Akiza Izinski

Akiza Izinski, originally known as Aki Izayoi in the Japanese version, is a character from Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, and one of the 5 Signers. She is known widely under the alias Black Rose, or Black Rose Witch in the Japanese version.

Akiza possesses a "special power" which sets her apart from the rest of humanity, and even the rest of the Signers. This power enables her to materialize and bring to life monsters and the effects of Duel Monsters cards, even outside of basic attacks or even outside of duels entirely.

Design
Akiza has dark, burgundy hair with long, elbow-length bangs and brown eyes. She rolls her hair with a device similar to a hair curler behind her bangs, which helps her restrain her powers, while a bit hangs down on each side.

Her wardrobe 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, light green puffy sleeves and a high collar. (In the dub version of the anime, her cleavage is made smaller to make her more suitable for younger children). She also sports a sleeveless magenta trench coat that flares behind her which is shorter and pleated in the front. She wears a red neckchoker and an emerald crested, golden cross-shaped medallion, as well as a pair of dark, elbow-length gloves with a pair of gold bracelets above them. Her stockings are the same color as her gloves, and are connected to her skirt (In the dub version of the anime, the stockings are edited) and she wears red high heeled pumps with them. Akiza's Duel Disk has pink, purple, and red trim with purple jewels. For Turbo Duels, Akiza instead uses a form fitting motorcycle red suit which shows her cleavage, along with an enclosed helmet. If at school, she wears the New Domino academy girls uniform with a green tie and a brown briefcase.She appears to like Yusei Fudo

Personality
Initially, Akiza had a very cold and distant nature to her demeanor, a result of spending years being treated as a monster. She viewed everyone around her as her enemy and eventually stopped caring about other people's feelings. It wasn't until Sayer showed her compassion, that Akiza began to have hope in her life again. Despite this new feeling of self-worth from Sayer, Akiza's rage at the world continued to grow, which Sayer intentionally drove her towards. After meeting Yusei, Akiza began to question the path she took of distancing herself from normal society. Finding conflicted emotions between both Yusei's and Sayer's words, Akiza began to lose her focus and by extension her performance began to slip. When Sayer died and Akiza lost her last "place" to turn to, her parents, the people who unintentionally drove her down her hate-filled path, showed how sorry they were for their mistakes and wanted her back with loving intentions. This allowed Akiza to finally find peace and was willing to join normal society again.

After joining Yusei and his friends, Akiza's demeanor has become much more cheerful, valuing friendship and becoming eager to help those close to her whenever possible.

Akiza has also shown a strong connection to Yusei, truly thankful for him helping her gain acceptance. She has also hinted at having deeper feelings for Yusei, such as searching for him vehemently when he was kidnapped, blushing at getting so close to him, enjoying herself when learning how to skate with him, and was annoyed that Yusei was spending more time with Bruno, and was deeply delighted that Yusei trusted her with his Stardust Dragon. When people point out about her interaction with Yusei, such as Jack, Leo and Luna, she would rather avoid the subject. Her apparent feelings for him, also caused her to become a Turbo Duelist in order to "understand him better".

In the manga, from the beginning, she is more friendly and lacking her previously hostile nature. She's friends with many of the girls in the Duel Academy she currently attends.

Childhood
Akiza was raised in New Domino City. Her father, Hideo was unable to spend as much time with her as he would have liked, due to his work as senator.

Some known stories of her past include the time Akiza fell asleep waiting for her father to come home for her birthday. When he got home, Hideo carried her off to bed and left a present next to her. The next day, Akiza opened the Lord of the Storm present and thanked her father. She wanted to duel Hideo but was unable to as promised, due to the fact he had to leave for work and wouldn't return for a month. This caused Akiza to storm off crying that she hated him.

Hideo eventually managed to make time for a Duel. After being interrupted by his cellphone, Hideo had to cancel the Duel and leave. Akiza got upset and continued the Duel in a fury, causing her powers and birthmark to manifest and appear for the first time. Hideo becomes injured in the process. Confused and scared, Akiza approaches her father asking for help, but is called a monster and told to stay back, causing her to cry. He tries to apologize, but Akiza is already stung by these words.

