Overview

The main appeal of SNK's fighting games, and their soundtracks, are their strong characters and the themes that accompany them. In the late 90s, the company produced an eleven part series of character sounds collections — each dedicated to a popular character from the Fatal Fury, King of Fighters, and Samurai Shodown series. Containing a mixture of originals, arrangements, and voiceovers, they provided an expansive tribute to each character. The sixth entry in the series is dedicated to Mai Shiranui, the main female idol of the Fatal Fury series and a crossover character in The King of Fighters.

Body

Over the years, Mai Shiranui has inspired quite diverse themes. Her original theme "Flame Dragon God" from Fatal Fury 2 blends traditional and and pop elements to represent a Japanese girl in a modern day setting; the melody is quite alluring, while the unique blend of instruments is well done. Her subsequent theme from Fatal Fury 3, "Wandering on a Piano and Harp Fantasy", focused more on her traditional heritage with some mesmerising quasi-orchestral soundscapes. By contrast, "Get 'n Up" from The King of Fighters '96 and "Always Zooming" from Real Bout Fatal Fury Special focus on the girly side of her character with frivolous jazzy melodies and pop-flavoured backing. While different listeners will prefer different approaches, all these tracks come together to create a surprisingly diverse album.

The arranged renditions of Mai Shiranui's themes also take a range of approaches. The album features two incredible classically-oriented arrangements — one an extended harp solo that provokes all sorts of feelings, the other a lavish concertino for orchestra and piano. While the original "Get 'n Up" is somewhat sluggish, the rendition from The King of Fighters '97 Arrange Sound Trax is tight, with plenty of delightful jazz improvisations and a few feminine touches. "Dear Mai Boy" is likely to be more of a select taste, an idol arrangement written featuring a childish vocalists and some frivolous backing. However, her terrible image song from Fatal Fury Special is thankfully absent here.

As with other albums in the series, this character selection risks boring listeners by focusing on a single character and repeating many of the same themes. But in contrast to its predecessors, there is enough diversity in the originals and their arrangements for most tracks to sustain stand-alone interest. Between the various renditions of his themes, there are also four recollections from Mai, all voiced in Japanese. The release concludes with her screechy voice collection.

Summary

As far as character albums go, Mai Shiranui is among the best. SNK weren't able to offer a consistent depiction of the character over time and this is actually works in the favour of this album, given it ends up being pretty diverse. Nevertheless, it's still better to purchase the original scores and arranged albums featuring Mai's themes and hear her depictions in a wider context.