| “ | Issei, I love you. Ufufu. | ” |
–Akeno to Issei, Volume 7, New Life | ||
Akeno Himejima (姫島 朱乃, Himejima Akeno) is one of the many female protagonists of High School DxD. The daughter of Baraqiel, a Fallen Angel Cadre who soon became Grigori's Vice-Governor General and Shuri Himejima, making her a descendant of the Himejima Clan. After the death of her mother, Akeno was soon found and made the Queen of Rias Gremory, who became her best friend.
Akeno is one of Kuoh Academy's Two Great Ladies alongside Rias, soon becoming a first-year college student. She is also one of Issei's fiancées.
Appearance[]
Akeno is a beautiful young woman with a voluptuous figure, very long black hair and violet eyes. Her hair is usually tied in a very long ponytail, reaching all the way down to the floor with two strands sticking out from the top and sloping backward, 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 calf-length socks.
As revealed in the visual book with her data [1], her body measurements are [B102-W60-H89 cm] [B40-W24-H35 in]. Her body weight is [54 kg] [119 lbs] while her height is 168 cm (5 feet 6 inches).
In the anime, during battles, she often transforms her clothes into a traditional miko attire, consisting of a white haori with red accents, a red hakama, and a pair of zōri with white tabi.
After Akeno has revealed her Fallen Angel side in front of Issei, she has one Devil wing and one Fallen Angel wing.[2] As the series progressed and she came to terms with her fallen angel powers, her wings increased to six, at first, because of the aid of Azazel's bracelets,[3] then eight, resembling a High-Tier Fallen Angel.[4]
Personality[]
Akeno is first seen to be a very elegant and gentle woman with refined lady etiquette, embodying the principals of the ideal Japanese woman: "Yamato Nadeshiko". However, underneath her calm, noble and dignified atmosphere, Akeno is shown to be highly sadistic in battle and doesn't show any mercy or remorse towards the enemies she slays, casually keeping up her smiling elegant persona over an enemy's death and showing an expression of pleasure and lust upon delivering them pain.
Despite her sadism, Akeno is very kind, acknowledged by Rias and Issei. Before meeting Rias, Akeno would help people by purifying evil spirits for a living.
As a result of seeing her mother being killed in front of her eyes and her father being unable to save her, Akeno developed a hatred for Fallen Angels, including a sense of self-loathing towards her own Fallen Angel nature, for it was the reason her beloved mother was killed by the Himejima Clan, which lead her to sever ties with her father, going into exile before being saved by Rias after Akeno's maternal relatives nearly killed her. Due to this reason, she empathizes with those who have suffered under the hands of Fallen Angels like Issei and Asia, who were manipulated and killed by the Fallen Angel Raynare, and was worried that Issei would dislike her due to her Fallen Angel nature. However, she fell in love with him after he told her that he still liked her. With Issei's help, she was able to overcome the sadness of her mother's death and reconcile with her estranged father, renewing their familial bond. Due to Issei helping her and Baraqiel in their reconciliation, Akeno's love for him deepened considerably as she confessed her feelings for him.
While Akeno originally had no interest in dating men due to her past, she began to take an interest in Issei, thinking of him as a cute junior and that interest intensified after seeing his determination in the Rating Game against Riser Phenex and his actions during Rias' engagement ceremony, where he defeated Riser Phenex. She has stated that Issei is the first boy she has ever felt such feelings for as she is shown to have a desire to further her relationship with him. She also loves to tease Issei and Rias, as she loves to make Rias irritated by flirting with Issei stemming from her playful sadistic side. Akeno has also stated that she has some masochism in her as well, as she is only masochistic towards Issei in contrast to her sadistic nature in battle. She is shown to be quite vulgar, flirting with Issei as such and doesn't care if Rias knows or saw her doing the act as she tried to have sex with him while also trying to help Issei further his relationship with Rias, but does care enough to not steal him away from her as she even helped Issei confess to Rias. After falling in love with him, she becomes very seductive and is obsessed with having an affair with Issei whenever she finds a chance, which is often interrupted by Rias and some others.
