Ryu Husbando

Ryu is the main protagonist of the Street Fighter series, first appearing in the original Street Fighter. He is an experienced martial artist, highly focused on his training, aiming to become the strongest he can. Ryu's most recognizable attire consists of a white karate gi with the sleeves torn off, medium length hair, a long red headband, a black martial arts belt and bare feet (a choice he makes of his own, believing it to be more comfortable). In many of his appearances, Ryu carries around a large, white duffel bag containing items important to his travels, such as clothing, plane tickets, passports, and local currency. In the first Street Fighter, Ryu wore a white headband and red shoes. Over the course of time, he has grown taller and more muscular; his karate gi has grown more tattered, his gloves have changed from brown to red and his headband has changed from white to red. Most notably, his hair color has darkened over time; his original Street Fighter appearance gave him red hair, brown in Street Fighter Alpha, dark brown in Street Fighter II, and black in Street Fighter III, Street Fighter IV and Street Fighter V. In the Street Fighter III series, Ryu’s black hair has a blue tint. The red headband Ryu wears was originally worn by Ken. Ryu gave his white headband to Sakura before getting his red headband. From Street Fighter IV onwards, the red gloves worn by Ryu have started to bear stylized writing, which resembles the Fūrinkazan characters on his belt. In some official Street Fighter II artwork, Ryu's belt has four kanji emblazoned upon the right end: wind, forest, fire and mountain; these four kanji make up the Fūrinkazan. The same four kanji can be seen on a sign on the left-hand side of Ryu's stage in Street Fighter II, and are also visible on his belt in Street Fighter IV. The four words are based on chapter seven of Sun Tzu's Art of War, which dictates how one should conduct battle: "as fast as the wind, as quiet as the forest, as daring as fire, and immovable as the mountain." In Street Fighter II V, Ryu wears some casual outfits throughout the episodes; his primary appearance is a white short-sleeve shirt, blue denim jeans and red and white sneakers. He also has a black watch on his left wrist. Ryu is not wearing his red headband. When he wears his white karate gi, he only wears a brown prayer bead bracelet on his left wrist. He is also more tanned than in the games. His second alternate costume in Street Fighter V consists of only his white karate pants with a black belt to his waist and tatters in the edge of his pants, gray shoulder bands on each side and hand wraps on his hands. He also has a black facial beard. During E. Honda's character story, Ryu's black hair was pushed down by the warm water when he was meditating at his bathhouse. By the time he was battling Honda on his bathhouse before he gives him some proper manners after bathing, Ryu wears a white fundoshi without the rear apron and wears a white headband with the sign of red "V" mark at the center instead of his red headband. This also marks the first time to see more of Ryu's bare skin in his revealed appearance as his revealed outfit is the same revealing undergarments currently worn by Cyberbots: Full Metal Madness character, Jin Saotome beneath his main outfit in Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes and Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes where he burns his clothes to show this outfit during execution of one of his special moves or his own taunt while drying himself with a white towel. Ryu is a silent, meek, humble, submissive, self-deprecating, and respectful individual; which is often juxtaposed against the light-hearted, fiery persona of his childhood friend, Ken. He wanders the world with the desire for complete mastery of his martial art, and takes both his travels and training seriously. For Ryu, the training and the mastery that comes from the fight are all that he requires for satisfaction, declining the more material trappings of his various accomplishments as a warrior, simply moving on to his next challenge once he is victorious without delay, unless he is offered food or if he wants to converse with his friendly rivals. Though he does not actively seek the role of a hero, he possesses a strong sense of justice as well; protecting the innocent against the predations of bullies and tyrants is one of the few things that Ryu will prioritize over a satisfying fight. Because of this "wandering warrior" persona and also being trained far away from modern-day culture, Ryu often appears detached to others. Despite this, he is a kind, authentic, good-hearted, and demonstrative warrior who readily helps those less fortunate than himself, is protective and gentle towards children, and on rare occasions, shows a sense of humor (albeit a bad one). He also respects his opponents with skills equal to his own and formidable opponents who he is able to beat and is on friendly terms with, he compliments or encourages them to continue training and get stronger, sometimes offering help first hand (e.g. Dan). In his appearances in the manga adaptation of Street Fighter II, the anime series Street Fighter II V and the UDON Entertainment comics, Ryu would intake large amounts of food if the opportunity presented itself. There is, however, a dark side to Ryu: His drive to improve himself, no matter the difficulty, risks developing into a drive to win and to be the best at any cost. This darker drive is fed by (and in turn feeds) the Satsui no Hado within his soul, an influence which Ryu must constantly fight to suppress from killing (at least until the time of Street Fighter III). In times when his inner darkness threatens to overcome his humanity, Ryu relies on his friends and rivals - primarily Ken, Gouken, Sagat, and Sakura - to keep him grounded and help him overcome out of it. By the time of Street Fighter III, Ryu is somewhat more friendly yet still very quiet and reserved, much like his master Gouken.