Kasumi α

Kasumi Alpha (カスミ・アルファ, Kasumi Arufa, stylised as Kasumi α), also known simply as Alpha, is one of the many clones of Kasumi that debuted in Dead or Alive 2.

Created by Victor Donovan and the Dead or Alive Tournament Executive Committee, Alpha was a product created during the early stages of Project Alpha, a science experiment with the aim of creating the perfect fighter and human-weapon. She was later transformed into the inhuman creature Alpha-152 as part of Project Alpha-2.

Creation
After the first Dead or Alive Tournament ended, Kasumi, the winner of the tournament, was captured by DOATEC and was used as a subject for an experiment known as Project Alpha. The committee successfully copied her DNA, and started to create clones of Kasumi. One of the first clones was a prototype known as "Kasumi Alpha," which was a perfect copy of the original Kasumi, right down to her fighting style and her fondness for her older brother Hayate, although her personality was more deadly compared to the original Kasumi's calm and passive nature.

The Second Tournament
Shortly before the second tournament, DOATEC ordered Alpha to sneak into the village of the Mugen Tenshin Ninja Clan and kidnap Hayate, who was still comatose from spinal injuries caused by Raidou. Alpha managed to get through the village and into the man's room without any trouble, but she was soon discovered by Ayane. Ayane, believing it was the real Kasumi tried to attack her, but Alpha used an illusion spell on her that sent her to the Miyama to face Gohyakumine Bankotsubo, a deadly tengu from another realm. After Ayane had defeated the tengu, she woke up to find Alpha and Hayate gone.

It seemed this spell had allowed Bankotsubo to break through the barrier that stands between that of Earth and the world of the tengu, hinting that Alpha could have had powerful ninpo magic within her on par with Kasumi, too.

During Ryu Hayabusa's assult on DOATEC Germany to save Kasumi, Alpha let Kasumi out of her cell and led her to a lab, where she told her they were "sisters" and that Hayate was now hers alone, since Kasumi wasn't a good "sister" for "sharing him." Angered by the clone, Kasumi went on to defeat Alpha in combat, but after the fight, the clone fled with Lisa Hamilton from the burning building as Ryu took Kasumi away.

Later, after Ein regained his memories as Hayate, and Ryu defeated Bankotsubo, Alpha fought the two shinobi alongside Ayane, who was being controlled by Genra. When the girls were defeated, Alpha immediately disappeared.

The Third Tournament
During the third tournament, Alpha met with Donovan and Christie, in which they agree to hold a third tournament to lure Hayate and the ninjas out of hiding by using Genra as their bait, and no matter what, they were going to use the data to help in Project Alpha-2. They also planned to kill Helena Douglas, as there was a risk of discovering their plans.

Alpha also stumbled upon Bayman stopping Christie from killing Helena, and became enraged when she found out that Helena wanted Bayman to have Donovan assassinated under her employment. She also blindingly accused Christie of the same crime but Christie denied it and ordered the clone to to take down Helena. However, Alpha was defeated and Helena got away with her life.

Transformation and the Fourth Tournament
Sometime before the fourth tournament, Donovan and DOATEC modified Alpha's genes, transforming her into the final product of Project Alpha: Alpha-152. They had her transported to the DOATEC TriTower for the final stages of her transformation, during the time that the Mugen Tenshin Ninja Clan planned to attack the headquarters.

Alpha-152 had to fight Kasumi, and at one point Hayate and Ayane but the clone somehow escaped in the midst of the chaos, and hasn't been seen since. Whether it is alive or not and its whereabouts if it is alive are currently unknown.

Appearance
As a perfect clone of Kasumi, Kasumi Alpha looks just like her: a slender, physically-fit teenage girl of average height, with a round face, small facial features, and wide brown eyes. Her copper-colored hair is worn loose.

The clone wears a pink body suit, with a matching scarf around her neck, and dark-pink boots, sleeves, and sash around her waist. Kasumi can also wear this outfit in certain games, so to avoid confusion, when the real Kasumi wears the pink suit, Alpha's suit turns to black.

Personality
Although she is a perfect physical clone of Kasumi, Alpha doesn't share the same compassionate, friendly nature of the original. She seems to act like a misguided child with too much power and acts immature and irreverent to anyone other than Donovan, whom she looks up to as a father figure, and Hayate, who she sees as her brother.

