Akatsuki (Log Horizon)

"A shinobi should follow her master, no matter where he goes."

- Akatsuki to Shiroe Akatsuki (real name: Shizuka Hanekura) is the main female protagonist of the light novel and anime series Log Horizon. She is a 20-year-old college student and a veteran player of the MMORPG Elder Tales, and one that was pulled into the game by a mysterious phenomenon referred to as the Apocalypse. Soon after, she forms a party with fellow veteran players Shiroe and Naotsugu and later becomes one of the founding members of Log Horizon. She is a Human Assassin-Tracker.

She is voiced by Emiri Katou in the Japanese version of the anime and Jad Saxton in the English version, the latter of whom also voices Haruna, Koneko Toujou and Faris Nyannyan.

Appearance
Akatsuki's original appearance in Elder Tales was that of a tall male Assassin with purple hair and eyes. His clothing consisted of a long-sleeved purple hooded shirt with dark purple cuffs and reinforced with armor on his shoulder and forehead areas, brown belted pants, knee-high boots with knee guards and a purple scarf tied around his neck.

After obtaining an appearance changing potion from Shiroe, Akatsuki changed her gender and size to be similar to that of her real world stature. She is currently a petite female Assassin but with the same purple eyes and hair that she ties up in a ponytail. Her clothing is similar to her previous ones, albeit smaller in size. She now wears a sleeveless purple top, purple arm warmers, brown pants and purple boots.

Even in the real world, she was incredibly petite. She bemoans that even as a college student, people mistook her for a middle-school student and always used her as a cute mascot, something that she despised.

Personality
"Akatsuki: Uh, okay, is it alright if I knee Mr. Pervy Pants in his stupid face. Naotsugu: Ask before you do it, pipsqueak! Akatsuki: Do not call me 'pipsqueak'!"

- A quote expressing Akatsuki's height sensitivity and hatred of perverts

Due to her short stature, Akatsuki is mistaken by everyone (Shiroe and Naotsugu included) for being much younger than she really is. In the real world, this made socializing with people her age very difficult for her, to the point that she had never once been on a date or even had a close friend. The only people who ever displayed romantic interest in her were either children or pedophiles, which damaged her self-esteem. As a result of all this, she is very sensitive about her height and so takes great offence at being called 'shrimp' or 'pipsqueak'.

She is a hard worker who does things tirelessly, just to be recognized based on her competence; in spite of that, her efforts never got proper recognition due to her cute appearance. That was the reason why she created her original character in Elder Tales to be a tall silent man, until the Catastrophe started, causing troubles in her in-game daily life.

She is described as being too serious and carrying a somewhat sullen expression. Akatsuki views herself as a ninja, or more specifically Shiroe's ninja (whom she addresses as her "Lord"), roleplaying the image with the Assassin class and Tracker subclass. Her devotion to Shiroe stems from the fact that he saved her from being stuck in a man's body, which she described as 'a cruel and disgusting fate'.

Despite her limited social skills, Akatsuki is shown to be disgusted by perverts; a running gag in the series has her kneeing Naotsugu in the face when he's about to say something perverted, and then asking Shiroe for permission to do what she just did, usually followed by Naotsugu telling her to ask before she does it. In spite of this, as well as the fact that Naotsugu tends to call her short names despite knowing it irritates her, the two are shown to be good friends and frequently watch each other's backs in combat.

Akatsuki develops romantic feelings for Shiroe soon after meeting him after the Apocalypse. However, she feels insecure about her ability to help him after seeing the flawless teamwork between him, Naotsugu, and Nyanta, and how they each knew what the others would do even without communicating. This insecurity is further compounded after seeing how well Minori was able to understand Shiroe whereas she herself had been ignoring his own feelings for her own determination to protect him. Her jealousy towards Minori grows to the extent that she cannot even return home due to her restlessness and ill-will towards the younger girl. At the same time, though, she knows that Minori hasn't done anything wrong, and strives to change herself. After the Operation Capture, Akatsuki regained her confidence back.

Skills & Abilities
"The Covert Killer, Assassin. Clandestine operations are this class's speciality, making for quick kills out of sight and occasionally out of mine."

- Shiroe describing the Assassin class Akatsuki possesses a level of combat prowess that belies her small build. She has real-life training in kendo, which neither Shiroe nor Naotsugu possess, which helps after the Apocalypse due to the fact that she now has to use her body to fight, which she was the first to figure out. She is Lv. 90 at the start of the series, which was the level cap before the Apocalypse. Her main class is Assassin and her subclass is Tracker, and so she is the hardest hitter among the Log Horizon members. Her weapons include a sword and kunai.
 * Assassination: Assassin's key and last-resort skill, it is the strongest instantaneous damage ability among weapon-based attacking classes. Deals large damage to an enemy's body; furthermore, enemies usually are killed instantly if their levels are at least ten levels lower than the Assassin's. Since the strength of this skill increases with higher ranks, the Assassin can potentially outclass the firepower of others. If the attack lands, a white glow appears on screen surrounding the enemy, showing their silhouette falling if it is instant death. The ranged version of this resembles a lightning strike by numerous arrows.
 * Venom Strike: Attack by using a blade or arrow coated with deadly poison. In addition to the increased damage during the duration of the effect, there is also a chance to poison the enemy, causing damage over time. The weapon takes on a malicious purple hue when in use and when the attack hits it adds a boiling bubbling poison effect.
 * Death Stinger: A special ability that damages the enemy and has a chance to poison them. It can only be used with a melee weapon, but the additional damage caused by the poison makes it MP efficient. A common tactic tactic is to hit an enemy with Death Stinger and then withdrawing to hit another enemy with Death Stinger, repeating the pattern. This method of killing is called "Crossroads killing", it is mostly popular due to the springing motion resembling a poison scorpion.
 * Dark Vision: Grants its user the ability to see, even without light source, a range determined by your level. However, it does not allow characters to see anything that they could not see otherwise -- invisible objects are still invisible, and illusions are still illusions.
 * Sneak & Silent Move: As a Tracker, Akatsuki is able to use these two skills, which enable her to conceal her presence and move without sound respectively.
 * Shadow Lurk: Akatsuki's Overskill. Using the Tracker skill Hide Shadow with Lord Mirage and Trick Step, Akatsuki can make doubles of herself that can attack in conjunction to her; however, when they are attacked, they disappear. In order to use this ability, Akatsuki has to hold her breath.

Akatsuki's Skills
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