115-458: 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
230-554: A gamebook for the Queen's Blade ecchi series. Mai's image was additionally licensed as a roulette character for pachislot machines. In 2003, SNK sued machine manufacturer Aruze for copyright infringement after Mai's likeness was used without permission for their pachinko game "Iregui". Mai is prominently featured in the Universal Fighting System collectible card game. Mai has appeared in various other media related to
345-544: 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. In 2025, Rebecca Rose serves as Mai's English voice actress for her appearance in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves . In terms of gameplay, Mai
460-525: A "mecha" figure by YCY. In 2009, an exclusive Volks figure was sold in an auction for the Make-A-Wish Foundation . Several major figure product lines have also featured the character, such as the Cy Girls series, Pinky:St , and by Good Smile as part of their Nendoroid and Pop Up Parade figure lines. Meanwhile, several diorama figures have also been released including a 1/6th scale figure by Gantaku,
575-505: A 1/4th scale figure by Kinetiquettes, and antoher by PJ Studio. A large bust sculpture of Mai was also produced by Queen Studios, featuring glass eyes. In other merchandise, Exar produced a joystick controller modeled after the Neo Geo 's for PlayStation consoles, decorated with Mai-related imagery. In both 2019 and 2020, an entirely Mai-themed Neo-Geo shop opened in Tokyo's Akihabara district for
690-624: A benefit from the in-group to the out-group) means "[I/we] explained [it] to [him/her/them]". Such beneficiary auxiliary verbs thus serve a function comparable to that of pronouns and prepositions in Indo-European languages to indicate the actor and the recipient of an action. Japanese "pronouns" also function differently from most modern Indo-European pronouns (and more like nouns) in that they can take modifiers as any other noun may. For instance, one does not say in English: The amazed he ran down
805-538: 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. While the development team originally gave her a more stern appearance in Fatal Fury 2 , they softened it in her subsequent appearances. She
920-445: 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. Later games meanwhile added secondary outfit options. For her appearance in
1035-414: A distinct language of its own that has absorbed various aspects from neighboring languages. Japanese has five vowels, and vowel length is phonemic, with each having both a short and a long version. Elongated vowels are usually denoted with a line over the vowel (a macron ) in rōmaji , a repeated vowel character in hiragana , or a chōonpu succeeding the vowel in katakana . /u/ ( listen )
1150-632: A fighter. Since her introduction she has appeared in almost every Fatal Fury title since with the exception of Garou: Mark of the Wolves . 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. She additionally appears in spinoff game King of Fighters Maximum Impact 2 and it's related title, King of Fighters Maximum Impact Regulation A . In other SNK-related fighting games, Mai has appeared playable in every game in
1265-555: A fun character who is always a blast to play as". He further praised how she owned her sexuality, integrating her sex appeal as an intentional part of her character's battle strategy. Jasper also added that while she is often portrayed as chasing after Andy, he liked that she was not content with simply being a side character and someone that deserved to be his partner over other characters, her role in The King of Fighters ' Women's Team "ultimately her way of showing him up and teaching him
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#17328976914431380-419: A glide /j/ and either the first part of a geminate consonant ( っ / ッ , represented as Q) or a moraic nasal in the coda ( ん / ン , represented as N). The nasal is sensitive to its phonetic environment and assimilates to the following phoneme, with pronunciations including [ɴ, m, n, ɲ, ŋ, ɰ̃] . Onset-glide clusters only occur at the start of syllables but clusters across syllables are allowed as long as
1495-505: A lesson." Meanwhile, the staff of Chinese website 163.com noted that while the King of Fighters series later introduced sexier characters, they were often ignored in part thanks to Mai's "exaggerated style" and personality, the latter of which they felt was vital for a character's enduring appeal. However, some have complained about her design, feeling it represents a trend of oversexualization of female characters in fighting games. A thesis for
1610-440: A limited time to celebrate the character's in-universe birthday. In November 2024, Japanese fitness company Tanita as part of their collaboration with SNK studied the bodies of several King of Fighters characters to promote their new body composition monitor, among which included Mai. Mai has been well received since her introduction. The staff of UGO.com described her as a mascot not only for The King of Fighters but SNK as
1725-479: A listener depending on the listener's relative social position and the degree of familiarity between the speaker and the listener. When used in different social relationships, the same word may have positive (intimate or respectful) or negative (distant or disrespectful) connotations. Japanese often use titles of the person referred to where pronouns would be used in English. For example, when speaking to one's teacher, it
1840-544: 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
1955-752: A playable character, in various non-fighting King of Fighters -related mobile games either developed or licensed by SNK, including KOF Gals Mahjong , KOF: Battle de Paradise , Mini King of Fighters , The Rhythm of Fighters , and The King of Fighters M , The King of Fighters '97 OL , The King of Fighters: Destiny , The King of Fighters '98: Ultimate Match Online action RPG The King of Fighters All Star , and augmented reality game The King of Fighters Orochi Go . Not-strictly Fatal Fury or King of Fighters mobile games that also feature Mai include SNK Dream Battle , SNK Beach Volley Gal's Attack , SNK Gal's Open: Cutey Shot , SNK Gals Island Dokidoki Puzzle Shock! and its sequel, Neo Geo Tennis Coliseum, You Are
