Fictional Character Biography
Shi is a young woman named Ana Ishikawa. Her father Shiro is a Japanese warrior and her mother Catherine is an American Catholic missionary. As a child, Ana witnessed the brutal murder of her father and brother at the hands of an upstart Yakuza thug named Masahiro Arashi. After this, she swore revenge on the Yakuza and set out to become one of the deadliest assassins in the world. Ana was trained by her grandfather Yoshitora in the martial arts. In order to disguise herself, she painted her face white in order to resemble Tora No Shi ("Tiger of Death"), a legendary female warrior of medieval Japan. Ana herself acquired the name "Shi" ("Death" in Japanese) for her ferocity and ruthlessness.
Bent on impressing the leaders of the Osaka crime syndicate, Arashi leaves a calling card with every murder he commits – a simple coin engraved with the kanji for death, Shi. Escaping the hitman, Ana is consequently spirited away and raised by Yoshitora amid the sacred temples of Kyoto. There Yoshitora secretly trains Ana in the ways of the Sohei so that she could seek out Arashi and avenge her family's honor.
Still clutching the coins left on the bodies of her brother and father, this vengeful obsession consumes Ana's very being as she completely gives herself to "Shi" - the living embodiment of Death, a demon who since childhood, has terrified while encouraging her in her crusade of vengeance.
However, Shi is soon confronted by her mother's Catholic teachings, and Ana's life soon becomes one of inner conflict between her programmed mission of revenge and the Christian faith she secretly harbors.
Eventually, her conscience forces her to rein in her bloodthirstiness; once her parent's killer Masahiro was finally sent to prison, Shi renounced killing and became the manager of a New York art gallery. From time to time she still takes on her Shi persona to aid the innocent.
It is this duality that rages in Ana's soul that will not permit her to totally succumb to the death demon that terrorizes her. In the end, it is Ana's faith and the ethereal visions of her Sohei ancestors that shepherd her along the Way of the Warrior. The series often touches on spiritual issues, especially as they pertain to Ana's dual background in the traditions of the yamabushi warrior monks, and Christianity.
Read more about this topic: Shi (comics)
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