Shirogane Ryou

From Kokorodatabase

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 from the original Tokyo Mew Mew in both personality and ability. He is most known for leading the original Mew Mews and running things within Cafe Mew Mew, although some people choose to turn to him for advice that has little to do with biotechnology.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Before Kokoro 1.2 Kokoro Days 1.3 Kokoro Draft Future 1.4 Other-Worldly Counterparts 2 Personality 3 Relationships 3.1 Family 3.2 Friends 3.3 Lovelife 4 Profile 4.1 Alto 5 Mage Information 5.1 Weapon 5.2 Abilities 5.3 Signature Attacks 5.4 Unison Attacks 5.5 Stats 6 Trivia

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 had to tell when he returned. After reading his father's research log, Ryou decided that he was also going to become a scientist, and began experimenting in the labs on his own. 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 starting 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 any intention of him returning to the States soon vanished.

At about fourteen, the experimental stages of the Mew Project had been completed, but there had yet to be a human test subject to see how the animal DNA would react. Ryou voluntarily became the guinea pig, and injected himself with 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 gathered 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 it. Staging a mock wedding, Ryou saw this as an opportunity to put his feelings on the table, and if they went unnoticed, he could use the entire instance to torment her and then move on. It was soon apparent, however, that something was happening between them, and in the end they were established as a couple.

Ryou's life would take a dramatic turn when 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, explaining that he had the potential to become a time mage. Unbeknownst to both Ryou and his father, the Shirogane family was actually a magical lineage, and had been throughout the generations, if not for a certain curse. Prior to this discovery, Ryou had a very negative view towards mages, thinking the practices they lived by to be underhanded and suspicious.

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, although Ryou has mixed feelings about returning to the sort of life that the rest of his family enjoys, favoring his independence.

Ryou began working to be less depressing, seeing as how things were looking miraculously positive for himself and his family. He has improved by leaps and bounds, however, he still remains very aloof, looking at things in a serious and oftentimes critical manner. He decided to move back into the New York mansion with his extended relatives, although he usually slips out to spend his time in an apartment in Tokyo with Ichigo. He plans to graduate from Hoshizen Academy in the Spring and is considering attending graduate school at Tokyo University afterwards, thinking this will give him the necessary skills and connections to figure out what 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 went on to become a biology professor at Tokyo University and a fairly skilled time mage.

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 is complicated. He seems to be a distant and moody individual who is far too serious. He can easily become jealous, and does little to hide the fact that he prefers getting his way. 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", and often he even finds himself dull and boring. Behind his usually calm facade, he worries about people and tends to place blame and guilt on himself.

Ryou makes a fairly good leader, since he is actually very responsible and also stubborn. He remains fairly confident about his own abilities, such as his appearance or scientific genius. Ryou tries to be strong and independent, but deep down he relies on other people and their acceptance. Recently the blond had been able 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". He apparently has the type of "charisma" that attracts ladies and animals to him.

At times he can be very kind and generous - he may try to boost the morale of others or just offer advice. 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 he thinks they actually care, but hates being nagged constantly.

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. In the same way he will often attempt to jump to the root of a problem without looking at all possible consequences or how it will affect the parties involved - thinking the most direct approach is the best.

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.

Friends

As stated, Ryou's childhood friends were Sarah Cohen and Roy Bancroft. Nowadays Ryou has difficulty when applying the term "friend" even though he has lots of support, but it's pretty obvious that he relies heavily on Gamu in addition to his girlfriend. 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, although he was rebuked for doing so. 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, 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 and red
• Age: 19 (his age ignores the missing year)
• Birthday: October 13th, 1988
• Zodiac: Libra/Rooster (based on personality)
• Grade: He's an expert 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 starting college.
• Hair Color: Blond
• Eye Color: Aquamarine blue
• Height: 5 feet 9 inches
• Weight: 154 lbs
• Likes: His family and friends, computer technology, science (genetics and molecular biology especially), snow, astronomy, dancing, surfing, music (listening to or perfoming it), reading, time magic
• Dislikes: Loud 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: Rejection, closed-in elevators
• Allergies: Bee stings (all kinds)
• Has trouble with: Being honest, keeping secrets, controlling his curiosity
• 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, chocolate
• Least favorite foods: Anything too spicy (namely Mexican food; he prefers his food somewhat bland)
• Favorite beverage: Chocolate milk, green 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 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 and can make his cat ears and tail appear at will.

• 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 telepathy.

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.
• 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.

Signature Attacks

• 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.
• Acceleration: A spell that increases the speed of all party members for a set amount of time.
• 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

• ___ Era: Combines Ryou's Acceleration with any basic elemental attack to allow spells of that element to strike more quickly (ie. decreased casting time) until another Unison Attack is performed by either side or the battle is over. (ie. Flame Era, Aqua Era, Sylph Era, Gaia Era, etc.)
• Time Vortex: Combines Ryou's Slow with Plum's Haste to create a spiral of time magic that speeds up the party and slow their opponents at the same time. "Chronos, which limits all things. Flow forth! Time Vortex!"

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.