2070-454: 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
2185-520: A rushing cartwheel kick followed by an elbow strike called "Deadly Ninja Bees". She can additionally produced flames with some of her attacks, and throw her large folding fans as projectiles. Mai is featured as a playable character in the console shooter games KOF Sky Stage and Neo Geo Heroes: Ultimate Shooting , the quiz game Quiz King of Fighters , and the SNK vs. Capcom spin-off crossover card battle series SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash . She
2300-418: A secondary outfit. Her primary meanwhile was changed to black leather pants, a matching unzipped jacket with loose sleeves that exposed her midriff and cleavage, and black leather gloves on her hands. The look was inspired by her love of heavy metal and to give her a more casual outfit, as Ureshino felt her regular outfit would be out of place as street attire and would more likely get her arrested. Mai Shiranui
2415-408: A sentence need not be stated and pronouns may be omitted if they can be inferred from context. In the example above, hana ga nagai would mean "[their] noses are long", while nagai by itself would mean "[they] are long." A single verb can be a complete sentence: Yatta! ( やった! ) "[I / we / they / etc] did [it]!". In addition, since adjectives can form the predicate in a Japanese sentence (below),
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#17328976914432530-428: A single adjective can be a complete sentence: Urayamashii! ( 羨ましい! ) "[I'm] jealous [about it]!". While the language has some words that are typically translated as pronouns, these are not used as frequently as pronouns in some Indo-European languages, and function differently. In some cases, Japanese relies on special verb forms and auxiliary verbs to indicate the direction of benefit of an action: "down" to indicate
2645-411: A taste in heavy metal music , particularly the band Pantera . Standing 165 cm (5 ft 5 in) tall, Mai is a Japanese woman with measurements of 87-55-91 cm (34-22-36 in). 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
2760-508: A variety of games, including titles such as GungHo Games , The King of Soldier II , Dragon Throne: Battle of Red Cliffs , Black Desert Online , Wizardry Online , Mabinogi Heroes , HIT , Knives Out-Tokyo Royale , Phantasy Star Online 2 , Lost Saga , Mobile Legends: Bang Bang , and Fall Guys . A variety of figures have also been produced by a wide range of manufacturers such as A-Label, Aizu Project, Alphamax, Daiki, Hobby Japan , Max Factory, Volks , SNK themselves, and
2875-596: 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 , Rebecca Rose, 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
2990-454: A whole, and felt the character's role as an "unapologetic sex symbol" was a driving force for sales of the King of Fighters franchise. The Mary Sue ' s Princess Weekees meanwhile cited her as one of the most iconic women in fighting games, noting that while SNK's games themselves were often overlooked in the mainstream, people, including herself, knew about Mai thanks to her sex appeal. Joystiq ' s Richard Mitchell meanwhile emphasized
3105-405: A whole, using her image on a variety of products such as clothing and condoms. She was featured in live-action commercials for Fatal Fury Special and Fatal Fury 2 in 1993. Multiple " booth babe " models dressed as the character have been fixtures at Tokyo Game Show and other venues, noted in particular for their popularity at such events. Various Asian celebrities have also been hired to promote
3220-675: Is compressed rather than protruded , or simply unrounded. Some Japanese consonants have several allophones , which may give the impression of a larger inventory of sounds. However, some of these allophones have since become phonemic. For example, in the Japanese language up to and including the first half of the 20th century, the phonemic sequence /ti/ was palatalized and realized phonetically as [tɕi] , approximately chi ( listen ) ; however, now [ti] and [tɕi] are distinct, as evidenced by words like tī [tiː] "Western-style tea" and chii [tɕii] "social status". The "r" of
3335-421: Is topic–comment . Sentence-final particles are used to add emotional or emphatic impact, or form questions. Nouns have no grammatical number or gender , and there are no articles . Verbs are conjugated , primarily for tense and voice , but not person . Japanese adjectives are also conjugated. Japanese has a complex system of honorifics , with verb forms and vocabulary to indicate the relative status of
3450-407: Is a form-fitting garment for women traditionally worn as lingerie . Its primary purpose is to push up the bust by tightening against the upper midriff and forcing the breasts up while gently shaping the waist. Nowadays, it might also be worn as a push-up bra under a low-backed dress or as a camisole for outerwear. The bustier can also be worn as a half-slip under sheer upper garments if
3565-523: 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
Mai Shiranui - Misplaced Pages Continue
3680-461: 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. 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. She furthermore has a variety of hand-to-hand combat maneuvers, such as her "Flying Squirrel Dance" diving attack and
3795-559: Is also one of the heroes in the Thailand-exclusive MOBA game The King of Fighters Online . 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. Mai also appears in the 1998 visual novel game The King of Fighters: Kyo , and later in several titles of SNK's Days of Memories dating sim series. She features, usually as