Akiza became distanced from other children, due to her abilities. She once summoned a "Gigaplant" using her powers and set it on a group of other children. Hideo slapped her, as punishment. Akiza believed to have deserved this, because she is a "monster".

Teenage life
Akiza gained entrance to a Duel Academy. Her parents hoped some one there could teach her to control her powers.

At the age of about 13, on May 15th, Akiza harmed one of the boys at the Academy during a Duel, as she attacked him with "Violet Witch". (In the English anime he was Koda) More incidents followed, causing Akiza to become feared in the Academy and not have any friends.

She ran back home one day, only to find that her parents living happy without her. As a response, Akiza used her powers to destroy her family's home and decides to continue living without them. Akiza gained entrance in the dueling underground and quickly made a name for herself. Her powers kept growing unchecked and hurt many on the battlefield. She eventually decided she could not handle the guilt anymore and created the "Black Rose" persona to deal with the rejection and terrorize the duelists.



Akiza was eventually found by Sayer, the leader of the Arcadia Movement, an organization of Psychic Duelists who claims to have powers similar to Akiza's; he takes her in, proclaiming her to be the "future" of all psychic duelists. Sayer hoped to use her to destroy Goodwin and create an army of Psychic duelists.

Akiza meets another Psychic Duelist, Toby Tredwell at Duel Academy. Toby idolized Akiza and asked what he should do to be like her. She told him that he should listen to Sayer. Sayer however kills Toby while testing him and left his body at the Daimon Area. Unbeknownst to Akiza, people came to believe he had been killed by damage caused by the Black Rose's powers, while watching her dueling.

Leo and Dexter decide to challenge the Black Rose to a Duel. During this encounter Akiza sees Yusei Fudo and his own Mark of the Dragon for the first time. She expresses surprise to the fact that another individual also possesses such a birthmark, and after a brief confrontation, Akiza uses her mighty powers to disappear in a powerful explosion telling Yusei to leave her alone.

Fortune Cup
Akiza is invited to participate in the Fortune Cup.

Yliaster arrange for her opponent, Gill Randsborg to expose her as a Signer and tell him that she is the Black Rose. Akiza proved her psychic powers as she cuts Randsborg on the cheek, while dueling. Akiza is exposed as the Black Rose, after Summoning "Black Rose Dragon", prompting the crowd to cheer for Randsborg. However Akiza defeats Randsbord with her dragon, inflicting serious injury. Yliaster was unable to confirm her to be a Signer, as Zigzix's D-Sensor got no reading.

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

Akiza's next opponent in the Fortune Cup, and second round in the Fortune Cup, is the Duel Profiler, Commander Koda, a mysterious man who attempts to confuse and manipulate Akiza with tragic insights from her dark past. After being pushed to her psychological limits, Akiza loses control and becomes even more unstable than usual. The pin-like object she uses to hold her hair, and powers, in place falls off, leaving Akiza's long bangs trailing over her face, and an intense pink aura forms around her. Her birthmark as well activates, and Zigzix's D-Sensor finally gets a powerful reading. Ultimately, she claims victory and moves on to the tournament finals against Yusei Fudo.

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 ferocious attack on Yusei becomes a reality. After her first crippling attack against Yusei, he angrily exclaims that Akiza enjoys inflicting pain on others. With a mildly 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", a fearful lady who delights in inflicting pain. However, she seems to accept this as her fate 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 deep inside of Akiza.

As the Duel between the two proceeds, Akiza Summons "Black Rose Dragon" and 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". She continues to add that she no longer needs to think, and that Sayer will do all her thinking for her - all she needs to do is live and feel. Akiza's hair curler topples off, which is said to hold her psychic powers in check, and Akiza starts to attack Yusei fiercely.

