| Ryoko Sakurai | |
| |
| Kanji | 櫻井 了子
|
| Romaji | Sakurai Ryōko |
| Character Information | |
| Gender | Female |
| Status | Deceased |
| Height | 168cm[citation needed] |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Hair Color | Brown |
| Eye Color | Violet |
| Affiliation | F.I.S. Section Two |
| Relatives | Finé (Ancestor, †) |
| Debut | |
| Manga | Chapter 1 |
| Anime | Episode 1 |
| Game | Senki Zesshō Symphogear XD Unlimited |
| Voice Actors | |
| Japanese | Miyuki Sawashiro |
Ryoko Sakurai (櫻井 了子 Sakurai Ryōko?)[Notes 1] was the head scientist of the Special Disaster Response Team Section Two, and the creator of the Sakurai Theory, which the Symphogear were based off.
Etymology[]
- "Ryoko" is spelled with the kanji for "finish"/"completion" and "child". "-ko" is a common suffix for female names. The first kanji is most likely a reference to Ryoko's true identity as Finé.
- "Sakurai" is spelled with the kanji for "cherry (blossom)" and "well" (as in the water source). These are also the kanji used for the mineral sakuraiite, which may be a possible naming origin.
Appearance[]
Ryoko is a tall woman with long hime-cut brown hair done up into a beehive shaped dome with a purple butterfly clip on the left side. She has purple eyes and wears glasses with red frames with yellow tinted lens. Her main outfit is a long white lab coat worn over a short, loose pink dress with coral trim, purple frills in the neck, and a purple cloth belt. She wears open-top pink shoes with slight heels and X-shaped straps. In the past, Ryoko wore a loose, short-sleeved light-green shirt with a buckle belt and a tight black miniskirt. She wore similar shoes to the ones she does in the present, but her past ones have straps in the shape of a butterfly.
Personality[]
Ryoko is a cheery, ditzy, and occasionally sly woman. Despite her cloudheaded tendencies, she is shown to be an observant and calculating scientist. Despite her seemingly frail and feminine appearance, she has incredible durability, being able to punch and kick Shinji Ogawa, a trained warrior and ninja, in the face. She shows sexual interest in Hibiki Tachibana, and is later shown to have made a stalker shrine of her.
It is later revealed that Ryoko's mind was devoured by Finé twelve years prior to the story. It can be assumed that her cheery and ditzy (yet observant and logical) personality, as the act put on by Finé, is Ryoko's personality from before Finé consumed her mind, and Ryoko's moments of slyness, sexual lechery, cold calculation, and physical ability/prowess is Finé's own personality and abilities slipping through.
Background[]
Ryoko is the head scientist of the Special Disaster Response Team Section Two, and the creator of the Symphogear. She has the ability to form powerful force-fields. Her loyalties are somehow questionable, as she concerns herself more over the relics than the girls themselves.
In Episode 10, it is revealed that she is actually Finé, the true creator of the Symphogear. Episode 11 further explains Ryoko had become Finé after being exposed to the Aufwachen waveform emanated by the Ame no Habakiri when it was activated by Tsubasa Kazanari's song twelve years ago.
Synopsis[]
Season 1[]
Ryoko is first seen answering a phone in the underground laboratory below the Zwei Wing concert site. She confirms that all the preparations are done and they were ready. She is later seen still in the laboratory and everything had gone well and a success. However, there was an explosion that completely destroyed the laboratory. She is later seen sitting next to Genjuro in Section Two headquarters, having survived the explosion as well. She is the one to identify that there was an Aufwachen waveform activating.
Ryoko trying to get a picture with Hibiki
In Episode 2 she runs up to Hibiki and suggests a picture to remember their meeting by in which Hibiki declines as it would be depressing as she is handcuffed. As Genjūro explains about the Special Disaster Response Team she appears next to him with Hibiki's bag in hand, causing the girl to freak out. She introduces herself later as the brains of the Special Disaster Response Team. When Hibiki asks for an explanation, she asks two things of Hibiki: first to never speak of what happened to anyone, and second to take her clothes off, in which the latter exclaims in dismay. The next day Ryoko informs Hibiki of the results of her check-up from the day before. She then explains to Hibiki what a Relic was. Even if Hibiki doesn't understand she just asks that she remembers that Ryoko is the genius who came up with the Sakurai Theory.
In Episode 3 as Tsubasa challenges Hibiki Ryoko comments that it was the fire of youth. Later in the episode Ryoko is seen at the meet explaining the many things that Hibiki needed to understand. Later on as Hibiki questions the fighting Ryoko starts to display her sexual tendencies and expresses her wish to "make Hibiki hers before anyone else does".
In Episode 4 she is seen running the tests and readings on Kanade. Back in the present she is later seen on her phone as Genjuro drives them to the area where the girls are fighting.
In Episode 5 Ryoko is talking on the phone (and sneezes loudly), commenting about someone talking about her as she drives rather dangerously down a winding road. Later she is seen entering headquarters greeted by Hibiki and Genjuro who informs her of Defense Minister Taketsugu Hiroki's assassination. As Hibiki expresses worry about being unable to contact her Ryoko checks her access device to find it broken. She thanks them for the worry and opens the briefcase which contained a chip with classified orders from the government. She then says that making the mission a success is the best way to send the Minister off to the afterlife.
