Hitomi

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

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.

History
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.



Dead or Alive 3
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 a independent woman. She crossed paths with Jann Lee, who also shared a keen passion for martial arts, and the two shared some philosophies about the way of martial arts.

In the last few rounds, she finally met with Ein, after recovering from his amnesia, he had become Hayate again. With no knowlage of "Ein's" real life, Hitomi tried to convince him to come back to her father's dojo in Germany. Hayate dismissed the offer, although he didn't explain why and what had happened to him, and challenged her to a battle.

Despite not being able to convince him to return to Germany, Hitomi was still able to prove her martial arts skills by defeating him in combat, ranking third place in the tournament. With that, Hitomi's father let her leave the dojo, and she moved on with her new life as a independent adult.

Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball
Shortly after the third tournament, Hitomi was invited to Zack Island for the fourth Dead or Alive Tournament. However, that was only a ruse concocted by Zack to lure the girls to a two week tropical vacation. Trapped on the island, she spent her time shopping and playing beach games, notably befriending some of the other girls during the forced vacation, particularly Lei Fang whom she first encountered as a combatant in the previous tournament.



Dead or Alive 4
When a sudden illness befell her father, the family's dojo went into disrepair 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.

Hitomi eventually encountered Hayate again, and she requested his help in rebuilding the dojo. Not so willing to go, Hayate challenged her to a fight, saying that if she proved herself by beating him, he would come back with her. It is unclear who won; although it is assumed that she defeats him for once home, she returns to her normal routine and while energetically dancing around her apartment and skillfully preparing breakfast, the doorbell rang, shocking her and making her spill her food on the floor. Although the visitor is never seen, it is widely believed to be Hayate at the door, to help her with rebuilding the dojo.

Dead or Alive Xtreme 2
After hearing that the new Dead or Alive Tournament would be held at New Zack Island, Hitomi vowed to make up for her loss in the previous tournament, and left for the tournament straight away, only to once again becoming a victim of Zack’s fiendish trickery, ending up being stuck on New Zack Island for a vacation. She was the only girl who had fell for the ruse again, unlike the other girls who went for their own personal reasons.

Appearance
Also see: Hitomi's Outfit Catalogues

Although half-Japanese, 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 (ヒトミ) means "Pupil of the eye".

Ein/Hayate
Hitomi found Ein 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.

It's unclear if Hitomi knows about Hayate's secret, but it's most likely that she doesn't. If she knew about his true identity, this would be considered a threat to the Mugen Tenshin Clan's safety and Hitomi might be hunted down to protect their secret. In order to keep everyone safe, Hitomi only knows Hayate as "Ein".

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.

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 Ultimate
Hitomi (along with Bayman and Gohyakumine Bankotsu-bo) appears as a guest character in the the remake of Dead or Alive 2 included with the compilation collection, Dead or Alive Ultimate. To unlock her, the player must first have a saved game of either Dead or Alive 3 or Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball on the Xbox hard drive, then successfully complete Story Mode with Ein.

In Ultimate, Hitomi has a total of fourteen costumes, in which tweleve of them need to be unlocked by completing Time Attack Mode as Hitomi - costumes 3 through 7 can be unlocked on easy mode, 8 through 11 needs to be unlocked on normal mode, and 12 through 14 needs to be unlocked on hard mode.

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.

Dead or Alive Paradise
Hitomi is also a playable character for the Dead or Alive Xtreme spin-off, Dead or Alive Paradise for the. Like other Xtreme titles before it, the game features Hitomi and the other girls of the series enjoying a two-week vacation on a tropical island, playing volleyball and exchanging gifts.

Bijin Tokei
From the 1st April 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 or Alive: Dimensions
Hitomi is set to appear in the up-and-coming Dead or Alive game, Dead or Alive: Dimensions, in development for the. Her role in the game is currently unclear.

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 so far 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
 * Turn On The Lights - Dead or Alive 4

Trivia

 * Hitomi's main tag partners are Zack in Dead or Alive 3 and Kokoro in Dead or Alive 4.
 * 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 is the second racially-mixed character in the series, the first being Helena Douglas.
 * 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.