Akeno Himejima (明野姫島, Akeno Himejima) is the second-in-command of the Gremory Clan, known as the "Thunder Priestess". She is the former vice-president of the Occult Research Club, and her rank is Queen. She is a beautiful girl who ranks second in popularity after Rias. Normally, she is very pleasant and often says "oh" or "Ufufu" in a sarcastic tone in her comments. She is surrounded by an aura of mystery, and once she enters battle her personality changes rapidly, becoming sadistic.

KANJI: Akeno Himejima ROMAJI: Akeno Himejima NICKNAME: Thunder Priestess → Thunder and Light Priestess

GENDER: Feminine FAMILY: Baraqiel (Father) Shuri Himejima (Mother)† Suō Himejima (Great-Uncle) Suzaku Himejima (Cousin) Tobio Ikuse (Second Cousin) Ageha Ikuse (Great-Aunt)† Issei Hyōdō (Fiancé) Kurenai Himejima (Future Son) RACE: Human/Fallen Angel (Formerly) Demon/Fallen Angel Hybrid CLAN: Gremory Clan Gremory Clan AFFILIATION: Kuoh Academy (Third-year student) Nobility of Rias Gremory Hyōdō Residence Hidden Research Club (Former Vice-President) DxD

FAMILY: Little Oni TECHNIQUES: Elemental Magic Holy Ray Fallen Angel Form

LEADER: Rias Gremory RANGE: Middle-Class Demon Queen STATUS: Long live...

Akeno is a voluptuous young woman of the same age as Rias, with long black hair and violet eyes, and enormous breasts that always bounce lustfully, as does her rear. Her hair is usually tied in a long ponytail that reaches her legs, with two antennae protruding from the top that lean back, held in place by an orange ribbon. Like most girls at Kuoh Academy, she wears the Kuoh Academy female school uniform, along with black knee-high socks. When she revealed herself as a Fallen Angel before Issei in Volume 4, she grew one Demon wing and one Fallen Angel wing. In her Fallen Angel form, Akeno sports three pairs of wings and wears a provocative outfit marked by sadomasochistic tendencies. In the anime, when she enters combat her outfit changes to the traditional Miko costume, which consists of a white Haori with loose sleeves, red Hakama, and a pair of Zōri with white Tabi. Regarding her physical appearance and attractiveness, Akeno has nothing to envy Rias for, as her voluptuousness places her second in popularity among the boys at Kuoh Academy.

She is shown as an elegant and gentle girl, who has no problem helping and following orders, but when she enters into battle her personality changes to that of a sadist, showing no mercy or remorse towards her enemies, becoming more cold and violent. She also loves to have fun with Issei and Rias (especially Issei). As a form of dialogue, she usually says "ara, ara" in a way of showing sarcasm in a situation. She begins seducing Issei in Volume 3 of the light novel, falling in love with him in Volume 4, seeking out an affair whenever she gets the chance. Akeno has also stated that she has a masochistic side. As a woman, she also has a weak side, which manifests when she removes her Onee-Sama mask, revealing her dependent side towards a man, who is generally Issei. If danger puts Issei in debt, it causes him to become tense or depressed, as demonstrated when he was declared dead. Despite acting like a mature and seductive young woman towards Issei, Akeno is still innocent and sentimental about love, acting like a girl her age when she goes on a date with him. Despite being seen with a calm and serene attitude, Akeno also gets jealous like the other girls, declaring that she will fight for Issei anyway. In the first season of the anime, she confirmed the practice of BDSM (Bondage, Discipline; and Sadism & Masochism), exhibiting this characteristic when she gets aroused whenever she enters into combat.

