Dead or Alive (franchise)/Characters

Here are the characters from the fighting game Dead or Alive. Enjoy, and help out with the blurbs!

Also, beware of possible spoilers.

Kasumi

 * Voiced by: Sakura Tange (JP, 1 and 2), Houko Kuwashima (JP, since 3), Kari Wahlgren (EN, Xtreme 2 and Dimensions)

The main heroine. Kasumi is the sister of Hayate and half-sister to Ayane, and a practitioner of the Tenshinmon Style of Mugen-Tenshin Ninjutsu. They lived happily together until one day Raidou came for revenge and snapped Hayate's spine, sending him into a coma that everyone thought to be permanent. Kasumi ran away from her village to avenge her brother, knowing full well the consequences of becoming a runaway shinobi - death. After defeating Raidou, she enters the second tournament after hearing that her brother is alive and has been taken by DOATEC for use in Project Epsilon. She finds him suffering from amnesia and going by the name of Ein, and helps him recover his memory. In the 3rd tournament she remains on the run but encounters and fights her brother. By the time of the 4th tournaments she realizes that no assassins have been sent her way as of late, and discovers that they have gone to assault DOATEC and put an end to their evil schemes. She enters the 4th tournament to investigate.


 * Absolute Cleavage: Her default outfit has a very low neckline.
 * Action Girl: And gets extremely mad when asked to sit on the sidelines.
 * Apologetic Attacker
 * Authority Equals Asskicking: Subverted? Her abilities didn't seem to really show up until she was threatened with clan leadership, which she ran away from.
 * Badass Adorable: Because nothing describes this trope better than a Cherry Blossom Girl kicking some major ass.
 * Badass Princess: Or rather Badass Clan Leader Successor.
 * Berserk Button: Don't try to harm her brother or you'll be dead before long.
 * Beware the Nice Ones: Kasumi really is a sweet, nice girl. She is also a trained ninja assassin who was in line to be head of a clan, before she ran off to kill the man who harmed her brother, and faced attempts on her life on a daily basis.
 * Big Brother Instinct: Inverted. She's the one that gets to Raidou when Hayate falls into a coma.
 * Braids of Action: One of her hair styles. It even was her default in Dead or Alive 2.
 * Canon Immigrant: She has had a cameo in the Ninja Gaiden series. Although not as big as Ayane's, since Kasumi only appears as The Faceless.
 * Cherry Blossoms: Her motif.
 * Detached Sleeves: She has them in some of her costumes.
 * The Heroine: Much to Ayane's frustration.
 * Hime Cut: One of her three primary styles, and her default one since Dead or Alive 3. Also kind of the hint that she believed her exile was going to be temporary.
 * Highly-Visible Ninja
 * Honor Before Reason is her worst enemy. When trying to rescue her brother, she doesn't ask for help from either his elite super-ninja best friend Ryu, her (at the time) obedient, extremely powerful younger half-sister Ayane, Ayane's mentor Genra, or you know, the entire army of ninja she doubtless had command of.
 * On the clan's part, they're wasting countless lives by throwing mooks at someone they don't even want to kill and are only trying to because their law demands it.
 * Hot Chick with a Sword: Although we only see her using it in one kata in the DOA 2/U intro and in a few cutscenes in DOA5.
 * Jack of All Stats
