Characters / Chūka Ichiban!

Protagonist

Liu Mao Xing

Liu Mao Xing is a 13 years old prodigal chef from the Kikkaro Restaurant of Szechuan and the protagonist of the series.

• Actually, I Am Him: To avoid unwanted publicity, Mao covered his Supreme Master Chef's seal with a white cloth and only reveals it when somebody asks him who he really is. The people just realized that they just met the youngest Supreme Master Chef in China.
• Boring, but Practical: In contrast to 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.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Mao spends a good portion of time admiring the cooking of his rivals and tasting their food, rather than cooking. Fridge Brilliance as he often takes references on his rivals.
• Chaste Hero: Up until he realizes he loves Mei Li too.
• Child Prodigy: Mao has a strong grasp of taste and discipline for cooking long before the first episode begins, as he always foresees and tastes her mother's cooking and learned from it.
• Despair Event Horizon: Nearly crosses this after his first match with Jochi, which is then thankfully averted by Fei who snaps him out of it.
• Generation Xerox:
  • His cooking prowess is inherited through his mother by blood.
  • In the latter episodes of the anime, flashback!Pai gets a major makeover that makes her look similar to Mao. Thought it could have been her when she was younger.
• Genius Bruiser: When he exposes Chef Lei's heinous plan to turn the restaurant into a brothel once the marriage settled, Lei went all out, wept the noodle out of the table, and attempted to kick straight into Mao's face, only for Mao to catch and throw him with the carrier sliding all the way to the lower ground.
• If It Tastes Bad, It Must Be Good for You: Subverted. Mao creates great-tasting dishes with the consumer's health in mind.
  • In 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 Fei in the Forbidden City. He, Shell, and Leon agreed that they create their dishes in such a way that they could 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.
• Improbable Age: Mao was only 13 years old when he finally achieved the title of Super Chef.
• Late to the Tragedy: In the first episode, Mao is out picking up mushrooms when the restaurant was ransacked by Shou An and his henchmen. He arrives just as Shou An was about to make his declaration.
• Oblivious to Love: 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 expressing his love to her. Unfortunately, Jochi uses this particular flaw to exploit Mao into provoking and fighting him in order to break his spirit.
• Orphan's Plot Trinket:
  • Mao's cleaver was originally used by his mother. Mao modifies the knife over the course of the series, such as having tiny holes put on the knife to make it more flexible.
  • The old cookbook from his mother also qualifies.
• Supreme Chef: An early arc involves him going through a series of tests to earn this title.
• Walking the Earth: Mao wanders all through China, to try to pick up dishes around the nation and later on to collect all legendary cooking utensils to prevent them from falling into the Underground Cooking Society's hands.

Mei Li

The 16 years old daughter of the head chef of Yosen Shuka, Chou Yu.

• Adaptation Dye-Job: Is brown-haired in the manga, red-haired in the 1998 anime, and reddish brown in the 2019 anime.
• Ascended Extra: In the original Manga, she doesn't accompany Mao during his first journey.
• Damsel in Distress: Was poisoned alongside other Canton cooking officials by the Masked Chef, who feeds them a dish made out of poisonous red frog in the guise of a wild pigeon dish. She gets better.
• Master Chef's Beautiful Daughter: Mei Li is the only daughter of Master Chou Yu, the deputy head chef of Yang Spring Restaurant and Mao's teacher.
• Please, Don't Leave Me: Said this to Mao when he was embarking on a journey across the whole of China, through a letter slipped on a prized headpiece she made for him. This is subverted in the anime, where she snuck onto the boat and go alongside Mao through the journey.
• Thanks for the Mammary: A Running Gag involving Shirou. On their initial meeting, a hungry Shirou hallucinates about eating Steamed Buns, mistakenly groping Mei Li's breasts.
• Tsundere: Has a chance of outburst towards Mao, but ultimately loves her.

Shirou

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.

