Shirogane Ryou

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Revision as of 05:47, 14 October 2007

Shirogane Ryou, the so-called "main character" of Kokoro.

Shirogane Ryou (白金 稜) is the male lead of the Kokoro game. He appeared in the very first "episode" of Kokoro back on January 23, 2004, and varies significantly from his counterpart in the original Tokyo Mew Mew. Ryou has matured a great deal psychologically - having dealt with losing the people he loved and then learning to start over from scratch, and also coming to understand and accept those around him.

History

Before Kokoro

Ryou was born in New York City in the United States of America to Jishou and Elizabeth Shirogane. Even at a young age, Ryou's life was unordinary. After entering the public school system, it was discovered that he was a child prodigy with an IQ over 180 at that time. Ryou tended to be shy and a loner. He did, however, have two close childhood friends: Roy Bancroft and Sarah Cohen. The three were their own trio, mirroring the trio that had been created by the boys' fathers with the addition of Max Mizuhara (Noru's father). Together the three would go off on their own adventures around New York, with Ryou most often being the one to get them into trouble.

Being an only child, Ryou was somewhat spoiled and very close to his parents, especially to his father whom he greatly admired. Jishou would sometimes go on archaeological digs with his college friend Shinga Tsukasa and others, but Ryou was always eager to listen to whatever stories he brought back with them. After reading his father's research log, Ryou decided that he was also going to become a scientist, and began experimenting in the labs (until he was caught). His drive for wanting to know more about science could be credited with finally breaking the ice between Ryou and his father's assistant, Akasaka Keiichiro, as well as a friendly rivalry that the two kept between themselves.

When Ryou was ten years old, a fossil his father had been studying in the basement lab came to life and set the house ablaze, supposedly killing both of the boy's parents in the process. Ryou decided afterwards that it was time to leave America, and so he travelled to Tokyo with Keiichiro to build upon and later complete his father's research which was the foundation for what became the Mew Project. Cafe Mew Mew was also erected to serve as their cover and base of operations. During this time Ryou continued with his schooling, absorbing as much knowledge as he could, but soon any thoughts of him returning to the States soon vanished.

At about fourteen, the experimentation on the Mew Project had been completed, but there had yet to be a test on a human subject to see how the animal DNA would react. Ryou ended up being the guinea pig, and injected Iriomote Wildcat DNA in the right side of his neck despite his guardian's protests. Following the successful completion of the test, Keiichiro was placed in charge of the project, and the two injected the girls of Tokyo Mew Mew a few months later.

Kokoro Days

After the defeat of Deep Blue, Ryou didn't really have any specific goals. The Mew Project continued as more Chimera Anima and aliens appeared, but the encounters began to die down, and that chapter of the Mew Project would soon close.

A bit randomly and without warning, Shirogane Ryou was thrown together with Momomiya Ichigo towards whom he had unrequited feelings. As it appears in the first episode, Ichigo demands cake while on a "sugar high" and later that day asks Ryou to marry her. Knowing it was most likely a prank of some sort, Ryou agreed to go along with it if only to torment her about it later, staging a mock wedding and "marrying" the catgirl to see just how things would turn out. It was soon apparent, however, that their feelings were becoming mutual, and they were established as the main couple of the game.

Ryou's life was shaken once again during another chapter of the game where children began appearing, apparently from the future, claiming to be Ryou's - and others' - offspring. Before this, Ryou had never really taken the idea of parenting seriously. It was one of these children, Shirogane Kyr, and his future daughter, Shirogane Akari, who eventually convinced Ryou to take up the study of magic. Unbeknownst to both Ryou and his father, the Shirogane family was actually a magical lineage. Prior to this discovery, Ryou had a very negative view towards magic and people who used it.

Yet another challenge came to Ryou's life when he discovered through Doctor Andrews that his mother was still alive. Elizabeth Shirogane had actually escaped the fire with her life (Daisuke, the family dog, also did), but suffered serious burns and distress which had caused her to fall into a coma. Nevertheless, the two were reunited. A few months later, Ryou discovered that his father had been revived, and was living in New York under the name James Beaumont, though he was suffering from amnesia as a result. Eventually the entire family was brought back together. Ryou is still somewhat aloof, and has trouble being honest (and at times keeping things to himself), so people may not know whether to trust him or not.

