Kasumi

{{Infobox Female |name = Kasumi |image = File:Kasumi 12.jpg |image_size=200px |caption = Kasumi's image from Dead or Alive 4 |full = Kasumi |known = A Kunoichi's Destiny |style = Mugen Tenshin Clan Ninjutsu Tenjin Mon Sect |nation = Japanese |birthday = Februrary 23 |age = 17 |blood = A |height = 158cm 5'2" |weight = 48kg 106 lbs |body = B89 W54 H85cm B35" W21" H33" |job = Exiled Ninja |hobby = Fortune Telling, Origami |food = Strawberry Millefeuille |debut = Dead or Alive |japanese = Sakura Tange (DOA-DOA2) Hōko Kuwashima {DOA3-present) |english = Lucy Kee (DOA2) Kari Wahlgren (DOAX2) }}

Kasumi is a character that debuted in Dead or Alive. She is a ninja from the Mugen Tenshin clan who became a runaway ninja after she entered the first Dead or Alive tournament. She is the sister of Hayate and older half sister of Ayane.

Kasumi is one of the first 3 females that appeared in the series next to Lei Fang and Tina. Since then, Kasumi seems to be the unofficial flagship main protagonist of the series. Kasumi has been one of the most popular characters in the Dead or Alive series. She was able to make a few appearances in other games like Monster Rancher and her main blue ninja outfit was used by other characters like Mio from Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly. Kasumi also appeared in Monty Oum's fanmade video, Dead Fantasy. She appears in the live action film DOA: Dead or Alive. Kasumi's biggest trademarks are the sakura petals, which appear everywhere she teleports, her knife, and her blue ninja outfit.

Kasumi is also the winner of the first Dead or Alive Tournament by defeating Raidou.

History
Kasumi is the daughter of Shiden and Ayame, the sister of Hayate and half sister of Ayane. Kasumi is the "princess" of the Mugen Tenshin village. When she was a child, Kasumi was friends with Ayane, unaware of the fact they are sisters. It seems that people treated Kasumi as a princess and treated Ayane like dirt. Throughout the years, Kasumi and Hayate weretraining to become ninjas of the Tenshin village. When Ayane changed clans to the Hajin Mon clan, Kasumi and Ayane never saw each other again.

A few years later, Raidou had returned to retrieve the Torn Sky Blast from Hayate. It was unknown where Kasumi was during that event; however after Raidou's rampage, Kasumi was left taking care of Hayate, but she felt that she needed to discover the truth and find out who injured Hayate. On the night when Kasumi was chosen to become the 18th master, Kasumi left the village to find Raidou and defeat him for what he did to Hayate. Because of that, Kasumi broke the code of the Mugen Tenshin and is now a traitor to the village. Genra sent Ayane to kill Kasumi.

Dead or Alive
Kasumi, also known as "the Kunoichi of Destiny", is a female ninja skilled in the Mugen Tenshin Style of Ninjutsu. She was to become the 18th Master of the Mugen Tenshin Ninja Clan, but ran away in order to enter the Dead or Alive tournament. There, she hoped to defeat Raidou, the man responsible for crippling her brother Hayate. By leaving the secretive ninja clan, she became a nukenin (runaway shinobi). This means that she must live on the run from her former comrades every day as they seek to silence the "traitorous" Kasumi. Eventually, Kasumi kills Raidou and wins the tournament.

Dead or Alive 2
After having won the first tournament (and killing Raidou), she was captured by DOATEC and a clone of her was created. However, she managed to escape (defeating her clone in the process) and made an attempt to return to her village, but she wasn't allowed to, due to the fact that dishonored ninja can never rejoin their respective clan.

In her story mode, Kasumi fights her clone and defeats it. She then proceed on and met Hayabusa who was trying to stop her from moving on in through the tournament. However, Kasumi defeats Hayabusa and goes on. She then has to face Ayane, who seems to be jealous of Kasumi as she is, as she said in Dead or Alive Ultimate, "a princess". She defeats Ayane and tells her that she can't be defeated. Kasumi finally finds Hayate, but since he lost his memories, he as Ein fights Kasumi. She defeats Ein and knocks him unconscious. All of a sudden, the Tengu appears and Kasumi goes on to fight him. She defeats the Tengu and Hayate was able to get his memories back. Kasumi and Hayate go back home to Mugen Tenshin village. Kasumi doesn't have an ending after defeating Tengu until the end of the credits. It shows a small flower and Kasumi's voice says, "Home. I want to go home".

Dead or Alive 3
Now labeled as a "traitor" to her village, Kasumi has been pursued incessantly by assassins from her clan; not a day passes without an attempt on her life. Despite this, Kasumi still wishes to see her brother and enters the third tournament to meet him one last time.