She is next seen speaking to a group of Section Two agents about the center of Noise activity recently, which happened to be Lydian. She also informs that the government had determined that the object held in the deepest part of the headquarters, Durandal, had been the target. She explained that it had come into their possession after the EU went bankrupt and the Japanese government shouldered some of the debt, and were given Durandal as payment.
She is later seen with Hibiki informing her about the time of transportation as she retrieves Durandal with the use of robotic devices. She then tells Hibiki to go get some rest as her job begins tomorrow. She is later seen alongside Genjuro before the group sets off on their operation.
Ryoko activating her barrier
As they are attacked she tells Hibiki to hang on as she is a rough driver. As they are cornered by Noise Ryoko activates a barrier to defend herself and Hibiki against the Noise.
As Hibiki fights Ryoko notices the reaction of Durandal to Hibiki as the relic activates. After Hibiki uses the Durandal and passes out Ryoko forms a barrier over herself and Hibiki, protecting the two. As Hibiki awakes Ryoko fixes her appearance before answering a call.
In Episode 6 Ryoko informs Genjuro that they are 17-percent ahead of schedule on security upgrades. She informs that headquarters was made to be updated with minimal external help. She goes off to see what the problem is when the alarm goes off.
She performs a check-up on Hibiki in Episode 7 and informs her of her health status. Afterwords she pokes Hibiki's breast and informs her that the fragments of Gungnir were fusing with the tissue at an accelerated rate and suspects that the energy and healing rate Hibiki has is due to the Relic. She reassures Hibiki that there was no negative effect to the fusing. Later on Ryoko thinks to herself about the special properties of the Symphogear system in her lab and reflects on the Zwei Wing concert two years ago that was meant to activate the Nehushtan Armor. She compares the activation of the Nehushtan Armor's power to that of the Durandal activated by Hibiki.
Ryoko offers to tell the girls her epic tale of love in Episode 9. She begins to recall her story of passion that would shock them all. She punches Shinji in the face after his comment and continues her story slightly before she kicks Shinji in the face and quickly finishing her story and leaving. She walks off by herself, wondering how she changed.
In Episode 10, she is seen researching data in Finé's Mansion, and is raided by US government forces. She fuses the Nehushtan Armor with herself and mocks them, killing them all and leaving behind a trap for Genjuro. She then escapes to an abandoned building and calls the HQ (sound only), claiming that she overslept.
She is only briefly seen in episode 11, when Finé uses her voice as a way to distract Genjuro during a fight, and then to reveal to the girls who she truly is. Her younger self is shown having her mind consumed by Finé's when Tsubasa activates the Ame no Habakiri.
In episode 13, Finé briefly takes on the eyes and voice of Ryoko to return Hibiki's act of kindness, telling her to "believe in the song of [her] heart", under the guise of someone who used to be a mentor figure of sorts to her.
Symphogear G[]
Finé makes a small cameo as Ryoko in G Episode 8, being seen killing several scientists — including Kanade's parents and little sister — with Noise during an excavation, before taking the Shénshòujìng for herself.
Symphogear GX[]
Finé makes an even smaller cameo as Ryoko in GX Episode 3, observing Shirabe and Kirika's mock-battle with their gears along with Dr. Ver inside the F.I.S. facility.
Symphogear AXZ[]
Finé makes another cameo as Ryoko in AXZ Episode 5, where she is seen observing the young Serena Cadenzavna Eve awaken the Nephilim.
In Video Games[]
In Senki Zesshō Symphogear XD Unlimited, there are certain alternate worlds where Finé never awakens in Ryoko's body, such as the world in Katayoku no Sōsha. Despite this, Ryoko still goes on to create technology developed by Finé, such as the Symphogear and LiNKER.
Trivia[]
- In Episode 5 Ryoko's computer password is shown to be "Fulcanelli", a reference to the name used by a French alchemist who was active in the 1920s.[1]
- This marks the first reference to alchemy in the Symphogear franchise.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ Spelled as "Ryouko Sakurai" by Crunchyroll's English subtitles
[]
Symphogear Characters
| |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Symphogear Users | |||||||||
| Main Antagonists | |||||||||
| Minor Antagonists | |||||||||
| Supporting Characters | |||||||||
| Other Characters | |||||||||
| Manga Only | |||||||||
| XDU Only | |||||||||
| (Another) | |||||||||
| Other Characters |  Christina  Zaqqum  Kisuke  Ishim  Sofia  Saya  Helen  Thomas  Yako  Demon of Sagarmatha | ||||||||
| XDU Collaboration Only | |||||||||
|
|||||||||
|
 Gridman  Gridknight  Calibur  Max  Borr  Vit | ||||||||
|
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
|
 Lloyd  Colette  Presea  Genis | ||||||||
|
|||||||||
|
 Red  Yellow  Green  Blue  Pink  Fire  Shovellow  Mach  Jetter  Helico  Jamen | ||||||||
|
 Karen  Hikari  Nana  Giraffe | ||||||||
|
 Seiya  Shun  Ikki  Shiryū  Hyōga  Saga | ||||||||
|
 Mayu  Giulia | ||||||||
|
 Gauma  Knight  Sizumu | ||||||||
|
 Illya  Miyu  Kuro  Ruby  Sapphire | ||||||||
|
 Riri  Yuyu  Kaede | ||||||||
|
 Tamu  Starlight Kid | ||||||||
|
 Yuuna  Mimori  Karin | ||||||||
