Maggie Mui

Infobox animanga character
name = Maggie Mui
series = R.O.D


caption =
first = Read or Dream
last = R.O.D the TV
creator =
voiced by = Hiromi Hirata (Japanese)
Sara Lahti (TV, English)
nickname = Ma-nee, Mags
alias =
age = 20 (ROD the TV)
gender = female
born =
death =
occupation = Detective; Bodyguard to Nenene Sumiregawa (R.O.D the TV only)
title =
relatives = Michelle Cheung (older sister), Anita King (younger sister)

nihongo|Maggie Mui|マギー・ムイ|Magī Mui is one of the characters in the "R.O.D" series of manga and anime created by Hideyuki Kurata. She is a papermaster and one of the three "Paper Sisters" which make the central trio of the "Read or Dream" series of comics, and also one of the main characters of the TV series, "R.O.D the TV".

Name Etymology

Maggie's surname (which can also be spelt as Mei or Moy, depending on the system used) means "plum" or "prune" and is a common one in Hong Kong and the neighboring Chinese province of Guangdong.

The Paper Sisters' names are notably similar to those of the real-life actresses who starred in the 1996 Hong Kong film "The Heroic Trio": Maggie Cheung, Michelle Yeoh, and Anita Mui.

Character Background

In both "Read or Dream" and "R.O.D the TV," Maggie lives with her adopted sisters, Michelle and Anita. Together, they run a detective agency in Hong Kong, called either the Paper Sisters' Detective Company ("Dream"), or the Three Sisters' Detective Agency ("the TV"). Maggie is the "middle" sister, aged 19 in the comic and 20 in the TV series. Maggie's past before starting the detective company with Michelle and Anita is mostly a mystery. Her history differs somewhat between comic and television series.

Read or Dream

A flashback story in volume 4 reveals that Maggie used to work as an agent for Dokusensha (the same Chinese "publishing company" that appears in various R.O.D stories as the antagonists to the British Library). She and fellow papermaster Michelle Cheung are given a "special assignment": raise and protect young Anita King. Maggie takes on the household chores like cooking while Michelle nominates herself the official Dokusensha liaison. They both struggle to reach out to reticent, angry, book-hating Anita, but eventually, doing their best to nurture her, Anita reads a book that both Maggie and Michelle love, and her own papermaster powers are awakened.

At that point, Dokusensha comes to take Anita away from Maggie and Michelle, so that they can train Anita as their newest Paper Master agent. Michelle and Maggie are declared to be inferior papermasters and are fired, but paid for their "services" with a blank check. Maggie and Michelle attack Dokusensha's Hong Kong Headquarters, presenting their checks; in the "amount" area on the check, they both have written "Anita." After a fight that results in the destruction of the headquarters, Michelle and Maggie rescue Anita and take her home with them. Michelle decides they can put their espionage training and combat skills to work as private detectives.

R.O.D the TV

According to episode 10 ("A Christmas Carol"), she and her sisters initially believe that in Christmas 2003, she and Michelle on a mission for Dokusensha, and they coincidentally meet the homeless Anita and decide to take her in and live together. Much later, it reveals that Maggie and Michelle were genetically altered by Dokusensha to become papermasters, and then assigned to work with Anita (who in this version was created by the British Library and later kidnapped by Dokusensha). Their memories of their former lives before the alteration were erased. Maggie does not hear these explanations, but in episode 20 she is provided a book by Joker's assistant Wendy Earhart, containing a report on the sisters' history. Her initial response to reading the book is to collapse in despair, but she is eager to re-establish the "sisterhood" when she meets with Anita and Michelle later on. They resume their partnership and vow to stop the British Library's plans together.

Appearance and Personality

Maggie is the tallest of the three sisters, standing at 185 cm (6'1") and has short black, unruly hair that is longer on top than the bottom. Her dark eyes often depicted with a reddish tinge. She dresses for comfort, usually in baggy cargo pants and sweatshirts, oxfords, or t-shirts. On formal occasions, she wears an old-fashioned-looking man's suit. Like her sisters, Maggie also has an elaborate fighting costume--in her case, a long white coat with a Chinese collar and blue pants that resemble the bottom part of a martial artist's gi--with a black combat leotard underneath. This costume is made of paper, and if her powers are disrupted, she is left wearing only the combat leotard and a pair of black slippers.

Maggie is a "typical" middle sister, balancing Anita King's fiery temper and Michelle Cheung's bossiness with her own realism and straightforwardness, and she often tries to keep the other two from fighting. Maggie says little, giving an impression of shyness, but when she does speak, she is direct and appears unafraid to ask for what she wants. Being reclusive, Maggie spends much of her time "nesting:" reading and relaxing in tight cozy spots. She even sleeps in a closet.

