Honoka

Honoka is a college student, and self-taught martial artist, who made her debut in the 2015 title Dead or Alive 5 Last Round.

She later becomes an important character in Dead or Alive 6 due to her connection to Raidou.

Early life
Full details of her early life are unknown, other than that her mother conceived her with the infamous ninja exile Raidou around five months prior to his raping Ayame, which also resulted in the conception of her half-sister Ayane. She ended up being raised by her grandmother since her birth.

The Fifth Tournament
Honoka acted as a participant in the fifth tournament. She had gotten as far as the second match of the fifth division of the Asian qualifiers when her secret powers kicked in, releasing a burst of energy from her right hand that caused her opponent, Thomas Blake, to be knocked over, leaving both with minor injuries and interrupting the match. She was disqualified as a result, and Honoka herself was left with no memory of the incident. It was this event in particular that piqued Victor Donovan's faction of DOATEC, MIST's interest in her.

Arrival at New Zack Island
Honoka won a raffle (although it is implied that Zack had been involved in her win, as she mentions that she recognized the guy who gave her the winning ticket to the island from somewhere), and although hesitant due to it meaning leaving her grandmother behind, she ultimately went to the island for two weeks.

The Sixth Tournament
Due to her similarities to Raidou, Honoka is wanted by MIST to complete Raidou's revival. Thus Helena orders Marie Rose to protect Honoka. Ayane, too, is assigned to keep an eye on her. After Marie Rose and Honoka meet, they are attacked by a pterodactly in Lost Paradise. Marie Rose dodges the attack, impressing Honoka enough for her to decide to have a friendly fight with her. Although Honoka was defeated, she is able to copy Marie Rose's dodging moves.

She later meets Eliot as he is reading his scroll from his master, Gen Fu. She was curious enough to try and read it but was stopped by Marie Rose for being too close to Eliot. She challenges him to a fight and uses his master's stance, but it is unknown who won the fight. She later encounters Leifang and after recognising her style as taiji quan, challenges her to a fight. Leifang refers to Honoka as "an airhead" but fights her due to her curiosity of Honoka. Honoka wins the fight.

Honoka later finds the runner up to the fifth tournament, Hitomi, about to train for the current tournament, and despite Marie Rose trying to stop her from butting in on her training, requests that they spar since she plans on entering the tournament as well. Hitomi accepts, although she makes clear she won't hold back. Hitomi wins the encounter, although Honoka is nonetheless satisfied and politely thanks her by bowing and vowing to train harder.

She later watches Bass and Tina fight and even attempts to mimic the latter. Upon Tina defeating her father, she notices Honoka and invites her up for a round, with Honoka eagerly accepting. Tina bests Honoka in battle and Honoka remarks on Tina's strength. Tina offers her another match in the future before continuing to fight her father. Unbeknownst to everyone, however, Ayane and Hayate observe this from the rafters, and are shocked at Honoka's ability to perfectly copy other fighters, which they've only seen once before.

Ayane subsequently ambushes Honoka and proceeds to fight her. Marie Rose scolds Ayane for hurting Honoka, but Ayane simply acknowledges that her abilities were indeed what she suspected. Afterwards, Honoka directed Marie Rose to a confectionary shop and implied that a ninja often frequented there before admitting she had been joking. Unbeknownst to her, however, said ninja, Kasumi, was present and had overheard them. Ayane later ambushes them again, intending to take Honoka into custody, and is forced to fight Marie Rose. Unfortunately, after Ayane defeated Marie Rose, both realise that Honoka has been abducted by Christie during their fight.

Resisting Christie, Honoka breaks her bonds and insists she be let free. After a hard fight, Christie,manages to subdue her. She is then placed in the machine next to Raidou. However, not even her powers are enough to revive Raidou, forcing NiCO to find Raidou's other offspring, Ayane. Christie then uses Honoka's confiscated cell-phone to send a text to Marie Rose (who tried calling her multiple times out of panic), knowing full well that Ayane is in the same vicinity.

After Ayane is captured trying to rescue Honoka, both girls are forced by NiCO to revive Raidou. Honoka is later about to be "disposed of" by NiCO with the help of Phase 4 clones, but Hayate manage to rescue her, while Kasumi is forced to fight a brainwashed Ayane. Honoka, according to Hayate, ultimately survives the ordeal, although with severe enough injuries that she is left unconscious.undefinedShe is then left with Marie Rose and Bayman, the latter vowing to watch over the two while the three ninjas deal with Raidou. Honoka is still unconscious and carried out by Bayman when Helena arrives at the facility.