 * In Dead or Alive 4 she Takes a Level In Badass and becomes way faster and more agile, leaning towards the Lightning Bruiser territory.
 * Joshikousei: Has a Sailor Fuku as an alternate costume.
 * Lady of War
 * Ninja
 * Panty Fighter: Except for a couple of costumes throughout the whole series, you would think this girl doesn't know pants even exist.
 * Panty Shot: Goes hand in hand with the previous trope.
 * Plucky Girl: Her life is threaten on a daily basis, but it doesn't seem to get to her.
 * Plot Armor: Teaming up with Conservation of Ninjutsu to keep her clan from killing her over the course of 3 tournaments.
 * Redheaded Hero
 * Ojou: She was the princess of her tribe. This is an oxymoron, being as it's a tribe of ninja. (You know, social outcasts turned assassins/spies/thieves?)
 * Scarf of Asskicking: In at least two of her ninja outfits.
 * Screw the Rules, I Have Connections: If she hasn't already, Kasumi is likely to be reinstated into the clan despite their strict code of responsibility, secrecy, or whatever it is that resulted in her leaving earning her the death sentence in the first place. Incidentally, her brother is chief of said clan, now that he's ok again.
 * Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right: The reason for running from the clan in the first place is to kill who harmed her brother...and raped her mother, incidentally.
 * She Fu: Specially since Dead or Alive 4.
 * She's Got Legs
 * Shoryuken: She got a variation using the elbow instead of the fist in Dead or Alive 4.
 * Slipknot Ponytail: In Dead or Alive 3.
 * Smoke Out: With cherry blossom petals.
 * Spinning Out of Here: One her winning animations, accompanied with her trademark Cherry Blossoms.
 * The Stoic: She accepts the consequences of her actions and doesn't angst about her fugitive shinobi condition. She's also always pretty calm and doesn't let her emotions to make her rush into battle.
 * Not So Stoic: Unless her brother's safety is on the line, of course. She also gained a new Berserk Button when entered the picture.
 * Stripperiffic: Not the worst offender in the game, but still.
 * Teleport Spam: She has a complete set of counter moves based on teleporting (with some Cherry Blossoms to make them look prettier), so a skilled fighter can pull this off.
 * Took a Level In Badass: Her fighting style got a pretty deep upgrade in Dead or Alive 4, making her faster and way more agile than in previous games. Most people agree that she's more powerful like that.
 * However, in Dimensions Tecmo put Kasumi-Alpha as a way for players to use her move set from the first three games.
 * Tsundere: Type B.
 * Vague Age: For some reason Tecmo Koei/Team Ninja refuses to give Kasumi an exact age; although all hints and her school uniforms imply that she can't be much older than Ayane, if not being 16 just like her.
 * Executive Meddling: The reason why Tecmo Koei/Team Ninja refused to give Kasumi an exact age outside Japan was because they would receive a lot of controversy with their oversexualizing girls who were underage (not to mention the implication of their fighting to the death). Ayane suffers this as well.
 * Meanwhile IN the Japanese versions, she is 17.
 * Woman in White: Her second costume (except for some red details), which has a very tight competition for the "fan favorite" title with her default blue costume.
 * You Can't Go Home Again
 * You Killed My Brother: To Raidou. Or so she thinks at first...
 * Zettai Ryouiki: Normally between ranks A and B.

