Skye Zaizen

"Aoi"

- I just want my brother to know that I can hold on my own.

Aoi Zaizen (, Zaizen Aoi) is a character appearing in the Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS anime. She is Yusaku's classmate and the younger step-sister of Akira Zaizen. In LINK VRAINS, she is a popular Charisma Duelist under the alias Blue Angel (ブルーエンジェル, Burū Enjeru).

Appearance
Aoi is a fair-skinned young woman with light brown hair in a bob-cut and yellow eyes. Her standard attire is a uniform that consists of a slate-colored jacket with a light blue trim, which she wears over a light yellow jumper. Underneath, she has a white dress shirt with a blue tie and heart-shaped clip. Aoi's uniform also includes a short black skirt with black socks that reach below her knee and brown shoes. When she was younger, Aoi would wear a yellow dress with a green shirt underneath. Her hair was styled similarly to her Blue Angel persona.

As Blue Angel she takes on a appearance of magical girl, true to her name, she has very long blue hair which reaches her chest and is tied into two long strands with blue ribbons. Her eyes and eyebrows are also blue and she has a green clover tattoo on her right cheek. She wears a blue choker and pink heart-shaped winged earrings. Her outfit consists of a white sleeveless shirt with a blue necktie. Underneath, she wears a blue and pink dress with wing-shaped frills, and dark blue thigh-high socks. She wears dark and light blue boots with wings attached to each one. Lastly, she has a pair of white wings with pink heart-shaped and lavender clover-shaped patterns on each wing.

Personality
Aoi is described as being very nice, polite, timid, and reserved on first sight. As a child, based on a picture of her, she is a shy girl, holding onto her mother. However, as a Charisma Duelist, Aoi becomes very active in LINK VRAINS. As Blue Angel, her personality is very bubbly, energetic and she is a smiling idol with a cheerful demeanor. She is very obedient to her older step-brother, Akira, but also wants to prove herself and is willing to show him that she can handle something on her own. She seems very distrustful of others, as she thinks most people only approach her for her connections to SOL Technologies. Despite this she is shown to be very grateful for people who have helped and saved her and she is also eager to help them in return.

Etymology
"Aoi" (葵) means "hollyhock", a plant associated with abundance and great fortune and was also the emblem of the Tokugawa family. "Aoi" may also be derived from (青い), a Japanese word for Blue, reflected by her alias, "Blue Angel." The characters that form "Zaizen" (財前) can be translated as "before wealth".

Abilities
In LINK VRAINS as Blue Angel she can summon and create a blue energy whip.

In a Speed Duel, Aoi can use the Skill "Trickstar Fraud", which allows her to discard a "Trickstar" monster during the opponent's turn in order to force them to draw until they have 3 cards in their hand.

Biography
Akira and Aoi's parents had a wedding. As they went to an anniversary, their parents died in a traffic accident. Akira and Aoi were left alone, and their possessions were sold out, including their manor. Akira had to do a lot of illegal work, but Aoi made him happy, and Akira swore not to protect that smile.

Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Aoi first appeared as Blue Angel and was about to face an unnamed Duelist in LINK VRAINS. Before she was able to begin the Duel, an unnamed Knight of Hanoi. She ran away in fear, and was about to be attacked by "Cracking Dragon", but Playmaker arrived in time to save her. She then watched the Duel between Playmaker and the Knight, and when Playmaker fell from his D-Board, she returned her debt to him by throwing him back his D-Board with an energy whip she summoned. After Playmaker defeated the Knight she and Go Onizuka approached him and challenged him to a Duel. He refused their challenge, claiming that he had no interest in either of them and left, much to their dismay.

After she defeated an unnamed opponent in a Speed Duel, she logged out of LINK VRAINS and went to watch the sunset. Meanwhile, Shoichi Kusanagi and Yusaku discovered her Blue Angel persona and decided to track her down the following day at school, at Shoichi's suggestion he do so to gain an audience with Akira. He watched her enter the Duel Club, and when he reluctantly joined in after her, she introduced herself. When he asked about the new Duel Disk model used by everyone in the club, Naoki Shima, another member, started bragging about how Akira had given them all the new Duel Disks, and Aoi shot him a stern glare. While Ai tried to start a conversation with the AI program in Aoi's Duel Disk, she noticed that Yusaku's Duel Disk was a card-loading model, the same as Playmaker's. She then asked to see Yusaku's Deck, and Yusaku handed it to her, though it was actually a dummy Deck and not his real one. After she looked at the cards, she politely handed it back with a word of thanks, but Naoki snatched it up and started laughing at the cards. She looked on as the club's president scolded Naoki for insulting the Deck, and Naoki apologized and gave it back to Yusaku. After school, Aoi returned home to her apartment, and the housemaid robot there told her that Akira would not come home because of work. She turned on the TV and saw him deflect press questions about Playmaker's Duel against Go. When he was asked if Blue Angel would Duel Playmaker next, he said no, at which point she turned the TV off.

