Kasumi

Kasumi is a character that debuted in Dead or Alive. She is a ninja from the Mugen Tenshin clan who became a runaway ninja after she entered the first Dead or Alive tournament. She is the sister of Hayate and half sister of Ayane.

Kasumi is one of the first 3 females that appeared in the series next to Lei Fang and Tina. Since then, Kasumi seems to be the unofficial flagship main protagonist of the series. Kasumi has been one of the most popular characters in the Dead or Alive series. She was able to make a few appearances in other games like Monster Ranch and her main blue ninja outfit was use by other characters like Mio from Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly. Kasumi also recently appeared in Monty Oum's fanmade video, Dead Fantasy. Also, she is character in the live action film DOA: Dead or Alive. Kasumi's biggest trademarks are the sakura petals, which appear everywhere she teleports, her knife, and her blue ninja outfit.

Kasumi is also the winner of 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. Kasumi is the "princess" of the Mugen Tenshin village. When she was a child, Kasumi was friends with Ayane, unaware of the fact they are sisters. It seems that people treated Kasumi as a princess and treated Ayane like dirt. Throughout the years, Kasumi and Hayate were training to become ninjas of the Tenshin village. When Ayane changed clans to the Hajin Mon clan, Kasumi and Ayane never saw each other again.

A few years later, Raidou had returned to retrieve the Torn Sky Blast from Hayate. It was unknown where Kasumi was during that event; however after Raidou's rampage, Kasumi was left taking care of Hayate, but she felt that she needed to discover the truth and find out who injured Hayate. On the night when Kasumi was chosen to become the 18th master, Kasumi left the village to find Raidou and defeat him for what he did to Hayate. Because of that, Kasumi broke the code of the Mugen Tenshin and is now a traitor to the village. Genra sent Ayane to kill Kasumi.

Dead or Alive
Kasumi, also known as "the Kunoichi of Destiny", is a female ninja skilled in the Mugen Tenshin Style of Ninjutsu. She was to become the 18th Master of the Mugen Tenshin Ninja Clan, but ran away in order to enter the Dead or Alive tournament. There, she hoped to defeat Raidou, the man responsible for crippling her brother Hayate. By leaving the secretive ninja clan, she became a nukenin (runaway shinobi). This means that she must live on the run from her former comrades every day as they seek 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), she was captured by DOATEC and a clone of her was created. However, she managed to escape (defeating her clone in the process) and made an attempt to return to her village, but she wasn't allowed to, due to the fact that dishonored ninja can never rejoin their respective clan.

In her story mode, Kasumi fights her clone and defeats it. She then proceed on and met Hayabusa who was trying to stop her from moving on in through the tournament. However, Kasumi defeats Hayabusa and goes on. She then has to face Ayane, who seems to be jealous of Kasumi as she is, as she said in Dead or Alive Ultimate, "a princess". She defeats Ayane and tells her that she can't be defeated. Kasumi finally finds Hayate, but since he lossed his memories, he as Ein fights Kasumi. She defeats Ein but he's a little unconcious. All of a sudden, the Tengu appears and Kasumi goes on to fight him. She defeats the Tengu and Hayate was able to get his memories back. Kasumi and Hayate go back home to Mugen Tenshin village. Kasumi doesn't have an ending after defeating Tengu until the end of the credits. It shows a small flower and Kasumi's voice says, "Home. I want to go home".

Dead or Alive 3
Now labeled as a "traitor" to her village, Kasumi has been pursued incessantly by assassins from her clan; not a day passes without an attempt on her life. Despite this, Kasumi still wishes to see her brother and enters the third tournament to meet him one last time.

Kasumi doesn't play a big role in the game. She's just like the other fighters in that she doesn't have a special introduction before the fight against Genra unlike Ayane, Hayate, and Hayabusa. Despite that, in Kasumi's story mode she was wandering in the woods while Ayane appeared out of no where and fought her. This is ironic because usually Ayane will keep Kasumi away from Hayate. Also she tells Kasumi that she will fight Genra and cannot let her "have this one". This possibly indicates that Kasumi defeated Raidou, Ayane's biological father, whom Ayane should of defeated. Kasumi then meets Hayate. Disappointed about the fact that Kasumi ran away from the village, Hayate knows that he must kill her. Since Hayate couldn't kill his only sister, he decided that he doesn't want to see Kasumi anymore. Kasumi fights Hayate and the two go their separate ways.

In her ending, Kasumi reminisced how she nearly survived the horde of ninjas that were sent by Hayate to kill her. This proves that Kasumi can never be defeated.

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) were stuck for two weeks on the tropical island.

Dead or Alive 4


Kasumi again seeks to find 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 their half-sister Ayane interrupts them. She attacks Kasumi, but Kasumi defeats her.

