Kokoro

**Kokoro** (Japanese: 心) is a young maiko (apprentice geisha), and baji quan martial artist in the *Dead or Alive* series, who made her official debut in *Dead or Alive 4*.

A sweet and polite girl, Kokoro is the illegitimate daughter of Fame Douglas and one of his former mistresses Miyako, making Kokoro the half-sister of Helena Douglas. It is possible that if Helena were to give up her control of the Dead or Alive Tournament Executive Committee, Kokoro would be next-in-line to take control. However, it seems that Kokoro has little to no knowledge of her connection to DOATEC and the Douglas family.

She is voiced by Ayako Kawasumi in Japanese and Heather Hogan in English.

## History

### Early life

Kokoro was conceived by her mother Miyako while she was a mistress to Fame Douglas, but she never told who her father was.

While Miyako kept her connections with DOATEC as head of the subdivision DOATEC Japan, Kokoro was oblivious to her heritage and was placed in training to be a geisha - a traditional, female Japanese entertainer whose skills include classical music and dance. While she had her heart in her training, Kokoro also gained a love for the martial arts and started to train herself in the art of baji quan as a result.

During the events of the third Dead or Alive Tournament, Kokoro was walking home and saw a passed out high school girl. This girl was Kasumi disguised as a high schooler to keep her shinobi secret from getting out. Kokoro asked her if she needed any help but Kasumi refused despite having a major fever, and fled as she saw Ayane approaching. When Ayane asked her where Kasumi ran off to, Kokoro refused to tell her. Ayane was angered and was forced to fight her. In the end, Kokoro fled as well without saying a word to Ayane.

### The Fourth Tournament

At 17 years old, Kokoro started to focus more on her baji quan training and asked her mother if she could participate in the fourth Dead or Alive Tournament. While Miyako was not happy about her daughter's choice, she hesitantly gave her permission but warned Kokoro that she might not necessarily like what would come of it.

During one of her initial matches, Kokoro faced the drunken master Brad Wong, who seemed to take a liking to her. Kokoro, however, was put off by the drunk and vehement fighter and declined his offer for a drink. After several rounds of the tournament, Kokoro met Helena. Unaware that they were related, Kokoro was surprised when Helena recognized her as Miyako's daughter before their fight. It is then that Helena mentions that Kokoro should learn her fighting technique, pigua quan. After the tournament, Kokoro returned to Kyoto where she resumes both her maiko and martial arts training.

### New Zack Island

After the fourth tournament, she went to New Zack Island without telling her mother Miyako.

### The Fifth Tournament

Two years later, while on a business trip to Tokyo with her mother, Kokoro took a stroll through the city and spotted Helena on a monitor announcing the reformation of DOATEC and the return of the Dead or Alive Tournament, which push hope in Kokoro that she will be able to see Helena again. The very next moment, a construction site collapses and during the chaos Kokoro is knocked over by Lisa Hamilton, who she challenges to a fight and demands an apology (unaware to her Lisa was actually lost to Ryu Hayabusa since their fight in the same place). After their battle, Lisa asks the girl how Miyako is doing, implying that the two fighters know each other through DOATEC.

The next few days, Kokoro returned to Kyoto to train for the up-coming tournament, having friendly spars against Jann Lee and Akira. She spots Jann Lee practicing with his nunchaku in a building. Jann Lee throws the weapon in her direction, expecting her to catch it and demonstrate her knowledge with them. Instead, the nunchaku crashes into a vase nearby and she wonders what he did that for. They then spar.

After her fight with Jann Lee, she comes out of the building to the sakura courtyard and continues to practice her baji quan as she is approached by Akira. He demonstrates his own baji quan skills and challenges her to a friendly spar before she is picked up by Zack to go to the tournament.

When Kokoro arrives, Zack takes her to meet Helena and the two of them have a friendly conversation. During their chat, Kokoro asked Helena what kind of man her own father was, implying that Kokoro may know - or as least suspect - that Fame was her father. However, neither woman confirms nor denies the fact and they go on to have a friendly fight.

At the fifth tournament, Kokoro made it to the quarterfinals, but was defeated by Eliot.

### Back on New Zack Island

Kokoro once again went back to New Zack Island simply to take a vacation in the island once again. Happy to be back at New Zack Island, Kokoro decides to just go and enjoy her vacation so that can make some happy memories of the time she spent at the island. She also decides to do more training so that she can win the next tournament.

### The Sixth Tournament

Kokoro was put under Helena's care after her mother Miyako abruptly left, mainly due to evidence implicating her as being involved in MIST. Largely because of this, Kokoro was left depressed. She was then visited by NiCO, who explained she knew her mom and that Miyako was the one who gave her a job. Kokoro, however, drove her off when NiCO empathised with Kokoro's sense of abandonment, although not before NiCO left behind a photograph that piqued her interest: it featured Kokoro and Helena as children, together with Fame Douglas.

