TV-Series
Description
Issei Ryuudou is a supporting character in Fate/stay night and appears in the Unlimited Blade Works storyline. He is the student council president at Homurahara Academy and a close friend of the protagonist, Shirou Emiya.
Issei stands at 170 centimeters tall and weighs 58 kilograms. As the youngest son of the head priest of the Ryuudou Temple, he has been raised to one day succeed his father and become a Buddhist monk. True to this upbringing, he speaks in an old-fashioned and formal manner. He lives at the temple with his family, including his older brother Reikan, who was a classmate of Shirou's guardian, Taiga Fujimura. Every day, Issei walks two hours on foot from the temple to attend school.
His personality is straight-laced, serious, honest, and unflinching. As student council president, he embodies the role completely, having won the election by an overwhelming majority due to his natural leadership and what others call his student council aura. He is deeply committed to school reform, hoping to change how club allowances are distributed and amend various school regulations. Because he is so dedicated to his position, finding a successor has proven difficult.
Issei first became acquainted with Shirou Emiya two years before the events of the story and quickly became his friend. He frequently asks Shirou to repair broken school equipment as a way to save money on the school's budget. The two often share lunch together in the student council office, talking casually about whatever comes to mind. Issei particularly enjoys the lunches that Shirou prepares for him. He also looks up to Souichirou Kuzuki, a teacher at the school, as a mentor, and on holidays they would often practice paired kata together.
Issei harbors a strong dislike for Rin Tohsaka, stemming from their time serving together on the junior high student council, where he was president and she was vice president for four years. This experience left him with a general distrust of women, though the intensity of this aversion varies across adaptations. He finds Rin's entire existence suspicious, and in some versions, he refers to her as a demon in the form of a harmless cat. Despite this animosity, he still recognizes her as a human being, and Shirou has suggested that Issei might actually enjoy having her as a rival. Interestingly, he takes an instant liking to Saber, explaining that even he can tell she is a good person, suggesting his wariness toward women is not absolute. He also respects Ayako Mitsuzuri as both a friend of Shirou's and the captain of the archery club.
In the Unlimited Blade Works storyline, Issei becomes entangled in the Holy Grail War when Rin suspects that the Master of Caster might be someone residing at Ryuudou Temple. Because Issei lives at the temple, he becomes a prime suspect. Shirou takes it upon himself to investigate his friend and, in a memorable scene, strips Issei to search his body for any sign of Command Spells, much to Issei's bewildered protest. After determining that Issei is not a Master, Issei unknowingly provides crucial information to Shirou and Rin by revealing that Kuzuki has been living at the temple and brought a fiancée with him, which leads them to realize that Caster is there. Later, when the conflict escalates, Issei and the other residents of Ryuudou Temple are attacked and left unconscious.
Regarding his abilities, Issei is a practitioner of karate and holds a black belt, and his specialties include Zen meditation as well as strategic games like Go and crossword puzzles. His image color is orange. Despite his spiritual upbringing, he readily admits that his ability to sense the supernatural is weak.
Issei stands at 170 centimeters tall and weighs 58 kilograms. As the youngest son of the head priest of the Ryuudou Temple, he has been raised to one day succeed his father and become a Buddhist monk. True to this upbringing, he speaks in an old-fashioned and formal manner. He lives at the temple with his family, including his older brother Reikan, who was a classmate of Shirou's guardian, Taiga Fujimura. Every day, Issei walks two hours on foot from the temple to attend school.
His personality is straight-laced, serious, honest, and unflinching. As student council president, he embodies the role completely, having won the election by an overwhelming majority due to his natural leadership and what others call his student council aura. He is deeply committed to school reform, hoping to change how club allowances are distributed and amend various school regulations. Because he is so dedicated to his position, finding a successor has proven difficult.
Issei first became acquainted with Shirou Emiya two years before the events of the story and quickly became his friend. He frequently asks Shirou to repair broken school equipment as a way to save money on the school's budget. The two often share lunch together in the student council office, talking casually about whatever comes to mind. Issei particularly enjoys the lunches that Shirou prepares for him. He also looks up to Souichirou Kuzuki, a teacher at the school, as a mentor, and on holidays they would often practice paired kata together.
Issei harbors a strong dislike for Rin Tohsaka, stemming from their time serving together on the junior high student council, where he was president and she was vice president for four years. This experience left him with a general distrust of women, though the intensity of this aversion varies across adaptations. He finds Rin's entire existence suspicious, and in some versions, he refers to her as a demon in the form of a harmless cat. Despite this animosity, he still recognizes her as a human being, and Shirou has suggested that Issei might actually enjoy having her as a rival. Interestingly, he takes an instant liking to Saber, explaining that even he can tell she is a good person, suggesting his wariness toward women is not absolute. He also respects Ayako Mitsuzuri as both a friend of Shirou's and the captain of the archery club.
In the Unlimited Blade Works storyline, Issei becomes entangled in the Holy Grail War when Rin suspects that the Master of Caster might be someone residing at Ryuudou Temple. Because Issei lives at the temple, he becomes a prime suspect. Shirou takes it upon himself to investigate his friend and, in a memorable scene, strips Issei to search his body for any sign of Command Spells, much to Issei's bewildered protest. After determining that Issei is not a Master, Issei unknowingly provides crucial information to Shirou and Rin by revealing that Kuzuki has been living at the temple and brought a fiancée with him, which leads them to realize that Caster is there. Later, when the conflict escalates, Issei and the other residents of Ryuudou Temple are attacked and left unconscious.
Regarding his abilities, Issei is a practitioner of karate and holds a black belt, and his specialties include Zen meditation as well as strategic games like Go and crossword puzzles. His image color is orange. Despite his spiritual upbringing, he readily admits that his ability to sense the supernatural is weak.