Dead or Alive is an intriguing series, bouncing (in more ways than one) exclusively from console to console before finally making its way back to PlayStation where it belongs. Headlining these stunning gaming spectacles is a hauntingly beautiful young ninja who was, and arguably still is, the desire of many a teenage boy. Welcome back, Kasumi.
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Conception
Kasumi is the protagonist of the Dead or Alive fighting game series by Team Ninja and Tecmo (now Koei Tecmo). Creator Tomonobu Itagaki originally envisioned the character to be male, before changing her gender. As Kasumi became more and more “kawaii”, he decided to make her the lead character. The rest of his team was only half-convinced at first but warmed up to the idea eventually. Dead or Alive 6 art director and scenario writer Yutaka Saito said Kasumi and the other ninja characters are “like superheroes” compared to the more realistic fighters available.
Her primary outfit became a staple of the series. It was designed to keep “in mind of materials available to cosplayers at the time”. Kasumi’s hair colour was lightened during development, from her original darker brown hair to her iconic auburn amber-red. This was done intentionally to differentiate Kasumi from Mai Shiranui, an iconic shinobi character in the Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters series of fighting games by SNK with a strong resemblance to Kasumi.
In 2012, Kasumi was redesigned to look less cartoon-like and more realistic with a “grown up” appearance for Dead or Alive 5. The game’s art director Yuta Saito said, “From DOA4 we wanted to evolve the characters in a slightly realistic direction. The most difficult, and you don’t have to ask, is Kasumi. Kasumi is the face of DOA and ‘the eternal heroine’, and for such a popular character like Kasumi, to change her form we really needed a lot of courage and it really was a big challenge, but if we didn’t do that, we couldn’t make DOA5 and we wouldn’t be able to show you anything.”
Story: The Kunoichi of Destiny
The following contains plot spoilers for the majority of the Dead or Alive game series in relation to Kasumi and her surrounding friends and family, as well as references to sexual assault and child neglect. Reader discretion is advised.
Kasumi was born into a life of privilege and tradition. As the daughter of Shiden, leader of the Mugen Tenshin ninja clan, Kasumi was regarded as a princess, a title which she actually cared little for. Kasumi was raised to be lady-like as befitting of an heiress of an almost royal lineage, trained in the ways of the priestess and the geisha by her mother, Ayame. However, Kasumi also held great pride in the Mugen Tenshin clan and would happily fight for their honour.
Humbled by her dedication, Kasumi was trained in the way of the ninja by the clan’s finest warriors, including her father, and brother, Hayate, who helped raise and protect her. However, Hayate and Kasumi’s close relationship was seen as an insult to their half-sister, Ayane, who was born as the result of a non-consensual encounter between Ayame and Shiden’s treacherous brother, Raidou, an act which saw Raidou disgraced and exiled.
Living a largely isolated childhood, Kasumi would try to befriend Ayane, who was shunned and considered an outcast, though the clan members would regularly send Ayane away. Pitying the lonely, poverty-stricken Ayane, she was adopted into the allied Hajin-mon sect by their leader, Genra, who Ayane soon came to love and respect as the father she never had. Here, Ayane would learn to harness her hatred, turning it into a killer instinct, as Ayane would learn the ways of the assassin.
Years later, Raidou would storm the Mugen Tenshin village after a lengthy exile in order to steal a powerful ninja art, the Torn Sky Blast. Rather than steal the art’s scroll, Raidou would trick the clan’s heir, his nephew Hayate, to use the art in combat, after which Raidou would copy the technique and use it against Hayate. This left Hayate comatose and therefore unable to assume his role as heir of the Mugen Tenshin clan.
After learning of Hayate’s incapacitation, Kasumi was named the new heir of the clan, though Kasumi would instead choose to forfeit her birthright and pursue Raidou in an act of revenge for him almost killing Hayate. Kasumi learned that Raidou had entered the new ‘Dead or Alive’ fighting tournament, and left the clan without authorisation in order to enter the tournament, however her desertion would brand her a traitor to the Mugen Tenshin and mark her for death.
