ladyofroses | Character Analysis

'Stay back, Aki! What was that power? It's almost as if you are... some monster...'
To make this clear from the start; Aki was incredibly shaped by her child and early teenage years - most of all by the discovery of her powers and her father calling her a 'monster'. He might not have quite meant the words, but that didn't change the damage they did. From that moment Aki started to question her self worth, her right as existence as human being. She was shunned and isolated by family and fellow children alike, first in preschool, later in Duel Academia. Even so, the one thing she longed for the most was to be loved, to be accepted just the way she was.

She tries hard to fit in, tries hard to have a grip on powers that don't want to be controlled - all to regain the love of her parents... only to notice one day when she returns for a surprise visit... that her parents are quite happy without her. They laugh, they drink, they smile... all because she isn't there. This is the point where she starts to decide to stop caring about controlling her powers.

'Papa was laughing! So, I'll laugh too! I'll laugh and set these powers free-- Papa, who is so afraid of this powers!'
This is the start of Aki's true downwards spiral. She drops out of Duel Academia - a place she never fit in anyway - burns all books, burns all bridges, but even though she is tempted, she can't quite bring herself to cut herself lose from the duel as well. She takes up the guise of the 'Kuroubara no Majou', the Black Rose Witch, starts to challenge and defeat street duelists at night, creating enormous damage and hurting the people she duels.

Under the mask of the Black Rose Witch, she finds herself safe and starts to fool herself into enjoying her powers, the pain and destruction they cause and the solitude they drive her into. However beneath that mask, she feels lost and misunderstood and very much still craves to be accepted and loved. Deep down she blames her powers and the mark on her arm that came along with them for all her pain and loneliness, calling both of them wretched. It was around that time that she met Divine.

'Aki, to your mother and father, people who do not have powers, these powers of yours may very well be a monster! but to me and the people here at the Arcadia Movement, who have been ridiculed and persecuted as a 'monster' as you have, you are just another fragile human being! Stay here. You won't have to think about the tough times. I'll think for you. Aki, you can just stay here, just the way you are.'
Divine is the person that changes Aki's world. He pulls her off the streets, he cares for her, he loves her, despite or rather because of her powers. Aki becomes extremely devoted to him and the Arcadia Movement, wants to support their goals and to help other people like her, wants to keep other children from sharing her fate of being isolated and shunned and walking the path of self destruction like she had before meeting Divine. But despite her devotion and determination to be worthy of Divine's trust in her, she is still despises having to use her powers to hurt others - even if it is to strengthen the position of the Arcadia Movement.

Still, Divine asks her to trust him, offers her to think for her, to take the responsibility that comes with her powers away, and that is an offer she can't pass up on. When she doesn't have to think, she can feel, can just enjoy and suffer alike due the use of her powers and quietly loath herself.

Over the time she spends in the Arcadia Movement she becomes extremely loyal to Divine and the Movement - agreeing to reveal her identity and use her powers openly in the Fortune Cup for them, despite how much she loathes herself for them and how much she still wants to be accepted by society. However while she will never admit any doubt in front of outsiders, she is seen expressing doubt and even criticizes Divine's actions when they are in private - such as harming Rua in order to awakening whatever powers he might have or his plan to make her the figurehead of the Arcadia Movement. Still, she trusts him to take responsibility for her actions and she trusts his word above all others. Divine and the Arcadia Movement - both are her represent her new home, a place she can return to, where she can feel loved. What more could she need, even deserve?

'I'll catch anything you dish out! Vent out all your sorrow!'
However she slowly starts to feel doubt in her place there after the Fortune Cup, where she first meets the other Signers, most prominently Yusei Fudo. Yusei is the second person to reach out to her after Divine, telling her to not let others do her thinking, but to think for herself, to love herself even, who promises in the heat of battle that no matter how much she dishes out; he will catch her sorrow - causing her to ask him to help her in a moment of weakness after losing their duel.

Days later, despite she had time to compose herself, his words tear at her as she wonders if he can save her from the loneliness and suffering she still feels, despite being assured by Divine that no one but he can save her. Even so, Despite all her quiet doubts, her loyalty still belongs first and foremost to the Arcadia Movement and Divine.

'Now that Divine is gone, this world has turned wretched. That's why... I will... ruin this world!'
When both are taken away by the attack of the Dark Signer, Aki is left mostly lost and confused - where should she go now; who can she turn to, when she is the only monster among humans? When she finds herself confronted with her father, the first person to reject her and name her a monster, the only solution that comes to her in her sorrow and despair is to do as the world has done to her and destroy everything so that everyone suffers the same as her.

However within the emotion filled duel that follows, Aki slowly starts realizing that a. that there are other people beside Divine, who love her and that b. she herself still truly wants to love and protect them, to keep them from the harm her powers cause. This finally enables her to truly controlled her powers, and allow her to break free of the circle of suffering she had been caught in.