Hitomi

Hitomi (ヒトミ, Hitomi) is a high school student with a black-belt in karate from the Dead or Alive series, who debuted in Dead or Alive 3, replacing Ein as the regular karate martial artist in the character roster.

Hitomi has been practicing the art of karate under her father's tutelage since she was a child, and enters the Dead or Alive Tournaments either to prove her skills or to see Ein, a dear friend of hers.

Early Life
Hitomi was born in and grew up with her German father and Japanese mother, practicing her fighting skills by the teachings of her father since she was very young.

After the events of Dead or Alive, Hitomi found ‘Ein’ passed out in the, after he had been abandoned by Dead or Alive Tournament Executive Committee, after they had finished Project Epsilon. Hitomi took him home, and she and Ein studied karate, until Ein left to enter the second Dead or Alive Tournament to find out about his past, which he forgot due to Amnesia. During this tournament, Ein regained his memories, remembering that he was really Hayate, a shinobi leader, and returned home to the Mugen Tenshin village.



The Third Tournament
Hitomi entered the third tournament the following year, in order to test her skills against other martial artists and prove to her father that she was now a capable fighter, and an independent woman. While working on the Freedom Survivor as a waitress, she reunited with Ein and met Ayane. When Hitomi asked her if she was Kasumi, the ninja is angered and fought Hitomi. After the fight, Ayane is surprised that Hitomi's karate was equal to her ninjustu. Ein then finally told Hitomi that his real name was Hayate and that he and Ayane were ninjas, much to Hitomi's surprise. While on the ship with Ein, she met Jann Lee, who also shared a keen passion for martial arts, and the two shared some philosophies about the way of martial arts. However Hitomi got mad at him for being too hard on opponents after he had brutally defeated Lei Fang.

With Hitomi ranking third place in the tournament, her father let her leave the dojo, and she moved on with her new life as a independent adult.

The Fourth Tournament
When a sudden illness befell her father, the family's dojo went into despair and became afflicted with financial trouble. To help her father, Hitomi entered the fourth Dead or Alive Tournament in an attempt to win the cash prize. During the tournament, she faced and defeats Lei Fang after a dispute over a cabbage, and yet again faced Jann Lee, after he 'rescues' her from a T-Rex; she found it "cruel" of Jann to attack the dinosaur, despite its attempt to eat her.

In the DOATEC Tritower, Hitomi eventually encountered Hayate again, and she pleaded for him to come back with her to the dojo, admitting that she did not know what to do without him. Hayate told her that he couldn't because he was no longer Ein, and the fourth tournament was no tournament at all, but a war. He then asked her to spar for a warm-up, for old time's sake, which she happily accepted. After the fight, they told each other to take care and Hitomi ran down the stairs and passed Ayane with tears in her eyes.

After the tournament, Hitomi returned home, continuing to live her independent life.

Appearance
Also see: Hitomi's Outfit Catalogues

Although she has Japanese heritage from her mother, Hitomi has a more Western appearance than Eastern overall: she has bright blue eyes and shoulder-long brunette hair, which is styled with long side-bangs and a front fringe, normally pushed back with a pink headband. Throughout the series, her height and bust measurements have changed, through only by a couple of centimeters: In Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball, she's 161 cm tall with a 89 cm bust; in Dead or Alive 4, she's 160 cm tall with a 90 cm bust, and in Dead or Alive Xtreme 2, she's 158 cm tall with a 89 cm bust.

Her clothing also bears a western appearance, with most outfit consisting of mostly jeans, tank-tops and denim jackets, complete with protective fighter's gloves. A running detail on her jeans is that the back label always bear the initials of the game she's in; for example, in Dead or Alive 4, the label reads "DOA4". Hitomi also sometimes sports her own emblem, mostly printed on the front of her tank-top or the back of her jacket. The emblem, in its simplest form, is the shape of an eagle with fanned-out wings. More detailed versions of the emblem show the eagle in greater style, holding a banner in its talons with Hitomi's name upon it. Phrases like "Thanks for the fight" and "My fists are on fire" may also be printed on it.

