Mao (Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice)

Mao is the anti-hero from the video game Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice.

He was voiced by Hiromi Hirata in the Japanese version, and by Vic Mignogna in the English version.

Personality

Mao is a typical Demon: he does not care about the problems of others, will often take what he wants, and uses force to rule over others. His blatant disregard of rules earned him the spot of #1 student in the Academy. He has not once shown up in class, nor has he ever participated in any school activities, such as homework or volunteering. He keeps the most secrets in his Heart Bank than any other demon, making him #1 Honor Student. He has a brain with an Evil Quotient of 1.8 million, and uses it to conduct experiments and evil research. Whenever he finds a subject for experimentation, his glasses will fog over and he'll start breathing heavily. This tendency and the bizarre nature of his research has caused many to see him as a complete and total pervert. If it's for the sake of reaching his goal, he'll ignore everything and charge straight ahead.

He is willing to do whatever it takes to defeat his father, even if it seems stupid or is something he hates to do. Despite his hatred for humans and heroes, he continually studies them, even keeping an observation journal to record his data. He believes that by learning about them, he can find a method to overthrow his father and take the title of Overlord for himself.

Because Mao stole Almaz's "hero" title, it is slowly manifesting within him. His speech is becoming more normal and "human like". As the game goes on, he slowly turns towards good, and considers the other people around to be friends, but never admits it. In this way, Mao's personality is similar to Laharl's, especially considering he actually does have feelings for Raspberyl, but will never admit it, similar to how Laharl will never admit caring for Flonne, although it's obvious.

Trivia

• Most of the demons in Evil Academy store their hearts in the Netherworld Heart Bank, which keeps a demon's secrets and true feelings stored away so that demons can perform acts of evil without restraint. As soon as Mao realizes that Almaz's title is worthless, he makes several trips into the Heart Bank in order to remove the title. Within the Heart Bank, the characters often find items related to Mao's past or residents that make up Mao's personality. The most important ones look like palette-swapped versions of Mao.
• Mao's True Heart: Represents Mao's true feelings, differentiated from Mao by his calm tone of voice and green eyes and jacket. He is the gatekeeper of the Heart Vault in the deepest part of Mao's heart. Unlike Mao, he is often patient in dealing with others, including Mao himself. He tells Mao that no matter how much he claims he wants his heart to open, it will never open unless he truly wills it to. His appearance toward the end of the game will depend on the ending the player aims for. In the bad ending, he makes one final attempt to stop Mao from destroying the Human world only to fail. If the player aims for a good ending, he, under the assumption that he is Mao, will appear before Almaz after his death to return his title, calling Almaz his friend.
• Dark Mao: Represents all the darkness and hatred in Mao's heart, differentiated by his deep evil tone and purple eyes and jacket. He is available in the game as one of the NPCs in Mao's heart, telling Mao to let him out or to simply annoy him. During bouts of extreme anger and rage, Mao will make use of his evil powers, which is shown in the bad ending to be powerful enough to wipe out the Netherworld, Celestia, and the Human World. However, if the player aims for the good ending, he will appear outside of Mao's body and try to take it over himself, only to be defeated.​
• Saucy Mao: Represents the part of Mao that likes hot sauce, differentiated by their French accents and orange eyes and jacket and appear in groups. They, like Mao, believe that hot sauce should always be used in eggs and that anyone who uses salt and pepper must be killed. As soon as they sense this from Almaz, they attempt to kill him, but Mao is able to destroy them. However, their defeat causes Mao to suddenly hate hot sauce.
• Mao Who Says Dad: Represents the part of Mao that is traumatized by the death of his father, differentiated by their green eyes and jacket and like the Saucy Maos, appear in groups. They constantly utter the word "Dad", which really bothers Mao. Unlike the Saucy Maos, though, their defeat does not cause the removal of Mao's trauma.
• Savvy Mao: Differentiated by his blue eyes and jacket. He tries to prevent Mao from returning to his normal self after Almaz pulled the plug on his heart, not wanting Mao's heart to continuing living with a scar or being hurt again. However, Raspberyl believed that Mao should return to the way he was, believing that Mao is not the type to run away from his past scars. She, alongside Almaz, defeats him and helps Almaz return Mao to his normal self.