May (Guilty Gear)

"I'll do anything for Johnny!"

- May

May is a heroine from Guilty Gear. She is a young, cute, and spunky member of the Jellyfish air pirates that is utterly dedicated to Johnny, the leader of the pirates and the man who raised her after she was orphaned.

Character Design
May is portrayed in the games as a young girl in an orange coat, with a skin tight body suit underneath, and big orange shoes. She wears fingerless gloves with silver plating over them and wears a pirate tricorn hat.

Personality
May is a cheerful and energetic girl. Because of her age, she is innocent of many things in the story and this causes her to be very honest in her speech. Her motivations revolve around cherishing her family, the Jellyfish Pirates and getting Johnny's attention. Though she is childish, she is a capable leader as she is in-charge of the ship whenever Johnny's absent; however, she sometimes neglects her duties when she's concerned with his safety. She also worries that her origins might somehow endanger her family one day.

May has an irrational fear of bald people, and can sense them from a distance.

Story
May lost her parents (who she has no memory of) at a young age. A man named Johnny took her in, named her "May", and gave her a new home aboard the Mayship. It is heavily implied that May is Japanese (In fact, if Justice defeats May in Guilty Gear XX's Arcade Mode, Justice will point out that she is disgusted by the fact there are still Japanese people walking the Earth).

Guilty Gear
May enters the first tournament in order to bail Johnny out of prison, who was arrested for his Robin Hood-like antics of stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. Even though May didn't win, Johnny managed to bust himself out of prison.

Guilty Gear X
After the previous tournament, May had wanted to get Johnny a present for his birthday, however didn't have any money. Hearing of the huge bounty put on Dizzy's head, May headed off to capture her. In one of her endings in Guilty Gear X Plus, May reaches Dizzy and both fight. Afterwards, May realizes Dizzy isn't a bad person, and decides to let her join the Jellyfish Pirates, which would also be May's "present" to Johnny; a new member. In her second ending, May fights Anji, who afterwards recognizes her as Japanese, which prompts May to ask Johnny about this after he arrives. Johnny blows it off, however, not wanting to tell her the truth yet. Due to events in Guilty Gear XX, the former ending has to be the canonical one, as Dizzy is indeed a Jellyfish Pirate in the game.

Guilty Gear XX
May's story begins with a normal day in the Mayship, when all of the sudden I-No smashes into the Mayship, denting it. May becomes angry and attacks I-No. Afterwards, I-No reveals her whole reason for coming to the Mayship was to knock Dizzy off of it, in an attempt to kill her. Hearing the ruckus, Testament had somehow made his way to the ship (or was already on the ship) and asks what has happened. Testament believes May is the one who pushed Dizzy off the ship and attacks her.

After rendering Testament unconcious, May begins searching for Dizzy. In her first ending, May runs into Millia and is talking to her when she hears Dizzy crying for help, along with Eddie's voice. Both rush to the direction of the voices however, Millia, wanting to kill Eddie herself, explains to May that Zato is her target, but May refuses to leave and fights Millia, defeating her. Aftewards, May hurries to Eddie, and defeats him. After defeating Eddie, May sees that Dizzy is nowhere to be found. Potemkin shows up and explains that he had saved Dizzy from Necro, who had been controlling her after she fell from the ship. However, May misunderstands and attacks Potemkin. May calls April, who sends out a small vessel to carry May and Dizzy back to the Mayship, as Potemkin is dumbfounded as to why May had attacked him.

In her second ending, if May defeats Millia in less then 33 seconds, she will run into I-No instead. After I-No insults Dizzy continuously, calling her a monster, May attacks her in anger, and after defeating her, finds Dizzy. Both get ready to go back to the Mayship but are stopped by Bridget, who still believes Dizzy has a bounty on her head. May allows Dizzy to go back to the Mayship, while she handles Bridget. After their fight, May explains to Bridget that the list he has is outdated, and that Dizzy has lost her bounty anyways, and was known to the rest of the world as dead. Bridget asks if May could tell him more about bounties, with May saying she will, both establishing a friendship with each other.

In her third ending, after defeating Faust in less then 33 seconds, May is searching for Dizzy, when she runs into Anji, who recognizes her as the "Japanese Girl". May asks what he's talking about, but he won't divulge, prompting May to attack him. After the fight, Anji explains the history of Japan, and that the reason Johnny was keeping the truth of her Japanese heritage from her is because, if she would go around talking about it, the police would go after her. Thanking him, she returns to looking for Dizzy, running into I-No again. After defeating her, May brings Dizzy back to the Mayship, where Johnny is happy to see Dizzy is alright. However, May explains to Johnny she wishes to know her past, but then becomes confused wether or not she wants to know. All of the sudden they are interrupted by a Robo-Ky who May proceeds to fight. Afterwards, May is extremely frustrated. Johnny responds by asking if she would like to dance, which May obliges.

It would seem the second ending is the most canonical with Accent Core Plus, as it is shown at the beginning of May's story that her and Bridget have an already established friendship.

Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus
In her story, she follows Johnny's investigations, himself apparently finding out that May's parents were Japanese.

When Dizzy's powers go out of control again, May notices Johnny has disappeared, and finds him talking with Baiken. Misunderstanding the situation as Johnny flirting with another woman, May attacks Johnny and Baiken, but Johnny disappears in the commotion. Here, players can choose whether May will look for Johnny, worried, or finally give up and go her own way.

Choosing the first option leads to May encountering I-No and soundly beating her, leading I-no to let slip her true nationality and demoralize May.

In both her paths, May meets Anji Mito and starts a conversation with him. Depending on how the player did, May will either go with Anji to learn more about her family and ancestry (Path 2) or Anji will admit not being able to help her and recommend she asks the person she trusts the most, said person in this case being Johnny. May finds Johnny and eventually reconciles. Johnny re-assures May that she is family to him and they consequently trash an army of Robo-Kys before heading back to the Mayship (Path 1).

Powers & Abilities
May fights with a massive ship's anchor, which she is able to swing with ease, despite her small stature. She is also capable of summoning aquatic animals (primarily dolphins and whales) to attack her opponents.

References & Allusions

 * The only thing that seems to be a reference to a musical group is May's name - most likely taken from Brian May, one member of the legendary group Queen.
 * Her Theme "Blue Water, Blue Sky" appears to be inspired by the Skid Row song, "Forever".

Trivia

 * One of May's EX moves has her shouting "Mist Finer!" This shows that she's trying to imitate Johnny's attacks in some way.
 * She holds the rank of first-mate on the Mayship.
 * In Guilty Gear X, Potemkin said that May has gotten taller since he last saw her at the knights' selection tournament.
 * May seem to like men who are way older than her. She tells Ky Kiske, who is at least 21, to age 10 years more. But this is maybe because she's comparing him to Johnny.
 * May suffers from Peladophobia (Fear of bald people) and is said to sense them a mile away.
 * The day that Johnny found May was on the Mexican Holiday Cinco De Mayo.
 * May's stand and weapon resemble Motochika Chousokabe's of Sengoku Basara X, another fighting game developed by Arc System. Needless to mention that both characters are pirates.
 * May is a playable character in IO Entertainment online fighting game Lost Saga.