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“ | Stand up, my avatar! Blaster Blade! | ” |
—Aichi Sendou, Whenever he rides/calls a unit with Blaster Blade in its name. |
"Aichi Sendou" is the main protagonist of the Cardfight!! Vanguard anime and manga, and serves as an antagonist briefly during season 1 when he becomes corrupted by Shadow Paladin and PSYQualia. He is also the main protagonist of Cardfight!! Vanguard Movie: Neon Messiah, along with Toshiki Kai. For the duration of season 4, Aichi was sealed by his own volition to keep Link Joker sealed away with him, while leaving his friends in the dark. Consequently, Kai set out to find Aichi and becomes the main protagonist during this period, although the spotlight is still on him. As a result of playing host to the Void's seed, Aichi himself ends up becoming the main antagonist in Kai's quest to bring him back. In Cardfight!! Vanguard G, Aichi is studying abroad in America and is recruited by Ibuki to help with Plan G. Because of his absence, Team Q4 is forced to fight Team TRY3 in the G Quest's Ultimate stage without him. He also sends his Stride Force to Chrono Shindou during his fight against Ryuzu. In Cardfight!! Vanguard G: NEXT, he comes back to Japan during summer break and goes to meet Kouji Ibuki with Chrono, and returns with Kai once more to assist in the battle against Gyze and the forces of Destruction.
He is a somewhat shy and timid young man who wishes to be a Vanguard Fighter, but has never had the chance to have a real fight until his second encounter with Kai. When starting to play Vanguard, he believes more in himself, becoming a powerful Vanguard Fighter. His Vanguard Circle's color is blue; but when using a Shadow Paladin deck (as he does during season 1) the color changes to dark blue.
Name[]
According to Kerokero Ace September 2011, Aichi's surname is written with the kanji for vanguard (先導), the forward element in a military formation (and, of course, a reference to the title of the franchise). His forename primarily refers to the Aichi prefecture of Chubu, Japan. This follows a general trend in Vanguard of using historical names for characters. "Aichi" as a name originates from the third volume of the Man'yōshū, Japan's oldest collection of poetry, where it was referred to as Ayuchi, the Ayuchi-gata tidal flats.
History[]
When he was younger, Aichi was a very shy and lonely boy who was frequently bullied at school. During the fateful encounter with Kai, who was still a friendly teenager, he gave him the card Blaster Blade, telling him to imagine himself big and strong, like the royal knight depicted on the card. Aichi couldn't picture himself any stronger at that moment, but the card gave him courage. He constructed a deck in the hopes of finding Kai and having a cardfight with him, but shortly after their encounter, Kai had apparently moved away. He eventually transferred to a different school after his mom got upset over the constant bullying.
Aichi lives with his mother and little sister, Emi. It is shown that Aichi isn't interested in school that much and his sister always wakes him up, though this behavior disappears after he starts playing Cardfight!! Vanguard.
Personality[]
At first, he is a shy, taciturn and timid boy who doesn't stand out, but is always kind and nice to everyone. After he starts playing Vanguard, he starts to come out of his shell and appears more confident in himself, resulting in a boost on his Cardfight skills. During the regional tournament, he doubted his ability when Misaki wouldn't make it in time for most of the tournament, and again when he was paired up to fight Gouki in the finals, but through winning the team's first match, and some encouragement from Kai, he regained his confidence and grew determined to win.
After Aichi gains PSY Qualia, he begins to act very much like Ren Suzugamori; arrogant and obsessed with growing stronger, yet staying eerily polite throughout, which he frequently displayed once Ren gave him a Shadow Paladin deck, which appears to fuel his PSY Qualia. Miwa compares his behavior to that of cat during his cardfight against Kiriya Bidou in which he was toying with his opponent.[1] After Kai brought him back, Aichi started doubting himself, but quickly gets over it after seeing his friends having fun during a shop tournament at Card Capital.
During Season 2, he displays more of his calm and determined personality while he was fighting with other fighters, even when he was in the brink of losing against Christopher Lo after the latter got PSY Qualia powers. However, he grows increasingly worried when his Royal Paladins were replaced by the Gold Paladins, and desperate for answers as to what happened. This starts to lessen after fighting with the new clan and learning to respect it. After facing fighters like Ren, Leon, Kourin and Jun, he begins to forge his own path, growing stronger with each fight. He refuses to leave his friends in trouble if he can help them, even when the circumstances dictate that it is a waste of valuable time, as shown when he accepted Christopher's rematch to try and break him out of his PSY Qualia-induced madness, even when Cray and Earth were in danger.
In Season 3, it is shown that Aichi, outside of any Cardfight!! Vanguard-related event, is still quite unsure and nervous, but this side of him completely vanishes whenever he plays. He also starts to act more like a leader in the Cardfight Club. Naoki, Rekka, Kourin and Kai have all noted that during their fights with him, he seems like a different person, only looking forward and having his sights set on winning.
Based on his cardfighting ability and place in Miyaji, Aichi is highly intelligent and perceptive, though this is mostly hidden by his shyness. His intelligence is seen in his cardfight strategies and ability to keep his deck evolving, and his perceptiveness allowed him to see Naoki Ishida had been reversed even if he didn't know what was actually wrong with his friend. Even so, he can be a bit dense in social situations, such as when Naoki bought a deck to cardfight him.