Ayane

 * Voiced by: Wakana Yamazaki (JP), Janna Levenstein (EN, Xtreme 2), Wendee Lee (EN, Dimensions)

Ayane is the bastard daughter of Kasumi's mother and Raidou, the product of Raidou raping Kasumi's mother. The leader of the Hajinmon sect of the Mugen-Tenshin clan, Genra, sympathized with her, and decided to take her in as her foster father and teacher. Years later, she learned the truth, and dedicated herself to becoming the strongest practitioner of the Hajinmon style. She failed to protect Hayate from Raidou, and after Kasumi left, was ordered to kill her. In the 2nd tournament, she searches for Hayate as well, and encounters Helena, who believes Ayane to be her mother's killer at first, but it turns out to be a misunderstanding. Upon hearing her foster father Genra has been abducted and used as a subject for Project Omega, she enters the 3rd tournament to end his suffering. She then joins her half-brother Hayate to take down DOATEC once and for all.


 * Age-Inappropriate Dress: At age sixteen, she is the youngest female character in the entire series.
 * Anti-Hero: Type 3.
 * Breakout Character
 * Badass Adorable: Although this can really apply to any of the female characters, she sticks out for her age.
 * Badass Back: Her whole moveset is based on this.
 * Butterfly of Death and Rebirth: Her motif.
 * Cain and Abel: Cain to Kasumi's Abel
 * Canon Immigrant: She's the DOA character that has had more screen time in the Ninja Gaiden series, by far.
 * Child by Rape: Raidou raped Ayame, Ayane happened.
 * Child Prodigy: At her age, she's already participating in a world-class fighting tournament. At 14, she was giving 'Elite Super Ninja' Ryu tips on how to be a ninja. Remember those kunai with the spinny purple flowers? Those were hers. Also overlaps with:
 * Child Soldier: Ayane's probably been a professional killer since before puberty.
 * Early-Bird Cameo: She was included as an extra character for the Playstation version of DOA 1 after being designed for the sequel.
 * Everything's Better with Spinning: More than half of her move set is based on this. You can't help wondering how she doesn't get dizzy after 10 seconds.
 * Giant Waist Ribbon: Some of her costume, being her default costume in Dead or Alive 2 the most popular.
 * Happily Adopted: Genra really was a great man to welcome Ayane as his own daughter, Shinden didn't deny her a place to live and the right to live, and Ayame didn't blame her for what Raidou did, with this Ayane loves both Genra and Ayame with passion.
 * Heroic Bastard: Needless to say Raidou and Ayame didn't upgrade their relationship any further.
 * Highly-Visible Ninja
 * Honor Before Reason: She's willing to kill members of her own family, regardless of her feelings for them, in order to uphold the *ninja code*. Then again, her family is pretty dysfunctional.
 * It's Justified anyway. To not do so would make you just as marked as your target by another shinobi who might not be as forgiving.
 * Important Haircut: After her identity and the reason her clan hates her is revealed by her mother.
 * Lightning Bruiser: Her attacks are among the fastest and most lethal of the roster.
 * Ninja
 * Jail Bait: Depending on where you're from but true for most people. She's 16.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold
 * Joshikousei: With Kasumi, she can also wear a sailor fuku.
 * Little Miss Badass: Seriously. A bullet breaking her favorite hair ribbon doesn't even faze her or interrupt her spell casting.
 * Mini-Dress of Power: Almost half of her wardrobe features this.
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning: Part of her Rei Ayanami expy, also an indication you might not want to piss her off. (Although she's never shown more than mild irritation.)
 * The Rival: Is seemingly being set up as one to Hitomi in Dimensions and 5. She also considered Kasumi this, but it was totally one-sided.
 * Sacrificed Basic Skill for Awesome Training: Not by choice, but given that she was frequently left out in the wilderness (or once for a long time) before being adopted into the Hajin-mon sect to be raised as a killing machine, she probably had little time for formal schooling.
 * Smoke Out: With iris petals
 * Sexy Backless Outfit: Some of her costumes.
 * The Stoic
 * Tsundere: Type A. Specially obvious when she behaves this way towards Elliot in Dimensions.
 * Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Implied in the DOA: Ultimate intro.
 * Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Big purple explosions are as much her trademark as the butterfly motif. In her ending movie for Dead or Alive 2, she makes a major (and distinguishable) contribution to the destruction of DOATEC's Tritower. A Shout Out to this explosive power shows up in Dead Fantasy, where she drops half a building on the other fighters. In Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, her default ranged weapon is exploding kunai. Which she uses for convenience, not necessity, and she apparently has the ability to simply create weapons out of pure ki (i.e. her double-bladed dagger that shows up in DoA 3 and Dead Fantasy). Considering how her life's been so far, and that she's currently a teenager, one has to wonder why she hasn't actually tried destroying the world yet. Seriously, she has more Freudian Excuses than most actual villains.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Purple Hair?!
 * The fact that her eyebrows match her sister's red hair implies that the purple is a dye job.
 * Not likely, as she has been shown with that same purple hair as a little girl.
 * It's also possible that she has some demonic blood due to her father.
 * Zettai Ryouiki: Grade A in her default costume in most of the games. Take note that, with her sometimes Tsundere personality, she's a pair of twin-tails away from being Grade S.

Ryu Hayabusa

 * Voiced by: Hideyuki Hori (JP), Troy Baker (EN, Dimensions)


