Post by loverboy12 on Oct 12, 2007 12:52:17 GMT -5
~Please tell me you're here to kill me.~
Ah Mai, the girl with a dark distaste with anything boring and bright, a character with the heart of Lemon Juice, and a soul as dark as her nail polish. The wealthy daughter of a fire nation noble along with her mother and baby brother. A young woman of exotic beauty and black majesty, a Gothic warrior of Shuriken Jutsu and archery, and best friend of eccentric acrobat Ty Lee and The devious and maniacal Princess Azula. Her character is a mystery and a enigma, a character of unknown allegiance, a closed rose looking for excitement and wonder in either the people she loves or the adventures she journeys with Azula, she's still a character who hasn't been fleshed out for a clear opinion to the Majority.
Since her debut, she has been the talk of many peoples opinions good or bad, she has not impacted the fan base as much as Toph has, but she along with Ty Lee has stirred up mixed reactions all through out the season of Avatar the last Air-bender: Book 2. Undoubtedly, the most renowned opinion of this character is her lack of expression or her minor character development along with Azula and Ty Lee, some people like her interesting stoic attitude, some do not like it.
Her so called "boring personality" is either put out of context or tossed around by the fans who are into flashy more superficial character like Toph, Sokka and Azula. I think her personality is one of the most surreal/realistic of the avatar characters, if people see her as a boring character it's because they either expect her to be more into the situations she's involved with Azula and Ty Lee while contributing with Aang and his friends capture or They think she's bland character with zero development and cardboard presentation, I think Mai is no where near as boring and bland as people claim her to be, It's my assumption to believe her character has the potential to become a appealing character in the show, since she along with Ty Lee has the least amount of development. It's my pleasure to point out Mai's development over Book 2 and show why her character is consistent, in a good way, and with enough patience we will or some of us will appreciate her character a bit.
~Prologue~
We first see Mai as a child with Ty Lee and Azula as children all attending the fire nation academe of girls. She's alot more emotional than her older incarnation, and alot more shy and distant. Playing with her friends at Azalea's palace, she is used by Azula in a game that involves her and Zuko falling in a pond of Turtle Ducks, knowing that in the end the whole game it's self was for Zuko and Mai to em brass themselves since both of them harbor feelings for each other. Mai's character is basically at the moment at peace with herself not being dull and melancholy due to her life at that point being almost enjoyable, IMO this might of been the breaking point of Mai's life when she had true excitement, when she grew Azula and Ty Lee went there separate ways and as Mai also became more advanced at accurate combat, it's my opinion with years gone by and nothing but her family, her training, and her lust for excitement. Mai has no inner child to keep her stable and content, since Azula and Ty Lee along with Zuko has been out of her life since they were kids.
~Return to Omashu~
When we first see Mai for the first time in a cannon episode older much more keen and intelligent, she's feeling a lack of excitement and personal emptiness. Coming from her perspective, she feels dread because her lack of happiness, which I sympathize with, since I know what it feels like to be restrained by the boundaries of duty. She then notices a stranger that seems a threat towards her family, so she takes action and makes the intruders retreat. She's shows her intense resolve to defend her family and eradicate her boredom, as we see the intruders retreat, we see Mai retreat as well back to her family, in the mist of that moment Mai is portrayed as a woman of honor and action, she has a negative attitude towards everything that displeases her, but holds her own and always puts her life on the line to save her family and get the rush of danger in the process.
As the episode continues, in Omashu were her father discovers a epidemic towards the village, every one in the village is infected with Pentapox, and orders the people of the village to evacuate the village. In a series of events that lead to Mai's brother being kidnapped, along with Bumi, and finally the sequences of fights that she engages with her new enemies all leading towards the Avatar and his friends winning in the end, Mai finally joins Azula and Ty Lee, which leads to them starting their Journey to Capture the Avatar, to seek out her brother and lover and to cure her recurring boredom, I theorize that Mai had a choice to either stay but she choose to oblige with Azula's request due to her being bored, some would put that off as a selfish brat thinking only about herself, but I see it as a escape towards her harsh life as a governor's daughter and babysitter, she's has an opportunity to escape reality in her eyes. So Mai is basically the character that we want to be....The Viewer who wants the adventure of of a lifetime, to escape from the boredom that is her life. Mai's has a character thats says "been there......done that". Due to her being royalty, she has adapted a mature and stable personality to these situations of so called edginess on a mission. To her these are mere side steps towards her constant relief of being bored. When we see more of her character with Zuko I'll emphasize on that.
~The Chase~
We see Mai as she exits a tank filled with ridable Firenation Lizards, pursuing the Avatar gang with Azula's ambition to capture the Avatar, Azula sends Mai and Ty Lee to face the two sibling companions of the Avatar while she chases down Aang. Mai and Ty Lee defeat the siblings rather easily (much in part thanks to the siblings' lack of sleep), but are caught off-guard by an airblast from Appa and sent flying into a nearby river. Mai and Ty Lee have amusing moments when their together, Mai is the voice of structure and reason, and Ty Lee is the voice of enthusiasm and naivety. Mai seems to relate to Ty Lee much more than Azula, the best moments of her life seem to be intertwined with Ty Lee and Mai. Her emotional charm seems to shine when she's either in a moody mood or with Ty Lee. People judge Mai since they find her uninteresting for not being as positive and astounding as Ty Lee and others, but the main reason is, they don't see what Mai sees in a whole picture of this adventure, anyone would overreact but she doesn't. But Mai has a special reason to act the way she does, it isn't her character to make a scene and it's not her nature to react to every single detail of a event so rudimentary it would effect no one but ones self in the process, each character has a main trait and substance in this show , Mai's main trait and substance is to keep cool under pressure and not overreact towards the obvious. It's her character. So next time you think Mai's not exciting, think about her who she is first. Because each and every character is different and unique in their own way. Besides she's a foil character, the opposite of Ty Lee. You think she's going to be sun shine and lollipops.
