Julia Chang

This article is about a fictional character. For an American diplomat, see Julia Chang Bloch.

Julia Chang
Tekken series
Julia Chang in Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion
First appearance	Tekken 3 (1997)
Voiced by (English)	Cara Jones (Tekken 3 ending) Kimberly Forsythe (Tekken 4) Annie Wood (Tekken 5, Tekken 6, Tekken Tag Tournament 2 grunts, Tekken 3D: Prime Edition, Street Fighter X Tekken) Stephanie Sheh (Tekken 6 Theater ending, Tekken Tag Tournament 2)
Voiced by (Japanese)	Hiromi Tsuru (Tekken 3, Tekken Tag Tournament) Seiko Yoshida (Street Fighter X Tekken)
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Fictional profile
Birthplace	United States
Nationality	American
Fighting style	Various Chinese martial arts
Occupation	Archaeology college student

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Julia Chang (ジュリア・チャン, Juria Chan) is a character in the Tekken series of fighting games by Namco, where she was introduced in Tekken 3 in 1997. Julia is an adopted daughter of a Native American fighter named Michelle Chang and her storyline typically involves saving her tribe's forest. An alternative version of the character is a masked female lucha libre wrestler known as Jaycee (ジェイシー, Jeishī), or just J.C., appearing incognito in Tekken Tag Tournament 2.

Appearances

In video games

Julia studies archeology in Michelle Chang's tribal lands. As a baby, Julia was deserted in the ruins of ancient Native American settlements, where Michelle found her. Michelle rescued Julia and brought her up with love. Julia loved Michelle and her adopted tribe, training with Michelle to protect her beloved homeland. Ganryu has fallen in love with her since Tekken 5.

When Julia was 18, stories of sudden disappearances of famous martial artists all over the world began to reach the tribe. The tribe knew the cause, which was contained in the tribal legends, the legend of The God of Fighters. People in the tribe feared that Michelle's pendant, the key to their sacred treasure, had something to do with the disappearances. With apprehension spreading through the tribe, Michelle left for Japan to ask Heihachi Mishima why he had sought to take the pendant during The King of Iron Fist Tournament 2. Michelle hoped to learn about the origin of The God of Fighting's power, but did not return. Julia suspected Heihachi and now seeks him out to discover the truth. One day, she discovered that her native homeland was in danger of being covered by an encroaching desert; this was brought on by today's rapidly changing global ecosystem. Julia wanted to save her home, and she began her studies on ecosystem restoration. Julia joined an advanced genetic research group led by Professor T that studied the biological mechanism of reforestation. Professor T's research grant came almost exclusively from G Corporation. In fact, G Corporation's supercomputers located at their high security research center were used for computationally intensive biogenetic analysis and ecosystem modeling. All their project data was stored on G Corporation's file servers as well. Julia was absorbed in her daily research, waiting for the day when her work on ecosystem restoration would be complete. When her project was completed, she would save her home.

A few years after The King of Iron Fist Tournament 3, Michelle had gone missing, leaving Julia (now 20) to continue where she left off. One day, Julia learned from Professor T that their project was on hold indefinitely. The Mishima Zaibatsu attacked G Corporation's high security research center and stole all their project data. Julia did not know a thing about G Corporation's secret research projects, only that she had to retrieve the data from the Mishima Zaibatsu in order to save her home from becoming a desert in a few years time. She searched the net to gather information regarding the Mishima Zaibatsu, finding a web page announcing The King of Iron Fist Tournament 4, and entered in order to recover her data. Disappointed that she was unable to recover the reforestation data during the fourth tournament, Julia returned home and resumed her research. One day she received a letter addressed to her in a foreign language, with an announcement of The King of Iron Fist Tournament 5. In order to fulfill her hopes for forest rejuvenation, Julia decides to enter the fifth tournament. Along the way, she comes face to face with her friend, King, whom she attempts to talk out of taking revenge against Craig Marduk, but King does not listen. Julia was able to recover the lost forest rejuvenation data needed to turn the wasteland back into its original form.

When Julia returned to her homeland of Arizona a year later, she was met by the chief of their tribe and an old woman capable of hearing the voice of the Great Spirit. The old woman told Julia of a premonition, "If Jin Kazama and Kazuya Mishima were to engage in combat, it would bring about the resurrection of a demon from Hell." Julia doubted the old woman's story, but on her way to The King of Iron Fist Tournament 6 due to it being sponsored by the Mishima Zaibatsu, she suddenly realized what the premonition means and accepted it as true. Julia decided to personally enter the tournament to prevent it from happening. Julia becomes an assistant and friend of Lee Chaolan in Scenario Campaign, but she is kidnapped by the G Corporation. She is rescued by Lars Alexandersson and Alisa Bosconovitch after the former had made an alliance with Lee.

