Abilities and Techniques
Itako are traditionally blind women, though many were actually trained to behave like itako because in the past blind women were unable to do anything else with their lives. However, Anna's powers are genuine and she is fully sighted; her ability to master the arts of the itako is a testament of her strength. Because the Asakura family is notable for its spiritual prowess, only those with the strongest spiritual abilities marry into the family. As a result, Anna, because of her unusually strong itako powers, is one of the selected few who may become a member of the family through marriage.
- Invocation (口寄せ, Kuchiyose?): The primary ability of an itako, kuchiyose is the ability to summon a spirit anytime and anywhere, given that Anna knows a little information about who she is summoning. Anna is particularly skilled with the art and is capable of summoning spirits back from Heaven.
- GoumaChoubuku (降魔調伏?): After finding the technique in the Ultra Senji Ryakketsu, Anna used the technique to gain control over Hao Asakura's shikigami: Zenki and Kouki. She also uses the shikigamis as something like her guardian spirits, and they have great power.
- Reishi (霊視?): The ability Anna was born with, which enables her to read the hearts and minds of others. Hao is unable to read Anna's mind, it is believed this is because they share the same power. Hao explains that the root of the ability is loneliness; initially, Anna could not do anything more than read her parent's expressions, but the lonelier her heart grew, the stronger her ability to read minds became and she began to close her heart to others. She states in chapter 202 that she no longer has this ability.
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 Yohken Asakura, containing the spirits of all 1080 members of the Asakura clan.
Read more about this topic: Anna Kyoyama
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