Ryuji Suguro

Ryuji Suguro (勝呂 竜士), also called Bon (坊), is an Exwire at the True Cross Academy, where he was Rin's rival and a prodigy in the class. He is the only child of Tatsuma, the Head Priest of a temple that was destroyed during the Blue Night. Because of this, he swore that he would defeat Satan.

Appearance
Ryuji is a teenage boy, with a rough exterior and a small goatee on his chin. Some of his most distinguishable physical traits are his stern expression, (leaving him with a somewhat scary, unapproachable look) and the large blond streak that runs through his otherwise short and messy dark brown hair. After becoming Lightning's disciple, he shaved off the blonde stripe.

He has several piercings in both ears which, combined with his demeanor and hairstyle, give him the appearance of a stereotypical delinquent. He usually wears a beige vest with a pink "V" on the neck, over a white shirt. Along with a brown, black and white striped tie, and the standard True Cross Academy uniform jacket and pants.

At times, for example, in school or during the Exwire exam, he has been shown having removed the jacket, and sometimes also the vest. During sports at school, he was seen wearing a maroon tracksuit, with the shirt unzipped, and a plain black shirt underneath.

Personality
Though he appears rebellious, his personality is the exact opposite of his appearance. Konekomaru described him as stern and taking things overly serious. His hardworking streak comes from the desire to defeat Satan for turning his temple into a cursed temple in the eyes of the public.

He is known to dislike people who do not work hard and slack off during classes, such as Rin who occasionally sleeps in class, Ryuji telling him to "just get lost" because everyone in class is serious about being an Exorcist. He dislikes being looked down upon by people, an emotion triggered because of his childhood, where people called him the "Child of the Cursed Temple".

It has been shown he is a very strong-willed and determined individual, as shown when he was ready to face the Reaper to show just to how determined he was to become an Exorcist.

However, there is a different side to his personality as well. He constantly gets into fights with Izumo and Rin usually because of their different views. He can be quite immature, as revealed when he fights with Rin for small reasons like food. He can be calm and collected, but other times bad-tempered, argumentative, obnoxious, and violent. It has been said that he is so similar to Rin that they don't get along because of it. He also has a lot of arguments with his father.

He is considered a prodigy and entered the school under the same scholarship as Yukio, who is known as the youngest Exorcist. He is a top student in his class and got 98 out of 100 in one of the earlier shown tests. Ryuji also appears to be able to memorize things easily, as he can recite 21 scripts from the Bible.

He cares deeply about working together as a team and incorporating teamwork and often lectures Rin on this subject. It's also noted he can not stand to be protected by girls.

History
Before Ryuji could even walk or talk, the temple where he lived was attacked by Satan—sixteen years before the current events of the series—this event was to be forever referred to as the Blue Night. As the years passed, the mysterious disappearance of so many members of their temple meant that slowly but surely, nobody wanted to be near him or have any business with him.

Because of this, he began to despise Satan. Not long after this, he went to his father and told him that he was going to become an Exorcist and make his goal to defeat Satan, only to be laughed at.

True Cross Academy arc
Initially, Ryuji hates Rin because he believes that Rin does not take the classes seriously enough because he is always falling asleep. When Shiemi enters the cram school, they are seen to be pretty close to each other, prompting Ryuji to remark that Rin is focused more on chasing girls than studying exorcism.

During their gym class, Ryuji and Rin are pitted against each other in a training exercise, whilst constantly being chased by a Reaper. After knocking down Rin during the race, Ryuji almost gets attacked by the Reaper, so their professor stops the session and then lectures Ryuji. When Ryuji asks Professor Tsubaki the reason why he is the only one being lectured, he is told that Rin is a 'special' case because he was entered personally by the Principal, Mephisto. Later, someone calls Professor Tsubaki through his phone, leaving the class and telling them to self-study.

While their professor is away, Ryuji, unable to hold back his anger, challenges Rin to a contest of facing the Reapers to prove his resolve. Ryuji's dream is to defeat Satan and that is the source of his resolve; Renzo and Konekomaru tell their classmates about his dream. Rin relates to it but Izumo laughs at him, which shakes his resolve. He angers the Reaper and is almost attacked. Fortunately, Rin comes to his aid and protects him. However, after Rin saves him from the Reaper, he gains a sort of respect for him, though the two still argue frequently.

Training Camp arc
When going on the camp, Ryuji is seen to be complaining about the hot weather and recognizing Yukio as "inhuman" since he is able to endure the heat in his Exorcist cloak. After setting up their tents, Rin cooks dinner. Ryuji is amazed at Rin's cooking skills and is immediately shocked and unusually complimenting him.

