Ken Ryuguji

Ken Ryuguji, or Draken (ドラケン), is a founding member and the former Vice-Leader (副総長) of the Tokyo Manji Gang. In a past timeline, he became a member of the motorbike gang Brahman.

Appearance
Draken is a muscular teenager who is exceptionally tall for his age. His head is shaven on the sides and back to expose his signature dragon tattoo on his left temple. His blonde hair is long on the top of his head and kept in a neat braid. He leaves a few strands of hair loose in the front.

He is confirmed to be quite lean and has chiseled abdominal muscles. Takemichi remarked that his body does not seem like that of a teenager. Draken has a scar on the left side of his abdomen after being stabbed. He wears the standard Toman Toppoku while with the gang, and his favorite casual outfit seems to be a patterned long jacket.

Personality
Like the president, vice-president Draken is also quite the wild individual. He loves a good fight and relishes meeting strong opponents. He is rude to those he considers beneath him and makes it clear he does not like them.

Unlike Mikey, Draken is the more mature and logical of the two. When the two are being scolded in the hospital by the father of a girl who was assaulted by Moebius, Draken is the one who forces Mikey down to apologize, understanding the man's rage and that it was better to receive his anger without a word than to try and defend themselves. When Pah-chin decides to take the fall and responsibility for Toman by deliberately getting arrested, Mikey tries to get Pah-chin to run. However, Draken stops him, saying that it is the right thing for Pah-chin to do. There are times when Draken's anger gets the best of him, though, and he lashes out in rage.

Draken is also a very caring individual. He hates overtly showing affection to the ones he cares about but will go to great lengths to take care of Mikey. He puts up with Mikey's antics and values him as a close friend, carries Mikey around when he falls asleep, takes him to eat his favorite foods, and wakes him up every morning for school. In addition, he gave Emma a plushie for her birthday, and Emma notes that it was one that she had been wanting for a while.

Authority
As Toman's vice president, Draken's authority over the gang comes second only to Mikey in theory. In reality, his authority is more or less equal to that of Mikey's. Thus, he can freely command its members as well as increase their morale.

Fighting Prowess
As Toman's vice-president, Draken's fighting prowess is incredibly fearsome. When he is hit in the head by a metal pole, he is still able to stand and defeat 20 opponents. His recovery is remarkably quick as he quickly heads right back into battle when reinforcements shortly arrive. He even survives a life-threatening knife wound.

With his immense strength, Draken prefers to fight like a brawler, using simple yet powerful and vicious kicks and punches. He has knocked back a formidable opponent taller than he is several feet back with a haymaker after defeating tens of enemies beforehand. He was also able to send flying the much taller and larger South Terano as well.

His power is so immense that he was able to hold his own against and defeat a whole gang by himself and was still in fairly good shape after that. Although one could surmise that his strength is comparable to Mikey's it is proven this is not the case when a combined force of Draken himself, along with Peh-yan, Chifuyu and Mitsuya were unable to defeat Mikey.

Mechanical Knowledge
Draken is well-versed in machines, especially motorbikes. He is skilled enough to fix and assemble parts of a bike with ease. He also tends to do miscellaneous chores in the brothel he lives such as fixing lightbulbs.

Appearances
{{Appearances|Chapters|

Toman Arc

 * Chapter 3 - Resolve
 * Chapter 4 - Relieve
 * Chapter 5 - Revolve

Bonten Arc

 * Chapter 189 - Break up
 * Chapter 190 - Until next time
 * Chapter 192 - Just be close at hand
 * Chapter 193 - Feel great!
 * Chapter 194 - The keepsake
 * Chapter 195 - lingering scent
 * Chapter 198 - Lose myself in memory
 * Chapter 199 - Sincerely yours
 * Chapter 203 - Don't give a damn (visualized)

Three Deities Arc

 * Chapter 209 - Get a grip (voice)
 * Chapter 210 - Face the music
 * Chapter 211 - The law of the jungle
 * Chapter 212 - Battle of the titans
 * Chapter 213 - Living legends
 * Chapter 214 - The engine fired
 * Chapter 215 - After a storm comes calm
 * Chapter 217 - Have never seen anything like it
 * Chapter 218 - Queen it over
 * Chapter 219 - A sense of foreboding
 * Chapter 220 - Bull's-eye
 * Chapter 221 - Ups and downs of his fate
 * Chapter 222 - Give back
 * Chapter 223 - Good old days
 * Chapter 224 - Cutthroat
 * Chapter 225 - Free-for-all (visualized)
 * Chapter 231 - Blood-chilling (mentioned)
 * Chapter 234 - There is no mending (mentioned)
 * Chapter 235 - Just be yourself (mentioned)

