Ryou Takatsuki

Ryou Takatsuki is the main protagonist from the Project ARMS anime and manga.

Ryou is considered more or less the most powerful and dangerous member of the ARMS Kids having the power of the Jabberwock.

Ryo's ARMS is code named Jabberwock, and is concentrated mostly in Ryo's right arm. The Jabberwock AI program is a demonic entity which only lives to destroy and is the manifestation of Alice's hate towards humanity (an unexpected side effect of this is that Ryo and the Jabberwock often feed and reinforce each others anger, which allows them to synchronize with each other more easily, making them more powerful). Most of the time Ryo keeps Jabberwock under control, but when Ryo is in danger or becomes overstressed Jabberwock can take over. Then Ryo transforms into Jabberwock's ultimate form, and the carnage begins. Only Ryo's fellow ARMS can bring him back under control (most effectively by the Queen of Hearts, the others have to beat him into submission).

In the AWA fics, Ryou is a student at the AWA Academy.

Appearance
Ryou resembles an average male in his late teens, has short dark-brown spiky hair and often wears a t-shirt with jeans. However, his clothes vary widely throughout the series as he picks up any attires he finds along the way.

Personality
Ryo appears to be a kind hearted, polite and friendly young man, proclaiming on many occasions his hate of killing people due to his high regard for human life and free will, Ryo stands by these principles and thus fights with them in mind with everything he has. His kindness is evident of the fact of him frequently helping those weaker and more vulnerable than himself, Ryo consistently shows as the story progresses he does find anything wrong in taking damage for those closest and most important to him; this meaning his friends and family, most notably the ARMS Kids (Hayato Shingu, Takeshi Tomoe and Kei Kuruma), being the most identical to him and can therefore relate to him best in the aspect of sharing the same burden with the addition of having similar abilities. Ryo always calmly analyzes any new situation and figures out the best solution.

Despite being cool headed most of the time and an excellent leader, strategist, and overall combatant, Ryo is seriously disturbed by needless violence and bloodshed. As a result Ryo occasionally demonstrates assertive behaviour; this only being the case when he is required to act in such a manner. Such assertiveness was demonstrated when *fill in*.

The Jabberwock
The Jabberwock's capabilities are extremely varied and evolve very quickly compared to the other original ARMS units, mainly due to the fact that it has seen the most combat out of all the other ARMS units. It is also the most unstable and violent. Initially it was a powerful hand to hand weapon that could elongate, transform into a shield, and exhibited a limited ability to move on its own to protect Ryo. The Jabberwock's nano-machines also give Ryo an innate ability to heal much faster than a normal human even in his untransformed state. As time progresses and Ryo and the Jabberwock engage in more fights they develop more varied and destructive abilities. The Jabberwock's ultimate form is a hulking demonic humanoid containing nothing but pure rage and destructive force. The Jabberwock has developed so fast and evolved so many abilities that it is easier to list and describe them.
 * Compressed Air Cannon: This ability was first developed during the fight against the Chapel Twins Al and Jeff. It consumes raw materials like concrete or metal, converts them into crude bullets, and fires them with compressed air at extreme speeds. This ability is highly destructive and was able to severely damage and disable the personal combat cyborgs of the Chapel twins. During a full transformation matter does not have to be consumed to create bullets. The Jabberwock is able to create them internally. This is one of the most commonly used powers by Ryo and establishes him as the only original ARMS with any significant long-range firepower.


 * Anti-ARMS Nano Virus: This ability is what makes the Jabberwock especially dangerous to other ARMS units. The claws of the Jabberwock contain a virus which permanently kills the nanomachines of other ARMS in a very localized area around the point of contact. This stops any and all ARMS regeneration in all forms. It can only be transmitted to another ARMS by direct physical contact. The nano-machine virus does not appear to be dependant on the Jabberwock itself to be potent as Iwao Takatsuki comes into possession of a claw that had become broken off from the Jabberwock and the nano-virus was still potent and feared by those it was used against.


 * Partial Transformation: Though originally a precursor to Ryo losing control of himself and transforming into the Jabberwock, he has learned to control the activation of this ability. During particularly tough fights when Ryo needs his strength enhanced beyond its normal limits, his ARMS nano-machines begin to spread throughout his entire body. The nano-machines significantly reinforce his body structure making him more resistant to injury, accelerates his regeneration, and amplifies his strength, speed, and endurance far beyond what they normally are. Ryo has also shown that the partial transformation gives him a significant resistance to toxic materials and poisons. The first use of this ability in combat takes place shortly after the incident at Abumisawa village when Ryo is cornered in an abandoned building by some Egrigori cyborgs and he dispatches them with ease. However, during this time he was extremely mentally unstable so it is unclear if he was willingly using this ability or allowing the Jabberwock to feed on his anger and hatred. The first intentional use of this ability happens during the second battle at Gallows Bell while Ryo is fighting against Stinger.


 * Telekinetic Immunity: Developed after the fight with Cliff of the X-Army. During their fight and after sustaining severe damage, the Jabberwock evolved so that it could no longer be directly influenced by Cliff's telekinesis and then showed the ability to tear through the telekinetic shields that he erected to protect himself.