Arrival at the Venus Islands
Sometime later, Honoka won another vacation prize in what was presumably another shopping raffle she participated in when helping her grandma with her groceries. She then pondered upon her luck before deciding she might as well enjoy her vacation to the fullest, although not without feeling slightly guilty for having fun. She eventually met the owner of the island after an accident aboard an inflatable orca on the beach, when the owner helped retrieve her swimwear. She then became his partner in terms of helping with the local Venus Festival as a way to repay him, citing that she has had prior experience with both manning food stands as well as setting up festivals (the latter due to local Japanese festivals).

Appearance

 * See also: Honoka's costumes

Owing to her status as a Japanese schoolgirl, her default outfit consists of a school uniform including a blazer, as well as a glove that has a winking skull and crossbones logo on the back of the hand.

She has red eyes, similar to her half-sister, and somewhat tanned skin, along with shoulder length salmon pink hair that is tied into a ponytail on the side using a ball with the same winking skull and crossbones motif as her glove, or some variation thereof, save for certain DLC costumes like Last Getaway and New Challengers outfit, which use a flower instead. Honoka currently possesses the largest bust out of all the female characters in the series, a direct contrast to her friend and rival, Marie Rose who possesses the smallest bust, which was even the subject of a pun for their Japanese tag team intro. Her bust size had been hinted at in Famitsu prior to her official announcement, where it mentioned that the new girl had "the biggest." She also has a more curvaceous and voluptuous figure than most of the other younger girls, having very curvy hips, and short but rather shapely legs (in fact, the only one to have an overall more voluptuous figure than Honoka is Mai Shiranui; if one counts guest characters). She is also one of the shortest fighters, in the series (with only NiCO and Marie Rose being shorter than her).

Besides her swimwear, she dresses relatively modestly, which could be due to her innocent nature and grandmother's influence. Some of her outfits also contain a cow motif, such as a cow face print on a t-shirt with "milk" written under it, as well as clothes with a cow marking-print and an attached stuffed cow. In Xtreme 3, she is able to wear her hair fully down, and in Last Round, she wears Hitomi's bob cut in pink on certain collaboration DLC such as her Schoolgirl Strikers and Arc Systems DLC with a white hair band in the former.

Personality
Having been raised all her life by her gentle and loving grandmother, she is, in contrast to her father and half-sister, a sweet, easygoing kind of girl, but when she sees a fight, she cannot contain her excitement or the mysterious power surging within her. Honoka has a strange knack for instantly learning any fighting move she sees. She has kept this power hush-hush, but has been itching to test it out in secret.

Her victory quotes indicate she doesn't even know the origin of her powers and seeks to find out about it. She also gets apologetic and offers to help her opponent up after defeating them, implying that while she does want to test her powers out, she cares for others' well-being and doesn't want to injure people. She believes in helping others, and especially in that doing so nets a reward. However, she isn't above lightly teasing her friends, such as Marie Rose. She also loves to eat, especially during festivals, and has a tendency to overeat during those times.

Honoka is depicted as having a very child-like demeanor (although not to the same extent as Marie Rose). She seems to be quite naive and oblivious, irritating other characters at times with her lack of perception. During the sixth tournament, Leifang remarks outright that she thinks Honoka is an airhead. She also has a habit of forgetting people she has met before, such as Ayane and Zack. She talks to animals as if they are people, greeting a dolphin on New Zack Island as "Mr. Dolphin" and proceeding to bow to it while asking if they'll hang out for a couple of weeks. She also often talks to her stuffed animal Mister Moo (Momo-chan in the Japanese version) as if it is alive, and in Xtreme Venus Vacation has referred to the doll as her "best friend", even sleeping with it when she's away from her grandma. In Warriors All Stars, she is seen to be quite upset that she doesn't have Mister Moo along with her. Lastly, while proficient with learning various fighting styles, she is not quite as good regarding academics by her own admission. Once, she even requested that Marie Rose tutor her in a subject due to failing a test. She seems to have some awareness of her oblivious nature, as she thanked Misaki for her role in helping her stay on track for the first covergirl event, citing her own airheaded nature as why she couldn't have done it without Misaki's help.

