Karen Ito is one of the main characters in House of Ninjas and the love interest of protagonist Haru Tawara. Riho Yoshioka plays the character in the Netflix show.
Karen Ito is a journalist working for a magazine named Mu, which is famous for covering aliens and conspiracies.
Unsolved cases have a strong hold on her, as those are the ones that pique her curiosity the most.
A tragic past
Years ago, a fire broke out at a hotel, which she thinks was likely arson. The hotel burned down and everyone thought all the hotel guests had died.
However, a three-year-old was found, somehow unharmed by the incident. According to Karen, nobody tried to find out why it happened.
Meanwhile, she finds cases like that exciting, where the probability of a conspiracy is high.
Meeting Haru
She approaches Haru Tawara under the pretense of liking him. Whereas he loved her from the very beginning, she gradually falls for him.
They meet at a Gyudon shop where both order their respective dishes, which remain the same every time.
She eventually makes the next move and exchanges contacts with him, shortly before taking him out on a date which eventually just turns into the two investigating a case.
The doomed romance
Karen Ito eventually falls in love with Haru, as he takes her home with him, offering refuge from the Fuma. They confess to each other their feelings and share an intimate night.
However, the BNM finds out about her hiding in the Tawara household and promptly lures her out of there and kidnaps her.
Haru pleads and promises in order to make the BNM spare her. Jin Hamashima agrees if he promises to never see her again.
Additionally, Haru now is indebted to Hamashima for the rest of his life, so the BNM has quite a chokehold on him now, all because he loves Karen so much.
Also Read: All Tawara family members in House of Ninjas explained