• Bratty Half-Pint
• Butt-Monkey
• But Not Too Foreign: His mother is Japanese.
• A Day in the Limelight: He received his own small story arc when the gang arrived in the Hunan Province, in which he befriended a girl who works for her abusive father after he accidentally smashed his pottery collection.
• Distressed Dude: 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 course of the competition, putting his final judgment at a high stake.
• The Millstone: Zig-zagged. A lot of problems and challenges Mao faces is due to his Bratty Half-Pint behavior causing it in the first place, and he was not very reliable in the tasks he was supposed to be doing, for instance keeping watch for enemy interference. At the same time, he's helped Mao get a few Eureka Moments that proves vital in solving the issue at hand.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: Shirou isn't exactly a bad cook, but he's not exactly bright either, and everyone else is just better at cooking.
• Thanks for the Mammary

Steel Staff Shell

The renowned wandering chef from the Shanxi region, specializing in 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.

• Arrogant Kungfu Guy: He is prideful and very boisterous of his cooking prowess
• Boisterous Bruiser
• Butt-Monkey: His traveling funds accidentally got thrown out by Shirou into the fireplace where he smokes some of the fish they catch, and it gets worse.
• Chef of Iron: He is one of the few chefs shown to have strong fighting prowess, which is necessary for him to use his steel rod to its full potential.
• Chekhov's Gunman: During his travels, he meets Lache, the creator of Seven Star Knives. He confirms that he made two copies of the set and reassures that Leon never kills Lache for the set in the first place.
• Face of a Thug/Hunk: In contrast to the more Bishounen approach the others take, Shell looks more rugged and battered, but also shows some attractiveness.
• Improbable Weapon User: He uses a steel staff for multiple cooking utilities.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He might be quite a snob himself, but he always put his chef honor above reason.
• Large Ham
• Red Baron: Steel Staff Shell.
• Spirited Competitor: The reason why he challenged Mao in the first place is that he loves a good sport.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Once he joined the main character roster, he's a lot nicer than his first appearance.
• Worthy Opponent: Towards Mao upon his defeat. Later on, he shares one with the older and wiser chef Lakon when they tied in a stalemate.

Leon of the Seven Star Knives

A former apprentice of Chou Yu in his youth, he 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.

• The Atoner: Becomes one as he joins Mao in search of Sacred Cooking Utensils. He severs his ties with the Underground Society by crossing the tattoo out; in Shin Chuuka Ichiban the Ever-Soul Knife erases his tattoo instead.
• Clean Cut: His style of cutting is perfect-precise and leaves no traces of fault.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique: His duel with Mao ends in a tie, so he calls for a tiebreaker round, and unveils the seventh knife that he had not used. It's made of pure ice and he has to hold it barehanded to make full use of his skills and senses. His hand gets severe frostbite in the process; hence why he was hesitant to use it from the get-go.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Originally standoffish and no-nonsense, upon joining Mao and his peers he warms for quite a bit.
• Despair Event Horizon:
  • Receives one during a flashback, when 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 at the hands of Shan An, who sabotaged the competition by overdosing the crab flavor in her soup before the judge tastes Leon's crab dish.
• Face of a Thug
• Inconsistent Spelling: Subtitles in Shin Chuuka Ichiban romanize his name as Lei En.
• The Stoic: He's cold and can be standoffish at times. Upon joining the main cast, he warms off pretty well and becomes more open to suggestions.
• There Can Only Be One: Became so covetous of the greatness of the Seven Star Knives that he impulsively tried to murder their creator La Che when he expressed an innocent desire to one day create a set of cooking utensils that could surpass them.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: He's as earnest as Mao during his early years.
• You Don't Look Like You: He was just gone for four years, yet he looked so different.
• Younger Than They Look: Despite his face and muscular build he is only 15 years old at his first appearance.

Antagonists

Shou An

The first opponent Mao had to face. He's a former chef and apprentice of Pai, Mao's mother. He swore revenge on 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 his loss.

