Name: Akiyama Ryo (also romanized as 'Ryou')
Age: 14 (Digimon Tamers)
Lives: Kyushu (Digimon Tamers)
A Brief Look at Ryo
Although a minor character in Tamers, Ryo is the poster boy for the Japanese Digimon games
produced for the Wonderswan handheld. He appears in four games: Anode/Cathode Tamer, Tag Tamers,
D-1 Tamers, and Brave Tamer (which is supposedly his swan song for the series).
Anime-wise Ryo is the Cid of Digimon. He has made brief cameos in the second and sixth Digimon Movies (Bokura no War Game - Our [Children's] War Game and The Runaway Digimon Express, respectively), Digimon 02 and has a supporting role in Digimon Tamers. Not much is revealed about Ryo, but it has been confirmed that the Ryo that appears in Tamers is the same Ryo from the Adventure Universe, which makes for a pretty confusing backstory.
According to the Chinese dub (I'm not sure about the original) Tamer-Ryo has been in the digital world for 10 months. He and Cyberdramon left the real world in January and runs into Ruki, Hirokazu and Kenta in October.
According to story developer/editor Chiaki J. Konaka's site Ryo (in the Tamers universe) lives in Kyushu, Japan's third largest island, located southwest of the main island Honshu.
Also it seems that Ryo's birthday occured sometime after the last episode and before the events of the Drama CD, as he's listed as being 15 in the CD booklet.
For a more indepth look at Ryo, well as indepth as I can get at the moment, check out: Ryo Indepth. For more on his name and it's meaning check out: Name.
From FoxKids.com
Ryo, 14, is the Digimon card game champion. He explored the Digital World on his own for three
months! Rika and Ryo didn't like each other at first, but now they're good friends. Ryo's partner
Digimon is CyberDramon.
From Toei Animation
The following is a translation (well, as best as I could using several online translators and the bits
of kanji that I can read) of the info posted at Toei's site. If anyone would like to correct it, please
feel free to!
Name: Akiyama Ryou
Age: 14
Details: Known as the Legendary Tamer. While Ryou is easygoing, his partner Cyberdramon is the
complete opposite. Cyberdramon is ferocious and must be kept under control using a whip of light which
comes from Ryou's D-Arc.
Known Details
Thanks to Andy for compiling more info than most people
want to know!
What we know for sure in Tamers about Ryo.
He's a really good (Legendary) Digimon Card Player. So amazingly fabulous he beat Rika. Somehow acquired Cyberdramon. Somehow found his way into the Digital World months before anyone else because he wanted to keep Cyberdramon's impulses from hurting anyone. How he got there, how he planned on getting back, what he knew about the Digital World other than what Takato and crew mentioned...unknown.
We see Cyberdramon seemingly dedigivolve at will in the ep with the ark into the rather non-violent and easy to transport and essentially completely different personalitied Monodramon. Up to this point, he hasn't done this. We were led to believe that he couldn't, even though the other Digimon have done so to conserve energy/space. Ryo doesn't seem surprised by this in the least.
This is the ONLY time Monodramon appears. All other devolutions from higher forms result in Cyberdramon. Monodramon has a personality COMPLETELY different from Cyberdramon, which seems to break "the rules."
Ryo has a parental figure he calls Dad. Who's more annoyed by Ryo's disappearance than upset. Biological dad, adopted dad, no details are given.
Ryo has certain special abilities or powers in being a Tamer that aren't explained. We're to simply accept that he's "just that cool" apparently. I can't go into detail here without spoilers, though. Let's just say....it seems he's data even in the real world.
So essentially in Tamers, Toei is being as freaking vague as possible regarding background information on Ryo.
In Adventure.....we only see Ryo in 2 flashbacks. One in the Second Movie, he's one of the children sending E-mails during the Diablomon crisis. We only see him for 2 seconds.
Also, we see him in Ken's flashbacks on how Ken acquired the Dark Seed. Again, for about 2 seconds. We see Milleniumon exploding and a Dark Seed headed for Ryo. Ken takes it in his neck instead. Ken and Ryo adventured together during that brief time (in the Real World) Ken fiddled with the Digivice before Osamu (Sam) took it away. For some reason, be it some sort of warp like Apoclymon's, Ken's adventure with Ryo took place in a fraction of a second in the real world.
However, Ken's memories were erased on most of this instance. So details aren't known.
Then we have the Wonderswan games. Ryo doesn't really have a partner digimon through most of the games. He forms temporary alliances with various digimon, including Veemon and Agumon. Most of his battles in the Digital World are with the Dark God Milleniumon.
Ryo was originally from one of the Adventures World. He and Ken observed the Diablomon battle on the Internet. In their battle with Milleniumon, Ryo "sealed" Millenniumon's darkness in a crystal. This didn't stop Millie for long.
In various adventures, Ryo has encountered the Digidestined and others. He also discovers that his fate is linked with Millenimon's by destiny. Like Light and Darkness.
In the last game, Ryo is sent back in space and time by Milleniumon and has amnesia. He discovers that the Tamers and Adventures worlds are alternate universes stemming from the creation of ENIAC, the first computer. He is given a digimon partner, Monodramon and the ability to jump between worlds. However...further complications occur when they confront Milleniummon and discover that Millie is _also_ Ryo's partner. And Millie is feeling the effects of the bond. He loves Ryo, despite himself. Which has resulted in him being antagonized by the feelings created by the link and leading him to both engaging Ryo in so many battles, and has also meant that the Dark God can't bring himself to actually use his full power to kill Ryo.
The situation is resolved when Monodramon and Milleniumon jogress into a Digital Egg. An egg that hatches to become a Monodramon that evolves into a Cyberdramon. Millie's darkness is contained and he can be with Ryo.
There are 2 different possibilities, essentially. One, the three Ryo's are alternate universe versions of each other. Like the Taichi from V-Tamer and the Taichi from Adventure. Similar in details but different things happening. With the Wonderswan version being an alternate version of Tamers and Adventure version AT THE SAME TIME.
Or 2......it really is the same one. For some reason Ryo checked on the Diablomon battle both with Ken inside and then once outside on a laptop. All his dealings with Milleniumon and time travel resulted in the Quantum Leap effect "swisscheesing" memory. (which goes along with what happened in the last game and what happened to Season 02 Ken.) None of his old companions or those who encountered him remember him. At the end of Brave Tamer, he ends up in the Tamers world, not knowing who he is (Like Mamoru from Sailor Moon) and also having severely limited recollection of being able to dimension jump. He's adopted/given a legal guardian who he bonds with, and then starts excelling at this card game that seems very familiar. Finally, a Cyberdramon tracks him down. A Cyberdramon that has some sort of connection to him and a heart of darkness........though he doesn't dedigivolve right away, if he were somehow linked to a Monodramon that wouldn't be surprising.....
Given Toei's vagueness, I think you're supposed to be able to choose either possibility.