History Characters / ChuukaIchiban

* {{Bishonen}}: Arguably one of the most handsome chefs around.

* BareYourMidriff

** This is central to Mao's battle against [[spoiler: Fei]] in the Forbidden City. He, Shell, and Leon agreed that they create their dishes in such a way that they can introduce the Emperor of China to healthy eating habits. After Fei's Neo-Manhan Banquet, he chooses to lead with a few select dishes that will help improve the emperor's appetite.

* ObliviousToLove: {{Downplayed}}. It's not that he's totally insensitive to romantic feelings, it's just that since he's still a very young man, he never experienced romantic love before meeting Mei Li and thus has problems in expressing his love to her. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, Jochi uses this particular flaw to exploit Mao into provoking and fighting him in order to break his spirit.]]

The 12 years old vagrant whom Mao found in the wilderness outside his village. Later, he follows Mao throughout his Journey and becomes his apprentice.

A Former apprentice of Chou Yu in his youth, who left to refine his knife skills. Now armed with the legendary Seven Star Knives, bearing the Underground Society Tattoo, he steps up and demanded the legendary cooking utensils he was promised.

* DefrostingIceQueen: Originally standoffish and no-nonsense, upon joining Mao and his peers he warms for quite some time.

A french chef
* EvilIsPetty: He frames Mao for arson after losing to him in a cooking battle
* FrenchJerk: He belittles anyone when given the chance

* ActuallyIAmHim: To avoid unwanted publicity, Mao covered his Supreme Master Chef's seal with a white cloth and only reveals it when somebody asks him whom he really is. The people just realized that they just met the youngest Supreme Master Chef in China.
* BoringButPractical: In contrast of anyone else seen throughout the show with their often over-the-top performance, Mao's cooking prowess looks rather simple and humble aside for some occasions.
* BrilliantButLazy: Mao spends a good portion of time admiring the cooking of his rivals and tasting their food, rather than cooking. FridgeBrilliance as he often take references on his rivals.
* ChasteHero: Up until he realize he loves Mei Li too.
* ChildProdigy: Mao has a strong grasp of taste and discipline for cooking long before the first episode begins, as he always foresee and tastes her mother's cooking and learned from it.

* GeniusBruiser: When he exposes Chef Lei's heinous plan to turn the restaurant into a brothel once the marriage settled, Lei went all out, wept off the noodle out of the table and attempted to kick straight to Mao's face, only for Mao to catch and throw him with the carrier sliding all the way to the lower ground.

** On one episode, When Mao and company stayed at a house of a rich jade merchant where the chef was slowly poisoning them with addictive Red Mushrooms, Mao made them a "Rainbow Rice Porridge" to wean them from the addiction.
** This is central to Mao's battle against [[spoiler:Fei]] in the Forbidden City. He, Shell and Leon agreed that they create their dishes in such a way that they can introduce the Emperor of China to healthy eating habits. After Fei's Neo-Manhan Banquet, he chooses to lead with a few select dishes that will help improve the emperor's appetite.

** The old cookbook also qualifies.

* WalkingTheEarth: Mao wanders all through China, to try to pick up dishes around the nation.

* AdaptationDyeJob: Is brown-haired in the manga, red-haired in the 1998 anime and [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs reddish brown]] in the 2019 anime.

* DamselInDistress: Was poisoned alongside other Canton cooking officials by the Masked Chef, who feeds them a dish made out of poisonous red frog in a guise of wild pigeon dish. [[spoiler:She gets better]].

* PleaseDontLeaveMe: Said this to Mao when he's embarking on a journey across the whole China, through a letter slipped on a prized headpiece she made for him. Subverted in the anime, where she snuck onto the boat and go alongside Mao through the journey.

The 12 years old vagrant whom Mao found in the wilderness outside his village. Later, he follows Mao throughout his Journey and becoming his apprentice.

* DistressedDude: Was captured by the Masked Chef's henchmen when he's looking for Mao. The Masked Chef appointed him as the judge for the last cour of the competition, putting his final judgement at a high stake.
* TheMillstone: Zig-zagged. A lot of problems and challenges Mao faces is due to his BrattyHalfPint behavior causing it in the first place, and he's not very reliable in the tasks he's supposed to be doing, for instance keeping watch for enemy interference. At the same time, he's helped Mao get a few {{Eureka Moment}}s that proves vital in solving the issue at hand.

The renowned wandering chef from Shanxi region, specializing on Dimsum. He is well known for utilizing a steel staff for multiple cooking uses and marking his win streak on said staff with shining stars.