That evening, she got a call from Akira, who asked her why she was unhappy, then told her to stop Speed Dueling immediately because it was dangerous and she could die, and because he cared about her. He also told her not to let anyone find out she was Blue Angel as it could jeopardize his position. She timidly replied that she understood and hung up, but then reflected on her resolve to show him that she could hold her own, and decided to Duel Playmaker. She entered LINK VRAINS and, after turning down several Duel requests, issued a public challenge to Playmaker to come out and Duel her, with Yusaku and Shoichi watching. Yusaku refused her challenge, as she was not a Knight of Hanoi. After waiting in vain for Playmaker to show up, she was instead approached by Specter, who claimed to be a fan of hers, but she realized he was lying. He told her he wanted her to defeat Playmaker, and gave her a card, which he told her would free her hidden desires. After he left, she wondered what she was doing there, apparently having no memory of the incident. She bumped into Yusaku again the next morning at school. Ai tried to talk to her Duel Disk again, but this time it gave an angry response, and Ai immediately realized something was wrong. As Aoi and Yusaku walked to class, she asked him why he had joined the Duel Club, not believing it was because he loved Dueling. When Yusaku asked her about her brother, she angrily told him that people only ever talked to her because they either wanted the new Duel Disk, or a job at SOL Technology after graduating. She told him not to bother asking because her brother wouldn't trust her, and ran off.

While in class, she received a text from "Playmaker" accepting her challenge, when it was actually sent by Ai. She excused herself, claiming she needed to go to the infirmary, but instead went to the rooftop to enter LINK VRAINS. When the Duel started, she felt a wave of excitement when she heard her fans cheering her on. Blue Angel started off splendidly, chipping away a considerable amount of Playmaker's LP and destroying "Decode Talker" even with his attempt at defense. Blue Angel then drew "Dark Angel" and started getting influenced by the Knights of Hanoi. As Playmaker made his move and was about to attack, Blue Angel used her Skill in tandem with her cards to attempt to defeat Playmaker, but was foiled. She then lost consciousness from the mental damage she received from Dark Angel, as "Encode Talker" finished her in one hit.

After the duel, Blue Angel fell into a coma. Playmaker then logged out and found a comatose Aoi on the roof. She was then rushed to the hospital. The doctors stated that they couldn't identify the reason or cure for Aoi's condition. Later Blue Angel's unconscious body was seen in a building within LINK VRAINS, during the confrontation between Akira, Playmaker and Revolver, who stated that he would only give Aoi the removal program if Playmaker defeated him in a duel. Akira looked at her sister's unconscious LINK VRAINS avatar, noting how her fate depended in the Playmaker's Duel against Revolver. Akira looked at his sister, concerned how Revolver and Playmaker stopped their Speed Duel and entered the Data Storm.

With Revolver's defeat, Playmaker acquired the virus-removal program. He approached Blue Angel's avatar and released the program, making her disappear. Ghost Girl explained she logged out, and Akira sensed Aoi was recovering. Akira came to Aoi's bed at the hospital, and watched as she woke up from her coma. Aoi apologized for her actions, but Akira just asked her to rest. While Akira cried that she was restored, Aoi smiled, seeing how much her brother cared for her. Since the incident in LINK VRAINS, Aoi did not show up at school, nor did she enter the network. Yusaku believed her brother simply restricted her the access to LINK VRAINS to prevent any further danger that could befall her. As predicted, Aoi was restricted by the robot at her apartment from leaving, per Akira's orders. She took a tablet and accessed LINK VRAINS network, in a shape of a digital butterfly. She overheard the conversation between Ghost Girl and Akira. After the latter logged off, Ghost Girl recognized the butterfly as Blue Angel, and offered her a chance to regain her reputation. She logged into the LINK VRAINS and stopped one of the AI prototypes from attacking Playmaker with her whip. She swore she would be the one to defeat Playmaker, and asked of the AI to stop their attacks. The AI prototype swore to eliminate her, too. Blue Angel promised to take them on and defeat them.

