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Michelle and Julia Chang

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This article is about the fighting game characters. For the Professor of Chemistry and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, see Michelle C. Chang.
Michelle and Julia Chang
Left: Michelle in Tekken Tag Tournament 2
Right: Julia in Tekken 6
Created byNamco
DebutMichelle: Tekken (1994)
Julia: Tekken 3 (1997)
SeriesTekken
Voiced by
List
Motion capture byKatsuhiro Harada (partial)[3]

Michelle Chang (Japanese: ミシェール・チャン, Hepburn: Mishēru Chan) is a character in the Tekken series centered on fighting games by Bandai Namco. She was introduced in the original Tekken (1994) as a Chinese-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 of Julia 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 after Tekken 2 (1995) but continues to appear in the series' other-related media.

Julia was introduced and took the place of Michelle from Tekken 3 (1997), in which she was portrayed in the role of rescuing Michelle. Onwards, she became a researcher and took on the responsibility of the reforestation of her homeland to reduce environmental problems. Julia also possesses an alternative personality known as Jaycee (Japanese: ジェイシー, Hepburn: Jeishī), who is in alignment with lucha libre professional 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 for the 1998 animated film Tekken: The Motion Picture. On the other hand, Julia, for her first appearance in Tekken 3, was voiced by Hiromi Tsuru in Japanese. In Street Fighter X Tekken, Julia was voiced by Annie Wood in English and Seiko Yoshida in Japanese. Yoshida continued to voice Julia in Japanese for the 2022 anime Tekken: Bloodline, while Jeannie Tirado provided the English voice for the same production. Some of the Motion capture for both characters was performed by Katsuhiro Harada during the 1990s.

Development and design

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Michelle debuted in the original Tekken as a young woman of Chinese and Native American descent. She has a pendant believed to control evil powers.[4] Some of the character's early motion capture was performed by series producer Katsuhiro Harada, and replaced as development progressed.[3] With the release of Tekken 3, the development team progressed the series' timeline by nineteen years. Because of this, they chose to "retire" Michelle, and introduce Julia Chang, her adopted daughter. They designed her with a similar look to Michelle to retain that character's "healthy charm", but also wanted to emphasize her intellect, something they felt helped her stand out amongst the more athletic-focused characters in the series. In contrast to Michelle, Julia routinely wears glasses to emphasize her intellectual aspect, something that caused issues for the development team Dimps as Tekken's development team insisted they be included for her appearance in Street Fighter X Tekken late in that game's production.[5] In Tekken 5, players gained the ability to customize characters' appearances by equipping optional items, allowing further personalization of Julia's distinctive style.[6] Julia has also been involved in multiple professions including archaeology,[7] research,[8] professional wrestling,[9] and live-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. For the designs of Michelle and Julia, Namco drew inspiration from Native American culture, incorporating elements such as feathered headgear inspired by war bonnets to reflect their heritage. However, Harada acknowledged the complexities of representing cultural identity within such constraints, noting that after receiving feedback from a Native American fan regarding Julia's feather headband—viewed by some as a stereotype—he recognized the challenge of balancing cultural expression with avoiding harmful portrayals. Harada suggested that while more nuanced character development could be achieved in narrative-driven games, the limited time in fighting games often made such depth difficult to accomplish.[11][12]

In Tekken Tag Tournament 2, the character Jaycee was introduced. A female lucha libre wrestling character, Harada revealed that it was actually Julia under an alias. When working on the franchise, they found that while Julia had a high usage rate amongst players, "there was a lack of feedback from players saying things like 'I want her to do this, I want her to do that.'" Noticing this was a sharp contrast to how other female characters in the series were received, they 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. At the same time, Harada was mindful that players may receive it negatively, and incorporated options to customize Jaycee to more closely resemble her standard appearance in the game. As Jaycee, Julia wears a white and pink wrestling leotard with white boots and gloves, and a similarly colored wrestling mask that obscures her face with feather-like protrusions on the sides.[9] In addition, Japanese illustrator Mutsumi Inomata designed an alternative costume for Jaycee.[13]

