Leifang

Leifang (simplified Chinese: 丽凤, traditional Chinese: 麗鳳, pinyin: Lìfèng), spelled Lei Fang (レイ・ファン) in the first Dead or Alive, is a college student and taijiquan prodigy from the Dead or Alive series, who made her debut in the original Dead or Alive.

Throughout the series, she seeks to fight Jann Lee, who is thought to have saved her life at one stage in her past, to prove herself to him that she too is a strong individual. However, Leifang has lost to Jann Lee in almost every tournament, except the 4th one, where she finally defeated him.

Early life
Leifang was born into a affluent family in China. Six years before the first tournament, Leifang was saved from a bunch 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 taijiquan and sought to prove her strength to Jann Lee.

The First Tournament
Leifang joined the first Dead or Alive Tournament in order to fight Jann Lee, to prove her worth to him. During the tournament she faces him. However, she is defeated by him. This doesn't dampen her spirits, however, and she goes on to train herself for the next tournament.

The Second Tournament
During her matches of the second tournament, she meets a woman of higher wealth and status, Helena Douglas. She gives her a look of curiosity, but hidden with envy as she continues ascending in the glass elevator. She both envies and admires Helena.

She forms a philosophical rivalry with Tina Armstrong, who believes that the meaning of power comes from physical strength. Tina lifts a boulder and shouts "This is power, Leifang!" and throws it right at her feet. Leifang disagreed, and simply demonstrated that power originated from the mind, and was channeled into and through the rest of the body. With that same boulder at her feet, Leifang leans over it saying, "You don't know anything about power." and demolishes the rock with a single palm. Tina herself was astonished by Leifang's inner strength and lets off a whistle.

When she finally faced Jann Lee, she tells him while demonstrating taijiquan that her martial art was perfected and that she was ready for their battle to "live in his world". However, Leifang loses again, resulting in Jann Lee retorting, "This isn't the place for you" thinking she is not ready.

The Third Tournament
Now known to many as a young genius of taijiquan, Leifang continues to train to defeat Jann Lee. She enters the third Dead or Alive tournament, telling herself; "This time... This time, I am going to beat him!" She once again fights her way to Jann Lee. Leifang manages to get to Jann Lee at Freedom Survivor but her fight request is denied in a brutal manner and she ends up encountering Hitomi, whom she is rival with at first impression. When she finally reaches him, telling him it was time for her to defeat “the dragon” within him, despite her best efforts, Leifang once again loses the fight.

After the tournament is over, she returns home. While out in the city, she rescues a young boy from getting kidnapped, easily defeating the kidnappers with her martial art skills, reflecting the time when she was saved by Jann Lee.

Zack Island
She was later given an invitation for a supposed Dead or Alive tournament that was going to be held at Zack Island. However, she discovered alongside the rest of the prior participants that it was a hoax, but decided to make the best of their situation for the two weeks on the island.

The Fourth Tournament
Leifang enters the tournament to once again fight Jann Lee. She is defeated by Hitomi in a match over a simple cabbage, but they befriend each other sometime afterwards. She later defeats Bass Armstrong after he began attacking bystanders over losing his money at the casino. After these matches, she finally reaches Jann Lee, who is not really surprised to see her. The two combat in the DOATEC Tritower, which begins to fall apart due to the attack by the Mugen Tenshin Ninja Clan. However, the two start their match anyway. Leifang finally accomplished her goal and defeated Jann Lee.

After the tournament, Leifang returns home again. While traveling on the train, she becomes involved in an embarrassing incident; when the train suddenly stops, an old man falls over and grabs her breasts. Humiliated and enraged, and despite it being an accident, Leifang loses her temper and literally kicks the man through a window, out of the now moving train into a lake below the bridge. The other passengers applaud her stunt, but Leifang likely thinks that they are mocking her due to the fact that the buttons on her shirt came undone, and she tries to cover herself.

Leifang makes an appearance in Jann Lee's story mode, finding Alpha-152. She gets ready to fight the clone, but it bursts out of its tube and attacks her, not giving her a chance to get up and fight. As the Alpha-152  throws her, Jann Lee mysteriously appears and catches her. She tries to get up to fight, but Jann Lee doesn't allow her to.

New Zack Island
Leifang went to the island simply for the vacation. She was the only girl to not have another reason to go, or any complication stopping her from going.

The Fifth Tournament
Upon hearing about the fifth Dead or Alive Tournament, Leifang reunites with Hitomi and the two of them set off a journey to train together. While training at a circus that's still under construction, the pair does a friendly sparring match against Brad Wong and Eliot. They are then invited to the tournament by Zack, who does so humorously by launching himself into the air with the human cannon.

