, the eight-year old Kari has the bangs of her hair splitted by a red hairclip, and wears a yellow party dress with white buttons in the chest, orange skirt and sleeves, and a yellow scarf.

Description
Kari is kind and sweet by nature, always looking for the best in people, and avoids fighting them whenever possible. Still, she can be serious, especially in drastic situations. As she grows older, Kari is more outgoing has a playful and whimsical personality, but remains a sensible and grounded person. She tends to consider her own safety as secondary to the safety of others. As a young child, she is prone to illness, but grows out of it as she grows.

Kari is shown to have a unique connection to light and darkness, which seems to be related to her associated trait of Light. She is empowered by the powers of light on one hand, but very susceptible to the powers of darkness on the other, leading her to be empowered by light and weakened by overwhelming darkness.

Kari's older brother, Taichi "Tai" Kamiya, is the leader of the DigiDestined. Kari is very close to Tai and hero-worships him for his kindness and strength well into adolescence. Tai and Kari used to share a room, but sometime between Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02 Tai has moved to another room.

Etymologies
Hikari Yagami (八神 ヒカリ)

Name used in Japanese materials. Officially romanized in Digimon Adventure: Official Encyclopedia II. Kari Kamiya
 * Ja: Yagami (八神). Japanese surname that means "eight gods".
 * Ja: Hikari (ヒカリ). A Japanese name. It is the katakana reading of a word that means "light".

Name used in the English dub of Digimon Adventure.
 * Kari. Derived from Hikari.
 * Kamiya. A Japanese surname. Yagami (八神) written backwards.

Fiction
In 1995, Kari lives with her parents, Susumu and Yuuko, older brother, Tai, and the family's cat, Miko, at Highton View Terrace. One night that year, she witnesses an emerge from the family's computer. The next day, the egg starts to roll around the house and she chases it until it stops in her room and hatches into a, which Kari plays with by blowing her whistle while the Botamon uses his "Bubble Blow".

Tai suggests some names for the creature and Kari rejects all of them.

She feeds chocolate to Botamon and he digivolves into, and Kari gives Miko's food to him, which the creature retributes with a hug. Miko then starts fighting Koromon to take his food back and wins. After their mother comes back home, Kari talks to Koromon and introduces herself and Tai to him. At night, Kari wakes Tai, noticing Koromon is strange. Koromon digivolves into a large, which Kari rides around the city while her brother chases after them. Agumon destroys a soda machine and Kari tries to get as many cans as possible, and then goes after Agumon.

She wonders why he's not talking to her anymore. Agumon tries to burn a truck that almost hit him using his "Pepper Breath", and later tries to attack a bus, which Kari begs for him to not do.

A gigantic Digi-Egg then appears above the city and hatches into a, and Agumon tries to fight it. Tai finds them and tells Kari to run away. As Parrotmon attacks, Agumon digivolves into a humongous in order to protect Tai and Kari, and the girl cries seeing him fight. Parrotmon manages to leave Greymon unconscious, and Kari tries to wake him up with her whistle, but because of her cries, she's unable to blow it properly, and Tai blows it. Greymon wakes up and defeats the Parrotmon, and both are sucked back into the. At dawn, Kari calls for Koromon at the battle's remains. This event caused the siblings to be chosen to be among the new. The destruction created by the battle caused it to be labeled a terrorist attack, and the Kamiya family moved away from the area.

At age 5, Kari was stricken with severe pneumonia. While their parents had left the two of them at home alone, Tai attempts to cheer her up by taking her to the park to play soccer, but she collapses while playing. She was taken to the hospital for weeks and nearly died, and when their mother gets there, she slaps Tai for endangering Kari. When Kari finally came home, she actually apologizes to Tai for not playing soccer correctly, only focusing on her own guilt; this caused Tai to feel outrageous guilt for endangering her life, and stuck with him for years.

When the original seven DigiDestined are transported into the from summer camp, Kari isn't with them, as she had been at home with a summer cold. However, she is reunited with Tai after he and are sucked into the Real World through a dimensional warp following his victory over. He only stays for a short while, and has to leave when he realizes that the Digital World is in bad shape and needed his help, much to Kari's regret.

Kari reunites with her older brother again when he and the other DigiDestined return to the Real World to pursue, who is seeking the eighth DigiDestined child. None of them are aware that Kari is the eighth DigiDestined, and that the eighth Digivice ended up in the Kamiya residence. However, this realization is delayed after Meeko, the Kamiya family's cat, plays with the Digivice and accidentally loses it to a crow. The next day, while Kari chases Meeko in the park, she runs across, one of Myotismon's henchmen, and instantly recognizes her as a Digimon. She treats the catlike Digimon with kindness and invites her into her house. Gatomon, realizing that Kari is no ordinary child, figures she should kill her, but can't bring herself to. With the help of her good friend,, who finds the eighth Digivice that night, Gatomon remembers that she was looking for someone, and realizes that she was looking for Kari. After she reunites with Kari, Gatomon and Wizardmon go to fetch Kari's Crest of Light, but Myotismon discovers that Gatomon is the eighth DigiDestined's partner, and holds her captive to try to find the eighth DigiDestined.

