Hitomi

Hitomi (ヒトミ, Hitomi) is a college 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 Germany to her German father who is a karate master with his own dojo, and her Japanese mother. From a young age, Hitomi trained in the art of Karate under her father's guidance. By the age of eighteen, she had earned a black belt, which represents the highest level of graduation.

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 enters the third tournament 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 reunites with Ein and meets Ayane. When Hitomi asks her if she's Kasumi, the ninja is angered and fights Hitomi. After the fight, Ayane is surprised that Hitomi's karate is equal to her ninjustu. Ein then finally tells Hitomi that his real name is Hayate and that he and Ayane are ninjas, much to Hitomi's surprise. While on the ship with Ein, she meets Jann Lee, who also shares a keen passion for martial arts, and the two share some philosophies about the way of martial arts. However Hitomi gets mad at him for being too hard on opponents after he brutally defeats Leifang.

With Hitomi ranking third place in the tournament, her father lets her leave the dojo, and she moves on with her new life as an independent adult.

The Fourth Tournament
When a sudden illness befalls upon her father, the family's dojo goes into despair and becomes afflicted with financial trouble. To help her father, Hitomi enters the fourth Dead or Alive Tournament in an attempt to win the cash prize. During the tournament, she faces and defeats Leifang after a dispute over a cabbage, but the two of them form a friendship afterwards. Then she faces Jann Lee again, after he 'rescues' her from a T-Rex; she finds it "cruel" of Jann to attack the dinosaur, despite its attempt to eat her.

In the DOATEC Tritower, Hitomi eventually encounters Hayate again, and she pleads for him to come back with her to the dojo, admitting that she does not know what to do without him. Hayate tells her that he can't because he is no longer Ein, and the fourth tournament is no tournament at all, but a war. He then asks her to spar for a warm-up, for old time's sake, which she happily accepts. After the fight, they tell each other to take care and Hitomi runs down the stairs and passes Ayane with tears in her eyes.

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

The Fifth Tournament
Upon hearing about the fifth Dead or Alive Tournament, Hitomi reunites with Leifang and the two of them set off a journey to train together. While training at a circus that's still under construction, the pair does a friendly sparring match against Brad Wong and Eliot. They are then invited to the tournament by Zack, who does so humorously by launching himself into the air with the human cannon.

Later, Hitomi and Leifang travel to South America to continue their training. There, they spot Jann Lee being recruited by Zack into joining the tournament. Knowing that they need to do their own training, they spar against each other to improve their skills. After the fight, the two of them go their own ways, promising each other to meet again at the tournament. While on her own, Hitomi runs into Ayane, who's trying to find Kasumi's clone. Hitomi asks if she's entering the fifth tournament, but Ayane said she isn't, while chastising her choice of clothing for training. The two women battle it out for a bit and Ayane leaves to continue her search.

At the tournament, Hitomi defeats Mila in the quarterfinals and Eliot in the semifinals. Before the finals, Hitomi reunites with Hayate, proudly telling him that she needs to win one more fight and she'll be champion. She then asks him if he could spar with her, telling him that her muscles are a bit tight. Hayate grants her request and they spar together. After the fight, they wish each other good luck, and then Hayate departs with Ayane.

Hitomi is defeated by Jann Lee in the finals, making her the runner-up of the tournament.

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 average 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 outfits consisting mostly of jeans, tank-tops and denim jackets, complete with protective fighter's gloves. A running detail on her jeans is that the back label always bears 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, cheerful, 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."

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". 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.

Leifang
During the fourth Dead or Alive Tournament, Hitomi and Leifang seem to bear slight animosity towards one another. However, this might just be a friendly rivalry between martial artists as they are seen to be rather close friends during the events of Dead or Alive 5.

During the vacations on Zack Island, the two are seen to be very good friends, with Hitomi allowing Leifang 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 Lee early on, agreeing that true power comes from within one's self, despite their different martial arts, but gain a certain mutual respect. 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. They met each other in Finals during the 5th Dead or Alive Tournament in which she lost, becoming runner-up.

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 Leifang, 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 (2012)

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.
 * Hitomi owns a red bicycle featured in the Dead or Alive 3 opening and her Dead or Alive 4 ending.
 * In Dead or Alive 3 and Dead or Alive 4, Hitomi's occupation was listed as a high school student. However, in the Official Dead or Alive 5 Strategy Guide, she is still listed as a high school student despite the fact that she is twenty years old and wears college attire. This is a misprint.
 * A tweet from Tecmo has stated that Hitomi plays in her college soccer team.