According to a report on Reddit and NGA, a small minority of netizens might spark controversy in China over how Ruan Mei appears in Honkai: Star Rail. The screenshot on NGA showed that the offending user wants to report the character for her exposed belly button and sheer black windows, suggesting they can negatively affect adolescents in China due to the sexually provocative design.
Previously, HoYoVerse had to change the designs of several of its Genshin Impact characters due to them being too sexual. Mona, Jean, and Rosaria’s new designs are the default in the Chinese version of the game. Meanwhile, players outside of China only got the new designs as an alternate skin.
It’s unclear if there really is an actual controversy about Ruan Mei in China. Since the original post on NGA only had a screenshot from a single person, who seemed to have made the post to teach other people how to report HoYoVerse, it might not pick up any traction. NGA also has a history of users posting instigating troll content for the sole purpose of farming engagement. So it’s still rather uncertain if anyone seriously takes offense to Ruan Mei’s design.
The general sentiment on NGA (and Reddit) is very negative towards the idea of more censorship. A lot of netizens have complained that this is the second coming of Shenhe. One commenter even said that they would straight up quit Honkai: Star Rail if HoYoVerse caves and changes Ruan Mei. In November 2021, netizens in China criticized Shenhe’s design because her clothes are “too sexy,” with some others pointing out how similar her outfit is to Ganyu’s. For reference, the in-lore explanation for the latter complaint is likely due to them sharing a master in Cloud Retainer.
Honkai: Star Rail is readily available on the PS5, Windows PC, and mobile devices. Ruan Mei will appear in Honkai: Star Rail Version 1.6, and time will tell if anything comes from this potential controversy.
