Ayane (Dead or Alive)

Ayane is one of the main characters from Dead or Alive games.

Ayane is a kunoichi of the Mugen Tenshin clan and the current master of the clan's Hajinmon sect. She was the winner of the third Dead or Alive Tournament. She is the second-youngest female fighter.

Conceived when Ayame was raped by Raidou, Ayane is the half-sister and cousin of both Hayate and Kasumi. Although mistreated in her youth, Ayane has worked hard to become one of the most powerful shinobi of her clan.

Appearance
Ayane is of petite height, with a slender and athletic frame and, despite being one of the youngest girls in the Dead or Alive series, she bears one of the largest busts out of all the women. Originally, she was designed with a round face, with a small button-nose and wide eyes. As of Dead or Alive 5, her face is now oval-shaped and her eyes have been slightly narrowed but she doesn't appear too different from her former design.

Her appearance is one of the most distinctive out of the fighters, due to her striking red eyes and straight purple hair, which is cut to the nape of her neck, with a front fringe, and is tied back with her favorite dark-purple bandana. In the first Dead or Alive, some of her costumes showed her with strawberry-blonde hair and in Dead or Alive 5 Last Round some of her costumes (all of them referencing characters from other franchises) change her hair to blonde, light purple, dark blue or light blue. As of Last Round, she has a total of three main hairstyles: her default one (with and without the bandana), a short ponytail with decorative ribbon that is similar to Kasumi's, and short low pigtails. For her Gust DLC she wears a hairstyle that is basically her normal hair without a bandana but she has a long thin ponytail "extension" in the back as well to keep in line with the character she is cosplaying as. She also received long pale purple twintails tied with ninja shuriken hair decorations for her Senran Kagura DLC costume, where she dresses as Yagyu.

Ayane's most iconic costume is a dark purple, strapless dress with a pink butterfly printed on the skirt complete with matching pull-on sleeves, stockings, heeled boots, and a giant red or orange obi bow tied around her hips. Other recurring costumes for Ayane include a purple shozoku, Japanese school uniform, and the training dummy costume, originally from the Sega Saturn version of the first Dead or Alive.

In Dead or Alive 6, Ayane's new default outfit is her outfit from Ninja Gaiden Sigma but in minor alterations. Her corset suit is now black with a purple trim which is connected to her gray tights and black knee-high boots. Her long black ninja gloves are now extended below her shoulders and is no longer fingerless which is covered with light purple fabric.

Personality
Mostly due to the way she was treated as a child, Ayane possesses a detached, cynical outlook on life and is completely driven by the desire to prove to herself and others that she is better than those that condemned her. As a result, she turned into a determined, strong, secretive, mysterious, and deadly young woman, earning her the nickname "Female Tengu." She does have a tendency to talk down to people - mostly to Kasumi - and act antagonistically, possibly again due to her experiences growing up. It should be noted that she despises anyone or anything reminding her of the past. Due to her more cynical outlook, she at times can be deeply sarcastic, such as when greeting Leifang during the Tamabata festival with more barbed remarks, or when she offered to let the Owner see under her towel only to yell "Psyche!", as well as telling a defeated opponent they were supposed to watch when fighting.

However, despite her cruel behavior, she isn’t entirely cold and heartless. She does form working relationships with those around her and even loving, emotional attachments, such as her admiration for Hayate and her father-daughter relationship with Genra. However, these relationships are so important and meaningful to her that they seem to be her only emotional support and her reason for living. For example, after losing Genra and Hayate becoming angry with her, she tried to commit suicide. This quick decision to take her life at the thought of losing Hayate's love might be a sign of a more emotionally unstable side to Ayane. She is sharp and very quiet most of the time.

Like most of the other shinobi in the series, she is devoted to what she believes in and follows the code of her clan with all her heart, willing to take on any task for her village, even if it means she could die doing so.

She is also somewhat afraid of ghosts, which proved to be somewhat challenging when she worked with Kasumi in a ghost festival. She also gets uncomfortable with being given higher titles by peers, as evidenced by her annoyance when Misaki and Fiona called her by various honorifics.

