ɪn kˈɑːntɹæst tə ðɪ ɚɹˈɪdʒɪnəl bˈʊks, wˌɛɹ mˈeɪ wʌz nˈɛvɚ ɡˈɪvən ɐ spəsˈɪfɪk dʒˈɛndɚ ænd ðə fˈiːtʃɚ mˈuːvi wˌɪtʃ hæd mˈeɪ æz ɐ mˈeɪl ɡˈoʊt, ðə tˈɛlᵻvˌɪʒən sˈɪɹiz kˈæsts mˈeɪ æz fˈiːmeɪl.
In contrast to the original books, where Mei was never given a specific gender and the feature movie which had Mei as a male goat, the television series casts Mei as female.