Leifang

Leifang
Dead or Alive character

Leifang in Dead or Alive 5
First game Dead or Alive (1996)
Voiced by (English) Donna Mae Wong (DOA2)
Zinnia Su (DOAX2 - DOAD)
Cassandra Morris (DOA5)
Voiced by (Japanese) Yumi Tōma
Portrayed by Ying Wang (film)
Fictional profile
Nationality Chinese
Fighting style T'ai chi ch'uan
Occupation College student

Leifang (レイファン Reifan), originally known as Lei Fang, is a player character in the Dead or Alive fighting game series by Team Ninja and Koei Tecmo. She was introduced in the original Dead or Alive in 1996.

Appearances

In video games

Leifang is a college student from China and a master of the t'ai chi ch'uan fighting style. Six years prior to the series, she was saved from a group of thugs by a martial artist, Jann Lee. Although she was very grateful for being saved, she felt that she could have handled the situation herself. After that incident, she mastered the art of t'ai chi ch'uan, becoming known as a genius to many, and sought to prove her strength to Jann Lee. As a result, she has entered every tournament to prove to him that she can handle herself and to prove herself to him that she, too, is a strong individual. Leifang had lost to Jann Lee in almost every tournament, only managing to defeat him in the fourth tournament.

As a girl who grew up in a wealthy family, Leifang is a woman of justice and bears a very independent spirit, but is also spunky, intelligent and cheerful. Practicing martial arts has given her a strong dedication to self-improvement, both mentally and physically. Leifang hopes that by honing her own skills, she can eventually help others to do the same. She has become angry at Jann Lee for helping in a time of need, rather than thanking him for his assistance: her young age and general inexperience with the world around her can sometimes cause her to not fully think things through. This is particularly evident in Dead or Alive 4 where she fights with her friend Hitomi over a simple cabbage or when kicking an old man out of the train after he accidentally grabbed her breasts.

Design and gameplay

Leifang was noted as resembling the heroines of the kung fu film genre.[1] She is known for her signature queu hairstyle[2] but has also sported a variety of other hairstyles through the series.

Saturn Power judged Leifang as one of the original game's better characters due to her "great counters and lightning speed".[3] IGN stated "Lei Fang has some of the best counters in DOA Ultimate, which helps since she isn't exactly a master of combos."[4] According to Official Xbox Magazine, in Dead or Alive Extreme beach volleyball games "Leifang's real strength is in her ball control, but not in her power. She won't be able to blow past blocks, but she's great at digs and sets."[5]

In film

Reception

One of the original DOA girls, Lei Fang is the face of the Dead or Alive series, with the most recognizable braided pigtails in all of video gaming. We love Lei Fang because she dresses with some elegance, but also because counters are easily the most visually impressive attacks in DOAU and Lei Fang can deliver them time and time again.

—IGN in 2004[4]

The character has been well received by gaming media. Upon her introduction, Computer and Video Games compared her to Pai Chan from Virtua Fighter as looking "a lot" like her and Sega Saturn Magazine called her a "clone" of Pai, but also described Kasumi and Tina being "in a class of their own" and as superior "even" to Lara Croft.[1][6] On the other hand, Saturn Power opined that while most of "the DOA competitors seem either insipid or a mite too similar to Virtua Fighter stalwarts for comfort (...) Lei-Fang and Jann Lee are okay".[3] Previewing Dead or Alive 2, Dreamcast Magazine described Leifang as "a Chinese beauty in all senses of the word... as well as proving to be a bit of a femme fatale at the same time" and noted her "an elegant fighter if ever there was one."[7]

GameDaily featured the "beautiful yet deadly" Leifang as their Babe of the Week on multiple occasions, including in a gallery article dedicated to her alone and as one of the "bikini babes".[8][9] Maxim included her among the top nine "video game vixens" in 2009[10] and Steve Jenkins of CheatCodes.com ranked her as the 16th hottest "video game girl" of all time in 2013.[11] She was also put on the lists of the "greatest boobs in gaming history" by GameFront, at number 13,[12] and the most humiliating video game quotes, for her "No matter how much you try, you still won't beat me" in Dead or Alive: Dimensions.[13]

She was voted the DOA series' ninth most popular character in Japan in the publisher Koei Tecmo's own poll in 2014.[14] In "Xbox High Yearbook 2003", Official Xbox Magazine chose Leifang and Hitomi as a couple "most likely to have a 'college experience'."[15]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Computer and Video Games - Issue 199 (1998-06)(EMAP Images)(GB)". Archive.org. Retrieved 2015-02-17.
  2. ↑ Carle, Chris (2006-11-14). "Videogame Babe of the Day: Leifang - IGN". Uk.ign.com. Retrieved 2015-02-17.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Saturn Power - Issue 09 (1998-01)(Future Publishing)(GB)". Archive.org. Retrieved 2015-02-17.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Goldstein, Hilary (2004-09-24). "Girls of DOAU: Lei Fang - IGN". Uk.ign.com. Retrieved 2015-02-17.
  5. ↑ "Official Xbox Magazine Issue 16". Archive.org. Retrieved 2015-02-17.
  6. ↑ "Official Sega Saturn Magazine Issue 26". Archive.org. Retrieved 2015-02-17.
  7. ↑ "Alive & Heaving". Dreamcast Magazine issue 5, page 39.
  8. ↑ "Babe of the Week: Lei Fang Gallery and Images - GameDaily". Web.archive.org. Retrieved 2015-02-17.
  9. ↑ "Babe of the Week: Bikini Babes Gallery and Images - GameDaily". Web.archive.org. 2008-07-01. Retrieved 2015-02-17.
  10. ↑ "Top 9 Video Game Vixens". Maxim. 2009-10-29. Archived from the original on 2012-11-04. Retrieved 2014-08-12.
  11. ↑ "Top 25 Hottest Video Game Girls of All Time | Page 11 of 26 | CheatCodes.com Extra". Cheatcodes.com. 2013-10-21. Retrieved 2013-11-28.
  12. ↑ Andy Gold. "The Greatest Boobs In Video Game History (Gallery) | GameFront". Web.archive.org. Retrieved 2015-02-17.
  13. ↑ Anyanwu, Obi (2012-11-14). "Lei Fang - The 100 Most Humiliating Video Game Victory Quotes". Complex. Retrieved 2015-02-17.
  14. ↑ "DEAD OR ALIVE 5 Last Round タペストリー キャラ投票". Gamecity.ne.jp. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  15. ↑ "Official Xbox Magazine Issue 20". Archive.org. Retrieved 2015-02-17.

External links