Overview
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. She is depicted as a relatively thin girl with shoulder-length blonde hair who wears a short black dress, traditional sandals, and prayer beads she uses as an itako. Anna frequently wears a red scarf tied around her head, though she occasionally wearing the scarf around her neck. In addition to the prayer beads she wears around her neck, she wields another set of beads called 1080 which she uses to fight strong spirits and shamans. Anna attends Shinra Private Academy along with Yoh and Manta and her favourite singer in the manga, Ringo Awaya, is a reference to Japanese singer and guitarist Shiina Ringo.
Anna's first appearance in the manga occurs after Yoh narrowly defeats Tao Ren. From there after, she starts her "special training" program to help Yoh become Shaman King; she is unrelentingly brutal with his training to the extent that Yoh refers to the regimen as torture instead. 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 holds a deep gratitude for Yoh for saving her life, thus she believes it is her responsibility as Yoh's wife to train him hard so he can achieve his dream of becoming Shaman King in spite of her claim it is so he can realize her dream of living a comfortable life.
As a shaman, Anna possesses tremendous spiritual ability and mastery of shamanic techniques; her impressive strength allowed her to seal in Hao Asakura's shikigami guardians - Zenki and Kouki - and take control of them as her spirit allies. She shows little fear of Hao, whom she detests, and does not hesitate to successfully slap him. In response, Hao expresses interest in her, possibly because she resembles Asano-Ha, the mother of his original incarnation 1000 years ago, and because of the extent of her power.
Despite how badly she seems to treat him, Anna unquestionably loves Yoh and explicitly admits to it. Because she is certain of her assessment of his abilities, she rarely loses her composure when he is in danger unless something completely unexpected arises, such as when she believes Yoh was about to killed while being possessed by Tokagero. She 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. Yoh is constantly intimidated by Anna, seemingly fearing her wrath even more than Hao, though his own feelings for her are expressed in how the promise he made to her to become Shaman King is the greatest motivation he has to continue fighting. Despite her harsh demeanor and strong will, she is actually gentle and kind to those she cares about.
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