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OOC INFO;

NAME: Jay
AGE: 30
CONTACT: centerfold
CHARACTERS IN GAME: n/a

IC INFO;

CHARACTER NAME: Ryuji Sakamoto
AGE: 17
CANON Persona 5
CANON POINT Post game
HISTORY: wiki link here
PERSONALITY: When looking at Ryuji Sakamoto by the first glance, the impression that's invoked is one of a teenage delinquent. He's the type of kid that looks like he's forsaken all societal norms, and doesn't give a single care or thought to what other people think about him. The outward image is a reflection of long winding path of bad things that's happened to him to make him mistrust the society he grew up in, a reaction to the careless world that exists all around him, and it shows in every facet of his demeanor. He perpetually dyes his hair blond (against the conformity of a society where this action is considered rebellious), refuses to accept a rigid dress code at school, walks like he constantly has a chip on his shoulder, and even his posture contains all the hallmarks of indifference toward anyone or anything that approaches him. And maybe it's because he wears all this as a badge of courage rather than a Scarlet Letter, that he just doesn't seem to fit in anywhere he goes. The people he interacts with have low expectations of him, and he complies with that image- going with the flow and letting people assume whatever it is they want to about him. They're the ones with the problem, anyway- right?

However, that isn't exactly the whole of his story- and one would be remiss to not listen to that age old adage of not judging a book by its cover. The problem with someone like Ryuji Sakamoto is that he doesn't really care what people think about him because no one ever expects much out of him to begin with. By and large, he's a disappointment to people who've known him since middle school, save for the sole exception of his loving and caring mother.

Life is just easier for him if he doesn't have to explain himself, as it fits in with an aesthetic he loves so deeply that his entire ego is built around it; the concept that, in order to live a good life, you have to be free. It bolsters a slacker lifestyle, which is obvious to anyone who actually pays attention- his grades in school are abysmal, he has no interest in part time jobs or extracurriculars, and mostly lives in a bubble that contains the things he's only directly interested in.

There's so much more to him, though. Ryuji navigates this life with an outward air of ambivalence just by the merits of how he looks, but that's because no one actually gives him a chance to see past the obvious self-defense mechanisms that he's worked with for the majority of his adolescent life. Looking deeper, there's a genuinely good egg behind the layers of his personality, and even though it follows a trite cliche, the reason he acts and looks this way is all dependent on a really crappy hand he's been dealt with in life. Prior to the start of Persona 5, Ryuji has lived alone with his mother for an undetermined number of years. His father, who's no longer in the picture, was an abusive drunk who liked to take out his anger, and his fists, on his family. It's when you're that young and impressionable, and experience things like that, it makes it hard to grow up without having your fists balled up in anger all the time.

Looking back prior to the events of Shujin High School, though, reveals another side of him that exists, a Ryuji that was very different from the person he becomes over the course of time leading up to the start of the game.

Before Joker (the protagonist and central figure of Persona 5) enters his life, Ryuji is a hard working member of the track team. He has friends, is sociable, has dreams of maybe one day going off to college and working towards getting his run times lower and lower. These friendships are pretty shallow, he even admits at one point, simply because in running, everyone is looking out for their own best interests, pushing themselves to the limit, giving it their all. But there's still a sense of community behind it, and Ryuji had finally found a place where he initially got the taste of that freedom he loved so much. He loves the feeling of testing his body to its limits, the way air rakes against his hair when he's pounding pavement, and the adrenaline rush that comes along with expending every ounce of his energy until he's a sweaty mess. Running was an outlet for him, an allowance for Ryuji to get out his anger towards his life, providing him a safe haven from his home life.

But there are some things that he just couldn't outrun. The coach of their team at the time, Suguru Kamoshida, had it out for them. Kamoshida was an Olympic athlete who competed for a medal in volleyball, and wanted to bring prize and fame to Shujin High School's team- so much so, that he went out of his way to simultaneously coach the track team and work hard to see it dismantled. He pushed the team to the literal point of breaking. Kamoshida targeted Ryuji, knowing full well the circumstances of his home life. It didn't take much to manipulate the teen into redirecting that anger and violence towards a different target: himself. He knew that if he could goad Ryuji into attacking him, that he could take care of two problems: Ryuji's natural talent in running, and single-handedly bringing down the track team, allowing the volleyball team to rise up in familiarity and appraisal at Shujin. He began to use the team surrounding Ryuji to propagate the rumors of how his father wasn't in the picture, how he'd come from a really poor and rough background. And, Ryuji being the brash rushing-in type of person, went straight for Kamoshida, according to his plan. The resulting skirmish wound up as anyone can imagine: poorly. Kamoshida intentionally broke Ryuji's leg, leaving him with a permanent disability, crushing his dreams, disbanding the track team, and breaking the last straw that Ryuji towards his own sense of self-preservation.

That's what had started the change within him, producing a vile taste in his mouth for adults and the shitty attitudes that they toted around. He began to resent a society that could allow and condone adults to do whatever they wanted to do, like corrupt kings who could pass judgment without thinking of the consequence. Nobody took Ryuji's side when he desperately needed it, and that's when he had realized a universal truth about the world. Nobody ever freakin' cares. Coupling that with his friends leaving him behind in anger that he caused the break apart of the track team, the ex-star track member was left to his own devices. Branded an outcast, he donned the personality, and didn't look back. If this world was truly this messed up, then why should he have to play along and live under the guise that it's anything but what he thought it truly was: fucked up.

