Visually, Nisio Isin and Akira Akatsuki designed Karin to be striking in her unobtrusiveness. In a cast populated by a girl who wears a turtleneck and no skirt (Medaka), a boy in a jersey (Zenkichi), and characters with visual flair that screams "main character energy," Karin is reserved. Her dark hair, plain tracksuit, and perpetually tired expression paint her as a background character who accidentally wandered into the foreground.