* ChefOfIron: Is one of few chefs shown to have a strong fighting prowess.
* ChekhovsGunman: [[spoiler:During his travels, he meets Lache, the creator of Seven Star Knives. He confirms that he made two copies of the set and reassure that Leon never kills Lache for the set in the first place]].

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He might be quiet a snob himself, but he always put his chef honor above reason.

* SpiritedCompetitor: The reason why he challenged Mao in the first place is because he loves a good sport.

* WorthyOpponent: Towards Mao upon his defeat. Later on he does shares one with the older and wiser chef Lakon when they tied in a stalemate.

A Former apprentice of Chou Yu in his youth, who left to refine his knife skills. Now armed with the legendary Seven Star Knives, bearing the Underground Society Tattoo, he steps up and demanded for the legendary cooking utensils he was promised.

* DefrostingIceQueen: Originally standoffish and no nonsense, upon joining Mao and his peers he warms for quite some time.

** Receives one during a flashback, when [[spoiler:he kills Lache, the original creator of the Seven Star Knives, or so he thinks]].
** Later on, he gets one after receiving a humiliating defeat in the hands of [[spoiler:Shan An, who sabotaged the competition by overdosing the crab flavour in her soup before the judge tastes Leon's crab dish]].

* TheStoic: He's cold and can be standoffish at times. Upon joining the main cast, he warms off pretty well and becomes more open to suggestion.

The first opponent Mao had to face. He's a former chef and apprentice of Pai, Mao's mother. He swore revenge towards her for the self inflicted injury he accidentally caused. Later on, he reappears during the Shanghai arc finale as Mao's last opponent, still lamenting through his loss.
* TheBusCameBack: He reappeared during the Shanghai arc as Mao's final opponent, [[spoiler:now associated himself with the Underground Cooking Society]].
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: His first thing to do upon his first appearance is to kick out and ransack the Kikkaro Restaurant, claiming it's ownership.
* EyepatchAfterTimeSkip: Sports one of this during his second appearance.

* GoodScarsEvilScars: [[spoiler:As per standard of anyone who joined the Underground Cooking Society.]]

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Upon learning that Pai wanted him to cook alongside him and Mao in one kitchen someday [[spoiler:Shou An finally realize his mistake and telling Mao the only thing that can redeem him from his mistake is to [[RedemptionEqualsDeath pay for it's price and let himself sink to the ocean so that Mao can escape]]]].
* {{Revenge}}: His motivation throughout all of his appearance.
* TakingYouWithMe: Realizing that he was lost, he decided to [[spoiler:blow up the ship alongside everyone on it]].

A traveling pair of chefs specializing in [=Gyoza/Dumplings=]. They were beset to win this year's Canton Dumpling Contest and using any ways to achieve victory.
* CheatersNeverProsper: What did they do to win the competition? They cornered and put down Chou Yu out of the competition, baiting the other competitor into throttling them, then sabotaging the Yosen Shuka's soup so it overdue. Al attempted to sabotage Yosen Shuka's ingredient by adding salt additives on it, but not before Chou Yu exposed him and fails to do so.
* GracefulLoser: Both admitted their defeat and acknowledge Mao's cooking prowess is superior over theirs.
* HeelFaceTurn: After they caught playing dirty and got stalemate by Mao, Karao had a change of heart and has his competing spirit once again. Al even raised Mao to his shoulders and boasts Mao's victory over theirs towards the audience.
* SiblingTeam: They rarely seen apart and seems to support each other.

A masked man from the underworld society who seeks revenge on Chou Yu. He invites Chou Yu's family, Mao, and several other guests and attempts to poison them using a poisonous frog's meat disguised as a dove dish, and then goads Chou Yu into a cooking duel with the antidote as a prize.

* CoveredInScars: Once he removes his mask. Apparently this is a normal thing in the underworld.

* UnderestimatingBadassery: Doesn't see Mao as much of a threat originally. He quickly changes his tune after seeing-and tasting-Mao's cooking.

* ButtMonkey: While he's a serious threat in his introduction, his subsequent appearance he lost much of his threat.

* EvilOldFolks: A man with three-digits age who's a member of the underground cooking society. Otherwise subverted as he doesn't seem to be evil at all. He's haughty at worst but he's also fair and honorable. Since by his admission he only joined the Underground for their secret cooking techniques it's probable that he doesn't subscribe to their "controlling people through cooking" agenda.

A high-ranking member of the dark cooking society. She faces against Mao's group in the Shanghai arc and remains a recurring antagonist afterward.

* CleanCut: Her cut is so clean she can cut open a fish, takes its eggs, and then close the wounds afterward with the fish being completely unharmed.
* ChainPain: One of her favored tool is a chain tipped with a knife. She can use it for fishing, fighting, or anything else.

