Kasumi (Dead or Alive)

Kasumi (かすみ 霞) is a player character in Dead or Alive fighting game series by Team Ninja and Tecmo. Kasumi has served as the main character of the Dead or Alive franchise since its beginning in 1996, being the official protagonist in the first two main games in the series, and playing very important roles in the rest of the franchise. She has since become a popular sex symbol in gaming and is known to be personal favourite of Team Ninja's founder and the series' creator Tomonobu Itagaki. There are also two characters who are clones of her.

According to the game canon, Kasumi (her name translates to "Mist"), also known as "the Kunoichi of Destiny", is a teenage female shinobi skilled in the Tenjin Mon (天神門) style of Mugen Tenshin (霧幻天神流) 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 and defeat Raidou who crippled her brother Hayate. Leaving the secretive ninja clan made her a nukenin (runaway shinobi), obliged to live on the run from her former comrades who are now seeking to hunt her down, including her younger half-sister Ayane.

In video games
Kasumi is portrayed throughout the DOA series as a more compassionate character than Ayane and most of the other fighters. Though she is a highly skilled kunoichi with deadly abilities but she does not enjoy fighting and often expresses a desire to avoid confrontation. She values her family and seeks to return home in peace. In all of the tournaments except the first her goal is not to win or even to fight; she simply wishes to meet Hayate. Kasumi dislikes seeing people suffer from at the hands of her skills and often shows mercy even to enemies. However, she is a trained shinobi who is capable of killing, though, and she foregoes showing mercy to particularly dangerous adversaries or those who have wronged her or her family: Raidou (first game), her clone (second game) and Helena (fourth game).

Design
Just like the other girls in the franchise, Kasumi was designed by Tomonobu Itagaki to have a buxom figure (her official measurements are 35-21-33). When asked if he was fine with "sexualizing" a 17-year-old girl, he answered: "In Japan, that's okay. Maybe it's 20 in America." Asked about Ayane and Kasumi, Itagaki said: "The basic concept of Ninja Gaiden was very hard-edged, but Kasumi is very soft. That's why she wasn't in it. DOA is based on a "softer" concept, and she is rather symbolic of the game as a whole." Kasumi is "of course" Itagaki's favorite DOA character and he feels "very close to her".

Kasumi uses a wide range of costumes through the series, from several female ninja outfits (her main colors being white and red at first, later becoming blue and white) to feminine teenage-girl casual clothes to Japanese schoolgirl uniform (Itagaki's favorite ) to beach bikinis. According to IGN, she had the best overall outfits of Dead or Alive Ultimate, the expanded compilation of the first two DOA games ("she looks great and her outfits are fantastic"). Some prototype costume designs for the series' newest installment, Dead or Alive: Dimensions, reportedly "upset fans" when the game was announced in 2010.

Dead or Alive series
Kasumi is the respected miss and heiress-in-line of her clan, the Mugen Tenshin, along with her brother Hayate. After Hayate was crippled in the attack by their treacherous uncle Raidou, Kasumi was supposed to take over leadership of the clan. Kasumi, however, left her village without permission on a personal quest of revenge.

Kasumi eventually killed Raidou and avenged Hayate, winning the first tournament. However, she was then captured by Dead or Alive Tournament Executive Committee (DOATEC), who used her genes to create a clone called Kasumi Alpha as part of a project to develop a new breed of ultimate soldiers. Kasumi managed to escape, defeating her first clone in the process, and attempted to return to her village, but was banished because a dishonored ninja could not rejoin their clan. Now labeled as a "traitor" in her village, Kasumi has been pursued incessantly by assassins from her clan and not a day passed without an attempt on her life. Despite this, she still wished to see her brother Hayate and half-sister Ayane and entered the third tournament to meet with them one last time.

She eventually managed to meet her brother and tried to convince him to forget about DOATEC and return to the Mugen Tenshin village with her, only to be interfered by their half-sister Ayane, who attacked Kasumi but lost. Kasumi pursued Hayate to the DOATEC Tri-Tower, where she confronted Helena, who had taken control of DOATEC. Kasumi fought her way past Helena and then headed down to the lab to destroy her ultimate clone, the Alpha-152. Kasumi fought to her best efforts, but in the end Alpha-152 escaped in the chaos of the destruction wrought by the Mugen Tenshin attack. Upon spotting Helena entering the blazing helipad, Kasumi tried to risk her life and intervene, but was prevented from doing so by Ayane, who by doing that saved Kasumi's life as the building started exploding seconds later.

