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natsuocosplay · 9 years ago

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Tri - does Ryo have a role?

After watching Digimon Tri Kokuhaku, I’ve got some pretty interesting theories coming to mind. Seeing the “copy” of the Digimon Kaiser, Gennai, the reboot of the Digital World, all the foreshadowing about Mugendramon, and “special” digimon like Meicoomon, I can’t help but wonder if we’ll see Ryo Akiyama as well. For those of you who have only watched the anime, this might sound quite random. However, the anime only explains the story from one point of view - as the chosen children remember it. However, Ryo was swept into another dimension quite early on, disappearing from their lives entirely. Now, it’s been years since I learned about him from the Wonderswan games, so I’m not going to rely on those memories. So I’m just going to copy my post about Ryo I wrote back in 2011 here so you’ll be able to read the summary of his adventures. :)

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Today I’m going to talk about him, ”the legendary tamer” Akiyama Ryo.

For most of the people Ryo is surrounded by mystery. He is someone who appears out of nowhere just to disappear again. People tend to think that he is rather confusing. That’s what is often said about the whole show though… But for me it all makes sense. You see, Digimon is not only the anime.. It’s not just the games either… To get the whole story, you need both; the anime-series and -movies and the games (mainly talking about the Wonderswan-games that weren’t published outside Japan, like Anode / Cathode Tamer, Tag / D-1 Tamers, and Brave Tamer), and also the Digimon manga (like Adventure V-Tamer, Next, and D-Cyber). Also, Digimon shouldn’t be compared to Pokemon even though they both have fighting monsters. I made that mistake before myself.. But to understand this story, you’ll have to watch it without such bias.

Anyway, to understand Ryo’s part in Digimon, you need to know certain things about him and about the Digital World. In the show, people can travel from the ”human world” to the digital world, and in the first two seasons, other worlds like that are mentioned many times. So, the whole show is based on this possibility to travel from one dimension to another. This is what Ryo does, more than the other children. And unlike the other chosen children, Ryo doesn’t have anyone (except for digimon - and even then they are “borrowed” and will not stay by his side) to support him on his dangerous journey, and he has to travel alone. That causes him many mental problems along the way…

Ryo learned about Digimon a couple of months after the famous Odaiba incident (and after the events of the first season of Digimon anime). He was chatting on his father’s computer (seems to do that a lot), when Taichi’s Agumon appeared, and begged him to help in saving the chosen children from Millenniumon.

Because of a time slip, the villains that the chosen children defeated have been resurrected, and he has to defeat them and Millenniumon (the fusion of Mugendramon and Chimairamon) in order to save the children and their digimon partners. Agumon joins him in the fight. The evil digimon keep threatening him with horrible things. Even though Ryo is able to defeat them, he (still a kid) becomes mentally unstable and starts having serious trust issues.. At this point Ryo doesn’t have a digimon partner of his own. So, after the battles in the digital world, he has to say goodbye to Agumon and the others and return to his own world…

He becomes friends with Ken Ichijouji. They witness the battle with Diaboromon (from the movie Bokura no Wargame) on the computer screen. But, Diaboromon isn’t completely defeated, so Ryo and Ken have to go to the Digital World to fight him. Ryo fights with V-mon and Ken with Wormmon. (You can see Ryo traveling with Ken in a short flashback at the 23rd episode of Digimon 02)

Even Millenniumon is still around, but after a long battle, the kids are able to defeat him and seal him into a crystal. But, before he is gone, he is able to release the Dark Spore. Millenniumon aims for Ryo, but Ken saves him and gets hit instead. (there is a flashback of this in the 43rd episode of Digimon 02) The unconscious Ken is taken to Gennai’s house, but he is no longer the same Ken he used to be. Because of the Dark Spore inplanted to him, he will soon become the evil Digimon Kaiser…

Ryo gets a huge mental breakdown, and he has to live on feeling guilty for Ken’s condition, blaming himself for what happened. But he has to continue his adventures in the Digital World, and takes part in a tournament with the Holy Beasts. It appears that the whole contest was made up for him to get stronger in order to defeat a powerful enemy (after realizing that he was just used as a tool, Ryo stops trusting others at all and emotionally shuts himself out, becoming one of the “angsty characters”). And once again, the enemy has a familiar name, Moon-Millenniumon.