In Season 4 after waking up under the influence of Link Joker, Aichi is show to have become cold and cruel under its effects, striking Kourin and Philippe Neve with his dark power. He also fought ruthlessly during his cardfight against Kai, showing determination to be sealed away again. At that time, he felt that there was no other way to save Earth and Cray from Link Joker other than to disappear from the world. However, he had a slight change of heart when he realized that everybody was willing to take his burden in order to end his misery of being the host of the Seed. His wish to prevent the incident from happening again was apparent as he was able to hold back Link Joker for a prolonged time despite the clan's efforts to break his soul and body. After his fate was changed by his friends and Planet Cray, he was able to relieve his burdens of the future.
In NEXT, he is more confident than before but still very clumsy as he misses his train while helping some foreigners. He is very caring and offers to buy Chrono and Kamui drinks. When he plays Vanguard, he becomes a completely different person, becoming more confident in himself and concentrating on the game.
In the Cardfight!! Vanguard manga, Aichi (during the Link Joker arc) becomes a very cold person under the influence of Psy Qualia Zombie's effect.
Appearance[]
Aichi is a boy with long blue hair with a right hair bang which is his signature style. He is first seen in his Hitsue Middle School uniform which is mostly all gray with white linings along with a red sweater under it. His civilian clothes varies with the change in season particularly wearing a short green jacket with a red sweater under it for cold seasons while sporting a white double sleeved shirt for warm seasons. He is quite particularly short compared to other characters of the same grade.
By the start of the second season, he still wears his middle school uniform but he is mostly seen in his civilian clothes by the time of the VF Circuit which is a white jacket with a red sweater beneath it.
In the start of the third season, he is now a high school student at Miyaji Academy wearing the basic male uniform which is a black blazer with red linings along with a white formal shirt underneath it and a red necktie. By this time, he has short hair but still maintaining his signature right hair bang and has significantly grown taller. His civilian clothing shown so far is a varying colored jacket of dark purple and white while having a light purple sweater underneath.
In the fourth season, as the host of Link Joker, he wears a general coat schemed with red & black and his clothes shares the same theme as the Quatre Knights. After finally appearing he is shown to have shorter hair, dull eyes .He also has a cold and cruel look on his face due to Link Joker's effects, and the signature black and red aura.
In sixth season, he is shown that he is still wearing a white jacket with the same blue haired color. His attire is still the same as what he had in Season 3 when he was fighting against Reverse.
In NEXT, he has a light blue jacket and jeans. He has grown taller and his hair has grown noticeably as well.
Abilities[]
In the beginning of the series, he was used by Cray as one of the keys in the war between the Royal Paladin and Shadow Paladins. However, after the end of the Link Joker invasion, his spiritual strength was on par with Takuto, even though not as strong as the host of Ezel. This was later proven as Planet Cray was willing to save him from his fate of being sealed away together with Link Joker and the units having faith in him to save their world.
Connection to Planet Cray[]
He is shown to have PSY Qualia, which was later revealed that this power is a key to link the fighter to Planet Cray. After the Link Joker invasion, in between the events of season 3 and 4, he was able to meet the respective Quatre Knights locations, even though it was unexplained how he was able to arrive there.
Before the arrival of the Quatre Knights to the Sanctuary, some of his powers were transferred to Kourin and a card Companion Star Star-vader, Photon appears as Kourin's avatar, showing his ability to create cards like Suiko and giving Kourin the ability to use Link Joker on her own free will, despite being under Link Joker's control himself during the cardfight against Philippe Neve. He was able to turn the respective Quatre Knights's cards to talismans, which reflect their type of prisons they have. After defeating Takuto in Neon Messiah his PSY Qualia was enhanced, allowing him to bring back units from the brink of death. Also, he was able to see Brandt.
Memory Manipulation[]
Like Takuto, he also possesses an ability to erase or manipulate any memory of his existence to most individuals maybe because of link joker's seed, like how the existence of the 3 clans were forgotten in the Asia Circuit Arc. Despite that, there are a few flaws as Kai was not affected by it possibly due to Blaster Blade's arrival in Kai's dream. Even Naoki, Misaki, Miwa and Kamui were able to remember him after some significant cardfights, in which Aichi even noted that it was a major mistake he made. The Sanctuary's foundation, which was formed by Aichi's will, has the ability to erase memories of an individual connected to him if they lose a cardfight, with the exception of the Knights .His existence was brought back after the Sanctuary breaks down.
Physical Abilities[]
He also demonstrated his strong willpower, shown when he was able to suppress Link Joker within him for several days after the Reverse event. It was even demonstrated even further when he was able to hold and absorb his dark powers with a bit of help from Kourin before the Knights arrival and with Neve's help after waking up from Link Joker's complete control over him, either being rendered unconscious or showing noticeable signs of exhaustion, though it was stated by Gaillard that it was life threatening. He also exhibited some physical strength.
Biography[]
Season 1[]
Aichi is a student in Hitsue Middle School. He is introduced as a self-contained boy with low self-esteem, as seen when he is asked by his teacher to base an opinion, to which he gives an answer that makes him seem cowardly in appearance to the other students. When Kai introduced to Vanguard, he gained a lot of friends like Morikawa, Miwa and Izaki, and later his teammates that becomes his best friends - Kai Toshiki, Misaki Tokura and Kamui Katsuragi.
Aichi continues to play Vanguard with his friends at Card Shop Capital, thus progressively getting better at the game until he places fourth in the Card Shop Tournament. As a result, he joins Team Quadrofolio (Q4) to invest more in the game. When Q4 begins to play in the Regionals, he becomes friend with members of teams like Handsome, and when they forward to Nationals, he become friend with members of Team Caesar. He loses the Nationals to the Teams Jurassic Army and AL4 in the third match, but gained a lot of experience because of it.
