Mai Shiranui (Japanese: 不知火舞, Hepburn: Shiranui Mai) (alternatively written しらぬい まい) is a character in the Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters series of fighting games by SNK. Introduced in 1992's Fatal Fury 2, the character was originally conceived as a male character named "Ninja Master", but when a request was put in to include a female character in the game they revised the concept entirely. For the game's sequel Fatal Fury 3 they considered replacing her with another female character, but due to heavy fan request she returned instead and has been a frequent character in both the Fatal Fury and King of Fighters series since.
Mai is a Japanese kunoichi and the inheritor of her family's ninjitsu fighting style. Deeply in love with the character Andy Bogard, she enters martial arts tournaments against him so he may see her as a warrior. In addition to the aforementioned series she has appeared in a multitude of other games including the SNK vs Capcom series and various collaboration events between SNK and other gaming companies. She has been voiced by various voice actresses including Akoya Sogi, Kotono Mitsuishi, Sarah Sawatsky, Lisa Ann Beley, Kotono Mitsuishi, and Megumi Hayashibara. In live action media, she has been portrayed by American actress Maggie Q, as well as Chinese actress Pan Chun Chun.
Mai has been well received, seen as a mascot for SNK as a whole who has heavily promoted her in various video game crossovers and merchandise. Her portrayal which often emphasizes the swaying of her large breasts has been cited as one of the first examples of the concept of breast physics in gaming, and a significant element of her character's appeal. Other outlets have attributed some of her popularity to Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture's portrayal of her, while others have praised her personality and ownership of her sexuality. She has additionally been seen as a rival character to Street Fighter's Chun-Li, and symbolic of the rivalry between SNK and Street Fighter developer Capcom. She has also been cited as a frequent subject of cosplay, which her outfit in particular seeing frequent usage in China and Taiwan in promotions and media across both countries.
Introduced in the 1992 SNK developed fighting game Fatal Fury 2, the character was originally conceived as a male ninja simply named Ninja Master. However, after the character's concept was about sixty percent realized, a request was put in to include a female character, and they scrapped their original idea, retaining the ninja identity while developing several character concepts.[11][12] In terms of personality, they wanted her to be strong-willed woman who made most of her own equipment, and to have a taste in heavy metal music, particularly the band Pantera.[13][14]
Standing 165 cm (5 ft 5 in) tall, Mai is a Japanese woman with measurements of 87-55-91 cm (34-22-36 in).[15] Her long brown hair is worn in a ponytail style, with bangs that frame her face and an ornate hairpin holding it in place. Her outfit consists of a red uwagi with extended loincloth, while a decorative sash tied to form a butterfly musubi dangles from behind her. While matching fingerless gloves and red tabi cover her hands and feet, the lower portion of the uwagi ends similarly to a leotard with the back pulled tightly between her buttocks. The outfit exposes a significant part of her body, particularly her hips, cleavage and the sides of her breasts.[16] While the development team originally gave her a more stern appearance in Fatal Fury 2, they softened it in her subsequent appearances.[17][14]
She was originally intended to be excluded from the game's sequel, Fatal Fury 3 and replaced with another female character, Alice Chrystler. However due to heavy fan request, Mai returned instead.[13] Several redesigns were considered for her appearance in the game, including a full armored appearance in heavy ninja gear,[18] before changing her attire to incorporate a bustier. When asked if this was done to reduce the amount of exposure from her outfit, the development team responded there was "no reason in particular".[13] Subsequent games however reverted back to her previous design, which has remained mostly consistent since with minimal changes.[17]
As her design was refined for The King of Fighters, they aimed to emphasize her sex appeal, modelling her breasts after model Fumie Hosokawa, while her hips were based on those of media personality Ai Iijima.[14] During work on The King of Fighters '94, the person working on Mai's sprites, C.A.C Yamaski, asked the development head if he could increase the number of sprites for her standing idle animation.[19][20] The latter agreed due to having extra space on the game's ROM, but was surprised upon seeing the results: while in earlier games her breasts were given a slight amount of jiggle in her animations, the sprite artist had emphasized the movement of her breasts dramatically. While the animation was censored in Western releases of the game, this aspect endured into subsequent titles and the team felt this was a significant factor in her enduring popularity.[19][9]
