Hitomi (Dead or Alive)

Hitomi is a character from the Dead or Alive series.

Hitomi has been practicing the art of karate under her father's tutelage since she was a child, and enters the Dead or Alive Tournaments either to prove her skills or to see Hayate. Either reason, she is determined to win the tournament.

Appearance
Hitomi is of average height, with a slender and athletic build, she has sky blue eyes and shoulder-length brown hair with a front fringe, normally worn with a pink headband. Throughout the series, her height and bust measurements have changed, through only by a couple of centimeters: In Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball, she is 5'4 (161 cm) tall with a 89 cm bust; in  Dead or Alive 4, she is 5 '3 (160 cm) tall with a 90 cm bust, and in Dead or Alive Xtreme 2, she is 5 '2'' (158 cm) tall with a 89 cm bust.

Her clothing often bears a western appearance, with outfits consisting mostly of jeans, tank-tops, and denim jackets, complete with protective fighter's gloves. A running detail on her jeans is that the back label always bears the initials of the game she's in; for example, in Dead or Alive 4, the label reads "DOA4". Hitomi also sometimes sports her own emblem, usually printed on the front of her tank-top or the back of her jacket. The emblem, in its simplest form, is the shape of an eagle with fanned-out wings. More detailed versions of the emblem show the eagle in greater style, holding a banner in its talons with Hitomi's name upon it. Phrases like "Thanks for the fight" and "My fists are on fire" may also be printed on it.

In Dead or Alive 5, her appearance has been made to be more realistic; her face model has been updated (although her ears and face were modified in the final version due to negative feedback), and her hair is now slightly shorter, with more feathered bangs. Her original outfit now consists of a white tank top with a black bra underneath, with sneakers instead of boots. Her secondary outfit is similar except her denim jacket and yellow tube top(returns in Ultimate) has been replaced with a green letterman-style hoodie with the letter "H".

In Ultimate version of the game, she receives a ponytail as her new hairstyle with short side locks and her hair pulled back with a green barrette accessory. In Last Round, she receives a short bob-cut style similar to Christie but with her same normal fringe and slightly more coiffed towards her face. Her headband is of course prominent in all three of her styles although it may change in DLCs such as her Overalls and Cop DLC.

In Dead or Alive 6 she wears her karate attire as her default outfit as a contrast to her primary casual outfits in the previous games. She wears an off-white short sleeved karate gi which is tucked into her black karate belt with both Germany and Japan flags embedded on the right sash. Underneath her outfit is her white tank top with a small black eagle design on front and a matching off-white karate pants. To complete the outfit, she wears a white headband on her forehead.

Personality
Hitomi is a very friendly, cheerful, energetic girl but is also a hard-working martial artist, through-and-through. Her victories have come as a result of a grueling, life-long training regimen as well as a complete commitment to her studies and her art. Not only has Hitomi practiced her techniques, she has studied them, coming to understand the deeper principles behind karate as well as of the art itself. Owing to this, some of her training regiment included doing aerobic exercises for the abs and spine, as well as push-ups 500 times each, which she does even during vacations, with beach volleyball, rock climbing, tree climbing, and running a single lap around the perimeter of the island (called a Nimba run) also being implied to be part of the regiment. In addition, Honoka also implied that part of her training regiment when in her home country of Germany involved fighting bears.

She is very much an honorable competitor and always fights fairly in a match, to do otherwise would bring shame to her name, her martial art, and her father's dojo. Her honorable nature was such that she refused any offers of a differing strategy to win even from friends in activities other than Karate. Often after winning, she will compliment her opponent rather than shame them like other fighters in the series. She is also fair in her dealings with others, treating everybody equally and with the respect that they deserve. She will defend others who are being treated harshly, this is demonstrated when she tried to defend Leifang from Jann Lee.

Despite her Japanese name and study in karate, it appears that Hitomi is acclimated more into the German lifestyle than that of the Japanese, having been born and raised in Germany, often sporting Western attire, and having a relatively close, more visible relationship with her German father compared to her relationship with her Japanese mother, who remains unknown.

Hitomi at times can be extremely naïve, as evidenced by her attacking Jann Lee for knocking out a Tyrannosaurus Rex for being "cruel" to it during the fourth tournament, completely missing how Jann Lee had saved her from being eaten. In addition, when Zack orchestrated a second hoax Dead or Alive Tournament, Hitomi was the only one of the girls who had been invited both times to fall for the same trick twice, with the other girls already having their own reasons for going to the island beforehand (and in the case of Kokoro it being her first time going to Zack's Island).

Abilities
Hitomi can be considered the successor to Ein, in terms of fighting technique and statistics. However, Hitomi is slightly faster, compared to Ein's strikes being somewhat more powerful than hers. She has the strongest punch techniques amongst all the females characters in game.

Hitomi's fighting style relies on quick, medium-damage strikes and a good mix up game, making her well-suited to an aggressive, offensive play style. Her recovery time frame is also excellent, and her holds and parries make her defensively quite balanced as well. As a well-balanced character with simple commands she's very easy to use and well-suited to beginners. Her tell-tale "wind-up" shared with Ein, however, is a popular counter-attack weakness for her. Her "interruption attacks", however (such as the Tsubauchi), are competent in keeping the opponent off-guard, as well as making Hitomi preferable for aggressive players.

Trivia

 * It is most likely that Hitomi was born and raised in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwestern Germany, due to the Black Forest being found there. It was at the forest where she found a passed-out Hayate.
 * Hitomi is the first biracial character of the franchise, as she has a mix of Japanese and German ancestry.
 * On a related note, in the Japanese versions of the games, her name is transcribed in Katakana instead of Hiragana despite her name being of Japanese origin, most likely due to her foreign status.
 * Hitomi was the first cover girl to replace Kasumi - with the release of Dead or Alive 3, the advertisements were noticeably more focused on Hitomi rather than Kasumi.
 * Evidenced by her college soccer attire in Dead or Alive 5, Hitomi's last name is possibly Buchfink. Buchfink is a common German surname.
 * Hitomi was ranked #4 in TeamXbox's "Top Ten Xbox Babes" in 2004; one place behind Kasumi. She was also featured in IGN's "Videogame Babe of the Day" series in 2006.
 * Hitomi owns a red bicycle featured in the Dead or Alive 3 opening and her Dead or Alive 4 ending.
 * Due to negative fan reaction, Hitomi's Dead or Alive 5 design was changed. Most notably, her ears were made smaller and her face was made rounder. She is one of only two characters to have to be changed from her first "final design", the only other being Mai Shiranui.
 * In Dead or Alive 3 and Dead or Alive 4, Hitomi's occupation was listed as a high school student. However, in the Official Dead or Alive 5 Strategy Guide, she is still listed as a high school student despite the fact that she is twenty years old and wears college attire. This is a misprint.
 * A tweet from Tecmo has stated that Hitomi plays in her college soccer team.
 * According to the data source from Dead or Alive Xtreme Venus Vacation, Hitomi's name tag is "HTM".