However, as the series progresses, Aichi discovers PSY Qualia, an unusual power that allows him to hear the voices of his cards and see his path to victory. Placing his trust in these voices, Aichi begins to rely on his own skill less and more in favor of PSY Qualia. Kai leaves Aichi, partially out of guilt over what happened to Ren, but not without coldly telling Aichi he has only gotten weaker.
Confused over Kai's words, Aichi stumbles into Card Shop PSY, where he meets Ren again. Ren gives Aichi a Shadow Paladin deck and tells him that it will give him the strength he needs. He takes the deck because he believes that he can use it to show Kai that Aichi indeed had grown stronger, when in reality the deck fueled the dark intentions of his power. Aichi then uses this deck to utterly defeat Kourin.
Later in the series, after Team Q4 qualify through the Preliminaries of their second National Championship, Kai fights Aichi, in order to try and prevent PSY Qualia from totally consuming him as it did Ren. When the fight is almost over, Aichi has a vision of Blaster Blade that tells him that he has a big strength that he's always had, and he doesn't need a perfect constructed deck to win. After recognizing Blaster Blade as his true Avatar, Aichi stops using his PSY Qualia, although his cards answered his call during his fight with Kenji Mitsusada. However, Ren noted that Aichi won without PSY Qualia, as did Kai.
Later, Aichi goes to Foo Fighters' headquarters with Ultra-Rare to watch the fight between Kai and Ren, with the former losing. Ren noted that he received Phantom Blaster Overlord from Suiko in the process. After the battle, Aichi tries to comfort Kai, but Kai tells Aichi to get away from him and storms off. Suiko then manifests two spheres of energy, one of darkness and the other of light, and says that Ren chose the path of darkness and now Aichi must choose his path, and presumably a new card.
After the battle between Kai and Ren, Aichi and Q4 (minus Kai) return to the stadium for the finals of the National Tournament to fight Team Foo Fighter AL4. Aichi remains on the sidelines while Kamui fights Tetsu and Misaki fights Asaka. After these battles Aichi takes the field to battle Ren in the final match of the tournament. Throughout the match Ren tempts Aichi to use his PSY Qualia ability but Aichi constantly refuses while Ren constantly uses PSY Qualia to cause Aichi to feel the pain of each of Ren's attacks. Aichi eventually succumbs to the temptation after he calls Blaster Dark to his Rear Guard. Using PSY Qualia's power, he then begins to unleash his full power on Ren, causing Ren to feel the attack from Aichi's units just as Ren had done to Aichi previously. From the stands, Kai shouts to Aichi not to fall back into PSY Qualia's grasp and brings Aichi back to his senses once more. After Ren Crossrides Phantom Blaster Overlord, Aichi is backed into a corner when his guard is broken and Phantom Blaster Overlord's attack hits. After checking a Heal Trigger, Aichi proceeds to ride Majesty Lord Blaster and defeat Ren using its skill as well as removing the power of PSY Qualia from Ren.
After the match, Aichi and Team Q4 are crowned the National Champions. A few days after the tournament, Aichi runs to Card Capital to see his friends while saying that he can no longer use PSY Qualia. As he enters Card Capital, all his friends are there waiting for him, including Kai who has been waiting to battle him. Aichi then proceeds to start a battle with Kai.
Season 2[]
During season 2, he uses a Gold Paladin deck. Aichi is taking part in Asia Circuit and travels around Asia to fight different fighters, along with the rest of Team Q4.
In episode 66, he fights Takuto Tatsunagi, who has a Gold Paladin deck. After the fight, he realizes his deck consists of Gold Paladin units instead of Royal Paladins. Aichi is told that Shadow Paladin, Royal Paladin, and Kagerō have been sealed away. Eventually, Aichi finds Kai, and discovers that his deck has changed too, although Kai is unaware of the change, unlike Aichi. Kai and Aichi then start a battle, in order to try and determine what really has happened. However, Aichi is unsure without his old deck to play with and is swiftly defeated by Kai's new ace, Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion, who demonstrates the new Limit Break ability.
In episode 68, Aichi takes on Kamui, in order to try and convince him to come to the VF Circuit with him, and battles with his Gold Paladin deck, even using the Limit Break for the first time.
Once Aichi and Q4 land in Singapore, they meet up with Kenji Mitsusada and Team Caesar by chance, and then meet with a boy named Christopher Lo and his teammates, Lee Shenlon and Pajeel Ali, of Team S.I.T. Genius. After parting ways with Teams Caesar and S.I.T. Genius Aichi sees Takuto in a car driving away and proceeds to give chase. After being denied an audience with Takuto, he walks through town until Kourin finds him and proceeds to give him his new trump card, Incandescent Lion, Blond Ezel.
Aichi's quest to see Takuto again, however, is brought to a halt, when Takuto appears in the middle of Aichi's fight with Christopher Lo. Takuto grants both players the power of PSY Qualia, which Christopher uses to defeat Aichi before he can begin to re-understand his new power.
Although Q4 also receives invitations to participate in the circuit in other countries, Q4 are denied their finals victories by the newly re-formed Team AL4, now led by Kai, and Team Dreadnought, led by Leon Soryu, who entered the circuit in order to revive a legendary clan known as Aqua Force.
