Tsukushi

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Tsukushi
Japanese name	つくし
Tsukushi in Dead or Alive Xtreme: Venus Vacation
Playable Character
Full name	Tsukushi
First appearance	Dead or Alive Xtreme: Venus Vacation
Dead or Alive debut	Dead or Alive Xtreme: Venus Vacation
Dead or Alive appearance(s)	Dead or Alive Xtreme: Venus Vacation
General information
Place of birth	Japan
Nationality	Japanese
Date of birth	October 24
Age	18
Status	Alive
Blood type	AB
Personal alignment	Neutral
Physical description
Species	Human
Gender	Female ()
Height	151cm
Measurements	B95/W55/H89
Eye color	Brown
Hair color	Brown
Career information
Current occupation(s)	University Student
Personal information
Hobbies	Manga, self-massages
Favorite foods and drinks	Cup noodles, Energy drinks
Favorite color	Blue Black
Tropical zodiac sign	Scorpio (23 October – 22 November)
Birthstone	Opal
Birthflower	Cosmos
Portrayed by
Japanese voice actor	Maria Sashide

"Wai… What are you…? W-Why would you think I'm 'cute?'"

—Tsukushi

Tsukushi is a young girl who first appeared in the August 26, 2020 update version of the DMM and Japanese Steam versions of Dead or Alive Xtreme Venus Vacation, and on the September 9, 2021 update version of the Singapore Steam and Johren versions of the game.

History

She frequently read and consulted with manga to cope with her inability to make friends with people in school. Eventually, she decided to become an aspiring Mangaka, and had even submitted several planned manga storylines to be published, although all had been rejected up to her visit to the Venus Islands, with criticisms including how the art, while nice, "lacked impact" and how the heroine "wasn't vivid enough."

At some point, she learned about the Venus Islands, or more specifically the festival that's helmed there, after stumbling upon a review for it with an internet search. Obsessed with trying to find the "venuses" (referring to the participants) in the hopes of finding inspiration for her manga, she then headed to the island, and after walking a bit and finding various girls confirmed it was her destination. She eventually attempted to draw the beach scenery, although the owner startled her. She was reluctant to participate in the festival initially, wanting to be a tourist, and believing her status as a gloomy and plain girl would "contaminate" the venuses, although she ultimately agreed after the Owner convinced her that the only way to interact with the venuses is to join.

Character

Appearance

Tsukushi has fair skin, brown eyes and short brown hair styled in a bob, similar to Tamaki. She wears either black or red framed glasses, a blue sweatshirt with buttons on it, carries around a black art pouch and occasionally wears a red beret. Her SR also has her wearing sweatpants. While not to the degree of Sayuri or Honoka, she is also one of the bustier girls on the island, sharing at a bare minimum the same bust size as Tina Armstrong (being 95cm). On a similar note, although not to the degree of Kanna or Marie Rose, she's also one of the smaller girls on the island.

Personality

She is shown to be fairly shy, to the extent of cowering behind a sketchbook if the owner finds her as well as doing a pratfall upon discovering the Owner being in the bathroom and doing a desperate gesture to ward him off while begging him not to approach her. She also has an artistic side to her, often drawing quietly by herself. Owing to her shyness, she also at times stutters, and at one point deeply considered just going back to her room just before Misaki arrived to guide her throughout the island due to being overwhelmed by the bustling crowds. She came to the island for sightseeing and to see the Venuses (Megami-chan in the Japanese version (i.e. the others girls)). Aside from this, she was also shown to have severe depression relating to her inability to socialize and also her failure to publish a manga, with her even referencing herself as being a gloomy girl ("Yinkya" in the Japanese version). When the owner not only suggested she join his venus festival, but also inferred that she was cute, she was taken aback and demanded to know what made the Owner think she was in any way cute while stammering, implying that Tsukushi was deeply insecure about her physical appearance. This was further supported by her initial reluctance to participate in the Venus Festival, believing her "plain" appearance, in addition to her depression issues, would not have made her a good fit for the festival, and only ended up agreeing after the Owner made it clear that she can only interact with the Venuses if she joined. Although not to the extent of Luna, she also tended to tune out everything and everyone around her when focused on something, which she admitted to the Owner after initially telling him off for "sneaking up" on her until learning he tried to get her attention beforehand.