3910-445: Is also seen in o-medetō "congratulations", from medetaku ). Late Middle Japanese has the first loanwords from European languages – now-common words borrowed into Japanese in this period include pan ("bread") and tabako ("tobacco", now "cigarette"), both from Portuguese . Modern Japanese is considered to begin with the Edo period (which spanned from 1603 to 1867). Since Old Japanese,
4025-519: Is also used in a limited fashion (such as for imported acronyms) in Japanese writing. The numeral system uses mostly Arabic numerals , but also traditional Chinese numerals . Proto-Japonic , the common ancestor of the Japanese and Ryukyuan languages , is thought to have been brought to Japan by settlers coming from the Korean peninsula sometime in the early- to mid-4th century BC (the Yayoi period ), replacing
4140-440: Is appropriate to use sensei ( 先生 , "teacher"), but inappropriate to use anata . This is because anata is used to refer to people of equal or lower status, and one's teacher has higher status. Japanese nouns have no grammatical number, gender or article aspect. The noun hon ( 本 ) may refer to a single book or several books; hito ( 人 ) can mean "person" or "people", and ki ( 木 ) can be "tree" or "trees". Where number
4255-684: Is associated with comedy (see Kansai dialect ). Dialects of Tōhoku and North Kantō are associated with typical farmers. The Ryūkyūan languages, spoken in Okinawa and the Amami Islands (administratively part of Kagoshima ), are distinct enough to be considered a separate branch of the Japonic family; not only is each language unintelligible to Japanese speakers, but most are unintelligible to those who speak other Ryūkyūan languages. However, in contrast to linguists, many ordinary Japanese people tend to consider
4370-462: Is better documentation of Late Middle Japanese phonology than for previous forms (for instance, the Arte da Lingoa de Iapam ). Among other sound changes, the sequence /au/ merges to /ɔː/ , in contrast with /oː/ ; /p/ is reintroduced from Chinese; and /we/ merges with /je/ . Some forms rather more familiar to Modern Japanese speakers begin to appear – the continuative ending - te begins to reduce onto
4485-509: Is correlated with the sex of the speaker and the social situation in which they are spoken: men and women alike in a formal situation generally refer to themselves as watashi ( 私 , literally "private") or watakushi (also 私 , hyper-polite form), while men in rougher or intimate conversation are much more likely to use the word ore ( 俺 "oneself", "myself") or boku . Similarly, different words such as anata , kimi , and omae ( お前 , more formally 御前 "the one before me") may refer to
4600-417: Is important, it can be indicated by providing a quantity (often with a counter word ) or (rarely) by adding a suffix, or sometimes by duplication (e.g. 人人 , hitobito , usually written with an iteration mark as 人々 ). Words for people are usually understood as singular. Thus Tanaka-san usually means Mx Tanaka . Words that refer to people and animals can be made to indicate a group of individuals through
4715-722: Is less common. In terms of mutual intelligibility , a survey in 1967 found that the four most unintelligible dialects (excluding Ryūkyūan languages and Tōhoku dialects ) to students from Greater Tokyo were the Kiso dialect (in the deep mountains of Nagano Prefecture ), the Himi dialect (in Toyama Prefecture ), the Kagoshima dialect and the Maniwa dialect (in Okayama Prefecture ). The survey
Mai Shiranui - Misplaced Pages Continue
4830-420: Is often called a topic-prominent language , which means it has a strong tendency to indicate the topic separately from the subject, and that the two do not always coincide. The sentence Zō wa hana ga nagai ( 象は鼻が長い ) literally means, "As for elephant(s), (the) nose(s) (is/are) long". The topic is zō "elephant", and the subject is hana "nose". Japanese grammar tends toward brevity; the subject or object of
4945-489: Is preserved in words such as matsuge ("eyelash", lit. "hair of the eye"); modern mieru ("to be visible") and kikoeru ("to be audible") retain a mediopassive suffix - yu(ru) ( kikoyu → kikoyuru (the attributive form, which slowly replaced the plain form starting in the late Heian period) → kikoeru (all verbs with the shimo-nidan conjugation pattern underwent this same shift in Early Modern Japanese )); and
5060-460: Is set to appear in Capcom 's Street Fighter 6 as part of its "Year 2" downloadable content lineup. In video games, the character was originally voiced by Akoya Sogi , 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
5175-646: Is the principal language of the Japonic language family spoken by the Japanese people . It has around 123 million speakers, primarily in Japan , the only country where it is the national language , and within the Japanese diaspora worldwide. The Japonic family also includes the Ryukyuan languages and the variously classified Hachijō language . There have been many attempts to group the Japonic languages with other families such as
5290-402: Is the version of Japanese discussed in this article. Formerly, standard Japanese in writing ( 文語 , bungo , "literary language") was different from colloquial language ( 口語 , kōgo ) . The two systems have different rules of grammar and some variance in vocabulary. Bungo was the main method of writing Japanese until about 1900; since then kōgo gradually extended its influence and
5405-500: Is today". Seiichiro Hayakawa of Magmix praised how Obari showed her as a "sensual" character, moreso than he expected, while also displaying her with considerable strength. He further stated that alongside the fanservice, her portrayal left a considerable impression on him of her as a "representative fighting game character". Gavin Jasper stated while focus was often placed on her breasts, he felt her "optimistic spirit helps balance her into
