Ryu Ishigori

Ryu Ishigori is a character in the Jujutsu Kaisen series. He is a jujutsu sorcerer from 400 years ago who was incarnated into the modern era by Kenjaku to participate in the Culling Game as a player.

Appearance
After incarnating into the modern era, Ryu has the appearance of a handsome young man who is relatively tall with a muscular body. He has a well-defined jawline, sleek cheekbones, soft eyes, and thin eyebrows. Ryu has brown hair and proudly sports a vintage pompadour hairstyle directly connected to his cursed technique.

He wears a dark jacket with extensive fur trim around the neck and wrists. The coat is left open, revealing Ryu's chest and the necklace he wears. He has a belt with a large buckle tied around the waist of his dark pants and sports similar colored shoes.

Personality
Ryu is a confident hotshot with a strong drive to enjoy fulfilling combat. He is defined by his desire to fight worthy opponents and likens the experience to eating delicacies. Ryu fought modest opponents and met a good woman in his last life, so he didn't die with sentiments that he would label as regrets. However, those fights never satisfied Ryu and it left him with a hunger that followed him into reincarnation. Ryu believes he's never been full and wants to fight someone who could push his abilities to the limit, a dessert that could fill his insatiable hunger. Ryu is a self-assured, calm, and cool individual who's indifferent to anything that doesn't pique his interest. He kills other players in the Culling Game without a second thought and is indifferent to any non-combatants that get caught in the crossfire.

In the Sendai Colony, only Yuta Okkotsu really grabbed Ryu's attention. Ryu thought the deadlock breaking within the colony was an interesting development and marked Yuta as a worthy potential opponent. During Yuta's fight with Takako Uro, Ryu interjected because their "flirting" was making him hungry. When the battle royal appeared to overwhelm Yuta, Ryu was disappointed and compared the experience to seeing a delicious cake shop with empty displays when the store is closing. Yuta instead continued to surpass Ryu's expectations and the latter became more determined to discover if Yuta could provide him with the dessert he's longed for. In heat of their three-way fight, Ryu interrupted another exchange of words between Yuta and Uro because he felt words were pointless at that stage.

In order to achieve his goal, Ryu cast aside all others in order to "set the table" for his dessert with Yuta. He got Uro out of the way because she wasn't invited to the table where Ryu could have a proper battle with Yuta. Once the table was set, Ryu communicated four hundred years of hunger and thirst for a worthy fight to Yuta with a single, meaningful glare. Yuta finds no deeper meaning in fighting, but his heart was melted and he agreed to engage Ryu with every lost drop of power for a proper dessert.

During their duel's climax, Ryu was enjoying every moment of pushing his powers to their limit and described the sensation as seriously sweet. As Yuta continued to surpass expectations and grant Ryu more action after using every last drop, Ryu's excitement grew until he officially deemed the encounter as the dessert he'd longed for. Even in defeat, Ryu was gracious and thanked Yuta before declaring that his stomach was finally full.

Ryu was grateful for having his hunger satisfied but not for having his life spared by Yuta. He didn't commend or praise Yuta for letting an opponent live and told him he was too soft. However, Ryu was curious and also asked about Yuta's conversations with Uro, comparing them to a lover's quarrel. He told Yuta not to act like it was a pain, but when Yuta explained, Ryu didn't quite understand what he meant by being unable to connect with Uro because he was blessed. Regardless, Ryu got along with Yuta and agreed to hand over all the points he scored in the Culling Game.

Abilities and Powers
Overall Skill Level: Ryu is a sorcerer that boasts incredible destructive power and the highest cursed energy output of any player in the Culling Game. He was able to score seventy-seven points in twelve days in one of the game's fiercest colonies and forced a deadlock with other exceptional players like Dhruv, Kurourushi, and Uro.

