Fareeha, a content creator and actor, recently announced on social media that she’s the voice of Anran in Overwatch. The newly-added character has been making impressions of late, but Fareeha wanted to take the profile of her addition and go a different way entirely with her feedback.
In a three-minute video uploaded on social media, Fareeha revealed that she’s disappointed with her character’s design and that her vision wasn’t anything close to what Blizzard ultimately produced. She insinuated it falls within the realms of ‘Ozempic Chic’, with developers adhering to unrealistic body standards and producing only slim, traditionally attractive female characters.
Anran Actor Has a Different Voice on Social Issues
Fareeha’s three-minute video has been met with a mixed reception on social media, with some aligning with her values while others have accused the creator of spreading a rhetoric that doesn’t belong in gaming.
She explained her stance on Anran’s design, stating that she had to address the ‘elephant in the room’ but didn’t want to ‘step on the devs’ toes’:
I got to mourn Anran between the design I had hoped for and the design we ended up with. Because I think in her comic and the cinematic element, there was a precedent set by it. There was an unspoken promise that said, ‘We’re going to challenge the beauty standards plaguing, ransacking media these days.’
The ‘Ozempic Chic’, the ‘contour your nose, you have no nose, the tiniest nose!’ And I think because of that precedent, people feel, understandably, let down.
Overwatch is a trailblazer at challenging that, right? Trying to break those moulds, trying to explore the bounds of what it means to be good, what it looks like to be heroic. And I think the result we got says something else.
Fareeha went on to suggest that Anran’s design ‘leaves a bad taste’ in the mouths of Overwatch fans. She suggests that the model’s design doesn’t match the character’s energy and personality because she’s ‘too docile’ and looks like ‘the younger sister’.
Here’s the full video:
Admittedly, the difference between Anran’s design in the game’s cinematics and in the game is pretty obvious, which is a huge sticking point for fans. But some took her words to mean that she’s angry that her character is ‘attractive and thin’.
It’s no big secret that the average gamer has taken a hugely judgmental approach to gauging the success of a game based on how its characters look. Just days ago, we saw similar comments surface regarding the reveal of Hunter’s Gathering, a multiplayer game set in the Horizon world, which features a heavy-set female character that instantly became the subject of ridicule.
It was the same thing with Concord in 2024.
Do you think Fareeha is right to be concerned about her character’s design, or is it not that deep? Let us know your thoughts on the Insider Gaming Discord server.
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Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
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