Ryo Saeba (冴羽 獠, Saeba Ryō) is a sweeper/mercenary and the titular character and main protagonist of the City Hunter series. He is the most feared sweeper and legendary crime fighter in town who is a master of hand to hand combat, weapon manipulation and warfare tactics, but he would be almost unstoppable if not for his only weakness: women.
In Shinjuku station exists a whiteboard that the public can access. If you require the services of City Hunter, you need only write XYZ and they will find you.
Appearance[]
Ryo is a tall and well-built individual who slightly tousled black hair that reaches his neck and handsome features.
He is usually seen with a light blazer over a red t-shirt with rolled sleeves and dark pants, though he could take on a different appearance when necessary. He looks like adi, and is based off of him.
Personality[]
Ryo appears goofy, lazy and moronic most of the time (outside of his work), but when necessary (usually in a dangerous situation), he will appear serious and alert. The most frequent running gag about Ryo's character is that he is extremely lecherous. His clients are almost exclusively beautiful young women (a condition which he emphasizes a lot), with whom he constantly seeks a "Mokkori Chance". When not working, he can often be found hitting on random young women on the streets of Tokyo and in bars and clubs. His constant womanizing often leads to violent repercussions from his partner Kaori Makimura which result in him getting punished. However, Ryo has only one weakness and vulnerability, often taken advantage of by the enemies: Kaori.
Plot[]
When Ryo was three years old, the airplane he was travelling with his parents crashed somewhere in a civil war country in Central America.
Ryo, being the only survivor, wandered around the jungle for days. Until he arrived at a village. A village of guerrillas fighting against the government. But the village only accepted warriors who could fight with them. Having no other choice, Ryo decided to become a guerrilla warrior. Ryo, being young, didn't even know his full name, birthday, and his parents. There Ryo was raised by Mary’s father, though Ryo was closer to another man named Shin Kaibara because he was Japanese. To Ryo, Kaibara was his father who raised him and gave him the name “Ryo Saeba”.
The war lasted for many years which made the soldiers lose track of time, date, and age. Their group eventually decreased, which made his father Kaibara insane. That’s when Kaibara improvised a plan to distribute angel dust to the soldiers. Though his plan was rejected, Kaibara tricked Ryo into taking the angel dust. There Ryo was able to destroy an entire squad of government soldiers. Leading to many government soldiers injured, including a mercenary named Falcon. Ryo almost died from taking the angel dust, but was luckily treated by the Professor (not to be confused with Takeaki Muto with the same professor alias) and there Kaibara was removed from the group.
When the war ended in a victory by the government forces. Ryo along with many other guerrillas were chased out of the country. There Ryo made his way to the United States. Ryo eventually becomes a sweeper, taught by Mary’s father who also becomes Ryo’s first partner. Mary would later join Ryo after the death of her father.
Ryo also partnered with a bounty hunter named Kenny Field. Ryo had a great bond with Kenny and his daughter Sonia, but it didn't last long. Kenny forced Ryo to duel, which Ryo wins. Before Kenny died he tells Ryo that a syndicate will kill his daughter if he doesn't kill Ryo.
Ryo later on partnered up with Mick Angel, they eventually became good friends and formed the team “City Hunter”.
In the anime, it was Ryo and Makimura who formed “City Hunter”.
Few years later, Ryo decided to go back to his home country Japan. From there he continued his work as a sweeper under the same name “City Hunter”, later on he partnered with a former cop named Hideyuki Makimura who became his best friend. One day, Makimura is murdered and Ryo has to take care of Makimura’s sister, Kaori Makimura, who becomes his new partner.
In order to contact City Hunter, leave a note with the letters "XYZ" on the bulletin board at Shinjuku Station.
Abilities[]
Ryo is trained almost to physical and mental peak. He has incredible strength and extremely quick reflexes in hand-to-hand combat. He has the ability to plan many steps ahead of his rivals and thus can almost never be outsmarted. A highly-skilled gunman, Ryo almost never misses his target and is especially known for executing the "one-hole shot": a series of shots that land in the exact same spot of the target repeatedly.
Weapons[]
Ryo's preferred weapon is the Colt Python .357 Magnum with Metal Jacket bullets. It seems that he carries hidden weapons as well.
As an aside, Ryo has an uncanny ability to make female clients fall for him by way of entering a dangerous situation and becoming serious. This serious face of Ryo's accentuates his handsome features which the female clients look in awe at and his enemies pale in fear.
Relationships[]
Umibozu[]
Another "sweeper" working the rounds in Tokyo, Umibozu and Ryo have a history dating back to the civil war in Central America. His nickname Umibozu was given by Ryo. They share a kind of frenemy relationship. As partners, they have joined hands in many cases for the jobs in Japan albeit reluctantly. In the later part of the manga, although Umibozu was being robbed of his sight by Ryo in an incident, he held no ill-feelings for Ryo and merely accepted it as a Cause & Effect of a conflict. He still wishes to have an honorable 1-v-1 match with Ryo to figure out which of the two is better.