Etymology and Concept
It is unknown what is the official kanji used to write Honoka's name. The name itself translates to "faint."

According to Tom Lee around the time of Honoka's debut in Last Round, Honoka was created to fulfill the Japanese audiences' desires for more of the girls (while the other "newcomer" to appear in the game, Raidou, was focused more on the Western audiences). Dead or Alive 6 producer and director Yohei Shimbori stated in an interview relating to the game that Honoka was derived largely from anime tropes, in particular having a childish face yet having a large bust.

Marie Rose
Honoka is friends with Marie Rose and they share a full Tag Battle partnership. In Xtreme Venus Vacation, they seem to get along well, even napping together during a sleepover. Interestingly, Honoka is one of the few people who Marie Rose doesn't object to treating her like a child. They first meet during the sixth tournament, after Helena orders Marie Rose to watch over Honoka, suspecting that MIST might try and use the powers Honoka possesses for worse ends. During her travels with Honoka, Marie Rose doesn't leave her side and both form a strong bond. Marie Rose cares very deeply for Honoka, although Honoka is mostly oblivious to her company. She does nonetheless value her as a friend, as when captured by Christie, she worked up the courage to fight her way out, citing that Marie Rose needed her.

Raidou
Honoka shares a mysterious connection with Raidou. Both have the ability to copy moves from other fighters merely from sight. They also both have a mysterious red misty energy. She seemingly recognized him in their tag team victory pose, but didn't know from where. Before a tag fight, however, she says that she's "kinda scared" while conveying body language that indicated she was uncomfortable.

In Dead or Alive 6 it is revealed that Honoka is indeed Raidou's daughter, and she is targeted by MIST to aid in an experiment to revive him.

Ayane
In Dead or Alive 6, Ayane secretly observes Honoka and becomes suspicious of her powers. She then ambushed Honoka and tested her abilities. Although Ayane won, she nonetheless became certain that Honoka had Raidou's powers. She later attempted to stop Honoka, but she unwittingly ended up getting her captured by MIST while distracted with fighting Marie Rose. NiCO later revealed that Ayane and Honoka are half-sisters, thus the reason for using them for Raidou's resurrection. It's safe to say that Ayane cares for her newly found sister as she reaches out for her before yelling out Raidou's name.

Kasumi


While Kasumi and Honoka don‘t have many noteworthy interactions in the main series, they do interact in the crossover ''Warriors All Stars. ''According to Honoka, she’s been a big fan of Kasumi ever since she won the first DOA tournament. Honoka describes Kasumi as “cool and collected”. Kasumi is flattered by her praise and thanks her. Overall Honoka and Kasumi exhibit a friendly relationship. It’s not clear if this interaction is considered canon due to Warriors All Stars being a crossover spin-off. However, it's implied that she was at least familiar with Kasumi's existence in Dead or Alive 6 due to her jokingly mentioning to Marie Rose that a ninja often frequented a confectionary shop for its strawberry mille-feuilles.

In Dead Or Alive 6 after defeating a brainwashed Ayane, Hayate carries over Honoka, who is unresponsive. Kasumi expresses worry over both Honoka and Ayane until Hayate notes that they are simply unconscious. Due to the revelation of Honoka being the daughter of Raidou, this would make her Kasumi’s paternal cousin. However, neither are likely to be aware of this as NiCO only tells Ayane about their familial relationship and Kasumi leaves after the defeat of the resurrected Raidou.

In Dead Or Alive Xtreme 3, the two are very close to each other at the very beginning of the vacation as both are bearing 3 musical notes to each other.

Honoka's grandmother
Honoka has been raised by her grandmother for most of her life, and often helps run errands for her such as grocery shopping. As such, she loves and cares about her very much, expressing some hesitance about going on a vacation to New Zack Island and leaving her grandmother, and also spending the vacation at times wondering how she's doing. In addition, she also briefly pondered what kind of souvenir she should pick up for her upon her return. In Warrior All Stars, Honoka is saddened and worried that she is away from her grandmother. In Xtreme Venus Vacation, when receiving a letter from her grandma, she also grew conflicted with whether to remain as the Owner's partner for the setup of the Venus Festival, or return home to see her grandma, though she was adamant that she resolve the issue on her own.