With support from Hayate’s best friend and heir to the allied Hayabusa ninja clan, Ryu Hayabusa, the pair would learn that Kasumi would need to win the tournament in order to face Raidou. Kasumi proceeded to the final round of the tournament and learned that Hayate had been captured and brainwashed by the tournament’s financier, the military research and development laboratory, DOATEC.
Kasumi was paired against Raidou for the final fight. Raidou used the Torn Sky Blast against Kasumi, however Kasumi used Raidou’s own trick against him, copying the art herself and killing Raidou in combat. Ayane, who had been sent by the Hajin-mon to assassinate Kasumi for her desertion, also planned to kill Raidou, the man who had brought her a lifetime of pain, but arrived too late as Kasumi landed the killing blow.
Exhausted after her victory, Kasumi was captured by DOATEC and used as a genetic research project known as ‘Project Alpha’, a cloning experiment which produces sub-human clones with enhanced, superhuman abilities. Kasumi was rescued from DOATEC by Ryu Hayabusa, and the pair plotted to enter the second Dead or Alive tournament in order to kill Kasumi’s clone.
During the tournament, the pair liberated Hayate from his ‘Project Epsilon’ mind control, with him previously following a set of false memories, believing he was a karate instructor in Germany, known as ‘Ein’. Hayabusa won the second tournament, killing the new benefactor, the mystical Tengu, Bankotsubo, while Kasumi was confronted by Ayane, who was still tasked with killing her.
Kasumi and Ayane fought, though Ayane was the victor, almost killing Kasumi with a ninpo ice blast and leaving Kasumi for dead. Fortunately, Kasumi would survive and recover, returning to help kill her clone. Kasumi would spend the next two years in hiding, only emerging to help her brother Hayate investigate DOATEC and forge an uneasy new alliance with the company’s new leader, Helena Douglas, who inherited the company after the assassination of her parents.
After two years of hiding, Kasumi would finally be pardoned by Hayate who had taken over as head of the Mugen Tenshin clan after Shiden’s retirement. Kasumi would not return to Mugen Tenshin village, and would instead find sanctuary at a shrine outside of Hayabusa village. Now on much friendlier terms, Kasumi would join Hayate, Hayabusa, and even Ayane in raiding DOATEC’s second site, also known as MIST, where mad scientist Victor Donovan was creating an army of inhuman ‘Alpha’ clones.
Relationships
Shiden loved both Kasumi and Hayate equally, and in return Kasumi respected and cared for him strongly. When Hayate nearly died, Shiden neglected to tell Kasumi to keep her safe, knowing full well that she would seek Raidou out, an attempt that proved in vain. He trained her hard to take over for Hayate, but was disappointed with her not accepting her responsibility. Shiden chose to follow the clan’s ‘laws’ rather than respect his daughter’s wishes, marking Kasumi for death, a choice that would essentially disown the pair.
Ayame is shown to still love Kasumi, but was powerless to defy Shiden’s ruling. Ayame even asked Ayane to defy her orders and help Kasumi, though Ayane would refuse, seeing such a request as treason. Unknown to most of the Mugen Tenshin clan, Kasumi still keeps in contact with her mother through letters, and Kasumi is shown to genuinely miss her mother, extended family, and the clan.
Hayate is Kasumi’s older brother. Hayate was a very protective and loving brother to Kasumi, so they had a close brother/sister relationship. After Hayate was injured by Raidou, Kasumi sought revenge on Raidou, seeking to restore his honour. Kasumi and Hayate continued to maintain a strong sibling relationship even before Hayate became the leader of the Mugen Tenshin clan. Hayate would never harm Kasumi himself but he would remain silent towards her, protecting her by pretending not to see her.
Kasumi and Ayane are both half-sisters and cousins, sharing the same biological mother, with Ayane’s father also being Kasumi’s paternal uncle. As children, they were close friends and, despite the villagers’ negative views of Ayane, they enjoyed playing together, even sharing the same hairstyles. Ayane wouldn’t learn until years later why the villagers treated her so badly, however after learning the circumstances of her birth, Ayane became insanely bitter and jealous of Kasumi because Ayane was treated like a monster while Kasumi was treated like a princess.