 * Pseudo Flight: During the fight with Cliff of the X-Army the Jabberwock displays the ability to fly via several small thrusters grown from his back and shoulders, though he is nowhere near as fast or agile as the White Rabbit by any means. He seems to be able to keep himself aloft and charge ahead in a single direction.


 * Temperature Control: After recovering from the nanovirus introduced into his systems by Colonel Gall of the Red Caps the Jabberwock showed the ability to increase the temperature of its body by thousands of degrees. This allowed it to breath fire, create flaming shockwaves simply by waving its hand, and essentially acted as a shield by vaporizing bullets and other munitions in midair before they could even touch his body.


 * Space-Time Tear Immunity: After the first encounter with Keith Green the Jabberwock evolved an immunity to the space-time tears he could create and showed the ability to tear through the space-time shields Green used. (Similar to Cliff)


 * Electromagnetic Distortion: During the fight with Keith Silver the Jabberwock evolved the ability to create electromagnetic fields to distort and deflect the laser blasts fired by Keith Silver in his standard and ultimate forms.


 * Anti-Matter Production: The most dangerous ability exhibited by the Jabberwock to date. During the fight with Keith Silver in Gallows Bell the Jabberwock absorbed all the energy from Keith's most powerful laser blast and used it to create anti-matter which he used to create a massive explosion that wiped out most of Gallows Bell, dealt severe damage to Keith Silver, and created a powerful EM pulse that disabled all local electronics including Egrigori's top of the line cyborgs. In issue 11 it was stated by Dr. Samuel Tillinghast that the Jabberwock can create large quantities of anti-matter and this ability could lead to the destruction of the entire world. Though this ability currently takes too much power to use under normal circumstances. This ability is also the only one shown thus far that can severely and permanently damage another ARMS unit without the use of a nanovirus. When the ability was first used in Gallows Bell the antimatter was shot through Keith Silver's shoulder before detonating in the city. The sheer amount of damage done to Silver took him out of commission for an extremely long period of time despite the regenerative properties of his ARMS unit as he was recovering at Area 51. When he finally does reappear it is revealed that the damage to his body was so profound that his arm was permanently stuck in its transformed state and his shoulder appeared to be badly misshapen and had several limiter devices implanted in it. Interestingly enough, after being roused from dormancy by the resurrected White Alice, the Jabberwock no longer seems to be burdened with the energy production limitation of its anti-matter ability. Shortly after resurrection the Jabberwock is seen gleefully holding two fistfuls of antimatter, ready to be hurled at the modulated ARMS troopers that it it facing.


 * Hypersonic Vibrations: This ability is acquired by the Jabberwock in issue 16 during the fight against Huey and the Successors. The sonic vibrations emitted by these mechanical men are so powerful that they cause the very atomic structure of the target to shatter and crumble. The Jabberwock at first develops counter vibrations strong enough to neutralize those of Huey and the Successors to allow itself to regenerate, but quickly adapts them into an even more powerful form that not only overpowers the vibrations of the Successors but shatters their vibration resistant bodies. The Knight warns Hayato that this new power is equal in strength to his Lance of Mistilteinn and could make it near impossible to destroy the Jabberwock should he go out of control.


 * Hyper Acceleration: This ability is gained in issue 16 during another fight against the Successors. What is notable about this power is that it is used by Ryo while the Jabberwock is dormant. Ryo sees an image of Alice that calms his and the Jabberwock's rage and convinces him to believe in his own will and not the power of the Jabberwock. This ability allows Ryo to move at speeds equal to, if not greater than, Egrigori's high speed cyborgs and the Successors. When Hayato fearfully wonders whether the Jabberwock has gained a new power the Knight says that Ryo is the one in control, is bending the Jabberwock to his will, and this power is coming from Ryo himself. Therefore, it could be said that this power is more Ryo's than the Jabberwock's.


 * Electromagnetic Rail Gun: This ability is developed in volume 17 during Ryo's rematch with Keith Silver. Due to his compressed air cannon being ineffective against Silver's energy shield, it evolved to utilize the previously defensive magnetic fields used to deflect Silver's particle beams into a rail gun which uses electromagnetic induction to launch projectiles many times faster and with more destructive force than its previous incarnation.

Training
Ryo was taught basic methods of combat by his father and mother in preparation for the upcoming battle with Egrigori which they predicted he would have to encounter one day. Through this training Ryo learnt various survival techniques, basic martial arts and strategy.

Trivia

 * Ryou Takatsuki goes on a brief downward spiral after believing he caused the death of his childhood friend (and girl he loved) Katsumi. When it turns out she was really alive, he spends most of the series traveling from Japan to America with his friends to rescue her, only to watch her be killed again by his own hands by accident (the bad guy threw her in front of himself as Ryou attacked), which causes Ryou to nearly bring about the end of the world out of his guilt and sadness.  Then, when it turns out she's not dead again but is implanted with ARMS of her own and kidnapped by the evil organization Ryou's been fighting he must again battle his sadness while setting off to rescue her.
 * Ryo by virtue of much of the story being driven by his desire to rescue Katsumi. This role is usually assigned to Kei in-universe, however, since she has the most military training of the bunch and he ARMS gives her the perfect surveillance ability.