Etymology

Tsukushi is a modern Japanese name. The name in hiragana roughly translates to "horsetail" (a plant) or "weed". It being used as a given name originated in 1992 with the Shoujo manga "Boys Over Flowers", in regards to the main character Tsukushi Makino.

Relationships

Misaki

Misaki met Tsukushi while acting as a guide for her regarding her recent arrival, which also resulted in Tsukushi abandoning her original plan of forgoing the festival altogether and going back to her room due to being overwhelmed by the crowds. During this time, she also was baffled by Tsukushi's constant references to the other girls, and her in particular, as "Venuses", prompting Tsukushi to panic over saying too much, though she didn't mind too much. She also introduced her to Monica and Tamaki, explaining the former acted as a dealer at the island's casino. She later acted as a model for Tsukushi to draw after the latter accidentally admitted her interest in drawing a manga.

Tamaki

Tamaki met Tsukushi during a Summer Festival, though the meeting was awkward due to Tamaki proceeding to grope her as usual. That said, Tamaki did note that Tsukushi was oddly receptive towards her usual antics, with Tsukushi admitting she was fond of it due to it ultimately helping her to be more talkative, although she nonetheless told Tamaki to lay off the tickling in the future. She also was surprised at Tsukushi's comment of wanting to make a good picture of the various "Goddesses", though nevertheless obliged to act as a model for her manga upon learning of her status as an aspiring Mangaka, putting her past modeling experience to good use.

Helena Douglas

Helena met Tsukushi sometime after the festival. Helena also attempted to coax Tsukushi to relax due to her excessively shy nature, and also learned about her aspiring to be a mangaka, also volunteering to act as a model for her manga, under the condition that Tsukushi work up the courage to talk to at least one other girl that day. She ultimately did so alongside Hitomi when reconvening with the two, keeping her end of the bargain upon discovering Tsukushi's success in that condition.

Hitomi

Hitomi met Tsukushi after the former finished some training exercises, and also made small talk where she learned of Tsukushi's plans of being an aspiring Mangaka, and eventually learned that she also had asked Helena to act as a model, before volunteering to act as a model in turn.

Honoka

Honoka tracked down Tsukushi to invite her to a spa, and also complimented her Cinderella Heart outfit (which had been a design she made for the other girls). She alongside Nyotengu also taught her how to do and accepting massages for others (as Tsukushi was only experienced with self-massages due to her line of work). She also acted as a manga model, albeit reluctantly due to Tsukushi immediately opting to draw the scene in the bathroom. She also expressed concern for Tsukushi as she did so, due to her previous admission that her posture from drawing manga results in various pains in her body.

Honoka later worked with Tsukushi regarding posing for photoshoots by Leifang at the latter's request, as she intended to help Tsukushi with modeling for her manga.

The two were later paired up to compete in a Butt Battle, with Tsukushi reluctantly using a special move to beat Honoka, though the latter didn't mind too much due to finding fun in falling into the pool. Just before their match, Honoka also mistook Tsukushi's ecstasy with competing against a "goddess" in Butt Battle as her suffering from a fever due to her blushing and offered to take Tsukushi to Sayuri for a checkup.

Nyotengu

Nyotengu met Tsukushi after Honoka brought her to the spa, and also supplied some of her own massaging techniques to Tsukushi, teaching her the art of giving and receiving massages. The lessons also helped Tsukushi immensely and left her grateful, as her posture from constantly drawing manga left her with aches that she attempted to alleviate via self-massages. When Tsukushi decided to immediately draw the area to "record the memory", Nyotengu, in contrast to Honoka, didn't mind her posture too much, knowing she can always supply another massage afterwards.

