Juniper Lee
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- This article is about fictional character. For the television series she appears in, see The Life and Times of Juniper Lee.
Juniper Kim Lee (voiced by Lara Jill Miller) is the titular main character in the American animated television series The Life and Times of Juniper Lee.
[edit] Description
Juniper "June" Kim Lee is an eleven-year-old Chinese American girl who lives in Orchid Bay City. At the age of ten, she was given the responsibility of being the Te Xuan Ze . It is the duty of the Te Xuan Ze to maintain the balance between the human and magic worlds. As such, she has been magically enhanced with superhuman abilities allowing her to overcome even the most hostile magical beings, with a few notable exceptions.
June regularly wears a pair of blue jeans and a green shirt that has her symbol on it with her hair back. She rarely wears anything beyond this, except when she goes to bed.
Juniper is relatively uneducated in the world of magic, mostly relying on brute force and the guidance of her grandmother, Jasmine Lee (also known as Ah-Mah) who was supposed to give up the mantel (but it skipped her father) and her enchanted dog, Monroe, to defeat her foes. In "Adventures in Babysitting", it is revealed that the magenta stripe in her hair (originally white) is the symbol of the Te Xuan Ze. The Te Xuan Ze trait didn't pass to Michael, her father and Jasmine's son. Monroe went as far to refer to him as "being about as magical as a sack of hammers." When June received it, it is there that she gains and discovers her powers.
She has a younger brother named Ray Ray and an older brother named Dennis. The three of them have a rock band called the "Short Angry Freuds," which comes from the comic strip Frumpy the Clown by series creator Judd Winick.
Her friends are: Jody Irwin, Ophelia Ramirez, and Roger Radcliffe, all of whom attend her school. She also has a crush on Marcus Conner, although she won't admit it. Juniper has an unwitting snobbish rival named Melissa O'Malley, who's jealous of her because she has Marcus as her boyfriend, and she constantly plans to steal him from her. Just the mere mention of her name disgusts June, as seen in "Citizen June". Also in the same episode, because Juniper is Melissa's rival, Melissa also teases her friends, especially Jody, making her cry at least twice and even states that she doesn't even know her (due to Jody's popularity and beauty being fairly low), causing Ophelia to make a speech about how she constantly teases everyone and only cares about herself and that everyone's sick of it (Ophelia: "... is that you do not vote for Melissa because you hate her, hello, we all hate her, and most of you have been too scared to admit it, she is a snotty, self-important, egoistical wacko who spends all day talking about herself and about how stupid we are, or ugly, or fat, or short, and I'm sick of it, were all sick of it..."). Lila the Sasquatch, another one of June's friends disguised as a human, isn't very fond of her either, as when she growls at Melissa, she comments that she should be put on leash, causing Ray-Ray to snap at Melissa, only to be stopped by June.
[edit] Powers
Juniper has enhanced reflexes, giving her cat-like agility in battle. This ability not only allows her to jump at great heights, but can also make June dodge most attacks, whether it would be physical or magical. She has a vertical leap of a few dozen feet, can run faster than a speeding car, and is capable of performing superhuman feats that border on the comical (for example, she can run down the vertical face of a building without falling off). She also has superhuman strength, enabling her to do battle with creatures far larger than she is with little trouble. Juniper's strength level far exceeds that of most demons, even though the average demon has strength far above the human norm, and on multiple occasions Juniper is seen over-powering demons that are supposedly high-level. The exact limits of her strength are not known, but she is seen holding up snapped suspension cables on Orchid Bay Bridge, which would undoubtedly require several tons of force to keep in place. Most magical beings, with a few exceptions (Jorden the Destroyer, Loki, the largest version of the Ray Ray monster), are relatively weak in comparison.
Juniper can also use spells, amulets, charms, and other magic items to assist her in battle, though her skill in this regard is somewhat lacking when compared to her grandmother and Monroe. Rather, she enjoys using brute force to accomplish her goals, often talking smack to her opponents. Ah-Mah, on the other hand, consistently used/uses magical items due to her age, though she too will join June in battle with some tandem martial arts. Juniper turns to Ah-Mah and Monroe for guidance for when brute force is not enough or when she feels there has to be a better way.
As a result of her profession, regardless of the fact that she didn't choose it, Juniper is bound to Orchid Bay. Around the city is a force-field, which repels her should she try to walk beyond it. Only when a new Te Xuan Ze is assigned will she be able to pass through the force-field. Ah-Mah is working on a way to bypass this restriction.
If June is in danger or if she cannot perform an extremely difficult task by herself, her friends and family can serve as back up. Her brother, Ray-Ray, can usually fend off some demons though since he isn't strong enough to do so, he remains helpless. Monroe, as stated above, can help guide her to find an easier way to defeat her opponents. Recently, her brother Dennis has since learned how to use magic and seems to be more skilled in it than she is. Lila, a sasquatch humanoid that befriends Juniper, can also help, since she has similar powers to Juniper that are on the same level and she also holds a vast array of information of how to survive in the woods. Her grandmother, Jasmine Lee/Ah-Mah, who was the previous Te Xuan Ze can use battle armor and various magical items in battle but has some difficulty to do so due to her age.