5520-471: Is used for the present and the future. For verbs that represent an ongoing process, the -te iru form indicates a continuous (or progressive) aspect , similar to the suffix ing in English. For others that represent a change of state, the -te iru form indicates a perfect aspect. For example, kite iru means "They have come (and are still here)", but tabete iru means "They are eating". Questions (both with an interrogative pronoun and yes/no questions) have
5635-405: Is why some linguists do not classify Japanese "pronouns" as pronouns, but rather as referential nouns, much like Spanish usted (contracted from vuestra merced , "your ( majestic plural ) grace") or Portuguese você (from vossa mercê ). Japanese personal pronouns are generally used only in situations requiring special emphasis as to who is doing what to whom. The choice of words used as pronouns
5750-597: 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 scarf extends from her neck and juts out from behind her. In his blog during the game's development, game script writer Akihiko Ureshino joked that this version of her design "feels like her fabric area has decreased despite her increasing beauty", though he
5865-542: The SNK vs. Capcom series, She is also playable character in SNK Gals' Fighters , NeoGeo Battle Coliseum , and SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy . She has also appeared in mobile fighting game titles such as The King of Fighters , Fatal Fury Mobile , The King of Fighters-i , and The King of Fighters D: DyDO Smile STAND . 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 , and
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#17328976914435980-603: The Ainu , Austronesian , Koreanic , and the now-discredited Altaic , but none of these proposals have gained any widespread acceptance. Little is known of the language's prehistory, or when it first appeared in Japan. Chinese documents from the 3rd century AD recorded a few Japanese words, but substantial Old Japanese texts did not appear until the 8th century. From the Heian period (794–1185), extensive waves of Sino-Japanese vocabulary entered
6095-452: The Fatal Fury and King of Fighters series. In film, she was one of the protagonists of the 2009 American live-action movie The King of Fighters . The movie is loosely based on the games, and portrays her as a CIA agent and girlfriend to fellow series character Iori Yagami . She works alongside the other heroes to try and stop the villain Rugal , who seeks to use an alternate reality to gain
6210-517: The Federal University of Bahia cited Mai as an example of how female fighting game characters hypersexualize the breasts and hips, drawing comparisons to portrayal of the mythological Venus . It additionally cited her as an example of how such games tend to portray Asian women as inherently sexual through their use of traditional clothing and how much of her body it exposes. The animation of Mai's breasts in Fatal Fury 2 has been cited as one of
6325-455: The Japonic language family, which also includes the Ryukyuan languages spoken in the Ryukyu Islands . As these closely related languages are commonly treated as dialects of the same language, Japanese is sometimes called a language isolate . According to Martine Irma Robbeets , Japanese has been subject to more attempts to show its relation to other languages than any other language in
6440-504: The Philippines , and various Pacific islands, locals in those countries learned Japanese as the language of the empire. As a result, many elderly people in these countries can still speak Japanese. Japanese emigrant communities (the largest of which are to be found in Brazil , with 1.4 million to 1.5 million Japanese immigrants and descendants, according to Brazilian IBGE data, more than
6555-716: The United States (notably in Hawaii , where 16.7% of the population has Japanese ancestry, and California ), and the Philippines (particularly in Davao Region and the Province of Laguna ). Japanese has no official status in Japan, but is the de facto national language of the country. There is a form of the language considered standard : hyōjungo ( 標準語 ) , meaning "standard Japanese", or kyōtsūgo ( 共通語 ) , "common language", or even "Tokyo dialect" at times. The meanings of
6670-794: The de facto standard Japanese had been the Kansai dialect , especially that of Kyoto . However, during the Edo period, Edo (now Tokyo) developed into the largest city in Japan, and the Edo-area dialect became standard Japanese. Since the end of Japan's self-imposed isolation in 1853, the flow of loanwords from European languages has increased significantly. The period since 1945 has seen many words borrowed from other languages—such as German, Portuguese and English. Many English loan words especially relate to technology—for example, pasokon (short for "personal computer"), intānetto ("internet"), and kamera ("camera"). Due to
6785-548: The "Queens Team" alongside King and Yuri. Produced in China, she is voiced by Ami Koshimizu in Japanese, and Selene Zhan in Chinese, who was also the dubbing director for the work. Motion capture for Mai's body and face meanwhile was provided by Duan Yixuan of the idol group BEJ48 . For her crossover appearance in Korean mobile game Mad Blade , the developers produced a live-action short film featuring Mai. Played by actress Pan Chun Chun,
6900-518: The 1.2 million of the United States ) sometimes employ Japanese as their primary language. Approximately 12% of Hawaii residents speak Japanese, with an estimated 12.6% of the population of Japanese ancestry in 2008. Japanese emigrants can also be found in Peru , Argentina , Australia (especially in the eastern states), Canada (especially in Vancouver , where 1.4% of the population has Japanese ancestry),
7015-547: The Gambling World: The Gamble World of Fun ( Chinese : 笑傲赌界) where it is worn by one of the movie's antagonists. Kotaku ' s Brian Ashcraft attributed its popularity to the outfit's simplicity rather than any correlation to the King of Fighters , with the attire acting as a "uniform of sorts" as an "easy go-to choice" for cosplay. In contrast, Singaporean pop-culture site Lollipop felt the outfit demanded "a special kind of physique", and felt this to why it
