Juliet Nao Zhang
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Juliet Nao Zhang (ジュリエット・ナオ・チャン Jurietto Nao Chan?) is a side character in the anime series My Otome. Like Nina Wáng, she hails from Artai to become an Otome under Nagi but she has other plans for the future. In both the My-HiME and My-Otome anime, she is voiced by Yuuka Nanri, who is best known as the vocalist for the group FictionJunction YUUKA.
She can grow her fingernails into claws and is known as Juliet on the streets, a reference to her My-HiME incarnation whose child was named Julia and element was a pair of metal gloves (or rather metal straps on her hand) that can extend her "nails" in addition to sending out razor-sharp threads that can cut through steel. (Mentioned in one of the extras on the My-HiME DVDs, Nao's online alias is also Juliet). She appears to prefer that people call her Nao. At the academy, Nina Wáng was her room attendant and later on Arika Yumemiya was assigned to her as well. When a giant tentacle monster attacked the girls, Nao came to the rescue in her Pearl robe and easily dispatched it with a razor wire attack similar to her My-Hime counterpart.
It is unknown what she and her gang, the Stripes, do on the street but it appears to be for the cause of good. This is evident when Nao seeks out and punishes a lackey under Miya who sold off Arika Yumemiya's uniform. Later, when Miya's gang attempts to rape Arika Nao and company arrive to save her and later tortures them. She has an intense dislike for Shiho, a fellow Pearl and enjoys seeing her in awkward situations. Her life goal is to find a rich man and live comfortably. Unfortunately, that path is postponed when Nao is chosen to become the 4th Column alongside Natsuki and Shizuru. Unlike Nina, Nao does not side with Nagi and instead works with the other pillars to free Garderobe.
In the end, Nao's gang teams up with Natsuki and assist in bringing Fumi back-on-line. On a funnier note, Nao's street gang is made up of the men she victimized in My-HiME. In addition, Nao is more "prepared" for this series as she carries various items and materials; some of her assortment of "toys" includes brass knuckles, wine bottles, and a grappling hook wire hidden in her lipstick.
On a funnier note: Her rivalry and love of teasing Natsuki seemed to carried over from the previous series, though it is significantly less antagonistic than in My-HiME.
[edit] Manga
In the My-Otome manga, Nao shares with her HiME counterpart's a tendency for truancy. It is not stated where she comes from. She is myopic and requires either contact lenses or a large pair of spectacles to see. The Stripes gang is also nonexistent in the manga.
When she first appears in the manga, it is together with the other members of the Trias from the anime. She is already a member, unlike in the anime where she was inducted after Akane ran away with Kazu. However, she is only formally introduced in Chapter 7. Before that happens, though, earlier in the chapter she accidentally enters Manshiro's bathroom and thinks him to be the member of Schwarz that had infiltrated Garderobe. However, Manshiro beat her off. Inadvertently, she sees Manshiro's penis and proceeds to tempt him with an offer of sexual intercourse. Just as they were about to copulate, however, she kicks him away and ties him up with her trademark wires.
Nao is subsequently not seen for a large part of the manga, but after Rena Sayers is sent to Garderobe for medical treatment, the latter falls under her care. Rena had instructed Nao to place her in the Shinso Core if any serious harm were to come to her, something that was carried out in Chapter 37. In Chapter 39 she saves Manshiro from a combined attack by Kuga and Yuuki, the latter of which she proceeds to battle.
The HiME version of Nao is resurrected by Mashiro along with the other HiME with much of the same personality. The main departure for this version of Nao is that she thinks of the HiME Natsuki as an older-sister figure, as opposed to the all-out-feud that was present in My-HiME.
[edit] GEM
Recently being chosen to become the Fourth Column who answers only to Fumi, Nao was given the Break String Spinel (破絃の尖晶石 Hagen no Senshōseki) as her GEM. Nao's robe is no different from Shizuru and Natsuki's robes in the sense that all three are counterparts to their Childs from My-HiME. Nao's is based on Julia, a green and yellow scorpion/spider hybrid. This gives her a Spider-Man-like costume except her main weapon is a large claw on her right hand. When her GEM is not activated, her uniform also has an image of a spider at about waist level.
The manga version retains the Julia-like Robe of the anime, although how she came about it is not divulged exactly as the concept of Columns is anime-exclusive. It seems to be a privilege of being a Trias member as both Akane and Shiho have their Meister Robes from the anime, but the fact that Chie Hallard still uses the standard Pearl Robe argues against this.
