Mai Shiranui

Mai Shiranui (不知火 舞, Shiranui Mai) is a character from both the Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters series of fighting games by SNK (now SNK Playmore). Andy Bogard is her self-proclaimed fiancé. The relationship between the two is often unclear and subliminal, usually on Andy's part, who at times seems to suppress his feelings for her in favor of treating her like a little sister. Since her first appearance in Fatal Fury 2, she has been converted and recognized as the main sex symbol of SNK.

She was originally not planned to be included in Fatal Fury at all, as her fighting style was created for a different male ninja. When developers shifted their focus to including an idol character into the series, they decided to scrap the Shiranui man for Mai. Her characteristic "bounce" was loosely modified from a kunoichi (female ninja) method of assassination: to be sensual to their unassuming prey before they strike. According to an issue of Neo Geo Freak, her breasts were modeled after Fumie Hosokawa and her butt is modeled after Ai Iijima; both women were famous idols at the time.

Mai was rated #4 in GameSpy.com's "Top Ten Babes in Games" feature and #5 in Game Informer's "Top Ten Hottest Girls of the 16-Bit era." In the character popularity poll on Neo Geo Freak's website, she was voted as the fifth favorite character with a total of 2,380 votes.

Fatal Fury


Mai Shiranui is the granddaughter of Hanzo Shiranui, master of ninjitsu and Koppo-ken. Mai learned from her father the secrets of Ninjitsu. She had met Andy during this time who had come to train under her grandfather. Mai then had to take alternate courses from her grandfather's friend, Jubei Yamada in ninjitsu. At first, Mai was uninterested in Andy and only thought of him as another callous man only interested in his training. It wasn't until he gave her a present on her birthday that she saw him in another light and eventually fell in love with him.

She spends much of the series endlessly pursuing Andy and fantasizing various daydreams about their wedding. When developers were asked about her whereabouts during Mark of Wolves, they chose not to answer the question directly. However, they did divulge that she still loves Andy - as she always has- ten years later.

The King of Fighters
The new King of Fighters tournament was announced around this period. The fights would take place between teams of three persons each. Mai felt it was a sure bet to make a team with Andy, but he thought otherwise: he would team up with Terry and his friend, Joe Higashi. Mai was left out, but she promised Andy that she would be in the tournament as well. Once she found out that the Southtown bouncer King had received an invitation as well, and had no assembled team, Mai immediately proposed herself as a team member, along with her friend Yuri Sakazaki. King was not expecting this, but accepted them anyway. During the next two tournaments, the Gorgeous Team was seen as a beautiful, but deadly team.

However, by 1996, Yuri was obliged to take her father's place in the Kyokugenryu Team, and King and Mai were left without a third team member. When Mai seemed hopeless, a strange woman attacked her. Mai avoided the attack and prepared to fight. The woman praised Mai's skills and introduced herself as Kasumi Todoh, the new third member of the team. Once more, the Gorgeous Team was back in action; but by next year, King and Mai were in trouble again, as Kasumi was still looking for her father. They resigned themselves to losing the tournament that year. King had to take care of her brother, Jan, anyway. However, Chizuru Kagura intervened, and told Mai and King that she would gladly be the third team member, and that she would take care that Jan would go with them.

Mai used the two year recess to go back to Japan and perfect her Ninja skills, and to spend some more time with Andy. Mai insisted in that next time, she would team up with Andy, which he took more as a joke. However, a stroke of luck enabled Mai to finally accomplish her wish: an invitation for another King of Fighters tournament, with a new four team member rule. Mai lost no time in joining along with Andy. However, after the tournament, Terry disappeared under the ruins of Krizalid's base (the tournament's host). Mai's high spirits were dampened by the task of trying to reassure Andy that Terry was not in fact dead.

Even though it hurts to leave her beloved one once again, Mai has decided to abandon the Lonely Wolves team. After finding out that Terry was in fact alive, Mai and Yuri reunited after a long separation. They decide to team up once again, since they miss the fun times way back when the King of Fighters tournament was just beginning to grow. They also decided to accept Kasumi along as well, but this left one gap in their four person team. The final member appeared soon enough, during an audition in Japan, where they saw a peculiar little girl named Hinako Shijou. Mai was so impressed with her skills, that she was taken in as the fourth team member. Hinako Shijou also fought in the next tournament with Mai, but Yuri decided to return to the Kyokugenryu Team because of Robert Garcia being in distress, so Li Xiangfei would take Yuri's place, while King would return from the Kyokugenryu Team (where she was to fill in Yuri's spot) in Kasumi's place.



In The King of Fighters: KYO, an RPG game centered on Kyo Kusanagi and settled right in between KoF'96 and KoF'97, Mai isn't a playable character, but she and other fighters provide Kyo with info and help during his trials, specially when his girlfriend Yuki's is kidnapped and taken abroad. Mai is also present in one of Kyo and Yuki's dates after the incident, when she treats them to a tea ceremony.

Personality
Mai is a very happy girl with every girl's dream: get married with her prince charming. She found that same Prince Charming in Andy and self-proclaimed herself his fiancé. Although her preppy fighting persona suggests otherwise, Mai is actually a traditional and ideal Japanese beauty. However, her pride as a Shiranui ninja and infatuation with Andy usually keeps her from fitting the mold 100% of the time.

Powers

 * Hide Weapon: Mai has at least one Kachosen fan beneath her clothing that can't be seen.
 * Bushin: Mai can temporarily project shadow images of herself.
 * Pyrokinesis: Mai is able to create and control fire. She cannot control flames she didn't create however and is not immune to other types of fire.
 * Create Fire: Mai can create fire.
 * Fire Attacks: Mai can infuse her attacks with fire. She can also completely cloak herself with her flames.
 * Fire Channel: Mai can channel fire through her clothes, weapon and anything she touches.
 * Fire Eruption: Mai can cause fire to erupt around her like a geyser from where she is standing.