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#17328976914437130-1041: The Hero! , Dai Shingeki RPG! Sister Quest , Samurai Shodown Slash , Metal Slug Defense , and Beast Busters featuring KOF . Mai has also been featured as a character in collaboration events with other games, including 300 Heroes , Ultimate Heroes , Dazzle Dance , Dungeon Fighter Online , Fantasy Fighter , Honor of Kings , Brave Frontier , Game of Dice , Samurai Kingdom , Clash of Kings , Crash Fever , Crusaders Quest , GangRoad JOKER , Grand Summoners , Everybody's Marble , Rival Arena VS , Saishu Senkan: With Lovely Girls , Tower of Saviors , Valkyrie Connect , Venus Eleven Vivid! , World Cross Saga , Yamato Chronicle , The Fellowship of The Dragon , Puzzle & Dragons , Dungeon Hunter Champions , Tokyo Prison , Ninja Must Die , and Doomsday: Last Survivors . She additionally appears in Bandai Namco 's crossover tactical RPG Queen's Gate: Spiral Chaos , as well as
7245-482: The Japanese language is of particular interest, ranging between an apical central tap and a lateral approximant . The "g" is also notable; unless it starts a sentence, it may be pronounced [ ŋ ] , in the Kanto prestige dialect and in other eastern dialects. The phonotactics of Japanese are relatively simple. The syllable structure is (C)(G)V(C), that is, a core vowel surrounded by an optional onset consonant,
7360-724: The Old Japanese sections are written in Man'yōgana , which uses kanji for their phonetic as well as semantic values. Based on the Man'yōgana system, Old Japanese can be reconstructed as having 88 distinct morae . Texts written with Man'yōgana use two different sets of kanji for each of the morae now pronounced き (ki), ひ (hi), み (mi), け (ke), へ (he), め (me), こ (ko), そ (so), と (to), の (no), も (mo), よ (yo) and ろ (ro). (The Kojiki has 88, but all later texts have 87. The distinction between mo 1 and mo 2 apparently
7475-488: The Ryūkyūan languages as dialects of Japanese. The imperial court also seems to have spoken an unusual variant of the Japanese of the time, most likely the spoken form of Classical Japanese , a writing style that was prevalent during the Heian period , but began to decline during the late Meiji period . The Ryūkyūan languages are classified by UNESCO as 'endangered', as young people mostly use Japanese and cannot understand
7590-543: The addition of a collective suffix (a noun suffix that indicates a group), such as -tachi , but this is not a true plural: the meaning is closer to the English phrase "and company". A group described as Tanaka-san-tachi may include people not named Tanaka. Some Japanese nouns are effectively plural, such as hitobito "people" and wareware "we/us", while the word tomodachi "friend" is considered singular, although plural in form. Verbs are conjugated to show tenses, of which there are two: past and present (or non-past) which
7705-495: The amount of exposure from her outfit, the development team responded there was "no reason in particular". Subsequent games however reverted back to her previous design, which has remained mostly consistent since with minimal changes. 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 . During work on The King of Fighters '94 ,
7820-554: 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. 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
7935-425: The anime's portrayal of Mai affected public perception and led to her later more sexualized appearance and Lemus agreed, feeling elements anime character designer Masami Ōbari had inserted into the film focusing on sexuality supported this theory. The observation was shared by the staff of Game On! USA , who praised Obari's anatomical detail in the film and stated he "made Mai Shinarui the crazy underdressed heroine she
8050-552: The character to promote it. Akoya Sogi meanwhile performed as Mai as part of the King of Fighter '97 Radio Drama Clash Edition broadcast in Japan in 1997. Later, she appeared alongside the rest of SNK's voice cast as part of their "NEO・GEO DJ Station Live" audio performances in Shinjuku , Tokyo , singing "Dear Mai Boi" herself in 1998. Recordings of the events were later released on laserdisc and CD as two-disc sets. Mai has been used extensively by SNK to promote their games and company as
8165-625: The character's presence in SNK's work over their competitor Capcom 's stating "there's one thing Street Fighter will never have, and that's Mai." Her omission from The King of Fighters XII drew particular backlash, with players boycotting the game and coining the phrase "no Mai, no buy". James Stephanie Sterling in an article for Destructoid in particular criticized her absence from the game, comparing it to Capcom "releasing Street Fighter without Ryu ". Other outlets meanwhile compared Mai to Street Fighter character Chun-Li, as both have been cited as
8280-481: The character, such as Korean idol Kyungri of the band Nine Muses , Chinese actress Li Bingbing , and Japanese adult actress Kirara Asuka . Meanwhile, a 2005 fan-voted "Ultimate Mai Shiranui Cosplay Tournament" promotional event in Taiwan exhibited nearly a hundred women who dressed up as Mai. She has also been the focus of other SNK promotions, such as artist Falcoon signing limited edition posters of Mai at E3 2005. Mai
8395-482: 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 appeared in nearly every entry 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
8510-463: The earliest examples of breast physics in video games, a conception that later games have steadily tried to refine, though Mai has remained the most prominent example in 2D animation of the concept. Brett Elston of GamesRadar+ emphasized that while female fighting game characters were prominent in the 1990's, with each new game often trying to out-sexualize the others, gaming periodicals were "abuzz with commentary on what Mai's bobbing bosom meant for
