SF6 Mai Shiranui: Not Pretty Enough?

When the Streetfighter 6 teaser trailer for Mai Shiranui got posted early today on the internet, I was, without exaggeration, overjoyed. I've been waiting for this first, real look at Fighting Games' No.1 Ninja Girl for months with eager anticipation. With respect to cuties like Ibuki, Kasumi, Maki and others- Mai is THE Kunoichi. No one else commands this kind of recognition, and is held in such a high standard of hotness. Perhaps though- too high?

Now, don't get me wrong- in no way was I disappointed when I watched the Mai Teaser- and I've watched it quite a lot of times since. IMO, Mai, even at this point- is beautiful. That last look at her at the end- that reveal where she stands before Mr. World Tour and gives him a smile- she is beautiful. I think that's plain to see in the screencaps I've included in this post. By no means can I look at that first screenshot and not see anything but lovely, lovely Mai. In the scenes where she is dancing amidst her fan's flames, her face is positively enchanting.

 And I certainly think that Capcom knocked it out of the park with that gorgeous body and her sexy outfit. As much as I'd want as much of her feet exposed, I am fine with how her footguards look, and that P1 costume is... chef's kiss.

That said, I do see how some are saying that she has a 'generic NPC' quality to her. She looks like a character- albeit a really well made one- created via the Character Creation for SF6 World Tour. I think this is due to the cinematic being her World Tour Master Cutscene. As mentioned by Maximilian Dood on his stream, she'll most probably look a lot better in-game, in her Intros and Outros, in actual gameplay.

I think other aspects that are throwing people off are her very dark, almost jet-black hair (it is usually brown in most of her appearances). I think this will be addressed in Color Variants no problem- she probably has a blonde color too. Also mentioned and speculated is that the SF6 team was going for her Old School look, based on Shinkiro's excellent character art for her (for Fatal Fury 3 and the Real Bout games, I believe) and even the older artworks for Fatal Fury. There's merit in that, which is only a good think cause Mai looks great in those old artworks.

There's also comparisons to how she looks in other games- specifically 3D fighters like Dead or Alive, the 3D King of Fighters games (XIV and XV) and even games like the now-defunct King of Fighters All-Stars. Mai ALWAYS looks gorgeous, regardless. For her DOA5 version- I think she certainly looks cute and stands tall next to the rest of the Dead or Alive Girls, she shares how that game's females have a 'doll' like quality. DOA5 Mai I think lacks detail and expressiveness that would make her look off in the more realistic(?) world of SF6. But I am thinking that when someone releases a Face mod for SF6 porting her DOA5 face, I probably will stick to her default face.

I think Mai is just held with such high regard that people were expecting to really get blown away by her face reveal with the teaser. What we got was a beautiful, very Japanese/Asian-looking girl with a charming smile and a HOT body (and yeah, I've seen no complaints about Mai's bod and her outfit... they did her justice lol). I guess one can try googling for Mai art and images or look for actresses or supermodels and speculate at what could have been endlessly. Hell- I'd love to have Mai be given, say, Shadowheart or Tifa Lockhart's face. But that would be Shart or Tifa cosplaying as Mai, not Mai herself.

Bottom-line, personally I am happy with SF6 Mai. I think she's lovely, but as with everyone, I think there's always room for improvement. Perhaps by release next month (I hope), the devs will have tweaked her face to make her even more amazing and hopefully unique to SF6. I just want to see, next to the other SF6 Goddesses like Chun-Li and Cammy- that Mai stands tall alongside her new co-stars in the World of Streetfighter.

Just a little bit of waiting left. Everyone take care and get ready for Mai in a couple of months.