Mai Sakurajima

Mai Sakurajima is the main female protagonist of Hajime Kamoshida's Seishun Buta Yarou light novel and anime series, also known as Aobuta for short.

Mai is the eponymous Bunny Girl Senpai of the novel's first volume (which is also the commonly used name by English fans to refer to the show). She is a third-year student of Minegahara High School and works as an actress. Mai meets her junior Sakuta Azusagawa in a library while wearing a Playboy bunny costume, and he ends up being the only one able to acknowledge her appearance.

Episodes 1-3 Mai suffers from "Adolescence Syndrome", a supernatural phenomenon which comes from a person's inner conflicts - in her case, it is rooted from her desire to run away from her mother's overbearing presence and the pressures of showbusiness. The syndrome causes her to become invisible to other people. She asks for Sakuta's help to try and prevent the syndrome from getting worse, but ultimately accepts her fate of becoming forgotten by everyone.

The next morning, Mai witnesses Sakuta loudly confessing his feelings to her in the school's courtyard, prompting her to slap his face out of embarrassment. Fortunately, his stunt drew the attention of her name to many students, curing her of the syndrome. Mai then accepts Sakuta's confession and officially becomes his girlfriend.

Debuting in the Fall 2018 anime season, Mai quickly emerged as a superstar with widespread appeal and a dedicated fanbase, and is currently one of the strongest saimoe tournament contestants in recent times. She is a member of the Ten Kings Club, an elite group of anime characters who have achieved at least 10 online tournament wins. Among her most significant victories recognized in this wiki include Korea's Aniplus tournament in 2019, and /r/anime's Best Girl Contest in 2021.

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History
Mai's status as a breakout powerhouse proved itself when she won the International Saimoe League's seasonal diadem in fall 2018, but in the inter-seasonal bracket she lost heavily to winter champion Violet Evergarden. The bunny girl's winning momentum continued by going undefeated in ISML 2019's Main Tournament and claiming the ruby necklace. Despite a spotless record, she was seeded #2 in the playoffs because Yukino Yukinoshita had a higher cumulative vote percentage in the regular season. Mai comfortably defeated Asuna and narrowly escaped Sagiri to reach the semi-finals, where Violet once again denied her another chance for a championship after losing by 168 votes. She then proceeded to defeat Mashiro Shiina in the consolation match to secure third place.

Sakurajima continued to perform well in the overhauled 2020 regular season, which saw the number of group stages reduced to "three splits", with the latter two having 16 players per group. Her notable matches during the regular season include a a shock 4-vote defeat to the already-eliminated Kumiko during the second split, another loss against Kaguya in the third split, and a win against returning champion Misaka in the same stage. Mai's path in the playoffs wasn't easy however, as she barely defeated a Re:Zero Season 2-boosted Emilia in the last 16, and later caused an uproar in the Chinese ISML Tieba forums after she handed Mashiro Shiina her first quarter-final loss since 2013. She was eliminated by eventual champion Yukino in the semi-finals. Mai avenged her loss against Kaguya in the consolation match, securing a second-straight bronze medal finish.

The bunny girl entered ISML 2021 as an expected powerhouse, but in terms of tiara contention she became sidelined in favor of super rookie Elaina, last year's runner-up Misaka, and a resurgent Mashiro. Nevertheless, Mai continued to remain undefeated in the first two splits, but in Split 3 she suffered 5 losses, including a freak loss against Index and another defeat against returning champion Kanade Tachibana. This caused Mai to enter the playoffs bracket as a 6th seed. She comfortably beat Yuigahama to set up another meeting against Kaguya in the quarter-finals, where she was eventually eliminated. She placed 5th overall after a consolation match.

Mai's status as a strong playoff regular in ISML naturally makes her a regular in the necklace matches as well. She tends to win necklaces during the latter periods, after several of the favorites (e.g. Kaguya, Kurumi) have won their awards. The bunny girl has established quite an unfortunate record: in 2019 she placed 8th in the first four periods before winning the ruby necklace, her only award so far. In 2020 she failed to repeat after placing 2nd in the emerald and ruby rounds, then failing to appear in diamond. Then in 2021, she appeared in all seven periods, but failed to win any of them.