When she realizes what's happening, Kari turns herself in to stop the pain Myotismon's minions are inflicting. In the final showdown, Myotismon attempts to kill Kari by attacking her with his Grisly Wing, but Wizardmon steps in and takes the blow for her, sacrificing himself. Kari's grief leads to the activation of the Crest of Light and the Digivice to glow, and Gatomon Digivolves into. Using the power bestowed to her by the other Digimon, Angewomon shoots an arrow through Myotismon's heart. However, when the fog fails to disappear, it's apparent that Myotismon isn't gone for good. When Myotismon returns as, Kari and T.K.. act on Gennai's prophecy by having and Angewomon shoot arrows of light through the hearts of their big brothers, Tai and Matt. This causes and  to warp digivolve to  and.

Kari accompanies the seven other DigiDestined when they go back to the Digital World. While she is in the Digital World, Kari begins to hear a mysterious spirit that no one else can communicate with. When Tai and Matt get into a major fight, the spirit takes control of Kari's body and ends the fight, explaining to the DigiDestined more about why they were chosen and about the past of the Digital World.

After leaving 's forest, Kari's illness catches up to her, and Tai frantically searches for medication for her in 's city. Underneath the city, Kari watches with horror as the enslaved Numemon are beaten by WaruMonzaemon. Empowered by the powers of light, she leads a revolt, helping the Numemon by deposing WaruMonzaemon. The grateful Numemon sacrifice themselves against Machinedramon to buy the DigiDestined precious time, and Kari decides to honor them by making grave marks for them.

While fighting against, Kari, T.K. and Patamon were the only ones left after Piedmon turned everyone else into keychains. However, when T.K. and Kari found themselves falling to an almost certain death, T.K. found the hope to help Angemon Digivolve to, who saved T.K. and Kari and restored everyone from their keychain state.

At some point, Kari volunteered to be sawed in half by a magician for Senri Hori's birthday party.

In March 4, 2000, Kari shows her birthday gift for her friend Senri to Tai, who tries to take it. She then sends his e-mail and he screams at her for it, and she leaves. She and her friends arrive at Senri Hori's birthday party. When Senri is about to blow to candles, Tai calls her asking for help in the battle against, but she says she can't go.

Later, when the girls are playing a card game, Tai calls again asking for help.

On May 2000, Kari arrives in the Digital World and gives up her Crest power to free the Digimon Sovereigns. As a result, Gatomon loses the power to become Angewomon.

In April 2002, on the first day of school, Kari discovers that her old friend T.K., who has just moved to Odaiba, is in her class. Her classmate, Davis Motomiya, who has a crush on her, antagonizes T.K., but this proves to be the least of her problems as she finds out that the Digital World is in trouble due to a human boy who calls himself the Digimon Emperor. She also discovers that Davis and T.K.'s new neighbors, Yolei Inoue and Cody Hida, are new DigiDestined, whose Digimon are capable of Armor Evolution. Kari, like T.K., has a slight advantage compared to the new kids because she has more experience with Digimon, though at first she feels like a burden because Gatomon has lost the Holy Ring that gave her power and can't evolve, due to the Digimon Emperor blocking evolution with his Control Spires. However, she soon finds the Digi-Egg of Light, which turns her Digivice into a D-3 and allows Gatomon to Armor Digivolve into



One day, Kari starts to feel strange during class, and she sees herself surrounded by a dark ocean. On her way to the nurse's office, she sees a dark water creature with red eyes stalking her at the hall. Her behavior worries T.K., and she tells him she doesn't feel strong enough, but his attempt to encourage her backfires and leaves her upset. After school, she is involuntarily pulled into another dimension, the Dark Ocean. There, she encounters a group of Scubamon weakened by Dark Rings. She tries to use her light to release them, but an Airdramon attacks them before she can do it. Kari's pleas for help allow T.K., Patamon and Gatomon to come to her. After destroy a Control Spire that was erected in the Dark Ocean, Gatomon is able to evolve into Angewomon and save Kari, both from the Airdramon and the Scubamon, who are revealed to be the creatures Kari saw stalking her. After repelling the creatures, who wanted Kari to be their queen (their bride in the Japanese version), the four return to the Real World.

When Kari and T.K. visit Mimi in New York, they encounter Willis, his Digimon,, and. While on a train for Colorado, Kari sends an e-mail to the other DigiDestined, who made their way to America to help her and T.K. On the way, their train is hindered by Wendigomon, so they have to continue on foot. They manage to join up with the others during the fight with. Angewomon and Angemon Digivolve to their Mega forms to release the powers of the Golden Digi-Eggs so and Terriermon can golden armor digivolve.

While searching for Gatomon’s lost Tail Ring, Kari, Yolei, and Ken end up in the Dark World. Upon finding the Dark Ocean, Kari begins to lose her composure due to her last visit. She and Ken struggle under the hold of the Dark Ocean. takes advantage of this and sends a Blossomon made of Control Spires after them. It takes Yolei's slap and honest words help the two girls see eye-to-eye, giving and Gatomon the power to DNA digivolve to.

