Mitsuru Shirai

**Mitsuru Shirai** (白井 美鶴 *Shirai* *Mitsuru*) is a main character in Bakugan: Victory Road. She is a member of the Bakugan Guardians, and the best friend of Kana Hoshina.

Her Guardian is a Ventus Featherweight, a wise and stubborn one who tries to keep Mitsuru under control.

## Appearance

Mitsuru is a young female in her mid-teens with brown hair, light brown skin, and green eyes. She most often wears white clothing, preferring to have a casual look. She stylizes her hair into twin ponytails.

## Personality

Mitsuru is goofy and lighthearted, making many misinterpret her as a brainless airhead. In truth, her lighthearted behavior is merely a façade she puts on to cheer up those around her. She empathizes with people's problems due to her own rough upbringing and makes friends easily as a result. Problems arise when she starts to treat everyone the same, making her feelings look less genuine and causing her to misread situations as a result. Her journey with the Bakugan Guardians teaches her to put others before herself.

Mitsuru is naturally very beautiful and attracts male attention as a result. She is shy when it comes to romance because of her sensitivity, ironically making her seem even cuter as a result. Another reason she rarely has a boyfriend is because she doesn't feel any special connection with the many boys that ask her out. She eventually develops feelings for Jonas, agreeing to start dating him while she finishes high school.

During brawls, Mitsuru's cheerfulness doesn't slow down. She likes to dance and twirl around while throwing Gate Cards and her Bakugan and spouts puns when possible. These tactics often surprisingly work in her favor since her odd behavior confuses her foes and cause them to underestimate her skills. She is perfectly capable of brawling seriously and doesn't hesitate to stop her horseplay when the situation calls for it. Her weakness is that she gets stressed very quickly once the tide turns in her opponent's favor. She does overcome this weakness, as Kana's brawling style motivates Mitsuru to not give up so easily.

## Biography

Mitsuru was born as the only daughter of a well-off family who loans money to other companies. She lost her mother around the age of 6, which Mitsuru describes as "the end of her childhood". Her father took the loss hard by burying himself in his work and paying little attention to his struggling daughter. Instead of confronting the pain, Mitsuru developed her quirky attitude as a coping mechanism. She developed a lot of friends, but was treated with spite by her fellow classmate Lindsay.

After starting high school, Mitsuru attends a local summer camp and eventually meets newcomer Kana Hoshina. She invites Kana on their secret adventure through the woodlands where they discover a mysterious treasure chest filled with Bakugan that none of them recognize. The group decide to bring the chest back to camp and share their findings with the rest of their comrades, Mitsuru keeping a Featherweight for herself.

After this trip, the camp begins experiencing odd occurrences where some among them start behaving aggressively and turn back to normal after losing in a brawl. Mitsuru was more concerned for her new friend Kana, who shows similar odd behavior when brawling on top of terrible nightmares foreboding something terrible on the horizon.

Mitsuru joins Kana in exploring the woodlands a second time, discovering a crashed alien spaceship deeper in. While exploring inside, they find someone else who looks just like Kana who attacks Mitsuru's friend. These events lead to Mitsuru learning that her friend is actually a Gundalian, an alien shapeshifter who abducted the real Kana and replaced her to prepare the Earth for a coming invasion. This shatters Mitsuru's faith in Kana and almost destroys their friendship, but both eventually accept the circumstances and reconcile with each other.

## Etymology

**Mitsuru** is a Japanese feminine given name with a few different meanings. The kanji used here give her name the meaning "beautiful crane". This fits her being considered the most beautiful member of the Bakugan Guardians and her guardian Bakugan also being a type of bird.

**Shirai** is a Japanese surname which means "white well". "Rai" can also be read using the kanji for lightning (雷), which is associated symbolically with high-energy and passionate people like Mitsuru.

## Trivia

* Lindsey's appearance and general personality was inspired by Shauna from Pokemon XY: The Series.