Julia also appears as a playable character in the uncanonical games Tekken Tag Tournament and Tekken Tag Tournament 2, as well as in Tekken Card Challenge, and makes a cameo appearance in the spin-off game Death by Degrees. Julia also appears as a playable character in the crossover game Street Fighter X Tekken, where her official partner is Bob, and where Chun-Li gave her classic outfit after they have became friends through studying Chinese kempo together.

Design

Julia Chang is an young American woman with brown hair that she usually ties into braids. She made her debut in Tekken 3 at the age of 18, measuring 165 cm and 54 kg. Julia uses various Chinese martial arts, with many techniques similar to these of her mother. Even though she is only an adopted daughter of Michelle, they share very similar appearance to the extent that she becomes the target of Ganryu's affections primarily because of her resemblance to Michelle. Like her mother, Julia usually dons a Native American-stylized outfit, with a crop top, short skirt, cowboy boots, and a small Native American feathered headdress (this headdress is absent in Tekken 4). As Julia becomes a member of a reforestation group starting in Tekken 4, she gains a researcher outfit, with a white shirt underneath a blue jacket and pants; she also wears a glasses in this outfit.

Gameplay

According to Computer and Video Games (CVG), "as well as lots of surprisingly powerful wrestling-style throws, Julia also has some fast kick combos." CVG guide to Tekken 3 states she "relies on quick stabbing attacks and floating combos to gradually wear down her opponent" and the aspect that makes her particularly "annoying to fight against is that she has lots of variations of the same attacks, and it takes some practice before [one] can anticipate her next move," as Julia players can mix these combos up to "really confuse" their opponents.

Because of her "relatively small move list and her need to juggle to inflict real damage", Julia requires "the right amount of patience" in order to master her in Tekken 4. In Tekken 6, IGN considered her to have many powerful mid-level attacks and to be one of the swiftest characters. PlayStation Official Magazine listed her Cross Assault team-up with Nina Williams in Street Fighter X Tekken as one of the best in the game.

Other appearances

Julia's dossier is briefly seen in the CGI film Tekken: Blood Vengeance when Anna Williams opens a file containing dossiers on various persons of interest. Julia also appears in the manga Tekken: Tatakai no Kanatani and in the comic book Tekken Forever.

In merchandising, a resin garage kit figure of Julia from Tekken 4 was released by Heihachi Zazen in 2003. A prepainted 1/7 scale PVC figure of Julia as Jaycee from Tekken Tag Tournament 2, designed by the graphic artist Yamashita Shunya, was released by Kotobukiya in February 2013.

Jaycee

Jaycee in Tekken Tag Tournament 2

In Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Julia Chang appears under the alias Jaycee or J.C., who is a luchadora (female lucha libre wrestler). She is seen in the opening trailer as a wrestler and tag partner of Armor King, wearing a lucha mask to take the place of a friend of hers who was injured in a car accident. In Michelle's TTT2 ending cutscene, she dons a lucha libre mask to team-up with Jaycee against King and Armor King. Jaycee is also playable in place of Julia in the free-to-play game Tekken Revolution as part of an update.

The Tekken series' producer Katsuhiro Harada confirmed that "Jaycee" is actually a pun on the name Julia Chang (removing her mask in the games customization feature changes her name back to Julia in-game). In Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Julia gains some luchador moves, while still keeping most of the moves she had in Tekken 6. Some of the attacks removed from Julia's move list in the game are given to Michelle.

Reception

Polish edition of GameStar had Julia voted at 11th place in the 2006 poll for the title of "Miss of the Video Game World". In 2009, GameDaily listed her among "chicks that will kick your ass" along with three other Tekken 5 characters, featured her among the "Babes of Tekken", stating that "if all environmentalists looked like Julia Chang, we would have gone green ages ago" and "all we know is that we still think her shorts aren't short enough," and also listing her among the "All-American Girls". In 2011, UGO Networks featured Julia as one of the fighting games' "finest female fighters", adding that she is also their favorite Native American fighting game character. In 2012, Entertainment Focus ranked Julia as the eighth best video game heroine, stating that "her hippy style and toned midriff – combined with lethal moves and passion for the planet make her one uniquely attractive package." She was ranked as the 29th best looking game girl by GameHall's Portal PlayGame in 2014.

In 2013, Complex ranked Julia as the 18th best Tekken character, commenting that "armed with one of the most punishing command throws on the roster, she'll be breaking nerds' hearts for years to come." In an official poll by Namco, Julia was the 22nd most requested Tekken character to be added to the roster of Tekken X Street Fighter, racking up 6.35% of votes; additional 4.21% votes were also cast on Jaycee, counted separately.

There has also been some negative criticism. In 2011, Dorkly listed her as one of the most stereotypical Native American characters in fighting game history, ranking her at seventh place, tying with Michelle Chang, even as Beth Aileen Dillon of AbTeC (Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace) called Julia "an interesting case" and appreciated "that she is educated and kicks ass." Jeff Marchiafava of Game Informer included Jaycee among the "most ridiculous" characters of Tekken Tag Tournament 2, writing only "Seriously, ???".

See also

• List of Tekken characters