She also has a emotionally weak side to her once she removes her mask of being an Onee-Sama, what is left is her true side of "depending" on a man, which is generally Issei and her father Baraqiel after reconciling with him. After her beloved mother was executed, she was deeply traumatized and heartbroken for years until she found closure by reconciling with her father. If danger arises to the people she cares about, she will become depressed or it can also lead to a rise in her tension. The latter occurred when Issei was injured in the Rating Game between the Sitri and Gremory groups, and the former when Issei was thought to be dead in the Dimensional Gap.
Despite being seductive toward Issei and acting like a mature young woman, Akeno is still innocent and emotional towards love and acts like a girl her age whenever she is on a date with Issei. However, this still does not stop her from being seductive and flirting with Issei. Despite being seen as calm and clear, Akeno does get jealous like the other girls and will fight for Issei.
History[]
Akeno is the only child of Shuri Himejima, a Shinto priestess from the Himejima Clan 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 as her father was mostly away on missions and fell into despair when she witnessed her mother's death, blaming Baraqiel for not being able to protect her. After the death of Shuri, Akeno 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 a year and a half. 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 Suou Himejima 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. 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. She had also become acquainted with Sona Sitri around this time.
Upon entering Junior High, Rias received her Evil Pieces and made Akeno her first servant. Two years before the series, she entered Kuoh Academy alongside Rias and helped her in re-establishing the Occult Research Club becoming its Vice-President. Akeno and Rias went to the Kyoto trip during their second year, Rias enjoyed every moment of it, however, they didn't plan a proper schedule and therefore there were places that she wasn't able to visit like the Nijou-jou, Rias was so upset that she stomped her feet at the railway station as Akeno tried to calm her down. Also during their second year, Akeno and Rias organized their club as a haunted house for the school festival, they even used real ghosts as Rias requested friendly Youkai looking for jobs to plan the decorations. This, however, got them in a lot of trouble with Sona who scolded them for using the real thing.
Powers & Abilities[]
Great Demonic Power: Akeno has great potential in using demonic power, comparable to her King despite being a reincarnated Devil, being the second strongest in the peerage. Riser acknowledged that, pre-training, she was the only one among Rias' peerage who could face his peerage. She became one of the first three to be promoted to Middle-Class, with Azazel stating that she now rivals High-Class Devils. Akeno enhanced her powers to the point of being able to defeat an army of mass-produced Evil Dragons. Akeno is able to use her demonic power to create a special technique that allows devils to move freely within shrines and temples without any drawbacks.[5]
- Elemental Demonic Power: Akeno excels in using natural elements such as ice, fire, and water, but she specializes in lightning. She is able to create thunder clouds using her demonic power, making lightning bolts rain down on her opponents. She could freeze Cerberus' flames in an instant and target ice spears at her opponents. Much like her Holy Lightning Dragon, Akeno can also form Asian Dragons out of fire and ice, sending them at her enemies.[6]
- Lightning Manipulation: Akeno originally specialized in lightning demonic power alone before she began using her Holy Lightning ability, where she imbues it with the power of light. Even before combining it with the power of light, Akeno's strongest lightning bolts were powerful enough to destroy the Kuoh Academy gymnasium.[7] Her strikes are shown to be capable of inflicting paralysis and inducing great pain on opponents.
- Fire: Akeno is seen to can perform Fire Demonic Power through Asian Dragon.
- Water: Akeno has shown to be able to summon a vast amount of bodies of water, large enough to fill a swimming pool.
- Ice: Akeno is capable of freezing her target and create ice into spikes and projectiles. She is shown creating a blizzard that instantly freezes even fire.