Akeno is the only daughter of Shuri Himejima, a well-known Shinto priestess, and Baraqiel, a Fallen Angel and one of the leaders of the Grigori organization. As a child, Akeno was always close to her mother; for this reason, when she witnessed her death, she fell into despair and blamed her father for not being able to protect her. After her mother's death, she stayed with her mother's relatives before being expelled due to her Fallen Angel blood. At the tender age of 10, without food or money, Akeno traveled throughout Japan using her skills in purifying evil spirits, learned from her mother, to survive, doing so for a year and a half. When she stumbled upon a certain city, Akeno saved a human who had been contracted by a demon from the Gremory Clan. Fearing that the demon would kill her due to her Fallen Angel heritage, Akeno decided to hide from them. Later, while trying to leave the city, Akeno was attacked by her relatives from the Himejima Clan, who had come to kill her. Before her great-uncle could deliver the final blow, Rias and her father's Bishop, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, appeared and began speaking with Akeno's family to prevent her death, proposing two conditions: first, that Akeno would no longer enter territory under the control of the Himejima Clan; and second, that she would always be by Rias's side, using the Gremory surname and not Himejima. After being taken to the Gremory Palace, she learned many things, starting with how a woman should act, thus deepening her bonds with Rias, becoming her best friend.

Upon entering high school, Rias received her Evil Piece, making Akeno her first servant. Later, she entered Kuoh Academy along with Rias and helped her re-establish the Occult Research Club, becoming its vice-president.

The Awakening of the Red Emperor Dragon: Akeno makes her first appearance in Volume 1, introducing herself to Issei, who had just joined the Occult Research Club. Later, she helps Rias fight against the fallen angels Dohnaseek, Kalawarner, and Mittelt, easily winning. In Volume 2, she assists her mistress Rias in the Rating Game against her then-fiancé, Raiser Phoenix, eliminating four members of his team before facing Yubelluna, Raiser's queen, losing after a tough battle and the latter using Phoenix Tears. She is later seen at Rias's engagement party assisting Issei in his attempt to rescue Rias by knocking out the guards trying to stop him.

The Birth of the Dragon Emperor of Breasts In Volume 3, while Akeno was dispersing Issei's dragon power, she began trying to seduce him until Rias's sudden arrival, who furiously scolded them. When Kokabiel declared he was going to attack Kuoh Academy, Akeno requested help from the Maō, Sirzechs Lucifer, receiving a reprimand from Rias for calling her brother. Akeno responded that she understood Rias didn't want to cause her brother trouble, but that Kokabiel's attack wasn't something to be taken lightly. During the battle against Kokabiel, she and Rias ended up defeating all the Cerberus he had summoned from the Underworld, later reuniting with the rest of the Gremory team for the final fight against him. After a hard battle, they were easily overwhelmed and pushed to their limits until the sudden interference of Vali Lucifer, who had been sent to bring Kokabiel back under Azazel's orders.

In Volume 4, when Issei goes to Akeno's shrine to collect Ascalon from Archangel Michael, Akeno reveals her identity as a Fallen Angel/Devil hybrid to him, telling him that she has dirty wings in hopes that he would hate her. She eventually falls in love with him after he tells her that it is true that he hates Fallen Angels but that he likes Akeno. He also mentions that he likes her kinder side and that knowing her past will not change his feelings. During the peace talks between the leaders of the three factions, Akeno was stopped by Gasper's time powers and was unable to help. When Azazel became the advisor of the Occult Research Club, he asked Akeno if she still hated Baraqiel, to which Akeno replies that she has no intention of forgiving him as it was his fault that her mother died. She later moves into the Hyōdō 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 the training routine for Team Gremory, he tells Akeno that she has to accept his blood. Although she initially refuses to use her Holy Lighting, she eventually begins to use it in the Rating Game between Rias and Sōna Sitri after Issei persuades her to become stronger. Through her new powers, Akeno easily defeats Sōna's bishop Kusaka and Tsubaki Shinra, her queen.

In Volume 6, after the Rating Game between Rias and Diodora Astaroth is interrupted by the Chaos Brigade, Diodora reveals that he was their ally, causing great disturbance among the demons present. On their way to rescue Asia, Issei (at Koneko's suggestion) offers Akeno a date if she manages to defeat Diodora's servants. During her attempt to rescue Issei from the Juggernaut Drive, Akeno tells Rias to use her breasts to pull Issei out of the Juggernaut Drive while sadly saying that she is not the right one for the task. After the incident with Diodora, Akeno is last seen cheering on both Issei and Asia during their three-legged race.