8625-564: The effect of changing Japanese into a mora-timed language. Late Middle Japanese covers the years from 1185 to 1600, and is normally divided into two sections, roughly equivalent to the Kamakura period and the Muromachi period , respectively. The later forms of Late Middle Japanese are the first to be described by non-native sources, in this case the Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries; and thus there
8740-440: The eye" in contrast to a cast of "squads of fighters with plenty of testosterone and muscles", with Mai's emphasis on exposure pushing her popularity further in his opinion. French magazine Hardcore Gamers devoted a two-page spread to the characters to compare them, with the article emphasizing while Chun-Li was often the more interesting character, Mai was more consistently alluring, though no less influential on other characters in
8855-577: The fighting game industry. In regards to her appearance in Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture , Jean-Karlo Lemus and Heidi Kemps of Anime News Network noted the emphasis on fanservice, particularly with how she was introduced "boobs first" in the production. She compared it to her portrayal in the Fatal Fury 2 video game, and observed while her appearance in the game was attractive, she was not "as over-the-top as she eventually became" in her later King of Fighters '94 appearance. Kemps felt
8970-402: The first two prominent female characters of fighting games. Frederick Badlissi of Diehard GameFan jokingly called it the "question of 'anatomic supremacy' between Mai Shiranui’s breasts (the 'North') and Chun-Li’s thighs (the 'South')". Games Tribune Magazine writer Javier Bello felt the comparison was in part due to the visual appeal of both characters introducing "a sexy and pleasing touch to
9085-455: The flow of loanwords from European languages increased significantly, and words from English roots have proliferated. Japanese is an agglutinative , mora -timed language with relatively simple phonotactics , a pure vowel system, phonemic vowel and consonant length, and a lexically significant pitch-accent . Word order is normally subject–object–verb with particles marking the grammatical function of words, and sentence structure
9200-609: The genitive particle ga remains in intentionally archaic speech. Early Middle Japanese is the Japanese of the Heian period , from 794 to 1185. It formed the basis for the literary standard of Classical Japanese , which remained in common use until the early 20th century. During this time, Japanese underwent numerous phonological developments, in many cases instigated by an influx of Chinese loanwords . These included phonemic length distinction for both consonants and vowels , palatal consonants (e.g. kya ) and labial consonant clusters (e.g. kwa ), and closed syllables . This had
9315-412: The industry", with Elston comparing it to "witnessing (half-naked) women entering the workplace for the first time." The staff of Inside Games praised it as "80% of Mai Shiranui's charm" and an enduring aspect of her character, citing how it fit as a distractionary element of her role as a ninja that was refined to be more realistic as the series progressed. Mai has been cited as especially popular among
9430-430: The language, affecting the phonology of Early Middle Japanese . Late Middle Japanese (1185–1600) saw extensive grammatical changes and the first appearance of European loanwords . The basis of the standard dialect moved from the Kansai region to the Edo region (modern Tokyo ) in the Early Modern Japanese period (early 17th century–mid 19th century). Following the end of Japan's self-imposed isolation in 1853,
9545-453: The languages of the original Jōmon inhabitants, including the ancestor of the modern Ainu language . Because writing had yet to be introduced from China, there is no direct evidence, and anything that can be discerned about this period must be based on internal reconstruction from Old Japanese , or comparison with the Ryukyuan languages and Japanese dialects . The Chinese writing system
9660-449: The languages. Okinawan Japanese is a variant of Standard Japanese influenced by the Ryūkyūan languages, and is the primary dialect spoken among young people in the Ryukyu Islands . Modern Japanese has become prevalent nationwide (including the Ryūkyū islands) due to education , mass media , and an increase in mobility within Japan, as well as economic integration. Japanese is a member of
9775-427: The large quantity of English loanwords, modern Japanese has developed a distinction between [tɕi] and [ti] , and [dʑi] and [di] , with the latter in each pair only found in loanwords. Although Japanese is spoken almost exclusively in Japan, it has also been spoken outside of the country. Before and during World War II , through Japanese annexation of Taiwan and Korea , as well as partial occupation of China ,
9890-425: The only strict rule of word order is that the verb must be placed at the end of a sentence (possibly followed by sentence-end particles). This is because Japanese sentence elements are marked with particles that identify their grammatical functions. The basic sentence structure is topic–comment . For example, Kochira wa Tanaka-san desu ( こちらは田中さんです ). kochira ("this") is the topic of the sentence, indicated by
10005-475: The others on their quest to stop the antagonist Laocorn Gaudeamus and his henchmen, and is voiced by Lisa Ann Beley in English while Mitsuishi reprises her role in Japanese. She additionally appears in The King of Fighters: Another Day , a tie in to Maximum Impact where she is voiced by Akoya Sogi. In other video media, Mai also appears in the YouTube animated series The King of Fighters: Destiny as part of
10120-470: The out-group gives a benefit to the in-group, and "up" to indicate the in-group gives a benefit to the out-group. Here, the in-group includes the speaker and the out-group does not, and their boundary depends on context. For example, oshiete moratta ( 教えてもらった ) (literally, "explaining got" with a benefit from the out-group to the in-group) means "[he/she/they] explained [it] to [me/us]". Similarly, oshiete ageta ( 教えてあげた ) (literally, "explaining gave" with
