Ritsu Sakuma

Weak to sunlight, it's hard to get his engine going during the day, so Ritsu is often found napping in all sorts of places. He goes at his own pace and is relaxed, but can say some cutting things when he thinks quickly. He cares deeply for his loved ones and at times is deeply jealous. His singing voice is quiet and luscious, and his performances flowing and light.

A member of NEW DIMENSION’s Knights. In order to live in the same world as everyone else, Ritsu's challenging himself to work during the day. He's currently researching how to express his uniqueness while taking advantage of late-night interactions, like midnight livestreams on social media.Ritsu stands at average height with red eyes and a fair complexion. He has mid-length black hair with bangs and side bangs that frame his cheeks. He has a tiny speck of hair and a stray bang sticking out of his head. At school, he wears his school blazer unbuttoned over his gray sweater. His white shirt is untucked with a messy collar. He wears brown dress shoes and loose plaid pants.

On stage as a member of the unit Knights, Ritsu wears a dark blue coat with white sleeves and a ruffled tailcoat over a white shirt. There’s a vertical blue line on his sleeves. The sleeves have a blue cuff, with a gold accent to them. His white shirt has a black vertical line in the middle, accented with gold. His shirt collar is blue, accented with gold as well. On the shirt’s collar, there are swirly gold patterns. Where the buttons would usually be, are golden frog closures. On his jacket there are black epaulettes. The rope on the epaulettes are golden. From his left epaulette are two golden strings, which lead to a blue banner with the fleur de lis symbol on it which is pinned on the right side of his chest. On the back, he wears a cape which is blue on the top end and white on the underside. There is a golden accent on the blue half of the cape. His pants are dark gray, with light gray vertical lines on them. He wears a thick belt with four golden buttons on them. There are golden lines on the side of his belt. Attached to the belt are two golden ropes. His boots are white, with the tip and the bottom being black. There is a black vertical line going down the shoe, with gold shoelaces. Under the shoelace tie are two black belts with a straight vertical gold buckle. Ritsu wears black fingerless gloves.Though he may seem cold and uninterested, Ritsu is a playful and intelligent person at his core. Energy isn't something that comes naturally to him, and he is instead quietly passionate, and likes to tease others, enjoying their reactions.

At the start of the year, Ritsu tended to distance himself from his classmates and idol activities, which he viewed as laborious and boring because of the previous fractured state of Knights. He was reluctant to make friends due to this, and clung only to his childhood friend, Mao, who worried over Ritsu's antisocial nature. However, as the year goes on, Ritsu begins to open up and form important bonds with his friends and unitmates. He is very loyal and affectionate to the select few he is truly comfortable with.

Ritsu can be blunt and harsh to a fault, but is very intuitive and often picks up on others' emotions. He regards psychoanalysis as a 'bad habit' of his, yet is very adept at it. At times, he can be very clingy, and loves it when others praise him. He can be violent, especially towards his older brother, and doesn't hold his tongue often. Despite this, he can get very protective of his loved ones, to the point of being possessive, as seen with his interactions with Mao, though he gets better at learning to rein in his jealousy later on.

Ritsu has abandonment issues largely stemming from Rei's absence last year, which contributes to his clingy and possessive tendencies, yet also his habit of distancing himself from others as a whole. He shares Rei's aversion of sunlight, and becomes more active and 'alive' at night. They also share a habit of jokingly regarding themselves as older and wiser than their juniors.