- Hypnosis: Akeno has shown the ability to hypnotize others as she used it on her college friends to keep Issei's identity a secret while introducing him as her boyfriend.[8]
- Cloth Manipulation: Usually when Akeno needs to use all of her magic power, she alters her clothes into a Shinto priestess attire that gave her the epithet, "Priestess of Thunder".[9] She also uses this to repair hers or the clothes of others.
Enhanced Magic Power: As a Queen, Akeno can strengthen her magic and demonic powers using the Bishop aspect, which she has shown to be the most adept at using in combat.
Great Light Power: As a half-Fallen Angel daughter of Baraqiel, Akeno also inherited great light power, mainly in the form of Holy Lightning which she continued to improved through diligent training, her overall power strengthen to the point of gaining six fallen angel wings which later increased to eight.
Akeno casting Holy Lightning
- Holy Lightning (雷光, Raikō): Akeno's signature ability that she inherited from her father Baraqiel. Akeno combines the power of light and lightning to create Holy Lightning. Akeno can make high-density lightning strikes on her opponents.
Fallen Angel Mode
- Fallen Angel Mode (堕天使モード, Datenshi Mōdo): A special form, achieved through Akeno making her Holy Lightning blood denser. In this form, she gained six Fallen Angel wings, strengthening herself, making herself appear more like a Top-Tier Fallen Angel. At first, Akeno needed special bracelets created by Azazel,[3] however she later became able to enter this state at will.[10] Akeno's strength increased to the point of being able to gain a total of eight wings.[4]
- Holy Lightning Dragon (雷光龍, Raikōryū): Due to her constant draining of Issei's Dragon aura, she has gained the ability to shape her Holy Lightning into the form of an Asian Dragon, which can move as if it was alive.[6] It has been shown to be powerful, devouring large fragments of rocks and erasing one of Grendel's fireballs. She became capable of creating five of them at once,[11] each of which are described as having a dense aura.[12]
Senjutsu: Akeno can use senjutsu to a limited degree to manipulate her presence and avoid detection.[13]
Enhanced Strength and Defense: As a Queen, Akeno possesses enhanced strength and defense through the Rook trait of her Queen piece, but due to Akeno never resorting to physical confrontations, it's unknown how her physical prowess compares to Koneko.
Enhanced Speed: As a Queen, Akeno has the Knight speed enhancement through her Queen piece. Akeno was capable of evading many of Zhu Bajie's attacks with ease.[14]
Expert Magician: Akeno has shown herself to be skilled in the use of magic with her, Rias and Rossweisse being the top magic type specialists in the Peerage (before Rossweisse left). Her magic abilities are enhanced through the Bishop trait of her Queen piece. She has a strong affinity for Shinto Magic, stemming from her Himejima lineage as she could purify evil spirits as a child and later summon legendary Onis.
- Summoning Magic: Akeno has some skill in summoning magic, being able to instruct Asia in its use. She is shown to summon up to six oni familiars that are useful in recon. Her ability to summon creatures was strengthened after she entered the Himejima household and strengthened her Himejima blood, thus allowing her to summon legendary Youkai like Ura and Ibaraki Doujou.
- Defensive Magic: She has been shown to be able to use magic to strengthen the power of her defense by focusing on the Rook trait of her Queen piece to protect herself as well as others from powerful attacks.
- Teleportation Magic: Akeno can use teleportation magic to teleport herself and others.
- Purification: Akeno can use Shinto spells to purify evil spirits which she learned from her mother.
Extrasensory Perception: Kiba has noted that Akeno has particular skill in reading different kinds of energy flows, being able to tell how the spirits of Kiba's old friends were released from the orb, and sensing Vali's arrival.
Stealth Expert: As mentioned by Issei and Rias, Akeno has developed a skill to sneak behind people without leaving any presence. Rias mentioned that Akeno has learned a skill that allows her to avoid detection from Koneko's Senjutsu sensing ability.
