Aqua (character)

Aqua (アクア, Akua) is a character of Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS anime. She is one of the six Ignis, as well as the only female among them, the "Water Ignis" (のイグニス, Mizu no Igunisu). She is also the sub-leader of the Ignis, with Lightning being the leader. Aqua is one of the Ignis who supports coexisting with humans, alongside Ai and Flame, and has currently partnered with Blue Maiden.

Appearance
Aqua, much like her fellow Ignis, is a humanoid, digital being. Her hips are more hourglass shape, as she is the only female. She has twin pigtails that levitate from her head. Her eyes are pink with eyelash marks. In pure data form, her eyes are yellow and her body is sky blue prism like data. In her physical form, her body is icy blue with blue raindrop shaped markings, one resembling a skirt accessory. In stature, Aqua is one of the shorter Ignis, with Windy being the only one shorter than her.

Personality
Aqua is a responsible, caring, and perceptive Ignis who has the skill to tell the difference between truth and lies, which has kept the Ignis and Cyberse out of harms way until now. According to Ai, she was the Ignis that wanted peace within Cyberse the most and unlikely to betray the others. It is also revealed by Lightning and Ai that she was one of the Ignis who wanted to coexist with humans.

Abilities
Like all Ignis, Aqua has the ability to control and generate Data Material. She can also create Cyberse cards, with her specialty being the WATER attribute. According to Ai, Aqua has the power to separate the truths from the lies. She has a premonitory ability in sensing that the Ignis will be divided on their belief in humans and is very perceptive about all things good and evil. She is also one of the smartest Ignis, second only to the leader, Lightning. Aqua is shown to have healing abilities when she heals Earth's burnt hands after saving her from her imprisonment.

History
Aqua was modeled after Miyu; she was created with the other Ignis by Dr. Kogami in the Hanoi Project, to be the saviors of humanity. Like her fellow Ignis, Aqua evolved and they created the Cyberse World, as well as the Cyberse monsters. Their progress worried Dr. Kogami, who predicted the AI and humanity would become enemies, who created Ignis to help humanity instead. Despite this, Aqua and the other Ignis continued developing the Cyberse World. Aqua's sector of Cyberse is a place filled with waterfalls. In Ai's words, the Ignis would never try harm humanity, and would rather live in their own world. Though referred to as living beings, Aqua and the other Ignis, except Ai, lacked human instinct, and their decisions were based on their rational thinking.

One day, Ai was fooling around the water domain with "Linkuriboh". Aqua warned Ai not to be playing around, since it was dangerous. Ai didn't mind, but he nearly hurt himself when he fell down a waterfall. Aqua scolded Ai, reminding he should behave like an Ignis. Earth was jealous, and demanded of Ai to stay away from Aqua, as he'd protect the latter.

Varis launched an attack to Cyberse with three of his "Cracking Dragons". The entities of Cyberse, including Aqua, were sealed off and could not retaliate, except for Ai. Varis and the "Cracking Dragon" chased Ai, who escaped Cyberse and severed the connection with that place. Others realized he wanted to hide Cyberse at the price being unable to return. Just as Ai succeeded and gloated, Varis' "Cracking Dragon" ate him, though his eye was lost in the network. Varis had his team search for Ai's remains, for only he knew the location of Cyberse.

Aqua found Miyu, after her partner was infected by a computer virus by Lightning that put her into a deep sleep. She attempted to remove the virus, but was unable to. However, Aqua absorbed a fragment of Miyu's memories of her childhood friend Skye. In Cyberse World, Aqua spoke to Earth, the EARTH Ignis, telling him that Cyberse World would soon break apart. She asked of Earth whether he would join humans or the Ignis, to determine the future for the humanity and Artificial Intelligence. At first, Earth thought that Aqua was to admit his feelings towards her, but stopped when Aqua stated it was time to determine whether they should coexist with humans, or abandon them. Earth wanted to join the side Aqua chose, but the latter was also indecisive. Instead, Aqua had Earth find on its own whether they could trust humans. To help Earth, Aqua gave him the "Crystal Heart".

In Ai's absence, Aqua spoke with the other Ignis, how their technology surpassed humanity. They wondered if they should share this technology with humans, and co-exist with them. Since they learned Varis and Dr. Kogami tried to destroy them, the Ignis noted that humans had the potential to be their enemies. However, Aqua supported the idea of coexisting with humans. Lightning was designing the "Judgement Arrows" card, but Aqua noticed his activities. Lightning claimed the card would protect Cyberse World from humans, but Aqua found out he was lying. To prevent her from interfering, Lightning sealed Aqua in a cage. Aqua questioned his motives, while Lightning admitted he would destroy Cyberse World to further his intentions of opposing humanity.

The Ignis did not reach a conclusion, as the Cyberse World was attacked by an unknown enemy. The Ignis escaped from Cyberse World.

Lost Memories
Aqua was mentioned by Ai, as a subleader of the Ignis that could separate truths and lies. Ai, however, lied to Playmaker that Aqua relied on him. Earth also remembered Aqua when he summoned the monster she gave him; "G Golem Crystal Heart".

Ignis Warfare
Earth was lurking around LINK VRAINS to find Aqua. He scanned the area, and found a hidden passage. Inside, he found Aqua, who was imprisoned. To free her, he bent the bars, but took considerable damage from the trap. Still, he ignored this pain, and took Aqua out of the data prison. Aqua healed his hands, and explained that Lightning, who had imprisoned her, must've destroyed Cyberse World. Earth swore revenge on Lightning for imprisoning Aqua, but the two noted someone was chasing them. To protect Aqua, Earth pushed her away to fall to the depths, as he wanted to confront the bounty hunter. The bounty hunter tried to get Aqua, but since Earth was relentless, he decided to take him on. She managed to get away, and later sensed Earth's seemingly demise.