Main Tournament
Overall record (as of ISML 2021 regular season)

Match History

Necklace record:
 * Wins: 1 - 2020 ruby
 * Appearances: 18 (as of 2021)
 * 2019: Aquamarine (8th), Topaz (8th), Amethyst (8th), Sapphire (8th), Emerald (4th), Ruby (Winner!)
 * 2020: Topaz (6th), Amethyst (7th), Sapphire (6th), Emerald (2nd), Ruby (2nd)
 * 2021: Aquamarine (3rd), Topaz (4th), Amethyst (4th), Sapphire (2nd), Emerald (2nd), Ruby (3rd), Diamond (3rd)

Seasonal & Exhbition
ISML 2018 - Fall Seasonal
 * Anime: Seishun Buta Yarou season 1
 * Group A: 2W, CVP: 2.695 (seed 1)
 * {{{r1}} (PO 2): {beelzebub}} Beelzebub-jou 17,792 - 11,599
 * (PO 3): Momo Minamoto 23,943 - 9887
 * (PO 4): (16) Erza Scarlet 19,988 - 12,477
 * (PO 5): (8) Priestess (Goblin Slayer) 21,612 - 12,069
 * (PO 6): (5) Kaede Azusagawa 24,552 - 14,293
 * (PO 7): (3) Rikka Takarada 23,906 - 19,077
 * Inter-seasonal exhibition:
 * (PO 8): (Winter) Violet Evergarden 19,221 - 30,967

ISML 2021 - Couples / Ships III w/ Sakuta - seed 3
 * (Dia 1): (30)  Kousei + Kaori @ Your Lie in April -- 1412 - 877
 * (Dia 3): (14)  Hori + Miyamura @ Horimiya -- 1547 - 975
 * (Dia 4): (6)  Yuuta + Rikka @ Chuunibyou -- 1444 - 1317
 * (Dia 5): (2)  8man + Yukino @ Oregairu -- 1494 - 1532
 * 3rd/4th (Dia Gem): (1)  Touma + Mikoto - @ A Certain Magical Index -- 2173 - 2197

History
The bunny girl is a perfect fit for the /r/anime subreddit in particular, having all the necessary qualities needed to become the ideal waifu in the eyes of many users: pretty face, sexy body, long black hair, good-natured personality, and incredible chemistry with the protagonist. But being a popular waifu also comes with persistent criticisms from naysayers. For example, Mai has been called "budget Yukinoshita" and "discount Senjougahara" because of their superficial similarities in appearance (long, dark hair), and the two girls have won an /r/anime major championship, which definitely helps the bunny girl's chances. The Aobuta series has also been compared by several users to the Monogatari series because of their similar premises, which involves the main guy solving other girl's problems that are connected to supernatural forces (oddities / adolescence syndrome). Furthermore, in both series the main guy has a clear girlfriend, but earns the romantic interests of other females as well.

2018-2020
Mai easily won the 2018 fall seasonal after defeating fellow cast member Kaede Azusagawa in the title decider, and replaced Zero Two as the subreddit's new darling after she defeated the pink-haired girl in the Best Girl of 2018 final. Her victory streak continued when she became the champion of 24-Hour Best Girl Contest - a 1 million subscriber event in 2019 - defeating the likes of Ryuuko, Megumin, Rem and Kaguya along the way. The streak was snapped in the 2020 April Fools event when she lost to Saber; fortunately, that contest's title switched to "Worst Girl" halfway through.

Sakurajima then became an instant favourite to reach the finals of Best Girl 7, which she easily accomplished as a 6th seed, defeating Chika Fujiwara in the quarterfinals and Holo in the semifinals before heavily losing to the top-seeded Kaguya in the title match. Several months later, Mai's partnership with Sakuta bore fruit when they won the sixth shipping contest in their first attempt. Their last four opponents came against elite eight-tier pairs Rin/Shirou (Fate), Taki/Mitsuha (Your Name), Oreki/Chitanda (Hyouka), and finally Kaguya/Shirogane (Kaguya-sama).

In December 2020, Mai was seeded #9 in Best Character 5, putting her in a possible last-16 bout with long-suffering contestant Edward Elric. Their meeting was billed by some users as the tournament-deciding match; in other words, whoever wins that match will also win the entire thing. The notion proved to be true as Mai lost to Edward by 105* votes, who would go on to win the tournament.

Best Girl 8 Victory
Mai returned in 2021 as the top favourite to become the Best Girl 8 champion, having been chosen to win by ~50% of the players in a user-organized "Best Girl Madness" prediction bracket. Furthermore, Mai also got the most number of votes in a prediction thread about whose girl will get the first seed. However, she got the #3 seed instead, and the top spot went to Konosuba's Aqua.

The bunny girl cruised to the elite eight without scoring below 60% in vote shares, and then squashed Megumin in the quarters and Holo in the semis; the latter becoming the only opponent to pull the bunny girl below 60%. Mai then silenced dark horse Shouko Nishimiya in the final match to claim the Best Girl title and her fifth overall honour in the subreddit, eclipsing the previous record holder Kurisu Makise (who won 4 honours) in the process.