 * Badass: You know it's true!
 * Big Damn Heroes: In Dimensions during the fight against Omega.
 * Canon Immigrant: The Ninja Gaiden series predates DOA by at least a decade.
 * Ret Canon: Whereas the earlier games made it clear that the NES trilogy was set before DOA, the Xbox titles (with their inclusion of Ayane) kinda negated that fact.
 * Continuity Nod: As of DOA: Dimensions Ryu seems to be the one who ventured through all his solo games again.
 * Highly-Visible Ninja
 * Ninja
 * Ninja Log: In Dimensions. Used on fellow ninja and good friend Hayate, who had to have seen this at least once. Cue Face Palm by anyone who's seen an episode of Naruto.
 * Power Creep, Power Seep: Tecmo canon places Ryu as the strongest Ninja in the whole world, not only for his Master Ninja abilities but also for his fiend heritage, capable of fighting hell and back by himself. Needless to say there shouldn't be anyone in here capable of beating him, let alone kill him; still Ryu is balanced to be an equal rival to Hayate.
 * Recent games at least try to portray Ryu as someone who clearly isn't shaked by any of the DOATEC and other badies threats, acting as he could easily overthrow them, and insisting to let Hayate, Ayane and Kasumi to take care of things by themselves.
 * Slipknot Ponytail
 * Smoke Out: With leaves.
 * Teleport Spam: He can do this from a certain stance. And the same way Kasumi uses Cherry Blossoms for some cool effects, he uses leaves.

Zack

 * Voiced by: Bin Shimada (JP), Khary Payton (EN, Xtreme 2 and Dimensions)


 * Big Damn Heroes:
 * The Determinator: He wants climbs the Tri-Tower simply because it's there.
 * Fun Personified
 * Handsome Lech
 * No Celebrities Were Harmed: Clearly based on Dennis Rodman.
 * He is even voiced by Rodman in Xtreme Beach Volleyball.
 * Running Gag: His hitting on Tina and her blowing him off/kicking his ass. Sometimes, Bass gets added to the list of people beating the crap out of him.
 * Sunglasses At Night: All his costumes involve him wearing sunglasses or goggles of some sort. They can never be knocked off either.

Leifang

 * Voiced by: Yumi Touma (JP), Zinnia Su (EN, Xtreme 2 and Dimensions)


 * Anime Chinese Girl
 * Braids of Action
 * Girlish Pigtails
 * Genki Girl
 * Kick Chick
 * Hot-Blooded
 * Les Yay: Plays with it. She sometimes seems to flirt with her enemies (even the girls) and was quite affectionate with Hitomi in Xtreme Beach Volleyball (one word: strawberry). (Wouldn't that make this Foe Yay too?)
 * Love Makes You Dumb: Jann Lee's been telling her that she's 'worthless' and treating her like crap since day one. She's still persistently pursuing his love.
 * She's Got Legs: Her outfits and fighting style emphasize her legs quite a bit.
 * Qipao: Her most iconic outfit.
 * Waif Fu: Also applies to all female characters.

Jann Lee

 * Voiced by: Toshio Furukawa (JP), Darren Criss (EN, Dimensions)


 * Arrogant Jeet Kune Do Guy
 * Ascended Fanboy: He's a Bruce Lee fan and watched his movies when he was a kid.
 * Badass Normal: Not only his Took a Level In Badass below, but he becomes so strong he KOs a T-Rex in two hits!
 * Bruce Lee Clone
 * Kiai
 * Took a Level In Badass: Bullied weak kid in the past; now look at what he has become.
 * Walking Shirtless Scene: Typical of a Bruce Lee Clone.
 * Unresolved Sexual Tension: Some with Leifang, but mostly on her end.

Tina Armstrong

 * Voiced by: Mami Koyama (JP, first game), Yuuko Nagashima (JP, all others), Kate Higgins (EN, Xtreme 2 and Dimensions)

A professional wrestler with dreams of fame, Tina joins the Dead or Alive Tournament in the hopes of getting noticed by the right people. She's best friends with Lisa Hamilton, and has a rocky relationship with her Overprotective Dad Bass, who Tina tries to avoid as much as possible.


 * All-American Face: More or less.
 * American Dream: Many consider her an over-the-top depiction of this trope, with the way she is always finding new ways to be a star.
 * Let's see, Pro Wrestler, model, actress, rock star, in that order. Since Tina is reappearing in Dead or Alive 5, it's likely she's going to have a new way to gain stardom.
 * Boobs of Steel: Physically, she might be the strongest of all the girls due to being a wrestler.
 * Clearly demonstrated in the Xtreme spin-offs: her power serves and spikes can easily knock an opponent flat.
 * And the rock the size of her body that she throws at Lei Fang in DOA2 to try to intimidate her. Lei doesn't even flinch.
 * Flag Bikini: Her default bikini in the Xtreme games.
 * Foreign Fanservice
 * Pretty in Mink: Her ending in 2 is her modeling an outfit with a fur-trimmed coat.
 * Valley Girl: A Texan version, but her English VA sounds like one in DOA5.

