Faithshipping

Faithshipping
GENERAL
Yu-Gi-Oh!
Character	Yusei Fudo
Character	Aki Izayoi
Canonical?	Semi-Canon
Status of Relationship	Close Friends/Former Teammates; One-sided Feelings on Aki's side
IN FANDOM
Type (?)	Het
Also Known As	Yuaki, Yuseaki, Akiyusei

6

Faithshipping is the het ship between Yusei Fudo and Aki Izayoi from the Yu-Gi-Oh! fandom.

Canon

Yusei and Aki are the main protagonist and one of the main characters of 5D's respectively. They both have troubled childhoods. When Aki was young, she awakened her psychic powers and accidentally attacked her father during their Duel, leading to her parents eventually abandoning her and Aki becoming ostracized by her peers, as well as turning into a spiteful and unstable girl. When she grew up, she ended up becoming part of the Arcadia Movement cult through their leader Divine, who in turn took advatange of her powers and manipulated her. Meanwhile Yusei grew up in an orphanage in the Satellite area, and although he had friends, he was forced to face discrimination and was denied from doing many things and enjoying many luxuries due to his status as a Satellite resident.

Season 1

While Rua is trying to challenge the infamous "Black Rose Witch" (a disguised Aki) to a duel, Aki forces the opponents she was fighting prior to run away. She then notices that Yusei also has a Dragon Birthmark. She uses her psychic powers to leave from the situation and eerily tells him to leave her alone. He sees her again in the Fortune Cup and they (mainly Aki) glare at each other as Aki walks towards the dueling grounds for her first duel.

During her duels, Aki hurts her opponents, causing her to turn into the heel and the audience yelling at her whenever she's onstage. After her Duel with "The Profiler", Himuro asks what Yusei thinks of her cards. He answers that he senses clear rejection and anger, as well as something else still laying dormant within her. Afterwards, Yusei and Aki run into each other and Aki clutches her forearm. Yusei does the same and asks her why she thinks the Dragon Birthmark is cursed, and Aki explains with a spiteful expression that she hates anyone who has it. Their talk is interrupted by Ruka and Rua running towards Yusei, as well as Divine escorting her away from the situation. After this, they end up dueling each other during the tournament's finals, and the audience begrudgingly cheers that they're rooting for the "Satellite scum" to beat the witch. During their duel, Yusei also gets to feel the brunt of her powers and manages to come to the conclusion that Aki has an another personality that sadistically takes joy in torturing her opponents and causing destruction.

Aki madly denies his claim and keeps attacking him relentlessly, but long before admits her personality was twisted into what it currently is due to people driving her into solitude in the past. Yusei thinks to himself how he wants to reach out to Aki through their duel. Yusei tries convincing her that she still can change but she shuts his attempts down and puts on her mask. Yusei then keeps talking to help her realize what he had attempted to convey, and he manages to win the Duel, leading to Aki's mask breaking and leaving her in tears as she mutters out "Save me". Divine then takes her away after complimenting her.

Season 2

Later on, the cult is destroyed by the Dark Signers, and Aki is left in a coma. When she comes to, she felt that she has no place, and her psychic powers rage out of control. Yusei duels her, feeling that it is the only way to reach her. During the duel, her father, who had feared her when she was a child, steps in the way of the duel, and she learns to control her power to stop herself from hurting him. She joins the Signers from this point on.

During the duel with the Dark Signer Misty, Aki is blamed for the death of Misty's younger brother. Divine shows up and manipulates her again, causing her to regress back to her unstable state. Yusei manages to trick Divine into confessing the truth that he was actually responsible for the death of Misty's younger brother. Aki regains control of herself and wins the duel, while Divine gets eaten by Misty's Ccarayhua.

Season 3

Aki later takes an interest in Riding Duels and Yusei teaches her. They end up going to a skating ring, and Rua and Ruka comment how they're just third wheels on their date. During the World Riding Duel Grand Prix, she serves as the team's substitute duelist.

