Raidou

Raidou (Kanji: 雷道, Katakana: ライドウ, Rōmaji: Raidō) is an exiled shinobi from the Mugen Tenshin Ninja Clan, and one of the main antagonists of the Dead or Alive series. Raidou is the final boss of the first Dead or Alive. He is the older brother of Shiden and uncle to Hayate and Kasumi.

A power-hungry warrior, he raped Shiden's wife, Ayame, which ended with her giving birth to Ayane, making the latter his daughter. He was killed by Kasumi during the first Dead or Alive Tournament in revenge for Hayate's supposed death. After Raidou's death, Donovan recovered his corpse and revived him as a cyborg in Dead or Alive 5 Last Round.

Early Life
Raidou was born as the eldest son to the main family of the Mugen Tenshin Ninja Clan. He was praised at one time for his natural talent for the arts of the Tenjinmon style of Mugen Tenshin Ninjutsu. His father, Burai, was the 16th Master Ninja of the clan at the time.

As Raidou's training intensified, Burai became uneasy with his eldest child. While Raidou's younger brother Shiden took the clan's principles as his own, Raidou's fighting style was only suited to murder his opponent. As the years went by into adulthood, Raidou critically injured every sparring partner he had with no remorse or restraint. Some of them wound up dead, causing Burai to regret ever teaching him the highest skills of the Tenjinmon's teachings. Sensing a great darkness within Raidou, he feared that the path Raidou walked would lead the clan to its destruction. So he gave the title of Chief Ninja to Shiden and taught him the technique given once a generation from one clan chief to the next.

Raidou felt betrayed by his father, and never spoke to him for a time. When Burai came to see him, Raidou let out a sinister laugh as his lips curled into a deformed smile. Crimson lightning made from his own evil Ki rode up and down his body as he left the Tenjinmon house. He hid his presence from the villagers as he departed, no longer a human to the clan, but a demon.

The Birth of a Demon and Expulsion
Some time along the way, Raidou developed his uncanny ability to copy the skills and techniques of every warrior he had encountered. With it, he traveled and "stole" various techniques from various fighters, soon surpassing the rest of his clan in strength. Raidou always had a lustful eye for Ayame, so while Shiden was away, Raidou easily overpowered Ayame and raped her. This vicious crime ended in the birth of Ayane, and Raidou being exiled from the clan.

The "Murder" of Hayate
About sixteen years later, Raidou returned to the village once more, launching an assault in order to gain the clan's special technique: the Torn Sky Blast. Easily overpowering Ayane and Hayate at normal hand-to-hand combat, Hayate tried to use the Torn Sky Blast against him, despite Ayane's pleas against it. Raidou succeeded in copying the technique from Hayate, and after a short "energy duel", Raidou overpowered Hayate with it, making him crash into a tree and crippling his spine, making him slip into a coma.

Dead or Alive
One month after injuring Hayate and gaining the Torn Sky Blast, Raidou continued to travel the world, defeating fighters and stealing techniques; it is not known if he offically entered the Dead or Alive Tournament, but he could have in order to steal techniques from the greatest fighters in the world.

Eventually, he was found by Kasumi, who had been looking for the person who crippled her brother, and was seemingly killed by her with the help of Ryu Hayabusa, where he was hit by the Torn Sky Blast and impacted explosive containers.

Dead or Alive 5
Following an explosion after his defeat at the hands of Kasumi, what was left of his body was soon found by Victor Donovan. He was reassembled and outfitted with cybernetic parts. The process of mechanization erased most of Raidou's memories however, leaving only his desire for power and destruction, and most of all, revenge against Mugen Tenshin and other ninja clan who sided with his former clan, such as Hayabusa clan.

Appearance
Raidou is a broad, well-built man with defined muscles, a squared jaw, and tanned skin. His hair has grayed, and his hairline is receding due to old age, but it's long enough to be pulled back into a ponytail. He also possesses facial hair shaped into sideburns, meeting into a moustache, leaving the chin bare. His clothing tends to be frayed and torn, possibly due to damage in fights or from living in rough conditions.

