Ryusei Date

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ryusei Date is a fictional character in the Super Robot Wars series. He has appeared as a playable character in Shin Super Robot Wars, the Super Robot Wars Alpha series and Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation series. In canon, he is one of the pilots for both the SRX and its descendant, the SRX Altered Banpreios, and is joined by fellow pilots Raidiese F. Branstein, Aya Kobayashi and her sister, Mai Kobayashi.

Contents

[edit] Personal Data

Name: Ryusei Date
AKA: Ryu
Voice Actor: Shinichiro Miki
Status: Psychodriver
Rank: Sergeant Major (Before Ingram's defection), Second Lieutenant (After Ingram's defection)
Affiliations: SRX Team (Shin SRW, Alpha 1/Gaiden/3, OG 1/2/OGs)
Relatives And Personal Affiliations: Yukiko Date (Mother), Kusuha Mizuha (Childhood friend)
Mecha: Gespenst MK II TT (OG 1), Wildraubtier R (OG 1), R-1 (Shin SRW, Alpha 1, OG 1/2), Gespenst MK II M (Alpha Gaiden), Grungust Type 2 M (Alpha Gaiden), Huckebein MK II M (Alpha Gaiden), R-1 Kai (Alpha Gaiden), R-Blade (OG 2), SRX (Shin SRW, Alpha 1, OG 1/2), R-Blade Custom (Alpha 3), SRX Altered Banpreios (Alpha 3)

[edit] Personality And traits

At 18 years old, Ryusei Date is an extremely hot-blooded young individual. A mecha otaku, Ryusei is heavily into mobile machines, specifically those of the super robot type. When he receives his R-1, he was disappointed at the fact that it was a real robot, but was surprised at the specifications of the SRX, where it is classified as a super-type. Ryusei has an odd habit of naming certain attacks, and often shouts them aloud when performing them, a la classic super robot pilots. He abbreviates some of the SRX's and Banpreios' attacks with the words "Tenjou Tenga", literally meaning "Heaven and Earth".

Before joining the SRX Team, Ryusei was a childhood friend with Kusuha Mizuha. Though she initially developed a crush on him, Ryusei didn't return the same feelings, possibly due to his obsession with mechs. His relationship with the rest of the female cast of Original Generation is still in question, but it seems he is exceptionally close with Latooni Subota and Aya's sister, Mai. While he doesn't show interest in woman, he usually says that mechs with feminine shapes and appearances, like Lune Zoldark's Valsione or Virtual-ON's Fei-Yen the Knight, are cute.

[edit] History

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Ryusei's unnamed father was a police officer, but was killed in the line of duty. His mother, Yukiko Date, spent her time at the local hospital, for unknown reasons. Rather than continuing his life with an education, Ryusei enters the Burning PT National Tournament, in hopes of winning the grand prize money and accommodating his mother's hospital bills. He wins and becomes champion; meanwhile, Earth Federation Army Major Ingram Prisken was scouting him, and decides to recruit him for the SRX Team, due to Ryusei's unique psychokinesis/psychic abilities that earn him classification as a Psychodriver. Ryusei agrees, but only if Yukiko was sent to a military hospital and treated for her illness. After given the initial rank of sergeant major, he meets up with fellow SRX Team members Aya Kobayashi and Raidiese F. Branstein and begins his training as a pilot. Although he begins poorly, he develops his piloting skills exceptionally, while also maturing in the way he thinks, after realizing that he is, after all, fighting in a real war, and not in some simulated battle.

In the course of Original Generation, Ryusei comes across other extraordinary pilots, and forming brief rivalries with such pilots as Kyosuke Nanbu of the ATX Team and Tenzan Nakajima of the Divine Crusaders. After Ingram defects to the Aerogaters, Ryusei is promoted to Second Lieutenant, prompting him to discover why his former commander had betrayed him and his team. For the rest of Original Generation, Ryusei has already become a formidable and recognized pilot, due to his involvement in the war. When the Aerogaters and Divine Crusaders are defeated, he serves as test pilot for new experimental units, such as the R-Blade, and will use it briefly in the events of Original Generation 2. He rejoins his SRX Team members when the Neo Divine Crusaders begins their revolt and once again pilots the SRX.

In the Alpha 3 storyline, the SRX was destroyed by Hazal Gozzo and his Vaikran. In the process, team captain Aya was taken captive by Balmarian forces. Without the SRX machine, Ryusei pilots the R-Blade Custom until the upgraded SRX is completed. When it arrives, he christens it "Banpreios" and along with Rai and Mai, sets about to rescue Aya from the Balmarians alongside the Alpha Numbers.

[edit] Notes

In the animated Super Robot Wars Original Generation: Divine Wars, Tenzan Nakajima actually faces Ryusei in the finals of the Burning PT National Tournament and wins with ease. However, in the Original Generation game, Tenzan withdrew from the tournament, and Ryusei ends up becoming champion. Regardless, he gets recruited into the military on both instances, with the stipulation that the army covers his mother's hospital bills.