~The Drill~
This time Mai is in a Fire Nation Tank, built to destroy the Walls of Ba Sing Sei, seen in this episode Mai still finds herself being bored by sitting down watching the Tank go through the wall, now this is where the fans start to get annoyed with her character, but this is justified, I bet your thinking, Why is she still bored still when she's now with Azula on a epic mission? Well this is my theory, It's a Running Gag, now each character in this show has a running gag to get a better establishment of a character, for instance. Zuko's depression is a running gag through out the whole series, along with Azula's god complex and Katara's anger issues, these gags for these characters exist for our overall pleasure and sometimes displeasure, to simply sum up ones character with ease instead of going in to a summery of that character. Mai's running gag as a character is to look and feel bored, it's not her entire character, so it's safe to assume Mai isn't all about being "Boring and Emo" it's her running gag. Theres more, Mai seems to complain about her boredom so the show can get to a point where something happens, and she's instantly in action mode, otherwise the show and Mai would be bored. So in a sense Mai helps move the story along and for one reason contributes towards the plot moving forward. Now when she is ordered to stop the siblings once again, she displays a rather humorous character that defies Azula, she refuses to jump in a vat of sludge while her friend Ty Lee is gracious enough to do so, or is completely terrified of Azula she has no choice but to obey. Mai herself seems defiant in this scenario, unwilling to obey Azula for her own pleasure.
I find out that in this episode She's completely self independent individual, self opinionated, Funny, Sarcastic, and no ones puppet. She just does enough to get by, she has to be the most sly character next to Jet. She's not boring or a fun killer, she's looking for fun she joined Azula so that she could have fun. Which any normal person would do in that situation, there best friends taking them on a trip to escape boredom. Her humor and appeal is based on how much her life sucks and how boring most things are in her perspective, she's a deadpan humor character, a comic relif and Action Cannon Fodder, Like Daria from MTV.
~Appa's Lost Days~
In this episode staring Appa the Sky Bison, we see that Mai along with her colleagues discover the Avatars Sky Bison and try to interrogate it with force, along with the Kyoshi Warriors, Mai and her friends engage in combat with the Warriors. Mai once again displays her sense of humor in a deadpan sense, and is fully entertained by her attempts to kill a Kyoshi warrior. Seeing that she takes joy in fighting, this proves her character is only active in personality if she's fighting. Thus making her a bit multi layered. She has a repertoire of emotions and an absolute running gag used for humor, concluding to my theory that Mai is a well written and above average character, she has the makings of a interesting character, the problem is that she lacks the development along with Ty Lee and probably Azula.
~The Earth King~
Mai is seen in the Ba Sing Sei village with Azula and Ty Lee dressed as the Kyoshi Warriors fooling the king. Shows her commitment of Teamwork with her friends.
~The Crossroads of Destiny~
Now she's not as active and major in the story involving Aang and the others, but a comic relief character with Ty Lee for Azula's side of the story. She talks with Ty Lee in a couple of Scenes and Interacts with her for a while, until Azula puts her plan into action and interrupts there conversation, she tells a couple of wisecracks and had one of the most priceless lines of the whole episode.
Mai: Just take the Bear.
Mai won me over with that line if if her appearance was minor.
It's amazing how such a interesting and refreshing character can get so much criticism for being..................................Realistic, Straightforward, Flawed, and Sophisticated.
I think theres a mai in all of us, a mai that we all use when something so obvious comes our way we can't help but roll our eyes and just go with the flow.
Hopefully Mike and Bryan can develop her so she can be more interesting to you guys, but I never got annoyed with Mai's character in the first place, Hell my first Avatar episode was Return of Omashu, and the character with the goth face and hot topic kimono won me the second she said.
Mai: I can't fathom how much I loathe being in this place.
She's awesome and funny.
Just because Mai isn't one of those in your face character doesn't mean she's bad. Mai is just that character thats just not a character that makes a big deal or is over exaggerated, I mean she's a cool character, one of the most normal ones at that, she's not that bad she's really true to her character and you should give her a chance, she and Ty Lee haven't been developed since Book 2, she's really funny and down to earth if you ignore the whole bored mentality.
Thats her appeal, she's not gung ho, or passionate or even filled with spunk, she's a middle man, a closed character and a sophisticated young woman.
Her deadpan personality is a foil to Ty Lee's light hearted one.
Next to Sokka, she's the most straight forwarded character and would be a total loss of a character if she died, and to add that she has so much potential as one of Azula's friends she's the most under developed. Mai's the fearless, clearheaded, always prepped and ready type of warrior but also a lover of action who can't wait to get into the fray. And judging by her decision not to chase Katara and Sokka into the slurry pipe and get her chance to gloat over the sludge-covered Azula and Ty Lee, not the overly zealous, death-seeking type but someone who doesn't overexert herself if she knows it won't lead anywhere.
All I'm asking if you dislike her character at least don't dismiss her traits in Season two, and give her a chance since Mike and Bryan said they would develop her character more this season.
If have to admit her skills with Shuriken and Arrows are cool and she's funny when she needs to be.
Thank you for reading.
Mai-Chan fo Lyfe!!!!!!!!!