Jann Lee

Jann Lee is a martial artist that made his debut in the first Dead or Alive game.

Throughout the series, Jann Lee's only goal is to become the greatest fighter of all time. To get to his goal, Jann Lee enters the Dead or Alive Tournament and proves his skills. However in each tournament, Jann Lee loses. Jann Lee also makes alot of rivals like Lei Fang, Ryu Hayabusa, andLeon to name a few.

Like other characters before him, Jann Lee is very similar to the late martial artist and movie star Bruce Lee. Jann Lee is a popular character in the series with his martial arts skills. In fact, he appeared in the front cover of Dead or Alive 3.

Dead or Alive
Jann Lee enters the tournament for the sake of the fight. His parents died when he was young, so he concentrated on martial arts to hide the pain. Now the master of his chosen form, he seeks the thrill of battle whenever he can, which is why he works as a body guard for political figures that have a high potential to be the target of assassination.

Dead or Alive 2
He fights from his soul. Trained by a renowned master of martial arts. He shows up to battles where only the strongest of men fight. With a bird-like cry, he strikes with his soulful dragon attacks to be the most powerful in his life's destiny. Some think he is too self-possessed, which keeps women from getting close to him.

In his story mode, Jann Lee fights his way to the final round by defeating his competitors like Ryu Hayabusa and of course Lei Fang, who was waiting for him. Jann Lee fights Tengu, but loses. His ending shows that Jann Lee is training, where he uses his strength and destroys a tree.

Dead or Alive 3
Jann Lee, the fighter without a cause, still walks a lonely path. Though the reputation of Jann Lee - the Dragon, as he is called - is universal, his search for a stronger enemy never ends. His presence is still prominent in DOA, and his battle cry can still be heard.

Jann Lee enters the tournament and once again tries to make his way to the final round. He defeated Lei Fang yet again. Somewhere in the tournament, Jann Lee loses. His ending shows him fighting a gang.

Dead or Alive 4
There is one thing that Jann Lee knows: a show-down between two truly powerful men is like an inferno! The heat that burns the soul and the scourching that says you are truly alive; these all come from the power of the fist. What Jann Lee is really searching for is elation, the heat, which comes from trading blows with the one who is truly powerful. The Dead or Alive martial arts tournament... This is the only reason that Jann Lee attempts to breach the strongholds of the victorious.

In the tournament, Jann Lee faces Hitomi and Ryu Hayabusa. He fights Lei Fang once again but in shocking events, he loses. Even though he lost, Jann Lee was able to face ALPHA-152 since it was too powerful for Lei Fang to face. In his ending, Jann Lee plays his trumpet while reflecting on his past where it shows that he was a weak child and martial art movies influence him.

Lei Fang
Jann Lee once saved Lei Fang from a gang when she was in danger. Even though he saved her, Lei Fang felt like she could of saved herself. Jann Lee and Lei Fang started a complex relationship since then as they are rivals, but they care for one another.Shown as Jann Lee saved Lei Fang and fought ALPHA-152 for her since she was to injured to do so.

Hitomi
Hitomi is yet again Jann Lee's rival. The two seem to be conversing about power in Dead or Alive 3. They appear together again in Dead or Alive 4 when Jann Lee saved Hitomi from a T-Rex, which angered Hitomi because she felt it was "mean" to hurt a T-Rex.

Ryu Hayabusa
It's unknown why Jann Lee is rivals with Ryu. It could be the fact that Jann Lee wants to face tougher opponents like Ryu or Ryu simply tries to warn Jann Lee about the dangers of the DOA tournaments (as seen in Dead or Alive 2).

Personality
Due to his skill, Jann Lee is a very confident fighter. He is so self-confident, in fact, that one could call him arrogant. Jann Lee believes his martial arts skill is the best there is, and as of yet he's not been proven wrong. In addition, Jann Lee likes to train constantly, and when he's not sparring, he's working out. For him, physical conditioning is almost an obsession. Jann Lee believes in strength and power, and he believes that one must feel the power within oneself. But even though he believes that, he cares about winning than strength itself. During his CG ending in Dead or Alive 4, it is shown that Jann Lee did not have a very happy childhood. As a helpless child frequently suffering bullying from local gangsters, his only escape from the harsh reality of his existence was watching Bruce Lee movies, which gave him strength and inspiration. This might explain Jann Lee's obsession with Jeet Kune Do.

Gamplay
Jann Lee is one of the fastest striking characters in DOA, with quick, intricate, chain combos as well as sudden, hard hitting jab moves, Because of this, He can be considered a "strike" character, in that he relies on quick, combos and picks to wear down the enemy, as well as several of his counters which concentrate on opening the enemy up for counterattack (eg. Trace Gunner). Jann Lee's preferred distance is long-range, as his attacks have very good reach (eg. Sekkan Chop), and his most powerful attacks have a pause duration at close range, allowing the opponent to easily punish him in his recovery timeframe (Dragon Kick, Dragon Spike). However, his weakness is his lack of a strong mix-up game, meaning most of his attacks can be countered in high to middle, and he lacks sufficient low attacks in his repertoire. He is also a very preferred character for all-level players.

DOA: Dead or Alive
Jann Lee makes a cameo in the Dead or Alive movie. He was defeated by Christie.

Trivia

 * His name is a play on Bruce Lee's name 李振藩 'Léi Jan'fàan.
 * He shares the same birthday (November 27th) as Bruce Lee.
 * Jann Lee seems to have friendly rivalries with Ryu Hayabusa and Hitomi. He shares a cutscene with Ryu Hayabusa in DOA2, Hitomi in DOA3, and both in DOA4.
 * One of Jann Lee's costumes in DOA4 is the same tracksuit worn by Bruce Lee in Game of Death, along with other jeet-kune-do-practitioner characters in other games, such as Marshall Law and his son, Forest from Tekken.
 * His name is appropriately romanized in Cantonese, since he is modeled after Bruce Lee. This also suggests he is from the Guangdong province of China.