Mitsu Kurodate

Mitsu Kurodate is main character in Mai Ball. She attends Kijiyama North High School and plays as an attacking midfielder for the girls' football team.

## Background

Mitsu is one of the most talented footballers on Kijikita's team, and openly boasts about her abilities. She has played football for a long time, including at middle school, where she faced both Kiiro Inukai and Yoko Esui. She also hates defending, which annoys her teammates greatly. She is in Class 1-C alongside Yuika, Reika, Kiiro and Yoko.

## Appearance

Mitsu has long dark brown hair, which she styles in a ponytail. She also has dark brown eyes. Mitsu always rolls her sleeves up to the shoulder while playing and leaves her socks down low. She almost always wears a black choker. While relaxing at home, she wears a black vest and white short shorts.

## Personality

Mitsu is generally quite combative and has a hot temper, which leads to her frequently fighting with her opponents. While she also argues with her teammates regularly, she considers them as friends and is much more relaxed with them when not playing football. She has a big crush on Kunimitsu, and she acts much differently around him than anyone else, generally being shy and reserved.

## Chronology

After initial training sessions, Kunimitsu decides to make Mitsu the team's offensive midfielder and vice-captain.

*Main Article:*Kijikita vs. Kijinan I

When Kijikita take on Kijinan, this is the first time where Mitsu is shown to be very aggressive. Sae Yamazaki  clips her ankles, to which Mitsu responds by shoving her and receiving a yellow card. Despite the warning, she rises to Yamazaki's taunts about her temper by trying to fight her again, eventually being held back by her teammates.

*Main Article:* Kijikita vs. Franklin

Kunimitsu notices Mitsu's temper, and tries to get her playing with a smile on her face, as this will hopefully limit the number of cards she receives, while also lifting her teammates. This immediately backfires against Franklin, as Yoko calls her smile “creepy,” to which Mitsu responds by kicking her. She again receives a yellow card for fighting. With Kijikita 1-0 down at half-time, the girls make the decision to change positions for the second half to throw off their opponents. Mitsu then plays at left back for the rest of the game, however she still refuses to defend, increasing the pressure on the rest of the defence. Kijikita eventually see out a 2-1 win. She and Anya Nibenvic get on well together and show a mutual appreciation of each others style of play.

*Main Article:*Kijikita vs. Seirin

With Kijikita already 3-0 up against Seirin, Mai wins a freekick near the edge of the box, which Mitsu curls in to make it 4-0. Although Kijikita nearly throw away a 5-0 lead, they just about progress to the semi-finals with a 5-4 win.

*Main Article:* Kijikita vs. Kuryuin

Before the game against Kuryuin, Mirai Takenou purposefully sends her flying in order to rile her up before the game. To Mirai's joy, Mitsu rises to this, and she proceeds to charge at her throughout the coming game. She is consistently tackled by Mirai, and her teammates end up refusing to pass to her as she is not thinking straight any more. Kijkita end the the first half 2-0 down, and Mirai has managed to demoralise Mai and render Mitsu useless. Mitsu's hatred of Mirai is so strong that she actually chases back and tries to tackle her. This is the first time she has ever tried to defend. In the second half, with Kunimitsu's guidance and Mitsu's double headbutt, Mai gets fired up again. Mai manages to find Kiiro on the left wing. Mitsu makes a central run to receive the ball, yet Kiiro ignores her calls for the pass, deciding to shoot. Kiiro fires the ball into the bottom corner, revitalising Kijikita and pulling a goal back. After Chidori manages to win a freekick inside the Kuryuin half, she feigns injury to lull the opponent into a false sense of security. Once she is sure that they are not on their toes, she quickly gets up and fires the ball into Mitsu, who controls the ball and curls it into the top corner from the edge of the box. Kuryuin are shocked by the equaliser, however Mitsu is too busy celebrating and getting her own back on Mirai. She then completes her revenge against her rival, as she holds up Mirai to ensure that she cannot get to Mai as she breaks away in the final seconds. Her blocking allows Mai to get free, where she finds Kiiro to complete the comeback with a goal on the final play of the game.