Ryou attends Hoshizen Academy, a school for magical beings, where he is studying time magic. He continues to have an interest in music, even though his attempts at gathering and popularizing a band, SPARCK, ultimately failed. (Ryou was learning the bass guitar.) He manages things at Cafe Mew Mew, but later moved out of the cafe and into an apartment complex on the other end of Tokyo [with Ichigo].

Ryou began working to be less depressing an has improved by leaps and bounds, however, he still remains very serious and looks at thinks realistically, most often in a pessimitic light. He decided to move back into the New York mansion (some of the time, anyway) with his extended relatives. During that time, Ryou learned to what extent he had become disconnected from everyone. Though Ryou sees this as a turning point, the effects have yet to be seen, for Ryou's still trying to repair his reputation as well as his failing relations with the mage crowd and his extended family.

He plans to graduate from Hoshizen in the Spring and is considering graduate school after that, thinking this will give him the necessary skills and connections to figure out something else to do with his future.

Kokoro Draft Future

As was seen in Kisa's timeline, Ryou went on to marry Ichigo and the two remained in the cafe, giving birth to Shirogane Kisa, Masume and Ami in that timeline. His future counterpart is described frequently as a "bishie" (i.e. bishounen). He also went on to become a biology professor at Tokyo University and a fairly skilled time mage. However, even from the very beginning, Shirogane children were appearing from other variants of this dimension and others.

Because of the splitting of the current dimension, the actual future and the timeline of its events are up in the air.

Other-Worldly Counterparts

Ryou exists in many dimensions, although his outer person and history varies somewhat in each.

• American Mew Mew: In this dimension, the accident never occured, so Ryou was able to grow up at his own pace back in New York. Here, Ryou has a little brother, Shirogane Shuugo, tends to be fairly carefree, and often wears bright clothing. He is also more experienced in magic than Kokoro's Ryou. AMM's Ryou is highly protective of his younger sibling, thus there seems to be friction between himself and his Kokoro counterpart, since he doesn't entirely trust him.
• Chrono Mew Mew: Here Ryou married Midorikawa Retasu, and together they had three children: Shirogane Kyr, Takeru, and Razuberri. The professor is noted to be "hot" according to the Kokoro girls. He is a time sage and prefers peace.
• Fairy Mew Mew: Ryou was married to Momomiya Ichigo. The children were Anzu and Sugar. Unlike his other counterparts, Fairy's Ryou was injected with normal housecat DNA. He has no magical abilities, and is often seen engaging in childish arguments with his wife or just simply trying to avoid the insanity that goes on in the cafe.
• Mini Mew Mew: The Shirogane family moved to Tokyo in this dimension, where Ryou and his little sister, Kumo are still children. His magical abilities are largely undeveloped, save for his ability to travel between dimensions. He has a magic-based attack using his "Book O' Science" to read his enemies to sleep.
• Mirror Mew Mew: Like in Chrono Mew Mew, Ryou was married to Midorikawa Retasu. He had two children (Kyr and Mushi) this time. In this dimension his parents are alive and well. Shirogane Shuugo also exists here. As with most of his other counterparts, Mirror's Ryou also has magical ability.

Personality

Ryou's personality is complex, to say the least. Ryou initially seems to be a distant and moody individual; sometimes he takes his teasing too far and comes across as a jerk. He's quick to become jealous when it comes to someone or something taking away the attention of his favorite people, and in that respect can be possessive and spoiled.

However, when it all boils down to it - Ryou's just a teenager who has become a little too disconnected from the social world. Slang and fads mean little to him, since he is pretty much "out of the loop". He's fairly confident about his own abilities, although he can get very awkward around others. He often worries about people in secret and tends to place blame on himself even when a situation isn't his fault.

At times he can be very kind and generous - he may try to boost the morale of others or just offer advice (which isn't always taken). He will also stick up for others on occasion. As much as he tries to get closer to others, Ryou likes keeping his feelings to himself. He'll open up to people if they keep asking about it, but being nagged leaves him highly irritated.

