Izayoi

""Please, show me... your justice!""

Izayoi (イザヨイ) is the alternate form of Tsubaki Yayoi, an alias she adopts whenever she uses the Zero-Type Izayoi.

Izayoi was designed by Mori Toshimichi and Yuuki Kato in collaboration. She was first teased during the Chrono Phantasma arcade opening movie on October 17, 2012. In the 29th November issue of Weekly Famitsu, she was officially announced as a playable character for BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma on November 15, 2012, and would later be added to arcades on December 12, 2012. Izayoi was revealed for BlazBlue Alternative: Dark War on the 8th of July, 2021.

Appearance
Izayoi is a fair-skinned woman of average size with red eyes and long red hair up in a high ponytail. Her hair is parted to the left and the hair that falls to the front of her shoulders is in two special hair ornaments in a similar fashion to Tsubaki.

Izayoi's outfit consists of a dark purple skin-tight bodysuit, a short white dress-like garment, and detatched white sleeves. She has golden armor on her neck, chest, lower arms, and hips. She is also wearing white thigh-high boots with gold armor at the feet and a gold hair accessory tying back her hair.

Powers & Techniques
Thanks to her bloodline and years of training in martial arts, Tsubaki is a fierce combatant. She has a high Ars Magus aptitude that allows her to effectively utilise the Sealed Weapon Izayoi, a weapon passed down the Yayoi household. When using Izayoi, Tsubaki is able to fight against most opponents on an even keel, and frequently switches between its whip and sword form for its blade. Izayoi is able to effectively blind Observers from using Phenomenon Intervention, and Tsubaki can even cast a Zanki Barrier to further fight against that class of opponent.

Tsubaki is the only known person able to use the Zero-Type Izayoi, giving her access to the Immortal Breaker. With this, she can kill beings like Rachel Alucard and force her opponents to recognise their own death. There is a drawback in that it cannot kill those with the Power of Order or individuals with unique circumstances like Izanami, who is a Drive. Regardless of Izayoi, Tsubaki is a skilled negotiator and quick-thinker who is constantly aware of her surroundings, having realised that the Battle of Ragna the Bloodedge was a trap to ensnare her from the second she was invited serves as one example.

Unfortunately, Tsubaki is not as powerful as Jin or Noel, who wield Nox Nyctores class weapons. She will lose to either in a straight fight, and is forced to rely on the Zero-Type in order to effectively best the strongest opponents, but even then this may not be enough. She was previously easy to manipulate thanks to her hidden feelings and tendency to confine her emotions for the sake of others, but Tsubaki has overcome this with time and the help of her friends. She already fallen prey once to Izayoi's nature to blind its user; however, Tsubaki's eyesight was restored thanks to the Imperator's power. In addition to this, she also once over-relied on her weapon to the point of dying in one Continuum Shift. Despite the drawbacks of using the Izayoi, it is implied that having a strong mind and will while wielding the Izayoi can help counteract the deadly side-effects, which Tsubaki was able to achieve after she awakened the Zero-Type Izayoi.

As a result of Jin's power weakening, Izayoi is shown to have inhereted the Power of Order from him. Either the Power of Order or Izayoi itself allows for Tsubaki to have heightened intuition; she is able to sense certain presences such as Amane Nishiki being an Onlooker and also Hazama being free of the presence of Yuuki Terumi.

Creation & Development
Izayoi's design was a collaboration between Yuuki Kato and Mori Toshimichi, with Kato handling the inner design and Mori designing the armor. Mori initially wanted Izayoi's waist unit to have wiring attached due to the Izayoi's nature as a prototype, but the idea was scrapped due to movement limitations.

BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma Material Collection Commentary
Kato: ''When I first drew her design I thought, "Something seems off." With that feeling of unease I slept on the idea and redrew her character many times. At first her design had more of a Japanese feeling to it, but it clashed with her story too much and was thrown out. Mori-san and I ended up discussing the design and throwing ideas back and forth until pieces would stick. Among all of the characters, she took the most time.''
 * Creator's Comments

Mori: ''Kato-san's design had her holding a Japanese blade, but after much deliberation we settled onto the weapon as you see it now. If you're curious as to why she wasn't given a Japanese sword... that's a secret (haha).''

BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma Official Site Profile
''Severing the spell that bound her to the Imperator's will and awakening the "Zero Type Izayoi," Tsubaki uses the power of the Murakumo Unit Prototype to follow her own justice and convict all sins. Although she escaped the darkness of the past during which she could only avert her eyes, her sword trembles. In the future lies a "true light" to be obtained. ''

BlazBlue: Central Fiction Official Site Profile
''Tsubaki, who awakened the power of the "Zero Type Izayoi (Sixteenth Night)." Following her own justice, she convicts all sins. In order to bring the "World's Evil" Ragna the Bloodedge to justice by her own hands, she searches Kagutsuchi. ''Steadfast and an organizer of people, she is beloved because she never fails to consider those around her. However, she can be too serious and has a tendency towards stubbornness, so there are times when she's unable to adapt. ''
 * Story
 * Personality

BlazBlue: Central Fiction Library Entry
''The Zero-Type Izayoi is the true form of the Sealed Armament Izayoi, as awakened by the Imperator. It represents Tsubaki's transformation.
 * Izayoi

''She exists to serve the Imperator's form of justice, fighting anyone who stands in her way.

''Nevertheless, when confronted by Noel, Makoto, and Jin, Tsubaki is able to break free of the Imperator's curse by waking up to her own forgotten feelings.

BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle Official Site Profile
''Having severed the spell that bound her to the Imperator's will while awakening the "Zero Type Izayoi," this is Tsubaki Yayoi's truest form. Following her own justice, she convicts all manner of sins.''

''With intimidation provided by the projectile and midair movement provided by, take control of the pace of the match. When the time comes for close-quarters combat, fluster the opponent with (ホバーダッシュ)! ''

BlazBlue 10th Anniversary Official Site Profile
Tsubaki, who awakened the power of the &ldquo;Zero Type Izayoi.&rdquo; Glimmering before the darkness of the past that she continuously averted her eyes from is the "true light" that she was able to obtain, and following her own justice, she convicts all manner of sins.

BlazBlue Alternative: Dark War Official Profile
''Tsubaki Yayoi after unlocking the true power of the Sealed Weapon Izayoi, called the Zero-Type Izayoi. In this form, Tsubaki has the power of Immortal Breaker, and she wields a sword of justice to judge all evils.''

Appearances in other Media

 * The mobile game Mabinogi Duel stars Izayoi as a playable card.
 * The arcade collectible card games Lord of Vermilion 3, from Square Enix, has Izayoi appear as a super awakening for Tsubaki Yayoi.
 * The MMORPG Phantasy Star Online 2, by SEGA, features Izayoi's outfit, hairstyle, voice (only female avatar) and weapon as customization for the player character.
 * The mobile game Hoshiribe features Izayoi as a playable character.

Trivia

 * In the BlazBlue 10th Anniversary Character Poll, Izayoi placed 31st out of the 84 candidates. She scored one place above Jubei and one place below Bang Shishigami. She had 697 votes.
 * Izayoi shares all her personal data with Tsubaki, since they are the same person. This includes the same birthday, likes, birthplace, etc.
 * The majority of Izayoi's movelist references the Gundam series.
 * Datamining BlazBlue: Central Fiction shows that the mysterious woman talking to Rachel at the end of the game is called Izayoi.
 * Izayoi shares her English voice actress, Julie Ann Taylor, with Tsubaki and Kokonoe.
 * In the release version of BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma for arcades, Izayoi was not in the initial roster. She was added, alongside Mu-12 and Nu-13, later on. She was part of the starting roster of the console version.
 * Izayoi is IMAI Asami's favorite out of Tsubaki, dark Tsubaki, and Izayoi.
 * Izayoi is illustrated in the following Grimoire for BlazBlue Alternative: Dark War:
 * 発掘兵装 (レガシーウェポン) (Legacy Weapon).