Have you ever tried to don the identity of someone’s dead parent in order to appeal to their mommy issues? Well, you’re in luck, because Akane does the same thing for her boyfriend, Aqua. While Aqua is transfixed in his never-ending loop of revenge, Akane wears his mother’s face as a pseudo mask which creates a sparkle in Aqua’s eyes. And this is what you call “true love” according to Hollywood.
OSK/S107-074S-SR プロファイリング 黒川あかね (center)
OSK/S107-098OFR-OFR 徹底した役作り (right)
Meet Akane. Yeah, she won. Suck it, Kana fans. I’ll be real with you though, I think Aqua is going to end up with his sister anyways. I’m part of the Ruby superiority crowd. And even if I’m in the 1% minority facing against all you weak Kana fans, I’ll hold onto my predictions. Akane may have his heart for now, but I know what he truly desires.
Anyways, Akane masquerades with her changer combo above that mimics the performances of the previous top idol, Hoshino Ai. With her climax, Akane dons on Aqua’s dead mother’s face and takes on her persona, letting you perform a Moca effect to your opponent’s deck when she attacks and also allowing you to heal the top card of your clock to stock. Her center card allows you to discard a card on play to search your deck for two characters to add to hand. At the start of your climax phase, you may place a copy of her finisher underneath her, turning her finisher into a marker and then swapping them. At the end of your turn, you must add the center card back to your hand.
To put it simply, Akane plays the part of Hoshino Ai for the turn, and then, when the curtains are closed, she bounces back to your hand, leaving the lasting visage of her performance for your opponent to face.
After a few months of delving into the mechanisms of the idol fandom, I’ve made a single conclusion: idol fans are more crazy than I am. I’ll be honest, my editor was both partially surprised and also understanding of this. I’m not quite sure what to think.
Anyways, Ai above is the corner piece to this deck as Akane’s requirement. Once she dies, she can truly take her place as a distant memory that fuels the series’ progression. Singing, dancing, all my life… (wrong series – editor). Anyways, once the canon event happens to Ai and she takes her rightful place in your recollection zone, she acts as a search Riki profile that adds hand and enables the new generation cast.
THIS IS SO PEAK. Well, that is what Akane would say with her pose in her climax. Akane allows you to search and add either card in her finisher combo to your hand when she attacks with her climax in play. Alternatively, you may trigger twice for free instead.
So why is Akane’s early combo so important to this deck in specific? When combined with this Aqua support above, you can get Akane out as early as level two. For a hefty cost, her sweet little dumpling over here can spawn her out from your hand while also supplying her additional power from the back as a level assist. It should have been me, not him. Now to further supplement our mommy-issues boy, Akane on the right acts as our pseudo brainstorm for the deck while also refunding stock costs for Aqua’s supremely expensive ability. Whenever you trigger a climax, and if you have two or less markers under Akane, you may look and place the top card of your deck underneath her as a marker. Then, when when you perform Aqua’s spawn ability, you may pay stock costs from her markers as a substitute instead. What a perfect pairing!
OSK/S107-066SSP-SSP 演技に込める想い 黒川あかね (right)
As for filtering through our deck and grabbing the pieces we need, Akane has the two above pieces that provide salvaging abilities. Akane in her training pose grants all your characters the ability to climax filter when she attacks if they trigger a climax. This works perfectly in conjunction with her early combo above to turn extra triggers into more beneficial hand. Her more mature dress form on the right is a Riko profile with an added bonus. When damage she takes in battle is cancelled, Akane flies into your stock, further helping you get your stock amount needed for 2/1 Aqua.
Aqua also supports Akane from the back. However, to use many of Aqua’s abilities, you’ll have to meet the condition of having Ai in memory. Gloomy looking Aqua on the left is a climax filter on play, but if you have his mother in memory, he allows you to check the top two cards of your deck, add one to hand, discard a card from hand, and send the rest to waiting room. Aqua on the left is a ShimaKai profile, but more importantly, he offers level down utility for a cheap discard cost as long as his mother is watching him from heaven above.
As we gear up towards the end of the post, both Aqua and Akane offer their own defensive measures in the late game. The first of which is Aqua’s anti-change counter on the left that also sacrifices your board as a cost, perfect for dodging any on-reverse abilities. Akane on the right is a mill counter that mills your opponent’s bottom deck.
Dressed all ready for school, 3/2 Aqua spawns a character from your hand for free when he’s played on stage and can pay an additional cost to perform a Fumio ability to your opponent’s deck. Bewildered Aqua staring blankly is a rare forced freefresh card that also allows you to swap a card from hand and clock on play. Aqua looking with ambition swings twice on attack while paying out his second trigger. He is a J.C. profile as well. Akane among the trees is a forced stock shuffle if you pay her costs on play. Aqua looking damper gains burst power during your turn and can kick any of his opponents to memory upon reverse. Lastly, Akane in front of the camera in a yukata gives you top deck rearrange and can check x to add a card to hand where x is the number of your other characters on stage. Even when mommy is gone, all you need to do is just find a replacement mommy instead – Hollywood