Ryoma Takebayashi

* Anime/Current
* Novel/Current
* Anime/Earth
* Novel/Earth

**Current Series**

* Rise from Below
* Overcame an Unhappy Life
* Beloved Child of the Gods
* Apprentice of the Sage
* Apprentice of the God of Military Arts (Champion)
* Idol Craftsman

**Ryoma Takebayashi** (竹林 竜馬, *Takebayashi Ryōma*) is the main protagonist of the series.

## Appearance

In his former appearance, he looks like a muscular man with slightly better than average height, with black, slightly graying hair and black eyes. He had an intimidating aura.

His current appearance is average, with a gentle aura, dark brown hair, and eyes. His hairstyle is short but varies by series, with the novels being the most generic, the anime the most stylized, and the manga somewhere between the two styles, sometimes appearing closer to one than the other. In the old web novel, his appearance is explicitly mentioned to have been modified by one of the gods, though it is unknown if this is the case for the other series.

## Personality

Ryoma is a kind person who cares for others when they need help. As a result, he tends to overreact to his mistakes; when he fixes them, people are surprised as the Earth's standards do not exist in the new world. (His giving of holidays to his employees at Laundry Agency Bamboo Forest surprised them; since he had worked for an exploitive company, he wished *never* to inflict that horror on them). The only real disappointment he suffered when he learned he died was learning he died in a lame way.

As he has 42 years of experience, it surprised adults that an 11-year-old kid could be so rational, well-learned, and mature. However, he is suffering infantile regression of his emotional maturity due to his young body, making it very hard to mask or contain his emotions. Beyond that, Ryoma retains all memory of his Earth life, allowing him to think outside the box where others would get stuck.

While he lovingly remembers his mother, he has nothing but bitter memories of his father; heavily implying he is the one person Ryoma hates. A flashback shows Ryoma being bullied as a kid at school, with the bully missing his head with a punch, hitting a wall, and hurting his hand. His father was called in and abusively beat him up **in front of the teacher, who did NOTHING** all the while shouting at him how violence was wrong and never giving Ryoma a chance to speak. This trauma is primarily the reason Ryoma hates violence.

## Background

Ryoma was a lonely 39-year-old man from Earth, Japan, who led a life filled with hardships until he died from a brain hemorrhage in his sleep. In the afterlife, he is greeted by three gods (Gain, Kufo and Lulutia) who grow fond of him and send him to another world as a child, where he makes use of his innate knowledge and abilities, combined with the gods' blessings to live a new life filled with challenges and happy meetings.

Before he reincarnated, he had hobbies like watching anime, playing games, and reading manga and light novels. His life could be described as highly plain (or, in another sense, tragic); he was overloaded with work, and to himself, perhaps without any purpose, as indicated when he wasn't surprised nor saddened after his death. He had never experienced a romantic relationship. He practiced meditation every day and had been trained in martial arts from a young age. After he was reincarnated into the fantasy world, he kept all the skills he accumulated from his previous life on Earth.

According to Gain, Ryoma has the worst luck. Ryoma found a dark magic stone of the highest quality, size and could even be considered a national level treasure in the City of Lost Souls. But it contained a grade 7 curse which is hard for even a shamin of the main family. According to Gods it is the Curse of Isolation.

## History

Due to growing tired of dealing with people, Ryoma lived in the forest that he was reincarnated in for three years with little to no thought of leaving.

Ryoma later learned from the Gods and accepted that, despite his past life's memories, he has the mentality of a child. Thus he has to mature emotionally again.

## Monsters

Slimes mentioned, but Ryoma doesn't own:
* Meat Slime - A slime that was fed only meat and evolved into something resembling a moving chunk of meat.
* Tree Slime - A slime that's nucleus acted as a seed, which eventually sprouted a tree. The tree eventually roots itself to the ground, and the slime becomes incapable of moving anywhere. The tree could potentially be chopped for lumber. Not sure what happens to the slime afterward.

