Jann Lee

Jann Lee (ジャンリー, Janrī) is a Jeet Kune Do martial artist that made his debut in the first Dead or Alive. 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.

Jann Lee has made many rivals like Lei Fang, Ryu Hayabusa and Hitomi to name a few. Like other characters before him, Jann Lee is very similar to the late martial artist and movie star.

His name is a play on Bruce Lee's name (李振藩, Léi Jan'fàan) and it is appropriately romanized in Cantonese, since he is modeled after Bruce Lee. This also suggests he is from the of China.

History
His parents died when he was young, so Jann Lee ended up on the streets of China where he faced many hardships. In order to survive and protect himself, he taught himself how to fight from martial-art movies; especially Bruce Lee's films. As he grew up, he got a job as a bouncer at a high-class club.

During one point in his life, Jann Lee saved a young girl from a gang of thugs. Although she was very grateful for being saved, she felt that she could have handled the situation herself. This incident would start a strong obsession within the girl and a life being chased for Jann Lee.

Dead or Alive
Jann Lee enters the Dead or Alive Tournament for the sake of the fight. Now the self-taught master of Jeet Kune Do, he seeks the thrill of battle whenever he can. During the tournament, he meets the girl that he saved - Lei Fang - who is ready to defeat him to prove that she is a great fighter like him. However, Jann Lee wins and Lei Fang goes on to train harder.

Dead or Alive 2
In the second tournament, Jann Lee fights his way to the final round by defeating his competitors like Ryu, Gen Fu and of course Lei Fang, who was waiting for him. Despite defeating Lei Fang, he doesn't make it to the final round.

Dead or Alive 3
Jann Lee enters the tournament and once again tries to make his way to the final round. Along the way, he fights Hitomi for the first time and Leon once again. Towards the end, he faces Lei Fang yet again, who tells him it was time for her to defeat “the dragon” within him. However Lei Fang once again loses the fight. After the tournament, Jann Lee returns home to his job as a bouncer.

Dead or Alive 4
In the fourth tournament, Jann Lee faces Hitomi - even after saving her from a dinosaur - and Ryu once again. At the beginning of the destruction of DOATEC, he meets up with Lei Fang once again in the Great Hall and fight. However, in turn of shocking events he loses to her, meaning that Lei Fang has finally proven that she is a great fighter. After the tornament, Jann Lee returns to his normal, everyday life in China.

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 more than strength itself.

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 have saved herself. Jann Lee and Lei Fang started a complex relationship since then as they are rivals, but they truly care for one another.

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. They do, however, respect each other as masters of their chosen arts.

Hitomi
Hitomi is yet again Jann Lee's rival in which he has returned respect for. The two agree that power comes from within, showing how easily they get along. Though, when Lee saved Hitomi from a T-rex, Hitomi didn't agree with how he went about doing it.

Gameplay
Jann Lee is one of the fastest striking characters 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 (Trace Gunner).

Jann Lee's preferred distance is long-range, as his attacks have very good reach (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 a very preferred character for all-level players.

Musical Themes

 * Lonely Warrior - Dead or Alive
 * Natural High - Dead or Alive 2
 * Trip - Dead or Alive 3
 * Fang - Dead or Alive 4

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

Trivia

 * He appeared on the front cover of Dead or Alive 3.
 * He shares the same birthday (November 27th) as Bruce Lee.
 * One of Jann Lee's costumes in Dead or Alive 4 is the same tracksuit worn by Bruce Lee in . This costume is worn by Jeet Kune Do-practitioner characters in other games, such as Marshall Law and Forest from Tekken and Fei-Long from Street Fighter.
 * Jann Lee has tag moves with Lei Fang, Ein, Gen Fu, and Leon.