Sayuri Claudia[]
She was love-interest Ryo's however, not only did he love Sayuri, but Jack also loved her for a long time, they competed until their pride brought them to a duel, she intervened, tried to stop them, but fell under the bullet of Ryo.
Hideyuki Makimura[]
Hideyuki is the best friend and partner of Ryo at the start of the series and both make the team, " City Hunter ". He's a former police detective with a strong sense of justice. After he is murdered by gangsters, his dying request was that Ryo take care of his sister.
Kaori Makimura[]
Kaori is Ryo's current tomboyish partner and the foster sister of Hideyuki Makimura. She is primarily responsible for arranging clients and other managerial tasks. She eventually falls in love with Ryo, despite denying it when confronted by clients. She attempts to bury those feelings, citing Ryo's shenanigans and constantly hitting on women, as reasons to why she could never love him. Although in the beginning, it seems that Ryo has no feelings towards her but as the series progress, there are multiple hints of Ryo having feelings for her.
Ryo's skirt-chasing escapades roused her wrath repeatedly throughout the series, resulting in his punishment with her 100-ton mallet usually. Even if he's good at escaping bullets, he cannot avoid attacks of Kaori, thus hinting he has feelings for her too. However, Ryo will not readily admit that he has feelings for her out of concern for her, as he does not want to her to fall further into the dark, merciless world Ryo works in.
At the end of the manga, it is hinted that they got married.
Saeko Nogami[]
In certain outsourced tasks, Ryo supports Saeko, an old friend who works at the police station. Ryo keeps a long-detailed list where Saeko owes him for the various favors he's done for her, which she always manages to get out of because Ryo demands a Mokkori chance with her for each item. Although Ryo suspects that this will never happen, he still helps her repeatedly, regardless of it.
Reika Nogami[]
Reika is Saeko's younger sister, but she proves to be just as feisty as her sister in rejecting Ryo's advances. She runs the "RN Detective Agency" (RN being her initials), right next to Ryo's apartment. It is hinted a few times that she has a little crush on Ryo but knows about Kaori Makimura's feelings for him and will not stand in her way.
Ryo finds her gorgeous and sexy, but she is utterly terrified of her attempts at marrying him.
Shin Kaibara[]
Despite only appearing in the manga, Kaibara considers himself Ryo's legal guardian and his father, despite not being blood related. The two have history as they fought alongside each other as guerilla fighters.
Etymology[]
- The name Ryo means "hunt" (獠).
- Ryo's surname Saeba means "be clear, serene, cold, skillful" (冴) (sae) and "feather" (羽) (ha/ba).
Trivia[]
- Ryo's interests include Nanpa, erotic books and videos.
- He also enjoys shooting games at the game center. If required, he has easy access to a shooting range located underneath his apartment complex or hidden in Umibozu's cafe where he can practice his accuracy and/or left off steam.
- Ryo eats mostly anything and he is quite a big eater as well.
- In the manga, Ryo tends to get an erection whenever he gets excited.
- At the age of three, Ryo was the only survivor of a plane crash in Central America.
- In reference to Vol. 6, Ryo smokes 'Lucky Strike' brand of cigarettes and he is quite a heavy drinker.
- Ryo has aerophobia (in travel only) which is most probably attributed to his previous experience with planes.
- Ryo's favorite cars are the Austin Mini Cooper, Fiat Panda CL 1000, and a Honda CR-X (first generation) which he uses in various car chases. Although, he mostly uses the Mini Cooper as his main vehicle while the Fiat Panda CL 1000 is a backup vehicle, which Kaori Makimura actually owns and drives.
- Ryo also had a background cameo in the beginning of Lupin III vs. Cat's Eye. He appeared in the background twice when the Cat's Eye trio both enter and exit the building.
- Maybe someday will release a crossover with a City Hunter and Lupin III. Between them is a connection since at the end of City Hunter The Movie: Shinjuku Private Eyes you can see on the ad on the shinjuku station Lupin III face logo and in Lupin III vs. Cat's Eye can see Ryo Appeared in the Background Twice When The Cat's Eye Trio Both Enter and Exit the Building. Ryo Saeba will face Lupin III and his people Daisuke Jigen and Goemon Ishikawa XIII, perhaps in the beginning they will interfere with each other, but then they will learn that one criminal organization wants to destroy them and they will unite against a common enemy. Also they will unite efforts Umibozu, Miki and Kaori.
Gallery[]
Anime[]
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Manga[]
References[]
- English and Japanese Wikipedia.
External links[]
- Ryo Saeba on Angel Heart Wiki