10235-415: The particle wa . The verb desu is a copula , commonly translated as "to be" or "it is" (though there are other verbs that can be translated as "to be"), though technically it holds no meaning and is used to give a sentence 'politeness'. As a phrase, Tanaka-san desu is the comment. This sentence literally translates to "As for this person, (it) is Mx Tanaka." Thus Japanese, like many other Asian languages,
10350-436: 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. 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
10465-516: The power of the god Orochi . She was played by Maggie Q , who performed her own stunts, while in Japan she was dubbed by Ami Koshimizu. In anime, Mai first appears in Fatal Fury 2: The New Battle where she is voiced by Sarah Sawatsky in English, and Kotono Mitsuishi in Japanese. Appearing in a small role, she is kidnapped by the villain Laurence Blood , with Andy rescuing her. In the follow up anime Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture , Mai helps
10580-477: The proposed larger Altaic family, or to various Southeast Asian languages , especially Austronesian . None of these proposals have gained wide acceptance (and the Altaic family itself is now considered controversial). As it stands, only the link to Ryukyuan has wide support. Other theories view the Japanese language as an early creole language formed through inputs from at least two distinct language groups, or as
10695-459: The same structure as affirmative sentences, but with intonation rising at the end. In the formal register, the question particle -ka is added. For example, ii desu ( いいです ) "It is OK" becomes ii desu-ka ( いいですか。 ) "Is it OK?". In a more informal tone sometimes the particle -no ( の ) is added instead to show a personal interest of the speaker: Dōshite konai-no? "Why aren't (you) coming?". Some simple queries are formed simply by mentioning
10810-502: The short plays on a joke about her originating from 2D fighting games, showing her initially unable to move from side to side against an opponent. In audio media, Mai appears in Dengeki G's Magazine drama CD series for Fatal Fury , where she is voiced by Megumi Hayashibara . In 1994, Japanese idol Reiko Chiba performed a vocal track called "Dear Mai Boi" in character as Mai for her music single Non Stop! One Way Love , later cosplaying as
10925-439: The speaker, the listener, and persons mentioned. The Japanese writing system combines Chinese characters , known as kanji ( 漢字 , ' Han characters') , with two unique syllabaries (or moraic scripts) derived by the Japanese from the more complex Chinese characters: hiragana ( ひらがな or 平仮名 , 'simple characters') and katakana ( カタカナ or 片仮名 , 'partial characters'). Latin script ( rōmaji ローマ字 )
11040-797: The state as at the time the constitution was written, many of the elders participating in the process had been educated in Japanese during the South Seas Mandate over the island shown by the 1958 census of the Trust Territory of the Pacific that found that 89% of Palauans born between 1914 and 1933 could speak and read Japanese, but as of the 2005 Palau census there were no residents of Angaur that spoke Japanese at home. Japanese dialects typically differ in terms of pitch accent , inflectional morphology , vocabulary , and particle usage. Some even differ in vowel and consonant inventories, although this
11155-476: The street. (grammatically incorrect insertion of a pronoun) But one can grammatically say essentially the same thing in Japanese: 驚いた彼は道を走っていった。 Transliteration: Odoroita kare wa michi o hashitte itta. (grammatically correct) This is partly because these words evolved from regular nouns, such as kimi "you" ( 君 "lord"), anata "you" ( あなた "that side, yonder"), and boku "I" ( 僕 "servant"). This
11270-787: The topic with an interrogative intonation to call for the hearer's attention: Kore wa? "(What about) this?"; O-namae wa? ( お名前は？ ) "(What's your) name?". Negatives are formed by inflecting the verb. For example, Pan o taberu ( パンを食べる。 ) "I will eat bread" or "I eat bread" becomes Pan o tabenai ( パンを食べない。 ) "I will not eat bread" or "I do not eat bread". Plain negative forms are i -adjectives (see below) and inflect as such, e.g. Pan o tabenakatta ( パンを食べなかった。 ) "I did not eat bread". Bustier A bustier ( UK : / ˈ b uː s t i eɪ , ˈ b ʌ s t -/ BOO -stee-ay, BUST -ee-ay , US : / b uː ˈ s t j eɪ , ˌ b uː s t i ˈ eɪ , ˌ b ʌ s t -/ boo- STYAY , BOO -stee- AY , BUST -ee- AY ) or bustiere
11385-419: The two consonants are the moraic nasal followed by a homorganic consonant. Japanese also includes a pitch accent , which is not represented in moraic writing; for example [haꜜ.ɕi] ("chopsticks") and [ha.ɕiꜜ] ("bridge") are both spelled はし ( hashi ) , and are only differentiated by the tone contour. Japanese word order is classified as subject–object–verb . Unlike many Indo-European languages ,
11500-577: The two methods were both used in writing until the 1940s. Bungo still has some relevance for historians, literary scholars, and lawyers (many Japanese laws that survived World War II are still written in bungo , although there are ongoing efforts to modernize their language). Kōgo is the dominant method of both speaking and writing Japanese today, although bungo grammar and vocabulary are occasionally used in modern Japanese for effect. The 1982 state constitution of Angaur , Palau , names Japanese along with Palauan and English as an official language of
11615-472: The two terms (''hyōjungo'' and ''kyōtsūgo'') are almost the same. Hyōjungo or kyōtsūgo is a conception that forms the counterpart of dialect. This normative language was born after the Meiji Restoration ( 明治維新 , meiji ishin , 1868) from the language spoken in the higher-class areas of Tokyo (see Yamanote ). Hyōjungo is taught in schools and used on television and in official communications. It