Bayman

 * Voiced by: Banjo Ginga (JP), Zack Hanks (EN, Dimensions)


 * Good Scars, Evil Scars: Gains one in the beginning of DOA5, though it's a protagonist version, since he's one of the good guys.
 * Husky Russkie: To an extent. He certainly has a lot more intelligence than other characters this trope applies for.
 * Not so intelligent in the movie.

Gen Fu

 * Voiced by: Chikao Ohtsuka (JP), Paul Nakauchi (EN, Dimensions)


 * Badass Grandpa
 * The Mentor: To Eliot.
 * Old Master
 * Stay in the Kitchen

Bass Armstrong

 * Voiced by: Daisuke Gouri (JP, 1-4), Kenta Miyake (JP, since Dimensions), Joe J. Thomas (EN, Dimensions)


 * Badass Biker: As seen in DOA5, which he calls "Tina".
 * Clark Kenting: Disguises himself as the masked wrestler "Mr.Strong" in DOA5, though Tina immediately sees through the disguise, Face Palm included.
 * No Celebrities Were Harmed: Obviously he's based on Hulk Hogan.
 * More specifically, his P1 outfit in DOA2, and it's "Hollywood" Hogan (given the large amount of biker leather, leather bandanna, shades, and grizzled biker's beard). His 2P outfit is a pretty far cry from any gimmick Hogan has ever used (it's a cowbow-themed outfit).
 * Overprotective Dad: He's not very fond of letting Tina hang out with other men, or even follow his career path into the squared circle.
 * Stout Strength

Raidou

 * Voiced by: Tetsu Inada (JP), Michael McConnohie (EN, Dimensions)


 * Child by Rape: The father of Ayane.
 * Final Boss: In the first game.
 * Flat Character: Demonic rapist DOATEC guinea pig is his entire story, we never learn anything else about him.

Ein (Hayate)

 * Voiced by: Hikaru Midorikawa (JP), Yuri Lowenthal (EN, Dimensions)


 * Back-to-Back Badasses: With Ayane.
 * Bishonen
 * Brainwashed
 * Happily Adopted: Temporarily by Hitomi, whom he still considers an honorary sister even after regaining his memory.
 * Highly-Visible Ninja
 * Laser-Guided Amnesia
 * Ninja
 * One-Hit Kill: He takes out a blimp with a single exploding arrow!
 * Smoke Out: With raven feathers.

Helena

 * Voiced by: Yuka Koyama (JP), Karen Strassman (EN Xtreme 2), Julianne Bluscher (EN, Dimensions)


 * Badass Preacher: Some of her victory quotes imply that Helena holds religious beliefs.
 * But Not Too Foreign:
 * Dance Battler
 * Hair of Gold
 * In Name Only: Probably gets it the worst of all the characters in The Movie, where she's still the daughter of the former CEO of DOATEC and fights in the tournament, but that's where the resemblance ends.
 * Internal Reformist: Literally in DOA4, and somewhat more conventionally by taking over DOATEC in DOA5 and trying to rehabilitate it's image
 * Kicking Ass in All Her Finery
 * Lady of War
 * Missing Mom/: Her mother was murdered.
 * Ojou
 * Sugar and Ice Personality
 * Tragic Hero
 * Tragic Hero

Tengu (Gohyakumine Bankotsubo)

 * Voiced by: Osamu Saka (JP), Joel Swetow (EN, Dimensions)

""THIS WORLD - IS MY - DELUSION.""
 * Blow You Away: With his giant ceremonial combat fan.
 * Final Boss: DOA2.
 * Large Ham


 * Sinister Schnoz

Leon

 * Voiced by: Joji Nakata (JP), Richard Epcar (EN, Dimensions)


 * Palette Swap and The Rival: Of Bayman, being Italian but using the same fighting style (Russian sambo).
 * Shout-Out: He is similar to Leon from Leon the Professional, an Italian hitman with a pot flower and a dead girl friend.