Later, Leifang and Hitomi travel to South America to continue their training. There, they spot Jann Lee being recruited by Zack into joining the tournament. Knowing that she has to prepare herself to fight him again, Leifang does a sparring match against Hitomi to improve her skills. After the fight, the two of them go their own ways, promising each other to meet again at the tournament.

Leifang travels to New York, following Jann Lee to a martial art gym. While trying to spy on him, she bumps into Mila and decides to spar with her to train more. Leifang manages to find Jann Lee on a train and follows him. Suddenly, the train becomes unsteady and Leifang stumbles. As she tries to rebalance herself, an old man (who appears to be the same one from her Dead or Alive 4 ending) begins to fall towards her. However, Jann Lee quickly steps in between, protecting Leifang from another embarrassing moment. After he tells her that it's not right to sneak on people, the two of then engage in a fight. However, before they can fight, the train somehow loses its balance and its thrown off its track. After the crash, Leifang finds herself on top of Jann Lee. The two of them share an awkward moment together, showing that they might have romantic feelings for each other.

At the tournament, Leifang is defeated by Jann Lee in the quarterfinals, marking her fourth loss against him.

Appearance


While Leifang has always had a slender and petite build of average height, with a very girly, youthful appearance, pale skin, dark brown eyes, and a heart-shaped face, her appearance has changed considerably since the first Dead or Alive. In the first game, her hair was short and tied back in a high ponytail, which made her look somewhat "tomboyish". Since Dead or Alive 2, her facial features have become rounder and softer. Her hair has also become much longer. It is normally tied in two braids, looped round, and pinned on either side of her head. Other hairstyles that Leifang can have include a ponytail, pigtails, or her hair down. Her hair color has changed often in the series: first it was light brown, then black, then dark brown.

Her outfits have also become more feminine; in the original game, her clothes consisted of trousers, shorts, and flat shoes with simple detailing. Later, she started to sport high-heels and long, formal-looking, body-hugging Chinese dresses called. They are normally embroidered with Asian-inspired patterns of birds and flowers.

Most of her wardrobe consists of her simply wearing them in different colors. However, in recent installments, she can wear more modern gear, such as long skirts and tank tops to loose shirts and blazers. In Dead or Alive 5, her overall design has been altered; She has a more mature and womanly, as opposed to girly, face and almond-shaped, or more Asian looking eyes. Her hair only reaches to her mid back, and her cheongsams have become shorter in length, and she wears more practical high heels in combat. Aside from loose hair and braids, in Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate, she can now wear her hair in twin pigtails, which is a hairstyle seen in her Dead or Alive 3 ending. Even the outfit she wore in the ending can be unlocked as well.

Personality
A girl from a wealthy family in China, Leifang is a kind-hearted young girl with a wonderful spirit and good heart, Leifang is spunky, intelligent, and cheerful. Practicing martial arts has given her a strong dedication to self-improvement, both mentally and physically. She hopes that by honing her own skills, she can eventually help others to do the same. At the same time, her young age and general inexperience with the world around her can sometimes keep her from fully thinking things through.

Along with a strong motivation for self-improvement, Leifang is also somewhat prideful and becomes angry if she feels she is being taken advantage of or being looked down upon. Such as the case when she told Hitomi to stay out of her affairs between her and Jann Lee. This may be the core reason for her fixation and need to prove herself to Jann Lee after he rescued her. In spite of all this, she is usually friendly and compassionate to other people.

She proves to be a just young woman as she saved a child from abduction in the her Dead or Alive 3 epilogue (similar to how she was saved by Jann Lee), even taking down a knife-wielding opponent. She also stands up to Bass when he bullies people after losing in the casino during the Dead or Alive 4 tournament. Due to her determination to prevail over Jann Lee, she seems to have disregarded how much she has achieved through her constant training and perfection in martial arts. Leifang also never gives up and she will continue toward her goal until she succeeds.

In Dead or Alive 5, she is also sometimes childish and is very prideful and peppy, even making a surprised giggle when knocked over ledges in some stages. But Leifang is also very serious during her training and to her matches, especially to a strong opponent.

Etymology
Leifang's name is a Japanese pinyin-style reading of the Chinese name "Lì Fèng" (Cantonese: Lai Fung), with the pinyin and English reading being pronounced as "Lee-fuhng". The characters in her name, 麗 (lì) meaning "lovely", "beautiful" or "elegant", and 鳳 (fèng) meaning "phoenix" (a male holy bird to be exact, as there are three different Asian readings for it). Altogether, Leifang's name means "Beautiful Phoenix", relating to her beauty, and her desire to fulfill formidable aspirations (like beating Jann Lee and earning his respect as a fighter, and possible love as well). Interestingly, in Chinese culture the phoenix is traditionally considered complimentary to the dragon (which is associated with Jann Lee in the series).

