Momiji

Momiji is Ryu Hayabusa's apprentice and the Dragon Shrine Maiden of the Hayabusa clan.

Momiji debuted in the 2008 title, Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword, though she made her Dead or Alive debut in the 2013 title, Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate.

She is the keeper of the Dragons Eye, a sacred jewel that is said to hold the spirit of a mighty dragon. In times of great danger, it is her duty to ensure that the jewel makes its way to Hayabusa, as it enhances the power of his Dragon Sword.

Early life
Along with her older sister Kureha, Momiji was raised to be a Dragon Shrine Maiden. She was tasked with keeping the ancient relics passed down to the Hayabusa village from the ancient Dragon lineage and carrying out the shrine maiden's rites and rituals to purify the world of malicious evil forces. Among the relics that the Dragon Shrine Maidens are tasked with guarding is the Eye of the Dragon, a jewel said to contain the souls of the ancient Dragons.

Unlike Kureha, Momiji was spared the fate of her older sister during the Dark Dragon Blade Incident. At the time, Momiji was away from the village on an errand only to come back to a ruined village. She was devastated by the loss of the many lives, especially her elder sister.

Momiji began training under Ryu as a precaution and ended up becoming a skilled kunoichi along with her shrine maiden abilities for the sake of the Hayabusa village. She supports and follows her master whenever he comes around.

Appearance

 * See also: Momiji's costumes

Momiji is a young Japanese lady with amber eyes and long black possibly knee length hair tied in a topknot style ponytail. Like most of the other DOA girls, she has a very voluptuous body and is well endowed. She is mostly seen in a relatively modest outfit with a white kunoichi top with red ribboned edges that expose her side and front cleavage and red kunoichi styled pants that show the sides of her outer thighs and have tassels hanging in the back with black Japanese style heel boots worn at the bottom over the pant sleeves.

Her other outfits consist of several ones she wears from Ninja Gaiden, including her secondary jumpsuit outfit and leather variant of her main costume, as well as other ones added as DLC. In Last Round, she is able to wear her hair cut into a short blunt bob cut, and in Xtreme 3, she gains the option to wear her hair down, although it falls to bottom length and is somewhat shorter than what her hair should realistically be when worn down. She can also be seen with her hair down in Last Round in the Fairy Tail DLC, where she dresses as Kagura.

Personality
Momiji is a very gentle and caring young woman who is seen by the Hayabusa Village children as an older sister figure, whom they look up to.

Like her mentor, Ryu Hayabusa, Momiji has a strong will and refuses to accept any vulnerabilities and trains extensively to become one of the deadliest warriors in the Hayabusa Village.

She is very polite, even to her opponents, saying to them before a match that it is an honor to meet and combat them. After a match she will thank her opponent or even wish them better luck next time, rather than gloating like many other fighters. However, a slightly mischievous side of her is revealed in her taunts, which have her yawning cutely or sarcastically gasping and complimenting her foe's performance.

Etymology
Momiji (紅葉) in Japanese means "autumn leaves".

Ryu Hayabusa
Momiji is the last of the Hayabusa clan's shrine maidens and Hayabusa's apprentice. After the death of her sister and the massacre of the Hayabusa village during the Dark Dragon Blade incident, she trained under the protege of Ryu Hayabusa.

A prodigy in the ninja arts, Momiji has grown to be an exceptional kunoichi in her own right. Enamored with his convictions, Momiji shares Hayabusa's perceptions of virtue and justice, only resorting to deadly violence against her clan's enemies. She looks up to her master with pride as both a mentor and an undying ally, and Hayabusa is equally proud of his disciple and sister-in-arms, having her accompany him on missions.

It is also implied that she trained and participated in the fifth annual Dead or Alive Tournament at Hayabusa's request.

Rachel
Although they have highly contrasting personalities, Rachel seems to have a friendly relationship with Momiji, perhaps due to their common aim to protect the innocent. They form working partnerships very often and help each other out on their missions. They have a full tag alliance and seem perfectly in synch with one another, proclaiming "Evil, begone!" together in unison for their tag intro. After a match, Momiji says the match goes to them and Rachel voices her approval as they both gaze at each other with respect and admiration for one another.