On Christmas Day, Kari, Izzy and their Digimon are sent to Hong Kong to help the Asian DigiDestined round up all the loose Digimon. While there, all three of the Poi brothers develop a crush on Kari. After returning to Japan that evening, Kari, Tai and their Digimon talk about how the new DigiDestined might have to kill evil Digimon soon. Their fears are confirmed when the Daemon Corps attack and the new DigiDestined must kill them to prevent loss of life.

During the battle against, Kari is paralyzed with fear after witnessing MaloMyotismon's cruelty. While she is subjected to MaloMyotismon's illusion, she experiences her dream desire to see humans and Digimon to live side by side, making it a better world for everyone. Gatomon and break her free of the illusion, and she joins with the other kids to help break Ken out of his illusion. Kari uses the power of the dream dimension against MaloMyotismon, wishing for Gatomon to become stronger and making Gatomon,, and  appear all at once. Later, when the children infected with the Dark Spore share their dreams and Noriko admits she wants to be a kindergarten teacher, Kari says that this is her dream as well. She then helps defeat MaloMyotismon once and for all with the light of her Digivice.

On Valentine's Day, 2003, Kari is kidnapped by Boltmon along with Mimi and Sora. When Pukumon enters the scene with a Control Spire, Joe is knocked into the 02 DigiDestined and Kari ends up with Cody's D-Terminal, allowing Gatomon to Armor Digivolve to.

3 years after the events of 'Our War Game', the evil Digimon virus,, resumed his reign of terror on the Internet. The Kuramon were bio-emerging via e-mail, so while Tai, Matt, and their Digimon entered cyberspace to battle Diaboromon once more, the others had to track down the Kuramon. Yolei and Kari found the first one and caught it for Izzy to examine. While was being overpowered by Diaboromon, Kari and T.K., with their Digimon, had gone to help their older brothers. But Kari was soon forced to watch the battle between and.



In 2027, Kari became a kindergarten teacher, just as she dreamed. She has a son, who has a Salamon as a Digimon partner, and also seemingly inherited his mother's whistle.

Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01
During one of her battles as a child, she and the other 02 DigiDestined encountered Parallelmon, who absorbed her, Yolei, Cody, and T.K., and inadvertently sent Davis into the V-Tamer 01 world. There, Davis meets Taichi Yagami and Zeromaru, and Kari. and the others helped Davis from inside the monster by recreating the Digi-Egg of Miracles. With the monster destroyed, Davis and his friends returned to their continuity.

PSP game
With Mimi, she holds a funeral for the DigiDestined's fallen friends. When Myotismon is revived by Apocalymon, Kari refuses to give up and tells Tai that she and Gatomon will fight him, which causes Gatomon to warp digivolve to.

Digimon Adventure: Anode/Cathode Tamer|Anode/Cathode Tamer
On December 31, 1999, Kari, wearing her pajamas, Joe, Matt, and their Digimon were captured by, who has been resurrected by , and taken to the Server Continent. After Ryo Akiyama defeats Myotismon and saves them, Kari begs the boy to save her brother, and returns to the Real World.

Digimon Tamers
Kari's English voice actress, Lara Jill Miller, voices Nami Asaji who is a teacher, a possible reference to Kari becoming a teacher.

A girl says that Rika Nonaka "looks like Kari with a punk edge".

Digimon Xros Wars (manga)
mentions that she went on an adventure with a human girl in the past.

After gives a Fusion Loader to Mikey Kudo, an image of a nude Kari holding a  appears in front of the Code Crown.

Digimon Xros Wars: Super Digica Taisen
Kari is a Legendary General. Her Partner is.

Digimon World Re:Digitize: Decode
Taiga can fight Kari in the.

During the "Miko of Light" Free Battle in 40F, Kari appears to be in a different state from when she previously met Taiga. Kari asks who Taiga is, and if he'll save the, and tells him to show his "light". If is defeated, she tries to say something, but suddenly returns to normal and doesn't remember why she's in the Colosseum. She notices the Crest of Light is reacting, and comes to the conclusion Taiga called her. She then trusts that Taiga will be able to use the Light Chip, which has the power of the Crest of Light loaded in it, and gives it to him.

Music
Kari has three Japanese image songs: "Holy Light", "Yasashii Ame" ("Gentle Rain") and "Reflection", sung by Kae Araki. She has an additional image song, a duet sung by Araki with Yuka Tokumitsu as Gatomon, called "Shining Star". Araki also sings "Kiyoshi Kono Yoru" ("Silent Night") as a duet with Rio Natsuki as Yolei Inoue, and participates in "Bokura no Digital World" ("Our Digital World") and in the female Digimon Adventure 02 characters' rendition of "Itsumo Itsudemo" in the Digimon Music 100 Title Memorial Box.

Notes and references
Yagami Hikari