Playmaker muttered Blue Angel's name, who came to repay him for curing her. Playmaker claimed he never indebted her; regardless, Blue Angel started the Duel with the other AI prototype, and thought she'll be the one to defeat Playmaker. Blue Angel went with her usual tactic by using "Trickstar Light Stage" to summon "Trickstar Lilybell" and, with "Trickstar Candina", Link Summoned her "Trickstar Holly Angel". Special Summoning a "Trickstar Narkissus", Blue Angel had "Trickstar Holly Angel" and "Trickstar Light Stage" shave off the AI prototype's LP, and brought back "Trickstar Narkissus", along with "Trickstar Lycoris". As the AI prototype drew another card, another 400 LP was dealt to it as damage, while "Trickstar Holly Angel" increased its ATK, Blue Angel wished to sting the prototype even more. To halt Blue Angel's strategy, the AI prototype used "Abyss Invitation" to inflict 200 LP damage back to Blue Angel whenever the AI prototype is damaged. Like the other prototype, the AI Link Summoned "Tentacluster Nautilus", and destroyed two of his "Tentacluster Blastsucker" to inflict a total of 1200 LP damage.

Blue Angel noted the prototype fought her by using effect damage, and she would retaliate in a similar manner. The prototype banished two of his "Tentacluster Blastsucker", to shave Blue Angel's LP to 400, while it had 1500 LP left. The prototype brought back a "Tentacluster Blastsucker", and had it attack "Trickstar Lycoris", while Blue Angel noted it would destroy it on purpose and banish it to win the Duel. Using "Trickstar Cascade", Blue Angel negated the attack, preventing AI's victory. Blue Angel declared she wouldn't let the AI prototype gain another turn, as she drew a card. Bringing out "Trickstar Candina", Blue Angel Link Summoned "Trickstar Black Catbat", and dealt 200 LP to the prototype, who dealt the damage to her with "Abyss Invitation". "Trickstar Black Catbat" reduced "Tentcluster Blastsucker's" ATK, and Blue Angel's "Trickstar Temptation" returned it to the AI prototype's hand. Her "Trickstar" monsters defeated the AI prototype, banishing it. Blue Angel cheered and winked for her victory. She came to the data bank and hid, seeing her brother was with Ghost Girl and confronted Playmaker. She listened how Akira was actually demoted to help her out during the "Revolver crisis". She also listened about Akira's story that he had to participate in illegal work to protect her.

Akira Zaizen
Aoi and Akira are step-siblings. He cares very deeply for Aoi due to their parents dying while they were young. Aoi, on the other hand, is shown to have a big brother complex and idolizes him. Akira is aware that she is Blue Angel, but fails to see her desire to gain recognition from him. Akira unknowingly neglects her due to him working to ensure she doesn't have any hardships. However, Akira has shown that Aoi is more important than his work as he risked his position to find a cure for her. He also seems protective of her, as seen when he questioned Yusaku about their relationship, or when he confronted Revolver for the removal program.

Yusaku Fujiki (Playmaker)
Aoi and Yusaku are classmates, but only Yusaku is aware of her alter-ego. As "Blue Angel", Aoi is shown to develop an interest in Yusaku's alter-ego, "Playmaker", after he saved her from a "Cracking Dragon". She is shown to be grateful to "Playmaker" for saving her, and saved him in return after he fell from his D-Board. She also has a desire to defeat him in a Duel to prove herself.

Yusaku is interested in getting close to Aoi in order to obtain leads regarding SOL and his fight against Hanoi, but Aoi assumed that he, like many others, wanted a new Duel Disk or a job at SOL so she quickly dismissed him.

Yusaku was shocked when he discovered that Aoi may have ties to the Knights of Hanoi showing that he never thought of her as enemy, but he was still willing to duel her. He was visibly disturbed when Hanoi's card began damaging Aoi so he rushed to end the Duel as quickly as possible, out of concern for her well being. After the Duel, Yusaku felt it was his responsibility to help Aoi recover from her coma and willingly walked into a trap set by Ghost Girl for the sake of saving her.

Yusaku's defeat of Revolver allowed him to obtain the removal program which he used to awaken her. Following his duel with Revolver he immediately asked Shoichi if Aoi was alright. After Aoi's recovery, Yusaku is shown to still be concerned about her safety and worried that she hadn't attended school for a long time. Ai also teases him for being worried about her.

Deck
Aoi uses a "Trickstar" Deck that incorporates Link Summoning. Her main strategy is to first gain card advantage while Summoning multiple "Trickstar" monsters, then use a combination of "Trickster Light Stage" and "Trickstar Lycoris" to inflict effect damage to the opponent multiple times a turn, while powering up "Trickstar Holly Angel" at the same time. Ai describes her Duel style as "poking with needles".