• The Bus Came Back: He reappeared during the Shanghai arc as Mao's final opponent, now associated himself with the Underground Cooking Society.
• Establishing Character Moment: His first thing to do upon his first appearance is to kick out and ransack the Kikkaro Restaurant, claiming its ownership.
• Eyepatch After Time Skip: Sports one of these during his second appearance.
• Jerkass
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: As per standard of anyone who joined the Underground Cooking Society.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: His Fatal Flaw. He always wanted to live up to Pai's name and learn all of her techniques, but due to constant pressure and being overshadowed by Pai's presence caused him to go resentful towards her.
• Irony: At the beginning of the series, he was defeated by Mao's mapo tofu dish that uses soybean to make some faux meat on the dish. By the time Shou An finally managed to cook a wonderful tofu dish with its faux meat ingredient entirely made out of soy pulp in their final battle, Shou An once again loses the fight just because his dish isn't as original as Mao's and because he accidentally recreated a tofu dish that Mao's mother had invented in the past.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Upon learning that Pai wanted him to cook alongside him and Mao in one kitchen someday Shou An finally realizes his mistake and tells Mao the only thing that can redeem him from his mistake is to pay for its price and let himself sink to the ocean so that Mao can escape.
• Revenge: His motivation throughout his appearance.
• Taking You with Me: Realizing that he was lost, he decided to blow up the ship alongside everyone on it.

Jean Bugeault

Only appears in the manga, he is a chef who works for the French Embassy in Guangdong.

• Evil Is Petty: He frames Mao for arson after losing to him in a cooking battle.
• French Jerk: He belittles anyone when given the chance.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Arguably the most racist villain in the series (even when compared to the Underground Cooking Society), in which he can't help but to make racist and offensive remarks towards Chinese culture as a whole anytime he makes an appearance.

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 use any way to achieve victory.

• Cheaters Never Prosper: 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 is overdue. Al attempted to sabotage Yosen Shuka's ingredient by adding salt additives to it, but not before Chou Yu exposed him and fails to do so.
• Graceful Loser: Both admitted their defeat and acknowledge Mao's cooking prowess is superior to theirs.
• Heel–Face Turn: After they are caught playing dirty and got stalemated 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 to the audience.
• Sibling Team: They are rarely seen apart and seem to support each other.
• Worthy Opponent: Karao sees Mao as one upon their defeat.

Masked Chef (Li Yan)

A masked man from the underworld society 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.

• Better to Die than Be Killed: After his defeat, he downs a vial of poison as he would rather commit suicide than face the underworld's punishment for failure. He also feels he is undeserving of a long life after what he has committed.
• Covered in Scars: Once he removes his mask. Apparently, this is a normal thing in the underworld.
• Revenge: He and Chou Yu were pitted against each other in a cooking duel 16 years ago for Meixiang's hand in marriage, but he was stung by a scorpion hidden among his ingredients and lost by default. He sets up a cooking duel with Chou Yu with the exact same conditions, seeking to humiliate him the same way he was via scorpion sting.
• Underestimating Badassery: Doesn't see Mao as much of a threat originally. He quickly changes his tune after seeing and tasting Mao's cooking.
• Warm-Up Boss: The first dark chef Mao fought and set up the standard for dark chefs' skill and morality.

Rouko

A member of the Dark cooking society, and also known as their best soup specialist.

• Butt-Monkey: While he's a serious threat in his introduction, in his subsequent appearance he lost much of his threat.

Lakon

The last living member of the Hakura clan.

• Cool Old Guy: Surprisingly fair and honorable despite being a dark chef
• Evil Old Folks: A man with three-digit 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.
• The Last of His Kind: The last surviving member of the Hakura clan.
• Wandering the Earth: Chooses to do this after his battle against Shell in order to hone his skills by tasting various cuisines.
• We Will Meet Again: Promises to challenge Shell again in ten years.
• Worthy Opponent: Considers Shell as this, which is why he's planning to challenge him again in the future. Inwardly he also believes that, had he been a presiding judge, he would've immediately declared Shell's victory.

Shan

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

• Clean Cut: Her cut is so clean she can cut open a fish, take its eggs, and then close the wounds afterward with the fish being completely unharmed.
• Chain Pain: One of her favored tools is a chain tipped with a knife. She can use it for fishing, fighting, or anything else.
• Cleavage Window
• Combat Pragmatist: Does not hesitate to play dirty at all.
• Ms. Fanservice: 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.
• Red Baron: Her epithet is Ten Feet of Blue.