Kasumi Alpha
(see Original Kasumi for voice actor information)


 * Cloning Blues
 * Daddy's Little Villain: Considers Donovan to be her father, and is very protective of him.
 * Evil Laugh: Prominently featured in the Attract Mode for DOA2.
 * Evil Redhead
 * Evil Twin: To Kasumi.
 * Palette Swap: Justified as she's a clone of Kasumi.
 * Psychopathic Womanchild

Brad Wong

 * Voice by: Unsho Ishizuka (JP), Grant George (EN, Dimensions)


 * Drunken Master
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's a rather hedonistic drunkard, but he does care about Eliot and tries to mentor him regardless.
 * Intergenerational Friendship: Seems to have this with Eliot.

Christie

 * Voiced by: Kotono Mitsuishi (JP), April Stewart (EN, Xtreme 2 and Dimensions)


 * Absolute Cleavage, Hell-Bent for Leather, and Vapor Wear: Her default costume in DOA4 involves a leather jacket that's open—revealing she's not weating anything underneath yet the jacket somehow covers her. Her trademark costume is a white and green leather catsuit. At least it's not neon pink.
 * Battle Butler
 * Dark Action Girl
 * Depraved Bisexual: Strongly indicated to have a fetish for psychologically torturing pretty teenagers of either gender (Read: young Helena and Eliot) and nursing them into maladjusted pretty adults.
 * The Dragon: She carries out tasks and hits for Donovan. In Dimensions it is shown that she is very involved in decision making, and seems to be his closest ally.
 * Evil Brit: She sports a sexy upper class English accent in Dimensions and DOA5.
 * Evil Laugh: While she's usually no-nonsense, she cracks up after gloating to
 * Femme Fatale
 * Foreign Fanservice: She's English. Also, besides Kasumi's clone, she is the first unhacked character who has appeared nude (twice, as a matter of fact: First was in the ending to her scenario in Dead or Alive 3 where she is seen showering, and the second was in the opening of Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball where she dives off a cliff at night to skinnydip.)
 * In Name Only: The Movie portrays her as a Classy Cat Burglar.
 * Lady of War: Dark version.
 * Poisonous Friend: Assigned by Donovan to be Helena's Battle Butler so she can 'keep an eye on her'. Helena seemed to be handling her mother's death better when it happened than she was leading up to the time when Christie revealed
 * The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: To Helena.
 * Shout-Out: Very similar to a certain other fanservicey, platinum haired, Stripperiffic, English lady....
 * White-Haired Pretty Girl: Trailers implied that her white hair was not actually natural, but it was the direct result of an accident relating to a train.
 * : In Dead Or Alive 4, it was revealed that Christie

Hitomi

 * Voiced by: Yui Horie (JP), Hynden Walch (EN, Xtreme 2), Eden Riegel (EN, Dimensions)


 * Bash Sisters: With Lei Fang in DOA5.
 * Breakout Character: To the point that she was revealed to be playable in DOA5 before Kasumi.
 * But Not Too Foreign: She's part-Japanese and part-German (hailing from the latter country).
 * Cute Bruiser: Has a notably more aggressive fighting style than the other girls. Basically the faster (and slightly weaker) successor to Ein.
 * Hey, It's That Voice!: As pointed out by a comment on a YouTube Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 video: "Starfire? Princess Bubblegum? Ah, no﻿ it's just Hitomi."
 * Kiai: For her stronger attacks.
 * No Nudity Taboo: The beginning of her ending movie for the fourth game. She opens the curtains and dances around for a bit... while nude from a shower.
 * Too Dumb to Live: Yes, Hitomi, that baby T-Rex is really cute and Jann Lee was "a bit too cruel" for beating up the mama T-Rex before it could, you know, eat you alive! The fact that she was tricked twice regarding a fake DOA invitation to Zack's Island doesn't help her case, either

Omega (Genra)

 * Voiced by: Osamu Saka (JP), Andrew Kishino (EN, Dimensions)


 * Camera Screw: You fight Omega from a completely weird camera angle that is low and behind your fighter, as opposed to in profile as the rest of the matches are conducted.
 * Final Boss: DOA3.

