Ryuji Takayama

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Ryuji Takayama is a fictional character in the Ringu cycle, appearing and mentioned in Koji Suzuki's novels Ring, Rasen, Loop and The Birthday as well as in the films Ring, Ring 2 and Rasen. Ryuji is played by Hiroyuki Sanada in the movie series. He has also been played by Yoshio Harada in Ring: Kanzenban and Tomoya Nagase in Ring: Saishuushou who also was used in the Ring manga.

[edit] Suzuki's novels

In Ring, Ryūji Takayama is an odd man who claims to be an occasional rapist, and seems to fear nothing. As soon as Asakawa explains the story Ryūji believes him, and wants nothing other than to see the tape. Asakawa shows it to him, and although Ryūji remains cool and nonchalant he agrees there is a powerful aura around the tape. He asks Asakawa to make him a copy to study at home, which Asakawa does. By the end, he and Asakawa believe they have solved the mystery surrounding the series' central character, Sadako Yamamura; The following day, however, Sadako's malignant spirit emerges from the tape and kills him.

In Spiral a former medical school classmate, Andou, performs the autopsy on Ryūji. He discovers a bit of newspaper sticking out of Ryuji's belly sutures, with two sets of numbers on it: "178" and "136". Later on, it's traced to a code, utilizing a sequence of Ryuji's DNA. The message contained was "mutation". After watching the tape, Ryūji's girlfriend Mai Takano becomes pregnant with Sadako. She dies and Sadako is reborn. With the help of Andou, they bring Ryūji back to life through advanced cloning. Sadako and Ryūji then plot to spread the virus throughout the world using the diary of his dead friend, Asakawa.

In Loop, protagonist Kaoru Futami discovers that he is actually a clone of Ryūji Takayama, who apparently cracked the code to a secret government project called LOOP code and called the outside world. Kaoru realises that he is the cure to the virus that afflicts his girlfriend and is implanted into LOOP world; in order to obtain the cure to the virus to save his girlfriend, he has to die. When in LOOP, Kaoru is reborn through Sadako instead of Ryūji, and Kaoru from then on lives under the name of Ryūji Takayama.

[edit] Ring Movies

Ryuji Takayama's character in the film series is very different from the novels. In the films, Asakawa becomes Reiko Asakawa, his his ex-wife and mother of his child, Yoichi. Ryuji and his family all have a similar power to what Sadako and her family had called ESP.

Other variations include his relationship to other characters, in particular Mai Takano. In the novels, his relationship with Mai appears to be romantic. In the films however, only in Rasen is she ever mentioned as being his girlfriend. In the rest of the series, such a relationship does not exist.