He loves music and is known for playing the piano. His songwriting reveals a much deeper and more wistful side of him, something that he almost never reveals to others, preferring his smug and sleepy persona. Somewhat surprisingly, though, he tends to keep things to himself to avoid burdening others. As it stands, Ritsu values his friends very much, and is willing to put effort into his idol work (or at least that which interests him).Ritsu's autograph consists of only his first name, rendered in Roman letters. Ritsu had to repeat his first year at Yumenosaki as he's often late for school or sleeps during class, ruining his attendance record. Ritsu has low blood pressure. Ritsu serves as Knights' strategist. Despite how strange (and disgusting) his pastries look, they actually are delicious. Rei seems to say that Ritsu has a bright future for "grasping the concept of black magic at a young age" because of the pastries, much to Ritsu's delight. Just like his brother, Ritsu suffers from chronic pain. It is also possible that his "laziness" and constant need for sleep is due to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) as he shows various of the symptoms (including the 3 core symptoms) of this illness. Ritsu is childhood friends and neighbors with Mao, and often uses Mao as an emotional crutch because of this as he was his only friend growing up. Ritsu possesses a high level intellect and often finds himself mentally criticizing the actions of others without meaning to. However, he is also surprised by the intelligence of some people in Yumenosaki, as he was so used to him and his brother being so much smarter than everyone else growing up, especially around Mao, who he calls "dumb yet cute." Like his brother, Ritsu often jokes that people should let him drink their blood as payment whenever he does something troublesome for them, which tends to freak others out. When it's really sunny out, Ritsu has to use a specially made umbrella to help protect him from the bright rays. In the Ensemble Stars Knights course livestream, Leo refers to Ritsu as someone he can rely on but is "a bit of a handful." He designed a mug for Cafe Cinnamon as a collaboration with his circle CRAFTMONSTER. A real life version of this exists and is for sale at Cafe Cinnamon.Early Years An image of the Sakuma household. It is dimly lit with a strong Victorian styling. A long staircase extends to the upper floors. Ritsu was a very intelligent, but closed-in child. He didn't attend school, and for a long time, his only friend was his big brother Rei. Their parents were absent from their lives, and Rei was typically tasked with local familial duties, resulting in him being out of the house and leaving Ritsu along for long periods of time. Ritsu felt neglected by his older brother, and would often lash out at him. Growing up, he lived in a large mansion that resembled a haunted house. The mansion was surrounded by a thick forest of trees to where you could only see the roof peeking out from above the treetops. Their next door neighbor was the Isara household.[1]

An image of Rei Sakuma lovingly patting the head of Ritsu Sakuma as young children. They are stand in an embellished, Victorian-era looking house, and Ritsu clutches a rubber band gun in his hand.An image of Ritsu Sakuma as a young child, crouched on the ground with his arms up in front of him. A purple, patterned blanket is falling off his back, and he has a distressed look on his face with tears in his eyes. He eventually met and became close childhood friends with Mao. They first met when they were in elementary school, after teachers from Mao's Youth Group asked him to deliver a message to Rei in hopes for him to continue attending the group. Upon inviting Mao into their house, Mao was subject to a rubber band gun attack by a young Ritsu, hoping to kill him and get him away from his older brother. After hearing from Mao why he was sent, Rei figured it would be a good idea for Ritsu to join the Youth Group instead, and they became acquainted through their time in the Youth Group together. After adjusting to the Youth Group, Ritsu proved himself very intelligent and clever, easily earning 1st place in tournaments through quick thinking and skill as opposed to relying on physical prowess. As a result, he became relatively admired by the kids around him. With time, Ritsu began to attend elementary school.[1]

An image of the Ritsu's bedroom in the past. It has a heavy Victorian styling. An array of crooked frames line the grey wallpaper. Several stuffed bears can be seen around the room. He would regularly describe himself to Mao as having reigned from a powerful family of vampires, so much that Mao even began reading vampire manga because of him. Eventually, the mansion he lived in undergone renovations that both cleared the trees surrounding the mansion, and extending the mansion further outwards. It eventually grew to be so close to Mao's house that Ritsu would simply visit him by climbing through one window to another.[1]

Once he and Mao entered middle school, Ritsu stopped attending the Youth Group as he preferred to just hang out with Mao.[1] Age 19-20 Graduated From Yumenosaki Private Academy Circles FLAVOR, CRAFTMONSTER Height 171cm Weight 55kg Date of Birth September 22nd (Virgo) Extra Roommates Mika Kagehira Handedness Left-handed Blood Type AB Likes Sleep masks Dislikes Disturbance of sleep & garlic Favorite Food Carbonated drinks Favorite Color Black[1] Family Parents Rei Sakuma (older brother) Hobby Making sweets, sleeping Specialty Sleeping anywhere, piano

