Asakura Anna

Anna Kyōyama (恐山アンナ Kyōyama Anna) is a fictional character created by manga author Hiroyuki Takei. In Shaman King, Anna is the fiancée of Yoh Asakura, and is an itako - 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. In the English anime, she is called a "spirit medium".

Personality
Aggressive and decisive as she is beautiful and shrewd, Anna is a pragmatic person who 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 true friend that she ever had in her life. She firmly believes that Yoh Asakura is destined to become the Shaman King, and thinks that it's her duty as his fiancée to make him train hard for it.

Anna and Hao seem to have an odd relationship of their own - Anna detests Hao and even slapped him once. Surprisingly, he was not angry, but actually seemed amused, saying that she was truly suited to become the wife of the Shaman King. It has also been hinted that Anna is the reincarnation of the original Asakura Hao's mother from 1000 years ago, Asano-Ha; others think that Hao possibly had feelings of his own for Anna and wanted her for himself.

It is obvious that Anna loves Yoh, despite how badly she seems to treat him - she even said it once to his friend Manta Oyamada, and again to Silva, a commissioner for the Shaman Fight. She broke down crying when she thought that Yoh was about to be killed while being possessed by Tokagero. Anna 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. She also reacted jealously when Yoh asked Tamao Tamamura to cook him a meal in the anime. In the manga, the two slept together before Yoh went to the second round of the Shaman Fight (as a result, they later have a child named Hana). Interestingly enough, everyone (Amidiamaru and Ren mainly) seemed to know about it. Once, when Yoh was thought to be dead after Hao stole his soul, Anna was in hysterics, and only recovered her strength when Yoh returned.

Abillities and Powers
Anna is an Itako, a person capaple of summoning spririts from the other side. She was trained by Yoh's grandmother who was also an Ikato. She uses her 1080 beads to enter a trance and then summon the spirits.

Anna is also physically very strong, 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 Anna's group of friends, especially Manta and Tamao Tamamura.

Anna's spiritual strength is shown as she was able to seal in Hao Asakura's guardian spirits (called as shikigami)- Zenki and Kouki, and was able to control them, by just reading how to in a mere seconds

Spirits

 * See More: Zenki and Kouki

Zenki and Kouki are two Shikigamis once owened by Hao. When she was to bring the to Yoh she brook its seal and released theese two demons. However she quickly learned how to bind them and made them into her guardian ghosts.

Shamanic Spells and Techniques
The ability to summon a spirit anytime and anywhere, given that she knows a little information about who she is summoning.
 * Kuchiyose (口寄せ)

She used this technique to gain control over Hao Asakura (Zeke Asakura)'s shikigamis: Zenki and Kouki. She also uses the shikigamis as something like her guardian spirits, and they have great power.
 * GoumaChoubuku (降魔調伏) S

The ability she was born with, which enables her to read the hearts and minds of others. After the Oh-Oni was killed she apparantly lost this abillity.
 * Reishi (霊視)

Past
Anna was abandoned as a very little girl because she was born with the ability to see into other people's minds without willing to. She was found and raised by Yoh's grandmother, Kino Asakura. Anna's ability to master the arts of the Itako, even though fully sighted, is a testament to her strength. Because of this, Anna and Yoh's grandparents paired them up in an arranged marriage in order to keep the family bloodline going.

Before meeting Yoh, Anna's mind reading power known as reishi (soul sight) was one that she could not fully control. She couldn't help but pick up the negative emotions of others every time she was around other people; because of this, she began to hate others, and this hatred would involuntarily manifest itself as an Oni (demonic ogres, akin to boogeyman in Western cultures). Thus she tried to avoid going out as much as possible, usually confining herself to her room.

Meeting her Fiancé
Anna and Yoh met when they were ten years old in the year 1995 at Mt. Osore (The kanji for "Mt. Osore" is the same as the kanji for Anna's family name, Kyōyama (恐山)). Yoh was travelling with Matamune to visit Kino, but then he saw Anna on the stop after going out of a store to run after Matamune. He ran into an oni on his way home, and if Matamune didn't arrive in time, Yoh would have been hurt. The oni itself actually came from Anna.

Yoh eventually learned that Anna doesn't release the oni intentionally; it comes out of its own will. Anna seems to have gotten used to the oni, saying that it won't return unless it destroys something. The second time that the oni came out in front of Yoh, it was an oni which was bigger than the pervious oni, it was now called the Naka-Oni. Yoh tried to fight the Naka-Oni just to protect the people from destruction; Anna, seeing Yoh's determination, was able to sub-consciously call back the oni.

They arrived home after the Oni ordeal and Yoh made a promise to her that they will go to the temple shrine to make a promise that he will free Anna from the demon. Anna agrees reluctantly, fearing the worst possible outcome.

The worst arrives then when they were at the temple. When Matamune arrived to check up on Yoh and Anna, he sees the Naka-Oni out once again. He knocked it down and went to Yoh who was supporting Anna who seemed to have a hard time breathing because of the Oni using too much power. Since they were at the temple, a lot of people visited, therefore, Anna couldn't control her power to read other peoples thoughts especially during the new year, when they speak their thoughts out loudly to make a new year's wish. The demon eventually grew into an Oh-Oni by absorbing the power of the near by Onis.

This Oni could now talk, which was unique because onis typically do not possess the ability to speak. In order to have more power, the Oh-Oni kidnapped Anna and took her to Mount Osore to help it absorb the power of the lurking spirits. Yoh and Matamune realized that there are many spirits in Mount Osorezan, if the Oh-Oni used Anna's power there, she would die of exhaustion or loss of Furyoku.

Upon arriving at Mount Osore, the Oh-Oni grew into a Powered-Up Oh-Oni; he seemed to have Anna go under a trance after using her to absorb power. Yoh decided that this had to end once and for all, so using Matamune's necklace as a medium, Matamune was sacrificed and he became a sword (slightly similar to the final form of the merged Harusame and Futsonomitama). Yoh was able to beat the Oh-Oni easier when Anna was able to overcome it.

They were able to beat the Oni and Anna was free from the curse; unfortunately, Matamune was gone and the only thing remaining was a necklace with three black claws. Anna then grew to love Yoh because he was able to free her from the darkness that haunted her everyday. From there on, she constantly trained him to become a better and stronger shaman as a gratitude, and almost never gave him any reprieve. From the corpse of the Oh-Oni, Anna's main weapon the 1080 beads was forged by Asakura Kino.

Coming to Tokyo
Anna attends Shinra Private Academy along with Yoh and Manta.

Anime/Manga Difference
The story of Yoh and Anna's past cannot be seen in the anime, maybe the reason for that is that their past was too dark for a show which has been a target for audiences probably between 8 and 14. However, the story has been released as two drama CDs

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 Asakura Yohken, containing the spirits of all 1080 members of the Asakura clan.

Trivia

 * Her favourite singer in the manga, Ringo Awaya, is a reference to Japanese singer and guitarist Shiina Ringo.