Ayane
Although it is unknown whether Ayane and Momiji have actually met, Momiji calls Ayane's name during a tag match.

Kasumi
Kasumi and Momiji's familiarity is not specified, despite both girls being ninjas and having full respect for Ryu Hayabusa. However, Momiji does call out Kasumi's name during a tag battle. In Dead Or Alive Xtreme 3, it is seen they are close at the very start of the vacation, both bearing 3 musical notes (maximum closeness)

Hayate
It is unknown if Momiji has met Hayate, but she can call his name during a tag battle.

Mai Shiranui
Despite being a guest character, with an unknown relationship to Momiji, Mai does call out Momiji's name during a tag battle. They also both use fire in their magic.

Honoka
Like above, it's unclear how and when they met, although Momiji is familiar with Honoka. In Dead or Alive Xtreme 3, the two met each other and can be partners in the game.

Gameplay

 * See also: Momiji's command lists

Despite borrowing a few moves from the other ninja characters, Momiji's play style is quite different and distinctive, particularly for her ability to double-jump and perform airborne attacks. Her move set is less diverse than the other ninja, but she compensates with good speed, easy execution, and a wide range of safe moves, making her one of the easiest characters for beginners to pick up and deadly in the hands of experts. She is also a good character to attack from mid to long range distances.

She has single-jump and double-jump stances that can be entered from certain strikes, throws and holds to give more options, and has a weaker but easier variant of Hayabusa's Shoho-Izuna throw, called the Junyo-Izuna, which can form her most damaging juggle if used in an area with a ceiling following a critical burst. She also has two ways to perform her power blow: one from her neutral stance and one while double-jumping.

Stats
The following are Momiji's official stats as listed in the games.

Dead or Alive series

 * Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate (playable, 2013)
 * Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate Arcade (playable, 2013)
 * Dead or Alive 5 Last Round (playable, 2015)
 * Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 (playable, 2016)
 * Dead or Alive Xtreme: Venus Vacation (playable, 2017)

Ninja Gaiden series
Momiji made her debut in Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword, and later in Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2. In Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge, Momiji is a playable character in the Ninja Trials and Chapter Challenge modes.

Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce
Momiji makes a guest appearance in PlayStation 3 version of Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce. She is an NPC that offers three different quests to the player. If the player manages to complete all of the challenges she gives them, they earn the right to wield her Heavenly Dragon Naginata in battle. Its attack pattern is similar to the Polearm move-set that appears in the game but with its own unique special attacks taken straight from Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2.

Warriors Orochi 3
Momiji also appears in Warriors Orochi 3 Hyper, the WiiU port of Warriors Orochi 3. She is added with fellow new character Shennong, as well as along side the characters from the Japan-only PSP port of the game, Seimei Abe and Rachel. Her special stage is the Hayabusa Village merged with Wan Castle. She also appears in Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate, an updated version of Warriors Orochi 3 for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Dead Fantasy
Momiji appears alongside Hayabusa in the fan-made CG series Dead Fantasy created by Monty Oum.

She and Ryu debut in Dead Fantasy V and her main opponent is both Kairi and her nobody, Naminé, from the Kingdom Hearts series.

With Oum's death, the series' future is uncertain.

Fighting quotes

 * Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate
 * Dead or Alive 5 Last Round

Music themes
The following are the music themes used for Momiji throughout the series.

Gallery

 * See: Momiji gallery

Trivia

 * Despite being a ninjutsu practioner like all the shinobi in the series, Momiji also uses principles of aiki-jūjutsu as well, making her the only shinobi in the series to use a different fighting style.
 * Even though she was added to Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate, it is unknown whether she participated in the tournament or not. Her profile on the official game website, however, states that she does enter in order to test all that she has learned.
 * Several of Momiji's techniques, such as double jumping and air-charged attacks, come directly from her gameplay in Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge. The air-power blow is taken from her ultimate technique and her prayer beads can be used in combat.
 * Momiji's English voice actor is also the current English voice of Tina Armstrong.
 * Momiji is the first Ninja Gaiden character to appear in the Dead or Alive Xtreme sub-series.