Appearances

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In the original Tekken, Michelle's father was killed by Heihachi Mishima's men for failing to retrieve a treasure. Seeking revenge, Michelle takes part in the tournament.[14] In Tekken 2, she seeks her kidnapped mother from Kazuya 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 creature Ogre, Julia enters Tekken 3 to rescue her.[16] The two are reunited in conclusion.[17] Afterwards in the storyline, Julia mainly focused on reforesting her homeland.[8] Michelle is also present in the spin-offs, such as Tekken Tag Tournament and Tekken Tag Tournament 2, as well as in the animation Tekken: The Motion Picture. Companies including Tsukuda Hobby and Banpresto have made her action figures.[18][19]

Besides Julia's mainline appearances in Tekken 3, Tekken 4, Tekken 5, Tekken 6, and Tekken 7, she has also appeared in various Tekken spin-offs, including Tekken Tag Tournament, Tekken Card Challenge, Tekken Tag Tournament 2 (as Jaycee), Tekken 3D: Prime Edition, Street Fighter X Tekken, and Tekken Revolution (as Jaycee). Additionally, Julia has been featured in the anime Tekken: Bloodline and in Namco's marketing.[20] Several companies, such as Kazya, Brovo Company, Heihachi Zazen, Diamond Select Toys, and Kotobukiya, have produced her figurines.[21] Gameplay-wise, Michelle is fast-paced and can easily execute combos. 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]

Critical reception

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According to Liz Faber's book Computer Game Graphics (1999), Michelle serves as a prime example of the racial diversity that characterizes the roster of modern video games.[23] The New York Times "Game Theory" columnist JC Herz claimed that Michelle, having an Asian name but ambiguous features, is "such a confused mixture of signs" that she "represents a perfect metaphor of video games themselves".[24] In her thesis, author Gabrielle Hughes maligned the depiction of Indigenous women in video games tending towards "generic and hyper-sexualized", singling Michelle out among others as examples.[25] In a discussion about representation in video games on BBC Radio 4, one person cited her experience with Tekken and Michelle, where she was disappointed by how stereotyped she was. She also commented on how such stereotyping can result in people having only a limited perspective on what Native Americans can be.[26]

While discussing ethnic representation in the Tekken series, English Professor Samuel Martínez Linares discussed both Michelle and Julia. He discussed how Tekken depicts Michelle's ties to her heritage and culture in stereotypical ways, specifically citing her magic pendant. He felt that the designers failed to represent Chang's heritage and culture with "depth and consistency". He was also critical of similarities between Michelle and Julia and how they were sexualized, citing the comparatively high rate of sexual assaults against Native American women, of which 86 percent were committed by non-Native men. He cited a video game analyst, Fabius, who argues that such sexualization of Native women is "both responsible for and indicative of continuing colonialist sentiments in Western society".[4] At the time of Tekken 6 and Tekken Tag Tournament 2, game director Katsuhiro Harada was criticized by a Native American individual regarding Julia's stereotypical Native American attire with the individual providing examples of Native American clothing to further elaborate their point of view.[27][11][28]