Kasumi pursues Hayate to the DOATEC Tritower. There she is confronted by Helena who has taken control of DOATEC. Helena says she wants nothing to do with the ninja fighters (this includes Ryu, Ayane, and Hayate) and mentions that a clone of Kasumi - codenamed ALPHA-152 - is about to become active. Kasumi fights her way pass Helena and then heads down to the lab to destroy ALPHA-152, who resembles Kasumi in form and fighting style, but seems to be made up of pure energy. 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. Kasumi is last seen watching Helena entering the blazing helipad. As Kasumi tries to stop her, Ayane prevents her, who by doing that saves Kasumi's life as the building starts exploding mere seconds later. This could possibly mean that their rivalry could be over.

Dead Or Alive Xtreme 2


Kasumi is a runaway Ninja who abandonded her position as head of the Mugen Tenshin clan to avenge her brother, Hayate. She came to New Zack Island upon hearing that her brother was there, even though she wondered what he was doing on a tropical island.

Stats
Kasumi is not the most powerful character in the game, but she does have great techniques that can be helpful most activities like volleyball and jet skiing, and she's a great jumper, making her useful for pool hopping.
 * Power - 1/5
 * Technique - 5/5
 * Defense - 3/5
 * Jump - 5/5
 * Speed - 3/5

Hayate
Kasumi is Hayate's little sister. Hayate was very protective brother to Kasumi and both got close to eachother very well. After Hayate was injured by Raidou, Kasumi went and got revenge on Raidou for what he did to Hayate. Although they had a close bond, Hayate is the leader of the Mugen Tenshin clan and when he discovered that Kasumi is a runaway ninja, he began to ignore her and sent out ninjas to kill her as she broke the code of the shinobi. But even if they no longer see eachother, they are siblings no matter what.

Ayane
Ayane is Kasumi's half sister after Ayame was raped by Raidou. Kasumi and Ayane had a close relationship as friends when they were kids. However, after Ayane joined the Hajinmon clan, the two never seen eachother for years. Even though they were friends, Ayane was jealous of Kasumi because she was treated like dirt while Kasumi was treated as a princess. After Kasumi left the village, Ayane was sent to kill her. Not only she was killing her for leaving the village, but because she was jealous. It appears that their rivalry is over as in Helena's ending, Kasumi was trying to save Helena but Ayane stopped her from doing so, saving Kasumi from being consumed by the flames and explosions.

Raidou
Raidou is Kasumi's uncle since he is the brother of Shiden, Kasumi's father. Kasumi defeated Raidou in the first tournament for revenge.

Personality
Kasumi is portrayed throughout the DOA series as a more compassionate character than her younger half-sister, Ayane, and 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 Other appearance of the tournaments (with the exception of the first) her motive is not to fight or win, but to meet Hayate. Her statements also reflect the fact that Kasumi is very merciful. She doesn't like to see people suffering at the hands of her skills and is inclined to show mercy even to her enemies. However she is capable of killing and this is shown in the first DOA story where 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 had her shot if not for Ryu Hayabusa who had saved her (in the fourth game).

Gameplay
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 (her Sakura Parrie is an excellent tiger knee). 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
Below are Kasumi's themes that plays when you fight her. For the most part, Kasumi's themes are mostly about her personality.


 * 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 Monster Rancher 2 and Monster Rancher 4, 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.

Dead Fantasy
With Ayane, Hitomi, Ninja Gaiden's Rachel, and the girls of Final Fantasy, Kasumi appeared in Monty Oum's fanmade video, Dead Fantasy. So far, Kasumi appeared in the first two parts of the series. She is using her kadachi as her weapon at times and fights in the same manner as in the game. She also teleports in the video numerous times and in part one, she did one of her throws from Dead or Alive 4. She is set to appear in the next three parts.

DOA:Dead or Alive Movie
In the non-canoical movie DOA: Dead or Alive, Kasumi is portrayed by Devon Aoki. Also on the movie, it should be noted that Kasumi's personality is colder, as opposed to her calm and compassioned naivete. In the movie she is told that her brother died by Leons hand. Shortly after she fights Leon, and wins, which makes Kasumi doubt that Hayate died at Leon's feet. In the end, she got to go home with her brother despite being a runaway shinobi, but has to make a fighting stand against her clan with her new friends in order to get to stay.

Outfit Usages
Although not a playable character, her signature ninja clothes are an unlockable costume in Super Swing Golf and Super Swing Golf 2, which are also produced by Tecmo.

In the game Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Director's Cut for the Xbox, which was produced by Tecmo, Kasumi's original blue costume for Mio Amakura and Ayane's original purple costume for Mayu Amakura can be unlocked. One thing these characters have in common is that they are sisters, although Mio and Mayu are twins, not half-sisters.

Etymology
Kasumi's name is japanese for mist. Her name could be references to the fact that Kasumi always teleports leaving behind sakura petals, kinda like as if she is disappearing into the mist.

Trivia

 * The reason Kasumi, Ayane and Kokoro, who made her debut in Dead or Alive 4, 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.