When Anran was added as a new playable hero in Season 1 of Overwatch, a controversy about her looks quickly spread like wildfire. From what I could gather, there were two main issues people had with Anran and both issues were concerning her face. First, fans were upset again due to Anran being another female character model suffering from "same face syndrome," which is a claim that doesn't seem to be too far of a stretch.
The other major reason that fans were pretty upset is down to the fact that the release version of Anran did not match the more confident and "fierce" design that was seen in an earlier animated short and comic (PDF link).
Even Blizzard agreed that the younger, more jubilant appearing Anran kind of missed the mark. Shortly after Anran was added to the game, Overwatch game director Aaron Keller posted a video message that says they will work to "make Anran look and feel more like the fierce older sister we all envision her to be."
The hope from Keller and the team at Blizzard was to get the updated design of Anran out while Season 1 was still underway for Overwatch. Unsurprisingly, that didn't pan out quite as they had hoped but the good news is that Anran's redesign will arrive when Season 2 kicks off on April 14. Keller made the announcement and the reveal of the redesign in a new video post.
While it may not quite match up with certain fan expectations for the redesign, the new official look does certainly bring back some of that intensity that fans were hoping to see.
Season 2 of Overwatch will go live on April 14. Full details on everything coming in Season 2 have not yet been shared by Blizzard. Expect to see word on the new season as the 14th approaches.