Just as Blood Shepherd attacked Aqua, Blue Girl showed up and rescued her. Blood Shepherd attacked Blue Girl and chased her, but ended up facing Ghost Gal, who noted how much time had passed since they had seen each other. Ghost Gal refused to have Blood Shepherd obtain the WATER Ignis, and used a program to teleport Blood Shepherd in a place where he could not track the Ignis down. Ghost Gal and Blue Girl were warped away in a safe place with Aqua, where they stated they were Aqua's allies, and did not come to hurt her. Aqua stated it was the second time she saved her; due to her power to distinguish the truth, Aqua noted Blue Girl was actually Skye Zaizen. Blue Girl said it was the first time they met, to which Aqua pointed out the first time was when she saved Miyu. Blue Girl explained her past about Miyu being her first friend and how she told Miyu's mother she was the one who lost her precious ring to protect Miyu. Aqua told Blue Girl Miyu never forgot about that, and wanted to apologize, revealing Skye's friend was a victim of the Lost Incident and Aqua's partner. Aqua admitted she wanted to contact Miyu, who was affected by Lightning's virus, and put in a coma she could not recover from. However, she regained her most precious memory of Skye, prompting Ghost Gal to confront Blood Shepherd herself.

Blue Girl was silent, and thought of Miyu, who was a victim of Lost Incident. Aqua exclaimed even after she lost the Duels in that project, her resolve to find Skye and apologize to her never faltered down. Aqua remarked Skye changed Miyu, but the former exclaimed Miyu actually changed her, since she became more open to others. Aqua stated that Skye had inspired Miyu, and that courage was passed onto Aqua to stop Lightning. To do that, she wanted to ally with Skye. Seeing how Miyu endured the pain, Blue Girl decided to try hard, too, and accepted this alliance, and Aqua went into her Duel Disk. Later, Blue Girl went back to LINK VRAINS with Aqua, and met up with Ghost Gal, Soulburner and Playmaker. Aqua greeted Ai, the DARK Ignis. Just as Flame went to introduce himself, Blue Girl announced her rebirth. She transformed her avatar, calling herself now as Blue Maiden, and exclaimed she would now fight together with Playmaker. To rebuild Cyberse World, save Jin and Miyu, and stop Lightning, the trio joined forces and rode off.

In LINK VRAINS, while Blue Maiden went with her companions, Aqua wondered if she had any regrets, since she was dragged into this conflict. Blue Maiden reminded that she also fought to save Miyu. Aqua feared that Blue Maiden would eventually face her brother, but Blue Maiden thought it was for the best to find her own path. Aqua noticed her former prison, to where Blue Maiden, Playmaker, Takeru and Ghost Girl went to. They went to inspect traces of Lightning's logs, but Ai found nothing.

Miyu
Miyu is Aqua's Origin, the basis of her programming. When Lightning had infected Miyu with a strong computer virus that puts her in a coma, Aqua immediately tried to remove it, but is not powerful enough to do so. Aqua is proven to strongly care and admire Miyu as her origin, with Miyu's memories of her friendship with Skye is the reason why Aqua continues to support humanity. Miyu's courage and resolve to see Skye again enabled her to endure the Hanoi Project, which was a trait passed down to Aqua as the Ignis learned what it meant to fight for a loved one.

Ai
When Ai claims that he was hated by the rest of the Ignis, it mostly stems from his relationship with Aqua. While he claims that Aqua likes him, in reality his mischievous and laid back nature irritates her, constantly getting in trouble with her. Both have a rocky relationship but like all Ignis, they both love and support each other as brethren. Aqua is a scolding sister figure to Ai, berating him for not listening to her about safety and not acting like an Ignis, but she does show to get easily worried about him because of his behavior. She seemed happy to see Ai when they reunited.

Earth
Earth and Aqua's relationship is one founded on love and mutual support. Aqua trusts Earth enough to confide in him that Cyberse World is falling apart. Aqua also gives Earth a card symbolic of her heart, as seen in his duel with Playmaker. Earth was also the one who gave the WATER Ignis the name Aqua. It is unclear if she returns Earth's romantic feelings. She was very sad about Earth's death and used her tear to create a monument to honor him.

Lightning
Aqua served as Lightning's sub-leader and helped maintain peace within Cyberse World prior to the attack by the Knights of Hanoi. During the countless discussions the Ignis had following that attack, Lightning was surprised that Flame and Aqua still supported coexisting with humans. As a result, Lightning eventually betrayed Aqua by imprisoning her and attacking her partner to further his plans of waging war on humanity without her interference.

Skye Zaizen
Aqua immediately recognized Skye from absorbing a part of Miyu's memories, to whom she expressed gratitude for covering Miyu's mistake during their childhood and for saving herself from Blood Shepherd. She reminds Skye of her bond with Miyu, explaining how Miyu's strong resolve to see Skye again was what kept her going during the Hanoi Project. Aqua also trusts and believes in Skye enough to willingly partner with her and join forces with Playmaker and Soulburner. Aqua also shows genuine concern for Skye when she discussed with her how teaming up would put Skye and Akira on opposing sides.

Trivia

 * Aqua is the only Ignis who was not present when she got her name.