Akeno Himejima

Akeno Himejima is a third-year student at Kuoh Academy and one of the many female protagonists of High School DxD. She is the Vice-President of the Occult Research Club and is Rias Gremory's "Queen". Like Rias, Akeno is also one of Kuoh Academy's Two Great Ladies.

Appearance
Akeno is a buxom young woman who is around the same age as Rias with long black hair and violet eyes. Her hair is usually tied in a long ponytail going all the way down to her legs with two antennae sticking out from the top and sloping backwards, with an orange ribbon keeping it in place. Like most of the girls at Kuoh Academy, she wears the Kuoh Academy girls' school uniform, along with black knee-high socks.

When Akeno needs to perform more powerful spells, she changes into her "Priestess of Thunder" mode where she wears the traditional miko outfit, consisting of a white haori with red accents, a red hakama, and a pair of zōri with white tabi.

When she first revealed herself as a Fallen Angel in front of Issei in Volume 4, she grows one Devil wing and one Fallen Angel wing. In her Fallen Angel Mode, she grows three pairs of wings. Her outfit also changes, now wearing a very revealing set of armor consisting of a micro-bikini top, thong, thigh-high boots with garter belts, gauntlets, and amulet, all of which are black with gold accents with the boots and gauntlets featuring black feathers. Her wings differ from a normal Fallen Angels, in which they are actually Devil's wings adorned with feathers as opposed to bird's wings.

Personality
She is first seen to be an elegant, gentle girl but then turns into a sadist when fighting someone. She loves to tease Issei and Rias (especially Issei). She starts to tease Issei in volume 3 of the light novel and fell in love with him in volume 4. Akeno has also stated that she has some masochism in her as well.

History
Akeno is the only child of Juri Himejima, a well-known Shinto priestess, and Baraqiel, a Fallen Angel and one of the leaders of the Fallen Angel organization Grigori. As a child, Akeno was close to her mother, and was in despair when her mother died, blaming her father for not being able to protect her mother. After the death of her mother, she stayed with her mother's relative before being kicked out due to her Fallen Angel blood, and eventually became Rias' first servant and best friend.

The Red Dragon Emperor's Awakening
Akeno made her first appearance in Volume 1, introducing herself to Issei who just came to the Occult Research Club. She later assists Rias in facing the Fallen Angels Dohnaseek, Kalawarner, and Mittelt, which they won after terminating the three.

In Volume 2, she helps her master Rias in her Rating Game against her then-fiance, Riser Phenex, eliminating four members of Riser's peerage before facing Riser's Queen, Yubelluna, which she lost after the latter used the Phoenix Tears. She is later seen in Rias' engagement party, and helped Issei in his attempt to rescue Rias by knocking out the guards who are attempting to stop him.

Birth of the Breast Dragon Emperor
In Volume 3, Akeno was in charge of scattering Issei's Dragon power, where she attempted to seduce Issei until Rias enters at the time, angrily scolding them. When Kokabiel declared that he would attack Kuoh Academy, Akeno called for the Satan, Sirzechs Lucifer's help, talking back to Rias when she condemned Akeno for calling her brother, telling Rias that she understands Rias not wanting to bring her brother into this after the family problem but tells her that Kokabiel attacking is not a problem that should be taken lightly. During the battle against Kokabiel, She and Rias terminates all the Cerberus Kokabiel took with him from the Underworld. She and the rest of the Gremory Team then fought against Kokabiel but was easily overwhelmed by the latter until the interference of Vali Lucifer who came to take Kokabiel back with him under Azazel's orders.

In Volume 4, when Issei goes to the shrine Akeno lives to retrieve the Ascalon from the Archangel Michael. After Michael left, Akeno reveals her identity as a Fallen Angel/Human hybrid to Issei, telling Issei she has dirty wings, hoping to be hated but ended up falling in love with Issei instead after the latter says that he hates Fallen Angels but likes Akeno. He tells her that he never disliked the gentle side of her and knowing her past does not change his feelings. During the peace talk between the leaders of the three factions, Akeno was stopped by Gasper's time-stopping powers and was unable to help. When Azazel became the advisor for the Occult Research Club, he asked if Akeno still hates Baraqiel, which Akeno replies by saying she has no intention of forgiving him, as it was his fault that her mother died. She later moves into the Hyoudou Residence under Sirzechs' suggestion.

In Volume 5, she, along with the other members of the Occult Research Club, accompanied Rias to the Underworld for the Young Devils Gathering. When Azazel plans out the training menu for the Gremory Team, he tells Akeno that she needs to accept the blood in her. While initially refusing to use her Holy Lightning powers, she eventually starts to use her Holy Lightning powers in the Rating Game between Rias and Sona Sitri after Issei's persuasion, telling her to become strong. Through her new powers, Akeno easily defeats Sona's Bishop, Kusaka, before changing her target to Sona's Queen, Tsubaki Shinra, forcing Tsubaki to retreat.