Later on, Aichi realizes that his lack of progress is due to his own hesitation regarding the correct use of PSY Qualia, but he learns to overcome them after a match with Ultra-Rare. His new resolve results in the acceptance of a new ace card, Blazing Lion, Platina Ezel. With this card, Q4 are finally able to win the Japan leg of the VF Circuit.
However, he and the other finalists are drawn to Cray via a portal connecting Cray to Earth, where he learns the VF Circuit's true purpose; Cray is in danger of a threat known as Void, and is responsible for the sealing of the clans who united the others. The whole tournament was held in order to find chosen cardfighters who could save Cray from Void.
Leon Soryu, however, reveals that he made a deal with Void in order to revive the Aqua Force in exchange for eliminated all threats to Void. With his wildly-evolved PSY Qualia and mastery of the powers that Void handed to him, Soryu betrays Tatsunagi, draining him of his own powers and leaving the boy for dead. He then separates each team who made the finals, and Aichi is forced to look for Leon and stop him. While searching, he finds the spirit of his lost Avatar, Blaster Blade, which manifests in the form of a beam of light, which points towards Leon, and as a new unit, Blaster Blade Spirit.
Q4 then bump into Team S.I.T Genius, where Aichi discovers that Christopher Lo has been completely consumed by PSY Qualia. Seeing himself in Christopher, Aichi decides to try and snap him out of it, as Kai did for him. Aichi succeeds in winning the fight, banishing Team S.I.T Genius from Cray, as only the winners can remain. However, this fight delays Aichi, and he is too late to stop Leon from defeating Kai and banishing Team new AL4 from the space as well. Aichi fights Leon to avenge Kai and stop Leon's plot. After a hard-fought fight, which results in the return of his Avatar and the Crossride of Platina Ezel, Aichi narrowly escapes defeat and succeeds in saving Cray.
Afterwards, when he re-discovers the Royal Paladins, Aichi realizes that he has forged a bond with his Gold Paladin allies and cannot bear the thought of simply abandoning them. Understanding his feelings, Blaster Blade, as well as the other Royal Paladins he fought with, manifest in the form of new Gold Paladins.
Aichi then makes the true finals of the VF Circuit, where he officially defeats Christopher Lo, ending in Q4 becoming the champions of the tournament.
Season 3[]
Aichi re-enrolls in Miyaji Academy with Misaki. However, when he settles into his old school again, it becomes apparent that his hobby has little place in a school where the primary concern is college. At the end of school, he goes to Card Capital and a regular student, Naoki Ishida, follows him. Aichi teaches him how to play Vanguard, and introduces his new deck. Although Aichi wins, he notices that Naoki bought a Trial Deck, which means he is now interested in Vanguard. He then decides to keep an eye on him.
He tries to start a Cardfight Club at his school, but many people only wanted to join because Kourin was a member, so it resulted in there only being three members; Kourin Tatsunagi, Naoki Ishida and Aichi. In addition, the Student Council, who disapproved of the formation of such a club, frequently spread rumors and put a bounty on the Cardfight Club to dismantle them. Eventually they added Shingo Komoi and Misaki Tokura joined the club after defeating Aichi, completing the Cardfight Club. However, the club was not approved by the Student Council as they also did not have a teacher to advise them. As an alternative, the Student Council President challenged them to face Hitsue High's Cardfight Club, rewarding them with approval and an advisor should they win. By the time Aichi fights, the results are tied up leaving it up to Aichi to save the Cardfight Club. He faces off against Morikawa whose deck was switched out in favor of Kai's Kagerō deck which utilized Dragonic Overlord The End and the Kagerō's new Break Ride as a way for Kai to test him. Aichi manages to break through impressing even Kai with how strong he has become. This victory establishes the Cardfight Club within Miyaji Academy as Aichi is named President and Captain of the club.
During the regionals for the High School VF Circuit, his team begins the tournament defeating Hitsue High with Aichi coming out victorious against a strong willed Izaki. By the finals, Aichi faces off against Ren to decide the winner of the tournament, but in the end Aichi fails to defeat Ren and the club is knocked out of the next stage of the Circuit.
He returns to his duties as club president only to find himself getting a strange premonition about his friends. Soon he faces against Naoki who is being controlled by Link Joker defeats him. He also starts getting strange feelings as Kai has not shown up to Card Capital as well.
Later on, he is shown to lead his club on a hike trip around the camp site that the whole academy is taking as a relaxing trip. He and his team made it first out of everyone and the other students are rather impressed at that. At night, the whole club gathered around to watch the high school cardfight tournament, they were joined by other students along with the Football club and the Paranormal Research Society. He with Naoki and Shingo made a vow to win the next tournament. The next day, he and the others worked together to enjoy their time on the trip. Later, Kourin told Aichi to fight her in a cardfight. Not wanting to disappoint her, he agreed to it while Misaki calmly watched from a far. During the fight, she displayed a sign of being Reversed, however, at the last minute, she was able to break free of it. She, then, ran off without a word while Aichi and Misaki wondered what was happening. When on the bus back to school, he wondered what is happening to Kourin. When Aichi returned to Miyaji High School, he felt bad premonitions during the bus ride back and immediately ran out only to find Kamui who was just defeated by Kourin and in the process of getting Reversed and the Student Council Secretary, Maki Nagashiro, showing a video of the Reversed Takuto who declared it to be the beginning of the destruction of the world.