Season 4

In the epilogue, Aki decides to become a doctor while Yusei was staying in Neo Domino City. She thanked Yusei and was about to tell him that she loves him, but ended up stopping midway and instead said that she was glad to have met him. She decided against saying goodbye and promises to return someday.

Other Content

In Tag Force 4, after Aki goes berserk and decides to duel the player character only to lose against him, she is approached by Yusei who says he was looking for her. When she asks for a reason, Yusei mentions that he had heard everything about Arcadia Movement's downfall and Aki's breakdown. Aki chides him for eavesdropping and goes on a rant about her not having friends and drifting further and further apart from people due to her psychic powers, but Yusei assures that she has many friends including him and the player character.

Moments

Season 2

• In Episode 36, after Divine manipulates Aki and mentions that he's the only one who can save her and not Yusei, Aki returns to her room and painfully wonders why she can't get Yusei and his words about her still having hope out of her mind.

Quotes

“I'm positive these birthmarks are tying us together. So, they've caught on to this and are trying to use us, aren't they? And that group hanging around Izayoi will end up doing the same to her, as a Signer. We must not let them use us. And for that to happen, I'll have to pry open her shut heart... and meet with the "true" Izayoi. I'll have to face this with all I have. I'll have to put my entire existence on the line and meet Izayoi head-on.”

— Yusei's internal monologue in Episode 23

Aki – “I hate this mark. If I didn't have this power, I would...”

Yusei – “You never enjoyed your powers. Nor did you take pleasure in people's pain.”

Aki – “That's right... This birthmark is a wretched mark engraverd into the monsters who have transcended past people. That's why I hate myself. [...] And I gave up on being myself. And then, that was when Divine told me that I didn't need the mask and that I'm fine just how I am. I was saved by those words. I only need to live. No longer think. Just feel.”

Yusei – “You need to think on your own!”

Aki – “I don't care. Divine will think for me.”

Yusei – “Don't run away from it, Izayoi!”

Aki – “I have to. I can't do anything.”

Yusei – “Yes, you can! The person who rejects that pleasure is still inside you! As long as you feel that way, you can start over! You can still save yourself!”

— Episode 24

“The time for you to change as come. Your pleasure for destruction, which has tormented you all this time... hasn't that pain... changed into a pain that we, who bear the same birthmark, all share? This mark that has guided us all--this pain is asking us for something. And, to find the answer, we must think on our own. Couldn't it be that this birthmark holds the answer? So don't leave your thinking to others! Think for yourself! You have to love yourself!”

— Yusei in Episode 24

Fanon

Faithshipping is a popular pairing in the Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's fandom. Fans felt that the two grew together and that Yusei helped Aki throughout the series.

Fandom

FAN FICTION

Yusei/Aki tag on AO3

Yusei & Aki tag on AO3

Yusei/Aki on FanFiction.Net

FAN ART

遊アキ tag on Pixiv

アキ遊 tag on Pixiv

TUMBLR

Yusei x Aki posts on Tumblr

Faithshipping posts on Tumblr

TWITTER

Faithshipping hashtag on Twitter

Yusei x Aki posts on Twitter

遊アキ posts on Twitter

アキ遊 posts on Twitter

유세아키 posts on Twitter

유아키 posts on Twitter

Trivia

• The ship's name comes from Yusei and Aki putting faith into each other to defeat the Dark Signers.
• They have a height difference of 12 cm, with Yusei being 175 cm, and Aki being 163 cm tall.
• Out of all the 5D's protagonists, Yusei and Aki have the most synergy between their decks, to the point where the Plant Synchron deck archetype is named "Yusei-hime" (Princess Yusei).
• Ruddy Rose Dragon, an evolved form of Aki's Black Rose Dragon first released in Lightning Overdrive, has a destruction-negation effect nearly identical to that of Yusei's Stardust Dragon - tributing itself to negate before coming back to the field (albiet as Black Rose Dragon).

Gallery

Anime