Kokoro

Kokoro (Kanji: 心, Hiragana: こころ, Rōmaji: Kokoro) is a young maiko (apprentice geisha), and Ba Ji Quan martial artist in the Dead or Alive series, who made her official debut in Dead or Alive 4.

A sweet and polite girl, Kokoro is the illegitimate daughter of Fame Douglas and one of his former mistresses Miyako, making Kokoro the half-sister of Helena Douglas. It is possible that if Helena were to give up her control of the Dead or Alive Tournament Executive Committee, Kokoro would be next-in-line to take control. However, it seems that Kokoro has little to no knowledge of her connection to DOATEC and the Douglas family.

Early Life
Kokoro was conceived by her mother Miyako while she was a mistress to Fame Douglas but she moved back to Kyoto with her mother when she was too young to understand her situation and was never told who her father was.

While Miyako kept her connections with DOATEC as head of the subdivision DOATEC Japan, Kokoro was oblivious to her heritage and was placed in training to be a geisha - a traditional, female Japanese entertainer whose skills include classical music and dance. While she had her heart in her maiko training, Kokoro also gained a love for the martial arts and started to train herself in the art of Ba Ji Quan as a result.

During the events of the third Dead or Alive Tournament, Kokoro was walking home and saw a passed out high school girl. This girl was Kasumi disguised as a high schooler to keep her shinobi secret from getting out. Kokoro asked her if she needed any help but Kasumi refused despite having a major fever, and fled as she saw Ayane approaching. When Ayane asked her where Kasumi ran off to, Kokoro refused to tell her. Ayane was angered and was forced to fight her. In the end, Kokoro fled as well without saying a word to Ayane.

The Fourth Tournament
At 17 years old, Kokoro started to focus more on her Ba Ji Quan training and asked her mother if she could participate in the fourth Dead or Alive Tournament. While Miyako was not happy about her daughter's choice, she hesitantly gave her permission but warned Kokoro that she might not necessarily like what would come of it.

During one of her initial matches, Kokoro faced the drunken master Brad Wong, who seemed to take a liking to her. Kokoro, however, was put off by the drunk and vehement fighter and declined his offer for a drink. After several rounds of the tournament, Kokoro met Helena. Unaware that they were related, Kokoro was surprised when Helena recognized her as Miyako's daughter before their fight. It is then that Helena mentions that Kokoro should learn her fighting technique, Pi Gua Quan. After the tournament, Kokoro returned to Kyoto where she resumes both her maiko and martial arts training.

The Fifth Tournament
Two years later, while on a business trip to Tokyo with her mother, Kokoro took a stroll through the city and spotted Helena on a monitor announcing the reformation of DOATEC and the return of the Dead or Alive Tournament, which push hope in Kokoro that she will be able to see Helena again. The very next moment, a construction site collapses and during the chaos Kokoro is knocked over by Lisa Hamilton, who she challenges to a fight and demands an apology. After their battle, Lisa asks the girl how Miyako is doing, implying that the two fighters know each other through DOATEC.

The next few days, Kokoro returned to Kyoto to train for the up-coming tournament, having friendly spars against Jann Lee and Akira. She spots Jann Lee practicing with his nunchaku in a building. Jann Lee throws the weapon in her direction, expecting her to catch it and demonstrate her knowledge with them. Instead, the nunchaku crashes into a vase nearby and she wonders what he did that for. They then spar.

After her fight with Jann Lee, she comes out of the building to the sakura courtyard and continues to practice her Ba Ji Quan as she is approached by Akira. He demonstrates his own Ba Ji Quan skills and challenges her to a friendly spar before she is picked up by Zack to go to the tournament.

When Kokoro arrives, Zack takes her to meet Helena and the two of them have a friendly conversation. During their chat, Kokoro asked Helena what kind of man her own father was, implying that Kokoro may know - or as least suspect - that Fame was her father. However, neither woman confirms nor denies the fact and they go on to have a friendly fight.

At the fifth tournament, Kokoro made it to the quarterfinals, but was defeated by Eliot.

Appearance

 * See also: Kokoro's Costumes and Swimsuits

Compared to the other women in the series, Kokoro can be considered the most feminine and girly in appearance. Her hair is jet black, bottom-length hair worn loose with a small segment tied in a decoration up front on the left-hand side of her face. She also has grey eyes, full lips, rosy cheeks, pale skin, and  soft facial features. She is of average height and one of the shortest fighters with a petite body. In Dead or Alive: Dimensions, her hair is tied back with a yellow bow, due to the graphical limitations of the Nintendo 3DS. Her re-design in Dead or Alive 5 was left pretty much unchanged for her original appearance, however her face was slimmed to a oval shape and her eyes are not as round any more.