Relationships Ritsu is Rei's younger brother. They used to be close when they were children, with Rei taking on the role of Ritsu's primary caretaker. Their relationship took a sharp turn when Rei left overseas, leaving Ritsu alone at home feeling abandoned by his older brother. Ritsu now treats Rei with a cold distance or open disgust, and often refers to him as a stranger or an insect, while Rei longs to be closer to Ritsu again, much to the latter's revulsion. Whenever Rei sees Ritsu, he is quick to drop everything and tell his brother how cute he is, no matter what he was doing, with Ritsu pushing him away and even going so far as to tell him to die. Whenever Ritsu shows any indication of caring about his older brother, Rei is quick to gush about him "reverting to the 'old Ritsu'".[12] Ritsu's dislike towards Rei is often expressed extremely harshly, such as when he declines the fact that he had a brother or threatens to kill him. In Dark Night Halloween, it was revealed that Rei meticulously hand-picked a coffin and gave it to Ritsu. Tsukasa Suou Member of the same unit, Knights. Tsukasa often scolds Ritsu for his "unknightly" behavior, but still looks up to him as his senior and acknowledges his skills. On several occasions, Ritsu is shown to have a deep trust toward Tsukasa. In The King's Horseback Ride, he encourages Tsukasa as the only member of Knights who can put an end to Leo's tyranny. He is also the first person to hint that Tsukasa would go on to inherit the title of King from Leo, demonstrating his respect for Tsukasa's idealism and potential to lead. In return, Tsukasa seems to hold Ritsu's insights in high regard. In spite of Tsukasa's tendency to scold Ritsu, and Ritsu's habit of teasing Tsukasa like a child, they have a relationship of strong mutual respect and encouragement. In Mall Live, Tsukasa mentions that Ritsu is a great dancing coach to him.

Leo Tsukinaga Members of the same unit, Knights. Though Ritsu does acknowledge Leo as Knights's leader and king, he doesn't hesitate to make Leo do slave work for him.

Izumi Sena Fellow members of Knights, Ritsu and Izumi have a snippy dynamic, usually bickering or teasing each other often. It usually results in Ritsu toying with him or Izumi openly complaining about Ritsu's attitude. He especially gets annoyed at Ritsu's sleeping habits during unit practice, or his insistence to use Anzu for information on Mao whenever he can. They met back in Izumi's second year, when he accidentally stepped on a sleeping Ritsu near the school gates, at first assuming he was a dead body until proven otherwise.[1] Although he showed concern for him by taking him to the unit practice room, he quickly became put off by his sleeping and snarky attitude. Despite that, they became reliant on each other as friends and unitmates, although Izumi avoids admitting he sees Ritsu as a friend. Even when faced with the truth that Ritsu is Rei Sakuma's younger brother, Izumi didn't truly care about that and had Ritsu stuck around because he valued his strength as a tactician and member of Knights. This surprised Ritsu, as he believed Izumi befriended him solely because he was Rei's brother. This shows the contrast in Izumi's personality, where despite being harsh on people, he doesn't judge or befriend someone purely on their status or outward appearance. Instead, he gives people a chance to prove themselves, and would rather see their diligence and work. He's usually fussing over Ritsu and his laziness, typically telling him what to do when it inconveniences him. Ritsu hardly ever cooperates, frustrating Izumi. However, the very snarky attitudes they have towards each other, they naturally get along as friends and respect each other as unitmates.

Arashi Narukami Members of the same unit and class, Arashi and Ritsu are good friends. Despite the individualistic nature of Knights, they care for each other and get along quite well. Ritsu affectionately nicknames her Nacchan. Ritsu's hardworking performance in Fleur De Lis is what inspired Arashi to do her best, with her thanking him after, although he was asleep when she did. Ritsu stated that he thinks him and Arashi are similar, and that's why they got along so well. He understands that Arashi has spent her whole life trying to be nice and so she doesn't really know how to let herself be spoiled, so he offers to teach her as he calls himself an expert at it. Arashi thinks Ritsu is very clever and in her speech during Requiem, she tells him that she simply wants him to enjoy life, and says that she will be there to pick up the slack for him, and that they should keep giving to each other and supporting each other, just as they always have.[13] In !!, Arashi and Ritsu seem to have an even closer relationship than before, and while they tend to be mischievous with each other and tease one another a lot, they care about each other greatly, and have a deep understanding of each other. Something Ritsu understands is that Arashi isn't great at talking about her issues, but he stills wants to be able to do something about it, so he tends to make plans to lure her into letting him help her out.[14][15] Arashi likes it when Ritsu sleeps on her lap, and says that he's always welcome to do so. In Peaceful Daydreams, Ritsu states that he's never had a complaint about Arashi since the moment they met, but goes back on it and says that saying 'never' was probably an exaggeration. Arashi thinks that Ritsu has grown up a lot since the previous year. [16] Arashi comes over to Mika and Ritsu's dorm to have girls nights together.[