Anna Williams (Tekken)

Anna Williams (アンナ・ウィリアムズ) is a fictional character in the Tekken fighting game series, first appearing in Tekken in 1994. She is the younger sister of Nina Williams and the aunt of Steve Fox.

In video games
Anna plays only a very minor role in the first game. In Tekken 2, as in the first tournament, Nina was once again hired to assassinate the sponsor of the current tournament, Kazuya Mishima. Whether at Kazuya's discretion or Anna's own volition, Anna became a bodyguard for Kazuya, along with Ganryu and Bruce Irvin, who were all charged with Kazuya's protection. Nina was later captured by Mishima Zaibatsu forces and used in Doctor Boskonovitch's cryonics research. Learning about this, Anna volunteered to be another test subject, requesting that she be woken in the future at the same time as Nina. In Tekken 3, after being placed in suspended animation during the second tournament, Nina was awoken 19 years later by the influence of the recently excavated Ogre, who compelled her to assassinate Jin Kazama. As per her request, Anna was awoken at the same time as her sister, though she was unaffected by Ogre's influence. Nina also began to suffer ill effects from the 'cold-sleep', resulting in long term memory loss. In an act of compassion, Anna set out to stop Nina from once again becoming an assassin, and to help her recover her memory loss.

Anna is absent in Tekken 4, though she is mentioned in Nina's Tekken 4 prologue. In Tekken 5, Nina decides to make contact with Anna in hopes of restoring her memory, but their meeting triggers Nina's lost feelings of hostility towards her sister, and she immediately opens fire. Anna retaliates, and the reunion descends into a gunfight which lasts for days. The sisters eventually reach a stalemate and agree to settle things for good at The King of Iron Fist Tournament 5. A portion of their gunfight can be seen in the introductory sequence of the game. In Tekken 6, after being defeated by her sister Nina, Anna seeks revenge. However, Nina has already gone into hiding. Anna hears rumors she has become Jin Kazama's new bodyguard, thus being involved with the Mishima Zaibatsu, so Anna decides to join forces with G Corporation.

Anna appears in Nina's own spin-off action game Death by Degrees as a member of the Tekken Force. Like in the Tekken games, Anna fights using her fists and her feet, appearing in several encounters. After Nina wins the game's final boss fight against her, Anna almost falls into the water below. Nina grabs her hand, and then she reminisces about when her father Richard Williams was killed with gunfire and Anna comforted her afterwards. Another explosion almost sends them both into the water, but Anna jumps resuces Anna in turn. She then smiles and says, "Now we're even, sis." Once the game is completed, Anna becomes a player character in her own mini-game ("Anna Mode").

Anna also appears in Tekken Card Challenge, Tekken Tag Tournament and Tekken Tag Tournament 2.

Design
Anna is notable for the stylish outfits she wears in matches. Usually, she's shown wearing a modified silk qipao/cheongsam with matching gloves and shoes, often high heels, and she keeps her hair well-coiffed and cut to the neckline. She is often among the few characters who are given a third outfit option, as opposed to the standard two.

Her look got revamped for Tekken Tag Tournament 2.

Gameplay
Anna was featured as Nina's sub-boss in the original Tekken game (also appearing in Anna's ending) and did not become a usable character until the console version of the game. She is Nina's sub-boss in the other Tekken games as well, except for Tekken 4; in Tekken 5 she is also a sub-boss for Craig Marduk.

Anna uses bone breaking martial arts (koppou) and aikido and she shares some similar moves with Nina, but has developed a more unique moveset overtime. Anna's grappling moves have changed over the series, reflecting less of her bone breaking martial arts. Anna only appears as a playable character in the console release of Tekken 3; in the arcade version, she was just an alternate costume for Nina, and therefore had the same moves as her.

In other media
Anna appears in the anime Tekken: The Motion Picture as one of the primary antagonists. Her rivalry with Nina is also one of the film's subplots, with a few differences, such as the two vying for the attention of Lee Chaolan (their unfaithful contractor) and Anna being responsible for the death of their father. During her fight with Nina, Anna is uncanonically killed when she is eaten by a dinosaur.

In the live-action film Tekken, portrayed by Marian Zapico as a Yakuza assassin working alongside Nina.

Anna also appears in the CGI-animated film Tekken: Blood Vengeance, in which she works under Kazuya Mishima and forces Ling Xiaoyu to find Shin Kamiya.

In promotion and merchandise
In 2000, Epoch Co. released 1/10 scale Anna Williams action figure, based her appearance from Tekken 3.

Reception
In 2008, GameDaily listed Anna as one of its top 50 "hottest game babes". In 2011, UGO.com and Complex also featured her in their own lists respective of the 50 "hottest" female characters in video games. In 2011, Joystiq wrote they "can't help but be saddened by the news" that Capcom producer Yoshinori Ono wanted Anna to be included in the character roster of Street Fighter X Tekken, but "the director was against putting Anna because we already had Nina in." Anna ranked at #3 on a list of "Top 10 bitches in games" by Play, who states "She’ll make you think you’re in with a chance, then stamp on your face with her stiletto heels". GamesRadar describes her as sexy, sultry and curvy.