*Main Article:*Kijikita vs. Kijinan II

Kijikita end the first half 3-0 down thanks to a Shuna Sorimachi hat-trick, warranting a change in tactic for the second half. Rather than playing as an attacking midfielder, Mitsu is moved back in order to man-mark Mia Momofuji. A rare Kijikita attack leads to Mai winning a corner, which Mitsu takes. With only Mai and Kiiro in the box and Chidori on the edge, Mitsu aims to score direct from the corner but only ends up knocking it into Riria Konbaru's hands for an easy catch. Later in the game, Mai manages to win a penalty, which Mitsu takes. She aims low to Riria's left-hand side, however the keeper gets down to tip it onto the post. While Riria keeps out the penalty and the following rebound from Kiiro, the ball eventually bounces in off Jaina-Airi Mishiki to make it 3-1. Even though she missed her shot, Mitsu still tries to claim that the eventual goal was due to her. This seems to fire Mitsu up as later in the game, she puts some effort into defending for a change, chasing back to deny Mia a shot from close range. Mitsu also plays a part in Kijikita's second goal, receiving the ball from Mai before finding Chidori with a long ball upfield, with Mai eventually converting to make it 3-2. Mitsu then plays a key part in Kijikita's equaliser, carrying the ball out from halfway before beating several Kijinan players, playing a one-two with Kiiro, and then finding Mai, who sets up Reika to fire home. Unfortunately for Kijikita, Mia manages to beat Mai to a late high ball, firing home with the last kick of the game to win the tournament for Kijinan. Mitsu is seen lying on her back after the game, completely drained of energy.

After the one-year time skip in the final chapter, Mitsu takes part in Kijikita's win against Franklin and while with the rest of the team in the Miyano bathhouse after the game, laughs at Reika's reaction to realising that she had been sunburned. Mitsu tries to act cocky, saying that Kunimitsu would like a girl with tanlines as it would make her look sporty, however when Yoko says that Mitsu has a weird patch on her butt, her ego deflates. Mitsu proceeds to whip her tormentor with a towel. After their bath, Mitsu, Yoko and Saki visit the new dumpling place in town before going to the arcade. Kijikita are shown to have reached the final again this year, once again facing Kijinan in the final. Mitsu starts for one more showdown with the old enemy.

## Trivia

* Her nickname is “Micchi,” which she really hates. At first, only Yoko uses it, but her other teammates also start referring to her in this way later on.
* Yoko reveals that Mitsu always wears white panties, which shocks her as Mitsu's favourite colour is black.
* She has a small mole on her back.
* Leaving her socks low often works against her, as she used to be kicked in the legs quite often when playing at a younger age. As she has a hot temper, she would then proceed to fight her opponents and more often than not, receive a red card.
* Mitsu is quite good at video games, even when competing against Yoko, who is obsessed with games. During the summer training camp, they are tied at 20-20 each on a fighting game before the power goes out. They also play video games when visiting each others houses.
* She seems to be a fan of, or at least influenced by Cristiano Ronaldo in some aspects. The first point is a dribbling move that she uses often throughout the series, which is the same signature heel chop that Ronaldo is renowned for. After scoring the equaliser against Kuryuin, she also celebrates with his iconic spinning leap.

## Relationships

Yoko Esui: Mitsu and Yoko used to play against each other while at middle school, and they now partner each other in the centre of the midfield. While Mitsu thinks that Yoko is an idiot and they clash frequently, they are still best friends, often hanging out at the weekend.

Saki Benio: Saki often criticises Mitsu's lack of commitment defensively, as this leaves the rest of the defence with a tougher job.

Kiiro Inukai: Kiiro and Mitsu played against each other in middle school and Kiiro's Kijisan won easily. Mitsu was impressed with Kiiro's speed and shooting ability, which she admires to this day.

Reika Haukrai: She and Reika tend to clash the most given that they are the most competitive players on Kijikita's team. This is elevated after the Seirin game, where Reika refuses to accept any of the blame for four late goals that were conceded, with Mitsu leading the protests against her.