Ryo is being told that he is the only one who can defeat him. And, in the final, decisive battle, Moon-Millenniumon tells him the reason. They share the same power, and are therefore like light and shadow, one can’t exist without the other. And just like that, they both disappear… This is when Ryo gets lost in the dimensions between space and time (something similar to this happens to Daisuke in a ”bonus-comic” of Digimon V-Tamer manga). Even though everyone else thought Ryo was dead, Ken still believes that Ryo will return, no matter how much time it will take.. But in the end Ken turns into the Digimon Kaiser, and the events of the second season of Digimon take place. Ryo, on the other hand, is sent into the past, to the time when Digital World was born. Because of the hard battles and traveling have caused him so much stress, he suffers from amnesia, and can’t remember his past and what has happened. He meets Monodramon, who takes him to ENIAC (the first digital computer ever). ENIAC explains him the origins of the Digital World, and the current situation. ZeedMillenniumon was sent to the future, and he is trying to change the past and the future, aiming to destroy the whole Digital World. He starts to create artificial digimon to do the job. So, in order to get back his lost memories and defeat the villains, Ryo teams up with Monodramon, and begins his journey from one dimension to another.

In another dimension of space-time, V-mon tells Daisuke that he was originally Ryo’s partner. And well, you know what Daisuke is like, he gets jealous for not being the first.. xD

Ryo keeps time-hopping, defeating one enemy after another. ZeedMillenniumon concentrates on trying to destroy ENIAC and the Digital World. He is not interested in destroying Ryo. Well, he IS his ”other half” after all.. On his journey, Ryo meets Gennai, and remembers him. For him Gennai is like a grandfather. Gennai explains him the situation, and Ryo continues his journey with Monodramon and meets up with many of the chosen children. ZeedMillenniumon starts creating artificial human-beings instead of digimon, and creates clones of the chosen children. He sends a clone of the Digimon Kaiser to the past to destroy ENIAC. Ryo is reluctant to fight ”his friend”, but after ENIAC’s warning he fights and defeats him. Ryo keeps time-hopping, but it drains the energy of ENIAC. Taichi, Daisuke, and Takato appear in the past, near the ENIAC, but there is something suspicious about them. With the help of Monodramon, Ryo realizes that they are also just artificial clones of the children… ENIAC runs out of power and shuts down, but there is still hope. Ryo is told to go to Atanasoff. It’s a computer that has existed in the shadow of ENIAC since the beginning, and it can support the Digital World in this kind of emergency. But, Ryo has to hurry to get there before ZeedMillenniumon does. Ryo defeats the fake Taichi, Daisuke, and Takato, and travels to the palace of ZeedMillenniumon through a portal. Once again it’s mentioned that Ryo and Millenniumon are like light and shadow, one can’t exist without the other. They are doomed to fight for the rest of eternity. Millenniumon talks about how he has to get his revenge, and can’t be destroyed. He reveals that he was actually supposed to be the digimon partner of Ryo, but that it’s impossible with Monodramon around..! In the end Monodramon and Millenniumon Jogress, and end up as a digital egg. Peace is restored in the past and the present time turns back to normal as well. What happens to Ryo after that is not known, but he appears in the third season of Digimon (Digimon Tamers), with Cyberdramon. (first episode with Ryo in it is 28)

Ruki and the others run into him in the Time village. For Ryo, that’s the most natural place, don’t you think.. He asks them what month is it, revealing that he’s been on a long journey. He’s been gone from the human world for 10 months, after he disappeared from a digimon card-game tournament. He has battled Ruki in a card-game and defeated her, but seems to develop feelings for her during their adventure. After all the endless traveling, he knows the Digital World really well and is like home in there. He knows where to spend the night, and what the dangers are. But he can’t stay in one place for a long time, because his ”wild” digimon partner Cyberdramon keeps searching for ”the strong enemy”. It’s said that Cyberdramon might be the digimon born from that jogress-egg.

So, that’s about all I know about Ryo. I tried to keep his story as short as possible.. ^^”

I see him as the “hidden main-character” of the whole show, even though he usually acts in the shadows, but many of the events revolve around him.

Most of these events take place in those Wonderswan-games I mentioned. I hope I got it all right, since I’m not good with japanese, and it’s been a while since I tried playing those games, or watched the anime episodes.. I wonder if Ryo was ever able to meet up with Ken again…

Speaking of Ryo and Ruki instead, I wonder would Ryo really want to involve a girl (even the ”digimon-queen”) in his dangerous life.. He’s gone through a lot in the Digital World, a lot more than anyone else.. In the anime he seems to have this easygoing attitude, but in reality he must be terribly traumatized…. >_< Anyway, if you have the chance to get those old games (and understand enough japanese), I can happily recommend them. They are really interesting, and helped me greatly in understanding Digimon. If not, you can find lot’s of information about them (also about Ryo) from here.

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