Kaiyu

• Red Baron: Dragon in the Clouds.

Alkan

• Genre Savvy: He explicitly recognizes Mao's incredible luck, calling it "heaven's blessings".
• Graceful Loser: 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.
• Honor Before Reason: Called off his match with Mao as a draw even though he would've won had he finished his second dish before the rains as his first dish alone already equaled both of Mao's dishes.
• Hot-Blooded: Literally. His body's natural temperature is so high he needs to drink constantly to keep it in check. If he stops drinking then that means he's getting serious.
• Playing with Fire: Considered to be the best at flame control, even among the dark chefs.
• Red Baron: Panther Head Alkan.

Jochi

• But Now I Must Go: After losing to Mao in their second duel, he smashes his prized cooking instruments, his silver chopsticks, and rides off into the sunset knowing that he'll be chased by the Cooking Underworld for the rest of his life
• The Corrupter: He tries to be this to Mao, as his assigned task is to break Mao's spirit so thoroughly that Mao will lose his way and join the Cooking Underworld. It almost works.
• Didn't See That Coming: Part of the reason his plan to defeat Mao and drive him into joining the Cooking Underworld failed is that 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.
• Heroic BSoD: Hopes to invoke this on Mao by forcing him to cross the Despair Event Horizon by driving a wedge between him and Meili and ultimately framing him as having poisoned her with a poison cap in his cooking. It doesn't work.
• The Nose Knows: His sense of smell is very sharp. Case in point he can tell what's wrong with Mao's cooking without even tasting it.
• Prematurely Grey-Haired: He is captured by the Cooking Underworld and used as a guinea pig for their experimental cooking, which turns his hair grey.
• Red Baron: Sky Soaring Great Sage.
• Sense Loss Sadness: He has lost his sense of taste after a heavy fever, 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, and he can't even taste his own food and has to watch others enjoy his cuisine. This proves to be his undoing during his second duel with Mao.
• Symbolically Broken Object: He breaks his silver chopsticks after his final duel with Mao, saying that he no longer needs them now that he has lost so thoroughly.
• Youthful Freckles: Fitting, considering he is the youngest Tiger Chef.
• Villainous Crush: To Meili. It's assumed this was an act as part of his role as The Corrupter 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.

Mira

• But Not Too Foreign: Though never explicitly stated word-for-word in the series, her darker skin color and unparalleled aptitude for spices indicate that she comes from India.
• Honor Before Reason: Accepted Leon's challenge for a rematch even though she already won her match against Shell.
• Hoist by Her Own Petard: How Leon defeated her, by tricking her to ruin her own dish by combining stir-fried shredded mutton with a soup while he discreetly cooked a different dish. Downplayed in the sense that at the time, she decided to limit her powers out of guilt, because if not, she wouldn't have any problem in even realizing that Leon has made a different dish.
• Mirror Match: Her specialty is imitating her opponent's skills perfectly which she would later combine with her unparalleled knowledge regarding spices. This means that her cooking will always be slightly better than her opponent no matter what.
• Naked First Impression: Shell saw her for the first time while she was bathing.
• Red Baron: She has two: Mira the blue-eyed tiger and Mira the mirror.
• The Smurfette Principle: Is the only woman among the Five Tigers. Might also count as Twofer Token Minority since she seems to be the only non-Chinese with her being Indian. ^note Jochi is of Mongolian descent, though all of Mongolia was firmly under Chinese control at the time.
• Willfully Weak: After realizing that Shell's feelings for her are genuine even after defeating him, she is struck with the guilt of having him killed (at least for the time being) as a punishment for their match. As a result, in the following battle with Leon, she decides to limit her imitation powers with the hopes of Leon defeating her in the end. Lampshaded by Leon himself in the end, in which he argues that if Mira were to use her full powers, there's no chance he's going to win the battle.

Ensei

• Brilliant, but Lazy: 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.
• Establishing Character Moment: His first appearance consists of him dropping by the society's headquarters 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.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Managed to find a legendary cooking tool all by his lonesome offscreen.
• Red Baron: Wanderer. His is probably the most mundane epithet among the dark chefs.

