Anna Kyoyama

Anna Kyōyama (恐山アンナ) is a fictional character created by manga author Hiroyuki Takei. She appears in Shaman King, Butsu Zone, and Itako no Anna, a one-shot manga series which focuses on Anna. Takei notes in an interview, that she is like his own personal mascot or good luck charm, because Anna appears (albeit usually in cameos) in so many of his works.

Her seiyū in the original Japanese Shaman King anime is Megumi Hayashibara and is Tara Jayne in the English anime. In the English anime and English video games, her family name is not revealed. In some Japanese products and in Shaman King: Master of Spirits, her name is spelled Anna Kyohyama.

Appearance
Anna is shown in the anime as relatively thin with shoulder-length blonde hair. Anna also wears a short black dress at all times and a red scarf that if shown to be tied around her head for the first part of the anime, when Yoh and the gang hadn't yet parted for the second round of the Shaman Tournament. Later, meeting up with Yoh, she is shown to wear the same scarf around her neck. Anna also wears traditional red sandals and a necklace of pearls (the 1080 beads) which she uses as an itako.

Character
In Shaman King, Anna is the fiancée of Yoh Asakura, and is an itako (spirit medium in the English dub) - a traditional Japanese shaman. Her specialty is channeling, and she can summon a spirit from anywhere, even from heaven where normal shamans can't reach.

After being abandoned by her birth parents due to her abilities, Anna was adopted by Kino Asakura. Because of this, her date of birth and blood type are unknown.

Aggressive and decisive, Anna is a pragmatic person who, to most, appears cold and harsh. However, she has shown that she genuinely cares for those important to her, especially Yoh, and merely is dedicated to be "the ultimate Shaman Queen" and wife to Yoh, the first real friend that she ever had in her life. She firmly believes that Yoh Asakura is destined to become the Shaman King, and thinks that it's her duty as his fiancée to make him train hard for it.

Anna's spiritual strength is shown as she was able to seal in Hao Asakura's guardian spirits (called as shikigami)- Zenki and Kouki, and was able to control them. Anna and Hao seem to have an odd relationship of their own - Anna detests Hao and even slapped him once. Surprisingly, he was not angry, but actually seemed amused. It has also been hinted that Anna is the reincarnation of the original Asakura Hao's mother from 1000 years ago, Asano-Ha; others think that Hao possibly had feelings of his own for Anna and wanted her for himself. It is obvious that Anna loves Yoh, despite how badly she seems to treat him - she said it when Yoh fought the oh-oni to save her, once to his friend Manta Oyamada, and again to Silva, a commissioner for the Shaman Fight. She broke down crying when she thought that Yoh was about to be killed while being possessed by Tokagero. Anna can be extremely possessive of Yoh, beating him up once when she thought that the Oracle Bell he brought home was a woman's pager. She also reacted jealously when Yoh asked Tamao Tamamura to cook him a meal in the anime. When Yoh was thought to be dead after Hao stole his soul, Anna was in hysterics, and only recovered her strength when Yoh returned. Anna attends Shinra Private Academy along with Yoh and Manta. Her favourite singer in the manga, Ringo Awaya, is a reference to Japanese singer and guitarist Shiina Ringo.

History
Anna was abandoned as a very little girl because she was born with the ability to see into other people's minds without willing to. She was found and raised by Yoh's grandmother, Kino Asakura. Anna's ability to master the arts of the Itako, even though fully sighted, is a testament to her strength. Because of this, Anna and Yoh's grandparents paired them up in an arranged marriage in order to keep the family bloodline going.

Before meeting Yoh, Anna's mind reading power known as reishi (soul sight) was one that she could not fully control. She could not help but pick up the negative emotions of others every time she was around other people; because of this, she began to hate others, and this hatred would involuntarily manifest itself as an Oni (demonic ogres, akin to boogeyman in Western cultures). Thus she tried to avoid going out as much as possible, usually confining herself to her room.

Anna and Yoh met when they were ten years old in 1995 at Mt. Osore (The kanji for "Mt. Osore" is the same as the kanji for Anna's family name, Kyōyama (恐山)). Yoh was travelling with Matamune to visit Kino, but then he saw Anna on a stop after going out of a store to run after Matamune. He ran into an oni on his way home, and if Matamune did not arrive in time, Yoh would have been hurt. The oni itself actually came from Anna.

Yoh eventually learned that Anna did not release the oni intentionally; it comes out of its own will. Anna seems to have gotten used to the oni, saying that it will not return unless it destroys something. The second time that the oni came out in front of Yoh, it was an oni which was bigger than the previous oni, it was now called the Naka-Oni. Yoh tried to fight the Naka-Oni just to protect the people from destruction; Anna, seeing Yoh's determination, was able to sub-consciously call back the oni.

