- "I can't guarantee that you'll be happy with what you find there, sweetheart...as they say, blood is thicker than water..."
- —Miyako in Dead or Alive 4
Miyako (Japanese: 美夜子) is a former mistress to Fame Douglas, and the mother to his second child Kokoro, who first appeared in Dead or Alive 4. Miyako is also head of the Dead or Alive Tournament Executive Committee in Japan, a job that often keeps her apart from Kokoro.
History[]
When she was young, Miyako had an affair with Fame Douglas. As a result of the affair, Miyako became pregnant and gave birth to Kokoro.
Miyako raised Kokoro in Japan as a single parent in Kyoto, never telling her daughter about her father or her heritage to DOATEC. She started to oversee Kokoro's training to become a geisha. However, Miyako is the head of DOATEC Japan, as stated in Dead or Alive 5, but it is unknown how long she has worked there, especially during Kokoro's existence.
Miyako and Anne also conspired to despoil the hegemony of DOATEC USA, although this plot resulted in the latter being killed.
Dead or Alive 4[]
At the age of seventeen, Kokoro had become skilled in bajiquan and heavily interested in martial arts competition and requested to her mother for permission to enter the fourth Dead or Alive Tournament. Miyako reluctantly agrees but warns her daughter that she may not be happy with what she finds there.
During the tournament, it is hinted that Helena Douglas - another daughter of Fame's, and Kokoro's half-sister - knows about Miyako, as she tells Kokoro to "ask Miyako" about their blood when the girls first meet.
Dead or Alive 5[]
As noted above, Miyako was revealed to have become the head of DOATEC Japan. It was later revealed that she somehow became aligned with MIST, the offshoot of DOATEC led by Victor Donovan, although Kokoro is not made aware of this. Her reason for her association with MIST is never revealed.
Dead or Alive 6[]
By the time of the sixth tournament, Miyako had left Kokoro behind, after the events of the fifth tournament exposed her defection to MIST and involvement with Donovan. This greatly affects Kokoro and she is left in the care of Helena. Eventually, Miyako sends NiCO to reveal the truth of Kokoro's parentage to her, and with it her relationship to Helena. Helena later attempts to find Miyako at the MIST lab but is informed by NiCO that Miyako had departed.
Character[]
Appearance[]
In Dead or Alive 4, Miyako never faces the camera, so her face isn't seen in-game; however, through game hacking, it is possible to see her face. In Dead or Alive 5, she is seen in a cutscene with Helena and Lisa.
Miyako looks a lot like her daughter, as they both have soft, rounded facial features. The main different between them is that Miyako wears natural-looking make-up, and her face is more of an oval shape, while Kokoro's face is circular. Miyako also has black hair like her daughter but wears it cut to the nape of her neck. She is seen wearing a simple purple kimono, with a pink obi sash, and white tabi socks.
In Dead or Alive 5, Miyako seems to have longer hair, which is swept to a braid on the side on the top of her head and she now wears business attire.
Personality[]
Miyako is a loving and very protective mother. She wants the best for her daughter and kept the truth about her father and her link to DOATEC from Kokoro. In Dead or Alive Xtreme 2, it is revealed that Kokoro went to New Zack Island behind her mother's back, hinting that she rarely lets Kokoro out on her own, and may be somewhat overprotective.
Miyako seems to be an independent and hard-working woman, as she is head of the DOATEC center in Japan.
Etymology[]
Miyako's name in kanji (美夜子) means "beautiful night child." The meaning most refers - quite literally - to her former occupation as a geisha and her affair with Fame Douglas.