When Kasumi ran away to avenge Hayate, Ayane was finally able to express her now deep hatred toward Kasumi when she was sent to kill her for leaving the village. Subsequently, she also tried to keep Kasumi away from Hayate as much as possible to add to Kasumi’s pain of having to be separated from her beloved brother. Kasumi’s relationship with Ayane is similar to the rivalry both Shiden and Raidou had in their youth. Despite the hatred Ayane felt for Kasumi after learning the truth, Kasumi never hated her younger half-sister. It would take many years for the pair to repair their bonds.
Ryu Hayabusa is good friends with Kasumi, just like how he is with Hayate. Hayabusa promised Hayate that he would protect Kasumi at all costs. Even though she broke the Mugen Tenshin laws and became a renegade, Hayabusa still kept his promise and still watched over Kasumi, as he is one of her only ninja allies not burdened by the clan’s laws. In return, Kasumi would later join Hayabusa and Ayane in their missions as demon hunters in the Ninja Gaiden games.
Legacy
Kasumi’s story arc has received a mixed response from fans of narrative-driven games, with many praising Kasumi’s sense of personal justice as she places the safety of her family members first, even if it costs her own life as a result. Fans would consider Kasumi the face of the Dead or Alive franchise and a powerful role model for young women. Alternatively, Kasumi’s narrative would also be criticised for its glamourised misuse of illegal ‘honour killings’ which misrepresent the Japanese legal system, with critics claiming such practices are archaic and not representative of modern-day Japan.
Fortunately, Kasumi’s character and appearance are generally highly praised. Kasumi has become a symbol of the Dead or Alive franchise and is the personal favourite of Team Ninja’s founder and the series’ creator, Tomonobu Itagaki, who refers to her as his “daughter”. She has been the subject of various merchandise available worldwide. Kasumi is a popular sex symbol in gaming culture and an iconic ninja-type character. Kasumi regularly finds herself at the top of attractive female character polls, with countless media outlets considering her one of the sexiest young women in gaming.
Due to differences in cultural norms, she has attracted some controversy in the far west involving eroticism and the use of underage female characters in games. She was the youngest character in the original version of the first game. Itagaki would defend Kasumi, claiming she “has been a main character of the Dead or Alive series, and please understand, she is like a Venus to me.” When asked if he was comfortable with sexualising a 17-year-old character, Itagaki answered, “In Japan, that’s okay. Maybe it’s 20 in America […] but 17-year-old girls are still gorgeous.”
Itagaki has described himself as personally “a fan of Kasumi” as his favourite Dead or Alive character. He also said he felt “responsible for her” and was “very close to her”. When hackers found a way to remove her clothing in Dead or Alive 2, Itagaki felt this “was an attack on her”. Tecmo’s lawyers sued software company West Side, the authors of the hack, for violating copyright, and won the case and damages of two million yen (over US$20,000).
Brian Ashcraft of Kotaku called her one of the most iconic characters in Japanese gaming, praising how cosplayers leaned into the character’s strengths and how instantly recognisable her outfit had become, further calling her the face of the franchise and stating “She isn’t merely in Dead or Alive; she is Dead or Alive.” The book She has also cited her as a popular subject for cosplay, with Everybody Cosplay! author Jan Kurotaki voicing her approval for the “cool, really flashy costume that gets you a lot of attention!”
Kasumi has also made guest appearances in other games, including Team Ninja’s other flagship series, Ninja Gaiden, where she and Ayane play both supportive and playable roles, as well as Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate and Warriors All-Stars as part of their playable character roster. Kasumi appeared as a lead character in the 2006 action-comedy film DOA: Dead or Alive, which is loosely based on the game series. In it, she was played by Devon Aoki, who was praised as one of the film’s better casting choices after several racially miscast or age-inaccurate choices.
According to Aoki, she played the game for the first time, after which she understood why Kasumi is so popular. Aoki said about Kasumi in the film: “Yes, she’s pretty badass … and she’s a princess.” In the movie, Kasumi escapes her clan and joins the tournament upon receiving an invitation. She fights against Leon and wins. Later, Kasumi stabs the villain Victor Donovan with an acupuncture needle. He is paralyzed and perishes in an explosion. In the end, she goes home with her brother despite being a runaway shinobi, but has to fight against her clan with her new friends to be allowed to stay.