Despite being human, Raidou has had a more demonic appearance at times, as seen in Dead or Alive and Dead or Alive: Dimensions: his skin and hair become much darker, and his eyes gain a red glow. In Dimensions, he also becomes clouded in red energy. It's unclear why this transformation occurrs, but it may be due to the uncontrollable amount of power he gains, turning him into an inhuman creature. It is also possible that his craving for power was so immense that he was willing to subject himself to the DOATEC scientist, Victor Donovan's Superhuman experimentation.

After being turned into a cyborg by Donovan, Raidou's right eye and arm are now completely robotic, the eye exuding a crimson glow. He has lost a significant portion of his hair due to having the eye grafted onto his face. Due to being dead for two years, his skin has decayed into a sickly shade of grey, and his left eye no longer has a pupil, giving him the likeness of a zombie and some of the undead creature that has no pupil like the zombies.

Personality
Raidou has an insatiable lust for power, as well as the overwhelming desire to control everything. He wants to be able to control all forms of martial arts techniques; be they physical, mental, or mystical. His desire is to be the strongest fighter, thus being able to dominate anyone and everyone, and remake the concept of martial arts into his own image. In addition to his desire for control, Raidou is obsessed with finding and gathering techniques of mystical power and adding them to his repertoire. This includes a wide variety of ninja techniques as well as other martial arts.

Finally, Raidou's desire for power and his megalomania have made him into a brutal sadist. He enjoys manipulating others and likes the idea of being able to control a person's every move. By crushing the spirit and will of those weaker than himself, his mastery is confirmed.

Despite having lost all of his memories due to Donovan reviving him as a cyborg, Raidou's insatiable lust for power, death and revenge remains intact.

Etymology
Raidou's name in kanji (雷道), means "Thunder Road."

Shiden
Raidou and Shiden were always competing with each other during the reign of their father Burai, the 16th Master of the Mugen Tenshin Ninja Clan. Because of his unstable rage, he was seen as unfit to lead the clan, the honor instead going to Shiden, and Raidou has hated his brother ever since.

Ayame
Raidou always had a lustful eye on Ayame, Shiden's wife. He wanted to make her his, but she loved Shiden and that infuriated him further. So he caught her off guard during a stormy night and raped her. This atrocity lead to his disownment, and Ayame has hated Raidou for his crimes against her ever since.

Ayane
Biologically, they are father and daughter, with Raidou being aware of this. But Raidou has no qualms about hurting Ayane in any way, although in the first game if he defeats her, he does ask if she hated him. To Ayane, Raidou is a disgrace to her, their clan, and all she stands for, even going so far as to infer when told by Raidou about their relationship that he's been dead a long time ago to her. When he left Hayate in a half-dead state, she swore vengeance on him.

Bass Armstrong
At an unknown point during his travels, Raidou had encountered Bass Armstrong, and proceeded to copy his ability.

Hayate
Hayate was the next heir to the Mugen Tenshin leadership, and Raidou knew how much his brother loved his nephew. To him, this was the perfect chance to not only make Shiden suffer but to steal the ultimate secret art of the clan, which is passed from one master to the next. So he attacked him during a stormy night. Seeing him as weak and unfit to be the Master, Raidou challenged him and beat him easily, leaving the Wind Ninja comatose.

Kasumi
Raidou hates all of Shiden's offspring, so he did everything he could in the tournament to kill her. But thanks to help from the Dragon Ninja, Ryu Hayabusa, Kasumi, filled with anger and rage over what Raidou did to Hayate, killed him using the very Ninpo he stole from their clan.

Ryu Hayabusa
Because Ryu Hayabusa helped Kasumi in her fight against Raidou, he despises the shinobi and much like Kasumi he is considered an obstacle by Raidou to achieve his goals.

Fame Douglas
During the events of the first Dead or Alive Combat Championship Tournament, Raidou served as a bodyguard for Fame Douglas. This professional relationship is further shown when Raidou sensed Bayman's murderous intent, and stepped in front of Fame to keep him safe. He knows nothing of Raidou's attack on the Mugen Tenshin Ninja Village, so it can be implied that Raidou acted on his own.