Ryu's ability to fire cursed energy like a cannon makes him a massive wide-range threat. He is also the only sorcerer who can unleash the same amount of power regardless of whether or not his cursed technique is activated. His pure offensive firepower annihilated most of Kurourushi in one shot. While he's normally at a disadvantage against Uro's ability to redirect his blasts, he was able to defeat her with the same blast as Kurourushi when she was unable to activate her cursed technique following domain expansion.

While Ryu excels at long-range combat, he does not rely on it and is just as dangerous at close to mid-range. By supplementing his attacks with explosive bursts of cursed energy, Ryu clashed on equal terms with Yuta's enhanced strength and even overpowered him in more than one exchange. Yuta admitted even he would be injured by Ryu's attacks if they were not completely blocked. Ryu managed to injure Yuta by utilizing his high cursed energy output in clever ways. For example, Ryu discharged cursed energy when he collided backs with Yuta, sending the young man flying on impact. Then once Yuta was at a distance, Ryu was able to capitalize with his signature blast of cursed energy.

Rika, who's even more resilient than Yuta, found herself overwhelmed by Ryu's power. Ryu's toughness allowed him to withstand a blow from Rika and he counterattacked before she could land a follow up attack. Toward the end of his fight with Yuta, Ryu hit a partially manifested Rika with a blow so powerful that it would've been too strong for her even at full power.

Master Hand-to-Hand Combatant: In addition to his long range capabilities, Ryu is an exceptional close combat fighter. Utilizing his hair as the barrel of a cannon allows Ryu to keep his hands free and he's more than capable of using them to pummel his opponent. He was evenly matched with Yuta in most of their exchanges. He blocked Yuta's initial attack upon bringing their fight into close range and continued to match blows with him throughout their battle into its climax.

Advanced Endurance: Ryu withstood numerous direct attacks in his battle with Uro and Yuta, including being hit with his own Granite Blast. He also took several hits from Rika, a curse endowed with super strength, and not only continued fighting, but also delivered powerful counterattacks. Reinforced by his cursed energy, Ryu blocked a directed blast of cursed energy from Rika with just one hand. Even after Yuta hit him with Thin Ice Breaker and Rika busted him open with a punch to the top of his head, Ryu didn't go down until he was unsuspectingly hit by another one of his own blasts.

High Tactical Intellect: While his offense is fairly straightforward, Ryu applies clever tactics in battle and can catch on to his opponent's strategies as well. Ryu is a highly observant individual who ascertains his opponent's skills before putting himself at risk. He knew he was at a disadvantage against Uro's ability to redirect his beams and didn't make a move to break the deadlock in the colony until Yuta arrived and eliminated Dhruv. Ryu deduced on his own that he was only able to move in on Dhruv without a reaction only because he was completely preoccupied with Yuta.

While Yuta was fighting Kurourushi, Ryu observed how he fought. He first took note of Yuta's cursed energy output and the cursed spirit accompany him, crediting both of them as possible factors in Dhruv's defeat. When Yuta exorcised Kurourushi, Ryu immediately recognized he was able to do so by converting reversed cursed technique into an outputted attack. Ryu felt comfortable moving in on Yuta after Uro attacked him and took over the momentum of the battle with a single calculated move. When the trio all used domain expansion at the same time, both Ryu and Uro knew to form their barriers quickly to prevent Rika from entering and giving Yuta the initiative.

In the climax of Ryu's clash with Yuta, he realized he misjudged how Yuta's abilities work. Ryu first thought that Rika had a cursed technique of her own and later realized that Yuta can actually copy other cursed techniques. With a solid grasp of jujutsu sorcery, Ryu knew that such an ability couldn't be conditionless and deduced that he fulfilled such a condition to copy Uro's technique when Rika consumed her arm.

Battles & Events

 * Culling Game
 * Yuta Okkotsu vs. Takako Uro vs. Ryu Ishigori

Trivia

 * Ryu's surname has the Kun reading for "stone" (石, ishi) and "current, flow, stream" (流, gori). His given name has the Jinmeiyo kanji for "dragon" (龍, ryū).

Navigation
Ryu Ishigori