Patty

Tsukushi met Patty one time while walking the beach, with Patty learning the concept of Manga from her. Patty also proceeded to invite Tsukushi to a pajama party, partly to learn more on how to read manga (as, due to her isolation on a nearby island from the rest of the world, she was unfamiliar of the concept of Manga, let alone how to read it). Afterwards, they made small talk, with Patty deducing that manga was Tsukushi's treasure. However, it ended abruptly due to Patty falling asleep fast, causing Tsukushi some angst. Tsukushi also deeply considered drawing Patty while the latter was asleep, but ultimately decided against it.

Fiona

Tsukushi interacted with Fiona during a Jewel-related festival, with her initially being startled by Fiona. They briefly talked about each other's respective jewels, with Fiona encouraging Tsukushi to find "her own color" in reference to Opal supplying different colors depending on how light reflects on it.

Leifang

Tsukushi attempted to draw Leifang in secret in order to get source material for her manga, though Leifang noticed her presence. She was pleased with how she drew her, but nevertheless gave constructive criticism of certain backgrounds. She then offered to help Tsukushi out by having Tsukushi be photographed by her to act as source material, to which Tsukushi reluctantly obliged.

Elise

Elise, subbing for Misaki, acted as a teacher for Tsukushi as well as Kokoro in regards to studies. During the study period, an incident occurred where Tsukushi was entranced with Elise's bust, although Elise paid it no mind other than Tsukushi not paying attention, and gently told her to pay attention next time.

Tina Armstrong

Tina briefly interacted with Tsukushi during her welcoming party, with Tsukushi being touched that she remembered her after all this time. Tina later requested her assistance during a planned dance party that she was creating to repay the owner, as Helena recommended her. However, Tsukushi, largely due to her insecurity over her own appearance and nature, as well as her inexperience with dancing, initially emphatically refused, although Tina offered to see if she can appear beautiful in a makeover, with Tsukushi after giving it some thought accepting due to doing it for the Venuses. Ultimately, she agreed to go along with it when Tina indicated there would be special training before the actual dance show.

Amy

Amy met Tsukushi after she ended up separated from Patty regarding surveys, and attempted to ask questions about the island. However, it initially got off on the wrong foot when Tsukushi started obsessing over Amy's Venus status and taking particular note of Amy's headsets. Eventually, after properly explaining herself, Tsukushi alongside Hitomi proceeded to help her with her task of researching island attractions, largely due to her exploring the island to draw scenery for her manga attempt. Eventually, they went to a restaurant on a cliffside after a hike, with Amy hoping they'd work together again.

Owner

Her first meeting with the Owner was awkward as the Owner snuck up on her while she was busy drawing the beach scenery and caused her to cower slightly. She also was baffled when the Owner implied she was cute due to her insecurities and initially refused to participate in the Venus Festival, although she eventually joined up after the Owner convinced her that the only way to meet the Venuses was to join. When she was left distraught at her manuscript being rejected yet again despite making headway, the Owner encouraged her to keep drawing, and even went as far as to secretly leave behind a refreshment as a way to subtly encourage her, and even becoming inspired to use herself as a model after learning he kept a picture of her. Eventually, she even personally requested that the Owner photograph her with her phone to allow for the right material for her manga, even going as far as to request that the Owner unzip her sweatshirt and expose a lot of her skin. Although not to the same extent as the other girls, it is implied she has some degree of feelings for the Owner, as after the Owner gave her encouragement to open up to the other girls, she told the Owner she was counting on him from that point forward, only to instantly panic over those choice of words.

Appearances

Dead or Alive series

• Dead or Alive Xtreme: Venus Vacation (playable character, 2020, add-on)

Music themes

The following are the music themes used for Tsukushi throughout the series.