Ultimately, Yusei claims victory. Akiza's mask breaks in half and she begins to cry begging for his help. Before Yusei can say anything, Sayer intervenes and gently guides Akiza out of the arena, leaving the enraged spectators screaming their obscenities to Akiza.

She's then taken back to the Arcadia Headquarters mobile and placed in a tank to help her recover from the Duel. When Jack and Yusei battle it out her birthmark glows and she is transported to a different dimension where she witnesses Satellite be destroyed by a spider mark. Sayer takes Akiza back to the Arcadia building to finish recovering from the duel between her and Yusei.

Dark Signers
After the Fortune Cup, Akiza's powers began to weaken.

Akiza's birthmark starts to throb as Yusei duels Kalin, although she is not present at the duel. She knows that this is related to the vision they witnessed during the Fortune Cup. After Yusei nearly loses, her birthmark stops glowing, causing her to worry about Yusei.

After a practice Duel, Sayer speaks with Akiza, telling her that only he can help her and Yusei will not come and save her.

While Sayer tests Leo to see if he possess Psychic Dueling powers, after abducting him and his companions, Akiza explains to Luna that Sayer wants to determine if Leo possesses any sort of ability like her. After the Duel ends with Sayer's victory, Akiza assures Luna that her brother isn't in danger as the Duel was just a test. She tells Luna that the Arcadia Movement will be her new home, as Akiza doesn't wish for Luna to become feared and abandoned by others because of her powers.

While Akiza is searching for Sayer, Misty Tredwell engages in a Shadow Duel with her. During the Duel, Misty accuses Akiza of killing her brother and seeks revenge. Misty manages to Summon her Earthbound Immortal, who she says sent her to kill Black Rose Dragon. Meanwhile Carly finishes her Duel with Sayer, sending him fall the entire length of the Arcadia Movement building with Akiza looking in horror. Misty postpones the Duel as the building collapses. A piece of debris hits Akiza, knocking her out.

Jack Atlas saves Akiza and takes her to Domino Hospital. Akiza is left in a coma. Her parents visit her and feel guilt for how they treated her. Jack tells them that Yusei may be able to save their daughter. Yusei is able to wake her up, but with Sayer gone Akiza convinces herself that she doesn't have a "place". She refuses Yusei's help and plans to rid everyone of their "place". Yusei duels her, believing it to be the only way to reach out to her. As the duel progresses, Akiza's powers go beyond her control. As Akiza's father stands in front of Yusei to protect him, Akiza manages to gain control of her powers and protect her father from getting hit. Akiza comes to forgive her parents and tells Yusei to end the Duel.

After the Duel, she becomes friends with Yusei and decides to help the Signers. She is shown by Mina, the Arcadia Movement acts involving kidnapped children and experiments upon them. It's then that she suspects that the organization itself might have actually be involved with the death of Misty´s little brother. Also Mina finally reveals to her Sayer´s true motives and plans involving the choosing of some selected psychic individuals with heightened abilities and the use of this as soldiers. As one of them is actually Akiza herself.

After that Akiza along with the other Signers are invited by Rex Goodwin to his house to learn more about the Signers and Dark Signers. Goodwin tells them that the Crimson Dragon influenced the events in the Signers's lives so that they would all meet one day and if it weren't for her powers, she would have never met Yusei and the other Signers. He tells the Signers that they are people chosen by the Dragon God and reincarnations of the original Signers.

The Signers along with Leo and Mina take a helicopter piloted by Trudge to Satellite to face the Dark Signers. In Satellite they meet up with Martha. Seeing Akiza there, Martha notices that Yusei was able to open her closed heart. Roman interrupts them during dinner, imposing a Duel. Akiza accompanies Yusei as he duels Roman. She notices some boys at the scene of the Duel and worries that they will be sacrificed to summon an Earthbound Immortal. She warns Martha and Trudge about this, prompting them to help save the boys.

