 Mao Isara
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An amiable person whose forte is communication. He is also good at kneeling down on the ground. Mao is cheerful and sociable, but has a tendency to involve himself in the troubles of others. He is willing to take on a task even knowing it is difficult, and rather considers it rewarding. With an refreshing and sweet singing voice, his performances are vibrant and cheerful.
A member of STARMAKER PRODUCTION's Trickstar. He would like to make proof of leadership by guiding the people around him. He has been receiving advice from various people on how to train his physical strength and improve his dance skills.[2]
I'm Mao Isara, member of Trickstar, under StarPro! Dexterity is my strength, but whenever I struggle with it, my fellow unitmates are there to encourage me and help me overcome various difficulties. Because the best thing about Trickstar is our teamwork! As the Student Council President of Yumenosaki Academy, I hope to rush into the idol industry full speed ahead, and aim for the top on my own two feet, so please support me![2]
MakotoUs Trickstar have lots of pride in our magician, Mao Isara-kun! On top of being a great dancer and singer, Isara-kun is what keeps each unique member of Trickstar together. Speaking of mediation, Isara-kun is also the Student Council President of the school we attend, Yumenosaki Academy. He's always looking out for others and lending a hand when help is needed. I rely on him too, but he's also my companion, y'know? I'll do my best to help him out, too![2]
Ensemble Stars! Introduction
Mao is a reliable boy who loves taking care of others and never fails to lend a helping hand, even when he complains about it. Even though he is the student council's treasurer, he's also a member of the unit Trickstar, and the two groups often go head-to-head against each other. He doesn't like getting into trouble, but always finds himself dragged into it.
Being a student council member, he does everything flawlessly. He doesn't like being the center of attention, so he often provides support from behind the scenes. Childhood friends with his neighbor Ritsu, who affectionately nicknames him "Maa-kun."
Appearance
Mao stands at average height and has light green eyes. He has red-violet hair with long bangs that he keeps pinned back with a yellow clip. His hair reaches down to his chin and is styled somewhat messily.
On stage, Mao wears Trickstar's uniform, which includes a red plaid jacket worn over a white shirt and black pants. The jacket’s sleeves are rolled up to three-quarter length, revealing black cuffs with a golden stripe. The lapels as well as the collar and shoulders of the jacket are black, detailed with golden trimming on the edges. Golden tassels fall from his left shoulder. On his right, golden bands connect his shoulder to a four-pointed star on his lapel. He wears a magenta belt, with the end of it falling over as it has not been properly tucked into a belt loop. A red bandana hangs from his belt and drapes down at his right side. It has a black stripe along the bottom and is dotted with tiny silver sparkles. Over that, a golden beaded chain rests on his hips. An outlined star design is attached to the chain as it hangs on his right side. A thick red stripe runs along the sides of his pant legs, with the ends being tucked into his high-top sneakers. The sneakers are black and grey with red detailing, including a Velcro strap over his magenta laces. Mao wears a black fingerless glove on his right hand and magenta and white bangles on his right. He also wears a gold necklace of a four-pointed star— a reference to the four members of Trickstar.
On warmer days, his casual outfit consists of a grey short-sleeved button-down over a white T-shirt with black skinny jeans. The over-shirt has black buttons left undone to reveal the shirt beneath it, which has a yellow rectangle over the chest and white text inside that says “DUNK!” The over-shirt also has navy blue pockets with white buttons over the chest, as well as a navy collar and a thick navy stripe along the end of his sleeves. Mao wears a necklace, but it is tucked underneath his T-shirt. He also wears a bracelet that has two black bands and a red wristwatch on his left hand. His sneakers are black with red accents and laces.
On colder days, his casual outfit consists of a grey high-neck sweater over a tri-colored jacket. The jacket is black on the top, white in the middle, and red at the bottom. A thin bright chartreuse stripe divides the black and white segments across the chest. Under this stripe on the left side is a smaller, thicker red stripe with a silver ring attached to it. The sleeves of the jacket are all black aside from small red detailing at the cuffs. The jacket’s pockets are cut horizontally on the red segment of the jacket; they are black with a silver zipper. The zipper for the jacket is chartreuse. On the collar of Mao’s sweater is a small vertical chartreuse rectangle, while the bottom of the sweater has small black and white rectangles on both the central left and right sides. He wears this with dark grey jeans and white sneakers.