Personality
Hitomi is a very friendly, energetic girl but is also a hard-working martial artist, through-and-through. Her victories have come as a result of a grueling, life-long training regimen as well as a complete commitment to her studies and her art. Not only has Hitomi practiced her techniques, she has studied them, coming to understand the deeper principles behind karate as well as of the art itself.

She is very much an honorable competitor and always fights fairly in a match, to do otherwise would bring shame to her name, her martial art, and her father's dojo. Often after winning, she will compliment her opponent rather than shame them like other fighters in the series. She is also fair in her dealings with others treating everybody equally and with the respect that they deserve.

Despite her Japanese name & study in Karate, it appears that Hitomi is acclimated more into the German lifestyle than that of the Japanese: she lives in Germany, sports western attire, and has a relatively close, more visible relationship with her German father.

Etymology
The kanji used to spell Hitomi's name (瞳) means "Pupil of the eye".

Unlike other Dead or Alive girls with Japanese names, Hitomi's name is written in katakana instead of hiragana. Most likely because her nationality is German instead of Japanese.

Ein/Hayate
Hitomi found Hayate in the Black Forest in Germany. After being used for the Epsilon Project, he didn't remember anything so she brought him back to the dojo and named him "Ein". The two of them trained together under her father, but Ein soon departed for the second Dead or Alive tournament, where he recovered from his amnesia. After this, Ein remembered who he was and left for the Mugen Tenshin Ninja Clan.

Despite Hayate moving on with the Mugen Tenshin, and hardly ever seeing her, he and Hitomi still maintained a close friendship; she is the only non-ninja person to have any type of relationship with him. During the third and fourth Dead or Alive Tournaments, Hitomi tried to convince Hayate to go back to Germany with her, but he tells her he cannot return with her having to settle this pleading by challenging her to a fight.

Hayate trusts Hitomi so much to the point that he admits that he is a ninja, which is an important secret to keep. Although she hates to let him go, Hitomi accepts this and allows him to continue his life as a ninja.

Lei Fang
During the fourth Dead or Alive Tournament, Hitomi and Lei Fang seem to bear slight animosity towards one another, however this might just be a friendly rivalry between martial artists.

During the vacations on Zack Island, the two are seen to be very good friends, with Hitomi allowing Lei Fang to feed her strawberries and the two even playfully sitting side by side, sharing an ice cream.

Jann Lee
In the third Dead or Alive Tournament, Hitomi meets Jann early on, agreeing that true power comes from the mind, despite their different martial arts. They meet again in Dead or Alive 4, where Jann saves Hitomi from an enraged T-Rex, to her disdain. They seem to respect each others training in the martial arts, seeing one another as a worthy challenge.

Tina Armstrong
Hitomi seems to be friends with Tina Armstrong as she was seen in Tina's story mode in Dead or Alive 3, where Tina discussed her acting career to her. However, the two are not seen together in any other cut-scenes.

Ayane
In Dead or Alive: Dimensions, Ayane challenges Hitomi the cause being is that Hitomi thought Ayane was Kasumi. At the end of the fight Ayane finds out Hitomi's karate is as powerful as Ayane's ninjutsu.

Dead or Alive
Hitomi can be considered the successor to Ein, in terms of fighting technique and statistics. However, Hitomi is slightly faster, compared to Ein's strikes being somewhat more powerful than hers. She has the strongest punch techniques amongst all the females characters in game.

Hitomi's fighting style relies on quick, medium-damage strikes, and her recovery time frame is excellent. Her tell-tale "wind-up" shared with Ein, however, is a popular counter-attack weakness for her, and the majority of her attacks lack good mix-up's, which means that most high-to-mid holds are effective against her. Her "interruption attacks" however (such as the Tsubauchi) are competent in keeping the opponent off-guard, as well as making Hitomi preferable for aggressive players.