References

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  1. ^ "Michelle Chang Voice". Behind The Voice Actors. Inyxception Enterprises, Inc. Archived from the original on November 10, 2019. Retrieved November 12, 2024.
  2. ^ "Julia Chang Voices (Tekken)". Behind The Voice Actors. Inyxception Enterprises, Inc. Archived from the original on January 3, 2020. Retrieved November 18, 2024.
  3. ^ a b Ryan King (July 9, 2012). "Tekken Tag 2: 'My Staff Say We Have Too Many Characters' - Harada Interview (News)". NowGamer. Archived from the original on February 5, 2013.
  4. ^ a b Linares, Samuel Martinez (February 2018). Representation of Native Americans: From Literature to Video Games. National University of Distance Education. pp. 52–54. Retrieved April 21, 2023.
  5. ^ Street Fighter X Tekken: Artworks. UDON Entertainment. September 2012. pp. 150–151. ISBN 978-1926778518.
  6. ^ Joey Cuellar; Adam Deats (2005). "Julia Chang". Tekken 5 Official Strategy Guide. BradyGames. p. 106. ISBN 978-0744004687.
  7. ^ "Julia Chang: Wandering Fighter" (PDF). Computer and Video Games. No. 202. Future Publishing. September 1998. p. 52.
  8. ^ a b c Jeff Barton; Michael Littlefield; Kevin Sakamoto (2002). "Julia Chang". Tekken 4: Prima's Official Strategy Guide (PDF). Prima Games. pp. 56–57. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 11, 2024. Retrieved November 13, 2024.
  9. ^ a b "鉄拳が目指すアクションゲームの究極とは――本日稼働開始の「鉄拳TAG TOURNAMENT2」。新宿平八こと原田Pが語る格闘ゲーム，その哲学". 4Gamer (in Japanese). Aetas, Inc. September 14, 2011. Archived from the original on January 13, 2020. Retrieved January 28, 2024.
  10. ^ Dominic Tarason (February 18, 2019). "Julia and The Walking Dead's Negan hit Tekken 7 next week". Rock Paper Shotgun. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on March 5, 2021.
  11. ^ a b Liv Ngan (January 10, 2024). "Tekken director seeks feedback from Native American community on Michelle and Julia designs". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on May 21, 2024.
  12. ^ Sara Borondo (January 11, 2024). "El director de Tekken quiere saber la opinión de los nativos americanos sobre Julia y Michelle". Vandal (in Spanish). Archived from the original on January 11, 2024.
  13. ^ "Tales And Tenjho Tenge Artists Create Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Costumes". Siliconera. GAMURS Group. August 28, 2012. Archived from the original on August 16, 2022. Retrieved November 20, 2024.
  14. ^ "Michelle Chang". Tekken 1 NTSC-U/C Manual. Namco. p. 25.
  15. ^ "ミシェール・チャン" (in Japanese). Bandai Namco. Archived from the original on November 19, 2022. Retrieved November 14, 2024.
  16. ^ Simon Hill (October 1997). "Julia Chang". Tekken 3: Prima's Official Strategy Guide. Prima Games. p. 126. ISBN 978-0761511854.
  17. ^ Namco (1998). Tekken 3 (PlayStation). Level/area: Julia Chang: Homecoming.
  18. ^ "Tekken 2 - Michelle Chang - Mini character collection series". MyFigureCollection.net. Retrieved November 14, 2024.
  19. ^ "Tekken 2 - Michelle Chang (Banpresto)". MyFigureCollection.net. Retrieved November 14, 2024.
  20. ^ Namco (1998). Tekken 3 - Symphony Orchestra Calendar.
    Tekken 3 - Julia Chang (Namco)
    Takuji Kawano (2004). Fan Service. Namco.
  21. ^ MyFigureCollection.net
  22. ^ Lallée, Aymeric (December 2000). "Guide: Tekken Tag Tournament". PlayPower. HS 8: 50.
  23. ^ Liz Faber, Computer Game Graphics, page 15.
  24. ^ J.C. Herz, Joystick Nation: How Computer Games Ate Our Quarters, Won Our Hearts and Rewired Our Minds, page 161 (as cited in The Dragon and the Dazzle: Models, Strategies, and Identities of Japanese Imagination in a European Perspective).
  25. ^ Gabrielle Hughes (2020). "Tradigital Knowledge? Indigenous Video Games, Intellectual Property Law and the Protection of Traditional Knowledge". University of Oxford. Archived from the original on April 21, 2023. Retrieved April 21, 2023.
  26. ^ "BBC Radio 4 FM : September 12, 2020 06:00PM-09:00PM BST". BBC Radio 4. September 12, 2020.
  27. ^ Michael Harradence (January 10, 2024). "Tekken 8 Boss Wants Feedback From Native American Community On The Designs Of Michelle & Julia". PlayStation Universe. Archived from the original on January 10, 2024.
  28. ^ Tessa Kaur (January 12, 2024). "Tekken Director Proves We Can, In Fact, Expect Japanese Developers To Be Culturally Sensitive". TheGamer. Valnet, Inc. Archived from the original on January 15, 2024.
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