Akane Heiya is one of the new characters introduced in ‘Alice in Borderland’ season 2, playing a significant role in some of the key moments in the show.
Warning: This article contains spoilers
‘Alice in Borderland’ is great at making even the most seemingly important characters drop dead in a sudden morbid twist. This tendency of the plot is set in stone pretty early on in the show’s first season.
It’s understandable, then, why every new character entrance comes with a significant dose of caution. It’s a caution for the audience, to not attach themselves to the characters too much, and to root for them while being reasonably optimistic.
Akane is one of those characters who sports a strong persona right off the bat. However, the poor viewers are too cautious by now to fall for the bravado and bet on the character’s survival, albeit still retaining some hope that always lives on for the life to ultimately prevail.
The archer with amputated feet
Akane first appears in the fifth episode of season 2, while Arisu is running away from the King of Spades with all his might, trying to save his life.
While he gets broken off from Usagi, he’s saved by a fellow Borderland survivor. It’s a girl wearing torn-up, weathered clothes and a fierce expression on her face.
She also sports a bow and arrows, which she uses to extreme efficacy against the seemingly invincible King of Spades.
She later knocks out Arisu to get him from harm’s way and carries him to none other than Aguni, who’s revealed to still be alive.
She introduces herself as Akane later on and Arisu notices and asks about her prosthetic left foot. She tells him the story of how her foot came to be in the state it currently is.
Problematic past and present quirks
Akane is a sexually repressed woman, and she tries to force herself on Arisu moments after she mistakes his embarrassed cadence for romantically blushing.
It’s also revealed that she hails from a past that’s problematic too. While she quickly puts an end to her rapey vibes when Aguni arrives — who she had tried to have sex with too, and now genuinely likes — she can’t easily let go of her past that she’s ashamed of.
In the real world, she used to be rather vain, and malicious, acting like a bully and having sex with guys she liked, even if said guys were already in a relationship.
She used to admit with a laugh how she’d sleep with a taken guy often just to have what she desired, irrespective of the impact it’ll have on others.
She also had a childhood rife with turmoil, as well as a really turbulent relationship with her mother, and it is that very turmoil that contributes to her personality and behaviour later on.
However, after her arrival at Borderland, she goes through just as drastic of a personality switch-up, as the events that unfold in front of her.
Brewing bravery in Borderland
Her first game following her arrival at Borderland is horrific, wreaking unimaginable destruction all around her as an entire stadium collapses in on itself.
Akane dashes off, trying to dodge the explosions and the flying debris. While everyone else dies, she remains alive, albeit in an incredibly dire condition.
One of the iron bars in the falling debris impales her left leg, on her shins. She manages to get the rod out of her leg and later crawls out of the mount of debris.
However, over time, her leg turns gangrenous and requires decapitation lest she wishes to die. A doctor offers to decapitate her foot but asks for sexual favours in return.
Akane eventually has to accept the predator’s offer which ultimately leads her to walk and run with a prosthetic replacement.
These incredibly drastic and dire turn of events turn Akane into the total opposite of how she used to be. She’s now a brave woman, who’s also kind towards others and even puts her life on the line to save others.
During the final battle with the King of Spades, Akane fights fiercely and even after suffering several fatal gunshot wounds, survives and makes it to the end, finally going back to the real world.
Also Read: Alice in Borderland season 2 ending explained: Does Arisu return to the real world?