In Volume 6, after Rias and Diodora Astaroth's supposed Rating Game was interrupted by the Khaos Brigade and Diodora who is in cahoots with them. While on their way to rescue Asia, Issei (under Koneko's suggestion) asks Akeno out on a date if she manages to defeat Diodora's peerage, much to Rias' dismay. During their attempt to rescue Issei from the Juggernaut Drive, Akeno asked Rias to use her breasts to snap Issei out of the Juggernaut Drive while sadly claiming that she is not suited for the task.

The Heroic Oppai Dragon
In Volume 7, Akeno goes on a date with Issei, which ends with both of them meeting Odin, Rossweisse, and Baraqiel, Akeno's father, who served as Odin's bodyguard at that time. At first, she refused to accept Baraqiel and denied their relationship, telling Baraqiel that he is not her father. However during the final fight against Loki, Akeno while under the effects of Issei's Bilingual, admitted that she loves her father but blames him because if she will not blame someone, she will mentally lose herself. After the battle, she finally made amends with her father and her love towards Issei further deepens, kissing him in the lips for the first time.

In Volume 10, she faces Kuisha Abaddon, Sairaorg's Queen, during the Rating Game between Rias and Sairaorg but was defeated by Kuisha handing the Gremory Team their first loss in the match. She and the rest of the Occult Research Club members are later seen peeping at Issei who confessed his love to Rias, congratulating them while Akeno claims that she can become serious at having an affair with Issei.

In Volume 11, Akeno, Issei and Yuuto go to the Glasya-Labolas territory to take a promotion test to become Mid-Class Devils. While she, Issei and Yuuto are resting after the test, the are suddenly attacked by Cao Cao and Georg who came to steal Ophis' powers. The battle ended with both the Gremory and Vali Teams losing to the two of them and Ophis' powers being stolen. At the end of Volume 11, while waiting for Issei to return from the crumbling dimension, Akeno, like the rest of the Occult Research Club, was surprised that only Issei's Evil Pieces returned and was shocked to find out that Issei had died.

In Volume 12, Akeno, who was still in shock at Issei's "death", sat at the Gremory Palace with no emotion until her father came to cheer her up. She, along with Rias and the others, later goes to the human world to meet the creator of the Evil Pieces, Ajuka Beelzebub, to have him check on Issei's Evil Pieces, which was interrupted by the appearance of the Khaos Brigade. During the fight against Siegfried, Akeno, like the rest of the girls of the Gremory Team, was unable to display her usual strength until Issei's Evil Pieces react and conveys Issei's feelings from the Dimensional Gap, allowing Akeno to regain her determination to fight. She then reveals a bracelet given to her by her father and Azazel that strengthens her Holy Lightning, giving her six black wings. She later assisted Xenovia and Irina to fight against Jeanne and nearly won until Jeanne takes a child as a hostage. Like Issei and Yuuto, Akeno is officially promoted into a Mid-Class Devil at the end of Volume 12.

Powers & Abilities
As Rias' Queen, Akeno has all the abilities of Knights, Rooks, and Bishops, making her the strongest in her group after Rias. Akeno excels at using attacks made from magical powers, and can use natural elements like lightning, ice, and fire. In Volume 7 of light novels after her true identity as a Fallen Angel is revealed, it is also learned that she has power of Holy Lightning, which was inherited from her father.

During the events of Volume 12, Akeno gains access to her Fallen Angel Mode (堕天使モード Datenshi Mōdo?), which gives her six black wings and drastically increases her Holy Lightning abilities. At present, this transformation requires the use of a special bracelet made by Azazel (the same bracelet that Issei had used to activate his incomplete Balance Breaker), but Akeno has stated she will work at it until she no longer requires it.

Quotes

 * "Oh my, Oh my."
 * "Those who even try to lay a hand on my president, shall be punished endlessly."

Trivia

 * Akeno's body measurements are B102-W60-H89 cm. (B41-W24-H36 in.) and her height is 168 cm. (5 feet 6 inches), as revealed in the visual book with her data, making her breasts the largest recorded in the series.
 * The fact that Akeno has larger breasts than her mother's is because of her Fallen Angel blood, as Azazel mentions in Vol. 8 that female Fallen Angels possess seductive bodies. This is also true with Raynare and Kalawarner, who are pure Fallen Angels, though some of the female Fallen Angels (like Mittelt, for example) are still developing, implying they have different growth rates.
 * Azazel has stated that, even for a Fallen Angel, Akeno is particularly seductive.
 * Akeno's last name, Himejima, means "Princess Island".
 * Akeno got her sadistic personality from her mother and her masochist personality from her father.
 * Akeno, along with Rias, make an appearance in the fan fiction work Showa + Vampire, a work by author Kamen Rider Chrome featuring characters from various manga and anime, with the main characters taken from Kamen Rider Showa, Chrome's original Kamen Rider-inspired work, and Rosario + Vampire. In it, Akeno and Rias are childhood friends of main character Shinichi Banabara, who transforms to the titular hero, Kamen Rider Showa. They are mentioned in chapter 59, and made their full appearance in chapter 61 at the Halloween Festival.