Akiza Izinski

Akiza, known in Japan as Aki Izayoi, is a character from Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, and one of the mysterious Signers. She is also widely known as the Black Rose Witch.

Akiza possesses a "special power" which sets her apart from the rest of humanity, and even the rest of the Signers. Although its exact name and limits are currently unknown, it is activated only by sadness and anguish. This has caused Akiza a lot of sorrow, effectively fueling itself.

Akiza's power allows her to materialize Duel Monsters as reality and to make the effects of her Spell and Trap Cards real, too. These elements combined liken any Duel in which Akiza participates to a Shadow Game.

Akiza despises her dragon birthmark, believing it to be the cause of her unwanted power.

Character design
Akiza has dark, violet hair with two long, elbow-length bangs. She rolls her hair with a device similar to a hair curler behind her bangs, which helps restrain her powers. When she duels under the alias of the "Black Rose Witch", she splits her two large bangs into about six smaller ones. Akiza also makes use of a pale, white mask and a long, tattered black cloak to conceal her identity while Dueling as the "Black Rose Witch". She has unusually shaped brown eyes which resemble those of a cat. Her outfit appears to have Victorian influences, but also bears resemblance to uniforms that were worn by female military generals during the 1980's.

Akiza wears a low-cut red corset with short, white puffy sleeves and a high collar. She also wears a sleeveless magenta trench coat that flares behind her and is shorter and pleated in the front. She wears a gold cross-shaped talisman with an emerald and an optional pair of dark, elbow-length gloves with a pair of gold bracelets above them. Her stockings are the same color as her gloves and she wears red high heels with them. Akiza's Duel Disk has pink, purple, and red trim.

Early life
In her youth, Akiza caused accidents while dueling, often resulting in people getting injured. Akiza later attended a Duel Academy as a young teenager, where she inadvertently caused more accidents due to the instability of her powers. Because of these incidents, she became separated from most people and took on the persona of the "Black Rose Witch". Akiza is later found by Divine, a mysterious man who works with the Arcadia Movement, an organization of psychic duelists with powers similar to Akiza's; he takes her in, proclaiming her to be the "future" of all psychic duelists.

Fortune Cup
Luka and Tenpei later decide to challenge the Black Rose Witch to a Duel. It is during this encounter that Akiza first sees Yusei Fudo and his own dragon birthmark. She expresses surprise to the fact that another individual also possesses such a birthmark, and after a brief confrontation, Akiza uses her powers to disappear in a powerful explosion.

Akiza is invited to participate in the Fortune Cup, and faces Jill deLauncebeaux in the first round. She wins the Duel using her signature monster, "Black Rose Dragon". After Jill is severely scorched due to her monster's attack, Akiza is completely exposed as the feared "Black Rose Witch", thanks to Lazar and Rex Goodwins's plot to unmask her. They had also wanted Jill to expose her as a Signer; however, even though Akiza used her powers during the Duel, Zigzix's D-Sensor received no reading.

Prior to Akiza's next Duel, she confesses to being reluctant to Duel again, since she knows someone is going get hurt. Divine assures her that any damage she inflicts is necessary to the Arcadia Movement's success; consequently, he also takes the mask Akiza had utilized to Duel as the "Black Rose Witch", claiming that she no longer needs to hide her beautiful face from the world.

Akiza's next opponent in the Fortune Cup is the Duel Profiler, Kodo Kinomiya, a mysterious man who attempts to confuse and disconcert her with tragic insights from her dark past. Goodwin and Lazar hope that this strategy will finally confirm Akiza as a Signer by angering her and triggering her special power. After being pushed to her psychological limits by Kodo, Akiza loses control and becomes even more unstable than usual. The pin-like object she uses to hold her hair in place falls off, leaving Akiza's long bangs trailing over her face, and an intense pink aura emanating from her. Her birthmark also activates, and Zigzax's D-Sensor finally gets a powerful reading. Ultimately, she claims victory and moves on to the tournament finals.

She faces Yusei Fudo in the finals. Before the Duel, the audience screams angrily at Akiza and demands that Yusei defeat her, despite their original dislike of him. Several of the spectators closest to the Duel flee after Akiza's attack on Yusei becomes a reality.

After her first crippling attack against Yusei, he angrily exclaims that she enjoys inflicting pain on others. With a slightly insane smile, Akiza gasps for breath and realizes that this was the hidden emotion that had been lying dormant within her; she replies that she is the "Black Rose Witch", a fearful lady who delights in inflicting pain. However, she seems to accept this as her destiny after the audience insults her again, screaming for her slaughter. However, Yusei isn't perturbed, and knows that the hidden emotion that he is looking for still remains locked inside of Akiza.

As the Duel between the two proceeds, Akiza summons "Black Rose Dragon" while Yusei summons "Stardust Dragon". With the two Dragons pitted against each other, both Akiza and Yusei's dragon birthmarks glow, along with those of Luna and Jack.

After being pressured by Yusei, Akiza reveals that she created an entirely new personality - one that loved destruction - that of the "Black Rose Witch". She continues to add that she no longer needs to think, and that Divine will do all her thinking for her - all she needs to do is live and feel. After an intense psychological confrontation, Akiza loses control and her hair curler is forcefully expulsed.

Ultimately, Yusei claims victory, and Akiza's personality is separated from the dark influences of the "Black Rose Witch". She begins to cry and asks Yusei to help her. Before Yusei can say anything, Divine intervenes and gently guides Akiza out of the arena, leaving the enraged spectators still screaming abuse.

During Yusei and Jack's Duel, when both of them are transported to an alternate dimension by the Crimson Dragon, Akiza and Luna are also transported with them, and watch the Duel while floating in transparent spheres of light.

Special episode
In the anime tour special episode, Aki sits with Lua and Luca in the Duel Stadium, as they watch Yusei and Jack in a Duel King Title Match.

Dark Signers
Before Yusei's confrontation with Kyosuke Kiryu, his birthmark begins to react inside of the B.A.D area. This triggers Akiza, Luna, and Jack's birthmarks, as well. Akiza instinctively senses that he is responsible for the reaction and knows that it is related to the vision they witnessed during the Fortune Cup. In future episodes, it is hinted that Luka goes to the Arcadia Movement to try and get Akiza to help her fellow Signers in fighting back against the Dark Signers.

Misty, who has become a Dark Signer, challenges her to a deadly Shadow Game with the aspiration of getting revenge for something. Akiza Summons "Black Rose Dragon" and Misty Summons "Earthbound God Cocalaiya".

Deck
Akiza runs a Black Rose Deck, centering around the Summoning of her powerful Synchro Monster and namesake, "Black Rose Dragon". She also utilizes several Plant-Type monsters and the versatile Field Spell, "Black Garden". In her Duel against the Duel Profiler, Kodo Kinomiya, Akiza reveals an alternate strategy which inflicts Effect Damage to the opponent using "Rose Flame" and "Curse of Rose". In her Duel against Yusei, she used "Wall of Ivy" and "Cursed Ivy" to generate several "Ivy Tokens" to his field. She later destroyed all four of these Tokens in one turn with "Rose Tentacles", inflicting major damage to Yusei's Life Points. Akiza also uses several support cards to maximize her "Black Rose Dragon's" efficiency, like "Wicked Reborn" and "Synchro Back".