Liu

—Liu

**Liu** (Korean: **리우** [rom. Liu]) main protagonist of the Running Man franchise and is the Running Man contender of the Bug tribe. As Yoo Jae Seok's Animal Motif, Liu has the ability to jump from a far distance or great heights and can sense any signs of danger from his antennas.

He is the show's leader and possesses intelligence when winning a game whether if it's a team or a solo game as well as creating inventions from the pieces he could find. Liu also has a robot companion named 'Mr. Suitcase' (from the Cartoon Network English Dub) that stores his weapon, the Drill-Gun.

## Physical Description

Liu is a green grasshopper with brown eyebrows and large purple irises, sporting a pair of round black-rimmed glasses.

He wears a bistre colored shirt with a hood covering his hair, baggy yellow pants with brown circles on the sides and an orange short-sleeved jacket over his shirt. Connected to his hood are a pair of silver lens caps connected to two, circular devices resting on the sides on his head, storing a single lens monocle that acts as both a magnifier and a tool to display the strengths and weaknesses of different players, usually in the form of a radar chart. Along with this, he wears bistre colored boots and brown fingerless gloves.

## Background

Not much is known about him except for the fact that Liu grew up in the Bug tribe all his life, until he was chosen to compete in the 100th Running Man Championship due to the disappearance of his sister, Shan.

His character is based on Yoo Jae Suk.

## Personality

Liu is an optimistic, fun-loving, kind, and curious boy, often being the group's motivational speaker when their morale is low. Like everyone from the Bug Tribe, he is exceptionally intelligent and is shown to have a hand at inventing, being able to reverse engineer even the highest technology to work in his favor.

Due to his naturally kind hearted nature, he is oblivious to others taking advantage of him, such as when Lonky and Popo complimented and praised him, successfully making him flustered and lowering his guard in order to trick him. However, when he finds out he's getting tricked, he isn't afraid to stand up for himself and makes sure the people who wrong him get what they deserve, such as when he won the Team Change Battle after Lonky and Popo purposely changed to Kuga's team due to them thinking Liu isn't a capable leader. He is also known to be short-tempered, frequently losing his cool when things don't go his way.

Underneath his kind and optimistic exterior, he hides some deep survivor's guilt due to his sister's 'death' - an event that still grieves him to this day. When he found out that his sister was actually alive and part of the DV7, his optimism breaks and he becomes quiet and distant for a short while, gaining his confidence back when his friends intervene.

## Abilities and Equipment

### Abilities

* **Tactical Planning** - Throughout the Championships, he is shown to be an incredible tactician. His tactical abilities are further shown when the Running Men were defeated by the DV7, where Liu was able to figure out their weakness after observing their behavior in the games and come up with a plan to bring them back to normal.
* **Engineering** - Due to his intellect, he is also a great inventor, a trait he took from his sister. He is shown to be more than capable of making different equipment to aid him and his friends in the games.
* **Enhanced Leg Strength** -Like his tribe, he has strong legs and is naturally capable to jumping great heights unreachable to the regular person, as well as kick open even the strongest locks.
* **Danger Detection** - His antennas allow him to detect danger. When Liu snuck into Kuga's room, his antennas were able to detect Lonky and Popo entering and allowed him to hide before they could find him.

### Equipment

#### Drill Gun

* A weapon that also serves as a multi-functional tool. It originally belonged to his sister until her subsequent disappearance. He now uses it as his main weapon and usually keeps it inside Mr. Suitcase.

#### Monocular

* A monocle with an ocular loupe. The monocular acts as a telescope and allows Liu to analyze other players for their data charts.

#### Radar

* A device used to detect Mr. Suitcase's location if it's ever lost. Liu used this when Mr. Suitcase ran off after the events of the Team Change Battle and snuck into Charming Gold's mansion.

### Inventions

#### Anti-Gravitational Boots

* Only shown once throughout the series, these boots were made by Liu in order to advance in the Opening Games. The boots are able to manipulate the force of gravity and allowed Liu to glide around the Room of Magnets.

#### Purifier

* A device that purifies Dr. Mala's amplifier and enhances the physical abilities of other players without brainwashing them.

#### Laser Cannon

* An upgraded version of Mr. Suitcase. Liu made it after Mr. Suitcase got destroyed by DV1 and later used it to immobilize her for a brief moment. The cannon spits out laser-like bullets that explode on impact.

## Relationships

### Shan

Shan is Liu's older sister. Growing up together, they were naturally very close until Shan's sudden disappearance and presumption of her death. Liu was very sad and depressed when he thought Shan had died and was extremely shocked when she turned out to be alive, as well as extremely upset when she was shown to be part of Charming Gold's lackey.