She then asked Helena what the photo was about, admitting NiCO's role in supplying it to her. Helena replied that it wasn't NiCO's to give, before reluctantly confirming Kokoro's suspicions that the two shared the same father, and thus were half-sisters. Kokoro did not believe this, and demanded to learn of it from Miyako herself, even fighting Helena and beating her. However, Helena begged her not to go, and admitted that, barring Kokoro, she had no one else in her family left. Kokoro ultimately heeded Helena's request, although she was still despondent over this revelation. She eventually sparred with Zack when he supplied her with an invite to the sixth tournament, feeling better as a result. She also attempted to help dress Nyotengu, although her criticisms and constant redos irritated Nyotengu.

### Arrival on the Venus Islands

She arrived at the Venus Islands in order to partake in the Venus Festival, largely so she could hone both her Baji quan and geisha dance training. She eventually found the owner when wondering where to find the festival. She then agreed to become his partner, after asking what it was about.

## Character Appearance

Compared to the other female brawlers in the series, Kokoro is considered the most feminine and girly in appearance. She has black, bottom-length hair worn loose with a small segment tied in a decoration up front on the left-hand side of her face and also has gray eyes, full lips, rosy cheeks, pale skin, and soft facial features. She is of average height and one of the shortest fighters with a petite body. In Dead or Alive Dimensions, her hair is tied back with a yellow bow, due to the graphical limitations of the Nintendo 3DS. Her re-design in Dead or Alive 5 was left pretty much unchanged for her original appearance, however her face was slimmed to a oval shape and her eyes are not as round any more. Her hair has also been slightly shortened from bottom length to about waist length and is thinner while her bangs are also adjusted to be more natural and less unnecessarily long. Her hair decoration on her shoulder length side lock has also been redesigned and is smaller and the player can choose one of four different variants to wear at the character select.

Her trademark outfit is a pink kimono with a brightly colored floral pattern. While it appears to be a proper, decorative kimono with a red collar of a maiko and an obi sash around the waist, it is actually incorrectly dressed so the skirt is loose, allowing Kokoro to move with more ease while fighting as well as giving her some sex appeal by exposing her legs. The outfit also includes okobo sandals and a type of sock known as tabi. It should be noted that while Kokoro had the kimono since her first appearance in Dead or Alive 4, she is only seen wearing it during the opening sequence and it was not available during gameplay. The kimono later became a playable costume in Dead or Alive: Dimensions and Dead or Alive 5.

Other costumes Kokoro has sported in the series include alternative kimono and yakata, school uniforms, and casual clothing involving skirts or the colour pink. Her default swimsuit in Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 is the Sweet Cherry: a side-tied pink bikini with a top designed to expose a lot of cleavage. In Dead or Alive 5, she wears more school-girl and gym inspired outfits from before, and she even receives an updated version of her mini skirt and off the shoulder top from Dead or Alive 4. In Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate, she can also wear her hair in a shoulder length side-ponytail for the first time as well with a lavender bow. In the Last Round version of the game she receives an additional hairstyle: A ponytail with braided sides and adjusted bangs that feature a parted section as well as straight cut. In Dead or Alive 6 she receives a new hairstyle: Two low pigtails with pink hair bands.

## Personality

Possibly due to her up-bringing, Kokoro is well-mannered and well-spoken but also delicate and soft in nature. Similar to Kasumi, Kokoro appears to be one of the more merciful and gentle-spirited fighters; after she wins a fight, she may ask if she hurt her opponent too much or if she has gone too far with the fight and extends an apology. She is also very hospitable and immediately helps people in need like the time she wants to help the ill Kasumi but her help was denied due to Ayane hunting her. Kokoro is very kindhearted and sweet to others and for a girl her age, is very mature beyond her years.

She does seem weak emotionally at times. She does indeed fight to the best of her ability but, if she loses, she calls out for her mother. This would indicate that although she is confident in her style, losing proves to be a bit too much for her. Her sheltered life and Miyako's protectiveness over her could have made it hard for her to adapt to the harsh reality of the tournament.

Kokoro tends to not react strongly to being startled or surprised. Even when objects are exploding around her it takes her quite a long time to react to them. Jann Lee threw a pair of nunchaku to Kokoro only to have them fly right past her and draw her into total bemusement. When Helena confirms their relationship and that Fame Douglas is her father, Kokoro seems to take a few seconds to process the information.

Aside from her merciful personality and innocence, she is shown to have a short temper, the only time she acts harshly in words or actions is when Brad made an advance on her and she pushed him away, the time that Ayane called her a liar and not being polite, and Lisa who accidentally bumped into her and told her to be vigilant on her surroundings. She also shows this in *Dead or Alive 6* when NiCO tries to empathize with her for her mother's sudden absence.

## Etymology

The kanji used to spell Kokoro's name (心) means "*heart*," which reflects her gentle and kind nature.

## Species

She is the Japanese girl in Japan where she lives in Japan with her mother, Miyako.