After Yusei and Roman's Shadow Duel, Akiza and the Signers are confronted by the Dark Signers. The four Signers split up, each going to one of the four control units of the Original Enerdy Reactor. Knowing that Misty is the one she must defeat, Akiza travels to the Lizard tower by car accompanied by Mina. Akiza and Mina arrive where the Tower is situated, in an old and abandoned carnival. As the 2 of them split up and go inside to look for the female Dark Signer. Misty guides by her into a House of Mirrors, where they commence their rematch.

Akiza is unable to see Misty directly and faces her reflection as they duel. Through the Duel Misty, who believes Akiza was responsible for her brother Toby's death, tells Akiza what she believes to be the story of how her brother died and how the news of the event, caused Misty to be hospitalized, leading her to be reborn as a Dark Signer.

Tormented by the truth, Akiza loses the will to continue the Duel. However Sayer appears to save her from landing on a shard of shattered glass. He now deviously manipulates her into awakening her powers as the Black Rose once again. Now more confident and destructive Akiza doesn't even flinch, as she takes damage from Misty's attacks. The Black Rose Summons Black Rose Dragon, who shatters every mirror in the vicinity. With all of the mirrors gone, the two of them now confront each other face to face.

Akiza continues to Duel under the influence of Sayer, until Yusei tricks Sayer into telling the truth of what happened to Toby. This causes Misty to have Ccarayhua devour Sayer, avenging her brother's death and relinquishing Sayer's influence from Akiza. Before Misty could surrender, the Envoy of the Underwold takes control of her. While this occurs, Akiza who still appears to be in some kind of trance, finally snaps out of it as she hears Yusei calling out for her. Thus with the dark and evil entity having gained possession of Misty continues the Duel. Thus at the end Akiza emerges victorious, causing Misty to vanish, knowing she's at peace. Ccarayhua's captive souls are set free and Misty's locket is left behind. Akiza picks it up and feels sorry for Misty.

Akiza is unable to activate the last control unit before the sun sets, allowing the King of the Underworld to be revived. As Akiza observes the Condor geoglyph appear in the sky, the King of the Underworld emerges and makes its way to the condor. The Crimson Dragon appears and takes Akiza and her companions to Rex's Goodwin mansion. Here Goodwin reveals himself to be the final Dark Signer and attaches the arm fo the fifth Signer to himself. He declares that a Shadow Turbo Duel will be held within Condor geoglyph as a ritual to welcome the King of the Underworld.

As Yusei, Jack, and Crow accept the Duel in order to stop the resurrection of the King of the Underworld. Akiza, Mina, Trudge, Leo, Luna can at first only watch the duel while supporting them. However, when Earthbound Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca is summoned, it tries to cheat by summoning a flock of demonic black birds to attack Yusei, Jack, and Crow. Akiza and Luna are able to provide actual aid by manifesting Black Rose Dragon and Ancient Fairy Dragon to fight the horde.

After the duel between Rex Goodwin and Yusei, she sits in front of a cafe with Leo, Luna and Mina, they are apperently waiting for Yusei, Jack, and Crow. Here Akiza discusses Misty's last photo shoot in Paris, simultaneously laughing in amusement as Carly is flustered over her forgotten role in the prior events, as well as rejoicing in the number of lives saved.

World Riding Grand Prix
Akiza returns to Duel Academy, being at the top of her class as stated by the twins. Hearing that Leo and Luna's class is going to get removed from the school and the students will be expelled, she enters their class and tries to stop the expulsion, stating that having low level monsters doesn't mean that you are weak. After Yusei interrupts, she watches and cheers for him in his Duel against Rudolph Heitmann.

Later Yusei gets kidnapped by a corporation seeking to brainwash him into riding for their team. Akiza becomes intent on rescuing him. After receiving a tip off from Mizoguchi on Yusei's location, she and Mina find him trapped in the back of a truck, controlled remotely. Using her powers, Akiza has "Rose Tentacles" break open the truck and leaps on herself. Although reluctant at first, she gets on the back of Yusei's Duel Runner and the two of them off to escape a crash. A female Turbo Duelist named Sherry Leblanc appears and forces Yusei into a Turbo Duel with Akiza still on the back of his Runner. Boss and his goons attempt to kill the duelists by dropping a truck on top of them, but Akiza plays Yusei's "Stardust Dragon" causing it to appear as a real monster and hold up the truck.