Possible slime evolutions, based on what they are eating:
* WN Ch 120: Acid slime that likes eating the neutralized chemical from caustic soda (soap making). Acid slime that likes eating the completed soap.
* WN Ch 141: Slimes similar to the Stone Slime but show a response to other types of stones, such as magic stones, ores, or gems.
* WN Ch 199: Parasite slime, Ceramic slime.
* Slime: Scavenger Acid Poison Medicine Healer Metal Iron Fire Weed Earth Rock Water Deoxidizer Cleaner Bloody Latex slime, Soap Parasitic Mud Crust slime ,Fiber slime, Wire slime, Spider slime, Shell slime, Pearl slime, Ash slime, Sting slime, Sand slime, Filter slime, Aquatic weed slime, Alga slime, Aqua slime, Fluff slime, Ice slime, Sewage slime, Sludge slime, Smoke slime, Composer slime, Fertilizer soil slime.
* Potentially a slime for every type of magic Ryoma can use.
	+ Other types of magic:
		- Mud magic - A fusion of Earth and water attributes.
		- Metal magic - A fusion of earth and fire attributes.

Other uncontracted monsters:
* Running Mush
	+ Skills: Generate Spore Lv 6, Scatter Spore Lv 4, High-speed Movement Lv 6
	+ A mushroom that was monsterified due to the presence of magical energy. Ryoma accidentally produced 70-80 during his first attempt at growing mushrooms after using the scavenger slime's fertilizer and watering them with water magic. They are very rare in the wild, and one mushroom sells for ~100,000 suits. They have medicinal effects when eaten or used in medicine. Look like whichever mushrooms they were produced from, in addition to having sharp-looking nails and protruded feet.

## Etymology

* The name **Ryoma** means "dragon" (竜) (**ryo**) and "horse" (馬) (**ma**).
* Ryoma's surname **Takebayashi** means "bamboo" (竹) (**take**) and "forest" (林) (**hayashi**/**bayashi**).

## Trivia

* The only time he's ever been upset about his life was upon learning he died in an incredibly lame way after surviving:
	+ His father's abuse
	+ His drunk boss throwing beer bottles at his head
	+ Being overworked.
* Karma got his employer back on Earth after Ryoma died. His boss and coworker found his body, only for his boss to abuse it and get arrested when the coworker called the police. The company's misdeeds were later exposed by a said coworker, who was surprised at how easy it should have been for their company to get caught; the evidence was straightforward to get.
* On Earth, Ryoma had experienced harsh living conditions and endured endless training from his father from a young age.
* Ryoma states that he has pulled carriages while running and lined up with a horse.
* Ryoma hunted pigeons in the park to survive.
* Ryoma's father was often violent and beat him up.
* Ryoma's parents passed away from different deaths:
	+ His father died due to smithing.
	+ His mother died from overworking.
* In the novel and manga, Ryoma doesn't rely on help from others when he deems it unnecessary and instead does it all himself. Like when he was building his store, he worked on it alone for ten days, relying only on Serge to supply the materials.
* The God of Fishing and Ports, Serelipta, manipulated Ryoma's soul to find out the truth as to why the Earth God gave Ryoma so many God Trials in his past life. Manipulation of a living soul is very close to a Taboo for Gods because souls that have been "fiddled with" by the gods can never enter the cycle of Reincarnation.
* Ryoma's life on Earth sucked so much because the God of Earth treated him like a Video Game Character, intending to make him crack under pressure and become a serial killer. However, all God succeeded in was making Ryoma emotionally numb after losing his mother. Annoyed, God gave him a lame death; to start over with a different patsy.
* His birthday is on August 4(source, unknown).
	+ Kufo, Gain, and Lulutina noted said God "rewarded" Ryoma with gifts for clearing his psychotic trials. Considering Ryoma was given a sturdy and strong body, along with becoming emotionally numb, it's no real surprise that the Earth God was slowly physically and mentally getting Ryoma ready to be a killer; however, he did not count on Ryoma's innate kindness persevering, keeping him numb and just one step from wishing he was dead/being suicidal.
* Unlike the anime, in the Light Novel Ryoma met Pioro at the same time as he met Gliceria. Though he still met Miyabi in Lenaf for the first time.

## Gallery

Ryoma's magic skills after acquiring his status boardAdult Ryoma
## References

1. ↑ LN Volume 7 Chapter 5 Episode 26
2. ↑ Web Novel Chapter 296: The Request of the Gods
3. ↑ Old WN Prologue 2
4. ↑ Old WN Prologue 2
5. ↑ LN Volume 1 Chapter 1 Episode 20
6. ↑ LN Volume 9 Chapter 6 Episode 25; WN Chapter 211