| Ryutaro Fukami (Anime) | Ryutaro Fukami (Manga) |
Ryutaro Fukami (深海流太郎, Fukami Ryūtarō) is a recurring character in the Metal Saga. He is mostly featured in his debut season, Beyblade: Metal Fusion.
He was a member of the Dark Nebula and a ruthless blader who plays mind tricks on his opponents with his Thermal Pisces T125ES. His special ability is foreseeing the future, although nothing is known on how concrete and accurate his visions truly are.
Appearance
Ryutaro is a fair skinned Japanese boy with dark blue hair. He wears violet lipstick on his lower lip and pink make-up markings under his turquoise eyes. His clothes resemble a traditional Japanese yukata and hakama, but they were modified to a more western cut. Additionally, he wears a number of leather belts. His shoes have a surprisingly high sole. He's never seen without his fan.
Personality
Ryutaro is a boy who always puts on a humble facade, even if in truth he is rather arrogant and self-centered. His speech seems overly polite and old-fashioned, and he doesn't usually voice a negative opinion directly. Ryutaro feels slightly superior to most others, which may be due to his ability to foresee the future. He's usually seen smiling and gesturing with his fan. Generally, he is heavily based on Japanese culture and tradition. References to this are found all throughout his actions and possessions.
Above all, Ryutaro is controlled by a belief that fate is absolute, and the future cannot be changed. When challenged in this conviction, he easily loses composure and begins stuttering. Through his fights with Gingka he ultimately, he manages to accept that reality is different from what he thought.
Ryutaro has a certain tolerance for hurting others without regret (e.g. causing Gingka headaches with the use of Distortion Drive), but he's not evil. He considers the punishments of Dark Nebula members inhumane and wrong and does immediately call Doji out on it. Still, he can't bring himself to quit the organization right away and instead tries to save himself by defeating Gingka violently, prioritizing his own safety over what he deems right.
Biography
Beyblade: Metal Fusion
Ryutaro first appears in a random tournament in which he beats an unknown blader and fights against Gingka Hagane in the first round of said tournament. He gives his opponent a hard time, but Gingka and Storm Pegasus 105RF defeat Ryutaro and Thermal Pisces by creating a new special move known as Storm Bringer.
Ryutaro after his first loss to Gingka
Ryutaro is next seen beating a blader in a challenge match and facing Ryuga in a tournament. Technically, he'd still have had to fight in the semi-finals, but Ryuga decides to take both Ryutaro and Tobio Oike on at the same time. Even though both of them use their special move, Ryuga defeats them with ease using Lightning L-Drago 100HF's dark power's and then offers them spots in the Dark Nebula. Wondering if this is also fate, Ryutaro accepts.
Ryutaro tearing his fan as a sign of defeat
Later, Ryutaro quite easily defeats Teru Saotome in the first round of Battle Bladers. When the losers were being punished by Ryuga he calls Doji out on it. Doji says that shall he lose his power will be taken. During round 2 he battles Gingka in a rematch. Gingka and Pegasus start off with some hard attacks but Ryutaro and Pisces immediately counter using his bey's air controlling technique to throw back Pegasus, but Pegasus continues to attack. Gingka exclaims that the battle is important, and he'll lose everything if he loses, and Ryutaro starts to explain how he can't lose the battle either. He starts to tell Gingka of his visions of the future with L-Drago's rein of destruction. Ryutaro calls out his special move, Distortion Drive, that changes the air pressure and starts to give Gingka headache. Gingka tries to break through but Ryutaro counters with another special move, Blazing Inferno. The move creates an allusion that engulfs Gingka in flames, but he is able to withstand it. Ryutaro is amazed by the fact that Gingka shouldn't be able to stand because of the allusion. Gingka taunts Ryutaro so he changes his tactics and goes from flames to freezing Gingka in a block of ice. Ryutaro begins to think that the battle is over, but Pegasus is shown to still be spinning then Gingka exclaims that it isn't over yet. He slowly breaks through the ice while Ryutaro starts to freak out about the fact that it isn't possible. Gingka breaks through the ice and exclaims how the battle isn't finished yet. Gingka explains that his fiery Beyblade spirit and nonstop desire to win will never let him give up until the very end of a battle. Gingka defeats Ryutaro in the second round, despite the fact that Ryutaro considerably strengthened his special move.