Skills

 * Changing: With only one gesture, Mai can change clothes within a second.
 * Climbing: Due to her ninja training, Mai is an expert with climbing surfaces.
 * Stealth: Also because of her training, Mai is a master of stealth.

Fighting Style
Mai uses the Shiranui-ryuu Ninjutsu. The style resembles normal ninjutsu with more flamboyant attacks. Mai uses a lot of gestures while fighting as well.

Music

 * Enryuujin - Fatal Fury 2 and Fatal Fury Special
 * Ne! - The King of Fighters 94
 * Ivonnu Rurouru E no gensou Yori Piano to Harp ni Yoru Fuyuu - Fatal Fury 3, Real Bout Fatal Fury
 * Tsuchi o Hau Bass - The King of Fighters 95
 * Get'n Up - The King of Fighters 96
 * Hikyou no sato - Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition
 * Mai Mai Kyuun - Real Bout Fatal Fury Special, Real Bout Fatal Fury 2, SNK Gals' Fighters, and SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium
 * Fairy - The King of Fighters 98
 * 176th Street - The King of Fighters 99
 * Come up smiling - The King of Fighters 2000
 * The Queen of Fighters - The King of Fighters 2001
 * Diet - The King of Fighters 2002
 * I'm Hot For You - The King of Fighters 2003
 * Destiny - The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match
 * The Fight for a Job and Family  - Days of Memories (Koi wa Good Job!)
 * SHIRANUI - Days of Memories (Koi wa Good Job!)
 * Mai Shiranui - Fatal Fury 2: The New Battle
 * Mai-hime - Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture
 * Mai Roulette - Garou Densetsu The Legend of Wild Wolf, Garou Densetsu Special
 * Mai-chan Roulette - The King of Fighters (pachinko)

Image Songs

 * Kachou Fuugetsu Otome Mai - 1994 Image Song
 * Non Stop! One Way Love - 1994 Image Song
 * Dear Mai Boy - 1997 Image Song
 * Heavy Baby's 1, 2, 3 - Neo Geo DJ Station shared image song
 * Dance de Peace! - Fatal Fury shared image song
 * Lucky Paradise - Shared image song with Andy in Garou Densetsu Special

Voice Actors

 * Akoya Sogi - since her debut
 * Kotono Mitsuishi - Fatal Fury 2: The New Battle, Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture
 * Sarah Sawatsky - Fatal Fury 2: The New Battle (English voice)
 * Lisa Ann Beley - Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture (English voice)
 * Megumi Hayashibara - Fatal Fury Dengeki drama CD series
 * Sheryl Stanley - Maximum Impact series (English voice)

Live Action Actors

 * Tomomi Miyauchi - Fatal Fury 2 Super Famicom commercials
 * Miki Hareyama - Fatal Fury Special commercials
 * Maggie Q - King of Fighters movie

Game Appearances

 * Fatal Fury 2
 * Fatal Fury Special
 * The King of Fighters 94
 * Fatal Fury 3
 * The King of Fighters 95
 * Real Bout Fatal Fury
 * The King of Fighters 96
 * Real Bout Fatal Fury Special: Dominated Mind
 * Real Bout Fatal Fury Special
 * The King of Fighters 97
 * Real Bout Fatal Fury 2
 * The King of Fighters 98
 * Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition
 * Fatal Fury: First Contact
 * The King of Fighters 99
 * SNK Gals' Fighters
 * SNK vs Capcom: Match of the Millenium
 * Capcom vs SNK
 * The King of Fighters 2000
 * The King of Fighters 2001
 * Capcom vs SNK 2
 * The King of Fighters EX
 * The King of Fighters 2002
 * The King of Fighters EX2
 * SVC Chaos: SNK vs Capcom
 * The King of Fighters 2003
 * The King of Fighters Neowave
 * The King of Fighters: Maximum Impact
 * The King of Fighters XI - hidden character, ps2 only
 * Neo Geo Battle Coliseum
 * The King of Fighters: Maximum Impact 2
 * The King of Fighters: Maximum Impact Regulation A
 * The King of Fighters: Kyo
 * Quiz King of Fighters
 * Garou Densetsu The Legend of Wild Wolf - roulette character
 * Garou Densetsu Special - roulette character
 * The King of Fighters (pachinko) - roulette character
 * Maximum Impact - roulette character

Mobile Appearances

 * Garou Densetsu vs Fighter's History Dynamite
 * Days of Memories (first, fifth, eighth, and ninth game) - unplayable
 * Gungho Games - character skin
 * Neo Geo Tennis Coliseum
 * The King of Fighters Mobile
 * The King of Fighters Mobile R-2
 * The King of Fighters Volleyball
 * The King of Millionaire
 * The King of Fighters Mahjong
 * KOF Gals Mahjong
 * SNK Gals Fighters
 * SNK Beach Volley Gal's Attack
 * SNK Gal's Open ~Cutey Shot~
 * Moeyo! KOF Daiundokai
 * SNK Gals Island Dokidoki Puzzle Shock!
 * Moeyo! SNK Gals Osuin Katoukai

Cameo Appearances

 * Art of Fighting 2 - in Eiji's ending in-text cameo
 * Samurai Shodown - cameo in Genan's and Haohmaru's ending; name's the same but written as: "不知火麻衣"
 * Shinsetsu Samurai Spirits: Bushidou Retsuden (Neo-Geo CD version only)
 * The King of Fighters: Battle de Paradise
 * The King of Fighters 2 - cameo in Hawaii; also a very rare roulette character

Anime Appearances

 * Fatal Fury 2: The New Battle
 * Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture
 * The King of Fighters: Another Day - 1st episode