Maggie's placid exterior mask a complex and conflicted personality. Maggie is brave and decisive in battle, but many ordinary situations leave her baffled and uncertain, especially social situations. Michelle describes her in "The TV" episode 1 as "unsociable," and Anita mentions several times in "Dream" that Maggie has no friends. Maggie blushes frequently, indicating she is easily embarrassed. While she will cry openly if upset, she cannot speak of her hurt except to enunciate the sound of her crying (literally, "Sob. Sob."). She is soft-spoken and speaks in a monotone, even if she physically displays emotion. Affection from others leaves her frozen and blushing, especially when offered by anyone other than her sisters.

Although Maggie is a force to be reckoned with in combat, has deductive skills appropriate to her occupation, and contributes to the domestic front via excellent cooking, Maggie has lamented (in "Dream" vol. 1) that she has "no useful skills." Michelle and Anita deny this wholeheartedly, though on one or two occasions in "the TV" Anita has intentionally attempted to hurt Maggie's feelings by calling her "useless" (usually apologizing later). This lack of confidence is one of Maggie's more notable weaknesses.

Maggie's tastes in literature reflect both the stoic and emotional sides of her personality; both series show she has a fondness for the concise and often depressing if thoughtful works of Ernest Hemingway (in "Dream" she offers "For Whom the Bell Tolls" as an example of humanity's worth); at the same time she enjoys romance novels, for example the pulp romances written by Wupin.

Powers and skills

Maggie's preferred paper manipulation is puppetry, the creation of "familiars" or animated paper creatures. The familiars are fully combat capable and the larger ones are strong enough to be able to break through stone walls. One of her signature creatures is a giant paper phoenix or dragon, which she uses to transport herself and roughly up to four other people. She can fly quite far distances with the dragon, as she apparently uses it to carry herself, Michelle, and Anita from Tokyo to London. When not supporting fights with her puppets, Maggie provides strong defense, capable of creating broad, explosion proof walls and spheres. She uses these powers to protect others more often than herself, especially her sisters and Nenene Sumiregawa. Her powers are probably the most visibly diverse of the three sisters (though not as varied or powerful as, say, Yomiko Readman's).

In addition to her paper mastery, Maggie is quite strong (she can carry both of her sisters and run at the same time) and has very fast reflexes (catching bullets; dodging attacks from superior Paper Master Sonny Wong).

Relationships

Anita King

Maggie is very protective of Anita ever since she and Michelle found her and became her "sisters"; she does not hesitate to risk her life to protect Anita and does so several times (e.g., "The TV" episodes 5 and 11). Maggie bonds with Anita in "Dream," when she cares for Anita when she gets sick, spoon-feeding her and assuring Anita she won't be left alone. Anita looks up to Maggie, calling her strong and compliments her when she does well, but likewise Anita harshly chides Maggie when Maggie fails to live up to Anita's sometimes unrealistic expectations. When Maggie learns of their strange past in "the TV" and finds Anita shortly thereafter, Maggie clings to Anita and refuses to let go until Anita agrees that their sisterhood is not broken.

Michelle Cheung

Maggie respects and admires her older sister deeply, describing her in late episodes of "the TV" as strong and warm. Despite their extreme differences in personality, they get along very well and love books more than anything else they own and, in "Dream" vol 1, vehemently refuse to allow Anita to throw away any of the reading material they have accumulated over the years. They rarely fight, and if they do, it's usually over relatively frivolous things like who gets to read a new book first. Michelle can be a bit domineering to Maggie (in "Dream" vol 3, when Maggie's personality temporarily shifts, Michelle complains she wants Maggie to be "the old Maggie, submissive to me!") but Maggie will still assert herself if she feels it necessary.

Nenene Sumiregawa

Early on in "The TV," Maggie notes, " [Sumiregawa-] Sensei is scary." Nonetheless, out of the sisters, she seems to grow closest to Nenene and gets past Nenene's initial aggression very quickly. Maggie usually stays home to look after Nenene while Anita and Michelle go outside, and Nenene apparently conscripts Maggie into duties like giving her backrubs (episode 8). When Nenene appears hurt at the end of episode 9, Maggie supports her. In episode 19, Wendy Earhart deftly emotionally tears Maggie apart by making Maggie choose between protecting Nenene and giving Nenene up to save Anita, whom Maggie believes is in danger. Nenene calms Maggie and gives herself up willingly to save Maggie any anxiety she can, and when Wendy expresses surprise that Nenene came willingly, Nenene notes she believes Maggie is incapable of duplicity (Maggie blushes in response).

External links

* [http://www.rodthetv.com/main.html Official English R.O.D the TV site]
* [http://www.sonymusic.co.jp/Animation/ROD/index.html R.O.D -THE TV- Official site] jp icon
* [http://readordie.wikia.com/ Read or Die Wiki] : an English language wiki designed to cover all aspects of the Read or Die universe