Allies of the Superwomen of EVA #16: Ayaka Kisaragi, Hellblazer
"Ayaka Kisaragi, a resident of the Shinjuku ward of Tokyo, Japan (before it was split into the cities of Tokyo-2 and Tokyo-3), came from a long line of Japanese onmyōdō, or priests specializing in exorcisms. While still in her early teens, she lost both of her parents in the wake of the global cataclysm known as Second Impact, and for a time, found herself scrounging around to survive, having lost contact with any other family. The years following the catastrophe proved to be ripe for the more ill-intentioned denizens of the supernatural world as they found themselves taking advantage of the public's proverbial fear of the dark to run rampant in secret. Ayaka herself nearly fell victim to such an attack by demons, only for her life to be saved by a stranger who used magic-based abilities to send the demons back to their domain.
The man, looking grizzled and world-weary and wearing a haggard trench coat and loose red tie, took her with him back to the flat he'd been staying at for the time being and provided her with a meal, before properly introducing himself as John Constantine, a traveling occult detective and con man from Britain who'd been in the 'business' of fighting unruly elements of the supernatural since the 1980s. He further elaborated that he was in Japan specifically to seek Ayaka out, knowing very well of her lineage and wanting to protect one of the last members of the Kisaragis, since all direct descendants possessed magical potential. When asked why by Ayaka, John explained that Second Impact brought an abrupt end to the Ninth Age of Magic, and as a result certain powerful forces are in flux until the Tenth Age can properly begin. He himself also planned to retire from 'the life', and wished to train Ayaka as his successor, if nothing else than to give her the ability to better take care of herself when up against things that go bump in the night. Reluctantly, Ayaka agreed, and for a time, she became his apprentice in the magical arts; to his slight chagrin, she also began taking after him when it came to not only fashion (when she began rocking a trench coat of her own), but developing her own vices, as she grew into an alcoholic (with sake her drink of choice) shopaholic with a penchant for singing karaoke, badly. Ayaka, in addition to learning the 'family trade' under John's tutelage, eventually developed her own set of magical weapons, including earrings that explode with spiritual energy when tossed like grenades and a lipstick tube that could become something resembling a laser sword.
While in her mid-teens, Ayaka wound up accompanying John to a meeting of various magic users from across the globe to discuss the fate of all magic in Second Impact's wake. It was here that she was introduced to a colleague of John's named Takeshi Ibuki, who for a time operated as a stage magician under the moniker of Zatara the Great; with him was his youngest daughter, Maya, with both girls developing an interest in each other that led to the two dating. Their relationship lasted until Maya got into college, where she was studying computer science, having grown distant from her family's magical background; she also felt that she couldn't take Ayaka's crass habits anymore, leading to their breakup. Ayaka became embittered by this for a time afterwards, though John lent her his sympathies, having gone through a number of them himself.
In her adult years, Ayaka finally got into the occult investigation business herself, John having long retired back to his birthplace of Liverpool, England. She opened up a private investigation firm she dubbed the Phantom Quest Corp., hiring herself out to those seeking assistance in cases where there may be something strange in their neighborhood. Working with her business partner, a precocious young boy by the name of Mamoru Shimesu, Ayaka would battle all manner of creature of the night, from demons to vampires to ghosts bent on undying revenge. Occasionally, her services would be called upon by Lt. Kozo Karino, a detective with the Tokyo-2 Metropolitan Police Department, whenever something beyond his pay grade would be brought to his attention. Ayaka also developed a network of contacts, human or paranormal, to occasionally assist her in her investigations.
Ayaka would first encounter the superwomen of Tokyo-3 (all of whom were part of or associated with the U.N. special agency NERV) a year following their thwarting of the dueling world-ending conspiracies of SEELE and Gendo Ikari (in the background of NERV's battles with the otherworldly menaces codenamed 'Angels'), when they had banded together as the Justice League. Among their numbers was Maya, who during the conflict with the Angels (where she had been working as a NERV computer technician) had decided to reluctantly take up her family's legacy by adopting the guise of the magician Zatanna. The League had found themselves up against rogue scientist John Dee, who had become the nightmarish supervillain Doctor Destiny after empowering himself with a device he called the Materioptikon, which enabled him to bring the stuff of dreams (or nightmares) into reality. Sensing the magical forces about him after a disastrous first strike against Doctor Destiny, Maya convinced her teammates that they needed the assistance of someone with more expertise than herself in this area. Thus, reluctantly, Maya used a spell to summon Ayaka, leading to an awkward first meeting between her ex-girlfriend and her current one: her own League teammate Blue Beetle, who also happened to be her former superior at NERV, the agency's former head scientist Ritsuko Akagi. Once they got over that hurdle, Ayaka was able to provide the insight the League needed to take down Doctor Destiny. Ayaka then did the honors of dismantling the Materioptikon with a spell to free the source of its power: the Dreamstone belonging to Morpheus, a member of the group of cosmic entities known as the Endless. (Ayaka wound up pocketing the Dreamstone, just in case she ever ran into Morpheus at some point.)
At a point following the incident, Ayaka and Maya (the latter encouraged by Ritsuko) reconciled, deciding to remain friends. Later on, Ayaka would help found a League-adjacent team of magic-users known as the Shadowpact."
*Author's Note(s)*
The theme for this wave is 'unsavory and antiheroic', the more crude and crass kind of characters our heroes will call upon when something drastic is required. For the DC half of this wave, I looked for someone to fill the sort of niche occupied by John Constantine. My answer came in the form of the main character of the 1994-95 OVA series Phantom Quest Corp. Ayaka Kisaragi shares more than a few traits with Constantine (right down to occasionally wearing a trench coat), which made her the ideal candidate. Since not a lot of her backstory wasn't elaborated on as much in the OVA proper, it enabled me to construct an early history for Ayaka that would tie her not only to John Constantine, but also to an established Superwomen of EVA story in Mike313's "The Magic Touch".
As for a visual depiction (found on my DeviantArt profile) of this alternate take on an OVA character, I turned to the services and skills of DeviantArt user Ishida1694 to bring my vision to life. Given their flair for the classic style of 90s anime, I knew I made the right call calling on them. The result of their handiwork is so good, it's spooky!