Upon returning to Card Capital, Miwa shows himself and reveals that Kai has been reversed all for the sake of facing Aichi. Soon after Miwa leaves, he is confronted by Leon who plans on facing Kai and Takuto. He challenges Aichi for the sake of seeing if both are prepared for the threat but after Aichi rides Blaster Blade Liberator, Leon suddenly stops the Cardfight stating that Aichi is hesitating to fight Kai saying that the strong wind from when he usually brings out Blaster Blade isn't there. Aichi realizes this hesitation and reflects on his doubts. Soon he hears of Naoki and Shingo missing for a day realizing that the both of them are attempting to liberate Miyaji Academy. When Aichi and Misaki head over, they find that the black ring hovering over the school is disappearing. As they find an exhausted Shingo and Naoki, Naoki having just defeated Maki, Shingo revealed that Naoki decided to take on all of these cardfighters for Aichi. Inspired by Naoki's passion and courage, Aichi decides to storm the Tatsunagi Corporation with the intent to defeat Kamui, Kai, Takuto and whoever else stands in his way in defeating the Link Joker.
Upon making his way there with Misaki, Naoki and Shingo, he encounters Kamui who challenges him. Kamui reminds him that when they formed Team Q4, Aichi was barely keeping up against Kamui, slowly becoming equals but soon enough, it became obvious that Aichi became much stronger than Kamui. Kamui manages to get his Crossbreak Ride off with Ethics Buster Яeverse delivering a full eight attacks but combined with a couple Quintet Walls and a strong guard, Aichi holds out stating that it's through the bonds of Q4 that he was able to get as far as he is now and that Kamui is one of his strongest rivals. He solidifies this by Crossbreak Riding Gancelot Zenith and after superior calling Blaster Blade Liberator, defeats Kamui and returns him to normal as he now is accompanying the group. He watches the Misaki's fight against Miwa and ultimately ends up fighting Kai as well. Confident that he can bring back Kai, he does well against Link Joker for the first time. However, Aichi fails to defeat him as Kai ends the fight by Break Riding Star Vader, Chaos Breaker Dragon and breaking Aichi's Quintet Wall. Upon being defeated, Aichi would have ended up being Reversed, prolonging the process through his own willpower, but Leon with Sharlene and Jillian luckily came in time with a mirror holding Takuto, who helps Aichi tap into his PSY Qualia and temporarily suppressing the Reverse process. However, the strain of holding back such a power has affected him as Aichi cannot engage in a cardfight otherwise the power would rush out all at once and would threaten his life, thus benching him for the time being. However, Aichi, not wanting to sit out while his friends are in trouble, rushes in only to arrive as soon as Takuto is absorbed by the Reversed Takuto. Unwavering, he challenges Reversed Takuto to a cardfight.
However, before he gets a chance to, Takuto has Kourin fight Aichi instead.However, during the fight, he is clearly seen struggling to hold himself together but with his desire not to lose his friends to darkness, he manages to defeat Kourin with his new card, Liberator, Monarch Sanctuary Alfred. He confronts Takuto with this deck, however Takuto begins to slowly lock his field during the cardfight until he locks his open spot on the field with a unit in his deck setting up for Star-vader, "Omega" Glendios's Ultimate Break all the while chipping away at his damage. Takuto taunts Aichi that in defeating him, he releases everyone from the reverse, Aichi's suppressed reverse included, but in doing so, he denies cardfighters their strength and would also deny Kourin her memories of her time with her friends. But when he sees images of his friends fighting the incoming Link Joker army, he gets his second wind saying that they will find their own strength eventually and even if Ultra Rare lose their memories, he is confident that they all will meet in the future and make new memories.
Aichi solidifies this hope by riding Alfred against Takuto and shows off Alfred's ability to liberate his locked units. With a full field, he defeats Takuto and liberates the world from reverse and Link Joker. As Takuto is being absorbed back into the void, he tries to take Aichi with him but the real Takuto regains control of the body and drags him into the void with him. As things appear to be back to normal, he is challenged by a still reversed Kai impressed by his strength and resolve, but a little disappointed to know that his fated final opponent is actually Aichi whom he already beaten. However, as Kai is about to be unreversed, he wants to see how Aichi does at his full strength before he loses his reversed Kagerō deck.
As the fighters clash, Kai states that he knew what he was doing the entire time and that by nature, a cardfighter's job is always to find new strength, no matter the cost, and upon finishing this cardfight, win or lose, he will leave and disappear from everyone's lives. Not satisfied with Kai's self alienation, Aichi says that Kai is his idol, and without him, he wouldn't be the man he is today. He even said that he did not want the match to be the last match between them .Aichi even states that even if Kai lose in to temptation he will always be there with him.He also states that Kai should stay with his friends in that case and instead of walking away from them. Aichi then rides Blaster Blade, the card that began his journey, a unit which Kai says defines Aichi. In response Kai rides the unit that defines himself, Dragonic Overlord but soon takes it a step further by Crossbreak Riding Dragonic Overlord "The Яe-birth" and demonstrate to him the power Link Joker had given him.
Aichi manages to hold off long enough in order to Ride Alfred and fill up his field and superior calling Blaster Blade for Alfred's Ultimate Break. He finished the match by finishing Kai off with Blaster Blade who sees that Aichi became strong through his allies and friends while Kai tried to become strong by shutting everyone away from his life.
Season 4[]
A few days after saving the world from Link Joker and saving Kai from himself and from the will to use the power of Link Joker, Aichi mysteriously disappears not only from school and the card shop but also from everyone's memories including his family relatives. Aichi is seen at the end of episode 164, sitting on a throne at an unknown location.