Victor Donovan
After Raidou's demise at Kasumi's hands in the first tournament aftermath, Donovan found Raidou's body and worked for two years in order to bring Raidou back to life. Donovan succeeded in doing so by transforming Raidou into a powerfull ninja cyborg, now Raidou is a secret agent working for Donovan as debt for resurrecting him.

Honoka
Although their exact connection and relationship is unclear, Raidou does occasionally act as a tag partner to Honoka. He may have encountered Honoka in the past, as the victory quote for Honoka when successfully conducting a tag battle has her commenting that Raidou seemed familiar. Before a Tag Battle, however, Honoka admits that she's "kinda scared..." with her body language conveying discomfort, implying that her fighting alongside Raidou was out of reluctance.

Gameplay

 * See also: Raidou's Command Lists

Raidou's fighting style is similar to the  character Dural, in that his command list consists of copied attacks from other characters; even the damage percentage is identical.

This repertoire of attacks makes Raidou a very effective character, with attacks such as the Triple Strike (Kasumi), the Zansui (Gen Fu), and the Ti Kau Tron (Zack). Additionally, the command list is simplistic, and his execution time is above-average. However, Raidou's weakness is that of the other Dead or Alive ninjas; he does not excel in any one area of gameplay.

Raidou is capable of using the Torn Sky Blast in gameplay in Dead or Alive Dimensions, being one of three characters with access to a projectile. His throws and offensive holds are very damaging, but his most powerful ones are extremely tricky to pull off, with his unbreakable multi-part throw being on par with Hayate's Raijin from DOA4 and his two part offensive hold doing over 100 points of damage and being similarly difficult.

Unlocking Raidou
Raidou is an unlockable character in all versions of Dead or Alive and Dead or Alive: Dimensions. To unlock him:
 * Sega Saturn and Dead or Alive 1 Ultimate: Complete Arcade Mode with all the characters with all the default settings.
 * PlayStation: Complete Tournament Mode with all the characters with all the default settings.
 * Dead or Alive++: Complete Tournament mode with Kasumi and enter "SIAWASE?" at the name entry screen.
 * Dead or Alive: Dimensions: Complete Tag Challenge Mission 20.

Dead or Alive Series

 * Dead or Alive (Arcade) (Non-Playable, 1996)
 * Dead or Alive (Sega Saturn) (Unlockable, 1997)
 * Dead or Alive (PlayStation) (Unlockable, 1998)
 * Dead or Alive++ (Unlockable, 1998)
 * Dead or Alive 1 Ultimate (Unlockable, 2004 - 2005)
 * Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate (Non-Playable, 2004 - 2005)
 * Dead or Alive: Dimensions (Playable, 2011)
 * Dead or Alive 5 Last Round (Playable, 2015)

Also Known As

 * The Regeneration of Brutality - Dead or Alive 5 Last Round

Fighter Quotes

 * Dead or Alive
 * Dead or Alive 1 Ultimate
 * Dead or Alive: Dimensions
 * Dead or Alive 5 Last Round

Musical Themes

 * Dead or Alive (arcade version) - Dead or Alive (1996)
 * Dead or Alive - Dead or Alive (1997-98) and Dead or Alive: Dimensions
 * Dead or Alive (++ Remix) - Dead or Alive ++
 * Ketsui no Toki - Dead or Alive: Dimensions (Chronicle Mode)
 * Dead or Alive Reboot - Dead or Alive 5 Last Round

Trivia

 * Team Ninja was originally planning to call him Hong Dee (フォンディー) and he had to be a Tai Chi practitioner.
 * In a first Dead or Alive concept art showing Gen Fu playing shogi with Kasumi and Raidou, it shows Raidou with white sclera and black pupils instead of his normal red, glowing sclera.
 * Raidou has had differing ages, ranging between 50 and 48 years in DOA1, and then being 46 in DOAD, before being labeled as secret in DOA5.
 * Fitting to his name, a few of his moves incorporate electricity.