Kasumi doesn't play a big role in the game. She's just like the other fighters in that she doesn't have a special introduction before the fight against Genra unlike Ayane, Hayate, and Hayabusa. Despite that, in Kasumi's story mode she was wandering in the woods while Ayane appeared out of no where and fought her. This is ironic because usually Ayane will keep Kasumi away from Hayate. Also she tells Kasumi that she will fight Genra and cannot let her "have this one". This possibly indicates that Kasumi defeated Raidou, Ayane's biological father, whom Ayane should have defeated. Kasumi then meets Hayate. Disappointed about the fact that Kasumi ran away from the village, Hayate knows that he must kill her. Since Hayate couldn't kill his only sister, he decided that he doesn't want to see Kasumi anymore. Kasumi fights Hayate and the two go their separate ways.

In her ending, Kasumi reminisced how she survived the horde of ninjas that were sent by Hayate to kill her. This proves that Kasumi can never be defeated.

Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball
Kasumi was invited to Zack Island for the fourth Dead or Alive Tournament. However, the tournament was a hoax and Kasumi (with the other DOA girls) were stuck for two weeks on the tropical island.

Dead or Alive 4


Kasumi again seeks to find Hayate. She meets her brother and tries to convince him to stop the war against DOATEC and return to the Mugen Tenshin village with her. However, Hayate remains quiet and their half-sister Ayane interrupts them. She attacks Kasumi, but Kasumi defeats her.

Kasumi pursues Hayate to the DOATEC Tritower. There she is confronted by Helena who has taken control of DOATEC. Helena says she wants nothing to do with the ninja fighters (this includes Ryu, Ayane, and Hayate) and mentions that a clone of Kasumi - codenamed ALPHA-152 - is about to become active. Kasumi fights her way past Helena and then heads down to the lab to destroy ALPHA-152, who resembles Kasumi in form and fighting style, but seems to be made up of pure energy. Kasumi fights her clone to her best efforts, but in the end it appears ALPHA-152 escapes in the chaos of the destruction wrought by the Mugen Tenshin invasion. Kasumi is last seen watching Helena entering the blazing helipad. As Kasumi tries to stop her, Ayane prevents her, who by doing that saves Kasumi's life as the building starts exploding mere seconds later. This could possibly mean that their rivalry could be over.

Dead Or Alive Xtreme 2


Kasumi is a runaway Ninja who abandonded her position as head of the Mugen Tenshin clan to avenge her brother, Hayate. She came to New Zack Island upon hearing that her brother was there, even though she wondered what he was doing on a tropical island.

Stats
Kasumi is not the most powerful character in the game, but she does have great techniques that can be helpful most activities like volleyball and jet skiing, and she's a great jumper, making her useful for pool hopping.
 * Power - 2/5
 * Technique - 5/5
 * Defense - 3/5
 * Jump - 5/5
 * Speed - 3/5

Hayate
Kasumi is Hayate's little sister. Hayate was a very protective brother to Kasumi, so they had a close brother/sister relationship. After Hayate was injured by Raidou, Kasumi sought revenge on Raidou for what he did to Hayate, seeking to restore her brother's honor. They have a very close and strong bond, even as Hayate becomes the leader of the Mugen Tenshin clan and Kasumi becomes a runaway. Hayate will never harm Kasumi himself, but he will not speak to her over the shame that he chooses the clan over Kasumi. Still, no matter what, Hayate and Kasumi will always be brother and sister.

Ayane
Ayane is Kasumi's half sister. Kasumi's mother, Ayame, was raped by Raidou, thus conceiving Ayane. Kasumi and Ayane had a close relationship as friends when they were kids. However, after Ayane left the Mugen Tenshin Clan with Genra to join the Hajinmon clan, the two didn't see each other for years. Their friendship turned to bitter rivalry. Ayane was consumed with jealousy --- jealousy that Kasumi was treated like a princess, while she was treated like dirt. After Kasumi left the village to find Raidou, Ayane was sent to kill her. It is possible that their rivalry is over, or at least weakened, as in Helena's DOA4 ending, Ayane stops Kasumi from trying to save Helena, an action that likely would have ended in Kasumi's death.

Raidou
Raidou is Kasumi's uncle since he is the brother of Shiden, Kasumi's father. Kasumi defeated Raidou in the first tournament for revenge.

Ryu Hayabusa
In every single DOA game, Kasumi is Ryu's tag team partner as her picture in the character selection screens is above Ryu's. Ryu is great friends with Kasumi, just like how he is with Hayate. According to Kasumi's and Ryu's DOA2 story mode, Ryu promised Hayate that he will protect Kasumi at all cost. Ryu had been since the first DOA game when he entered the tournament to help Kasumi. Even though she broke one of the laws, Ryu still kept his promise and still watches Kasumi as he was the only person who cared for her after she abandoned Mugen Tenshin Village. Also in Ryu's story mode in DOA4, he decided to fight ALPHA-152 instead of Kasumi.