Supporting Characters

Chou Yu

The current head of Yosen Shuka restaurant in Canton and Mao's mentor.

• Big Eater: One of his daily routines is to have an extra large serving of Chicken Noodles to start the day. In one of the extra chapters, Chou Yu manage to singlehandedly win an annual eating competition which takes Mao(a big eater himself) and Mei Li to a switcheroo trick, and a full day of preparation to ensure the most amount of eating capacity for their stomach to get past into the final, and he STILL had enough room to order 2 extra servings immediately after going home from the said competition. Of Chou Yu's 3 personal mantras regarding the skill level of a Chef(cutting, stir-frying, eating), Chou Yu puts the most emphasis on eating and it shows.
• Deus Exit Machina: A textbook example. Chou Yu is hyped up as the best chef in Guangzhou, one of the 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 was far below Chou Yu's level as a chef. When the story is centered around Yosen Shuka, Chou Yu basically has 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 easily. 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 that had Mao was not there to take the spotlight, he'd personally dealt with it himself.
• Face of a Thug: He looks rather bleak and more imposing compared to everyone else that's not Leon.
• Game-Breaking Injury:
  • Was put down by Al of the Dumpling Brothers so that they have one less competition to worry about.
  • Later on he got poisoned by a scorpion snuck by the Masked Chef as an act of revenge
• Not So Above It All: Despite his cooking prowess and stern personality, he is a really bad angler and can get upset when reminded about this.
• Opposites Attract Revenge: Chou Yu and Li Hua, who had their ultimate falling out when they competed for the hand of Mei Ga, Mei Li's mother. Only shown in a flashback, but their hatred moved on to sixteen years.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He let Mao leave alongside Sanche if he thinks his training course is too rough for him.
• Sink or Swim Mentor: He's tough, cold, and unforgiving at times, but his intentions to train Mao is genuine.
• Stern Teacher: Acts one for Mao and Sanche prior. Later he did the same for Shirou.
• Supreme Chef: He is one of the few people who held the title of Super Chef, so it's a given.
• The Comically Serious: Is always drawn with his sharp, stern face regardless of what he's doing at the moment. Even when he is put in a rather lighthearted situation such as teasing Mao's inexperience or ordering an outrageous amount of food.

Master Ruoh

The actual Head Chef of Yosen Shuka, though he's not very active lately.

• Cool Old Guy
• Old Master: Recognized as this by everyone.
• Supreme Chef: He's the head chef of the best restaurant in Guangzhou so this is a given.

San Che

The son of a famous chef from Shanghai who's apprenticing at Yosen Shuka.

• Guest-Star Party Member: Becomes the fourth participant in the contest for legendary cooking utensils against the underworld in Shanghai, though he doesn't join the gang's journey afterward.
• I Have Your Wife: The Underground held his father hostage.
• Put on a Bus: Disappears 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.
• Took a Level in Badass: His cooking skills in Shanghai arc has improved much compared to his first appearance.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Is deadly afraid of 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 gotten over this fear completely.

Lan Fei Hong

• Because You Were Nice to Me: The reason why he's so helpful to Mao during the Ultimate Chef exams was that Mao's mother saved him when he just escaped the Society's hideout, which in turn drives him to help Mao when the time comes.
• Brainwashed: His current state of affairs when Mao and the gang meets him again in Beijing in the 1997 anime.
• Dark and Troubled Past: As shown in the 1997 anime, it is revealed that he is an orphan whose family was slaughtered by the Underground Cooking Society that kidnaps the children to turn them either into slaves or their members. Upon escaping in the middle of winter, he was almost frozen to death until Mao's mother discovered him and saved him.
• Face–Heel Turn: Though not out of his own wishes, as he is Brainwashed by the Society after his failed attempt to kill the Society's leader upon recovering his missing childhood memories.
• Supreme Chef: He's not the second Ultimate Chef other than Mao for nothing.
• The Stoic: Compared to Mao.
• Walking the Earth: As a punishment for his actions in Beijing after being brainwashed by the Underground Cooking Society, Admiral Lee orders him to accompany Mao in his quest for seeking the remaining legendary cooking utensils to prevent them from being discovered and used by the Society.