The Heroic Oppai Dragon: In Volume 7, Akeno reminds Issei of the promise he made during the battle with Diodora to go on a date with her. After facing the Sacred Gear wielders of the Hero faction, she happily prepares for their long-awaited encounter. The next day, Akeno and Issei go on their date, which was arranged by their friends. However, unexpectedly, Akeno takes Issei and they run away from the others. After running for a few minutes and realizing they've lost sight of Rias and the others, they find themselves in an unsuitable area, but Akeno tells Issei it's fine and there's no problem. Shortly after, they meet Odin, Rossweisse, and Baraqiel, Akeno's father, who at that time was Odin's bodyguard. At first, she refused to accept Baraqiel and denied their relationship, telling him he wasn't her father. However, during the final battle against Loki, Akeno, under the effects of Issei's Bilingual, admits that she loves her father but blames him because if she doesn't blame someone, she would mentally break down. Finally, after the battle with the Norse Loki, she makes peace with her father and deepens and intensifies her love for Issei, 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 is defeated by Kuisha, giving Team Gremory their first loss in the match. She and the rest of the Occult Research Club members are hidden, spying on Issei who confesses his love to Rias, congratulating them while Akeno says that having a romance with Issei could become serious.

In Volume 11, Akeno, Issei, and Yūto head to Glasya-Labolas territory to take the promotion exam to Middle-Class Devil. While she, Issei, and Yūto are resting from the test, they are suddenly attacked by Cao Cao and Georg, who came to steal Ophis's powers. The battle ends with both the Gremory and Vali teams losing to the two, and Ophis's powers stolen. At the end of Volume 11, while waiting for Issei's return from the crumbling dimension, Akeno, like the rest of the Occult Research Club, is shocked that only Issei's Evil Pieces return and goes into shock upon discovering that Issei had died. In Volume 12, Akeno, who was still in shock over Issei's "death," sat in the Gremory palace without any emotion until her father arrived to cheer her up. She, along with Rias and the others, then go to the human world to meet the creator of the Evil Pieces, Ajuka Beelzebub, to have Issei's Evil Pieces checked, when they are interrupted by the appearance of the Khaos Brigade. During the fight against Siegfried, Akeno, like the rest of the girls on the Gremory team, couldn't show her usual strength until Issei's Evil Pieces reacted and transmitted his feelings from the Dimensional Gap, allowing Akeno and the others to regain their determination to fight. She then reveals a bracelet that her father and Azazel had given her to strengthen her Holy Lightning, giving her access to her fallen angel form and 3 pairs of black wings. Later, she assists Zenovia and Irina in fighting Jeanne and almost wins until Jeanne takes a child hostage. Like Issei and Yūto, Akeno is officially promoted to a Middle-Class Devil at the end of Volume 12.

As Rias's Queen, Akeno has all the abilities of the Knight, Rook, and Bishop, making her the strongest in the group after Rias. Akeno excels in the use of attacks made with magical powers, and can utilize natural elements such as lightning, ice, and fire. She is known as the "Lightning Priest", for her skills in using such elements. In the 7th light novel volume, after her true identity as a Fallen Angel is revealed, it is revealed that she has the power of Holy Lightning, which she inherited from her father. In Volume 12, Akeno gains access to her Fallen Angel form by strengthening her Holy Lightning with the help of her father and Azazel, in this form, her Holy Lightning ability is drastically increased and she gains six black wings that are a testament to her power. Currently, this transformation requires the use of a special bracelet, but Akeno has stated that she will work on it until she no longer needs it.

Issei Hyōdō: Akeno is madly in love with Issei, but she can't officially make him her boyfriend because he loves Rias. Akeno cares deeply for Rias and doesn't want to destroy her relationship with Issei, even going so far as to say she'll become Issei's mistress. She becomes a rival for Issei's affection in volume 4 and later falls completely in love with him in volume 7 of the light novels. She loves Issei as much as Rias does and needs him as much as she does, as shown after Issei's death in volume 11, where she is devastated and severely depressed just as Rias was, and is just as overjoyed as Rias was when she learns he is alive. Rias Gremory: Akeno is Rias's first servant and one of her closest friends. Akeno is, in fact, close enough to call Rias by her name in private while maintaining their master-servant relationship. After moving to the Hyōdō residence, Akeno begins calling Rias by her name when they are at home, and the two are constantly fighting (for example, pillow fights) to see who gets to accompany Issei.