About

Mai Shiranui is a playable character from the Fatal Fury and King of Fighters series. Usually presented in scant clothing throughout the series, she became a fan favorite, leading to a bevy of fan art. She became the subject of memes following a 2019 Nintendo Direct hosted by Super Smash Brothers creator Masahiro Sakurai in which he stated the character would not make a cameo in Super Smash Brothers Ultimate alongside Terry Bogard, another character from Fatal Fury and King of Fighters who was recently added to the Ultimate roster, because the Smash games are "for good boys and girls," implying Shiranui was too scantily clad to be in the game.

Origin

Mai Shiranui debuted as a fighter in Fatal Fury 2, which released December 10th, 1992.^[1] Throughout the series, she has a deep crush on fellow fighter Andy Bogard. She was modeled after famous Japanese idols of the early 90s.

Spread

Shiranui went on to be in dozens of King of Fighters and Fatal Fury games and spinoffs. In later games, animators gave her jiggling breast physics which helped further her popularity with fans. Her beauty and popularity with fans led to her becoming the female mascot of the games throughout the series' history. According to the character's Wiki, Shiranui placed #4 in Gamespy's Top Ten Babes In Games list. She also appeared in Agree Or Die's Hottest Girls Of the 16 Bit Era list.^[2]

Sakurai Presentation

On November 6th, 2019, Masahiro Sakurai, director of Super Smash Brothers Ultimate, held a Nintendo Direct in which he discussed the addition of Terry Bogard to the cast of the game. Several other Fatal Fury and King of Fighters characters make cameo appearances in the game, but Sakurai stated that Shiranui would not because Smash games are "for good boys and girls."

The statement led to a surge of jokes about Shiranui's snub from the game. Twitter user @EXDragonith posted a No Way Fag parody about the snub, gaining over 1,900 retweets and 5,900 likes (shown below, left). @Aevanko posted a Drakeposting parody about how Bayonetta was in the game despite being a sexualized character, gaining over 100 retweets (shown below, right). Jokes about the snub were covered by Kotaku.^[3]

Casual Mai Shiranui

Casual Mai Shiranui refers to the fighting game character Mai Shiranui dressed in pink dolphin shorts and a white tank top and sitting in a chair in a relaxed pose in the character select screen of Street Fighter 6. The character's outfit and pose went viral on social media, inspiring fan art, cosplay, and other fan labor.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References