Kasumi (Dead or Alive)

Kasumi (霞, Kasumi) is a fictional Japanese character from the Dead or Alive video game franchise. She is also the unofficial flagship main protagonist of the series. According to series canon she won the first Dead or Alive Tournament.

History

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.

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.

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 is defeated.

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 past 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. When trying to interfere Kasumi is prevented from doing so by Ayane, who by doing that might have saved Kasumi's life as the building starts exploding mere seconds later.

Dead Or Alive Xtreme 2

Kasumi is a runaway Ninja who abandoned 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.

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 of the tournaments (with the exception of the first) her motive is not to fight or win, but to meet Hayate. Her statements also often reflect the fact Kasumi is very merciful. She doesn't like to see people suffering at the hands of her skills and is inclined to show mercy to her enemies. However she is capable of killing and this is shown in the first DOA story where she defeated and killed Raidou. This was notably in a fit of rage and in revenge for the crippling of her brother, Hayate, by Raidou. Therefore if the circumstances had been different and Kasumi had not been so enraged she would have hesitated to take his life. These actions also represent how strongly Kasumi feels for her brother. She is shown to be serious to fight in certain cases, like in Dead Or Alive 4 where she was willing to defend herself when Helena had pointed a gun at her to finish Kasumi off, and also she takes a fighting stance to prevent Helena from leaving and even fights her.She is demonstrably family orientated and would like nothing more than to return home in peace.

Movie appearance

In "DOA: Dead or Alive," she is played by Devon Aoki. Also on the movie, it should be noted that Kasumi's personality is colder than anything else. In the movie, she fights Leon, and wins, which makes Kasumi herself doubt that Hayate would've died. 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.

Trivia

• 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.

• By unlocking Kasumi's clothes, the character Arin can dress like her in the Nintendo Wii game Super Swing Golf. Ryu Hayabusa's clothes are unlockable as well.

• In the Xbox version of the game Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly, produced by Tecmo, Kasumi's original blue costume for Mio Amakura and Ayane's original purple costume for Mayu Amakura can be unlocked.