The contest threads revealed another existence of a small subreddit named r/WiseWolfQuantumBunny, which is dedicated to both Holo and Mai. Some /r/anime users have noticed the apparent overlap of both girls' fanbases because of their similar traits; because of this some users claim that Mai is a "modern-day version of Holo". These notions have perhaps contributed to the bunny girl's eventual victory against the wolf goddess. In addition, during the quarter-finals a reddit user pulled off a stunt by posting a planned Bunny Girl Senpai rewatch thread with "Best Girl 8 Winner" in the title, which was later deleted after the contest ended. The planned rewatch has not been held yet (and will likely never will, thus bamboozling some users).

With Mai being crowned the eighth best girl in the subreddit, a hall of fame tournament bracket contested between previous best girls may occur in the near future. Should such an event occur, this will likely be an opportunity for Mai to permanently stamp her place as /r/anime's undisputed best girl of all time.

Gallery

Matches
Seasonal Salt: 2018 Fall - seed 1 (Winner!)
 * (64) Eleonore Saiga (Karakuri Circus) 2550 - 164
 * (32) Kurumi Kawai (Iroduku) 2023 - 151
 * (16) Shuna (Tensura) 2145 - 316
 * (8) Tomoe Koga 1862 - 347
 * (4) Saki Nikaidou 2978 -1120
 * (2) Kaede Azusagawa 3010 - 1472

Best Girl of 2018 - seed 1 (Winner!)
 * (32) Utako Sakura 3481 - 484
 * (17) Hinata Miyake 2528 - 748
 * (9) Rikka Takarada 3359 - 1234
 * (5) Saki Nikaidou 3359 - 1391
 * (7) Zero Two 6135 - 4698

Best Girl 7 - seed 6
 * (507) Emi (MP100) 3527 - 296
 * (262) Rory Mercury 4601 - 769
 * (123) Kosaki Onodera 5064 - 990
 * (59) Haruhi Suzumiya 5057 - 2150
 * (27) Rio Futaba 6427 - 1178
 * (11) Winry Rockbell 7312 - 2490
 * (3) Chika Fujiwara 8296 - 6445
 * (10) Holo 8833 - 7410
 * (1) Kaguya Shinomiya 8961 - 11,617

Best Character 5 - seed 9


 * (504) Shera L. Greenwood 799 - 78
 * (248) Team Rocket's Meowth 1049 - 288
 * (120) Haruhi Suzumiya 958 - 436
 * (56) Mayoi Hachikuji 821 - 406
 * (24) Shouko Nishimiya 800 - 553
 * (8) Edward Elric 700 - 804

Best Girl 8 - seed 3 (Winner!)


 * (510) Charlotte (Princess Principal) 5093 - 767 (86.91%)
 * (254) Aoi Miyamori 2843 - 672 (80.88%)
 * (131) Anzu (Hinamatsuri) 3542 - 943 (78.97%)
 * (62) Crusch Karsten 3924 - 941 (80.66%)
 * (158) Kyouko Hori 3845 - 2317 (62.40%)
 * (46) C.C. 4619 - 2594 (64.04%)
 * (6) Megumin 6793 - 4171 (61.96%)
 * (7) Holo 5823 - 4266 (57.72%)
 * (37) Shouko Nishimiya 6863 - 4181 (62.14%)

Best Couples/Ships VI - seed 2 (Winner!) (w/ Sakuta Azusagawa)


 * (255) Stanfield x Laforet (Baccano!) 830 - 135
 * (127)  Otonashi x Tenshi 754 - 202
 * (66)  Bell x Ais 797 - 131
 * (31)  Madoka x Homura 777 - 311
 * (15)  Shirou x Rin 790 - 404
 * (7)  Taki x Mitsuha 910 - 485
 * (11)  Oreki x Chitanda 886 - 570
 * (1)  Shirogane x Kaguya 938 - 868

24-Hour Best Girl Contest (1 mil. subs 2019) - seed 5 (Winner!)


 * (252) Erza Scarlet 363 - 74
 * (124) Illyasviel von Einzbern 353 - 140
 * (60) Madoka Kaname 255 - 148
 * (37) Homura Akemi 497 - 284
 * (12) Ryuuko Matoi 521- 424
 * (4) Megumin 726 - 590
 * (9) Rem 579 - 557
 * (2) Kaguya Shinomiya 606 - 546

24-Hour Best Worst Girl Contest (April Fools 2020) - seed 7


 * (250) Kokoro (DitF) 245 - 58
 * (135) Kumiko Oumae 158 - 123
 * (71) Ritsu Tainaka 198- 181
 * (26) Saber 293 - 306

Other tournaments
TBD

Mai-Kaguya rivalry
The eponymous Bunny Girl Senpai shares a rivalry against Kaguya Shinomiya, the titular character of manga series Kaguya-sama. Both are female leads of two massively popular romance shows, and their anime adaptations aired just one season apart (Fall 2018 for BGS, and Winter 2019 for Kaguya). Both girls have also won their respective seasonals and yearly contests in /r/anime and ISML, and were immediately labeled as favorites to win a major saimoe contest. The rivalry also extends to their couples as well, because the two main pairings (Miyuki x Kaguya and Sakuta x Mai)  are considered one of the best and most popular ships in the anime community.