Minutes before the Forest Exam starts, Ryuji hearing that there are only three permissions given for the ability to go on missions, he picks out of the test as putting each other as enemies. "Every man for himself, is the correct answer here, no helping each other," is what Ryuji says repeatedly before. But as soon as the exam starts, Ryuji hears Shiemi's scream, making him turning to help her without hesitation. As he nears Shiemi, a blue light lit up blinding him. As the flames disappear, he sees Rin saving Shiemi mere moments before he has the chance to. Confused, Ryuji asks if the light was Rin, not yet knowing his real identity.

Kyoto Impure King arc
Ryuji is seen in the classroom with his classmates Renzo and Miwa, who asked if he had spoken to his family. Shima commented he couldn't contact his own family, and they suspected something was wrong. Mephisto then appeared and announced they had earned the right to go on a real mission after performing well in a test-- A mission to Kyoto. The Exwires board a train, with Shura explaining the situation; who the Impure King is, and their role in supporting the Kyoto field office which guards the Right Eye of the Impure King. Ryuji and the rest of the Exwires arrive at the Toraya Inn, where mother Torako is the innkeeper. They welcome Ryuji but he dismisses them, stating that he is not there to visit as family, but as an Exwire. Injured exorcists are present, including Yaozo Shima who is Renzo's father.

Terror of the Kraken arc
Ryuji is seen with the group when they are on the beach trying to have fun and relax.

Illuminati arc
During the cultural festival, Renzo reveals himself to be a spy for the Illuminati, but one for Mephisto as well. He takes Izumo and is picked up by an Illuminati helicopter, taking them back to their base. Ryuji yells out for him multiple times, visibly angry.

Ryuji, the rest of the Exwires (all but Renzo and Izumo) and Yukio go to the town of Inari to try and find the Illuminati base. They get seen by cameras and Chimera Zombies try to attack them all. They get past, but are then dropped into separate chambers and each have to deal with a failed experiment.

Ryuji has to handle a zombie who can slightly speak and understand words. It tells him to “go back home,” and when he almost finishes defeating it, he starts thinking about his past. He had always believed that he had to be on top of everybody so he could rebuild his childhood temple. But because of everybody telling him he no longer needed to, he began to question whether he was still needed or not, and started wondering about his ambition to becoming an Exorcist, wanting to go back to what everything used to be.

Exorcist Exam arc
Ryuji becomes fascinated by Lewin Light, a powerful exorcist from Texas. With some begging, Bon manages to convince the man to allow him to become his disciple. Lewin now often takes him on missions, and after the death of the Okumura twins' grandfather, he reveals to the exwire that he can't feel empathy. This puts Lewin in a different light for Ryuji, as he realizes there's so much more about him he doesn't know.

Aria

 * Seal of Self-protection against Monkeys (被申護身の印): After reciting "    " and performing a series of hand seals, Ryuji creates a shield that blocks attacks and can banish demons. It is first used against a Naga.
 * Bodhi: After firing his bazooka, Ryuji recites, "      ," along with a series of hand seals and creates a shield of light with the Sanskrit for "Buddha" (बुद्ध) at its center. It is said to bring judgement on those with faith, but is unsuccessful when used on a Chimera Zombie. The chant is based on the Buddhist Mantra of Light.

Dragoon

 * Fatal Verse Judgement Bullet (致死節判定弾): Bazooka ammunition that can bring judgement on a variety of demons even if the fatal verse or the type of demon is unknown.

Tamer

 * Karura: A fire-bird demon, it is contracted to the Suguro bloodline.
 * Karura Flame:
 * Aeon Wave Flame:
 * Varuna: A water demon.
 * Clear Mirror, Still Water: Varuna creates a mirror from water. It is first used to show a Chimera Zombie its own appearance.

Trivia

 * He wakes up at 5:30 a.m. everyday and runs.
 * He gets migraines.
 * His favorite word is "Karma".
 * Ryuji's pastimes and talents includes: memorization, cleaning and zen meditation.
 * His average bath time is 20 minutes.
 * He is a bit of a neat freak.
 * He spends his days off by cleaning, meditating and about two hours of weight lifting and jogging.
 * He worries about his tendency to glare.
 * Ryuji's favorite music genres are: Rock, American/European and Japanese.
 * If one looks closely, Ryuji, or a character resembling him, can be seen behind Mephisto Pheles in Chapter 1.
 * He is also known as "Bon", which is short for "Bocchan" (which means "Young master").

Quotes

 * (To Tatsuma Suguro) "I can't take all this anymore! I'm gonna study hard, become an Exorcist...and defeat Satan! And then, I'm gonna rebuild our temple!"
 * (To Izumo Kamiki in his thoughts) "Don't you...dare laugh...at my ambitions!"
 * (To himself) "Both him and my old man... They are always trying to look cool and do everything on their own... And that has always pissed me off!"
 * (To Rin Okumura) "You've got friends, don't forget that."

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