Mao is a minor antagonist in the first season of Code Geass, appearing in episodes 14 - 16. A former acquaintance of C.C., he also possesses the power of Geass. Whereas Lelouch can compell others to obey his commands, Mao can read minds and predict others' actions.
Japanese Voice: Takeshi Kusao
English Voice: Ezra Weisz
History[]
Mao was originally an orphan from the Chinese Federation and met C.C when he was only six years old. At that time, he formed a contract with C.C and gained his own Geass: the power to read people's minds. However, Mao found himself unable to focus his power at such a tender age and became bombarded with the thoughts of everyone within 500 metres of him. Unable to shut them out, Mao was driven insane by the experience. In order to compensate for his uncontrolled power, Mao wears sunglasses to disguise his eyes and headphones which repeatedly play recorded words of encouragement and gratitude from C.C. in order to block out the thoughts around him.
Mao's Geass made him an outcast, so C.C., being the only person whose mind he couldn't read, kept him company. As a result of his lack of human contact, Mao is a fairly childish person, a fact only amplified by his insanity. He refuses to accept that C.C. doesn't love him, and pursues her relentlessly. Mao's mind-reading Geass makes him adept at playing on the insecurities of others to manipulate them. He has a habit of clapping when talking to others, often for no apparent reason which only further signifies his insanity.
Mao makes his first appearance when Shirley Fenette goes to visit her father's grave who died during the Battle of Narita because of the Black Knights. Using his Geass, he exploited Shirley for using her father's death for an excuse to kiss Lelouch and to get attention. He called her a girl who 'fishes for attention'. He was able to read Shirley and Lelouch's mind. He explains to Shirley that Lelouch has no feelings for her and he already had someone other than her whom he loved dearly.
When Lelouch spots Shirley, he encounters Mao who offers a game of chess. Ultimately, Mao won due to reading Lelouch's mind with his Geass ability. Mao confuses Shirley into believing that killing Lelouch then herself will atone for their sins. Lelouch reasons with Shirley that Mao is just using her and how meaningless this all is. Shirley accidentally shoots Lelouch near the side of his head and it makes him drop Shirley's photos of her and Lelouch. Shirley, more confused, decides to stop this. Mao, dissatisfied, goes back into their cable car, planning to kill them "the old boring way". C.C. reactivates the cable car with Mao inside, moving back down the hill. Mao sees C.C. and promises to come for her soon.
When Mao finally finds C.C. in Area 11, she tries to get rid of him after Lelouch muses that killing him would have been more humane. However, she fails and Lelouch concocts a plan to save her. He broadcasts himself on a monitor in front of Mao, playing with his head by saying that C.C. belongs to him. This makes him act wildly and attacks the monitor. Suddenly, he hears thoughts everywhere then finds police forces surrounding him. He finds Lelouch disguised as one and explains his plan in his thoughts. The broadcast was all an anticipated recording to keep Mao distracted so Lelouch could use the police to get rid of Mao and save C.C. at the same time. Unfortunately, since Lelouch ordered the police to "shoot" instead of "kill", Mao survives with the help of Britannia's advances in medicine.
Death[]
In the episode "Nunally Held Hostage", Mao escapes from custody and then kidnaps and holds Nunnally hostage in the lower levels of the Ashford Academy, hoping to lure out and eliminate Lelouch in an elaborate game. Lelouch collaborates with Suzaku and devises a plan in which he would distract Mao while Suzaku rescued Nunnally, and then uses his Geass on himself to forget the plan so that Mao wouldn't be able to uncover it by reading his mind. After his defeat, Mao frantically reads Suzaku's mind, revealing the true fate of his father. Lelouch angrily silences Mao permanently with his Geass, and as Mao tries to escape, C.C. appears and tells him that she did love him (as Mao could not speak at the time his facial expression would imply joy at this) and then tells him to wait for her in C's world, she then kills him with a silenced pistol to the neck.