Kokoro

Kokoro (こころ, Kokoro) is a fictional Japanese character from the Dead or Alive video game series, debuting in Dead or Alive 4. She is a geisha, in training, but likes to fight as well. Since her appearance in the 4th game, she became the most liked female in the series.

Dead or Alive 4
Kokoro is a 17 year-old geisha-in training. Her mother, Miyako, was one of Fame Douglas' many mistresses (another being Helena's mother, Maria) and after Kokoro's birth Miyako and her child moved to the country. Kokoro began training to be a geisha, but her heart was actually in both training to be a geisha and martial arts. She asked her mother if she could participate in the 4th Dead or Alive Tournament, and she hesitantly accepted.

After several rounds of the tournament, Kokoro meets Helena who, unbeknownst to Kokoro, is her half-sister. However, Helena seems to recognize Kokoro and mentions Miyako before their fight. Kokoro's CG ending shows her returning home to pursue her training once again, doing things like fan dancing, playing the shamisen and a small drum.

Dead or Alive Xtreme 2
A young girl who spends her days training to become a geisha under her mother's watchful eye. She came to New Zack Island without her mother's knowledge.

Personality
Along with Kasumi, Kokoro would appear to be one of the only other characters to display some type of mercy after a victorious battle. In one instance, she asks if she has gone too far with the fight, and goes so much further as to extend an apology. Her confidence seems to be somewhat two-sided, as she does indeed fight to the best of her ability, but if she loses, she calls out for her mother. If the player chooses to continue, she tells her opponent that she'll show them what she's got. This would indicate that although she is confident in her style, losing proves to be a bit too much for her. Even before some matches she states her thoughts as to whether or not she can win, or stating that she is not going to lose. Nonetheless, she is well-mannered and well-spoken and fights to the best of her ability, regardless of the outcome.

Gameplay
Kokoro's Ba Ji Quan fighting style incorporates many effective low kicks and powerful high kicks to assist her powerful elbows and strikes. Kokoro is described as being a character well suited for beginners due to her unbreakable chain throw, being the safest character in the game in relation to advantage and disadvantage, and her easy to execute moves and mix ups.

Trivia

 * Kokoro's name means "heart" in Japanese, but strictly in the figurative sense-more like spirit, the word does not refer to the heart as a muscle. Which would possibly explain why her Costume 6 and Costume 7 has her wearing a heart pendant around her neck.


 * Kokoro uses the Ba Ji Quan fighting style. Tomonobu Itagaki comments that Ba Ji Quan was first used in Virtua Fighter, which he rightly calls the "origin of 3D fighting games." Virtua Fighter's main character, Akira Yuki, uses this fighting style, but Itagaki hopes to reproduce the martial art even more realistically in DOA.


 * Kokoro is Helena Douglas's half sister, with both sharing the same father, Fame Douglas. More importantly this could make her another possible successor to becoming the chairperson of DOATEC, if Helena were to give up her position.


 * Kokoro's fighting style, Ba Ji Quan, is the sister art of Helena's Pi Qua Quan style.


 * Similar to Hitomi, Kokoro is half Asian and half European. Kokoro's father is European (Fame Douglas - his ethnicity has yet to be confirmed, although it is very likely he is White/European), but she lived her whole life in Japan and is in training to become a geisha.


 * Compared to the other DOA Japanese characters, Kokoro can be considered the most realistic out of all them (realistic meaning she is not a part of the DOA ninja faction)


 * Her favorite color is orange.


 * Kokoro is the second racially mixed character in the DOA series.