It appears Square Enix’s notorious ethics department has struck Maya Mahabala’s sexy dancer outfit in the latest entry to the Dragon Quest Monsters franchise.
Designed by Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama, the 21-year-old dancer-turned-mage Maya Mahabala (or Manya in Japanese) made her debut alongside her fortune telling younger sister Meena in 1990’s Dragon Quest IV.
![ドラゴンクエストモンスターズ３ 魔族の王子とエルフの旅 [Nintendo Direct 2023.9.14]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ZUmW-OfLLBQ/hqdefault.jpg)
Compared to her more conservative sister, Maya’s revealing dancing outfit consists of a silver bra, a long orange loincloth hanging from a sliver belt with a green gem in the center and tan sandals. Both sisters are adorned with silver accessories including bangles, choker, arm bands, and matching head pieces with a green gemstone in the center.
After the Japanese trailer for Dragon Quest Monsters 3 was released during last week’s Nintendo Direct, several fans on social media noticed not only did Square Enix nerf Maya’s costume — with a pair of purple shorts underneath Maya’s long orange loincloth and a body chain covering the dancing mage’s navel — but the gaming publisher also gave her an orange halter top underneath her signature silver bra.
‘”I searched for the story that ‘Manya’s costume has become lame,’ and I cried because it was lame beyond my imagination,” Boys Time manga artist Kaoru Fujinagi tweeted (translated via DeepL).
“Manya’s costume in Dragon Quest Monsters 3 has been revised,” @wos_h1_te stated. “With this, you don’t need the original metal breast pads and loincloth…She looks like a weirdo wearing underwear over her clothes.”
“Manya’s outfit is… tacky…,” @bobonbonjn763 declared. “The complacency is making things in the world boring. I wish things were a little more exciting. It’s bad for education to be so compliant.”
As @tsubo_ichiro points out, Square Enix’s revision to Maya’s costume in Dragon Quest Monster 3 is similar to how Western companies censors female characters in Japanese media.
I don’t mean to say whether or not the outfit of Manya in M3 is sexy or not, but it’s simply tacky and I want it to stop… What’s with that outfit that looks like it was forced to be added to a foreign animation…?
“I can tell that the reason for the reduced skin area in Manya’s costume is because children are included in the target audience,” @kage37 noted. “If that’s the case, make a new costume instead of cheaply covering it up with tacky cloth! She is a dancer!”
“I heard that Manya’s outfit got an all-ages nerf and is so f*cking lame, I checked it out and it’s really f*cking lame and I can’t even get grass,” @pldra stated. “Isn’t that such a terrible thing to do? Don’t you have enough love to design a new costume?”
“I think the reason why Manya’s redesigned costume in Dragon Quest is so unpopular is not because of how revealing it is, but because it unnecessarily detracts from Akira Toriyama’s original design, @Rakahasa_JP acknowledged. “I don’t know if there was any other way.”
“I think it would be better to have Toriyama-sensei design Manya’s costume again,” @masaki77 stated. “The amount of exposure was what made her look like a “dancer in a fantasy world,” and it was rather nice that she had a healthy sense of eroticism.”
Responding to concerned fans, Dragon Quest III and V dotter and designer Hazuki Kurikara speculated about the behind the scenes conflict leading to Maya’s nerfed costume redesign.
“I understand the fans’ opinions about Manya’s costume,” the user acknowledged. “However, I also understand the feelings of the creators, which is why it’s so hard. I’m sure the people who made the changes are not happy about it. It could be pressure from various sources or the times. I think the answer is that they are stuck in a situation where they can’t just change the design at will. Good luck!”
Dragon Quest Monsters 3 is set for a worldwide release for the Nintendo Switch on December 1st.