Ryou makes a fairly good leader, since he is actually pretty responsible when it comes to serious situations. He's stubborn and rarely backs down when it comes to things that are important to him.

Being a genius, Ryou will easily become bored or even appear lazy when he doesn't feel he is being challenged. This will sometimes cause him to complicate matters by creating problems from something small. He also benefits from praise, although he doesn't always get it, and receiving too much just inflates his ego.

Ryou has a lot of guilt issues which keep him from being completely happy with himself. Deep down he relies on other people and their being able to accept him for who he is now. Nevertheless, events in and out of the cafe have allowed the blond to better communicate his emotions and understand others. He is gradually becoming more mischievous and can joke around more freely, though he has problems with attracting too much attention, and so seems to "hog the spotlight".

Relationships

Family

Initially Ryou was really only close to his nuclear family (his parents and the family dog), but as time went on it became obvious to everyone that the Shirogane family was an extensive one. He generally gets along well with them when they do interract, though he's well aware that not all of them approve of the Mew Project or his choice in girlfriends. Though Ryou is an only child in this dimension, he does have siblings in others. These are Shirogane Shuugo, Ryou's cheerful little brother in both the American Mew Mew and Mirror Mew Mew dimensions, and the sensitive Shirogane Kumo, his younger sister from the Mini Mew Mew dimension. Ryou has additionally been introduced to many of his own future children from various worlds and timelines. Though of his family he interacts most with his mother, who either calls or visits on a daily basis, it has been established that Ryou is actually a Papa's boy (in contrast, Shuugo is said to be a Mama's boy).

Friends

As stated, Ryou's childhood friends were Sarah Cohen and Roy Bancroft. Nowadays Ryou has difficulty when applying the term "friend", but it's implied that the cafe group and its visitors are all Ryou's friends in one way or another. Roy has addressed himself as Ryou's best friend on a number of occasions, so that Ryou has come to again associate him with that title. Most often, however, he finds himself conversing among Gamu, Ichigo, or Satou, although his relationships with a few other individuals may be growing a bit stronger. Ryou also had a very close bond with his guardian, Akasaka Keiichiro, before he went off to continue his archaeological studies.

Lovelife

• Sarah Cohen is one of Ryou's childhood friends. When they were little, Ryou and Sarah made a promise to one day get married and considered themselves "boyfriend and girlfriend". After the accident and Ryou's departure, Sarah decided to leave New York in order to search for him. Sarah eventually stumbled upon the cafe, but by that time Ryou had moved on. When Sarah expressed that she still had feelings for Ryou, he began to question his own feelings, but was convinced that the person he really loved was Ichigo. Sarah remains a very close friend to Ryou and a very important person in his life.

• Though the road has been a rocky one, Momomiya Ichigo is the person Ryou loves and cares about the most. Ryou began to develop feelings for her around the time the Mew Mews were beginning to come together, though he eventually realized that she was in love with Aoyama Masaya and had resigned to keeping said feelings to himself. However, things began to gradually change, and soon enough he found his own affections being returned after the couple broke up and following several months of misadventures. Ryou and Ichigo appear to argue frequently, but despite this they get along miraculously well on some occasions - usually when no one else is around. Ryou will often come to the catgirl's rescue or otherwise defend her. In return Ichigo tries to make the blond smile and be happier. Though Ryou has expressed a strong desire to marry her for real this time, some people, including Kyr and Ryou's own father, are not too thrilled about the union. Ryou seems to respect Ichigo for thinking about others' feelings before her own.

• While Ryou had fallen for Ichigo, Midorikawa Retasu had developed a strong crush on Ryou during the same time. Ryou made many attempts to be kind and help the shy girl find confidence in herself as well as inner strength, however he had failed to realize that Retasu's friendship with him had the potential to become anything more. Before she could confess her love for him, Ichigo had already proposed. Though this has caused many hard feelings between Ryou and others, Ryou did appologize quite sincerely for his inability to notice this, and also for not being able to see Retasu as more than a friend. This misunderstanding is largely responsible for his strained relationship with Kyr.

