|
Sanada Ryo Ryo's interests include soccer, hiking, whack-a-mole, and birdwatching. He dislikes fashion, social meetings, interviews, and -- being his yoroi is Rekka -- he absolutely hates lukewarm baths and flavored ice. He's 14 in the television series, 16 in Gaiden, and 17 in Kikoutei Densetsu and Message. Ryo's father is a professional wildlife photographer, the reason for his outdoor and animal interests. The man, though, often goes on long expeditions leaving his son alone. While away, he gives Ryo rather large bank account to draw from. Ryo's mother died when he was still a small child. The Sanada were once a famous ninja clan. Ryo, however, has never met any stealth assassins as his father, the heir, left the family because he disliked their strict, secret constitution. Nearly all his life, Ryo's lived in a log cabin in the mountains near a protected forest reserve and had to walk nine miles just to get to school. In Message, he moves into Tokyo to attend high school. Byakuen first appeared to Ryo when he was four, again when he was seven, and again at ten. It was during that last winter that Kaos first manifested himself and began the boy's training. The tiger led the monk to Ryo. Byakuen chose him. Ryo received Rekka a year before Arago attacked. Poachers were caught in a forest fire they had started to flush out game. When Ryo confronted them, a gun was pointed as his head. Despite this, he tried to stop the fire -- to save the animals, his home, and the poachers. His best efforts were in vain, but his perfect virtue shown through. The fire was absorbed into his body, forming Rekka. Date Seiji Seiji absolutely loves kendo; he likes anything that has to do with swords. He's a supporter of tradition with training in bonsai and the bamboo flute. Not to lose touch with the modern world, Seiji's a fan of class, style, art, culture, cycling, and F1 racing. He's not that good, though, talking with girls. Seiji is very proper, and he speaks a very formal Japanese. He hates lies and hate. Though identified as a controlled and calm angel, Seiji -- when pushed -- is an absolute demon. He's 14 in the television series, 16 in Gaiden, and 17 in Kikoutei Densetsu and Message. Seiji's family owns a dojo in the mountains surrounding Sendai. Seiji will one day inherit it. His father, a police officer, also has an interest in kendo, but he married into the Date family. His mother is a master of kendo and the second-in-command of the family's dojo. First is Seiji's grandfather. Keenly strict, he is responsible for Seiji's upbringing, educating him from his first moments of ancient Edo and the ways of Bushido. He also made Seiji dress like a girl. (We'll get to that later.) Seiji has two sisters. Yayoi is his senior by five years. A medical school student, she speaks as formally as her brother, and she is also a strong kendo fighter. The reason for Seiji's shyness comes largely from Yayoi's teasing. Seiji's younger sister by two years is Satsuki. Unlike the rest of the family, she has little interest in history, education, and the sword arts. The Date line comes from Date Masamune. Based in Sendai, in Miyagi Prefecture, he was a powerful force in the Tokugawa period with an eye on the West. He actually only had one eye and was often called the "One-Eyed Dragon". When Seiji was very young, his health was very fragile. To combat this, his grandfather dressed him as a girl, believing girls to be easier to raise than boys. Seiji, though, has buried this. In his drama album, Seiji encounters the ghost of a little girl. At the end, the ghost is revealed to be a phantom of his younger self. After being raised as a girl, Seiji was understandably upset. He became quote rebellious. He loved the playing with swords, but he hated all the virtues, honor, etiquette that were associated with it. To teach him restraint, his grandfather made him take up bonsai and the bamboo flute. It worked very well, and Seiji now has a very calm soul. One time, he took the Date's most sacred sword and played with it in the courtyard. While playing, he broke one of his grandfather's bonsai. His grandfather never noticed, though, because he planted a tulip in its place, but Seiji still dreads the punishment that will come if his grandfather finds out. In elementary school, Seiji's friends cried whenever they saw both of his eyes, saying he looked scary. Seiji's eyesight is very sharp and the paleness of his eyes makes them look intense. Yayoi suggested Seiji cover one of his eyes so they wouldn't be so hard. Yayoi also used Seiji as a dress up doll. While Seiji still keeps one of his eyes hidden, he doesn't regularly wear pink ribbons. The legend of Kourin was in the Date family for centuries, but it was only a legend until Seiji revived the armor. Seiji received Kourin in the summer of his second year of junior high when he was challenged at his dojo by a rival kendo student, Kazamatsuri Shingo. Seiji had won the spring kendo tournament for northeast Japan, but Shingo hadn't attended. Seiji's grandfather, wanting Seiji to prove his talent, forced him into the fight. Soon in the engagement, Shingo was taken down; however, he then threw a handful of dirt into Seiji's eyes. Only Seiji's left eye was affected, his right covered by hair. Angered by Shingo's breach of etiquette, Seiji committed an even larger breach of etiquette, knocking off Shingo's face guard -- and rendering him unconscious. No one noticed that Shingo threw dirt in Seiji's eyes, but everyone saw Seiji strike Shingo in the head. Seiji's grandfather, furious, sent him down to the basement