* MsFanservice: Probably the most blatant example in the series. She wears a surprisingly skimpy outfit for the 19th century standard. She definitely plays it for all its worth.

* DidntSeeThatComing: [[spoiler: Part of the reason his plan to defeat Mao and drive him into joining the Cooking Underworld failed is because instead of the official who was supposed to judge the cooking duel, Meili volunteered to judge the duel, which derailed his plan by making him emotionally struggle with the fact that he had to poison her for his plan to work.]]

* SenseLossSadness: [[spoiler: He has lost his sense of taste, which is why he hates cooking and honed his sense of smell to superhuman levels. Since he can't taste his own food, he relies on his sense of smell to determine his cooking process and this also fuels his hatred for cooking, since he can't even taste his own food and has to watch others enjoy his cooking.]] This proves to be his undoing during his second duel with Mao.

* HoistByHerOwnPetard: How Leon defeated her, by tricking her to ruin her own dish by combining a stir-fried shredded mutton with a soup while he discreetly cooked a different dish.
* MirrorMatch: Her specialty is imitating her opponent's skills perfectly which she would later combine with her unparalleled knowledge regarding spices. This means that her cookings will always be slightly better than her opponent no matter what.

* RedBaron: She has two: Mira the blue eyed tiger and Mira the mirror.
* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Is the only woman among the Five Tigers. Might also count as TwoferTokenMinority since she seems to be the only non-Chinese with her being Indian. [[labelnote:note]] Jochi is of Mongolian descent, though all of Mongolia was firmly under Chinese control at the time.[[/labelnote]]

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: His first appearance consists of him dropping by to the society's headquarter with a legendary cooking tool while complaining about how tiring it is and brushing off the other chefs words, establishing his skill and his carefree attitude.

* BigEater: One of his daily routine is to have an extra large serving of Chicken Noodle to start the day. In one of the extra chapters, Chou Yu manage to singlehandedly win an annual eating competition which took Mao(a big eater himself) and Mei Li a switcheroo trick, and a full day of preparation to ensure the most amount of eating capacity for their stomache to get past into the final, and he STILL had enough room to order 2 extra servings immediately after going home from said competition. Of Chou Yu's 3 personal mantra regarding the skill level of a Chef(cutting, stir frying, eating), Chou Yu puts the most emphasize towards eating and it shows.
* DeusExitMachina: A textbook example. Chou Yu is hyped up as the best chef in Guangzhou, one of few who held the title of super chef, and held the highest position of the active chef of Yosen Shuka. Even after Mao held the super chef title himself, he's far below Chou Yu's level as a chef. When the story is centered around Yosen Shuka, Chou Yu basically have to be removed from the conflict in some ways so Mao can step in to solve the problem and grow, otherwise he would solve it too easilly. This is very apparent during the Dumpling competition, and Chou Yu's past arc where the antagonist essentially cheats to remove Chou Yu from the equation. This is even lampshaded during the Chinese vs French confrontation arc, where Chou Yu basically said had Mao was not there to take the spotlight, he'd personally deal with it himself.

** Later on he got poisoned by a scorpion [[spoiler:snuck by the Masked Chef as the act of revenge]]

* OppositesAttractRevenge: Chou Yu and [[spoiler:Li Hua]], who had their ultimate falling out when they competed for the hand of [[spoiler:Mei Ga]], Mei Li's mother. Only shown in a flashback, but their hatred moved on to sixteen years.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: He let Mao to leave alongside Sanche if he thinks his training course is too rough for him.

* SternTeacher: Acts one for Mao and Sanche prior. Latter he did the same for Shirou.
* SupremeChef: He one of the few people who held the title of Super Chef, so it's a given.
* TheComicallySerious: Is always drawn with his sharp, stern face regardless of what he's doing at the moment. Even when he is put on a rather lighthearted situation such as teasing Mao's inexperience or ordering an outrageous amount of food.

* PutOnABus: Dissapears from the story early on when he returns to his father's restaurant in Shanghai. He makes a comeback during the Shanghai arc to help Mao against the Underground cooking society.

* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Is deadly afraid with knives after a childhood incident where he almost cut his own finger. Considering he aspires to be a chef, you can see the problem. Thankfully Mao helps him overcome this and by his next appearance he has seemingly get over this fear completely.

* KnifeNut: Bears the legendary Seven Star Knives. Even without them, he is still highly skilled with even an ordinary knife.

* [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair You Gotta Have Green Hair]]: His hair is Dark Green, thought it's not far from black.

* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Is the only woman among the Five Tigers. Might also count as TwoferTokenMinority too since she seems to be the only non-Chinese with her being Indian. [[labelnote:note]] Jochi is of a Mongolian descent, though all of Mongolia was firmly under Chinese control at this time.[[/labelnote]]

* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Is the only woman among the Five Tigers. Might also count as TwoferTokenMinority too since she seems to be the only non-Chinese with her being Indian. [[labelnote]] Jochi is of a Mongolian descent, though all of Mongolia was firmly under Chinese control at this time.[[/labelnote]]

* RedBaron: Mira the blue eyed tiger.
* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Is the only woman among the Five Tigers. Might also count as TwoferTokenMinority too since she seems to be the only non-Chinese with her being Indian. [[labelnote:Explanation]] Jochi is of a Mongolian descent, though all of Mongolia was firmly under Chinese control at this time.[[/labelnote]]

* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Is the only woman among the Five Tigers. Might also count as TwoferTokenMinority too since she seems to be the only non-Chinese with her being Indian. [[labelnote:Explanation] Jochi is of a Mongolian descent, though all of Mongolia was firmly under Chinese control at this time.[[/labelnote]]

* WorthyOpponent: Considers Shell as this.

* MirrorMatch: Her specialty is imitating her opponent's skills perfectly which she would later combined with her unparalleled knowledge regarding spices. This means that her cookings will always be slightly better than her opponent.

* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Is the only woman among the Five Tigers.

* BrilliantButLazy: The other tiger chefs noted that Ensei is, potentially, the best chef of them all, if not for his habit of acting like a vagabond.

* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: Manage to find a legendary cooking tool All by his lonesome offscreen.

* DidntSeeThatComing: [[spoiler: Part of the reason his plan to defeat Mao and drive him into joining the Cooking Underworld is because instead of the official who was supposed to judge the cooking duel, Meili volunteered to judge the duel, which derailed his plan by making him emotionally struggle with the fact that he had to poison her for his plan to work.]]

* VillainousCrush: [[spoiler: To Meili.]] It's assumed this was an act as part of his role as ''TheCorrupter'' but he was truly in love with her and hated the fact that for his plan to work he had to harm her in the process.

* VillainousCrush: [[spoiler: To Meili.]] It's assumed this was an act as part of his role as [[TheCorrupter]] but he was truly in love with her and hated the fact that for his plan to work he had to harm her in the process.

* SenseLossSadness: [[spoiler: He has lost his sense of taste, which is why he hates cooking and honed his sense of smell to superhuman levels. Since he can't taste his own food, he relies on his sense of smell to determine his cooking process and this also fuels his hatred for cooking, since he can't even taste his own food and has to watch others enjoy his cooking.]] This proves o be his undoing during his second duel with Mao.

* GracefulLoser: [[spoiler: Willingly admitted defeat during his second duel against Mao rather than forcing Riko who acted as one of the judges to drop the verdict since the loser was meant to take their own life.

* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: Manage to find a legendary cooking tool Al by his lonesome offscreen.

* ChainPain: One of her favored too*l is a chain tipped with a knife. She can use it for fishing, fighting, or anything else.

* CleanCut: Her cut is so clean she can cut open a fish, takes its eggs, and then close the wounds afterward.

* CoolOldGuy: Surprisingly fair and honorable despite being a dark chef.

* ChainPain: One of her favored tool is a chain tipped with a knife. She can use it for fishing, fighting, or anything else.

* PlayingWithFire: Considered the best at flame control, even among the dark chefs.

[[folder: The Dumpling Brothers (Al and Karao)]]
A traveling pair of chefs specializing in [=Gyoza/Dumplings=]. They were beset to win this year's Canton Dumpling Contest and using any ways to achieve victory.
* CheatersNeverProsper: What did they do to win the competition? They cornered and put down Chou Yu out of the competition, baiting the other competitor into throttling them, then sabotaging the Yosen Shuka's soup so it overdue. Al attempted to sabotage Yosen Shuka's ingredient by adding salt additives on it, but not before Chou Yu exposed him and fails to do so.
* GracefulLoser: Both admitted their defeat and acknowledge Mao's cooking prowess is superior over theirs.
* HeelFaceTurn: After they caught playing dirty and got stalemate by Mao, Karao had a change of heart and has his competing spirit once again. Al even raised Mao to his shoulders and boasts Mao's victory over theirs towards the audience.
* SiblingTeam: They rarely seen apart and seems to support each other.
* WorthyOpponent: Karao sees Mao as one upon their defeat.
[[/folder]]