Master Chef: Akeno is an extremely skilled cook, cooking delicious foods such as nikujaga, which reminded Baraqiel of Shuri.[15] Her cooking skills are enough for her to be known as one of the Four Heavenly Kings alongside Miki, Rias, and Asia, cooking delicious foods, often competing with Rias over Issei.
Flight: Uniquely, Akeno has two different methods of flight, the first being her bat-like wings as a reincarnated devil or fallen angels wings due to her heritage.
Equipment[]
Queen Piece: (女王の駒, Joō no koma): Akeno was reincarnated using the Queen Piece, which grants her the characteristics of a Rook, Bishop, and Knight. Although, she is more aclined to the Bishop trait, instead of the Rook and Knight.
Bracelets: Golden bracelets engraved with magical characters. An invention by Azazel that assisted the fallen angelisation of Akeno.
Oni: Akeno has a great affinity with Onis which she inherited from her mother. She made a contract with small onis as well as two legendary Oni, Ura and Ibaraki Douji.
Oni Mask: Akeno possesses an oni mask, something that she uses to summon two powerful and legendary Oni under her contract. One is Ura, a famous Evil Oni who served as his tribe's leader on Onigashima, while the other is a Daiyoukai, Ibaraki Doujou, who served as Shuten Douji's right-hand man.
Quotes[]
Light Novel
- "Ara Ara Ufufufu." [Oh my, Oh my (giggles).]
- (To Issei) "...You said some killing words... After hearing that... won't I really get serious..." (Volume 4, Life 3) [16]
- (To Issei) "…I’m happy. If I’m together with Ise, surely… You belong to Rias, but even so I will always… by your side…" (Volume 5, Life 4) [17]
- (To Reya Kusaka) "…Even though I tried to show Ise-kun my determination…Even though I tried to overcome it…by using this hateful power in front of him…I won’t forgive you—Disappear." (Volume 5, End Game) [17]
- (To Issei) "……Ise……. Thank you…….. –I love you." (Volume 7, Life 3) [18]
- (To Issei) "Ufufu. That would make it my first kiss, I guess." (Volume 7, New Life) [18]
- (To Issei) "Ise, I love you. Ufufu." (Volume 7, New Life) [18]
- (To Issei) "……Yeah. Yeah, I’m okay now. I will live on for the sake of you, Rias and everyone else. I will become stronger with you, Ise. I will be with you forever." (Volume 14, Life 3) [19]
- "Yes, I understand. I am your [Queen]. So I will be staying by your side all the time. I will be your friend forever. So let me say this.——Thank you, Rias. Please take care of me from now on as well." (Volume 15, Life 2 Scarlet and Crimson) [20]
- (To Rias) "This experience will be my eternal treasure. Rias, thank you for inviting me to this place. I really enjoyed my time here." (Volume 22, Life 3) [21]
- (To Issei) "…Truly, I envy Rias. She has such a strong man who can say that he wants to stay together with her forever…" (Volume 22, Life 5) [21]
- (To Rias) "Rias, allow me to declare this. In the future, I might have Ise’s child before you. No, I definitely will. This I can say with confidence. Ufufu." (Volume 22, New Life) [21]
Anime
- "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 birthday is on July 21.[22]
- The name Akeno means "vermilion red" (朱, ake) and "from" (乃, no).
- Akeno's last name, Himejima, means "Princess Island".
- Akeno has large breasts due to her Fallen Angel blood. Azazel later states that female Fallen Angels possesses seductive bodies, but notes that for a half-Fallen Angel, Akeno is exceptional.[23]
- Issei called Akeno "Yamato Nadeshiko" which means "personification of an idealized Japanese woman", or "the epitome of pure, feminine beauty".[24]
- In Rating Game fighting-types, Akeno is considered a Wizard-type who is closer to a Technique-type.
- Akeno inherited her sadistic personality from her mother and her masochistic personality from her father.
- It was revealed in Ishibumi's other work, -SLASHDØG-, that Akeno is related by blood to Tobio Ikuse as cousins.[25]
- Tobio's grandmother is a member of the Himejima Clan.
