Akane Shimagawa

Akane Shimagawa is a main character in Mai Ball. She attends  Kijiyama North High School  and plays as a left back for the girls' football team.

Background
 She is Aoi's twin sister, and both of them have played as full backs for many years. They both played for Boko Middle School and played during national tournaments.  Appearance Akane has blonde hair, which she styles in twintails. She has red eyes. Apart from eye colour (as Aoi has blue eyes) there are only two other ways in which she is physically different to her sister, which are that Aoi's breasts are 0.5cm (later 0.2cm) bigger than Akane's, and Akane only has one ahoge as opposed to Aoi's two.

Personality
She and her sister are practically identical both in appearance and personality, and they are both very lively. They are almost always competing against each other.

Chronology
Given her experience in the position, Kunimitsu picks Akane as the team's left back. As she has very accurate long passes, she is called the team's “sniper.”

Main Article: Kijikita vs. Kijinan I

 Before the game against Kijinan, Akane and her sister warn their teammates about the defensive abilities of Jaina Airi-Mishiki , as they know that she will be a dangerous player in the upcoming game.

Main Article: Kijikita vs Franklin

 With Kijikita 1-0 down against Franklin at half time, the girls decide to change positions. Akane then plays as a left midfielder for the second half.

Main Article: Kijikita vs. Kijinan II

For most of the final, Kijikita are pinned back by Kijinan's constant attacks, falling 3-0 down in the first ten minutes. However, in the second half, Kijikita begin to fight back and pull it back to 3-1. Saki then plays a small part in the buildup to their second goal, putting Koyuzu Sugita under pressure to make her pass the ball quicker, which is then stolen by Chidori Kakiha and Reika. This play ends with Mai Miyano scoring to cut the Kijinan lead to one. With Jaina leading the defence, Kijinan maintain a firm line and cut out Kijikita's attempts to equalise. After Kijinan regain possession, Akane makes a key challenge to win back the ball, and then finding Yoko to instigate another Kijikita attack. She has put so much effort in over the course of the game that the action of passing the ball forces her to seize up, ending up on the floor in pain. Although Kijikita level it up late on, Kijinan score on the last play to win the game. Akane is later seen crying following the defeat, being comforted by Chidori.

Following the one-year timeskip in the final chapter, Akane takes part in Kijikita's game against Franklin, resulting in a Kijikita win. She also visits the Miyano bathhouse with her teammates, later going to karaoke with Aoi, Yuika and Konori. Kijikita are shown to have reached the final again this year, once again facing Kijinan in the final. Akane starts for one more showdown with the old enemy.

Trivia

 * After she and Aoi were kicked out of Boko's football team, they turned to paintball as their new hobby. They were also very good at this and became known as “the assault twins.”
 * Akane wears red panties on most days, however always wears white whenever she is playing football.
 * At karaoke, she and her sister sing the same song over and over again, but always get the same score each time.

Relationships
Aoi Shimagawa: She and Aoi are twin sisters and have always attended every school together, along with playing for each schools' football teams. At one point, when Aoi had to miss a game due to a cold, Akane was so distracted without her sister that she could not play. She is jealous that her sister's breasts are slightly bigger than hers.