In episode 166, he is seen in Ishida's dream telling him he cannot be with them. Later in episode 169, it said that Aichi is in a supposed slumber and that the Quatre Knights inherited his will. In episode 174, Olivier Gaillard states that if Aichi wishes it, the Quatre Knights will show no mercy to Aichi's so-called mates. In episode 177, Aichi is seen seating on his throne, addressing his mates. Aichi ordered his mates to stop trying to rescue him and wished them "Goodbye" for he does not want to see them.
As revealed by Ren and Leon in episode 179, Aichi had approached them both and offered each of them a position as one his Quatre Knights. Ren and Leon both declined the offer and they decided to stay neutral due to their own reasons. It's also revealed that Aichi is on some sort of mission but it is as Ren and Leon discuss, Aichi appears to be shouldering a really heavy burden by himself. So he made a decision of picking the four best players of the world and formed the Quatre Knights in order to seal him up and protect him from the Seed of the Void. Before the Knights arrival to the palace after he managed to convince them, he holds back Link Joker to buy some time. Kourin got involved in his situation when she was transported to his location because of Link Joker, regaining her memories.
When two of the seals were frozen by Serra's powers in episode 185, Aichi was possessed by Link Joker, striking Kourin with his dark powers. Afterwards, he ended up in a cardfight against Neve in his Steel Wall Prison in episode 186 and 187, using a Link Joker deck. During the cardfight, he managed to break out of Link Joker's control in brief moments thanks to Neve who tried to reach his feelings, only to be taken over again and ultimately won. He finally was able to completely snap out of Link Joker's possession when Neve received Judgement from his own prison and fainted after he was carried back to the throne.
After Rati's seal was down due to her loss to Serra in episode 189, Aichi tried to hold back Link Joker despite his weakened condition from the previous battle. In episode 191, he woke up and agreed to let Gaillard have one last cardfight with Kai to redeem himself and witnessed Kai and Gaillard's final battle, commenting that both of them are having fun.
In episode 193, he then explained to Kai on why he had chosen to seal himself away. When he learned that Kai was guided by Blaster Blade, he showed him the card, only to be corrupted by Link Joker, as Star-vader, Blaster Joker. He then cardfight against Kai to determine his own fate and future. When Kai mentioned on how his precious mates had went through all of this just to take him back, he ignored his words and replied that no matter how strong the bonds are, they won't be able to save him. He then rides Blaster Joker, using his Legion skill to push Kai to a tough spot. However, Kai barely managed to delay his victory, frustrating him in the process. When Kai uses Aichi's own plan to seal himself against him, he was shaken by Kai's question and became doubtful of his own thought of sacrificing oneself to save others. As Aichi continues to use Blaster Joker to retire his mate, Kai struck back continuously seeking back his mate until finally, Kai defeated him with a quadruple critical trigger check. As the seed attempts to get to Kai, Kai calls on Blaster Blade who smashes the seed into tiny pieces that went into all fighters there as well as selected fighters across the world who possess forgiveness and understanding and small enough that it will not possess and take over its host. Thus with the threat over, the palace breaks down as Aichi and the others return to Earth with everyone's memories of Aichi restored. Before the palace completely disappears from his fading will, he and Kourin have a final conversation.
In episode 195, a year after the battle in the moon palace, Aichi was having problems in writing the graduation ceremony speech but was still glad that everything went well in school as the Cardfight Club has gotten some new freshmen members and it was revealed that they won the VF high school tournament. After a few fights at Hitsue and Fukuhara, the next day Aichi and Naoki were on to school when they met with Kai who was fighting some tough fighters while talking about the major Card Capital shop tournament.
In episode 196, during the ceremony Aichi was called to deliver his speech, whereby after it was mentioned he did not say it well as he felt depressed over it. After the ceremony, they all went to Card Capital and participated in the tournament. They were surprised to meet up with AL4, Dreadnought, and Genius. Towards the end of the episode, Kai told Aichi he will be going to Europe and wouldn't be back for a while but Aichi assured him as long as they play the game they will meet up in time as they open up their vanguards. The episode ended with Kai and Aichi having a vanguard fight with Aichi telling Kai to picture the future.
Neon Messiah[]
In the animated Vanguard Film, Aichi is the main Protagonist alongside Kai. He's back at Card Capital for the summer with team Q4, the Miyaji Cardfight Club, and a few more companions. While fighting against Kai, Aichi is transported suddenly to a chaotic Planet Cray consumed in flames, and Blaster Blade emerges to warn him about a mysterious threat to Cray, and the need to awaken a messiah to save them. Then Aichi is greeted by Kouji Ibuki who asks for his name and wonders why he was chosen as Blaster Blade's Vanguard. After telling Ibuki his name, Ibuki utters the word "Disappear" and strikes Aichi/Blaster Blade in the chest. Aichi then flashes back to reality and is questioned by Morikawa if he was spacing out in the middle of a fight. Aichi reveals that he's been having these Visions almost every day, where Blaster Blade asks him to awaken the messiah and warns him about Cray's impending doom.
Eventually, he, along with team Q4, is invited to take part in the Messiah Scramble tournament to compete for ownership of a strange grade 4 "Harmonics Messiah." He and Kai connect the visions and the tournament and realize that the Scramble is more than just a friendly competition. A second later they experience a small tremor and look out the window to see a glowing red planet hovering above them, confirming Kai's suspicions. At that moment Aichi receives a call from Misaki, who tells him to get to Card Capital fast.