Jann Lee
Jann Lee is Leifang's primary rival, target, and obsession. Ever since Jann Lee, then known to Leifang as "Gi", saved her from a group of thugs, she has aimed to perfect her fighting skills so that she could prove herself to him, and become "a part of his world". She has thought of him so much through every bit of her training that it has brought to a point unexpected in her obsession for him.

It is unclear what Jann Lee’s feelings are exactly about this rivalry obsession. However, he doesn't seem to have made any major attempts to stop her from continuing in this pursuit (unless he thought that defeating her time and time again would be some kind of attempt in stopping her.) In the events of Dead or Alive 4, when they meet for battle and the Tritowers begin to detonate, he tells her, "What do you say, should we die together?" She tells him, "I'm not going to die." He replies to her willpower by clenching his fist and saying, "No, you're not." In this statement, it does indicate that he cares for her.

In Dead or Alive 5, Leifang persistently follows Jann Lee, while secretly training with Hitomi to keep her skills sharp enough to beat him. At one point, she almost encounters him, which results in her pursuing him onto a train. A potentially embarrassing and somewhat familiar occurrence following a sudden acute movement of the train is averted quickly thanks to Jann Lee: An older man almost relies on Leifang's breasts to regain balance, but Jann steps in at the last minute (showing his commitment to protecting her). After another sharp movement of the train, Leifang falls on top of Jann lee, resulting in an awkward romantic moment.

Leifang's embarrassment may have caused her to lose her battle with Jann Lee in the fifth tournament finals. This may also imply she does have feelings for Jann Lee.

Hitomi
Both being young, quirky, somewhat naïve and baring cheerful personalities, they can be playful with each other one minute, such as during their visits to Zack Island, and then become engaged in a heated battle next over something as trivial as a cabbage. Their relationship is somewhat of rivals and best friends. In Dead or Alive 3, she showed some animosity towards Hitomi, telling her to stay out of her affairs with Jann Lee despite Hitomi showing care for her, implying that they have a fierce rivalry. After Dead or Alive 3, Hitomi and Leifang became fast friends due to their keenness in martial arts and closeness in age.



In Dead or Alive 4, they have a fierce battle over cabbage, but they become closer after the tournament is over. Their vacation, Dead or Alive Xtreme 2, shows how much closer they are becoming as Hitomi allows Leifang to hand feed her strawberries, Leifang allows Hitomi to take glamour shots of her, and the two girls sit together in a tree eating ice cream.

By the events of Dead or Alive 5, they have become close friends, as well as martial arts rivals. They train together and later spy on Jann Lee as he is initially rejecting Zack's tournament invitation. They have another battle for the sake of preparing for the tournament. After the battle is over, they wish each other good luck in their training and go their separate ways.

Tina Armstrong
Stemming from a disagreement on the philosophy of martial power. Tina and Leifang have since become rivals of a sort, if not for any other reason than for their difference in opinions. Despite the rivalry, the two do seem to respect one another. Their tag team poses, team-ups and calling each other's name to back each other, however, show potential in the two resolving their differences and in fact having strengths the other doesn't have.

During the Second Dead or Alive tournament, before they battle, Tina shouts, "This is power, Leifang!" She lifts a boulder and throws it right at Leifang's feet. Leifang gives a look of determination and tells Tina, "You don't know anything about power." Leifang leans over the boulder and demolishes the boulder with a single palm. Tina, herself, is impressed by how much power Leifang truly yields and whistles long and lowly due to it.

In Dead or Alive 5, it appears they are now friends and respect one another but they still consider themselves as rivals.

Helena Douglas
Leifang and Helena were both born in wealthy families. Leifang was jealous when Helena announced she had entered the Second tournament, saying that the tournament doesn't need another "spoiled little princess". However she seems to be friendly with Helena. During Dead or Alive 2 tournament, they share a cut scene before their battle where Leifang is shown looking with curiosity and seemingly enviously towards Helena as she goes up in a glass elevator.

After their battle in either Dead or Alive 2 or 3 tournaments, if Leifang wins she will friendly hold out her hand in an elegant way and say, "Let's meet again for the next dance." If Helena wins, she will showcase her elegant Kung Fu and remark, "This is perfect harmony." In Tag Battle, Leifang and Helena have some of the most graceful tag team-up moves seen due to their fluid Kung Fu styles. In winning a Tag Battle, they will both hold out their hands in an elegant way inviting their opponents "for another dance".



In Dead or Alive 5 Tag Battle, They maintain their tag alliance from the previous tournaments. Helena will call out for Leifang, but it is not reciprocated by Leifang when she tags for her.

Eliot
In the Dead or Alive 4 tournament, Leifang and Eliot become acquainted due to their youth and determination in studying Kung Fu. They maintain a secondary tag alliance in Dead or Alive 5. Eliot clearly has respect and admiration for Leifang as he will call her name when tagging in during team battle. Leifang seems to be a bit oblivious to Eliot's attention as she does not have a personal call once tagging him in.