Theme	Game appearances
"Fantasize"	Dead or Alive Xtreme Venus Vacation

Gallery

Promotional images

Scans

Bromides

Merchandise

Trivia

• Tsukushi is the first girl to be unveiled during a livestream event (not counting Nagisa's officially being identified during the 2018 December livestream).
  • She is also the first girl to have her birthday occur during her paywall period in the DMM version (not counting Patty, as her birthday was initially designated a Special Day and not listed until after its debut).
  • She is also the only girl to not immediately agree to participate in the Venus festival upon first meeting the Owner, instead she only ends up agreeing in her second character episode.
• Tsukushi is so far the only girl to wear eye accessories as her default appearance.
  • She is also the only girl who removes any accessories during shower gacha scenes (as Nyotengu and Kanna still wear their eyeshadow makeup during their shower gacha animations).
  • On a similar note, she is technically the second girl to automatically wear glasses in at least one episode, after Tamaki (who was briefly shown to wear glasses in the beginning of her second birthday episode and later on in one of Koharu's debut event episodes).
• Tsukushi is the first girl to have purely one stat as her SRs in her gacha (TEC, in her case).
• Tsukushi's nationality was not listed due to Xtreme Venus Vacation not having a nationality section for the girls' bios. However, it was nevertheless heavily implied to be Japanese due to her name being spelled in Hiragana instead of Katakana as well as her familiarity with Japanese summer festivals.
• She is the fourth character to explicitly give her measurements, after Nagisa, Monica and Sayuri (the four characters did so via their second episode).
  • Similar to Sayuri, she also implies that at least one of her measurements got bigger, specifically her chest, due to commenting that her bag strap was getting tighter around that area lately.
• Tsukushi is the third girl to have her "SSR received" animation be used for peek scenarios in live change episodes, after Nagisa and Patty (the other girls used the "SSR received" animation for their no-peek scenarios).
• Tsukushi is one of only two girls whose first SSR accessory was issued via the SSR accessory ticket section of the VIP shop instead of debuting in a ranking event, the other being Patty.
• According to Sakuta D. in Famitsu's third anniversary coverage, Tsukushi had been created primarily to act as a contrast to Patty's more peppy demeanor. He also admitted that he feared that her PV intro was deemed too sexualized, but nevertheless agreed to it.
  • Concept art included in the same section also depicted her as having slightly longer hair, and also featured models that depicted her as slightly chubbier than in the final design.
• Tsukushi is the fifth character in Dead or Alive Xtreme Venus Vacation who has a pre-determined outfit for her first episode (ie, the player cannot have her wear whatever outfit the player chose for her in the episode), the others being Ayane, Patty, Misaki, Honoka, Lobelia, and Nanami. She is also the second to have an SSR as her pre-determined outfit (in this case, her debuting SSR), after Patty yet before Lobelia and Nanami.
  • Despite this, however, the PV for her free event depicted a scene from her first character episode while wearing an SSR from the free event, implying that the ability to change characters' pre-determined outfits in the first episodes was planned at the time.
• According to her self intro episode, she hates Shiitake mushrooms.
• According to the first episode of the Softening Beauty Treatment portion of Tsukushi's Challenge: Becoming Venus ♥, "You Want to Be Beautiful?", her Cinderella Heart SSR had been designed by her and was actually intended for one of the other girls on the island (with Tsukushi failing to decide which one specifically), but both the Owner and Honoka suggested she wear it instead due to thinking she fit the suit the most.
  • Likewise, the second episode of the same event portion, "Let's Massage You ♥", indicated that her hobby of self-massages was a direct result of her manga drawing and constantly being in bad postures that leave her with back pain.
• According to her first birthday episode "Like an Angel", prior to arriving at the Venus Islands, she never actually had a birthday party, with the closest thing to any celebrations of the event being her immediate family.
• One of her game loss quotes in the Japanese version has her repeatedly call out the "Megami-chan" (Goddess-chan) in despair at the loss. This was toned down in the English localization to have her merely emphatically apologize for the failure.