Sanan Dress

The China Dress, known as the Sanan Dress in the English release of Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, is an Robe-class piece of armor found in the Golden Sun series. It is one of several pieces of equipment that are exclusive to female Adepts.

Basic Description by Game
The China/Sanan Dress increases the wearer's base Defense by 19 points. In addition, it can be Used as an item by an Adept that has it in her inventory and is able to equip it to emulate the Heartrender enemy ability, which attempts to lower the Attack rating of an enemy in battle by 25%. Its buy value is 1600 coins and its sell value is 1200, its sell value while broken is 800, and its repair value is 400.

In Golden Sun, the China Dress is bought as an artifact at the armor vendor in Xian. Due to the China Dress being exclusive to female Adepts, only Mia can equip it. However, if the China Dress is transferred to Golden Sun: The Lost Age, Jenna and Sheba can also equip it.

In Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, the China Dress was renamed in the English releases, and is now known as the Sanan Dress but its Japanese name remains unchanged. Despite the name change, it is functionally equivalent to the original China Dress. It is found in a chest in the town of Kaocho, and can be equipped by Karis, Sveta, and Himi.

Analysis
In Golden Sun, depending on what Mia happens to be wearing, this may or may not be enough of a substantial defensive upgrade for her when it is first buyable (though it is definitely inferior to the Elven Shirt which may be found earlier). Its Use effect effectively means that while it is in Mia's inventory (where it would not have to be equipped), Mia has access to an equivalent to the Dull Psynergy, and this can be good to use against, as the most relevant example, the Hydros Statue boss coming up, rendering its physical strikes extremely weak. Naturally, it has no practical relevance to The Lost Age even if it is in the inventory of Isaac's team when they are transferred over.

In Dark Dawn, the Sanan Dress is more useful as a defensive upgrade. It is one of the strongest Defensive item available to Karis, until the Vendors at Passaj open. However, it can be rendered useless if the player has already given her the Elven Shirt. When looking to replace the Sanan Dress, the player has the option of giving her the Adept's Clothes found in Ayuthay. Though one point weaker Defense-wise, the Adept's Clothes do provide a boost to the PP meter. It is worth noting, though, that Karis has naturally high PP in her base class. Thus the choice of which bodywear to give her depends on if the player which the player values more: having the equivalent of the Dull Psynergy, or having a higher PP meter for her other Psynergies.