For her portrayal in The King of Fighters XIII, character artist Ritsu Yamaguchi wanted to recreate the atmosphere of her Fatal Fury series appearances. He noted that while The King of Fighters often placed emphasis on her breasts, hips and buttocks to depict her as a character that exudes sex appeal, he saw her character in Fatal Fury as portrayed "stoic" motions and as a serious fighter even though her clothing was still revealing. He felt her outfit alone would illustrate her sex appeal, so he focused on the stoic aspect to give her a "more sensual atmosphere", downplaying many of her more sexual animations by comparison.[21]
Later games meanwhile added secondary outfit options. For her appearance in the King of Fighters: Maximum Impact series, her "Another" outfit shortens her hair into a bob cut with the ends flared out, with both her hair and outfit changed to black. Her gloves and boots are larger in this version, with a fur lining around them and parts of her uwagi, while a red scar extends from her neck and juts out from behind her.[22] Meanwhile in SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy, she is most prominently given a cow print bikini for an outfit which features a matching fake tail, while her hair clip is changed to a set of horns with fake cow ears extending from it.[23]
Mai Shiranui is a Japanese kunoichi first introduced in the 1992 video game Fatal Fury 2 by SNK. The inheritor of her family's ninjitsu style, she met Andy Bogard at a young age and fell in love with the boy, though Andy himself is dedicated to his own martial arts training. During the three man team King of Fighters series of tournaments, she initially attempts to partner with him, though he rebukes her offer, and she instead joins with other female fighters such as Yuri Sakazaki and King so Andy will recognize her as a fighter.[24] Since her introduction she has appeared in every Fatal Fury title since.[2] She has also been in almost every King of Fighters series game with the exception of King of Fighter XI, only appearing in the PlayStation 2 version, and XII, where she was excluded entirely.[15][25] She additionally appears in spinoff game King of Fighters Maximum Impact 2 and it's related title, King of Fighters Maximum Impact Regulation A.[22]
In other SNK-related fighting games, Mai has appeared playable in every game in the SNK vs. Capcom series,[26] She is also playable character in SNK Gals' Fighters,[27] NeoGeo Battle Coliseum,[28] and SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy.[23] She has also appeared in mobile fighting game titles such as The King of Fighters,[29] Fatal Fury Mobile,[30] The King of Fighters-i,[31] and The King of Fighters D: DyDO Smile STAND.[32] Outside of SNK-related works, Mai appears as downloadable content for Koei Tecmo's Dead or Alive 5 Last Round and its sequel Dead or Alive 6,[33][34] and is set to appear in Capcom's Street Fighter 6 as part of its "Year 2" downloadable content lineup.[35]
In video games, the character was originally voiced by Akoya Sogi,[2] with Ami Koshimizu taking over the role with the release of King of Fighters: Sky Stage in 2010. Koshimizu stated she initially had an image of Mai as a "mature older sister", but when they directed her to portray the character as a "cheerful older sister in the neighborhood" instead, she tried to balance the portrayal with a hint of sexiness. To this end, she spoke in a lower tone than normal, and used a lot of expression to create a sense of familiarity to give the impression someone could easily be friends with her.[3]
In terms of gameplay, Mai is a very mobile and fast character, but also frequently physically weaker in the games. As a result, playing her effectively requires players to connect with more consistent attacks.[36] However this has also led her to be considered one of the easier characters for beginners in titles, and to master using against other players in older titles.[37][38] She furthermore has a variety of hand-to-hand combat maneuvers, such as her "Flying Squirrel Dance" diving attack and a rushing cartwheel kick followed by an elbow strike called "Deadly Ninja Bees".[39] She can additionally produced flames with some of her attacks, and throw her large folding fans as projectiles.[36]
Mai is featured as a playable character in the console shooter games KOF Sky Stage and Neo Geo Heroes: Ultimate Shooting,[3][40] the quiz game Quiz King of Fighters,[23] and the SNK vs. Capcom spin-off crossover card battle series SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash.[26] She is also one of the heroes in the Thailand-exclusive MOBA game The King of Fighters Online.[41] In a 2017 MMORPG The King of Fighters: World by Ledo Interactive, Mai is featured in person as a non-player and tutorial character, but the players will be able to use her Shiranui style for their own characters.[42] Mai also appears in the 1998 visual novel game The King of Fighters: Kyo,[43] and later in several titles of SNK's Days of Memories dating sim series.[44]
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