Lisa Hamilton (La Mariposa)

 * Voiced by: Maaya Sakamoto (JP), Massassa Moyo (EN, Xtreme 2 and Dimensions) ===


 * Badass Bookworm
 * Black Best Friend: She's best friends with Tina.
 * Dance Battler
 * Chekhov's Gunman: First appeared in DOA:XBV.
 * Enigmatic Minion: Her loyalties are slightly murky, to say the least.
 * Hot Scientist
 * Masked Luchador

Eliot

 * Voiced by: Junko Minagawa (JP), Rolland Lopez (EN, Dimensions)


 * The Apprentice: To Gen Fu, who is his mentor.
 * Intergenerational Friendship: Seems to have this with Brad.

Kokoro

 * Voiced by: Ayako Kawasumi (JP), Kathryn Feller (EN, Xtreme 2 and Dimensions)


 * But Not Too Foreign:
 * Cute Bruiser: Her fighting style was based off of Akira's from Virtua Fighter. Which makes for an interesting scenario when Akira himself challenges Kokoro to a duel in the E3 2012 trailer for DOA 5.
 * On a side note, Kokoro's innocent and demure appearance would remind Akira of his childhood friend Aoi…
 * Geisha: She's a maiko (geisha-in-training).
 * Genki Girl
 * Zettai Ryouiki: Her school uniform.

Alpha-152

 * Voiced by: Sakura Tange (JP), Amanda Troop (EN, Dimensions)


 * Barbie Doll Anatomy
 * Energy Being
 * Final Boss: DOA4.
 * SNK Boss: Good gravy, is she ever.
 * Teleport Spam: See "SNK Boss".

Victor Donovan

 * Voiced by: Moriya Endo (JP), Grant George (EN, Dimensions)


 * Big Bad
 * Blond Guys Are Evil: as shown in Dimensions
 * Corrupt Corporate Executive
 * Demonic Possession:
 * The Ghost: Until Dimensions (or ), the only time he actually appeared was in The Movie.
 * You Killed My Father:

Nicole (Spartan-458)
"A guest character created for Dead or Alive 4 during a collab with Bungie."


 * Badass: And how.
 * Expy: A female Spartan who does NOT appear in Halo.
 * Actually Master Chief was considered....
 * The Faceless
 * Guest Fighter
 * Space Marines

Irene Lew

 * Voiced by: Yumi Touma (JP), Amanda Troop (EN)

Ryu Hayabusa's love interest from the Ninja Gaiden games. A CIA agent who uses the codename, she's been assigned by the agency to investigate the tournament and DOATEC.


 * Action Girl
 * Action Girlfriend
 * Art Shift: Changed from her original NES design to her look in the new Ninja Gaiden games, and then changed again (albeit less drastically) in Dead or Alive Dimensions top match the look of the series.
 * Bare Your Midriff
 * Damsel in Distress: In the NES games. Also, was captured by Christie during the third DOA tournament (as per Dimensions) to lure Ryu away from the Tenjin ninjas.
 * Love Interest: Of Ryu
 * Non-Player Character: Has yet to be playable in either the Ninja Gaiden or Dead or Alive games.
 * What the Hell, Hero?:.

Rio
"Appears in Dead or Alive: Paradise."


 * Canon Immigrant
 * Fiery Redhead
 * Hot-Blooded

Samus Aran
"Appears in Dead or Alive: Dimensions for the Nintendo 3DS during a collab with Nintendo. She is not playable."


 * Badass
 * Guest Fighter: Averted, you can't actually play as her, she simply appears in the backround as a cameo.
 * Ret Canon: Even her stage is used to represent her fight with Ridley in Metroid: Other M.
 * Space Marines

Akira Yuki
"Appears as a guest character in Dead Or Alive 5. A Bajiquan instructor from Japan, his main objective in life is to discover the meaning of "true strength"."


 * Catch Phrase: "Juu'nen hayain dayo!" and "Yosshaa!"
 * Guest Fighter
 * Hot-Blooded
 * Martial Arts Headband

Sarah Bryant
"The second Virtua Fighter character revealed for Dead or Alive 5. The sister of Indycar driver Jacky Bryant, she is the victim of Judgement 6's advances and is often preyed upon as a potential subject for their twisted "Dural" project."


 * Guest Fighter
 * Mistaken Identity: Coming from behind, Zack thinks he's talking to Tina when he encounters Sarah working out on a heavy bag during her debut trailer. Cue Tina herself showing up and applying a sleeper hold while Sarah looks on amused.