Dead or Alive

 * See also: Leifang's Command Lists

Leifang is a very technical character, focusing on powerful holds and parry maneuvers to expose the enemy for counterattacks. This makes her well-suited for players who are good at predicting their enemy's attacks, however, she also has an excellent air-juggling game and due to her varying attack string levels, can be very difficult to counter against. Her kicks, similar to Gen Fu, are also excellent combo starters and have excellent execution and recovery time frames.

She is most compatible in tag-team battle with Helena Douglas and Jann Lee; Helena, for their combination of intricate combo techniques and Jann Lee because he possesses speed and power in striking while Leifang balances with good holds and throws.

Dead or Alive Xtreme
Leifang is very easy to befriend, because she likes everyone, although she seems not to like Tina Armstrong as much due to their rivalry during Dead or Alive 2; this can be changed with a few good gifts. Leifang herself can befriend almost everyone, too.

In beach volleyball, like Kasumi, Leifang is not the strongest character in terms of power, resulting in poor spikes, and a high chance of being knocked down by stronger players. However, she can quickly get back on her feet after a fall. She also has good technique, jump and defense stats, thus making her an ideal defensive character in returning the ball and counter-attacking. She is best suited as playing defense for Kokoro, as both girls are nearly well-balanced, and Kokoro has the strength Leifang lacks, but needs the technique the other has.

Dead or Alive series

 * Dead or Alive (arcade) (playable, 1996)
 * Dead or Alive (Sega Saturn) (playable, 1997)
 * Dead or Alive (PlayStation) (playable, 1998)
 * Dead or Alive++ (playable, 1998)
 * Dead or Alive 2 (playable, 1999 - 2000)
 * DOA2: Hardcore (playable, 2000)
 * Dead or Alive 3 (playable, 2001 - 2002)
 * Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball (playable, 2003)
 * Dead or Alive 1 Ultimate (playable, 2004 - 2005)
 * Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate (playable, 2004 - 2005)
 * Dead or Alive 4 (playable, 2005 - 2006)
 * Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 (playable, 2006)
 * Dead or Alive Paradise (playable, 2010)
 * Dead or Alive: Dimensions (playable, 2011)
 * Dead or Alive 5 (playable, 2012)
 * Dead or Alive 5+ (playable, 2013)
 * Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate (playable, 2013)
 * Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate Arcade (playable, 2013)
 * Dead or Alive 5 Last Round (playable, 2015)

DOA: Dead or Alive
Leifang was played by Ying Wang in the movie, DOA: Dead or Alive. She makes several appearances in the beginning of the movie, until she got knocked out by Gen Fu. She also can be seen far away in the beach scene.

Fighter quotes

 * Dead or Alive
 * Dead or Alive 2/DOA2: Hardcore
 * Dead or Alive 3
 * Dead or Alive 1 Ultimate/Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate
 * Dead or Alive 4
 * Dead or Alive: Dimensions
 * Dead or Alive 5/Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate/Dead or Alive 5 Last Round

Music themes
The following are the music themes used for Leifang throughout the series.

Gallery

 * See: Leifang gallery

Trivia

 * The taijiquan style Leifang practices is a mixture of the Yang and Chen styles.
 * In the early sketches for the original game, Leifang's name was Long Lihua (龍麗華) and her fighting style is Chinese kung fu (中国拳法).
 * Leifang is the first character to wear glasses in the series, starting in Dead or Alive 4.
 * Leifang has the most costumes and color swaps in the series.
 * IGN featured Leifang in their "Videogame Babe of the Day" series in 2006.
 * Leifang was the girl featured in the Electronic Gaming Monthly-exclusive poster promoting Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball.
 * Out of all the characters in the series, Leifang has had the most hairstyles, with her hairstyles being a bun, a ponytail, Chinese braids, pigtails, her hair down, her hair down (short hair) seen in the CG Gallery in Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore, and her new hairstyle on Dead or Alive 5 Last Round.
 * Leifang is mostly compared to Ling Xiaoyu in the Tekken series. Both are Chinese characters and both bear cheerful personalities. They are also both voiced by the Japanese voice actress Yumi Tōma.
 * In her Dead or Alive 4 ending and Dead or Alive Xtreme 2, she is seen reading novels. It is implied that she loves to read novels.
 * In a previous installment of Dead or Alive, Leifang had the Chinese characters "方麗鳳" written on the back of her panties. The characters translate to "Fang Leifang" (Pinyin: Fāng Lìfèng, Jyutping: Fong Laifung). This implies that her full name is actually Fang Leifang.
 * Itagaki confirmed it was her full name during a visit to Taiwan. The name can also be observed in Dead or Alive 5 Last Round, also on her panties.