While Kaguya-sama is overall more successful in tournament victories, Mai holds a slight edge in victories over Kaguya. The bunny girl claimed first blood in the final match /r/anime's one-off 2019 24-Hour Best Girl contest, and in 2020, the Aobuta couple won against the Kaguya main pair in the final match of the sixth shipping tourney. However, their most significant meeting happened in the title match of Best Girl 7, which ended with the first-seeded Shinomiya claiming victory against Sakurajima by almost 3,000 votes. With her greatest rival gone, Mai then cruised her way to a Best Girl 8 championship, with both Megumin and Holo unable to mount a serious challenge against the senpai.

The rivalry continues on in the International Saimoe League; in 2020 Kaguya won in their regular season match, but when both lost their semi-finals match, Mai claimed the third place overall after defeating the vice-president. The pair met yet again in the 2021 quarter-finals, but since Mai entered a slump that year while Kaguya still remains a top contender, the match resulted in the latter's victory.

Wins
Total Wins : 26


 * 1) ISML 2018 Autumn Diadem
 * 2) /r/anime's Best Girl 8 ★
 * 3) /r/anime Seasonal Salt - 2018 Autumn
 * 4) /r/anime Best Girl of 2018
 * 5) Best Waifu AnimeClick 2019
 * 6) AnimeClick MISS SEXY ANIME 2019
 * 7) Aniplus Character Tournament 2019 ★
 * 8) /r/anime's 24-Hour Best Girl Contest 2019
 * 9) Facebook Favorite School Waifu 2020
 * 10) Anime-Core Best Waifu Tournament 2020
 * 11) Miss Hotclick 2020
 * 12) /r/anime's Salty Sea(Best Couples/Ships) 2020 (with Sakuta Azusagawa)
 * 13) 2021 Para la Campeona de Campeonas 5 T2
 * 14) The Ulhmate Fix 1° Lugar 2021
 * 15) Pandilla Otaku Torneo de la Besto Colegiala 2021
 * 16) Facebook Torneo Anime Hai La Mejor Waifu 2021
 * 17) Torneo de waifus @evy.edits 2021
 * 18) Krndz Senpai Torneo de waifus 2021 S1
 * 19) Las Plegarias Del San TdW 2021
 * 20) Facebook @Blueberry torneo de waifus 2021
 * 21) Staff waifu wars la taberna del debate 2021
 * 22) Ako House Waifu League 2021
 * 23) Facebook @Hikari Best Waifu Contest 2021
 * 24) FB Quan Whisky Waifu League Paris 2021
 * 25) Facebook @Sweetie Torneo de waifus 2021 image link
 * 26) Anime Hub Torneo de waifus 2021

Runner-up list
List of runner-up finishes = 21 + 1 = 22
 * 1) Best Girl 7
 * 2) Aniplus Character Tournament 2019 - Couple Division (w/ Sakuta Azusagawa)
 * 3) LIHKG Moe 2019 Image Link
 * 4) Kim Dong Wingbooks Light Novel Character Tournament 2020/2021
 * 5) Facebook Moe Moe World Battle of the moe 2020
 * 6) The Shiro-Chan torneo de waifus 2021
 * 7) Facebook @Akaashi Torneo de waifus 2021
 * 8) El mariposon de Wiss Torneo de waifus 2021
 * 9) Facebook Moe Moe World Waifu Awards 2021
 * 10) Anime Kanpai Torneo de Waifus 2021
 * 11) FACEBOOK Go-Toubun No Hanayome Latinoamérica Concurso de Waifus 2021
 * 12) Miss Shoujo/Comedia Shoujo 2021
 * 13) Facebook @Michael Fernandez Ganadora TdW 2021
 * 14) Anime Lovers Group Waifu Trophy 2021
 * 15) Facebook @Maths Waifu Wars S1 2021
 * 16) FB @Edel Dragons Torneo de waifus 2021
 * 17) FB @Chokis Meme Torneo de mejores waifus del Anime 2021
 * 18) Somos Anime 2.0 - La Mejor Waifu del Siglo 2021
 * 19) Moe Moe World Battle of the Moe 2021
 * 20) Facebook @Akaashi Torneo Navideo 2021
 * 21) Classroom Elite Latam 2.0 Torneo Best Waifus 2022