They are shown to deeply care for each other, with Liu making up a plan to save her [and the rest of the DV7] from her brainwashing despite his initial distress upon finding her and Shan returning the favor by constantly saving Liu from danger.

### Mr. Suitcase

Mr. Suitcase serves as Liu's pet and best friend, probably due of the fact that he was the only thing Shan left behind. He became distraught when Mr. Suitcase was destroyed by Shan when she was under Charming Gold's control and shortly after, rebuilt and upgraded him to serve as both a friend and a weapon.

### Miyo

During their first interactions together, Miyo felt indifferent and callous towards Liu, even dismissing him when he tried to get her to work together with the rest of the running men but as time went on, Miyo and Liu are shown to have a pretty close friendship, getting along fairly well in and out of the games. Miyo is shown to trust Liu, being one of the first to go along with his plans and both of them consistently saving each-other through the series. Though sometimes, Miyo gets weirded out by Liu's over the top enthusiasm for engineering.

### Gai

When they first met, Liu had accidentally kicked Gai in the face with his metal boots, causing them to have a rather rocky start to their friendship but after a few games, as well as some circumstances that forced them to work together, they grew to form a close bond with each other. When Gai got kidnapped and became brainwashed, Liu was the first person to make up a plan to save him, gaining his full trust and support when he succeeded.

### Kuga

At first, Liu, like everyone else, felt intimidated by Kuga, getting scared at his large stature and serious demeanor but overtime, he managed to lower Kuga's walls down through communication and they grew to be rather close. Kuga, like everyone else, fully trusts Liu and often follows his plans due to how reliable he is. He serves as an older brother figure to Liu, saving him from danger when Liu is unable to defend himself.

### Lonky

When Liu and Lonky first encountered one another, they were immediately at odds, with Liu getting annoyed at Lonky's prideful nature and the latter constantly betraying and lying to him throughout the games. But like always, they had grown closer the more they interacted with one another and have grown to be good friends. Unlike the others, Lonky is the one of the first people aside from Popo to argue against Liu's plans, annoying him greatly. He is also at times innocently insensitive towards him, as shown when he was dismissing Liu's grief after finding out his sister was part of the DV7.

### Popo

Like Lonky, Popo and Liu did not get along during their first meeting, with Popo accusing Liu of being a traitor and wrongfully imprisoning him, allowing him and the rest of the running men to fall into Lonky and Kuga's trap. He is shown to slowly trust Liu more and more as the series goes on, sometimes getting frustrated at his optimism. During the second part of the first season, Popo starts seeing Liu as a big brother figure, getting excited every time he comes up with a plan.

### Pala

Liu regards Pala as a great help to the team. Although they didn't acknowledge each other at first, they grew to form a brother-like relationship due to Liu seeing his potential as an alchemist. Unlike the others, Liu isn't often shown to judge Pala at all for being the weakest in the team, instead choosing to focus on his strengths instead, which Pala greatly appreciates.

## Appearances

He appears in all episodes of every season, like the other main characters.

## Quotes

* "Running man is about working together!"
* "Operation \_\_\_!"
* "Hey, what going on? What's wrong with you guys huh!? This, is how you plan? By insulting, fighting and giving up?"
* "No way, not us. Now guys, don't ever forget that what Running Man is all about, it's about working as a team."

## Trivia

* His human counterpart is Yoo Jae Seok.
* In Chinese culture, a grasshopper is commonly known to symbolize good luck and health, befitting Liu.
* In his character teaser, Liu is shown shooting with a laser gun. However, in the series, he is seen using his drill-gun while the laser gun was displayed as an artifact in the Bug Tribe memorial room.
* He is the second place of the Bug Tribe, with the Champion being his older sister, Shan.
* During his battle with his shadow self, Liu is implied to have self esteem issues due to being the substitute of his sister.

## Gallery

### Video

-애니메이션 런닝맨- 캐릭터 소개 1.리우 - RunningMan Animation - LIU
## References

1. ↑ Running Man Animation Ep. 18 - Red-Eyed Beast Part 1
2. ↑ Running Man Animation Ep. 32 - Gaining Grounds Part 1
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Running Man Animation Episode 40, Battle of the Thrones Pt. 4
4. ↑ Running Man Animation Episode 21, Team Change Battle Pt. 1
5. ↑ Running Man Animation Ep. 22 - Team Change Battle Part 2
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Running Man Animation Episode 36, The Red Explosion
7. ↑ Running Man Animation Episode 37, Battle of the Thrones Pt. 1
8. ↑ Running Man Animation Episode 35, Gaining Ground Pt. 4
9. ↑ Running Man Animation Episode 31 - Liu's Plan
10. ↑ Running Man Animation Episode 46, What makes a Hero