Karma and Kayano's friendship is overlooked.
Karma and Kayano's friendship is often overlooked in favour of Karma and Nagisa, but the few scenes they do share reveal a quiet mutual respect for each other and a softer side of Karma that is easy to miss.
I haven't seen anyone talk about them, so I took it upon myself to do it here since I like their friendship.
Their friendship highlights a few things between them, mainly a softer side to Karma.
I'm going to go over their interactions and their similarities.
Surprisingly, there are actually a few things these two have in common.
They are both strawberry lovers and sweet lovers.
Both would hit Terasaka after being teased by him.
When Karma returned to school, Kayano was completely unaware of Karma's reputation until Nagisa informed her of his violent reputation. We don't see her reaction after that, but she is never shown to be wary of Karma.
Sugino, on the other hand, openly said he was against having Karma in their group for the class field trip, especially after Karma basically admitted he couldn’t promise to stay out of fights. Only that there wouldn’t be any witnesses.
Kayano was there for that conversation, but she didn’t protest. Instead, she simply answered Karma when he asked who else would be in their group. Later, during the school trip, after spending more time with Karma, she's one of the few girls who actually vouches for him. When all the other girls agree he's insane, she calls him "quiet" most of the time.
The respect between them isn’t one-sided.
Karma has never once called Kayano forever flat or made fun of her chest, despite her other male classmates doing that. He had multiple chances to do so. He has also never once made fun of her height, but has made fun of Nagisa's height.
And we all know Karma does not hold back even when it comes to girls/women.
Though in the Japanese version, Karma uses the honorific 'chan' for Kayano and only for Kayano, because of her height and child-like appearance. I doubt it came from a place of endearment, but I also don't think it comes from a malicious place either.
Whether Kayano ever really noticed that nuance or not is unclear.
Karma has shown to be very ruthless at times, but he is never outright cruel to anyone among his classmates, and it shows when it comes to Kayano.
In the Valentine's day chapter, even if he wanted to set Kayano and Nagisa up for his amusement, he still gave her some genuine advice in the end.
And even if she ended up not confessing to Nagisa, Karma seemed to admire and respect her decision, even comparing her to her older sister as a compliment. It shows that beneath all the mischievousness and playfulness, he has a soft spot for her.
We also see a rare moment of panic from him when Kayano interrupts the fight between Koro-sensei and the Second Reaper. His reaction there makes it clear that his concern isn’t limited to Nagisa; he genuinely cares about his other friends too.
In the episode "Kaede Time" Karma took time to praise Kayano for coming up with the pudding assassination on the spot after seeing the recall for the eggs. He recognizes her quick thinking and gives her credit for it, which again shows his respect.
Even if the light novels aren't canon, I still want to briefly talk about it. The books were still written by Mastui himself, so the character dynamics and personalities are kept consistent.
In one scene, Nagisa and Karma are having dinner together, and Karma suggests they go on a graduation trip with the rest of Class E. Nagisa hesitates, but Karma keeps pushing the idea, that is, until Nagisa mentions that Kayano might be too busy filming an upcoming movie.
At first, Karma seems ready to drop it with a simple "that’s too bad." But when Nagisa tells him the movie’s title, Karma is shocked to find out it’s being directed by someone he really admires.
He acknowledges Kayano as an international actress and calls her amazing, clearly impressed by her accomplishments. This matches how he treats her in the main storyline: he recognizes her talent and doesn’t hesitate to praise her.
In the end, Karma came up with a plan to take a graduation trip with everyone without letting Kayano skip work. When they all saw Kayano again, Karma tells her it's only a coincidence that their graduation just so happens to be in the same location she was shooting at. Even if it wasn't a coincidence.
You could argue saying that he only did that just so he can see his favorite director, but I don't think that's entirely true. It was Karma's idea to have a graduation trip with everyone in the first place and expressed disappointment when he thought she be too busy to come to the trip.
During filming, Kayano was too nervous to kiss her co-star, and most of her friends assumed it was because her co-star was just too handsome.
Karma, however, immediately saw through her. The only reason she couldn't do the kissing scene, despite doing many kissing scenes was because of Nagisa. Karma later comments on how nasty Jerome is and asks if co-starring with a guy like that hinders her performance.
It seems Karma was hoping to make Nagisa either jealous or upset that Kayano needs to kiss another man for the movie. Nagisa, however, understood Karma's question differently and showed no signs of jealousy about the kiss.
Karma noticed the small, disappointed look in her eyes and mentally called Nagisa dense.
Even after many years, he respects her choice of not wanting to confess to Nagisa, but would quietly support them in a respectable distance.
Karma and Kayano's interactions paint a picture of a quiet but meaningful friendship. Their interactions don't necessarily impact the story, but small moments like those do add some depth to their characters.
