| Michelle and Julia Chang | |
|---|---|
.png) | |
| First game | Michelle:Tekken (1994) Julia:Tekken 3 (1997) |
| Voiced by | List
|
| Motion capture | Katsuhiro Harada (partial)[3] |
Michelle Chang (Japanese:ミシェール・チャン,Hepburn:Mishēru Chan) is a character in theTekken series centered onfighting games byBandai Namco. She was introduced in the originalTekken (1994) as aChinese-Native American woman possessing a pendant capable of controlling evil powers. The pendant was problematic in Michelle's life, causing her father's death and her kidnappings. She is the adoptive mother ofJulia Chang (Japanese:ジュリア・チャン,Hepburn:Juria Chan), who acts as a successor to her and masters her discipline. Michelle is omitted from the canonical games afterTekken 2 (1995) but continues to appear in the series' other-related media.
Julia was introduced and took the place of Michelle fromTekken 3 (1997), in which she was portrayed in the role of rescuing Michelle. Onwards, she became aresearcher and took on the responsibility of thereforestation of her homeland to reduce environmental problems. Julia also possesses an alternative personality known asJaycee (Japanese:ジェイシー,Hepburn:Jeishī), who is in alignment withlucha libreprofessional wrestling. Michelle, along with Julia, has been heavily criticized for being cited as a representative of Native Americans across the video game industry.
Michelle was voiced by Jessica Robertson in English and Narumi Hidaka in Japanese for the 1998animated filmTekken: The Motion Picture. On the other hand, Julia, for her first appearance inTekken 3, was voiced byHiromi Tsuru. InStreet Fighter X Tekken, Julia was voiced byAnnie Wood in English andSeiko Yoshida in Japanese. Yoshida continued to voice Julia in Japanese for the 2022animeTekken: Bloodline, whileJeannie Tirado provided the English voice for the same production. Some of theMotion capture for both characters was performed byKatsuhiro Harada during the 1990s.
Michelle debuted in the originalTekken as a young woman of Chinese and Native American descent with a pendant believed to control evil powers.[4] Some of the character's earlymotion capture was performed by series producerKatsuhiro Harada and replaced as development progressed.[3] WithTekken 3's release, the development team progressed the series' timeline by nineteen years and chose to replace Michelle with Julia Chang, her adopted daughter. They designed her with a similar look to Michelle to retain that character's "healthy charm", but they also wanted to emphasize her intellect, for which they gave her glasses.[5] InTekken 5, customization was made available, allowing further personalization of Julia's distinctive style.[6] Julia has also been involved in multiple professions, includingarchaeology,[7]research,[8]professional wrestling,[9] andlive-streaming.[10]
According to Harada, fighting games of the 1990s had to convey a character's identity quickly due to time limitations and polygon restrictions, which influenced character designs to "express individuality". For Michelle and Julia,Namco drew inspiration from Native American culture, incorporating elements such aswar bonnets (consisting ofeagle feathers) to reflect their heritage. However, after receiving feedback from a Native American fan regarding Julia's feather headband—viewed by some as a stereotype—Harada recognized the challenge of balancing cultural expression with avoiding such harmful portrayals. He suggested that more intense character depth could easily be achieved in narrative-driven games in comparison to fighting games due to the limited time invested.[11][12]
InTekken Tag Tournament 2, the character Jaycee was introduced. A femalelucha libre wrestling character who is revealed to be Julia under an alias. When working on the franchise, Harada noticed that while Julia had a high usage rate amongst players, she lacked feedback in contrast to how other female characters in the series were received. He feared her popularity may decline if players only focused on the character's gameplay and used the opportunity to introduce new elements for her character and encourage discussion. As Jaycee, Julia wears a white and pink wrestling leotard andmask that obscures her face with feather-like protrusions on the sides, and white boots and gloves.[9] In addition, Japanese illustratorMutsumi Inomata designed an alternative costume for Jaycee.[13]
In the originalTekken, Michelle's father was killed byHeihachi Mishima's men for failing to retrieve a treasure. Seeking revenge, Michelle takes part in the tournament.[14] InTekken 2, she seeks her kidnapped mother fromKazuya Mishima's subordinates, who have learned the pendant's secret.[15] Michelle later adopts a girl named Julia and trains her for self-defense. When Michelle disappears while investigating her pendant's connection to the creatureOgre, Julia entersTekken 3 to rescue her.[16] The two are reunited in conclusion.[17] Afterwards in the storyline, Julia mainly focused onreforesting her homeland.[8] Michelle is also present in the spin-offs, such asTekken Tag Tournament andTekken Tag Tournament 2, as well as in the animationTekken: The Motion Picture. Companies including Tsukuda Hobby andBanpresto have made heraction figures.[18][19]
Besides Julia's mainline appearances inTekken 3,Tekken 4,Tekken 5,Tekken 6, andTekken 7, she has also appeared in variousTekken spin-offs, includingTekken Tag Tournament,Tekken Card Challenge,Tekken Tag Tournament 2 (as Jaycee),Tekken 3D: Prime Edition,Street Fighter X Tekken, andTekken Revolution (as Jaycee). Additionally, Julia has been featured in the animeTekken: Bloodline and inNamco'smarketing.[20] Several companies, such as Kazya, Brovo Company, Heihachi Zazen,Diamond Select Toys, and Kotobukiya, have produced herfigurines.[21]Gameplay-wise, Michelle is fast-paced and can easily executecombos. She can also perform damaging counters and has a large moveset useful for combos. However, she can be hard to play.[22] Julia shares a similar playstyle to Michelle, characterized by her speed.[8]
The New York Times "Game Theory" columnist J.C. Herz examined Michelle's design as a "confused mixture of signs", observing her Asian name with Western facial features, such as her nose and "almond-shaped" eyes. Herz said that these traits make her a "perfect metaphor of video games". Other critics also noted Michelle's hybridized nature.[23] In a discussion about representation in video games onBBC Radio 4, one Native American participant shared her experience with the character of Michelle, upset with how she wasstereotyped as a Native American, arguing that this kind of portrayal could especially harm Native Americans' reputation.[24] Similar to this, another Native American individual expressed criticism over the feather headband worn by Julia and supported their critique with photographs showcasing the clothing styles of their Native American friends.[25]
Samuel Martínez Linares from theNational University of Distance Education explained howTekken depicts Michelle's ties to her heritage and culture in stereotypical ways, specifically citing her magical pendant. He felt that the game designers failed to represent Native American heritage with "depth and consistency". Linares also draws attention to the similarities between Michelle and Julia, both in terms of their physical appearance and thesexualized nature of their portrayals, linking this to the high rate ofsexual assaults against Native American women, a significant portion of which are committed by non-Native American men. Linares references an analyst, Fabius, who suggests that such sexualization of Native American women can be seen as a reflection of ongoing colonialist attitudes within Western society.[4]
According to Gavin Jasper fromDen of Geek, Julia was initially depicted as no more than a duplicate of Michelle, with a dull storyline centered on "nature crap". Jasper noted that whileCapcom managed to make Julia more interesting by giving her character some depth,Namco further complicated her concept by introducing the luchadora gimmick inTekken Tag Tournament 2. In contrast, Jasper criticized Michelle as a "forgettable" character with a weak personality and simplistic game endings that "are a cure forinsomnia", mentioning that her only redeeming feature was her duo with Julia inTekken Tag Tournament 2.[26] As specified by Kyle Picknell, a critic fromJOE, no one played as Julia inTekken 3, a point he emphasizes by referencing an image of Julia representing darkness and stating that even this minor indication of her presence irritated him.[27]