Although childish, Alpha has a very wicked edge to her: for example, her obsession with Hayate makes her go as far to free Kasumi from her cell with the sole intention of killing her so she could have Hayate all to herself. Just before Kasumi fought her, Alpha gave out a menacingly amused laugh, sounding almost mad and evil, as Kasumi stood there shocked and distressed while she thinks the clone had done something to Hayate. She was also willing to fight Kasumi without a second thought, giving a smug grin as she did.

Alpha has shown a degree of perception as well; when Alpha overhears Bayman, Helena, and Christie, she shows she isn't fooled when Christie claims loyalty to Donovan and thinks that she also wants him dead. Despite this, when Christie orders Alpha to capture Helena, she obeys without question.

Etymology
The kanji used to spell the name Kasumi (霞) means "Mist", a light fog. "Alpha" (Greek: άλφα) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, represented by Α (uppercase), and α (lowercase). In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 1. It was derived from the Phoenician letter "Aleph", meaning "ox." Both as a symbol and term, it is used to refer to or describe a variety of things, mostly for the first or most significant occurrence of something.

Kasumi
Despite being her clone, Alpha considers Kasumi her "sister." The clone is jealous of Kasumi because she believed that Kasumi was keeping Hayate all to herself, and wanted to kill her so she could have the man all to herself. Kasumi was infuriated when she found out that Alpha was her clone and that she planned to take Hayate away, and sought her out to destroy her imposter.

Hayate
Alpha appeared to have a fondness for Hayate, similar to Kasumi, as she considers him her "brother." However, her love of him is almost obsessive and she goes so far as to try to kill Kasumi so she can have him all to herself. Although, once he regained his memories, her fondness seems to have faded a little as she engaged him and Hayabusa alongside a possessed Ayane without a second thought, because Hayate was so willing to engage in battle with Ayane, and had hurt her badly, showing Alpha that he isn't such a good guy after all. Later, it's hinted that she still has loving feelings for Hayate, and she seems to miss him.

Like Kasumi, Hayate was enraged when he realized that Alpha was his sister's clone and sought her out to defeat her with Ryu.

Victor Donovan
Alpha has a fondness for Donovan as he was her creator and even considers him her "father." She also seems protective of him, as she does not want anyone to kill him.

Christie
At first, it appeared that Alpha was on good terms with Christie as they were both working for Donovan, but when the clone found out that the assassin was planning to have Donovan dead, she began to show signs of mistrust.

Gameplay and Strategy
The clone is an exact duplicate of Kasumi, so she also has Kasumi's fighting style: balanced character traits, with good speed and execution, but with a small range and with single strikes doing little damage. If the player knows Kasumi's own moves and mannerisms when it comes to fighting, it will be very easy to counter the clone's attacks and defeat it.

It should be noted that while in Dead or Alive 2 and Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate, Alpha uses Kasumi's move list for that game, in Dead or Alive: Dimensions, her moves are a copy of Kasumi's move list in Dead or Alive 2. Those familiar with her old moveset will adapt quickly.

Dead or Alive Series

 * Dead or Alive 2 (1999 - 2000)
 * Dead or Alive Ultimate (2004 - 2005)
 * Dead or Alive: Dimensions (2011)

Dead Fantasy
''Also see: Kasumi Alpha on Dead Fantasy Wiki  The clones of Kasumi, not just Alpha herself, appear in multitude in the third, fourth, and fifth installments of the fan-made CG movie series Dead Fantasy''.

They were sent by Helena in the third to fight Kasumi and Yuna from Final Fantasy X. In the fourth episode, the clones managed to defeat Yuna's powerful aeons and were about to take her life as well, but Cloud Stife of Final Fantasy VII came in and saved her life. In the fifth episode, most of them were killed by Kasumi. As she became overcome by exhaustion, the remaining clones were about to finish her off, but they were all killed by Ryu.

Musical Themes

 * Hitohira -Reminiscent of Ketsui No Toki - Dead or Alive 2 (Ultimate 2)
 * Kasumi Alpha Theme - Dead or Alive: Dimensions