Maomao

Maomao is the titular main protagonist of the drama, mystery anime, light novel, and manga series . She is a young Chinese woman who lives and works as a lady in waiting in the Emperor's Inner Palace after being kidnapped and sold off to her employers. Maomao is highly intelligent and was trained as an apothecary by her father, which gives her a general understanding of poison and diseases. This skillset helps her perform her job as a poison taster, lady in waiting, and unofficial investigator in the Inner Palace.
She was voiced by in Japanese and in English, both of whom also voiced Lucyna Kushinada in Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.
==Appearance==
Maomao is a young, petite girl with light skin, dark green hair, and blue eyes. Her hair is styled in two low ponytails, which she drapes over her shoulders, and ties with two sets of decorative beads. The upper beads are pink, and the lower set are blue. She wears her hair half up, with a blue bow keeping the upper section in a messy bun. She wears makeup, including fake freckles, to make herself look unassuming. She is rather pretty when not trying to make herself look plain, and when she wears formal makeup, she is noted to be quite beautiful. She can also be very intimidating when excited or angry, and her face takes on a more sinister look.
She wears an Aoqun hanfu, with a light green top and a long, burgundy skirt. The inner layer of her top is white, and the collar is pale and dark green. She also wears dark green flats. Maomao also has white bandages on her left arm, which conceal several scars she gained from her experiments with poisons and herbs. 
==Personality==
Maomao is generally rather subdued, and tries to navigate life without getting involved in other people's troubles. However, she is a hard worker and actually does care for others, as evidenced by her constant efforts to help people with their issues, despite initial hesitation. Maomao also has a deep fascination with herbs and poisons, which she is incredibly enthusiastic and excited about.
Maomao is curious, perceptive, and highly intelligent. She was an apprentice to her father, the doctor Luomen, who taught her extensive medical knowledge and skills such as patience and being observant. Maomao prioritizes knowledge about the effects of medicines and herbs even above her own personal safety, to the point that she frequently experiments on herself to learn about their effects. As a result, she has come to learn many things about them, and has even developed an immunity to many poisons by building up her tolerance. For this reason, she is actually very excited to be a poison taster, counter to everyone's expectations. She is also frequently consulted by the high consorts and Jinshi when mysterious events occur in the rear palace, since she is often able to help solve the issues at hand.
Maomao has a strong moral compass and sense of responsibility. She is not afraid to scold others, including the attendants of Lady Lishu and Lady Lihua, who were either directly undermining or carelessly endangering the consorts they were attending. Many of the other ladies in waiting find Maomao to be frightening since she does not hold back with scoldings, and has even slapped those who deserve it before. In truth, Maomao is rather kind-hearted, and does her best to make sure as many people as possible can be happy and safe. At times, she will even upset the hierarchical order in order to speak up for one consort or another, or will deliberately hide certain information she has in order to prevent harm to the people around her, despite potential personal risk if she is found out.
Maomao is somewhat cynical and very practical due to her upbringing and knowledge of the world. She is very aware of her position in society, and the dangers of being a young woman in the time period. She is respectful to those higher in the palace than her, and while she develops amicable relationships with many of them, she is also still aware of the inherent power imbalance her job causes. Although there are things Maomao would rather avoid, such as death, being kidnapped again, or becoming a courtesan, she rarely exhibits much distress. She has a suprisingly flippant attitude towards these things, and reacts somewhat abnormally to danger. She is not typically fearful, and is instead more likely to try and think of practical ways to avoid unpleasant matters.
==Trivia==
* Maomao's name means "cat", doubly, in Chinese, reflecting to the gag of her having cat ears and other feline features. 
* Her Japanese Voice Actress, Aoi Yūki, also voiced Lucyna Kushinada in Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, Setsuna Tokage and Tsuyu Asui in My Hero Academia, Madoka Kaname in Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Lysithea von Ordelia in Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Female Rookie in Sonic Forces, Eevee in Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!, Hibiki Tachibana in Senki Zesshou Symphogear, Sticks the Badger in Sonic Boom, Iris in Pokémon the Series: Black and White, Lulu in League of Legends, Menat in Street Fighter V, Summer Adams in Yo-kai Watch Shadowside, Noramyako in Doraemon movie, Nodoka Hanadera in Healin' Good♡Pretty Cure, Mélie in Radiant, Meme Tatane in Soul Eater NOT!, Finch in Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Female Inugami in Gugure! Kokkuri-san, Traveler in Genshin Impact, Tatsumaki in One Punch Man, Diane in The Seven Deadly Sins, Tanya von Degurechaff in Youjo Senki: Saga of Tanya the Evil, Yuuki Konno in Sword Art Online, Futaba Sakura in Persona 5, Rita Rossweisse in Honkai Impact 3rd, Platinum the Trinity and Trinity Glassfield in BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend, Azusa Aizawa in I've Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level, Tamaki Kotatsu in Fire Force, Jubei Yagyu in Samurai Girls, Peashy in Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory, Shizuno Urushibara in World Break: Aria of Curse for a Holy Swordsman, Sariphi in Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts (Drama CD), and Gina Chamber in Undead Unluck.
*Her English Voice Actress, Emi Lo, also voiced Lucyna Kushinada in Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, Sariphi in Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts, Miri Unasaka in Buddy Daddies, Sisbell Lou Nebulis IX in Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World, Rena Ryuuguu in Higurashi: When They Cry (2020 series), Tsugumi Hattori in ORIENT, Destiny in Takt Op, Uta in Bubble, Tomo Aizawa (young) in Tomo-chan Is A Girl, Delmin in Show By Rock!! Mashumairesh!!, Michiru Inukai in Talentless Nana, Hawks (young) in My Hero Academia, Suma in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Mian Long in SHY, and Nekomamushi (young) in One Piece.
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