Kirara (绮良良 Qiliangliang), debut 3.7, a nekomata youkai of the Komaniya express, is a better dendro shielder than baizhu. She reminds one of Eula, Sayu, etc. and the crimes Zhu Di committed on Qi Tai. The other parts of Kirara's intro can allude to Lan Yu, Yu Qian, Ding Yu, and others executed by Zhu during the Ming dynasty. But most likely, this is just another interference in corporate affairs like Kaveh, which is becoming weak garbage.
While the Ming dynasty made a certain general related to liang quite famous, there is a history that goes way before the Ming. It is related to a number of successor states of China that existed before the Tang dynasty. It is also related to a certain emperor that was murdered in his crib (to use a metaphor) before the Tang was founded. If one goes that far back in history, it makes some sense why one of Eula's voice actors was chosen and why she is so bent on revenge. Added to that there could be a personal reason to that choice as well.
Qiliang may as well be a very common name in China, but it happens to be the name of a certain scientist. The name Qiliang also sounds vaguely familiar to something personal, a certain person who passed away earlier in the year.
Kirara's E creates a dendro shield. Her Q does a dendro nuke that creates smaller bomblets like Aloy's skill. These bomblets can be clustered and pulled via anemo vacuum abilities like Sucrose E. Kirara's passive increases the damage of her E kick and Q based on her hp.
Using hold E will generate the shield and activate the neko state, turning Kirara into a boxcat that can move around fast, jump, and even climb up walls. Her movement speed, jumping, climbing speed, and stamina consumption while climbing are all increased. In the neko state, when Kirara runs into enemies she will deal dendro dmg (once per .5s). She can also break boxes, crates, etc. while in this state. This neko state lasts up to 10s.
The shield lasts 12s. The press cd is 8s (so the shield can have 100% uptime, unlike baizhu). By holding E the cd can be longer up to 12s. The longer she is in the neko state, the longer the cd. Note the cd starts after the neko state ends (so she can run into the Childe dilemma if she does not hit an enemy in the neko state).
Moreover, using the E again while the shield is active will stack the shield and make it absorb more damage up to a certain max limit. With a passive, while in the neko state, for each enemy hit, she gains a stack of 'reinforced packaging' (up to 3). When the neko state ends, each stack will increase the shield dmg absorption of her E, while also resetting the shield duration.
For example, if she spends 10s in the neko state and hits at least one enemy, after she leaves the neko state, her shield will reset its duration and last 12s, while her E enters a 12s cd. Thus even when using hold E she can achieve 100% uptime on shield. If she spends less than 10s in the neko state and hits one enemy, then she will still have 100% uptime as the shield will last 12s after leaving the neko state, and the cd will be less than 12s. However, if she spends 10s in the neko state and does not hit an enemy, after she leaves the neko state (after 10s), the shield will not reset and will disappear (after 2s, for the 10+2=12s duration), the cd will be 12s, so there will be 10s of downtime for the shield. So having the duration reset for hitting an enemy is an example of a good design/passive.
While the neko state is nice, her shield already absorbs a lot of damage with press E (more than baizhu's paper thin shield), so it is up to the player to decide whether the extra dmg absorption is enough to justify taking more on-field time in the neko state. (But it's so cute, it even meows when she jumps. But Genshin is more than about being cute.)
All the game needs now is a shield hp bar that shows how much damage a shield absorbs like a character's hp bar. After all, Star Rail has a shield hp bar, so Genshin definitely has the capacity and talent to create and program one.
Using E will apply the dendro element to Kirara herself. What this can do is actually remove elemental debuffs on characters (from ley lines, spiral abyss, etc.). For example, if Kirara is affected with electro, then using E will apply dendro and cause quicken on Kirara (the dendro status will replace the electro). If Kirara is affected with hydro, using E will proc the bloom reaction and remove hydro from her. If Kirara is affected with pyro, using E will proc burning (but not do damage) and refresh the pyro status on her (the pyro status will remain and not be replaced by dendro). If Kirara is affected with cryo, the E will briefly apply dendro (before disappearing) and the cryo status will remain. If Kirara is affected with electro and hydro, the E will proc quicken and bloom and replace the status on her with just dendro. If Kirara is affected with quicken (electro and dendro), the E will clear the electro status and apply dendro (while keeping the quicken effect / animation on Kirara).
Other abilities in the game that apply elements to the character include Beidou's E and Xinyan's E. These are characters that can be used to clear elemental status effects and remove elemental debuffs.
Kirara is better than baizhu because her shield does not cost 80 energy, absorbs much more damage, and has 100% uptime.