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, reaching 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 customary 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 in which 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. She starts to tease Issei in Volume 3 of the light novels and later in Volume 4, she fell in love with him. Akeno has also stated that she has some masochism in her as well. She also has a weak side inside her once she removes her mask of being an Onee-sama, what’s left is her true side of "depending" on a man which can be her father, Baraqiel or Issei. If danger arises to either of them, she will become depressed once again, but it can also be used to rise her tensions. This occurred when Issei was injured in Rating Game between the Sitri and Gremory groups or when Issei was thought to be dead in the Dimension Gap.

History
Akeno is the only child of Shuri 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 fell into despair when she witnessed her mother's death, 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.

At the tender age of 10, without food or money, Akeno journeyed throughout Japan using her skills to purify evil spirits that she learned from her mother in order to survive, doing so for one and a half years. When she stumbled into a certain town, Akeno indirectly saved a human that was contracted with a Devil from the Gremory Clan. Fearing that the Devil would kill her due to her Fallen Angel heritage, Akeno decided to hide from them. Later, while trying to leave the town, Akeno was suddenly attacked by her relatives from the Himejima Clan who came to kill her. Before her Grand-uncle could land the decisive blow, Rias and her father's Bishop, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, appeared and talked Akeno's family out of killing her with two conditions, first Akeno is to never enter the territory under the Himejima Clan and second, to always stay beside Rias and serve under her using the Gremory name and not the Himejima name. She then moved into the Gremory Palace where she was taught various things from studies to how a lady should act as well as deepening her bonds with Rias, becoming her best friend in the process.

Upon entering Junior High, Rias received her Evil Pieces and made Akeno her first servant. She later entered Kuoh Academy alongside Rias and helped her in re-establishing the Occult Research Club becoming its Vice-President.

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 assisted 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 fiancé, 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 were 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 terminate all the Cerberus that Kokabiel took with him from the Underworld. She and the rest of the Gremory Team then fought against Kokabiel but were 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, Reya 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 was serving as Odin's bodyguard at the 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 doesn't blame someone, she will mentally lose herself. After the battle, she finally made amends with her father and her love for Issei deepens, kissing him on 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 Middle-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 Middle-Class Devil at the end of Volume 12.

The Legend of Oppai Dragon and his Lively Companions
In Volume 14, she meets the Director of the Magician Council, Mephisto Pheles, regarding the pact between the Occult Research Club and Magicians. She also helped Rias in mastering her new finishing attack. After the Khaos Brigade kidnapped the first-year students of the Occult Research Club, Akeno, along with the other members of the Occult Research Club and the Student Council then go to battle the Stray Magicians and Magicians of Khaos Brigade, easily defeating them. During the battle, Akeno revealed her new move, Raikōryū, which allows her to transform her Holy Lightning into the shape of an Asian Dragon. She later meets the person in charge of the incident, Euclid Lucifuge, who then summons Grendel to battle Issei.

Powers & Abilities
As Rias' Queen, Akeno has all the abilities of Knights, Rooks, and Bishops, making her initially the strongest and certainly the most well rounded in her group after Rias. Akeno excels at using attacks made from demonic powers, and can use natural elements like lightning, ice, and fire. In Volume 14, she has also started to learn defense magic to both increase her defense and trait of Rook.

In Volume 4 of the light novels after her true identity as a Fallen Angel hybrid is revealed, it is shown that she also 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. In Volume 14, it is revealed that because she has been draining Issei's Dragon power for so long, she has gained the ability to shape her Holy Lightning into the form of an Asian Dragon, Raikōryū (Holy Lightning Dragon), which can move as if it was alive. It has been shown to be immensely powerful, devouring large fragments of rocks and erasing one of Grendel's fireballs. She can do the same for both fire and ice attacks, forming Dragons out of them which she sends against her enemies.

As mentioned by Issei and Rias, Akeno has developed a skill to sneak behind people without leaving any presence. Akeno also has the power to purify evil spirits which she learned from her mother.

Quotes

 * "Ara Ara Ufufufu." [Oh my, Oh my (giggles).]
 * "Those who even try to lay a hand on my president, shall be punished endlessly." (Season 1, Episode 3)
 * "You can rely on me more, you know." (Season 2 New)

Trivia

 * Akeno's body measurements are B102-W60-H89 cm. (B40-W24-H35 in.) and her height is 168 cm. (5 feet 6 inches), and her weight is 54 kg. (119 lbs.), as revealed in the visual book with her data. Her breast size is recorded as the largest 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 Volume 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 inherited her sadistic personality from her mother and her masochist personality from her father.
 * Akeno has something in common with Gasper. They were both hybrids born from a father who is a supernatural being and a human mother before having their human sides overwritten into that of a Devil by the Evil Piece System.
 * In the "MY FIRST ERRAND" short story she was described as another mom with black hair and big boobs by Ophis, much to her amusement.
 * Rias once commented Akeno would make a good succubus.