• Following one of their fights, Ryou ended up injecting Kiki Reikaira, or Gamu, with cat DNA, much to her utter horror, but later devised an antidote to return her to normal. While he ran her off once after discovering she was in love with him, he seems to have accepted that she doesn't have any place else to go. The two share a number of similar fears and beliefs, and he does mess around with her often, but he has made it clear that his true loyalties lie with Ichigo, and that he can only consider Gamu as a good friend. He has said that he will somehow find her a man that is equal to or better than himself, though in contradiction to this, he had also previously stated that she was his "second" (much like the agreement between Bob and Plum).

Profile

• Name Translation: "Ryou"- majesty, "Hubert"- bright-minded, shining mind, "Shiro"- white, "Gane"- gold, money (together the two roughly mean platinum)
• Alias: Spark[y], Poptart/Pops, Mr. Ryou, [O]Niichan/-san/-sama, Ryou-kun, Ryler, Shirogane-senpai, "you muffin", "punk"
• Signature Colors: Black, Red, sometimes White
• Age: 19 (his age ignores the missing year)
• Birthday: October 13th, 1988
• Zodiac: Libra/Rooster (based on personality)
• Grade: He's a normal level mage at Hoshizen Academy,
• He doesn't really have a grade when it comes to magic, since he's behind anyway, but by age he'd be in 12th grade, technically.
• Hair Color: Blond
• Eye Color: Aquamarine blue
• Height: 5 feet 9 inches
• Weight: 157 lbs
• Likes: His family and friends, computer technology, science (genetics and molecular biology especially), snow, astronomy, dancing, surfing, music, reading, time magic, weapon creation
• Dislikes: Loud, annoying, or nosey people; rain and thunderstorms; paint fumes; insanity; when people have no confidence in themselves; idiots; fangirls and fanboys; being misinterpretted, teased, scolded or rejected
• Fears: Being alone due to rejection by family and peers
• Allergies: Bee stings (all kinds)
• Has trouble with: Being honest, keeping secrets, controlling his curiosity, avoiding the limelight
• Talents: He's good with most things scientific and with electronics, tends to be on fairly good terms with most animals, and is able to wiggle his nose, among other things.
• Favorite foods: Pancakes with syrup, popcorn shrimp, chocolate
• Least favorite foods: Anything too spicy
• Favorite beverage: Chocolate milk, coffee, tea, water
• Blood Type: A
• Injection Mark: The standard Mew symbol (like Ichigo's) on the right side of his neck
• Animal: Iriomote Wildcat

• Appearance: Ryou's pretty tall (his height is mostly in his legs, so he is not so tall seated). He has a slightly tanned complexion, but overall has the appearance of your average American teenager. Ryou has switched to a button-up cotton version of his usual black vest and wrist bands as opposed to arm bands, along with boots, to give off a more casual and less "punkish" impression. Additionally, his "wedding band" is on his left ring finger (though he's not officially married). Other accessories are pretty much worn on-and-off, and his style of clothing will switch back and forth. He usually wears darker colors, red, black, or white/gray. Ryou's far-sighted, and his vision seems to be getting worse, so he's seen wearing glasses more frequently in the evenings, though he ditches them whenever possible or wears contacts instead. He recently gave his collar to Ichigo, so he goes nowadays without it.

Alto

Alto (アルト) is Ryou's gijinka form. Because Ryou could not fully fuse with the DNA of the wildcat, he only has the ability to transform into a small gray kitten. This transformation occurs at will and has a duration of 10-15 minutes. A transformation longer than this will result in Ryou becoming stuck as a cat permanently unless the effects are undone by a gijinka mage. As Alto, Ryou dones a green bandana; his necklace will appear in this form. Alto has a crooked tail as a result of the incomplete fusion (a genetic mutation). Alto's main weapons are his teeth and claws, but Ryou can perform basic spells in this form and has increased mobility.

Ryou has explained that because of the incomplete fusion, his blood is "tainted", so if for some reason a lot of it was transferred into someone else, it would make that person very sick, and possibly mutate his/her genetic code.

The cat genes increase Ryou's flexibility and speed somewhat in human form as well. Sometimes he will meow or display cattish behavior.

