Izayoi (The After Years)

Izayoi is one of the Eblan Four in Final Fantasy IV: The After Years. She is a ninja who views battle in a calm and collected manner. She is known to make use of her other assets, though she views herself as a ninja first, a woman second.
==Profile==
===Appearance===
Izayoi wears a female-styled variant of traditional ninja garb, colored various shades of blue to reflect her elemental affinity for water. She wears a blue robe tied over her uniform with a large light blue bow, and blue boots. She has long brown hair tied in a ponytail and has blue eyes. While undercover in Troia as an Epopt trainee, Izayoi disguises herself in a pink dress.
===Personality===
Izayoi's desire is to be taken seriously as a ninja, and not to be looked down upon or treated differently due to her gender. When Edge expresses displeasure at the Eblan Four desiring to be trained in the ninja arts used as tools of war, Izayoi protests that their ninja training allows them to do more for the world than fight, and that as ninjas it is their destiny to strive for the limits of human potential. In the Eblan Castle, one of the citizens mentions Izayoi has spurred all of his advances and suspects that someone else may have captured her eye, but Izayoi herself explains that she "doesn't want to be treated like a woman any longer." Yet, her mission is done in the most feminine environment: Troia, where she learns to become a killer seductress.
==Story==
When Eblan receives word of Baron stealing Crystals from the other nations, the Eblan Four become eager to assist Edge, and they are sent on missions to gather information. Izayoi disguises herself as an Epopt trainee in Troia where she learns the Epopts have constructed a Tower of Trials to train their ranks into combat, and goes to investigate it. Izayoi returns to Eblan in the ship that brought Palom to Troia.
She reunites with Edge and the other Eblan Four within the Tower of Babil and after being forced to escape from the Mysterious Girl and Ifrit they fall to the Underworld and into the Falcon.
In the Gathering Tale, Izayoi watches over Leonora, Palom, and the other incapacitated people below the deck of the Falcon deck. After the Creator has been felled Izayoi impersonates as an Epopt trainee, where she giggles at Leonora's upcoming announcement. In the end, she and the other Ninja Guard of Eblan renew their vows of loyalty to Edge, awaiting their next mission.
==Gameplay==
===Stats===
Similar to Edge, Izayoi has all-around average stats with high Speed. Although her Spirit is the highest of the ninjas, healing Ninjutsu is actually tied to Intelligence. Even so, dedicated White Mages have better varieties of healing spells.
Izayoi is well-suited to the back row with her variety of long-range weapons, as well as her lower HP and Stamina than other physical characters.
Level	HP 	MP 	Strength	Speed	Stamina	Intelligence	Spirit
7 	230 	40 	6 	13 	6 	5 	6
20 	647 	99 	12 	21 	12 	10 	13
30 	1138	146	22 	25 	17 	14 	18
40 	1806	197	30 	32 	22 	19 	23
50 	2557	264	38 	37 	29 	27 	25
60 	3357	319	45 	43 	36 	36 	28
70 	4211	387	52 	48 	45 	45 	30
80 	4509	421	55 	49 	47 	47 	32
90 	4841	455	57 	52 	49 	48 	33
99 	5196	483	60 	54 	51 	50 	34
===Abilities===
Izayoi's ability is Illusions, which confuses an enemy and is not any more effective than the Confuse spell. She can use healing Ninjutsu skills and can perform Band abilities with the other Eblan ninjas and Leonora due to her time undercover in Troia, and is also able to take part in a handful of Bands focusing on the female party members.
Spell	Level Learned
 	Known
 	Known
 	15
 	25
 	40
 	42
Band Abilities
Ability 	Members	MP	Effect
Frozen Moon Dance 	
*Izayoi (Ninjutsu)
*Edge (Ninjutsu)	8 	Freeze and shatter a single enemy.
Frost Wave 	
*Izayoi (Ninjutsu)
*Leonora (Black Magic)	25	Attack all enemies with ice.
Phantom Lightflies 	
*Izayoi (Illusions)
*Gekkou (Ninjutsu)	9 	Restore HP and status of the party, grows stronger as casters have less HP.
Wheel of Elements 	
*Izayoi (Ninjutsu)
*Gekkou (Ninjutsu)
*Tsukinowa (Ninjutsu)
*Zangetsu (Ninjutsu)	15	Attack all enemies with fire, ice, lightning and wind.
Temptation 	
*Rydia (Black Magic)
*Harley (Gil Toss)
*Izayoi (Illusions)
*Rosa (Aim)	19	Surprise one enemy with an attack.
Wild Whip 	
*Rydia (Attack, Whip)
*Harley (Attack, Whip)
*Izayoi (Attack, Whip)	4 	Three fighters whip a single enemy repeatedly.
Call Me Queen 	
*Rydia (Attack, Whip)
*Harley (Attack, Whip)
*Izayoi (Attack, Whip)
*Leonora (Attack, Whip)	11	Whip and turn the enemy into a Pig.
Ultimate Art: Advent of the Phoenix	
*Edge (Mug)
*Gekkou (Shuriken)
*Izayoi (Illusions)
*Tsukinowa (Steal)
*Zangetsu (Human Kite)	20	Create a flaming phoenix to damage all enemies equivalent to lost HP of party.
