On Mon, 22 Sep 1997, Sebastian Weinberg wrote:

On Sat, 20 Sep 1997, RPM - acct 3/5 wrote:

: What kind of a guy is Kumon Ryu?   I know the
: background history of him and the Saotome Secret
: Technique he's after... but there's nothing at all
: discussed about his personality.  Not on the
: web pages, nor the faqs, and all the translations
: for the manga he's in seems to be just gone from
: the net.
: 
: Megalomaniac?  Humble?  Evil?  Misunderstood?  What 
: kind of a guy is this Kumon Ryu?

Kinda normal, actually.  He's got a ruthless streak in pursuing
what he wants, but he's honourable at the core.  For example, he
plans to exploit Nodoka by posing as Ranma, even going as far as
resorting to violence to force the secret of the scroll from her,
but when it comes down to it, he can't really bring himself to
hurt her.  He is touched by her longing for her lost son and seems
to regret having led her on.

All of this is true. Ryuu Kumon is perhaps one of the most honorable 
characters in the manga. However, if I were to choose a single word to 
describe him with, it would be "lonely." Regarding this, Ryouga has 
nothing on Ryuu. The heir of the Kumon School of Martial Arts has been 
living *alone* for over ten years, ever since his father died. He's stoic, 
and can take care of himself. It's not known if he has any friends, or 
whether or not he has relatives to speak of. I'd say that, because of 
this, he tends to be reluctant to trust strangers --to the point he barely 
speaks to most people.

As Sebastian said, one of his most important aspects is that when he sets 
himself on something he's completely unstoppable. His focus is the 
strongest any character in the manga has shown, but it won't make him 
break his honor. As it is seen from the way he acts around Mrs. Saotome, 
he's very protective of her and probably considers her a sort of honorary 
mother. When he was defeated, he urged Ranma to tell the truth to Nodoka 
--not for Ranma's sake, but for hers.
 

When he is defeated, he accepts this, and even helps Ranma a bit
with his mother, telling him to confess soon.  Under other
circumstances, he could very well have been a friend.

Well, I wouldn't be so sure about that. True, Ryuu could seriously use a 
friend, but I doubt he could put his depression aside long enough for 
someone to like him. Also, this guy is the most tragic figure in the 
entire series. His entire life was torn apart the instant he realized the 
"perfect art" he had sought for ten years was nothing more than a set 
of sneak-thievery techniques. I mean, think about it. Ever since Mr. Kumon
died, Ryuu swore to find the Umisenken and pair it up with Yamasenken to
rebuild the Kumon Doujou. He dedicated his whole existance to achieve that
goal, and in the end, not only was he defeated, but all his hopes and
dreams were brought down and stomped by just one small fragment of the
Umisenken's original scroll. That *has* to be painful, and while he
respects Ranma I don't see them being friendly any time soon.


The Zephyr
al709382@campus.ccm.itesm.mx
terbril@hotmail.com