Akira Zaizen

Akira Zaizen (, Zaizen Akira) is a character appearing in the Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS anime and is the older step-brother of Yusaku's classmate Aoi Zaizen. He is the former security manager of SOL Technologies.

Appearance
Akira is a fair skinned young man with blue and teal hair and pink eyes. He wears a suit which consists of a blue coat with a darker one underneath, a white shirt, and a black tie. He also sports blue trousers and black shoes.

Personality
Akira is a man who values work above all other things. Despite this, he appears to genuinely care for Aoi, and seems to be rather protective of her as he advises her to quit Speed Dueling out of concern for her safety, and when he is asked whether Blue Angel will duel Playmaker, he says no so as to protect her. Akira is generally calm and cool headed most of the time but he can also be stubbornly aggressive especially when Aoi is in danger. This is seen when he lost his cool when he was unable to stop the Duel between her and Playmaker, and when she fell into a coma after the duel he ruthlessly tortured Playmaker whom he believed was responsible for her condition. He is not above admitting his mistakes however and felt remorse for what he did to Playmaker after learning the truth.

Etymology
"Akira"「晃」means "bright" or "clearness". "Zaizen"「財前」can be translated as "before wealth" or "before riches".

Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
At SOL Technologies headquarters, Akira informed Bishop that Ignis was inside of the network. Bishop reminded that SOL Technologies has been the leading force in the network for many years and that is all thanks to the data material that has been created from Cyberse, but five years ago due the attack from the Knights of Hanoi, Ai hid the Cyberse somewhere inside the network. Akira added that due to the removal of Cyberse the supply of data material had steadily been decreasing and the performance of the network had fallen by 30%. To save their company, Bishop ordered Akira to find Ai and to determine the location of Cyberse. Shortly after, he informed Bishop that the preparations for the scan was complete but was worried about the decline of the security during the scan and that there will enormous damage if the Knights attack at this moment. Shortly after, Akira looked at the SOL Technology's staff performed a City Scan in order to search for Ai and got frustrated when the Knights of Hanoi decided to attack as LINK VRAINS defenses would be left vulnerable at that point. He was surprised that Ai was bonded to Playmarker's Duel Disk and asked what happened when a mysterious light go out from Playmarker's Duel Disk.

During the Duel between Playmaker and a Knight of Hanoi, he was surprised that Playmaker summoned a Cyberse monster and wondered why he had those monsters. After Playmaker defeated the Knight, Akira wondered if Playmaker and Ai have teamed up. He, Bishop, Knight and Rook discussed the incident caused by the Duel between Playmaker and Knight of Hanoi. Rook proposed to close down Link VRAINS and perform some maintenance. Knight added that there were some reckless individuals who appeared and it might result in injuries. However, Akira didn't think it would be a good idea to shut down Link VRAINS for their company didn't decrease in profits and the Data Storm was confirmation that Cyberse was safe. He added that Ai was captured by a hacker named "Playmaker". When Knight asked Akira about Playmaker's identity, he answered that they devoted all their resource into investigating it. Rook reminded Akira that this was his job as the head of Security Department. Akira told them if they shutdown Links VRAINS and the battle between Playmaker and Hanoi moved elsewhere, they will lost Cyberse forever and suggested to restrict LINK VRAINS as a battlefield for Playmaker and Hanoi to capture Ai. Bishop agreed but warned that they won't accept failure.

Akira met with Emma Bessho and asked her to get information about Playmaker. When he learned about Go Onizuka and his manager, Akira was surprised that Go lived in a warehouse and thought he would have a lavish lifetime. Go's manager said that Go wasn't a Duelist who was after money. Akira asked Go to defeat Playmaker and retrieve the AI Program that he had. He offered him a D-Board for Speed Duels and explained Playmaker's AI program was originally created by SOL Technology, but due to certain events it fell into Playmaker's hands. He added that this AI program would determine the future of LINK VRAINS and if it fell into Hanoi's hand, LINK VRAINS would be destroyed. Akira wished for Go to protect LINK VRAINS and if he succeeded, SOL Technology would become his main sponsor. When Go refused and asked him to leave, Akira told him that he would come back later. He noticed a handmade championship belt and affirmed that many people wanted him to be champion. Before leaving, Akira told Go that if he changed his mind, he could contact him anytime.

When Go visited his office, Akira helped him by giving him Knight of Hanoi avatar so he can lure out Playmaker and Duel him. He then set up a trap to prevent Playmaker from logging out and watched the entire Duel between Playmaker and Go. After Playmaker defeated Go, Akira then left his office. Akira was then pursued by the media, feigning ignorance that he was responsible for setting up a Duel between Go and Playmaker. When they asked him whether there would be a match between Playmaker and Blue Angel, Akira told them that it would never happen. He then called Aoi and asked why she was unhappy and advised her to quit Speed Dueling because if something happened she would get hurt, to which Aoi timidly agreed. He then watched the Duel between Blue Angel and Playmaker and was angered that Aoi disobeyed his orders. When he saw Blue Angel summon Dark Angel, he went in panic and tried to stop the Duel between them.