===Equipment===
Izayoi can equip katanas, boomerangs, whips, and bows. She starts with a Kodachi, a Leather Cap, a Foot Ninja Gear and an Iron Armlet. She is most effective with the latter two, as katanas and boomerangs are optimal only for the ambidextrous ninjas, Edge and Tsukinowa. Certain bows and whips decrease their user's mental stats, which lowers the effectiveness of her Ninjutsu. If Izayoi is equipped with Mystic Veil, Fire Scarf and Protect Ring, she can Absorb Holy, Fire, Ice and Lightning, making her the only female character to absorb the most elements.
Izayoi is very proficient with bows because of her high speed and many equipments that can enhance her strength. With an Artemis Bow, Perseus/Artemis Arrows, a Minerva Bustier/Brave Suit and a Hyper Wrist/Giant's Gloves, she will be the fastest bow user and her damage output will be fairly high (Luca deals a little more damage with a similar setup but doesn't have Izayoi's speed). This setup can be completed with a ribbon (ailments protection) or a Chakra Band (+3 strength and speed and some statuses resistance).
This takes a whole new level in the 3D version where the bow formula isn't applied to her, instead she uses the same formula as Edge and Tsukinowa when they are dualwelding. With a Perseus Bow and Perseus Arrows, Izayoi can match the damage output of the Utima Weapon at high level.
Weapons
Bows 	Arrows 	Whips
*Bow
*Crossbow
*Great Bow
*Killer Bow
*Elfin Bow
*Yoichi Bow
*Artemis Bow
*Perseus's Bow	
*Medusa Arrows
*Iron Arrows
*Holy Arrows
*Fire Arrows
*Lightning Arrows
*Ice Arrows
*Dark Arrows
*Poison Arrows
*Silencing Arrows
*Angel Arrows
*Yoichi Arrows
*Artemis Arrows
*Perseus Arrows	
*Queen's Whip
*Whip
*Thorn Whip
*Chain Whip
*Ice Whip
*Blitz Whip
*Flame Whip
*Dragon Whisker
*Mystic Whip
Boomerangs	Daggers	Katanas
*Boomerang
*Metal Boomerang
*Chakram
*Wing Edge
*Moonring Blade
*Rising Sun	
*Knife
*Dagger
*Mythril Knife
*Dancing Dagger
*Mage Masher
*Triton's Dagger	
*Kunai
*Kodachi
*Kogarasu
*Crimson Cherry
*Ashura
*Boltslicer
*Kotetsu
*Kiku-ichimonji
*Murasame
*Masamune
*Mutsunokami
Armor
Shields	Head	Body	Arms
*Adamant Shield	
*Queen's Mask
*Leather Cap
*Headband
*Feathered Cap
*Green Beret
*Steel Headplate
*Black Cowl
*Beret
*Chakra Band
*Gold Hairpin
*Goblin Mask
*Officer's Hat
*White Tiger Mask
*Mystic Veil
*Ribbon
*Genji Helm
*Red Cap
*Adamant Helm
*Glass Mask	
*Clothing
*Bard's Tunic
*Leather Clothing
*Foot Ninja Gear
*Bronze Breastplate
*Shinobi Gear
*Kenpo Gi
*Queen's Tights
*Silver Breastplate
*Mist Wrap
*Rose Twine Dress
*Black Belt Gi
*Professor's Robe
*Exorcist Gown
*Power Sash
*Minerva Bustier
*Fire Scarf
*Genji Armor
*Red Jacket
*Brave Suit
*Black Garb
*Pink Armor
*Adamant Armor	
*Cursed Ring
*Ruby Ring
*Iron Gloves
*Queen's Gloves
*Iron Armlet
*Power Armlet
*Talisman
*Hyper Wrist
*Silver Armlet
*Rune Armlet
*Mythril Gloves
*Diamond Armlet
*Bone Wrist
*Genji Gloves
*Giant's Gloves
*Protect Ring
*Adamant Gloves
*Crystal Ring
*Flan Ring
*Sprint Ring
*Economical Ring
*Rear Ring
*Taunt Ring
*Limit Ring
*Single Star
*Twin Stars
*Rapid Ring
*Rapid Ring V2
*Gil Band
*Gil Band V2
*Level Band
*Level Band V2
*Rare Band
*Rare Band V2
*Treasure Hunter
*Treasure Hunter V2
===Boss===
Izayoi is fought as a boss, along with the remaining Eblan Four, at the beginning of Edge's Tale, as part of a training session.
==Other appearances==
===Pictlogica Final Fantasy===
Izayoi appears in Pictlogica Final Fantasy as a playable character.
PFF Izayoi Illust.png|Izayoi's illustration.
PFF Izayoi.png|Izayoi's sprite.
===Final Fantasy Artniks===
FF4CC Izayoi R+ I Artniks.png|Final Fantasy Artniks.
===Final Fantasy Trading Card Game===
Izayoi appears in Final Fantasy Trading Card Game as Water-elemental Forward cards.
IzayoiTradingCard.jpg|Izayoi [3-087U] Chapter series card.
Izayoi 3-124R from FFTCG Opus.jpg|Izayoi [3-124R] Opus series card.
==Gallery==
TAY Woman of the Eblan Four.png|Izayoi (iOS).
TAY IOS Izayoi Babil.png|Izayoi at the Tower of Babil (iOS).
==Etymology==
Like the other Eblan Four, Izayoi's name is related to the moon. 
Category:Characters in Final Fantasy IV: The After Years
Category:Ninjas