- Akeno, alongside Asia, have the most familiars in the series with both having six each.
- Akeno uploads videos to DeviTube about Japanese traditional performing arts.[26]
- Akeno has a driving license.[27]
- According to a questionnaire[28], her favorite type of man is one who is always smiling.
- She's proud of her black hair and breasts because they make Issei happy.
- She can do everything with ease.
- Her weakness is that she's not really good with men.
- If she didn't become a Devil, she would have became a priestess at some shrine.
- She likes having tea parties with Rias and Sona, shopping, and making pastries.
- Her one wish is to go to a deserted island with Issei, so the two of them can enjoy a lifestyle where they spoil each other.
- She said if Issei feels like having an affair, he can always tell her.
- She begins washing from her chest.
- She doesn't put on panties after a shower as a single bath towel is enough for her.
- Her erogenous zone is anywhere on her body.
- Her hobbies are food research and shopping.[29]
- Her favorite thing is Japanese traditional clothing.[30]
- This is reflected in her wish to wear a shiromuku, a pure-white wedding kimono worn by brides in a traditional Japanese Shinto wedding ceremony for her marriage with Issei.
- In the "DxD" popularity election, she ranked third in the all-character category, second in the heroine category, second in the coupling category with Issei, and fifth with Rias.[31]
- She is the second to have become engaged to Issei Hyoudou.[32]
- Among the Gremory peerage, Akeno excels at reading different types of energy flow.[33]
- In the manga adaptation, she is called the "Vestal of Thunder".
- Akeno closely resembles Mikako Satsukitane from Heaven's Lost Property in both appearance and personality.
- Mikako is also voiced by Jamie Marchi, Rias' English voice actress.
References[]
- ↑ Dragon Magazine D manual
- ↑ Light Novel Volume 4, Life.3 I got a Kouhai (boy), Part 7
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Light Novel Volume 12, Life.-2 Pal, Part 2
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 True Light Novel Volume 2, Middle Game, Part 3
- ↑ Light Novel DX.7, Life 4
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Light Novel Volume 14, Life.4 Go, Occult Research Club & Student Council!, Part 2
- ↑ Light Novel Volume 2, Life 4
- ↑ Light Novel Volume 25, Life 1
- ↑ This is only for the anime.
- ↑ Light Novel Volume 17, Life.1 Praises During the Training!, Part 2
- ↑ Light Novel Volume 19, Life.3 Fist and Sword (Carnival), Part 3
- ↑ True Light Novel Volume 2, Life.4 The Game Begins!, Part 3
- ↑ Light Novel DX.7, Life 7
- ↑ Light Novel Volume 24, Life.4 The Limits of Humanity and Ultimate Evil Dragon, Part 2
- ↑ Light Novel Volume 7, New Life
- ↑ Light Novel Volume 4
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 Light Novel Volume 5
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 Light Novel Volume 7
- ↑ Light Novel Volume 14
- ↑ Light Novel Volume 15
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 Light Novel Volume 22
- ↑ Ishibumi's twitter
- ↑ Light Novel Volume 8, Life. 5 Hell Teacher Azazel Part 5
- ↑ Light Novel Volume 1, Life.1 I Quit Being a Human, Part 8
- ↑ The Fallen Dog God -SLASHDØG- Volume 1 Chapter 3 Part 2
- ↑ Gremory of the DeviTube
- ↑ Light Novel DX.3, Extra Life.2 Graduation Trip and Vortex Bunch
- ↑ Dragon Magazine July 2010 issue
- ↑ Dragon Magazine July 2010 issue
- ↑ Dragon Magazine July 2010 issue
- ↑ Dragon Magazine May Issue 2021
- ↑ Light Novel Volume 22, Life.5 Go, the Sekiryuutei Team!, Part 7
- ↑ Light Novel Volume 3, New Knight and New Rival