Her trademark outfit is a pink kimono with a brightly colored floral pattern. While it appears to be a proper, decorative kimono with a red collar of a maiko and an sash around the waist, it is actually incorrectly dressed so the skirt is loose, allowing Kokoro to move with more ease while fighting as well as giving her some sex appeal by exposing her legs. The outfit also includes sandals and a type of sock known as. It should be noted that while Kokoro had the kimono since her first appearance in Dead or Alive 4, she is only seen wearing it during the opening sequence and it was not available during gameplay. The kimono later became a playable costume in Dead or Alive: Dimensions and Dead or Alive 5.

Other costumes Kokoro has sported in the series include alternative kimono and yakata, school uniforms, and casual clothing involving skirts or the colour pink. Her default swimsuit in Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 is the Sweet Cherry: a side-tied pink bikini with a top designed to expose a lot of cleavage. In Dead or Alive 5, she wears more school-girl and gym inspired outfits from before, and she even receives an updated version of her mini skirt and off the shoulder top from Dead or Alive 4. In Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate, she can also wear her hair in a side-ponytail for the first time as well.

Personality
Possibly due to her up-bringing, Kokoro is well-mannered and well-spoken but also delicate and soft in nature. Similar to Kasumi, Kokoro appears to be one of the more merciful and gentle-spirited fighters; after she wins a fight, she may ask if she hurt her opponent too much or if she has gone too far with the fight and extends an apology. The only time she acts harshly in words or actions is when Brad made an advance on her and she pushed him away. Kokoro is very kindhearted and sweet to others and for a girl her age, she is very mature beyond her years.

She does seem weak emotionally at times. She does indeed fight to the best of her ability but, if she loses, she calls out for her mother. This would indicate that although she is confident in her style, losing proves to be a bit too much for her. Her sheltered life and Miyako's protectiveness over her could have made it hard for her to adapt to the harsh reality of the tournament.

Aside from her merciful personality and innocence, she is shown to have a short temper, especially when she feels people are rude to her. This is noted when she meets Ayane in Dimensions and when Lisa accidentally bumps into her and scolds her for not being very vigilant of her surroundings.

Etymology
The kanji used to spell Kokoro's name (心) means "Heart," which reflects her gentle and kind nature.

Helena Douglas
Kokoro is Helena’s biological half-sister since she is the daughter of Fame Douglas and Miyako had left for Japan and raised Kokoro there, whereas Helena was raised in France. While the two of them are half-sisters, Kokoro doesn't know who Helena is. On the other hand, Helena seems to know about Kokoro and Miyako (as she was old enough to remember).

In Kokoro's story mode in the fourth Dead or Alive tournament, she eventually finds and feels weird upon coming into contact with her. Helena replies, "Our blood... Can that what brought us here together." While preparing for battle, Helena shouts, "you must learn my techniques!" ( This symbolizes the union of Bajipigua quan "Sister styles" to united into one art )

When Helena announces the Fifth Dead or Alive Tournament, Kokoro recognizes her. The two once again meet at Taylor's Bar after Zack drops Kokoro off. When Kokoro meets her, she asks Helena about her father, telling the woman that she did not remember hers. Helena assures her that her father was a good man, ''"as Kokoro's was." ''It is unknown if Kokoro knows that Fame was definitely her biological father, but both she and Helena do not deny or affirm it. Helena shows much of kindness and love towards Kokoro and spars with her as well to see how strong she has gotten since the fourth DOA tournament.

The sisters feature a full tag alliance in Dead or Alive 5.

Kasumi
During the events of the third Dead or Alive Tournament, Kokoro was walking home and saw a passed out high school girl. This girl was Kasumi disguised as a high schooler to keep her shinobi secret from getting out. Kokoro asked her if she needed any help but Kasumi refused despite having a major fever, and fled.

Ayane
When Kokoro was seeing if Kasumi was okay, Kasumi fled as she saw Ayane approaching. When Ayane asked her where Kasumi ran off to, Kokoro refused to tell her. Ayane was angered and was forced to fight her. In the end, Kokoro fled as well without saying a word to Ayane.