Abilities
Throughout the Dead or Alive series, Ayane has been amongst the fastest characters in terms of move execution; her lack of the ability to teleport in battle compared to the other three shinobi is countered with her speed. While as fast as Kasumi, Ayane’s attacks often do more damage and, most significantly, she has a whole set of moves to use while her back is turned, which heightens her unpredictability and extends her combo potential. However, although she is powerful and has relatively simple commands, Ayane can be hard to master due to how her moves require practice and care to execute safely and effectively. Her back-facing stance, although it can make her even more unpredictable, can also leave her extremely vulnerable if not used with caution. Many of her more powerful moves have quite long recovery time frames, which can also leave her vulnerable to counterattacks. As such, she is definitely not suited for beginners.

Before using Ayane, it is recommended to practice with Kasumi first, as she is a more balanced character while still retaining the same speedy, combo-based attack style. When she is mastered, however, Ayane’s spinning attacks can be a great asset in a duel, making her difficult to predict and be countered by the opponent. She can "juggle" enemies to great effect and her quick speed can make her excellent at intercepting opponents as well, especially slower ones. She is a deadly character in the right hands.

Trivia

 * Ayane has been portrayed by the most actors of any character in the series, with a total of six actresses who have played the role to date.
 * Ayane's favorite accessory is the purple bandana which she always wears on her head.
 * In the Dead or Alive Xtreme sub-series and since Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate for the main series, the bandana can be removed.
 * Throughout the series, Ayane's hobby in the Japanese versions has been stated as (esute), which is an abbreviation of (lit. "aesthetic salon"). In Japan, aesthetic salons are popular establishments where men and women go to receive a variety of non-surgical beauty treatments.
 * In the English versions of the games, her hobby is often translated as either "aesthetics" or "beauty treatments".
 * In the Japanese versions of the Xtreme games, Ayane's favorite color is stated as (lit. "purple-dark blue"). In the English versions, the color was translated as "dark purple".
 * The reason Ayane, Eliot, Kasumi, and Kokoro do not have listed ages in western versions of the Dead or Alivegames from the original Dead or Alive to Dead or Alive 4 is because they were under 18 years old. Tecmo decided to give them undefined ages to avoid the risk of a moral backlash from western countries.
 * Ayane's age is listed as 18 in Dead or Alive++ despite having been listed as 16 in the Playstation version of the first Dead or Alive game.
 * In the West, it was believed for many years that Ayane was the training dummy in the Sega Saturn version of Dead or Alive, due to her later having the dummy's bodysuit as a recurring costume in later games.
 * In actuality, the dummy is named "Toreko", as stated in the game's official guide.
 * Ayane was the first character to use ninpo (ninja magic), even before Hayabusa in Ninja Gaiden. In Dead or Alive 2, she would use ninpo in an alternate story mode cutscene if the player wins against Kasumi and is twice the starting distance from her before the cutscene plays. The part of the cutscene where Ayane performs the technique also plays during the opening segment. The incantation for the blast has still to be revealed as it doesn't show even when the subtitles have been turned on. Some kanji in red appear and disappear behind Ayane as she says the words of the blast. The translation for them is unknown or if they're the words for the attack.
 * In the original treatment of Dead or Alive 5 by Itagaki, Ayane was to reunite with Kasumi in a Snowy field, with Kasumi initially thinking Ayane was coming to try and kill her, and protested that they just stopped DOATEC and that everything was over, only for Ayane to reveal the face of a soldier she had killed and revealed that she was actually coming to warn Kasumi that DOATEC's still around, and that their village was destroyed by the DOATEC-Asia group. Ayane then collapsed into Kasumi's arms, although not before telling Kasumi that Ayane will kill Miyako. However, this story treatment got rejected when Dead or Alive 5 changed hands.
 * In DOA: Dead or Alive, Ayane is the only Dead or Alive character in the movie who wasn't invited to DOA Island nor the DOA Tournament.
 * IGN featured Ayane in their "Videogame Babe of the Day" series in 2006. She was also voted #7 in Fandomania's "Top 10 Fictional Ninjas" list.
 * Naotora Ii's ending in Musou Stars implies that Ayane has a friendly relationship with her.
 * Ayane's fear of ghosts in the One Day in the Summer's first part may have been a reference to her role in Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water.
 * Ayane refers to herself as "the Miyama's woman tengu" in Dead or Alive 2, whereas Nyotengu calls herself the female tengu of Miyama. This is used as a source of humorous tension in their interactions.