Kasumi was confirmed to return in Dead or Alive 5 in 2012.

Kasumi clones
According to the series' storyline, DOATEC created many clones of Kasumi as part of their Project Alpha with the aim of creating a perfect fighter.


 * Kasumi Alpha (カスミα （アルファ）) was the first clone of Kasumi to debut in the games, looking just like Kasumi wearing a crimson ninja suit. Kasumi Alpha served as a boss character in Dead or Alive 2 and returning for Ultimate; she was defeated by Kasumi during her escape.


 * Alpha-152 (（アルファ・イチゴーニ) is the clone who seems to be made up of pure energy; born with an untainted hate of the world and created to destroy all. She was originally designed as Kasumi's figure made of light, however in the final game she was changed into a translucent/liquid-like form of Kasumi.  The final CGI ending of Dead or Alive 4 shows Alpha-152 fleeing the DOATEC's Tri-Tower after a brief fight with Kasumi; the clone's whereabouts and condition remain unknown.  Alpha-152 is commonly regarded to be the most difficult boss in the entire DOA series, similar to those of the "SNK Boss Syndrome".

DOAX series
Following the third Dead or Alive tournament, Kasumi has been invited to Zack Island, an imaginary place that has all the DOA girls for the fourth tournament. Kasumi, hoping to see Hayate, goes to the island for the tournament. However, the tournament turns out to be a hoax crafted by Zack, and they are stuck for two weeks on the tropical island, playing beach volleyball in Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball. Kasumi later returned to the New Zack Island in Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 upon hearing that her brother was there, even though she wondered what he was doing on a tropical island. It was there that Kasumi began to develop a more friendly relationship with Ayane.

Other games
Kasumi also appears in Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, starring Ayane and Ryu Hayabusa, wearing a new outfit, and it's possible she might become a player character via DLC. Dead or Alive: Code Chronos, a DOA series' prequel game which was supposed to center on Kasumi and Ayane, was canceled in 2010, after the series' creator Itagaki left Tecmo (Code Chronos has been his "pet project").

Guest appearances
Kasumi appeared as an optionally playable "monster" in the games Monster Rancher 2 and Monster Rancher 4. Her blue ninja outfit is an unlockable costume in Super Swing Golf and Super Swing Golf: Season 2 for the character Arin, and is an alternative costume of Mio Amakura in Director's Cut version of Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly. She also appears in the iPhone game Girls of DOA BlackJack ～ the Kasumi version ～, in which she acts as the blackjack dealer.

Gameplay
Similar to the other Dead or Alive ninjutsu characters, Kasumi is considered a mid-to-top tier character due to her balanced character traits. She features good speed, execution, and fairly simplistic input commands, but her range is lacking and her single strikes do little damage. Kasumi's playing style has differed slightly over the series: in the original Dead or Alive and its sequel, her commands were suited to performing air combos and juggles. In the later games, however, she became a pressure character, focusing more on extremely fast attacks and great interrupters to keep the opponent constantly on the defense.

In film
Kasumi appeared in the 2006 action-comedy film DOA: Dead or Alive, loosely based on the game series, as its main character. She was played by Devon Aoki, who however bears no physical similarity to the character she portrayed and it many felt she appeared to be miscast in this role. This sentiment which was shared also by Itagaki; when asked about whom he would choose for the film, he said it would be Kumiko Gotoh "from the time right after she made her debut".

In an interview with Rotten Tomatoes, Aoki said this about Kasumi: "Yes, she's pretty badass. ... and she's a princess. She's never been outside the palace walls. She's been very, very sheltered, because she's a princess and that's the way it is…until the point where she actually decides to leave, she's basically been pretty sheltered but she's a capable fighter." The scene of her leaving the clan was named the movie's "most ridiculous" scene by GamesRadar and was ranked #16 on their list of "The 16 most awesomely bad videogame movie moments" in 2009. "Transitioning from martial art fight scene to skydiving without blinking" was also chosen as her defining moment by UGO.com, with a snicker comment how Aoki's portrayal of Kasumi is "keeping conservative in a world full of boob".