Helena
Kasumi seems to be friendly with Helena and seems to understand the pain that Helena must be going through. However when Helena tries to kill Kasumi only to be saved by Hayabusa then it is shown that this is one of the few times that Kasumi has no mercy for Helena. Kasumi fought and defeated Helena. even so she still tried to stop Helena committing from suicide which would have resulted in her death had Ayane not stopped her showing that she still cares for Helena.

Personality
Kasumi is portrayed throughout the DOA series as a more compassionate character than her younger half-sister, Ayane, and any of the other fighters. She is an honorable and kind spirit and although a highly skilled kunoichi with deadly abilities. She does not enjoy or wish to fight. Many of the statements she makes in the game series before a round begins reflect her desire to avoid confrontation. Much of the reasoning behind this comes from the fact that in all Other appearance of the tournaments (with the exception of the first) her motive is not to fight or win, but to meet Hayate. Her statements also reflect the fact that Kasumi is very merciful. She doesn't like to see people suffering at the hands of her skills and is inclined to show mercy even to her enemies. However she is capable of killing and this is shown in the first DOA story where she defeated and killed Raidou.

She is demonstrably family orientated and would like nothing more than to return home in peace. There were instances where she refused to show mercy though, as seen when she willingly goes to look for Raidou (in the first game), fighting her clone (in the second game) and also when facing Helena when Helena had almost had her shot if not for Ryu Hayabusa who had saved her (in the fourth game) however this is one of the only fights where Kasumi seems not to have one even though she wanted to because Helena goes on and is seen defeating Christie which therefore means that either Helena or Kasumi fled.

Gameplay
Similar to the other Dead or Alive ninjutsu characters, Kasumi is considered a mid-to-top tier character due to her balanced character traits. She features good speed, execution, and fairly simplistic input commands. However, her range is lacking and her single strikes do little damage.

Kasumi's playing style has differed slightly over the series. In the original Dead or Alive and its sequel, her commands were suited to performing air combos and juggles (her Sakura Parrie is an excellent tiger knee). However, in the later games she became a pressure character, focusing more on extremely fast attacks and great interrupters to keep the opponent constantly on the defense.

She is compatible in tag-team battle with nearly every character, illustrating the warmness and openness she offers towards others. And the fact that she works quite well with Ayane seems to show that despite their animosity towards one another, they cannot seem to forget how close they were as children as illustrated in the Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate opening sequence.

Musical Themes
Below are Kasumi's themes that plays when you fight her. For the most part, Kasumi's themes are mostly about her personality.


 * Ketsui No Toki - Dead or Alive
 * Hitohira -Reminiscent of Ketsui No Toki - Dead or Alive 2
 * Eternity - Dead or Alive 3
 * Purity - Dead or Alive 4

Monster Ranch
Kasumi appeared as a playable "monster" in Monster Rancher 2 and Monster Rancher 4, also produced by Tecmo. She must be unlocked by going to the Shrine and inserting the Dead or Alive 1 CD in the Disc Tray in Monster Rancher 2, and the Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore disc in Monster Rancher 4.

Dead Fantasy
With Ayane, Hitomi, Ninja Gaiden's Rachel, and the girls of Final Fantasy, Kasumi appeared in Monty Oum's fanmade video, Dead Fantasy. So far, Kasumi appeared in the first two parts of the series. She is using her kadachi as her weapon at times and fights in the same manner as in the game. She also teleports in the video numerous times and in part one, she did one of her throws from Dead or Alive 4. In a recent preview Kasumi is set to battle Yuna in the fourth installment of the series. The preview shows use of both Yuna's Aeons and Kasumi's clones.

DOA:Dead or Alive Movie
In the non-canonical movie DOA: Dead or Alive, Kasumi is portrayed by Devon Aoki. Also on the movie, it should be noted that Kasumi's personality is cold, as opposed to her calm and compassionate nature. In the movie she is told that her brother died by Leon's hand. Shortly after she fights Leon and wins, she has serious doubts that Hayate could have died at Leon's feet. In the end, she got to go home with her brother despite being a runaway shinobi.

Outfit Usages
Although not a playable character, her signature ninja clothes are an unlockable costume in Super Swing Golf and Super Swing Golf 2, which are also produced by Tecmo.

In the game Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Director's Cut for the Xbox, which was produced by Tecmo, Kasumi's original blue costume for Mio Amakura and Ayane's original purple costume for Mayu Amakura can be unlocked. One thing these characters have in common is that they are sisters, although Mio and Mayu are twins, not half-sisters.

Etymology
Kasumi's name is japanese for mist. Her name could be references to the fact that Kasumi always teleports leaving behind sakura petals, as if she were disappearing into the mist.

Trivia

 * The reason Kasumi, Ayane and Kokoro, who made her debut in Dead or Alive 4, do not have listed ages (17, 16 and 17 respectively) in western versions of the Dead or Alive games is because they are under 18 years old. Tecmo decided to give them an undefined age to avoid the risk of a moral backlash.
 * Kasumi's favorite color is Milky Pink.