After Playmaker defeated Blue Angel, Akira immediately called Aoi but Yusaku answered his call after finding Aoi's unconscious body and taking her to the hospital. He then went to hospital and attempt to follow her to emergency room but was stopped by a nurse. Akira met Yusaku and thanked him for saving his sister. He then asked doctor about Aoi's condition and learned that she is in coma and don't know when she'll wake up. Akira was then interrogated by Bishop, Knight, and Rook when they found out that Blue Angel was related to him and wondered if she was secretly working with Hanoi. After being threatened with losing his job, Akira asked Ema to help him trap Playmaker. After capturing Playmaker with LINK VRAINS, Akira questioned and tortured him while refusing to believe that Hanoi caused Aoi's comatose. However, when Revolver appeared and told Akira that he could capture Ai or save Aoi, he reluctantly freed Playmaker and apologized to him for violently torturing him. Akira then pleaded for Playmaker to save his sister and fight for him even if he hates him. Akira was also surprised when Playmaker told him he only hates Hanoi. As Revolver and Playmaker went away on their D-Boards, Akira had Ghost Girl follow them, and show the footage of their Duel. He also noted how his sister's fate would be determined by the outcome of Playmaker's Duel. As the beam of light was shot in the sky, Akira noted how he saw that in Playmaker's first Speed Duel. Akira ordered Ghost Girl to follow Revolver and Playmaker, but Ghost Girl was unable to enter the Data Storm. As Ghost Girl was helped by someone in entering the Data Storm, she had her cameras record the Duel between Revolver and Playmaker, allowing Akira to remotely see it.

After Playmaker used the program on Blue Angel to cure her, it made her disappear as well. Akira learned from Ghost Girl that Blue Angel logged out of LINK VRAINS and was happy. He wanted to thank Playmaker, who immediately logged out, and logged out as well. Akira stormed out and met up with Isomaki who was sent by Ghost Girl to take Akira to the hospital. There, Akira came to Aoi's bed and watched as she woke up from her coma. Aoi apologized for her actions, but Akira asked of her to rest. While Akira cried that she was restored, Aoi smiled, seeing how her brother cared for her.

Back at his office, Akira was approached by Hayami, who gave him coffee. However, she got too excited and spilled some coffee on the table. Akira forgave her, and asked about her work history. Hayami was thrilled, thinking how Akira cared about her, but he specified he only wished to know that as her boss. Hayami counted three years since her employement, as Akira noted she could not know the location of the incident that had happened ten years ago. Hayami confirmed this, since her specialty was managing equipment, which was stored in a special room inside SOL Technologies building. Akira was not pleased, since he could not touch the equipment that held the data. He left off to go to his house, while Hayami noted how cool he was, even if he was demoted. Elsewhere, Akira spoke to Emma, who noted even if Akira was involved in saving LINK VRAINS, he was still demoted. Akira was not displeased, since his wish to cure Aoi was fulfilled when Playmaker gave out the virus removal program. Emma stated Akira was replaced by his former boss Kitamura, whom Akira believed to be the one making the Duelist army that used AI, and would do anything to get results. Emma wished to know about Playmaker's incident ten years ago; since Akira knew nothing about it, Emma decided to make her search on her own, by hacking into SOL Technologies' data bank. Akira was shocked, but Emma claimed this was just to make connections with that company. Akira asked of her to give such data to him, but Emma stated she was not forced to do so, claiming he could pay her. Akira refused, and Emma grew disinterested of Akira. She left, claiming Playmaker could buy such data to know more about the ten-year-past incident.

In LINK VRAINS, Ghost Girl told Akira how she gave the program to Playmaker. Akira was furious, wondering what was Ghost Girl thinking. As a digital butterfly flew near them, Ghost Girl defended herself, reminding Akira also wanted to know more about the data in the mother computer, but had no authority after his demotion. Ghost Girl claimed that Kitamura would be held responsible, and would make his attempt to stop Playmaker. Akira noted if Playmaker was the decoy, nobody would notice their activities, and he grew more interested in his company's activities. Akira wished everything would go as planned, and logged out. Later, Akira and Emma were watching Playmaker's infiltration in the system on the latter's computer. Seeing Kitamura sent two AIs to Duel Playmaker, Akira and Emma logged into LINK VRAINS, and went deeper to access the data bank.

Aoi Zaizen (Blue Angel)
Akira deeply cares about Aoi and works very hard so she won't go through hard times, but in doing so he unknowingly neglects Aoi, causing her to think he doesn't trust her. He is completely oblivious to her wanting him to recognize her and her abilities.

He was dismayed about Aoi being comatose and became desperate to save her, going as far as claiming he wouldn't care if he was fired from SOL in the process. When Revolver blackmailed Akira with Aoi's safety he quickly caved in to Revolver's demands.

Yusaku Fujiki (Playmaker)
Despite having a brief interaction with Yusaku at the hospital he was grateful to him for locating his sister and informing him about her comatose status. He questioned Yusaku about his relationship to Aoi and the latter responded they are only classmates.

On the other hand, Akira dislikes Yusaku's alter ego "Playmaker" for having stolen Ai. Akira grew to utterly hate Playmaker after his Duel against Blue Angel which resulted in Aoi falling comatose. Akira immediately assumed that Playmaker was the culprit for Aoi's predicament and worked with Ghost Girl to turn all of LINK VRAINS into a trap to capture Playmaker. Akira then mercilessly tortured Playmaker and refused to believe Playmaker's explanation that it was the Knights of Hanoi's fault for Aoi being comatose. However, upon being informed of his mistake by Revolver, Akira reluctantly freed Playmaker and was surprised that Playmaker didn't hate him for what he did. After Playmaker defeated Revolver and used the removal program to permit Aoi to awaken in the real world, Akira thanked Playmaker.

Emma Bessho (Ghost Girl)
Akira considers Emma his only alliance even though she went behind his back and informed the heads of SOL Technologies that his sister is Blue Angel. When Isomaki said that he got an anonymous tip to pick Akira up and take him to the hospital, Akira guessed it was Emma and seemed grateful.