Julia also possesses an alternative personality known as Jaycee (Japanese: ジェイシー, Hepburn: Jeishī), who is in alignment with lucha libre professional wrestling.

Michelle debuted in the original Tekken as a young woman of Chinese and Native American descent with a pendant believed to control evil powers.

[3] With Tekken 3's release, the development team progressed the series' timeline by nineteen years and chose to replace Michelle with Julia Chang, her adopted daughter.

For Michelle and Julia, Namco drew inspiration from Native American culture, incorporating elements such as war bonnets (consisting of eagle feathers) to reflect their heritage.

However, after receiving feedback from a Native American fan regarding Julia's feather headband—viewed by some as a stereotype—Harada recognized the challenge of balancing cultural expression with avoiding such harmful portrayals.

When working on the franchise, Harada noticed that while Julia had a high usage rate amongst players, she lacked feedback in contrast to how other female characters in the series were received.

[8] The New York Times "Game Theory" columnist J.C. Herz examined Michelle's design as a "confused mixture of signs", observing her Asian name with Western facial features, such as her nose and "almond-shaped" eyes.

[25] Samuel Martínez Linares from the National University of Distance Education explained how Tekken depicts Michelle's ties to her heritage and culture in stereotypical ways, specifically citing her magical pendant.

Linares references an analyst, Fabius, who suggests that such sexualization of Native American women can be seen as a reflection of ongoing colonialist attitudes within Western society.

[4] According to Gavin Jasper from Den of Geek, Julia was initially depicted as no more than a duplicate of Michelle, with a dull storyline centered on "nature crap".

Jasper noted that while Capcom managed to make Julia more interesting by giving her character some depth, Namco further complicated her concept by introducing the luchadora gimmick in Tekken Tag Tournament 2.

In contrast, Jasper criticized Michelle as a "forgettable" character with a weak personality and simplistic game endings that "are a cure for insomnia", mentioning that her only redeeming feature was her duo with Julia in Tekken Tag Tournament 2.