The first person to actually pay attention to him since those events is none other than Joker. It doesn't take very long for the other to see past the mask he's created for himself- and it's obvious. Deep down, Ryuji is still a very caring, honest, malleable person. He's fiercely loyal, to a fault, and does anything for those around him that actually give him a chance to do so. That doesn't mean that he still doesn't have a lot of faults about him, because he's still that rash, impulsive, defiant kid that had originally fought Kamoshida head on- but when he finds a new purpose in life, it changes the context. When he realizes that he can change the world around him, he wants to take every opportunity in his path to prevent the same thing that happened to him to anyone else.

His motivations for helping Joker form the Phantom Thieves (himself donning the moniker of "Skull" within the team) are compounded upon by his history of violence and abuse. He can't sit still while there are those around him that use their power to manipulate and uneven the playing field in life. He's determined to believe in rooting for the underdog, because mostly he sees himself as one, and some of that passion from his days in the track team is rekindled when he accepts his persona, the embodiment of his psychological ego given power and realization. Better to wave the flag of rebellion than get caught in the undertow. Throughout his friendship with Joker, he learns to start to let go of the past in order to embrace the future- one that's unbound by the strings of fate, one that's truly free and in their grasp. It comes full circle when he confronts the track team and asks them to hit him, if it would help them get over their anger towards him.

Ryuji is a complicated set of paradoxes. On one hand, he helps old ladies cross the street, and yet, on the other, has streaks of extreme vulgarity in his speech that make those around him cringe. His intentions are, for the most part, good, but rarely does he ever really think through the consequences of what he does. It's a strong moral compass that guides him, makes him react the way he does to things, and he listens to it as much as he can. Part of what sets him apart from everyone else though, is that moral compass isn't the same one most people abide by. It's created from his past experiences, unique and solely owned by everything he's had to go through to get to where he is. He may come off as entirely too impulsive, but he's much rather suited for being the type of person to avoid misdirection or working under the guise of secrecy. He's straight-forwarded, somewhat hotheaded, and rather blunt with how he presents himself. And yeah, he's not exactly the smartest person when it comes to tact, so when he lets himself go and finds himself comfortable enough around people he trusts, it ends up with him being a goofy, comical loser. That sense of comedic timing is a major mood lifter for the group, even if it ends up with him being the ass of a lot of jokes around his friends. But he trusts them, implicitly, and they trust him- which, really, is all Ryuji wants out of life as he continues to work under the mantle of the Phantom Thieves.

For someone that's been thrown away by so many people in life (his own father, his track team friends, school, to name a few), he sincerely wants that approval and love from those he trusts... even if it happens to be that there are so few of those types in his life. His biggest fear is feeling helpless or unable to do something. He knows he has a lot of inadequacies and self-image issues, but he wants to work through it, and he wants to make sure that he's valued. As much as that seemingly endless level of confidence shields him from the easy scratches in life, he knows that underneath it all, there's a sensitive person inside himself who gets terrified at the thought of being left behind.

Around his newfound friends, Ryuji is genuinely a happy person. Even though his outward forwardness often pits him against people within his own group, it's never filled with malice or ill-intent. There are multiple points in the story where he's seen being highly compassionate and understanding to the concept of feeling loneliness- even offering to take Yusuke out for a beef bowl to keep him company. Even with all the abrasiveness in his personality, he wants to do good by them, find a spot among them that makes him valuable.

He also has quite the tendency to be a bit of a loud mouth. Not exactly the type of person that should be trusted with any sort of secret, since he gets overly excited about all sorts of little things, and may easily blow the cover of anything that's trying to be kept under wraps. It's not intentional in the slightest; he just has a strong tendency to overreact or assumes that it's easier to connect with people when he's forthright and open about what's going on at the moment. He's probably the worst person in all of Japan to be an actual thief, considering how often he blatantly states that he's a member of Phantom Thieves in public.

All it takes to understand Ryuji is a little bit of patience, even if there's barely an ounce of that inside the kid himself. He'll have your back in a fight, even if he started it on his own, and doesn't back down when it comes to protecting the people he cares about or the fucked up world in which adults operate without impunity.

A good boy, but mostly misunderstood. And honestly? He's okay with that.

CANON POWERS:The ability to call on his persona, Seiten-Taisei, and utilize its power in battle.

◇ God's Hand - Colossal Physical damage to 1 foe.
◆ Agneyastra - Medium Physical damage to all foes 1x to 3x.
◇ Maziodyne - Heavy Electric damage to all foes. Rare chance of Shock.
◆ Matarukaja - Buff party attack power for 3 turns.
◇ Shock Boost - Enhance chance of inflicting Shock status. (passive)
◆ Evade Wind - Triple evasion chance against Wind attacks. (passive)
◇ Adverse Resolve - Increase critical rate when being ambushed. (passive)
◆ Charge - Next physical attack inflicts 2.5x damage.

OTHER: n/a

GAME INFO;

CRAU INFO: he's fresh outta canon
MAGIC ABILITY: color touch manipulation - at first he's going to think it's an incredibly bad reverse midas touch thing, where it only allows him to turn things a goldish/yellow hue, but over time he'll figure out there's more to it
ANY WEAPONS/MAGICAL ITEMS?: His persona mask, which allows him to summon his persona at will
ANY PETS?: he doesn't get along with cats if that means anything

SAMPLE;

LINKED SAMPLE: tdm top level