Doji mentions leaving Ryutaro's punishment for losing to Reiji Mizuchi, but the actual battle is never shown (it should have happened between episodes 43 and 44). Ryutaro only reappears after the season finale, together with the other freed Dark Nebula Bladers, joining in the celebrations of Gingka's victory over Ryuga.
Beyblade: Metal Masters
Ryutaro fights in the Japan Qualification Rounds but only ranks 8th, which isn't enough to get into the team. Later he as well as other bladers from Japan wish Team GanGan Galaxy good luck in the championships.
Metal Fight Beyblade VS the Sun (Movie)
Ryutaro is first seen predicting something terrible happening to earth. Just at that time, he gets approached by Tetsuya Watarigani who convinces him to join him in picking up Masamune Kadoya and then doing something against this terrible fate by opposing Helios, the movie's antagonist. What Ryutaro is not told is that Tetsuya acts on command of Tobio, who is planning to use Ryutaro's special move as a distraction before striking himself. However, both Ryutaro's direct battle and Tobio's secret plan fail, and they are brutally defeated.
Ryutaro fortune telling in the movie
Ryutaro is the only character falling unconscious for a longer period of time. Masamune carries him to the B-Pit and he is never seen again in the movie (not even during the ending).
Beyblade: Metal Fury
Ryutaro is only seen in the finale of the series, sitting in front of his scrying bowl and waiting out the result of Gingka's fight with Nemesis. Along with everyone else, he joins in on sending Gingka his power. When the danger is over, he is shown to give a relieved smile and raises his fan.
Beyblade
- Thermal Pisces T125ES: Ryutaro's Beyblade, used to distort air and the enemy's mind through its special move and to outlast them with its stamina.
Special Moves
- Distortion Drive: Ryutaro makes a 5-pointed star-symbol with his fan and taps at the middle of it, causing a physical field to be formed around Pisces and for the opposing bey to be majorly slowed.
- Blazing Inferno: Ryutaro uses mind tricks via air pressure to make the opponent believe that they are on fire. This Special Move can only be used while Distortion Drive is active.
Beybattles
| Beyblade: Metal Fusion | ||
|---|---|---|
| Opponent | Episode | Result |
| Unknown Bladers | Offscreen | Win |
| Anonymous Blader | MF030 | Win |
| Gingka Hagane | MF030 | Lose |
| Tournament Blader (1st round) | MF035 | Win |
| Tournament Blader (2nd round) | MF035 | Win |
| Tobio Oike | MF035 | No Outcome (Interrupted by Ryuga) |
| Ryuga (Tag w/ Tobio) | MF035 | Lose |
| Teru Saotome | MF040 | Win |
| Gingka Hagane | MF043 | Lose |
| Reiji Mizuchi | MF043 (offscreen) | Lose |
| Beyblade: Metal Masters | ||
|---|---|---|
| Opponent | Episode | Result |
| Teru Saotome, Tobio Oike, Tournament Bladers (Battle Royale) | MM004 | Unknown |
| Japanese selection match | MM004 | Lose (8th place) |
| Metal Fight Beyblade vs Sun: Sol Blaze | ||
|---|---|---|
| Opponent | Result | |
| Helios (Tag w/ Massamune, Tetsuya and Tobio) | Lose | |
Trivia
- Whenever Ryutaro is about to do one of his attacks, he chants, "Good luck come my way" three times. In the original Japanese, he chants "悪鬼退散 (Akki Taisan)" instead which roughly translates to "Evil spirits, begone!"
- His powers are based on Onmyodo (陰陽道), which he even directly referenced in the movie by stating he follows 'the way of yin and yang'.
- Despite the fact that Ryutaro tore apart his fan in episode 43, in all further appearances he's seen with a fan of the exact same Pisces print.
- Ryutaro is one out of two Bladers from the former Dark Nebula to appear in Metal Fusion, Metal Masters, and Metal Fury. The other is Tobio.
- Fans often group the 3 former Dark Nebula Bladers Tobio, Ryutaro and Tetsuya together. They do not appear together in the manga and only together in the Movie; in response to a fan asking for a name for this trio, series creator Takafumi Adachi named the group "Death Stream Scissors".[1]
- Ryutaro was redesigned when brought over to the anime from his manga appearance.
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