• Thought Speech: Because they were injected with the same feline DNA, Ryou is able to communicate with Ichigo telepathically. It is the result of a side effect of the Red Data Animal's granted powers and is activated by one kissing the other's point of injection. The end product is not as smooth as the methods used by the mages (which inspired Ryou's research) and does not seem to include feelings or other information unless the person literally speaks them in his or her head. However, sometimes the other will experience "static" if the other is speaking too much; it can lead to headaches and dizziness.

Mage Information

• Element: Time (teal aura)

Ryou channels most of his magical energy from his heart. If he is feeling particularly down or depressed, his abilities will become weaker and more sloppy than usual. Ryou has finally gotten the hang of some basic mage abilities, which include sensing magical auras and communicating through thought-speech.

Weapon

• Spirit Luminary: Named after Ryou's previous staves, it is a yellow-gold colored staff made from a substance called "Am Mon" (mango (color)/spirit) from the Magical World. It has a fairly simple handle topped by one slightly folded wing that cradles "Spiritus" A smaller stone is caged into the staff about a foot beneath the wing, "Lumens". This was Ryou's first properly comissioned staff, which he worked on together with Kazeno Hikari's father, Seiji. Because a staff is supposed to possess some of the user's spirit, Ryou was asked to carve into it a quotation which he took from E.M. Forster: "One must be fond of people and trust them if one is not to make a mess of life." which is written in partial English cursive and partial old Kanji so that only someone learned in both languages can read it easily. The quote is really just for Ryou's own benefit so he will remember to be more open to people.

• Spiritus: Originally part of a staff-ring called "Ignited Spirit". Being a garnet, it is said to aid in strength and healing. They have also been rumored to cure depression.
• Lumens: Originally part of the "Winged Luminary" staff. An aqua aura quartz is a synthetic stone, meaning it doesn't exist this way in nature, but is heated to become this color along with vaporized gold. It is said to help relieve built up stress and to aid with intuition and sensitivity. Like garnet, it is a healing stone. Ryou purchased this stone because he felt it reflected his personality.

Abilities

• Galaxy Transport: Ryou can teleport himself and a handful of others to other locations within Kokoro or to other dimensions if he knows the correct coordinates. Overusing this technique, however, drains him of energy quickly and often results in making his head swim for some time afterwards. This ability is used outside of battle.
• Time Paradox: Allows Ryou to be in two places at once, for a short amount of time by using a stone called "Paradoxite". Ryou is using the stone so that he can graduate in the Spring, otherwise everything wouldn't fit into his schedule. (Sidenote: This technique is meant to be similar to what Hermione Granger uses in "Harry Potter.)

Signature Attacks

• Enclosing Circle: Coinciding with the general desire of the Magical World not to let civillians (or "norms") get involved in battle, this ability seals in a location for battle, halting time (except for mages, magical creatures, and Renaldis) in and around the area. The radius of the circle depends on the level of the person who casts the spell.
• Holy Judgment: (Given by Kyr) After casting a spell ("So that I may protect those dear to me, O Heaven, please answer this prayer. Holy Judgment!"), beams of holy light will rain down from the heavens around the field. Because the beams hit the ground randomly, the attack has fairly low accuracy.
• Timeline Thread: A magical line appears infront of Ryou to create a sort of barrier that repels magical and physical attacks when they hit it by reversing time directly infront of it. The barrier will not work against all spells or attacks and is not a complete barrier (ie. it can be navigated around).
• Acceleration: A spell that increases the speed of all party members for a set amount of time.
• Starfall: A variation of "Stardust Breaker"; instead, small orbs of energy float around an opponent and explode on command.
• Rising Sun: A swooping attack used against a large number of weaker enemies.

[ Visit here for a complete list of all retconned and previously used spells.]

Unison Attacks

• Now has none.

Stats

• Strengths: Speed/Agility
• Average: Offense/Focus/Mentality
• Weaknesses: Defense/Recovery/Technique

Trivia

• A counterpart of Ryou from SPARCK appears in alleyWAY as Royal Sterling.
• Incidentally, "Stardust Breaker" (also credited as Soul Punisher) is a lethal attack used by Gogeta in the 12th Dragonball Z movie, The Rebirth of Fusion.
• Ryou was once in a kissing bet with Gamu. Adding to Ryou's kissing list was at one point a running gag.