for punishment. The irony is that by drawing the shame to himself, Seiji saved Shingo. For, if Shingo's parents discovered his treachery he would have been banned from the sport. While alone in the basement, the courteous Seiji discovered Kourin. Seiji was vice-president of the kendo club at his junior high in seventh grade and the president in eighth grade. Because the battle with Arago occurred in the spring of 1988, Seiji did not attend that year's kendo tournament. Shingo won the competition and wrote Seiji a letter, speaking about their first match, how intimidating he looks with two eyes, and hoping that they'll meet at next year's championship. Touma and Shuu got their hands on the letter and learned about everything. They decided to cut Seiji's hair, wanting to see him with both eyes. The two chased after him with scissors, but they did not catch him. The legal driving age in Japan is 18, but Seiji -- 14 -- drives Nasuti's car during the series. He also wins a car race at age 16. Mouri Shin Shin enjoys basketball, swimming, cooking, and speaking English. Shin can dive very deep and hold his breath for a very long time. A preserver of traditional culture, he practices the tea ceremony and flower arrangement. He -- understandably -- doesn't like eating fish, especially with the head still on. Shin is on good terms with an orca he's named Suiki. He's 15 in the television series, 16 in Gaiden, 17 in Kikoutei Densetsu, and 18 in Message. Shin's father died while he was still very young. His mother is frail and sickly. She runs the family's pottery shoppe. Sayoko, ten years his senior, is Shin's sister. One day, she will take over the pottery business. Currently, she's engaged to Shizuka Ryuusuke, a worker at the Marine Research Institute. Shin was raised by his mother and sister, giving him a gentle, polite, and slightly effeminate personality. Considerate and kind, he doesn't like fighting (and rejects his yoroi in Kikoutei Densetsu). Despite this, he's been trained in bo and spear combat since his youth. Normally, Shin is quite cheery; however, when enraged, he can become a blind, violent animal. Being raised by two women, Shin has stories to tell -- or stories he'd rather like to forget. In an elementary school medical check-up, the nurse asked Shin had to strip down to his underpants. He was hesitant. He was wearing his sister's panties. Shin swears it was an accident. Sure. The Mouri family come from Mouri Motonari, a naval general from southern Japan assigned to protect the Hagi Sea. During the Meiji period, the Mouri had a dukehood. Despite the family's historic home in Hagi, Shin lives in a Tokyo apartment. When 15, Shin read through ancient family documents and learned of Suiko's existence. Part of the Mouri passage to manhood, a boy has to dive into the Hagi Sea. When Shin jumped into the water, he swam deeper and deeper. He touched the bottom. There, hidden in a crevice was Suiko. Later, telling his mother about the armor, she smiled, already aware of the yoroi and happy it had finally chosen a host. Shin first met his sister's fiance when he went back to Hagi during that interlude between Arago's death and reappearance to visit his mother who had fallen ill again. Shuu went with Shin because he knew the area was famous for hagiyaki, a type of pottery. Shuu, though, thought it was food. Sayoko was going to leave the family with her marriage, leaving the pottery business in Shin's hands. Meeting Ryuusuke, he asked Shin if he left Hagi because he hated the sea. Shuu laughed. Shin got upset, angered by both Ryuusuke's lack of knowledge of the Mouri and also that Sayoko was giving up her own family and dreams in the marriage. Shin threw Suiko back into the bottom of the ocean and challenged Ryuusuke to a diving contest. Shizuka was damn surprised when Shin dove in without an air tank. Before they finished, however, Shuu called them back up. An oil tanker had spilled oil over the Hagi Sea. Shin and Ryuusuke swam back down to recover his yoroi, but its hiding place was covered with rocks. As Shin tried to move the rocks, Ryuusuke saw a hostile killer whale moving toward him. Ryuusuke threw himself in between them, fearing for Shin's life. Shin's opinion of Ryuusuke was totally changed. He signaled that everything was alright, and Ryuusuke watched as Shin hugged the orca. The whale opened its mouth, revealing Suiko. Using his armor, Shin cleaned the oil spill. Later, Ryuusuke decided to marry into the Mouri family. Seiji arrived to bring Shin and Shuu back to Tokyo (because Shuu spent all their traveling money on food). Hashiba Touma Touma's a great baseball player. His loves the Hanshin team and is pretty aggressive against Kyodai fans. He likes to play go, chess, puzzles, videogames, study, and read detective stories. He jogs and swims, too. He also likes sleeping and eating. Touma has low blood pressure, making it hard for him to get up. He usually wakes up at 11 AM. Despite his appearance, Touma eats as much as Shuu (or more). He really likes chocolate. Touma's very passive, but he has a high pride and willingness to take revenge. Touma's 14 in the television series, 16 in Gaiden, and 17 in Kikoutei Densetsu and Message. His father is an eccentric scientist named Genichirou. A university researcher specialized in physics and astronomy, he never leaves the lab and constantly asks his son to join him. Touma's mother, a complete air-head, is ten years younger than Genichirou. She gave birth to Touma when she was only 18. She divorced Genichirou when Touma was 12. She currently trying to be an international