Intrigued by Sherry's words about the uniqueness of Turbo Dueling, Akiza became interested in becoming a Turbo Duelist. Her friends construct her a Duel Runner and help her make a Turbo Deck. As she trains, she is mocked by the male students. Yusei helps her train, included bring her skating to work on her balance. Leo and Luna debate on whether that was a date or not.

After passing the initial tests, her final test is a Duel against Trudge. In addition to being new to Speed Spells, Trudge is harsh on the course and easily stops her Black Rose Dragon on the first turn. The male students from earlier detonate a trap, causing a frame holding back large pipes to collapse and spill in her direction. Using what she learned from Yusei she dodges the pipes and continues to defeat Trudge. Sherry watched the whole thing and was impressed. Yusei and friends welcome her to the world of Turbo Dueling.

She frequently Turbo Duels Yusei so that she can get a better grip on Turbo Dueling. During Luna and Leo's duel with Luciano, her birthmark begins to glow. Realizing that Luna was dueling and that something wasn't right, she, Yusei, Crow, and Jack decide to look for her. Once they find her, they all notice that she's dueling with Leo against someone using a creature similar to the one Yusei dueled against.

When Crow is injured while training for the WRGP and must sit some of it out, Akiza takes his place on the team. Crow is a little upset at first, but eventually warms up to it, to the point that she receives a call from him so that she can practice. On the day of the first round, after Jack lost against Andore, she is nervous before the duel begins. In reply to that, Yusei points out that her parents have come to see her Turbo Duel and that she is not alone like before. She then commences her duel, however Andore is able to drastically reduce her life points. Still, Akiza is able to summon not only her Black Rose Dragon, but also Yusei's Stardust Dragon. Ultimately, Andore managed to counter her moves, but before he could claim victory, Akiza used the remainder of her Life Points to save Stardust Dragon for Yusei.

While training for the next round against Team Catastrophe, she found herself in the same situation that Crow, Jean and Andore were before they crashed. Reacting quickly, she tried to use Rose Tentacles, augmented by her powers, to try to escape the situation, but to her shock, she discovered that she couldn't use her powers at all. Inevitably, as a result, her Duel Runner is damaged and she loses consciousness. Sometime after, while Yusei is fighting against Placido Akiza finally awakes due to the severe thunderstorm caused by Placido. She then remembers what happened and concludes that her powers have mysteriously vanished. While there in the hospital, because of her birthmark, she becomes aware of Yusei fighting all while helping a little girl who is afraid of the thunders hitting the city.

Manga biography


In the manga, Akiza is an extremely popular girl at Duel Academy Queen's, known as the "Queen of Queen". She has an ability, referred to as "Foresee Draw", in which she can predict what card she is about to draw.

Akiza was once defeated by Jack Atlas, which still upsets her.

Ran Kobayakawa faced Akiza in a Turbo Duel, hoping to become the new Queen of Queens. However Akiza defeated her. Afterwards, Sakura gave Akiza a towel and was very pleased that Akiza remembered her name. May told Akiza that Jack Atlas was in Satellite. Remembering her last loss to Jack, Akiza walked away.

Akiza traveled to Satellite with May and Sakura. Here they met Yusei Fudo. Akiza prepared to ask him about Jack and realized that he had a "Checkerflag of Glory". She faced him in a One-Shot Run. In it, she noticed Yusei is hesitant and only relies on speed to power his Feel. Akiza easily defeated Yusei, but was surprised that he managed to knock off one of her crests. Having touched Yusei's Feel, Akiza believed that she learned enough about Yusei's Turbo Duel with Jack and had no need to ask him about it. Before returning to the city, she said that she hopes to see Yusei at the D1 Grand Prix.