Ensemble Stars! Appearance
Mao stands at a slightly shorter than average height and has light green eyes. He has red-violet hair that is tied back from the bangs in a small ponytail, fastened with a yellow clip. His hair reaches down to his chin and is styled somewhat messily.
He wears the school uniform with the top button of his white shirt undone, as well as a red-violet hoodie under the school's blazer. Mao also wears a blue tie, a brown belt, and brown loafers.
On stage, Mao wears Trickstar's uniform, which includes a red plaid jacket worn over a white V-neck shirt and matching red plaid pants. The jacket’s sleeves are rolled up to his elbows, revealing white cuffs. The lapels as well as the sides and shoulders of the jacket are black, detailed with four tiny golden stars on the edge of the left lapel and golden trimming on the shoulders. He wears a pink strap with a white stripe attached to the left side of his pink belt. A black bandana is tied around his waist and drapes down at his right side. It has a white stripe along the bottom and is dotted with tiny silver sparkles. Over that, multiple thin golden bands rest on his hips, one which has an outlined star design attached to the right side. His pants are rolled up to just below the knee, revealing white cuffs similar to his jacket. He wears pink high-top sneakers with white laces and the tops folded down to display the shoes’ black lining. The outside of the shoes features a star motif with the name "Trickstar" embroidered underneath it. He wears a black glove with red plaid accents on his right hand and a pink wristband on his left. Mao also wears a gold necklace featuring an abstract design which may be interpreted as a combination of the letters "T" and "S" (from Trickstar), with a star cut out in the middle.
In the previous school year— Mao’s first year—, his hair was shorter than his current style. The length reached to just below his ears rather than to his chin.
Personality
Mao is very friendly and outgoing to anyone he talks to, although he also acts as the rational mediator when things are getting too out of hand. He readily accepts most work, even if it goes beyond what he's physically capable of doing alone. Although this passionate, hard-working attitude is one of his strong suits, many of his faults lie in it as well.
Due to this behavior, Mao tends to let himself get walked over, as he never wants to let people down or fail to meet their expectations. His feeling of wanting to be good enough for everyone heavily affects his self-esteem, and when his abilities are challenged or seen as replaceable, it leaves him in a rough state of insecurity and sadness, making him feel that he is not the "strong" child everyone expects him to be. Growing up, his parents spoiled his sister much more than him, as they believed Mao to be reliable and would be fine without their attention.
For this reason, he often keeps his own feelings locked away out of fear of burdening people or making them worry, though he truly is thankful when people worry for him. However, this also causes him to be sensitive to others when they're feeling the same way, and if he can, will attempt to lighten their burden by holding it on his own shoulders. He has a habit of being quite a pessimist and having low self-esteem. According to Ritsu, he was a crybaby when he was younger.
He is incredibly self-sufficient and often gathers information for Trickstar and helps them out from behind the scenes, to the point that he acted much like a producer to his own unit prior to Anzu's arrival. He has commented on himself being much alike the "bass in a band"—difficult to notice, but the pillars that hold things together. He is easily embarrassed, can quickly feel flustered with Ritsu's overly affectionate behavior, and gets overly concerned with how he behaves around Anzu. Even Eichi likes to tease Mao often, saying Mao acts so earnest and cute that Eichi just can't help but want to pick on him.
Mao is really popular with his underclassmen, as seen in his interactions with younger characters like Shinobu and Midori, who are consistently vocal about their respect and admiration for him. But he is also very well-respected by his upperclassmen, and both Eichi and Keito made it clear that there was no one else in his year that was suitable to inherit the student council president position from Eichi, even if Mao himself felt unsure about taking on the role.
Overall, Mao is naturally a mood-lifting and supportive kind of person, and will always do his best to help and watch his friends succeed.
