Kasumi (Dead or Alive)
Kasumi (Japanese: かすみ, also written as 霞, meaning "mist") is a player character and the prime protagonist of the Dead or Alive fighting game series by Team Ninja and Tecmo (Koei Tecmo). Kasumi has served as the lead character of the Dead or Alive franchise since its premiere in 1996. She was the official protagonist in the first two games in the series and was also a main character in the fifth game and in the film DOA: Dead or Alive, in which she was portrayed by Devon Aoki. In the games' canon, Kasumi, also known as "the Kunoichi of Destiny", is a teenage female ninja princess who has left her clan and became an outcast pursued by her younger half-sister Ayane. There are several Dead or Alive player and boss characters who are clones of her.
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. She has been the subject of various merchandise and was used to promote the Xbox consoles in Japan. Kasumi is a popular sex symbol in video game culture and an iconic ninja character. Due to differences in cultural norms, she has also attracted some controversy in the West involving eroticism and the use of underage female characters in video games.
