Mai Shiranui

Mai Shiranui is a character from both the Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters series. Her official nickname is The Alluring Ninja Girl.

Development
Mai was originally not planned to be included in Fatal Fury 2 at all, as her fighting style was created for a different male ninja. When developers shifted their focus to include an idol character in 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 bottom is modeled after the late Ai Iijima; both women were famous idols at the time.

During the development of The King of Fighters '94, Mai's designer wanted to add more animation to her neutral pose. When the designer came back with the "swaying bosom", the developers were awestruck.

In an interview with one of the series designers, Shinkiro, he replies that Mai was the most difficult character to illustrate. He comments "I thought she was going to burst out of her costume..."

Personality
Mai is a very cheerful and temperamental girl. She tends to also be somewhat of an airhead and admires any kind of beauty or attractiveness, which sometimes comes across as being vain. She also at times compares attractive boys who flirt with her or acknowledge her beauty to Andy, acknowledging their attractiveness but ending with a comment saying they're 'not as cute as Andy'.

Like many girls, she has dreams of getting married to her Prince Charming. She found that same Prince Charming is Andy and self-proclaimed herself his fiancé, which at times, has creeped out Andy himself. Within the Fatal Fury series, he mostly tries to ignore her advances as he views her like a younger sister but has a hard time adequately returning platonic affections due to her persistence.

Another notable example of this within the King Of Fighters series, is her intro with Andy in KOF '97, proposing to Andy outright in a wedding dress, or scaring Andy with a mock child doll in KOF '99 and 2001. Despite this, Andy mutually acknowledges her love but prefers to keep quiet about it.

Although her peppy 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.

Despite her complex relationship, Mai has shown her support for the women's team and their notorious reputation for years and enjoys working with her teammates. As for Andy's older brother Terry, Mai admires him, although she gets skeptical when she feels he's hiding something about Andy. Mai shows deference towards Joe but she feels his silly habits are a little annoying.

Powers

 * Pyrokinesis: Mai is able to create and control fire. However, she cannot control flames that she didn't create, 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 Burst: Mai can cause explosions and eruptions of fire.
 * Aerial Control: Mai has the ability to temporarily stay airborne and control her movements in the air. This allows her to float, glide, change directions in mid-air or gain temporary flight.
 * Hammer Space: Mai can hide/pull out infinite weapons and items from her clothing and cleavage, from seemingly nowhere. She keeps multiple fans (her weapon of choice) with her that can't be seen. She also sometimes carries clothes, giant fans, and usually an umbrella.
 * Bunshin: Mai can temporarily project shadow images of herself and her weapon.

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 - Because of her ninja training, Mai is a master of stealth.
 * Clothing - With her revealing outfit, it's easy for her male opponents to get distracted, giving her the opportunity to defeat them. She can also create clothing, particularly traditional Japanese clothes.
 * Cooking - Mai can cook food for particular occasions.

Fighting Style
Mai uses the Shiranui-ryuu form of ninjutsu combined with her fire powers to fight.

Her style resembles normal ninjutsu with more graceful and majestic moves, somewhat in reference to traditional Japanese dance. She also uses paper fans as weapons, integrating them into her combat technique and using them to perform several combinations and moves. Her clothing, specifically, the tassel on her ninja garb, is also used to attack the opponent. She's also exceptional in hand to hand combat using different throws and techniques to gain the upper hand. Mai has shown great strength as well as being strong enough to throw enemies heavier than her and using her strong elbow strike capable of breaking through her enemy's defense's incapacitating them.

Game Appearances

 * Capcom vs SNK 3: Fighters' Spirit - Playable character
 * King of Fighters Retrowave - Playable character
 * KOF: Maximum Impact 3 - Playable character
 * Neo Geo 2: Match of the Century - Playable character
 * Neo Geo Battle Coliseum 2 - Playable character
 * The King of Fighters 2001: Re-Bout - Playable character
 * The King of Fighters 2000: Re-Bout - Playable character

Trivia

 * Mai's exclusion from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate due to japan's CERO (the rating board in Japan) ended up making her somewhat way more popular because of the many memes and fanarts where Mai is bullied to the point where she even became evil in memes posted by the YouTuber TheGamerLover.