Momiji
It's unclear how and when they met, although Honoka is familiar with Momiji. The two of them can be partners in Dead Or Alive Xtreme 3. During the second New Year festivities at the Venus Islands, Honoka alongside Luna was hand-picked by Momiji to act as Mikos (shrine priestesses) for the event, including handing out fortunes, and as such were told to greet the newcomer, Nagisa.

Misaki
She is fairly friendly with Misaki, having worked with her to help set up the Venus Festival, and also helping Misaki get through a cover girl gravure shooting. Owing to their friendship, Nagisa when formally introduced to Honoka made sure to personally thank her for her kindness to her sister, with Honoka modestly rejecting the thanks. However, while she doesn't mind Misaki too much, she did once get very uncomfortable when Misaki behaved oddly toward her in the changing rooms while getting into their designated swimwear. In addition, Honoka was (albeit unintentionally) responsible for Misaki's idea for a pajama party when engaging in small talk.

Kokoro
Kokoro and Honoka, presumably having met on Zack Island, seem to get along pretty well, since she alongside Misaki worked with Kokoro regarding giving ideas on setting up the Venus Festival. She and Kokoro also worked together regarding a spa event that the Owner planned.

Nyotengu
She apparently had some respect for Nyotengu, viewing her as a good teacher, as she admitted to the Owner after the events of a Pajama Party. Likewise, she alongside Nyotengu and Misaki helped plan the Rivals Festival that the Owner proposed. They also helped out Fiona regarding dancing advice during the Dancing Party of Love that she helmed at the Owner's request. She also aided Nyotengu and Marie Rose in setting up for the first anniversary of the island.

Tina Armstrong
Honoka and Tina had a formal encounter while the latter was fighting her dad, Bass, at the Muscle, with Honoka watching and even trying to mimic Tina's fighting style. Tina, noticing this, then offered Honoka an opportunity to fight her, an offer that Honoka eagerly accepted. Honoka was ultimately defeated by Tina with enough force that Honoka acknowledged that Tina was very strong, with Tina politely thanking her and offering to let her have a rematch sometime in the future. It was this fight in particular that piqued Ayane and Hayate's interest in Honoka, specifically, her ability to copy fighting styles, an ability that was all too familiar to them. She also indicated that Tina as well as her dad Bass tied among her two favorite fighters due to their being professional wrestlers.

Bass Armstrong
Honoka presumably met Bass during the latter's match with Tina, with Bass being shocked that she used a particular wrestling move (implied to be one of his own), with Honoka admitting she saw it on TV. She also seemed to harbor some distaste towards a wrestler calling his opponent nasty names and smacking people with chairs, although it is unclear whether she herself was aware of Bass doing those things. She also indicated that Bass alongside his daughter Tina tied among her two favorite fighters due to their being professional wrestlers.

Zack
It is unclear whether Zack and Honoka have ever actually met each other or interacted, although Honoka was at the very least familiar with him, as she sometimes calls out his name during a tag match. She presumably met Zack later on when she got a raffle ticket from Zack at the shopping district in Japan to go to the island, although she admitted after arriving at the island that she recognized him from elsewhere, but couldn't put her finger on where exactly.

Luna
She and Luna got along fairly well, as they both acted as cheerleaders to Fiona's strength building via rock climbing, and also offered her advice on how to do it. Similarly, both also were handpicked by both Momiji and the Owner to act as Mikos for the second New Year's festivities, including fortune telling, although Luna in particular was implied to not understand the concept of Miko shrine maidens at all, while Honoka, although familiar with the practice, was inexperienced with it due to miko shrines not existing in the shopping district.

Fiona
Honoka alongside Nyotengu helped Fiona do the final touches of the dancing party. She also supplied some advice to Fiona about dance methods, albeit in a more flustered manner due to her being experienced with Bon Dances, yet only having second hand knowledge from school about folk dances. In addition, Honoka not only helped cheer Fiona on regarding rock climbing and building her strength for the festival, but also helped Fiona out by doing a demonstration on how to rock climb.

