Mai/Dragonball Evolution

is a character in the 2009 film Dragonball Evolution. She is an adaptation of Mai, one of Emperor Pilaf's esteemed servants in Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball franchise and is portrayed by Eriko Tamura.
==Overview==
In Dragonball Evolution, rather than being one of Pilaf's servants, Mai is the personal servant and assistant of Lord Piccolo and assists him in taking the Dragon Balls in order for Piccolo to conquer the universe.
==Appearance==
Mai has an all-red catsuit and carries sharp three-point stars on her belt, along with a gun holster on her hip and wears red knee-boots with high heels. Her suit has an opening above her chest, revealing cleavage. She has straight, black hair that reaches her neck.
==Personality==
Unlike her main counterpart who is largely a comedic character, this version of Mai is a coldblooded killer who is completely loyal to Lord Piccolo and his cause even coming off as completely psychotic at times as shown in her first scene when she holds a captured woman at gunpoint and after she provides the Dragon Ball that they needed, she cruelly smirked and cocked her weapon before the sound of it being fired off-screen can be heard implying that she had shot and killed the defenseless woman for no other reason than because she got a sick enjoyment out of committing murder.
==Story==
Mai tracks down Goku and his grandfather in search for the Dragon Balls. She alerts Piccolo and infiltrate the grandfather's home when Goku goes on a date with Chi-Chi. She threw her stars at the grandfather, only for them to be blocked. Piccolo claims the Dragon Balls aren't at the house and destroys it, taking the grandfather with it. While they are traveling over lava, Goku finds another Dragon Ball. Distracted by his visions, Mai takes the opportunity, kicks him in the face, and takes the Dragon Ball. But Goku catches her, and they both have a short fight. Mai does a strong punch to Goku's face; however, it didn't affect him. He kicked her into a pit.
Later Chi-Chi has a battle with Mai in a competitive match; as Chi-Chi strikes, Mai blocks her attacks and manages to cut Chi-Chi taking some of her blood in a capsule for future purposes. She then also forfeits much to Chi-Chi's disappointment. She later takes on Chi-Chi's appearance with the aforementioned blood usage but is stopped by the real Chi-Chi which begins another fight between themselves. Goku watches the fight from a distance but quickly comes over to see what was happening, Chi-Chi begs for his help (Mai) which causes Goku to attack the wrong one. By the time he realizes it to be too late, he is shot by Mai; she then escapes successfully.
During the final battle between Goku and Piccolo, Mai tracks down Bulma but Bulma releases a trap but with Mai's skills she easily dodges it they have a short fight, but Mai easily dominates Bulma with her hand-to-hand combat just as she had the advantage over Bulma, Yamcha shoots her in the back defeating her.
In a mid-credits' scene, Piccolo is revealed to still be alive and is last seen being treated back to health by a mysterious woman implied to be Mai in disguise having possibly shapeshifted to make herself look like a previous victim that was seen earlier in the film.
==Power==
Mai is excellent in martial arts capable of going toe to toe with Bulma and beating her quickly and being a slight equal match to Chi-Chi. Mai has stars she throws with exceptional aim; Mai is also shown to be very agile easily dodging Bulma's trap without trouble. When Bulma shoots her guns, Mai has enough speed and reflexes to dodge every single bullet.
==Techniques and Special Abilities==
*Shapeshifting - Mai can morph using another person's DNA fooling others for the real one.
*Electric Shock - Mai is able to launch lightning from her hands in the game.
==Differences from the Manga/Anime==
In the Manga and anime, Mai worked for Emperor Pilaf while, in the movie, she worked under Piccolo. While Mai has a more comedic appeal and is less serious in the cartoons, in the film adaptation, she is more serious and has a more level-headed approach, being more adapted and capable of handling some situations, as well as being able to shapeshift. It would seem that she is also more powerful than her Manga/anime counterpart, capable of using excellent martial arts and agility.
==Trivia==
*Mai has the least amount of dialogue of any non-extra in the movie.
*Mai is the counterpart of the character of the same name in the anime and manga Dragon Ball except in this movie she works for Piccolo instead of Pilaf and is not as comical.
**In the cancelled live action Dragon Ball Z film (which Evolutions was created from), she does work for both Pilaf and King Piccolo (the former being one of the latter's top henchmen) and was similarly depicted in a significantly darker light compared to her namesake. In particular, she would have been directly responsible for the murder of Grandpa Gohan and was depicted as a shapeshifter similarly to Oolong and Puar. She also was prone to mass-murder, killing at least three guards when raiding Capsule Corp to steal the radar and also slaughtering the Paozu village when stealing its dragon ball. She would also manipulate Goku by posing as a little girl.https://thedaoofdragonball.com/pdfs/dragonball-evolution-original-script.pdf
*Mai specifically designed her stars.
*While filming the volcano fight scene with fellow actor Justin Chatwin (who played Goku), Chatwin took an accidental swift fist from Tamura right in his facial area. Apparently, the two of them laughed it off, although Chatwin mentioned in an interview that he was left with a "clicking jaw" for a while as a result.
*Though the movie itself was universally bombed by fans and critics alike for not staying true to the source material, many have largely admitted to enjoying Eriko Tamura's performance as Mai with most agreeing that her scenes were easily the best parts of the film.
==Actor's insight==
"In Dragonball, I was thrilled to be cast in this role, especially since they were looking for an actor of any ethnicity to portray this strong character. This was my first studio film in the U.S., and I played a villain for the first time in my career! Mai, the character I play, is a killer. I also got to do a lot of wire action scenes. That was so much fun! Filming Dragonball definitely brought new challenges, and I loved it."Interview with Eriko Tamura
==Gallery==
==References==
==Site Navigation==
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Category:Dragonball: Evolution
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Category:Martial Artists