Mai Shiranui - Character Design

Character Design

Prior to the creation of Mai for Fatal Fury 2, the series was intended to feature a male ninja master using the fighting style that she would use. Later, the SNK staff changed their focus to including an idol character into the series, and they decided to replace him with Mai. As described by Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), "the character wears a revealing outfit that accentuates her buttocks and displays large amounts of cleavage." In her official profile, Mai's measurements are 87 cm / 55 cm / 91 cm; she is 165 cm tall and weights 48 kg. Inspiration for Mai's physical appearance and attributes were culled from a variety of sources. The official Neo Geo publication Neo Geo Freak wrote her breasts were modeled after Fumie Hosokawa and her buttocks were modeled after Ai Iijima (both women were famous Japanese gravure idols during the creation of the Fatal Fury series). The characteristic "jiggle" animation effect of Mai's breasts was inspired by the tales of the kunoichi (female ninja) using their bodies for seduction and distraction. Mai's surname, "Shiranui" (a Japanese optical phenomenon similar to will-o'-the-wisp) is a reference to her pyrokinetic abilities.

Mai's basic look changes only slightly through most of the Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters games. She has long hair (usually brown or red, sometimes also black) with long bangs framing the sides of her face, tied up in a thick, long ponytail which flows behind her back. Her costume is usually a sleeveless, skimpy red outfit or tunic. The costume is held at her waist by a decorative waistband, often with long, trailing decorative tails, leading down to a loincloth with a thong underneath (or mini-shorts in the U.S. version). Her footwear for Fatal Fury 2, Fatal Fury Special (1993) and The King of Fighters games is a pair of soft-soled tabi. From Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory onwards into Real Bout Fatal Fury (both in 1995), she wears instep guards that leave her heels and the front parts of her feet exposed. In Fatal Fury 3, she is also wearing a red vest and eye shadow. Mai has been subject to much regional censoring, including having her famous breast bouncing animation removed in the North American versions of Fatal Fury 2, Fatal Fury Special and The King of Fighters 2002. In most games she was voiced by Akoya Sogi.

In The King of Fighters: Maximum Impact (2004), her alternate costumes portray her with very short, boyish hair and ninja outfits that resemble that of Kasumi from the Dead or Alive series. In KOF: Maximum Impact 2 (2006), one of Mai's second outfit color schemes is exactly Andy Bogard's standard palette, even giving Mai blonde hair. Another of her outfits bears a resemblance to the character Lum Invader from the manga and anime series Urusei Yatsura (long green hair, clothes sporting tiger prints, and her hairpin even makes it look like she had small horns). This costume is also considered to be a cosplay of Cham Cham from SNK's Samurai Showdown series. The Maximum Impact series' producer, Falcoon, stated that designing Mai's alternate design was one of the ones he felt "unforgivable", as he felt unsure of fans' reaction to the change. Shinkiro, an illustrator from The King of Fighters, commented that Mai was the most difficult to draw since he "thought she was going to burst out of her costume." The King of Fighters logo designer and illustrator Nao Q, asked which character from which game he was happiest with, said, "You know full well it's Mai from Fatal Fury! As a fan of full-figured females, I can't do without her!"