They arrived home after the Oni ordeal and Yoh made a promise to her that they will go to the temple shrine to make a promise that he will free Anna from the demon. Anna agrees reluctantly, fearing the worst possible outcome.

The worst arrives then when they were at the temple. When Matamune arrived to check up on Yoh and Anna, he sees the Naka-Oni out once again. He knocked it down and went to Yoh who was supporting Anna who seemed to have a hard time breathing because of the Oni using too much power. Since they were at the temple, a lot of people visited, therefore, Anna could not control her power to read other peoples thoughts especially during the new year, when they speak their thoughts out loud to make a new year's wish. The demon eventually grew into an Oh-Oni by absorbing the power of the near by Onis.

This Oni could now talk, which was unique because oni typically do not possess the ability to speak. In order to have more power, the Oh-Oni kidnapped Anna and took her to Mount Osore to help it absorb the power of the lurking spirits. Yoh and Matamune realized that there are many spirits in Mount Osore; if the Oh-Oni used Anna's power there, she would die of exhaustion or loss of Furyoku.

Upon arriving at Mount Osore, the Oh-Oni grew into a Powered-Up Oh-Oni; he seemed to have Anna go under a trance after using her to absorb power. Yoh decided that this had to end once and for all, so using Matamune's necklace as a medium, Matamune was sacrificed and he became a sword (slightly similar to the final form of the merged Harusame and Futsonomitama). Yoh was able to beat the Oh-Oni easier when Anna was able to overcome it.

They were able to beat the Oni and Anna was free from the curse; unfortunately, Matamune was gone and the only thing remaining was a necklace with three black claws. Anna then grew to love Yoh because he was able to free her from the darkness that haunted her every day. From there on, she constantly trained him to become a better and stronger shaman as a gratitude, and almost never gave him any reprieve. From the corpse of the Oh-Oni, Anna's main weapon, the 1080 beads, was forged by Asakura Kino.

The story of Yoh and Anna's past cannot be seen in the anime, possibly because the story was too dark for a show that was targeted towards a younger audience. However, the story has been released as two drama CDs.

In Shaman King: Flowers, Anna trains Silva's daughter who was named after her.

Plot summary
Anna first appears in the story after Yoh narrowly defeats Tao Ren. From here on, she starts her "special training" program to help Yoh become Shaman King. (Even though he refers to it as 'torture' rather than training.) Anna makes various appearances through out different scenes, especially when saving Yoh from the point of death.

Abilities/Techniques
Kuchiyose (口寄せ) - the ability to summon a spirit anytime and anywhere, given that she knows a little information about who she is summoning.

GoumaChoubuku (降魔調伏) - she used this technique to gain control over Hao Asakura (Zeke Asakura)'s shikigamis: Zenki and Kouki. She also uses the shikigamis as something like her guardian spirits, and they have great power.

Reishi (霊視) - the ability she was born with, which enables her to read the hearts and minds of others. She states in chapter 202 that she no longer has this ability. Hao is unable to read Anna's mind, it is believed this is because they share the same power.

Anna is also physically very strong, seen to be capable of shattering rocks when battling with Hao in chapter 249, something that most people do not suspect from her appearance. She has demonstrated several times that she is not afraid to use her fists to subdue anyone, making her "right hand slap" and "phantom left hand slap (幻の左)" (or "Legendary Left") somewhat infamous among Yoh's group of friends, especially Manta and Tamao.

The origins of the 1080 beads are different in the manga and anime. In the manga, the 1080 beads were forged from the corpse of the Oh-Oni that was released during the New Year's Fesitival on the night that Yoh and Anna met, while in the anime, it was forged by Asakura Yohken, containing the spirits of all 1080 members of the Asakura clan.

Other appearances
Anna appears in Takei's short story Funbari no Uta, having a son named Hana Asakura, implying she is married to Yoh. The short story takes place 6 years after the conclusion of the Shaman King manga, implying that she became pregnant soon after the final Shaman Fight. She also stars in a one-shot comic called Itako no Anna, which focuses mainly on her character. She appears as a playable character for the Nintendo DS titles, Jump Superstars and Jump Ultimate Stars and is the main playable character in the second mission of the Shaman King world where she fights Dio Brando and Freeza.

Anna is also the mascot of the Aomori prefectural police (seen here); Takei, Anna's creator, was born in Aomori. In Shaman King, Anna is also born in Aomori.