Name: (English)
Ryuho Tairen (Japanese) Ryuhou Tairen
Name: (English)
Ryuho Tairen (Japanese) Ryuhou Tairen
Age: 17
Hair: Green
Eyes: Brown
Status: HOLY Native Hunter (alter user)
Quote: The evil in this place shall not go unpunished.
Anime: s-CRY-ed
Voice: (English) Jason Spisak (Japanese) Hikaru Midorikawa
History and Personality: Born and raised in the Lost Ground, Ryuho lived the first years of his life in a cautious but generally good-natured manner. Born into high society, he was to become the heir to the vast Ryu fortune his family had built after the Uprising. However, fate would deal him a series of cruel curve balls.
First, Ryuho discovers that he is an Alter User. When pressed about the matter by a young Mimori Kiryu, he inadvertently Alters and creates a small piece of stone (Mimori eventually keeps the stone and makes it into a pendant). He becomes reluctant to be around other people because he realizes he's different.
Then, six years before the story begins, tragedy strikes. A mysterious Alter, possessing a white left arm and a black right arm, rampages through the city. In the process, his mother and his dog are killed. In rage and frustration, Ryuho summons his Alter power and creates the Alter that will follow him for the rest of his life: Zetsuei.
From this point onward, Ryuho's personality changes drastically. He becomes as narrow and focused as a straight line. He soon joins the recently-formed Alter User unit known as HOLY and gains a reputation as the strongest and most ruthless of the Native Hunters. He is obsessed with bringing order to the tempestuous Lost Ground, and it is the motivation for his cold resolve. Also, Ryuho sees himself as a lone wolf, fighting his own battles--alone, unaided (it's this determination and self-imposed solitude that Scheris finds particularly attractive about him).
But then, he apprehends Kazuma. Thinking him at first to be just another Native Alter out for trouble (at the time, he only knew Kazuma by his inmate ID, NP3228), he soon grows especially irritated by Kazuma's headstrong refusal to give up. It seemed this man always had a smirk and a snide line ready just for him. Then Kazuma escapes from HOLY. In the attempt, the two manage to learn each other's names...and from then on, Ryuho puts Kazuma at the top of his list of Inners to hunt.
His Alter, Zetsuei (named for the dog he lost six years ago), has its own unique nature. Unlike other Alters, Zetsuei has the capacity to act independently of Ryuho if the need arises. This means it can react to things much more quickly and take advantage of situations as they occur. Ryuho's attacks appear focused on precision: thrusting and cutting like a blade. However, each time Ryuho runs into Kazuma again (or vice versa), he discovers that he has to raise the stakes each time. This is because if something manages to damage Zetsuei, Ryuho himself feels some of the force of the impact. He's forced to unlock Zetsuei's true form, and even then he later finds himself at a massive deadlock halfway through the series. The only thing he and Kazuma manage to rip up is the barrier between Earth and the "other side", the source of the Alter power. The upheaval the two of them unleash creates the Second Uprising and throws Ryuho into another life-changing event.
In the immediate aftermath of the incident, Ryuho suffers amnesia and wanders the Lost Ground for eight months. Finally, barely alive, he stumbles into a slave camp...the same camp in which Kanami has become trapped. Kanami recognizes the man as Kazuma's rival...but the amnesia has caused Ryuho to forget the bitterness built up over the years. He's still determined to restore order, but his attitude becomes softer, warmer, more benign. Even after his memories are refreshed by HOLY, he refuses to go back, seeing a greater goal he wants to pursue--a goal from which HOLY seems to have strayed.
When Kanami is kidnapped by Kyoji Mujo, Ryuho eventually goes with Kazuma back to the city to take Mujo down. In the process, he runs into his old commander, Martin Jigmar, and is forced to fight him. In the course of the fight, Ryuho discovers the final evolution of Zetsuei: the merging of Zetsuei and himself into an "Alter Ego" form, a form Jigmar had sought but never could achieve. Then he once more comes face to face with the Alter who changed his life that fateful night. Once more achieving his ultimate form, he forces this Alter back to its home realm on the "other side".
With that part of the past finally buried, Ryuho still has one piece of unfinished business. In the end, Ryuho still desires to test Kazuma and prove he's the better. As evenly matched as they are, however, this awe-inspiring rivalry appears destined to continue for a long time. There is some conflict as to what the ending shots of the series actually depict. Some believe it is showing that the battle between Zazuma and Ryuho continues forever... however, upon very close examination I believe the final scenes actually depict first a battle between Kazuma and Tyuho, and then two separate battles where each young man is fighting outside forces coming against the Lost Ground. This ending is far less pitiful than the idea that the two just keep fighting forever because they want to know who is stronger... instead they are fighting for the freedom of those they care about.Relationships: Ryuho is rather cold, so he does not have many close relationships. Also, as a leader in HOLY he cannot become too close to the other members. Scheris and Mimori both love him, but he seems to ignore both of them. As a child he was close to Mimori and it seems as a young adult he considers accepting her affections, but when Scheris dies to save him he feels it would be a betrayal of her to become involved with anyone. His strongest relationship is with Kazumi and this is strictly a rivalry. He does not even seem to respect Kazuma most of the time, but they do end up working together.
Techniques: Ryhuo is an alter user, which means that he can 'manifest' and control a specific object at almost any time. In his case his alter is a rather robotic looking fighter that can hover (fly?) and alter it's shape to some extent (arms flatten out into ribbons that cut). It has two stages, and by the end he can actually change it to be like armor.
Why we love him: He's stoic and cold, and a bit too sure of himself (but, hey, he's pretty amazing so it's bound to happen). But there are moments when he shows true concern for others. And when he loses his memory and forgets his HOLY training he's amazingly kind and noble and compassionate.
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