Ryu

**Overview**
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* Manga
* Anime

**Ryu**  is the hunting dog of Tetsuzou Nihei. After Nihei's death, he accompanied Tanigaki onwards.

## Appearance

Ryu is a Hokkaido Dog (also known Ainu-ken, Seta, and Ainu dog). He is of medium size with small triangular ears, curled tail, and dirty red coat with urajiro pattern on his stomach, sides and lower half of the body. Ryu wears a dark collar on his neck.

## Personality

Ryu is a very intelligent and loyal dog. Nihei says that Ryu is of the breed that the Ainu have trained to be fearless when going up against bears. He is said to be considerate of his owners, as he would check up if they're keeping up with him, adjusting his own pace to match with that of the hunters. Despite initially being afraid of Retar, Ryu showed his bravery when he rushed to Nihei's defense when his owner was injured and shielded him from two massive wolves. Ryu possesses a lot of endurance due to the days he spent hunting with Nihei.

Due to the loving relationship between his master and him, Ryu has grown into an easy-going dog. Despite Hokkaido ken being primarily trained for hunting and obeying only its owner, Ryu is cooperative and is able to work in team, as he shown when he ran in the sled with other dogs.

## Plot

### Legendary Hunter Arc

Ryu is first seen accompanying Tetsuzou Nihei who is talking to Tanigaki while hunting a bear. Ryu rushes to the bear that is sleeping its den and provokes the bear to get out.

Next time, Ryu once again accompanies Nihei and Tanigaki in their search for a deer to hunt. Ryu starts fidgeting and acting strange, refusing to go any further. The legendary hunter realizes that Ryu must have picked up a wolf's scent, so Nihei grabs his dog by the leash and leads his party into the wolf territory.

Nihei, Tanigaki, and Ryu prepare to ambush the wolf and set a trap for him by leaving a mess kit to grab the wolf's attention. However, they are ambushed by Sugimoto, Shiraishi, and Asirpa. Sugimoto aims his gun at Nihei and before he can fire it, he is attacked by Ryu. As Sugimoto fends off Ryu's attack with the barrel of the gun, Nihei swings a cleaver at him. Sugimoto takes out his bayonet and slices over Nihei's left hand, cutting off four of his fingers. Nihei and Sugimoto continue their fight. Sugimoto shouts at Shiraishi to get his gun but Shiraishi is stopped by Ryu. While Nihei and Sugimoto face off each other in a deadly match, Shiraishi attempts to wrestle Ryu to retrieve the gun and throws the dog down the hill.

Later, Ryu rushes to Nihei's defense, who was deadly injured by Retar and his mate. Ryu barks loudly at the wolves and shields Nihei from them while the hunter rubs his neck and tells him that's enough. After Nihei passes away, Asirpa insists they take Tanigaki and Ryu with them to the Ainu village or else Ryu would never budge from the spot where Nihei died.

### Edogai Arc

When Tanigaki played with a shell toy that Osoma gave him and injured himself in the process, Ryu can be seen watching silently as Osoma hurries to get Huci to treat Tanigaki.

Ryu follows Cikapasi and Enonoka as they successfully rescue Enonoka's dog from the chatty Russian. Later, he runs alongside Enonoka's dog as the four of them head back to rejoin the rest of their group.

Ryu is equipped as a sled-pulling dog alongside several of Enonoka's dogs as Sugimoto's group heads to the national border north from Toyohara through heavy blizzard. As they travelled, Ryu attempts to break away from the line but Sugimoto yells at him to stay in formation. Tanigaki wonders if there is a reason Ryu did that but Sugimoto dismisses him saying that Ryu is not suited for pulling sleds as he is just a hunting dog. However, unbeknownst to them, Ryu was the only dog that managed to follow Enonoka's sled.

Now lost, Sugimoto and Tanigaki attempts to dig a hole in the midst of the snowstorm, while Ryu and Cikapasi both are affected by the sheer cold surrounding them. Once they had a small makeshift shelter built up, Tanigaki gets Ryu and the sled dogs to huddle around them so that they can stay warm. Sugimoto, Tanigaki, and Cikapasi were able to find warmth in a nearby building thanks to a lighthouse that Tsukishima and Koito had activated. Once they had gotten warm enough, they helped Enonoka's grandfather build a new sled, and Tanigaki notes that during the snowstorm, Ryu had tried to leave the line in order to follow the other sled. Sugimoto then begins to pet Ryu, apologizing for doubting him. Sometime later, as Sugimoto's group left the lighthouse, Ryu is left in charge of pulling the sled once more.

Eventually, when Sugimoto's Group got closer to Akou Prison, they hear a loud explosion and sees smoke flowing in the distance. Using his binoculars, Tsukishima tells everyone that the smoke is coming from Akou Prison. Upon arriving at Akou Prison, they find that they were too late as Asirpa's Group has already left, so Sugimoto has Ryu sniff out Asirpa's scent. Suddenly, an Amur tiger comes out from the hole in the walls of the prison, causing Ryu and the dogs to run as Tanigaki and Tsukishima shoots at the tiger, scaring it away.

Sugimoto's Group attempts to look for Asirpa's Group but their sleds are unable to maneuver across the drift ice as it has become too rough and uneven and Tanigaki warns that the weather might get worse, saying that it would be too dangerous to go after Asirpa's Group. However, Sugimoto is adamant that Asirpa is close and cuts Ryu's leash to go look for her. They eventually find Shiraishi and the three of them prepares to look for Asirpa next. As they run around the frozen plains, the ice below them suddenly begins to break and they get stuck on a small block of ice that begins to drift away from the other ice platforms.

However, by utilizing the *hoparata* technique that Sugimoto learned from Asirpa, they are able to get back onto the mainland. The three of them are able to find Asirpa and as Sugimoto reunites with her, Ryu tries to join them but Shiraishi holds his leash back so as to not get in the way of their emotional reunion. Some time later, Ryu accompanies Sugimoto's Group to a Russian hospital where Ogata can be treated for his wounds.

Sugimoto's Group eventually heads back to Toyohara where Ryu, Cikapasi, and Tanigaki goes out hunting together. They are approached by two Karafuto Ainu men who asks Cikapasi several questions before leaving and later by Enonoka who overhears Tanigaki and Cikapasi talking about heading back to Hokkaido.

## Abilities

* **Hunting**. Ryu is trained to hunt bears and deer.
* **Sense of smell**. Ryu can pick out the freshest, strongest scent from a jumble of different deer tracks.

## Trivia

* Ryu likes bear meat and has no dislikes.
* In 2018 Golden Kamuy All-Stars popularity poll Ryu ranked 10th, gaining 3,619 votes.

## References

1. ↑ ゴールデンカムイ(公式), @kamuy\_official, Twitter
2. ↑ Golden Kamuy fanbook
3. ↑ Character profiles from the Golden Kamuy fanbook
4. ↑ Character profiles from the Golden Kamuy fanbook
5. ↑ 「ゴールデンカムイ北海道オールスターズ総選挙」