journalist and still on friendly terms with her ex-husband and son. Touma's lived in a modern high-rise mansion in Osaka since the divorce. His mother has a spare key and stops by quite frequently. Genichirou, meanwhile, is always in his Kyoto laboratory. Touma's paternal grandfather owns a shrine and once took in a foreign student named Shuu Lei Fuan. Toyotomi Hideyoshi once called himself Hashiba. (He created the name for by taking the "wa" kanji from Niwa and the "shiba" kanji from Shibata, both of whom were powerful warlords. Pronouncing the wa as "ha", his name became Hashiba Hideyoshi.) Tokugawa Ieyasu wiped out the Toyotomi line. The legend of Tenku was once part of the Hashiba family but forgotten because of Genichirou's concentration on science and the future. Touma, concentrating on ancient history and strategy, wrote a computer program to analyze his family's ancient data, but he couldn't read the output. His mother looked at the printout and understood it as Ama no Hashidate. A beautiful and famous sandbar near Miyazu, Touma went there during the spring vacation of his second year, third semester of junior high. He would receive Tenku at the Bridge of Heaven. Touma has an IQ 250. Because of his genius intelligence, he's never known any friends before Ryo, Seiji, Shin, and Shuu. Once, he got a zero on a math college admission practice test because he forgot to write his name on the paper and was marked as absent. Shuu Lei Fuan Shuu's trained in kung fu, judo, and tai chi. He idolizes Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. He's a regular rugby player and mountain climber. He also likes videogames and eating. His least favorite foods are Devil's tongue and Swallow's Nest. Shuu's 14 in the television series, 16 in Gaiden, and 17 in Kikoutei Densetsu and Message. His family immigrated to Japan from China during the Ching Dynasty. They live in Yokohama's Chinatown and run a very successful Chinese restaurant His father, Chan Run, also practices kung fu. His mother is a master of the art. His grandfather is the leader of the clan. Rinfi, stubborn, is his little sister by three years. Yun, kawaii, is his little brother by five years. Mei Ryu, a troublemaker, is his little brother by eight years. Chun Fa, still a baby, is his little sister by 11 years. Uncle Chen is a family friend and also owns a Chinese restaurant. Ever since he was young, Shuu's stolen food to fill his empty stomach. He even drank spoiled milk because he knew that yogurt was made from sour milk. Kongou has been in the clan's possession for generations. When Shuu was thirteen, his grandfather secretly gave the boy a test to see if he was worthy of the treasure. During summer vacation, Shuu and the next two younger siblings went to the family's mountain retreat where clan treasures were kept, but he found many of the treasure broken by an old woman. Taking the blame on himself, Shuu broke several other treasures. Kongou then appeared. The old woman was actually his grandfather. The broken treasures were all imitations. Kaos Kaos is a priest in the militant Shugendo order, a faith combining Buddhism and Shinto. His staff is a shakujo, used by Buddhist monks to aid in prayer. The chiming rings supposedly scare away evil spirits. In reality, they scare away insects. Byakuen A sacred beast, Byakuen may have been an ascetic or philosopher in a previous life. He likes to play soccer. Yagyu Nasuti Nasuti enjoys biking, driving, reading romance novels, and has been seen training with a naginata. Her father's Japanese and mother is French. Her deceased grandfather taught romance literature at Sengoku University. Her family is very wealthy. Nasuti's 17 in the television series, 19 in Gaiden, and 20 in Kikoutei Densetsu and Message. Ryo, Shin, Touma, and Shuu see the girl as an older sister. Seiji, though, sees her as something more. He and Nasuti become a couple. Yamano Jun At the start of the story, Jun's big into skateboarding. The skateboard he rides throughout the series was the last gift his parents gave him before being taken by Arago. By the end of the OAVs, though, he's given up skateboarding for kendo. He's last seen winning a tournament in Message. He dislikes studying and carrots. Jun's father is a salary worker and his mother is a housewife. They live in the suburbs of Tokyo. Jun's 8 in the television series, 10 in Gaiden, and 11 in Kikoutei Densetsu and Message. Shuten Doji Named Shuten Doji by Arago, the man's real name is Koma Toshitada. 437 during the television series, he appears to be only 17. Shuten's father died when he was very young, and he had to serve as a soldier to protect his clan. The boy was also a philosopher with an interest in reading and writing. He doesn't like legumes. Naaza Named Naaza by Arago, the man's real name is Yamanouchi Naotoki. 437 during the television series, he appears to be only 17. His yoroi is based on the snake god Naga. If used for good, his venom would heal. He dislikes the cold. Naaza's eyes look reptilian because a snake demon may be been an ancient ancestor, contributing snake blood to the family line. Rajura Named Rajura by Arago, the man's real name is Kuroda Jirougorou. 440 during the television series, he appears to be only 21. He likes to sleep during the day. Anubis Named Anubis by Arago, the man's real name is Sasaki Kujuurou. 439 during the television series, he appears to be only 20. His eyes are sensitive to light. His yoroi is based on the jackal god Anubis. Kayura 428 during the television series, she appears to be only 12. Kayura likes to dance and hates slugs. |
