May Lee
May Lee is a fictional martial artist from SNK's *The King of Fighters* fighting game series. Her full name is "May" Lee Jinju. A student of Taekwondo under Kim Kaphwan, she is an energetic young fighter with a passionate love for tokusatsu hero shows and a strict dedication to justice. Making her playable debut in *The King of Fighters 2001*, she joined the tournament as a last-minute substitute on the Korea Team following an accident involving a fellow disciple.
Overview
May Lee is a fictional martial artist from SNK's The King of Fighters fighting game series. Her full name is "May" Lee Jinju. A student of Taekwondo under Kim Kaphwan, she is an energetic young fighter with a passionate love for tokusatsu hero shows and a strict dedication to justice. Making her playable debut in The King of Fighters 2001, she joined the tournament as a last-minute substitute on the Korea Team following an accident involving a fellow disciple.
Appearance
May Lee features short blue hair, blue eyes, and a facial mole. She wears a pair of large glasses resting atop her head, a navy blue T-shirt emblazoned with a frog face, and martial arts pants featuring red stripes along the sides. A hero-style belt is wrapped around her waist, and she wears gloves on both hands. Upon entering Hero Mode during battle, her T-shirt and gloves change shape, and a red scarf appears wrapped around her neck.
Personality
Deeply inspired by tokusatsu heroes, May Lee possesses an unyielding sense of justice and an absolute intolerance for evil. While she shares her strict master Kim Kaphwan's moral ideals, she maintains a much more cheerful, easygoing, and flexible demeanor. This allows her to get along surprisingly well with her senior disciples, Chang Koehan and Choi Bounge. She also exhibits a youthful, lighthearted side, such as being drawn to team up with others simply due to the appealing sound of the group title "Pretty Girl Fighters."
Abilities
May Lee fights using a personalized variant of Taekwondo combined with hero-inspired actions, switching between Standard Mode and Hero Mode in battle. Standard Mode utilizes fluid kick strings derived from initial strikes alongside counter maneuvers. Hero Mode enhances attack power with unblockable blowback strikes and dynamic kicks mimicking tokusatsu hero moves, though it deprives her of guarding and emergency evasions. While possessing formidable combo damage, her defense is vulnerable due to a lack of invulnerable reversals, severe recovery frames on blocked moves, and unusual airborne hitboxes.
Background
Originally a trainee studying Taekwondo under Kim Kaphwan, May Lee's combat potential was already recognized by her master. Prior to The King of Fighters 2001, she was selected for the Korea Team to replace Jhun Hoon after he was hospitalized in a traffic accident, ultimately earning praise as a key contributor to the team's success. In The King of Fighters 2002, due to revised team rosters, she joined Mai Shiranui and Yuri Sakazaki in the Women Fighters Team, later teaming up with Li Xiangfei and Hinako Shijou on the Pretty Girl Fighters Team in The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match.
Relationships
May Lee deeply respects her master, Kim Kaphwan, viewing him as a role model of justice. Her tournament debut came as a result of her senior disciple Jhun Hoon's absence. She maintains friendly relations with fellow disciples Chang Koehan and Choi Bounge, who appreciate her warm attitude compared to their strict masters. She teamed up with Mai Shiranui and Yuri Sakazaki in The King of Fighters 2002, and later joined Li Xiangfei and Hinako Shijou in The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match. She also harbors open hostility toward the cybernetic operatives of the NESTS syndicate.
Trivia
May Lee was created in response to sponsor Eolith's request for a Korean idol-style character comparable to Athena Asamiya. Her character name was borrowed from one of Eolith's production team members. Her character design heavily parodies classic Japanese media: her head-mounted glasses and frog shirt reference Dokonjou Gaeru, while her belt and fight poses homage Kamen Rider. In the Korean arcade release of her debut titles, her name display changed to "Lee Jin Jun" (Lee Jinju) and featured full Korean language voice acting.