In the movie, Kasumi fights against Leon and wins. The film Kiss of the Dragon is referenced when she pierces an acupuncture needle into the villain Victor Donovan, who then suffers paralysis and perishes in an explosion. In the end, she did 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.

In promotion and merchandise
A wide range of merchandise items featuring Kasumi was created as well, such as statuettes and action figures of various scales, including one which was bundled with a special edition of Dead or Alive Paradise for the PSP (a different edition also came with an original Kasumi box cover) another which could be stripped topless, and another to her underwear; a Xbox 360 face plate, a very special mousepad, and even a live-size 160 cm long (Kasumi's height is supposed to be 158 cm) body pillow which was bundled by Microsoft with the "Kasumi-chan Blue Xbox" limited edition batch of the Xbox consoles in Japan. She and Hitomi were also used in the iPhone digital clock application Bijin Tokei.

In 2010, the gamebook Destiny Kunoichi Kasumi was released in the Queen's Gate series of Queen's Blade, along with another figure.

Reception
Kasumi was received well among the gaming fans and professional critics for both her sex appeal and her martial arts abilities, and sometimes also her personality. Talking about her popularity in Japan, Itagaki claimed in 2004: "It's almost like there are too many Kasumi covers. If you look at Japanese [video game] magazines, maybe 10% of them have Kasumi on their cover." WomanGamers.Com appreciated her portrayal "as a woman of action and deeds ... willing to risk everything in order to search for her missing brother", hurt by her eye candy aspect "for which the series is both famous and infamous", overally rating her 8.14/10 as "a very pleasing character". The Age ranked her as 36th among The Top 50 Xbox Characters of All Time in 2008, commenting: "Kasumi's appeal is no great mystery, is it? As the merciful ninja who avoids confrontation but finds herself again and again having to defeat challengers, she's just another heroine based on a well-loved archetype." In 2004, TeamXbox ranked Kasumi third in the list of Top Ten Xbox Babes, adding: "When we imagine our ideal Tecmo babe, Kasumi fits the bill perfectly. She has fought her way into the hearts and minds of millions of gamers." Featuring her as a Videogame Babe of the Day in 2006, IGN noted: "This sultry redhead is also a fan favorite, and it's not difficult to see why. In addition to being gifted as a fighter, she's been graced with one of the finest digital bodies ever. Also, she is a freaking ninja."

In the 2005 G4 TV show Video Game Vixens Kasumi won in the category "Dressed to Kill", and in 2007 she won the G-Phoria award in the category "Best Hottest Babe" (55% of the votes). Ranking her tenth in the 2006's list of Top 11 Video Game Hotties, UGO called her "the most attractive ninja you'll ever see". In 2007, Kasumi was included by Tom's Games among the 50 greatest female characters in video game history, as well as "and one of the most powerful - and sexy - ninjas in the world". In 2010, UGO featured her for having one of the 30 best swimsuits in all works of fiction and listed her among the Top 50 Videogame Hotties, commenting: "Kasumi is the flagship protagonist of the Dead or Alive series of games, and it's for good reason. Her huge breasts, flowing hair, and butt-bumpin' volleyball skills represent at least half of what the series is all about. It only helps that she's equally deadly when the fighting portion comes around." In 2011, UGO also ranked her ninth among the Fighting Games' Finest Female Fighters. Same year, machinima.com also ranked her third on the list of Top 10 Ninjas in ALL of Gaming.

In 2007, she was featured as the Babe of the Week by GameDaily as one of the series' "most delectable hotties", and in the Babes of the Week articles Babes We're Thankful For in 2008 ("this voluptuous vixen has a killer body and the moves to match") and Asian Beauties in 2009 ("there's no way we could ignore Kasumi"), as well as in 2009's article Gaming's Greatest Patriots in the category Team Japan with a comment that "it's hard to imagine a video game world without the lovely Kasumi". GameDaily also ranked her eight on the 2008's list of Top 50 Hottest Game Babes, adding: "We love female ninjas, especially ones with gigantic breasts, flowing hair and a knack for beach volleyball. Kasumi remains the most recognizable Dead or Alive girl, and [...] one of the most dangerous."

Legal case
When hackers found a way to turn Kasumi nude in DOA2, Itagaki felt this "was an attack on her" and Tecmo's lawyers actually sued the authors of the naked Kasumi DOA2 hack (software company West Side) for a violation of Kasumi's dignity, winning the case and two million yen in damages.