Upon arrival at the shop, Kai and Aichi see Team Asteroid surrounded by his friends with blank black cards scattered on the table in front of them. Ren goes over his fight with Kouji, revealing that he is the one responsible for the deletion of the cards all over the world, and warns Team Q4 about Ibuki and his "Alien" like deck.
The next day, Aichi and Team Q4 take off on a private plane to be transported to the Scramble Tournament, with most of the Miyaji High School characters there to see them off. During the plane ride, Aichi and Team Q4 spend time talking about the messiah, and how the Scramble Tournament is one big mystery.
Team Q4 finally arrives on the island, prepared to fight, but Aichi, seeing a temple up ahead, recognizes it from his visions. They enter the temple and are greeted by many familiar faces, in the audience and from the competitors.
Soon, the tournament begins, but because of Ibuki's actions, a whole round of the tournament was cancelled, so Aichi must fight Ibuki in place of that round. The fight between Aichi and Ibuki begins with Aichi confronting Ibuki about his actions. He asks why Ibuki would be doing such a horrible thing to Vanguard, but all Ibuki says is that he's liberating people from the curse that is Vanguard.
During the fight, Ibuki's Deletor units are revealed to the audience and Aichi. Aichi fights on with his Seekers (his boss card being Alfred EXIV), but is soon overpowered by Oksizz's unbelievable skill. Ibuki wins the match and prepares to Delete Alfred and the rest of the Paladins, but Blaster Blade sacrifices himself to save everyone else. Blaster Blade, standing in front of Aichi, asks with his dying breath to please save his home, Cray. Aichi receives the physical and emotional pain of Blaster Blade's death and is eliminated from the tournament.
That night, Aichi wakes up determined to bring Blaster Blade back, claiming that he can feel Blaster Blade still alive. Suiko reveals to him the can in fact bring Blaster Blade from the brink of death, but he must fight in order to do so. Aichi, along with Naoki and Miwa, join Suiko to meet Takuto underneath the shrine. Takuto explains to Aichi that beating him at his strongest will activate the best of Aichi's PSY Qualia, strengthening Aichi's connection with Blaster Blade, and Undeleting him. Takuto also warns that the strain on Aichi's body may kill him, but Aichi proceeds anyway. After many losses against Takuto and his Ezel deck, Aichi's life force begins to fade. Then, the Royal Paladin units all begin to speak to him, thanking him for being their Vanguard and risking his life to protect them, and that they would now give all their power to win this fight and save Blaster Blade. They succeed, with Alfred/Aichi delivering the final blow.
Aichi then meets Kai and Ibuki back in the coliseum, revealing that he's freed Blaster Blade and is ready to fight. Ibuki challenges them both at once and they enter a massive fight in order to save Earth and Cray. Aichi tries to talk to Ibuki and reach the person inside him that loved Vanguard. He tells Ibuki that going at it with all your might during a cardfight is what allows you to make friends with anyone, and that's why even with the fate of the world on the line, he's having a lot of fun.
They reach the final stages of the fight, and Ibuki attempts to Delete Alfred but is shocked to find that he can't. Aichi begins to speak to the Messiah, who is glad that he finally hears her voice. Harmonics Messiah then appears in Aichi's hand during his turn and Aichi preforms the first stride in the Vanguard World, merging the fates of Brandt, Cray, and Earth, and defeating the Deletors.
The last few minutes of the film show Aichi and Team Q4 talking to the real Ibuki as he heads off to find a new path. Aichi sees a new friend in Ibuki and gives him the Harmonics Messiah card. Upon Ibuki's touch, however, the Harmonics Messiah changes into Neon Messiah, the first Generation Break unit in the Vanguard World.
G Season 1[]
In Turn 1, he was seen at the very end when Chrono Shindou was running past him. He stopped to look back to Chrono, and then continued to walk. He was shown as a shadow. In the next episode he was briefly seen on a message chat with Miwa and Kai on Kamui's phone when he was telling Chrono that he was asking a few friends about the mysterious clan.
G Season 2[]
He was briefly seen again in Turn 1 looking at Ibuki's message regarding Plan G on his phone. It is assumed that he is studying abroad. He is seen again at Turn 22 with Rati Curti. He is again seen in the next episode watching the match between Tokoha Anjou and Misaki. He is also seen directly on the final episode, showing that he is helping Plan G (GIRS Crisis), with riding his avatar Blaster Blade, alongside with Rati and his friends.
G Season 3[]
In Turn 49 he was seen summoning his ace Blaster Blade along with his friends and traveled with them to help Chrono stop Ryuzu Myoujin's plan.
G Season 4[]
In TURN 26 in NEXT, Aichi returns to Japan, to be greeted by his friends. He meets Chrono for the first time, knowing all about him thanks to Kamui. It was mentioned that he was attending an American University to study Cosmology and Astrophysics and learn the English language. While studying abroad, he continued to play vanguard at America. In TURN 27, he fights with Chrono with his new "Saver" Deck. At the end of the episode, he is the one who gives Chrono Interdimensional Dragon, Beyond Order Dragon.
G Season 5[]
To be added.