Dead or Alive Xtreme
Being such a friendly, loving character, Hitomi is willing to partner with anyone, and vice versa, as no one has any notable qualms against her.

In beach volleyball, Hitomi lacks speed, has little technique, and is not very good at jumping. On the other hand, she has good defense, and is very powerful like Tina. Her spikes, or sometimes even normal hits can knock an opponent down; her counters are impressive, and her excellent recovery time combined with quick strikes can quickly incapacitate an unassuming opponent.

She would make a good team with one of the more weaker, but faster girls playing defense for her, such as Lei Fang, Ayane, or Kasumi. If the player wants a very powerful team having Hitomi and Tina together would be ideal to continuously knock down the opponent, but neither of them are very fast, so it might be a bit hard for them to catch a ball in time that went a far way.

Dead or Alive Series

 * Dead or Alive 3 (2001 - 2002)
 * Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball (2003)
 * Dead or Alive Ultimate (Unlockable character, 2004 - 2005)
 * 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 (TBA)

Dead or Alive 5
Hitomi has been confirmed to be a playable character in Dead or Alive 5, which is set to be released in 2012. She was made avaliable as a playable character in a demo shown at a press event in San Fransisco on Demember 7th, 2011, along with Ayane, Hayate, and Ryu. She was also present in promotional screenshots and poster artwork shown at the event.

DOA: Dead or Alive
Hitomi (played by Hung Lin) is also featured in the movie, DOA: Dead or Alive. Though not explicitly stated, the scoreboard after four fights shows that Hitomi has been knocked out of the tournament; the other three losers are explicitly shown as Jann Lee, Brad Wong and Eliot, making Hitomi the yellow-clothed male who Helena Douglas defeated.

However, later on you can also see a female fighter in the lobby that appears to be a brunette headed girl with a pink headband and a jean jacket, which is Hitomi's primary costume in the games. Aside from the cameo, Hitomi's sweet and bubbly personality was given to Helena's character in the film.

Bijin Tokei
From April 1st to April 30th, 2010, to celebrate the release of Dead or Alive Paradise, Hitomi was featured as a placard girl on Bijin Tokei; an iPhone digital clock application. She appeared at random times at least 10 times throughout the day, holding a placard with the current time written upon it.

Dead Fantasy
Also see: Hitomi on Dead Fantasy Wiki

Hitomi appears as a combatant in the fan-made CG movie series Dead Fantasy, where cast members of the Dead or Alive series fight cast members from the Final Fantasy franchise.

She's (currently) the only person in the series that didn't enter the battle with any sort of supernatural powers and magic spells, but has incredible strength to make up for it. However, in the third episode, she stole most, if not all, of Tifa Lockhart's Materia and defeated her, giving her some magic for the time being. In the movies, Hitomi has suspicious and unexplained connections with Helena and Hayate.

Hitomi also features in a related music video, Dead Fantasy - Gee, dancing with other girls from Dead Fantasy to the song  by, dressed in her Crux outfit from Dead or Alive Xtreme 2.

Musical Themes

 * It's To Show - Dead or Alive 3 and Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate
 * Start in Life - Dead or Alive 3 Ending Theme
 * Turn On The Lights - Dead or Alive 4 and Dead or Alive: Dimensions
 * Round The Coaster - Dead or Alive 4 Ending Theme

Trivia

 * Hitomi and Kasumi share similar motives: both enter the tournaments to find Ein or Hayate respectively, in order to help them achieve their goals.
 * Hitomi was the first cover girl to replace Kasumi - with the release of Dead or Alive 3, the advertisements were noticeably more focused on Hitomi rather than Kasumi.
 * Hitomi was ranked #4 in TeamXbox's "Top Ten Xbox Babes" in 2004; one place behind Kasumi. She was also featured in IGN's "Videogame Babe of the Day" series in 2006.