Hitomi
Honoka and Hitomi have a fairly friendly relationship. She seems to be genuinely impressed with Hitomi's training regimen, as when Luna mentioned that Hitomi had left earlier for training purposes, Honoka mentioned that Hitomi frequently goes to the countryside to fight bears as part of her training.

In Dead or Alive 6, Honoka fights Hitomi in a friendly fight, although she is defeated. Accepting the loss, she then leaves, although not before bidding farewell to "Eins" (one of the statues Hitomi was about to train with). Hitomi vows to see her at the tournament, though they unfortunately never get the chance to do so due to MIST abducting Honoka immediately prior to the tournament's start.

Nagisa
Honoka met Nagisa during the second New Year festivities, when the latter was sent to meet her and Luna by Momiji (as they had taken the role of Mikos for the festivities). However, Nagisa was at least familiar with Honoka via her sister Misaki, prompting her to thank Honoka for being hospitable to Misaki, with Honoka modestly stating that Misaki was a good friend. Honoka also offered to help Nagisa with the Miko elements together when she was uncertain about participating.

Gameplay

 * See also: Honoka's command lists

Honoka studies her favorite moves and fighting styles, and combines them into a unique style which she calls "Honoka Fu" (ほのか流, Honoka-ryū, lit. "Honoka style"). Since her build is that of an average teenage girl, her moves, while skilled, may not always pack the same punch as the fighter she learned them from. In her Hissatsu-no-Kamae (必殺の構え, lit. "Fighting Position of Annihilation") stance, however, she is imbued with an unbelievable strength and becomes capable of techniques she has never seen from any other fighter.

Stats
The following are Honoka's official stats as listed in the games.

Dead or Alive series

 * Dead or Alive 5 Last Round (playable, 2015)
 * Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 (playable, 2016)
 * Dead or Alive Xtreme: Venus Vacation (playable, 2017)
 * Dead or Alive 6 (playable, 2019)

Warriors All-Stars
Honoka is a playable character in Koei's hack-and-slash title, Warriors All-Stars, representing the Dead or Alive series alongside Ayane, Kasumi, and Marie Rose.

In an alternate world that relies on a miraculous spring to sustain itself. The King who could control the spring's powers suddenly perished, leaving the world in turmoil. The Queen told her daughter, Tamaki, to summon otherworldly heroes to save their land, but the attempted summoning malfunctioned and left them scattered in different areas. Eventually, other members of this royal family are deemed eligible for the throne, dividing all the heroes into three warring factions.

In the game, Honoka, along with Kasumi and Marie Rose, is a member of Setsuna's force.

Senran Kagura: Peach Beach Splash
Honoka appeared in Senran Kagura: Peach Beach Splash as one of the paid DLC characters released on March 30th, 2017 for the game, and will be one of the three representing Dead or Alive along with Marie Rose and Ayane (with the latter formerly appearing in Senran Kagura: Estival Versus).

Destiny Child
Honoka, alongside Marie Rose, are due for an appearance in the app game Destiny Child as part of a collaboration between that game and Xtreme Venus Vacation. Unlike Marie Rose, however, Honoka is not known to have a costume based on one of the characters in Destiny Child.

Fighting quotes

 * Dead or Alive 5 Last Round
 * Dead or Alive 6

Music themes
The following are the music themes used for Honoka throughout the series.

Voice actors
Her current voice actors are Ai Nonaka in the Japanese version and Kira Buckland in the English version. Owing to the character's demeanor, she is voiced by both voice actresses with a youthful, innocent, girlish, and gentle tone.