Etymology
"Mao" is a name mostly given to girls. The kanji in Mao's name mean (真) "truth, faith" and (緒) "the start of something, to bond together". As for Isara, the expression 衣更 in itself means "seasonal change of clothing, changing one's clothes for the season", in which the kanji separately mean (衣) "cloth, fabric" and (更) "to renew, to change".
Mao's name means cat in Chinese (猫), which Ritsu once joked with him over.[3] Subaru’s nickname for him, Sally (Sarii), is a reference to Sally the Witch, as Mao is often praised as a magician who can do anything. The title of Mao’s solo song, "MAGICIAN’S PLAY!", also relates to this theme. Tsumugi commented that during the main storyline, Mao uses the same magic as Switch does.[4] When fine fought Trickstar in DDD, Mao was pit against Wataru for both being "magicians".
Family
- For more information, see Mao Isara/Family.
Trivia
- Mao's autograph consists of only his first name, rendered in Roman letters. The style is carelessly whimsical.
- In the light novel, Capriccio of Youth, Anzu mentions that Mao is so pretty she almost thinks he's a girl at first.
- According to Ritsu, he was a crybaby when he was younger.
- He is allergic to pollen.
- Ritsu is the root cause of Mao's fear of sharp objects (aichmophobia).[5]
- When Mao feels uncomfortable, he will touch his neck.[6]
- He is the youngest and shortest member of Trickstar.
- He is also both the youngest and shortest third year in Ensemble Stars!! (excluding Anzu)
- Mao is the only one in Trickstar who has a sibling (younger sister).
- When Mao took over as student council president, he had to replace Eichi's chair in the student council office as it was so tall his feet didn't even touch the ground.
- In Rockin' Star, it's revealed that he can play the guitar, and in Koga's idol story, Wolf Will Rock You 2, it's revealed that he can also play the bass.
- He has a tendency to prostrate himself in order to resolve a situation[7].
- Mao was originally a "gender-swapped" version of Mai Anjo from Ensemble Girls!
- Growing up, his parents spoiled his sister much more than him, as they believed Mao to be reliable and thought he would be fine even without their attention.
- He can play soccer and used to be quite good when he was younger.
- Ritsu is able to successfully hypnotize Mao and put him to sleep using the sound of his singing voice.
- Mao really admires manga protagonists, and has mentioned several times that he's always wanted to be like them.
- He is one of the two characters who hasn't called Ritsu's sweets disgusting, the other being Rei. He describes them as "novel".
- He is one of the few characters who knows that Keito is Mizuhanome-sensei.
- He has been helping the Student Council since his 1st year, but it took him a while to join.
- During his 1st year, he was one of the top students in his class.[8]
- Mao's name means cat in Chinese (猫), which Ritsu once joked with him over[9].
- Subaru’s nickname for him, Sally (Sarii), is a reference to Sally the Witch and Mao is often praised as a magician who can do anything. The title of Mao’s solo song, "MAGICIAN’S PLAY!", also relates to this theme. Tsumugi has commented that Mao uses the same magic as Switch does in Revenge Match - in (!) main story, when fine fought trickstar in DDD, Mao was pit against Wataru for both being "magicians".
- Mao always gets a lot of chocolate during Valentine's.
- Mao sits next to Subaru in the 3-A classroom. It is said that he is used to sharing his textbook with Subaru, who forgets to bring his own more often than not.[10]
- According to Natsume, Mao is a type of person who will not easily fall for magic.[11]
Voice Actor Comment
"Isara Mao-kun, the character I was in charge of, is a second year student and a member of the Basketball Club. He's the kind of character who, just when you thought he was being a little blunt and unsociable, turns out to be surprisingly friendly and attentive. I guess that's why he seems to have a lot of lines which suggest a worrywart tendency (laugh)." (Enstars!)
"" * (Enstars!!)
 Mao Isara
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| Sub Story • Management Story • Mini Event • Intimate Event • Greeting Event • Produce Course | ||
| Trickstar | Hokuto Hidaka • Subaru Akehoshi • Makoto Yuuki • Mao Isara | |