Relationships[]
Toshiki Kai[]
His relationship with Kai at first was rocky, but later, they started to understand each other and ended up having a close bonding at the end of legion mate. They didn't get along too well though they learned to enjoy each other company. Kai is quite supportive of Aichi though only when Aichi learned how to do things by himself and become more confident. Aichi taught Kai how to have fun in Cardfight again when Kai forgotten how much fun he was having before his change in school and his parent's death. During Season Two, Kai was withdrawn from him since Aichi needed to learn how to do things by himself and to not count on others to help him. In Season Three, Kai noticed how much Aichi has changed. He was happy and sad at the same time though he was glad to see Aichi being himself now. However, this now puts him in a role reversal as, through observing Aichi and Ren's strength through their cardfight, he feels as though they have exceeded him by leaps and bounds. Tempted by the promise of strength, he willingly takes the power of Reverse and the Link Joker clan so he can face Aichi one on one as his equal. Aichi, realizing the danger of having such strength using a dark power, resolves to personally defeat him and release him from Reverse. In the end, he finally got through to Kai who tried to shut himself away from everyone. In Season 4, Kai seems more assured about preserving his bond with Aichi who he considers as his "mate", going through great lengths to bring Aichi back.
In G series Aichi seems to get along well with Kai teasing him at times about his habit of getting into fights at times.During the Christmas episode in G Z Aichi seemed upset over the fact that Kai had to stay in Europe at that time dealing with the current situation.
In G Z Aichi cautioned Kai when he saw Chaos Breaker approaching towards his direction.Aichi also seemed to appreciate and like Kai's cooking in the last episode of G Z.
Misaki Tokura[]
She and Aichi have a close and understanding relationship. They shared one thing in common: they both didn't know how to play Cardfight at first. After going through countless tournaments together, they formed a tight bond with each other eventually becoming schoolmates in the same High School. She appears to have a slight crush on Aichi though Aichi never noticed it.
Kamui Katsuragi[]
Their relationship is close and very supportive of each other. Kamui treated Aichi as a brother, and they had an inseparable bond. Although Kamui, at first, was treating Aichi with kindness to see if Emi would like him, but eventually Kamui learned to enjoy Aichi's company. They went through thick and thin together and eventually became an irreplaceable friend and teammate.
Emi Sendou[]
Aichi cares a great deal for Emi, though their relationship is slightly reversed from that of normal siblings with Emi often taking care of him. He has shown to respect her and appreciate her for making him meals and supporting him. He was also the one who inspired her to take up Vanguard after seeing how the game changed him.
Taishi Miwa[]
He and Aichi get along quite well. They speak a lot to each other when not Cardfighting and Miwa is very supportive of Aichi. He cares a lot for everyone and Aichi is one of them. He likes to lighten the mood when Aichi is down in the dumps.
Ren Suzugamori[]
His relationship with Ren was very distant the first time they met. He was a far better player than Aichi and Aichi felt a difference in strength. When Aichi was upset for causing his team failures, Ren took a chance and told him that power can be his if he chose the path, he took back then. When they fought in the last battle, Aichi told him that he will not use PSY Qualia anymore and showed Ren what it meant to have true strength. When they met again after some months, their relationship became rather close. They now enjoy each other companies and likes to talk to each other even though Ren tends to switch subjects or sleeping on his feet.
Blaster Blade[]
His relationship to Blaster Blade is a special one. Although Blaster Blade was just a card to many people, Aichi has always counted on him to support him and always calls him his avatar. When Aichi was abusing PSY Qualia, he abandoned Blaster Blade for Blaster Dark though when they meet in Cray (an image of it), Blaster Blade told him that PSY Qualia was never his true strength. Aichi, once again, called him his avatar. When Blaster Blade was sealed away in Season Two, Aichi went through lots of trials to get him back. Blaster Blade told Aichi that he will always be with him. Even though Aichi chose to seal himself away to prevent the Link Joker invasion from happening again, Blaster Blade even went as far as entrusting to Kai his strength in order to save Aichi and Cray's future.
Blaster Dark[]
His relationship with Blaster Dark is very loose. Although Aichi did use him instead of Blaster Blade, he in the end chose Blaster Blade over him. Blaster Dark told him that he will regret it later. When Aichi fought against Ren, he told Ren that both Blaster Blade and Blaster Dark are his avatars.
Kourin Tatsunagi[]
He and Kourin have an understanding friendship. At first, she was annoyed at him though she learned to respect him. Out of the three sisters, she supports for Aichi the most. In Link Joker she seems to have developed a crush on Aichi, although he remains unaware. In Legion Mate, Kourin gains the avatar Photon, the mate of Blaster Joker, and is willing to take on any burden for Aichi.
Quatre Knights[]
Not much is known about his relationship to the Knights. However, he has faith in them and entrusts them his will in protecting the future. He has great trust in Gaillard, even admitting his fears and telling them how others have given him strength during their first meeting. He earned the respect of Neve through their first cardfight, even as far as Neve addressing him as 'Lord'. Before the time he was sealed, he even gave Rati courage, helping her to find the true meaning of friendship and protecting the one precious to her. Later on in the series, they understood what Aichi meant during their initial time together, which later becomes their strength and a key to save the future.
A year after the battle in the moon palace, the remaining knights still kept in contact with their former leader, signifying their undying bond with Aichi; and up today, Rati still follows Aichi wherever he goes.
Etymology[]
- Aichi's surname Sendou means "lead/leader/leadership, guidance" (先導).
Trivia[]
- Aichi Sendou is similar to Yugi Mutou from Yu-Gi-Oh! since they were both timid at first but became social afterwards.
- Coincidentally, they are both the first main protagonists of their own respective series.
- Aichi shares the same birthday date as Takaaki Kidani, CEO of Bushiroad.