11730-407: The verb (e.g. yonde for earlier yomite ), the -k- in the final mora of adjectives drops out ( shiroi for earlier shiroki ); and some forms exist where modern standard Japanese has retained the earlier form (e.g. hayaku > hayau > hayɔɔ , where modern Japanese just has hayaku , though the alternative form is preserved in the standard greeting o-hayō gozaimasu "good morning"; this ending
11845-548: The world. Since Japanese first gained the consideration of linguists in the late 19th century, attempts have been made to show its genealogical relation to languages or language families such as Ainu , Korean , Chinese , Tibeto-Burman , Uralic , Altaic (or Ural-Altaic ), Austroasiatic , Austronesian and Dravidian . At the fringe, some linguists have even suggested a link to Indo-European languages , including Greek , or to Sumerian . Main modern theories try to link Japanese either to northern Asian languages, like Korean or
11960-618: The young people in Hong Kong during the late 1990s, impacting local youth and Mong Kok culture in the country. Mai has also been cited as one of the most popular subjects of cosplay worldwide, appearing on televised material such China's Cybernet television broadcast where the host cosplayed as the character several times, and also on Taiwanese television show Video Game Fighter , where both hosts cosplayed as her. In an interview with Dead or Alive developer Team Ninja , they stated their character Momiji 's red clothing and ability to shoot fire
12075-431: Was a direct homage to Mai. Mai has also been the frequent subject of explicit third party works, including hentai doujinshi , erotic cosplay, and pornographic films. Mai's outfit has been observed as particularly popular among models in China and Taiwan, with models wearing the attire appearing at non-gaming events such as book signings or car shows. The outfit has also appeared in film, such as 2018's Smiling Proudly in
12190-470: Was also announced to join the roster of the mobile action RPG SNK All-Star if the number of pre-registered users exceeds half million. A variety of merchandise was also produced to promote her appearance in SNK Heroines , including a t-shirt, standees and stickers bundled with special editions of the game. Mai's outfit and appearance have also been made available as promotional cosmetic skins for players in
12305-535: Was based on 12- to 20-second-long recordings of 135 to 244 phonemes , which 42 students listened to and translated word-for-word. The listeners were all Keio University students who grew up in the Kanto region . There are some language islands in mountain villages or isolated islands such as Hachijō-jima island , whose dialects are descended from Eastern Old Japanese . Dialects of the Kansai region are spoken or known by many Japanese, and Osaka dialect in particular
12420-402: Was featured heavily in promotional materials for The King of Fighters XIII , and an exclusive t-shirt depicting her was given to all registered participants in the King of Fighters championship at EVO 2012. The King of Fighters XIV Premium Edition included a soundtrack with an illustrated case featuring the character, and the game's pre-order bonuses included a Mai PlayStation 4 theme. Mai
12535-668: Was imported to Japan from Baekje around the start of the fifth century, alongside Buddhism. The earliest texts were written in Classical Chinese , although some of these were likely intended to be read as Japanese using the kanbun method, and show influences of Japanese grammar such as Japanese word order. The earliest text, the Kojiki , dates to the early eighth century, and was written entirely in Chinese characters, which are used to represent, at different times, Chinese, kanbun , and Old Japanese. As in other texts from this period,
12650-465: Was lost immediately following its composition.) This set of morae shrank to 67 in Early Middle Japanese , though some were added through Chinese influence. Man'yōgana also has a symbol for /je/ , which merges with /e/ before the end of the period. Several fossilizations of Old Japanese grammatical elements remain in the modern language – the genitive particle tsu (superseded by modern no )
12765-420: 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. In terms of personality, they wanted her to be strong-willed woman who made most of her own equipment, and to have
12880-412: 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. Several redesigns were considered for her appearance in the game, including a full armored appearance in heavy ninja gear, before changing her attire to incorporate a bustier . When asked if this was done to reduce
12995-413: Was out of concern that her presence would increase the game's age rating. The decision still led some to question the exclusion in light of explicit characters such as Bayonetta appearing in the title, with Inside Games joking perhaps Mai was "too big" for the title and suggesting it only added to her appeal. Japanese language Japanese ( 日本語 , Nihongo , [ɲihoŋɡo] )
13110-652: Was popular with models. In 2019, when discussing Terry Bogard's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate , producer Masahiro Sakurai explained while Mai was widely popular, she would not be able to appear in the game in any context as the game was made for "good boys and girls of many different ages." The statement rapidly became a meme on social media platforms, with Team Ninja taking the opportunity to advertise her inclusion in Dead or Alive 5 and to welcome players to "the world of adults". The development team later clarified it
13225-542: Was worried some variations may be removed from the final game for being too overt. 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. For her appearance in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves , her recurring outfit was relegated to
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