At the beginning of the D1 Grand Prix, she noticed that Yusei is not present. She was surprised when Jack Atlas patronized the contestants, calling the grand prix a consolation tournament. She later met Jack in a hallway and insisted that she has changed since they last dueled and her pride will prevent her from losing to Jack. When Yusei arrived late for his Duel against Greiger, she smiled, glad that Yusei managed to make it.

Evolving Duel! Stardust VS Red Demons
In Evolving Duel! Stardust VS Red Demons, Aki sits with Rua and Ruka (Leo and Luna) in the Duel Stadium, as they watch Yusei and Jack in a Duel King Title Match. Here, she is friendly to Rua and Ruka, as well as supportive of Yusei.

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Stardust Accelerator
In Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Stardust Accelerator, Akiza defeats a number of duelists at the Daimon Area. As the player witnesses one of her Duels, their birthmark begins to glow. Akiza notices and curses their birthmark before challenging them to a Duel.

She is fought and defeated by the player later during the Fortune Cup.

When the player revisits the underground Duel arena at the Daimon Area after the Story Mode completion, she claims to be finished with them, with the reason supposedly being through them being the fifth Signer, and possessing the so-called "wretched power".

In order to unlock her as a Tag partner the player must duel her 10 times.

Psychic powers
Akiza's powers are that of a Psychic Duelist. This power enables her to materialize monsters and effects of Duel Monsters cards. While this psychic power is undefined in the Japanese version, in the English dub, Commander Koda states that Akiza possesses telekinesis. Her powers, according to Sayer, are apparently much stronger than even she realizes, since he states them to be even superior to those of the Dark Signers.

Akiza had little control of her powers. She uses a hairclip ("energy stabilizer" in the the Dub version), to help restrain them. When she completely loses control, the pin gets flung off and her powers increase more than usual. After her second Duel with Yusei, she is able to control them for the first time. This is because she wanted to protect her father from the serious harm that would have occurred from her inability to control her psychic powers. Although it did turn out Sayer had placed a hypnotic lock on her true, unbridled power, as he spoke aloud the phrase to unleash her as she duelled Misty for the second time (though it left after Sayer met his end).

Originally, it was thought that her powers are linked directly to the violent nature of her mind. This is the reason why it continues to grow over the years. The strength of her power is capable of decreasing, as her violent nature fades. This becomes the case, after meeting Yusei at the Fortune Cup.

However, in the second season, her personality has started to lighten up, and so the influence her psychic powers used to have over Akiza has changed dramatically. Akiza is now able to control them, much like Sayer, as demonstrated when she manifested her cards outside of a Duel. This was seen in three situations: when she summons her Rose Tentacles to rescue Yusei, then to bring out Yusei's Stardust Dragon to save them from a vehicle dropped onto them, and when she summons "Black Rose Dragon" to stop Bokuru. In her first Turbo Duel against Trudge, Akiza didn´t cause any real damage to him, pointing out that she can now voluntarily choose not to harm her opponent. During Luna and Leo's duel against Lucciano, it was revealed that Akiza can also see spirits, like Luna.

Before Team 5D's duel against Team Catastrophe, Akiza crashed due to their Dark card Hidden Knight -Hook-. In an attempt to avoid any injuries, she used her psychic powers to summon Rose Tentacles, but to her surprise the card did not manifest and she ultimately crashed.

Akiza originally despised her Mark of the Dragon, believing it to be the cause of her unwanted power and even noted it as a "wretched mark." She later changed her opinion after her second duel with Yusei, who believed it to have brought the other Signers together as friends.

Deck

 * Main article: Akiza Izinski's Decks

Akiza runs a Black Rose Deck, centering around the Summoning of her powerful Signer Dragon and namesake, "Black Rose Dragon". She also utilizes several Plant-Type monsters and the Field Spell, "Black Garden". Another noticeable trait is that most of the effects of her more powerful cards involve removing Plant-Type monsters from play in order to access their effects. 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 first 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 Rebirth", "Synchro Back", and Thorn of Malice".

During season 2, Akiza has an additional Deck for Turbo Duels, which she first used against Trudge.