Gallery

 * See: Honoka gallery

Trivia

 * Some of the Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate concept artwork for Marie Rose had various similarities to Honoka, barring that she was blonde instead of pink-haired as well as having a noticeably smaller bust. This suggests that Honoka's overall design was reused from an unused concept for Marie Rose.
 * In her Japanese bio, it was mentioned under her hobbies that she enjoys partaking in onsens (Japanese bath houses/hot springs). This was localized outside Japan as simply being "taking hot baths" due to there not being a word in English that accurately translates the Japanese term "furo."
 * The cow-related apparel in several of Honoka's costumes, including her stuffed doll Mister Moo, are an unsubtle reference to her significantly large bust, owing to cows being well known for constantly producing milk.
 * On a similar note, when meeting the Owner while wearing her Aries swimwear, she refers to herself as Sheep Honoka to help the Owner get to sleep, and beforehand was also heard counting, which is a pun on both the Aries swimwear's obvious resemblance to a sheep and the mental exercise of going to sleep, counting sheep.
 * It seems Honoka knows some Dead or Alive characters such as Eliot, Zack, Tina, Bass, and Mila even though she doesn't have any intros, outros or tag throws with any of these characters in Last Round. Since her hobbies include watching pro-wrestling shows and martial arts matches, it's likely she heard of them from those sources.
 * In the Japanese version of Honoka and Marie Rose's tag team intro, Honoka asks if she could borrow Marie Rose's chest, acting as a pun on their radically different bust sizes and on a typical Japanese request for a sparring round derived from Sumo Wrestling, where it is believed that a wrestler's power lies in their chest due to their heart being located there. This was toned down in localization to Honoka directly requesting for a practice round, since the pun was untranslatable and inappropriate in the West.
 * Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 was released on Honoka's birthday (March 24th).
 * Honoka acted as the basis for Fukua's 21st color palette from Skullgirls.
 * When Honoka performs the moves of other fighters, she'll also mimick the sound they make.
 * Technically, Honoka has the second-biggest bust in the series after SPARTAN-458, although the latter's bust measurements probably refer to her when in her Mjolnir armor.
 * Although Honoka and Misaki are technically the same age, the former is older than the latter by a couple of months, which is implied by Honoka referring to the latter by "Misaki-Chan", as "chan" is a Japanese pronoun reserved for addressing those younger than the speaker.
 * According to the first episode of the First Cover Girls event, Honoka had previously acted as a support leader for a sports day event.
 * Similarly, she implied in her gift giving episode of the Xmas 2018 event that she frequently dressed up as Santa Claus in the Shopping District of Japan during Christmastime.
 * Based on several comments by her in the Main and Event episodes, she lives in one of Japan's Shopping Districts.
 * In Xtreme 3 and Xtreme Venus Vacation, Honoka is the one of only three girls who appeared in both games where her character intro scene is completely different in each game (in the former, Honoka simply plays on the beach and then stops to ponder about what to get for her grandma, while in the latter, she was seen riding an inflatable Orca in the middle of the ocean before falling into the water due to losing her balance and being implied to have lost her top from the fall into the water), the only other being Misaki and Leifang (the latter two being included in Dead or Alive Xtreme 3: Scarlet).
 * In Xtreme 3, Honoka is the only character in the game that has an ending where she is insider her bedroom instead of the beach like the rest of the girls.
 * Oddly enough, the TGS 2018 demo has Honoka referring to herself in the third person similar to Marie Rose, despite her not doing so in Dead or Alive Xtreme Venus Vacation. Likewise, the same demo has Marie Rose notably forgoing the same trait.
 * In Xtreme Venus Vacation, a chibi version of Honoka is used as the wait icon for transitional scenes, where she is seen bouncing on a volleyball with excitement.
 * Kasumi and Honoka's interactions with each other in Warriors All Stars implied that Raidou was Honoka's father, and thus Ayane her half-sister.
 * This is confirmed to be true in Dead or Alive 6, so Honoka is technically related to Kasumi, Hayate and Shiden as well, thus sort of making her a part of the Mugen Tenshin Clan as well due to her bloodline.
 * On a related note, Honoka's interactions with Ayane in the same game had Honoka, while mostly oblivious to the situation she's in, indicating that Ayane was akin to a big sister (with Ayane mentioning that she's glad Honoka's not her sister), and also has Honoka admitting she wants to fight alongside Ayane since she wouldn't want to have Ayane be in danger and not know of it, which not only foreshadowed Ayane and Honoka's blood relation, but also the fact that Ayane would end up captured by MIST while trying to rescue Honoka in Dead or Alive 6.
 * When first meeting Marie Rose in Dead or Alive 6 by literally bumping into her, her actions and remark to Marie were reminiscent of one of her victory poses in Last Round.
 * When Honoka lost to Tina in the Story, her action and remark is a reference to her losing pose in Last Round.
 * In the DOA6 trivia entry, "STOP!", Honoka despite being impressed by Brad Wong's creation of a bloody mary cocktail refused it because she alongside Marie Rose were underage and thus not legally allowed to drink alcohol. In Japan, the legal age for drinking alcohol is 20.