Capcom released its very own Street Fighter 6 Mai Shiranui Character guide ahead of her February 5th DLC release. With her homage to ninja changing already in place, and her wild instant kill taunt shown. Capcom decided to keep going the distance with her.
Her fan throw attack, Kachousen, already had me worried since characters can easily hit the normal versions away with either normals or projectiles. The fan-based move actually gets the EX arc hit by holding onto the attack button. The arc itself is controlled by all three punches differently. Overdrive Kachousen will automatically do this. Her Ryuuenbu attack gets a nasty 2 hit launcher with Fierce, but doesn’t hit crouched characters.
Her Hissatsu Shinobi Bachi attacks on Overdrive is a callback to Real Bout with an arc that allows follow-up moves. The move is no longer a half circle like its previous games, reducing the execution time. Her uppercut move, Hishou Ryuuenjin, is also invincible to attacks on Overdrive. Her Massasbi attack’s Overdrive mode allows a follow-up attack after the hit. 
The real highlight is her supers, especially Kagero no Mai. In previous games, the two-clone attack wasn’t very effective and had a noticeable tell, but Capcom seems to have made it more useful here. Even Mai’s Kagero no Mai in Capcom vs. SNK 2 was significantly nerfed, lacking much of an arc. In later King of Fighters games, the move made a strong comeback post-NESTS saga, appearing with a vengeance in 2003, XI, and XIV.
In Street Fighter 6, the move enhances all of Mai’s supers and specials by adding five stocks of additional strength. Each special and super move drains these stocks, but the Kagero super can replenish them. Her target combo move might be Hein Ren Kyaku, while Chou Hissatsu Shinobi Bachi can pass through projectiles.
The elusive Level 3 move, Shiranui Ryuu: Enu Ada Zakura, is difficult to see in action when it initiates. However, when it connects, it’s quite terrifying. The Critical version of the move is undoubtedly the Akira Kurosawa callback we needed in a Street Fighter game. It’s a solid close-range attack and invincible enough to sneak into combos.
All in all, Mai seems to be a formidable threat in Metro City so far—all this just to see Andy again.
Mai is storming in next week as part of the Year 2 DLC, alongside M. Bison and Fatal Fury mate, Terry. Elena will follow in the spring. For more hands-on gameplay with the character in actual fights—along with her awesome Versus walk-ins—Maximilian Dood, Destin, and IGN have shared their matches against CPU Level 7, as well as gameplay where they control Mai directly.