Relationships[]
Kokoro[]
Kokoro is Miyako's only child, whom she had with Fame Douglas. She raised Kokoro in Kyoto and as she grew older, trained her to become a geisha. Miyako is very protective of Kokoro, even to the point of not letting her go to the 4th Dead or Alive tournament, fearing for her safety and possibly finding out the truth of who she was. Her overprotective nature was such that Kokoro ended up sneaking out just to go to New Zack Island when it was first unveiled, although it is implied later on that she allowed her to go. In addition, it's implied that Miyako's strict upbringing of Kokoro was part of the reason for the latter's more elegant mannerisms. During Kokoro's time on the Venus Islands, Miyako was also responsible for supplying her with a lot of suncare soap, with Kokoro offering some to Momiji and any of the other girls. Kokoro also implies to the owner on her first birthday on the Venus Islands that, until that time, Miyako was the only person she celebrated her birthday with. Kokoro tells Lisa that Miyako never tells her of the work she is doing. Despite her defection to MIST, Miyako continues to watch over her daughter, at one point sending NiCO to give her a childhood picture of her and Helena together with Fame Douglas.
Helena Douglas[]
Helena seems to know Miyako as she mentioned her to Kokoro, telling her to ask her mother about who she was. It was stated that Helena knows Miyako through ties of DOATEC, as well as Miyako having the position of high ranks in DOATEC's Japan center. It is unknown if Helena promoted her or not, and it is unknown if Miyako knows of Donovan's plans.
After Miyako supplied Kokoro with a photograph that revealed Helena and Kokoro's familial ties and thus forced Helena to admit the two were half-sisters, leading to a breach in their relationship, Helena went over to MIST to confront Miyako, although NiCO revealed that she was already gone from the area.
NiCO[]
Miyako was the one directly responsible for providing NiCO with a job as head researcher at MIST. As such, NiCO had some respect for her, and implied when encountering her daughter, Kokoro that meeting her in person as well as supplying her with the photo of Fame with Kokoro and Helena was her way of repaying her debt to Miyako. However, this does not stop NiCO from having a level of distaste for how she left Kokoro behind, largely due to her own mother abandoning her in the past.
Appearances[]
Dead or Alive series[]
- Dead or Alive 4 (non-playable, 2005-06)
- Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 (mentioned, 2006)
- Dead or Alive Paradise (mentioned, 2010)
- Dead or Alive Dimensions (mentioned, 2011)
- Dead or Alive 5 (5+) (non-playable, 2012-13)
- Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate (non-playable, 2013)
- Dead or Alive 5 Last Round (non-playable, 2015)
- Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 (mentioned, 2016)
- Dead or Alive 6 (mentioned, 2019)
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- As Kokoro enters her mother's room, Miyako is seen sorting out pink tulips in a vase. This could mean that Miyako has a hobby in ikebana, which is flower arranging.
- In the original Dead or Alive, Dead or Alive 2, and Dead or Alive 3, the system voice was called "Miyako." This, however, is not a reference to Kokoro's mother but a reference to the system voice actress, Miyako Endō.
- In the original story treatment for Dead or Alive 5, Miyako would have been revealed to have known about the impending ninja attack on DOATEC-USA, but deliberately withheld the information, and would later be implied to have wiped out Kasumi and Ayane's village, leaving them the only known survivors, and resulting in them teaming up to exact revenge.[1]
- Miyako's business attire worn in Story Mode is actually Christie's business outfit with a different color and minor modifications.
- In Xtreme Venus Vacation, aside from the mention of her in Kokoro's character episodes, Kokoro indirectly alludes to her in the Fiona Love Bridal Training arc's third episode, and more specifically how she left for New Zack Island without telling her in Xtreme 2, due to Fiona, the focus character of that arc, pulling something similar.
- In at least the English version of Xtreme Venus Vacation, Kokoro when doing a survey with Momiji on "The Naked Truth" originally says she received suncare soap from her parents, implying the possibility that Miyako had married. This was changed in later translations to have her indicate that Kokoro received a lot of suncare soap from her hometown.
- Miyako as well as her more overprotective raising of her daughter was also indirectly alluded to in Lobelia's debut episodes where the eponymous character met Kokoro, as Kokoro explained to Lobelia that her more formal interactions with everyone had more to do with, among other things, her strict upbringing rather than her actual class status.