Kanto Manji Arc
}} {{Appearances|Episodes|
 * Chapter 236 - Band of brothers (visualized)
 * Chapter 238 - Really into it (flashback)
 * Chapter 263 - Be strong (flashback)
 * Chapter 264 - Not only the force but also... (flashback)
 * Chapter 265 - Stand by me (flashback)
 * Chapter 274 - No holding back (cover only)
 * Chapter 277 - At last
 * Chapter 278 - Revengers

Toman Arc

 * Episode 3 - Resolve
 * Episode 5 - Releap

Moebius Arc

 * Episode 6 - Regret
 * Episode 7 - Revive
 * Episode 8 - Rechange
 * Episode 9 - Revolt
 * Episode 10 - Rerise
 * Episode 11 - Respect

Valhalla Arc

 * Episode 13 - Odds and Ends
 * Episode 14 - Break up
 * Episode 15 - No Pain, No Gain
 * Episode 16 - Once upon a time
 * Episode 17 - No way
 * Episode 18 - Open Fire
 * Episode 19 - Turn around
 * Episode 20 - Dead or Alive
 * Episode 21 - One and only
 * Episode 22 - One for all
 * Episode 23 - End of war
 * Episode 24 - A Cry baby
 * Episode 25 - It is what it is (flashback)

Valhalla Arc
}}
 * Episode 27 - Stand alone
 * Episode 28 - Family bonds
 * Episode 29 - Christmas Eve (flashback)
 * Episode 30 - Whip up morale (mentioned)
 * Episode 31 - Sibling rivalry
 * Episode 32 - Strive together (flashback)
 * Episode 33 - Dawning of a new era
 * Episode 34 - The light of my life
 * Episode 35 - On my way home
 * Episode 36 - Last order (flashback)

Quotes

 * (to Takemichi Hanagaki) "You can find guys good at fighting all over the place. But a guy who'll stand up to anyone because there's something he won't give up, not many guys like you at all."

Etymology

 * The name Ken means "hard, firm" (堅).
 * Ken's surname Ryuguji means "dragon" (龍) (ryu), "temple, shrine, palace" (宮) (gu) and "temple" (寺) (ji).

Trivia

 * According to the official character book:
 * His dream is to have a half motorcycle body.
 * His image color is pink.
 * The person he respects is Sano Manjiro (Mikey).
 * The person he dislikes or fears is Kazutora.
 * He likes fiddling a motorcycle.
 * He dislikes old men who wear too much perfume.
 * His special skill is counselling service (because he listens to the young women in the establishment everyday).
 * His heroic story (or failure story): He crushed a biker gang with Mikey sleeping on his back.
 * His favorite spot is near Dogenzaka in Shibuya.
 * Draken's relationship: In the past:
 * Mikey: Respect
 * Emma: Love
 * Takemichi: Like
 * A daily activity of a certain day (from morning till bedtime):
 * Go to wake Mikey up, go to school, crush the delinquents of another school, or fiddle with a motorcycle, just go along with Mikey’s mood on the day.
 * From the question "Who do you want to be your lover?", Draken is ranked number 2 from Top 3 Best Boyfriends.
 * From the question "Who do you want to marry?", Draken is ranked number 1 from Top 3 Best Husbands.
 * From the question "Who's strong in arm wrestling?", Draken is ranked number 2 from the Top 3 Best.
 * His favorite hobby is muscle training.
 * His favorite food is hot curry.
 * His motorcycle is a Kawasaki Zephyr 400.
 * Tatsuhisa Suzuki voiced Draken in the first anime, however for the second season Draken has been recast to Masaya Fukunishi.
 * Masaya Fukunishi has rerecorded all voice lines of Draken for the first season. The Japanese two-part Blu-ray Box and rebroadcast (July-December 2022) of the first season, featured Masaya Fukunishi's voice for Draken.
 * Draken ranked ninth in the Character Popularity Poll with a total number of 1980 votes.

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Ken Ryuguji