Kasumi

Kasumi is a video game character from the Dead or Alive video game series. Debuting in the first Dead or Alive, Kasumi is a ninja from the Mugen Tenshin clan who became a runaway ninja after she entered the first Dead or Alive tournament in order to avenge her brother. She is the sister of Hayate and older half sister of Ayane.

One of the first three females that appeared in the series (next to Lei Fang and Tina Armstrong), Kasumi seems to have become the unofficial flagship protagonist of the DOA series. Kasumi's biggest trademarks are the sakura petals that blow in the wind around her, her tonto dagger and her blue ninja outfit. According to series canon she won 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. As such she is the "princess" of the Mugen Tenshin village due to her being born into the clan’s head family. When they were children Kasumi and Ayane, unaware that they were related, played together as friends; even sharing the same hairstyles. Her relationship with Hayate was also ideal, with the two playing games and training together happily. However, once Ayane learnt of her true heritage, their friendship ended due to her jealous anger over her mistreatment by the clan; Ayane centering her animosity on the ‘princess’ Kasumi.

Ninja Gaiden 2
For unknown reasons Kasumi observed the events surrounding the Black Spider Ninja Clan’s assault on the Hayabusa Clan and Ryu Hayabusa’s consequential vengeance and foiling of their plans to resurrect the Archfiend.

Dead or Alive
A year later Raidou, Kasumi’s uncle and rogue ninja of the Mugen Tenshin clan, returned to the village to obtain the Torn Sky Blast. Defeating even the prodigious Ayane, Raidou eventually managed to mimic the technique from Hayate before rendering him both comatose and paraplegic. After Raidou's rampage Kasumi was left taking care of Hayate and, due to Hayate’s state, Kasumi was chosen to become the clan’s 18th master, replacing her beloved brother who was originally meant to inherit the title. Impulsively, Kasumi left the village to find Raidou and defeat him for what he did to Hayate.

Tracking him to the Dead or Alive Tournament she entered the contest in the hopes of defeating Raidou. However, by leaving the secretive ninja clan, she became a nukenin (runaway shinobi). This meant that she had to now live on the run from her former family every day as they sought 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), Kasumi was captured by DOATEC and from her a clone was created. Entering the second tournament in order to defeat the clone, Kasumi fights her clone and defeats it soundly. She then proceeded on to face Ryu Hayabusa, who was in the tournament to defeat the renegade Tengu, Gohyakumine Bankotsu-bo. Her next match was against Ayane, who had been sent by the Mugen Tenshin clan to kill her however, despite Ayane’s efforts, Kasumi survives. Further onward in the tournament Kasumi faces a healed but amnesiac Hayate who, thinking of himself as the Karate prodigy Ein, fights her without a second thought. Eventually the tournament is won by Hayabusa who defeats Bankotsu-bo.

Dead or Alive 3
Homesick and constantly hunted Kasumi still wishes to see her brother and enters the third tournament to meet him as he, along with Ayane and Hayabusa, was there to defeat Genra, a monstrosity created by DOATEC who was once an esteemed member of the Mugen Tenshin clan. It is perhaps due to this that the three, specifically Ayane, didn’t make much of an attempt to attack Kasumi during the tournament. Kasumi would indeed meet Hayate, with her brother becoming burdened with the guilt of having to make an attempt to kill her. After her meeting with Hayate, Kasumi left the tournament and continued running from the ninjas. The tournament would be won by Ayane, managing to face and defeat Genra by her hand.



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) was stuck for two weeks on the tropical island.

Dead or Alive 4
Kasumi again seeks to meet 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 Ayane arrives to interrupt them, providing enough of a distraction for Hayate to continue on with his mission. Kasumi pursues Hayate to the DOATEC Tritower. There she is confronted by Helena who has taken control of DOATEC and from her learns 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. 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. After the match, having herself escaped the burning building, Kasumi is last seen watching Helena entering the blazing helipad. As Kasumi tries to stop her Ayane prevents her, who by doing so saves Kasumi's life as the building starts exploding mere seconds later.



Dead or Alive Xtreme 2
Kasumi traveled to New Zack Island upon hearing that her brother was there, even though she wondered what he was doing on a tropical island.

Personality
Kasumi is portrayed throughout the DOA series as a more compassionate character than 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 appearances in the tournaments (with the exception of the first) her motive was not to fight or win, but to meet Hayate. However she is capable of killing, as demonstrated when 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 shot her.

Hayate
Kasumi is Hayate's sister. Hayate was a very protective and understanding 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 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, their friendship turned to bitter rivalry when Ayane learnt about her true heritage. 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, when Ayane stops Kasumi from trying to save Helena during the fourth tournament, as the attempt would have likely would have ended in Kasumi's death.

Raidou
Raidou was Kasumi's uncle, the brother of Shiden; Kasumi's father. Kasumi defeated and killed Raidou in the first DOA tournament as revenge for Hayate’s then comatose and paraplegic state.

Ryu Hayabusa
Ryu is great friends with Kasumi, just like how he is with Hayate. Ryu promised Hayate that he would protect Kasumi at all costs. Even though she broke the Mugen Tenshin laws and become a runaway shinobi, Ryu still kept his promise and still watches over Kasumi as perhaps the only of her ninja contacts not burdened by the clan’s laws.

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. Even so she still tried to stop Helena from committing suicide, which would have resulted in her death had Ayane not stopped her, showing that she still cares for Helena.

DOA
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. 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.

Musical Themes
The below themes are played during matches against Kasumi:
 * 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 and, 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.

DOA: Dead or Alive
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 games. In the movie she is told that her brother died by Leon's hand however, shortly after she fights Leon and wins, she has serious doubts that Hayate could have died by Leon’s hand. In the end she got to go home with her brother despite being a runaway shinobi.

Outfit Usages
Although not a playable character Kasumi’s signature ninja outfit is an unlockable costume in Super Swing Golf and Super Swing Golf 2. In the game Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Director's Cut for the Xbox, Kasumi's original blue costume also appears as an alternative outfit for Mio Amakura, one of the game’s two protagonists.

Trivia

 * The kanji in Kasumi's name is Japanese for mist.
 * The reason Kasumi, Ayane and Kokoro 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 from western countries.
 * Kasumi appears as a combatant in the fan-made CG movie series Dead Fantasy where cast members of the DOA franchise fight cast members from the Final Fantasy franchise. She fights with her tanto and utilizes her Tenjinmon style and ninpo abilities to battle the Final Fantasy cast.
 * Kasumi's favorite color is Milky Pink.
 * Kasumi's favorite food are strawberries.
 * Kasumi was the winner of the first DOA tournament.
 * Kasumi has never been defeated in the Dead or Alive tournaments. She won the first tournament, left the second after finding Hayate, left the third after her meeting with Hayate, and eventually left the fourth again after she fought Alpha - 152, her clone.

Endings
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