Akira Yuki
In the Dead or Alive 5 story mode, Kokoro and Akira test their show of skill, seeing as they are both masters in the art of Ba Ji Quan. Kokoro tries to show him that she too can be just as strong in Ba Ji Quan. They feature a new tag alliance in this tournament with team poses and team up moves.

Lisa Hamilton
In Dead or Alive 5's story mode, it is revealed that Kokoro and Lisa know each other. When they bump into each other during a wild scramble in the city, Lisa easily recognizes Kokoro. Although Kokoro may know Lisa through Miyako working with her, it is unknown, however, if Kokoro is aware of Lisa's exact occupation.

Dead or Alive
Kokoro's Ba Ji Quan fighting style incorporates many effective low kicks and powerful high kicks to assist her powerful elbows and strikes. Her elbows and punches are very quick and can cause many critical stuns. She 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 being easy to execute moves and mix-ups.

However, one of Kokoro's biggest disadvantages is that she is a very easy character to counter. Bigger and stronger characters like Bayman and Tina Armstrong can inflict an incredible amount of damage to Kokoro, making her fairly weak in a fight like this. Furthermore, she has a lot of punches and kicks that would intend players to "button mash." Compared to the varying attack strings of her sister Helena, Kokoro's attacks appear to be less refined.

Dead or Alive Xtreme
Kokoro is easy to recruit but sometimes you might want to wait a bit before asking her to become your partner. She is also very grumpy in the morning, so wait to talk to her and give her gifts until the afternoon or evening. In turn, Kokoro can easily become friends with everyone.

In beach volleyball, Kokoro seems to be an almost balanced player, just not as well-rounded as the likes of Helena, Christie, and Lisa. She has great speed, power, and good defense but she is somewhat lacking in technique and jumping skill, making her aiming weaker than the other girls aim. As well as the balanced players, she can make a good team with Leifang, who isn't as strong as Kokoro but Leifang can play the more defensive part of the team. She can also add strength to a team-up with the weak Kasumi and still make a very fast pairing.

Dead or Alive Series

 * Dead or Alive 4 (2005 - 2006)
 * Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 (2006)
 * Dead or Alive Paradise (2010)
 * Dead or Alive: Dimensions (2011)
 * Dead or Alive 5 (2012 - 2013)
 * Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate (2013)

Musical Themes

 * Moonlit Lady - Dead or Alive 4 and Dead or Alive: Dimensions
 * Tehu Tehu Remix - Dead or Alive 4 (Crash Club)
 * Estheticism - Dead or Alive 4 Ending Theme

Trivia

 * Throughout the series, Kokoro is known as "The Ba Ji Dancer".
 * In the Dead or Alive Xtreme sub-series, Kokoro's favorite color is Orange.
 * Tomonobu Itagaki commented that Ba Ji Quan was first used in , which he called the "origin of 3D fighting games".  Virtua Fighter' s main character Akira Yuki used this fighting style but Itagaki hoped to reproduce the martial art more realistically with Kokoro in Dead or Alive 4.
 * Kokoro may have been possibly inspired by character Chiyo whom later became Sayuri in the film Memoirs of a Geisha. Dead or Alive 4 was released in Japan on December 29, 2005 while Memoirs of a Geisha was released earlier in the year and was a hit movie.
 * The reason Kokoro, Ayane, Eliot, and Kasumi do not have listed ages in western versions of the Dead or Alive games from the original Dead or Alive to Dead or Alive 4 is because they were under 18 years old. Tecmo decided to give them undefined ages to avoid the risk of a moral backlash from western countries.
 * As of the end of Dead or Alive 5, Kokoro seems to be still unaware of Miyako's real job and the fact that Helena is her half-sister.
 * Both Helena and Kokoro are connected as sisters through music, performing arts, elegance and fashion sense. As half sisters, they share complementary, half sister-style martial arts of Piguaquan and Bajiquan. The styles were once united, but departed, but once again brought together. This resembles how the sisters are once more coming together.
 * If Helena were to step down from her position at DOATEC, Kokoro would be next in line for the job due to her direct relationship with Fame Douglas.
 * Kokoro, along with Leon and Tengu are the only characters in Dead or Alive 4 to not serve as a sub boss in the game's story mode.
 * Kokoro wears glasses in Dead or Alive 5. It is unknown if she wears prescription glasses or not.
 * IGN featured Kokoro in their "Videogame Babe of the Day" series in 2006.