Origin
Shiryu is the Bronze Saint of the constellation Draco. He was one of the 100 orphans gathered by Mitsumasa Kido, and was trained by at the Rozan Five Old Peaks by Libra Dohko, known to him as Roshi. He gained the right to the Cloth by using a kick to make the waterfall run upwards. It was also at the Peaks that he met Shunrei, with whom he quickly fell in love.
Major Story Arcs
Galaxian Wars and the Black SaintsShiryu was Pegasus Seiya's second opponent in the Galaxian Wars. He was tricked into punching his own shield, thereby breaking the fist that could shatter anything to crush the shield that could not be broken. When the two fought without their Cloths, Shiryu was beaten by Seiya's discovery of his weakness--when performing the Sho Ryu Ha, he drops his hand for an instant, exposing his heart, a weakness that would be his downfall more than once. The result was that his heart stopped, and in a miraculous feat of fictional medicine, he was revived by Seiya punching him with the same force from the opposite direction.
With both his and Seiya's Cloths having been more or less obliterated in the match, Shiryu went to Jamir to seek out Mu, the one said to repair damaged Cloths. Half of his blood was used to revive the "dead" Cloths, though Shiryu soon recovered and joined the other Bronze Saints in battling the Black Saints. Shiryu's recent blood loss put him at a marked disadvantage against his evil double, but after seeing Shiryu's dedication to his friends, Black Dragon's dying act was to stop the flow of blood and save the Bronze Saint.
Afterwards, the threat of the Silver Saints and the evil power of the Sanctuary was unveiled. Shiryu and his friends battled and defeated all the Silver Saints that tried to damage Athena. During one of these fights, Shiryu faced Perseus Algol, a man with the power of turning anyone who gazed upon his shield to stone. With his friends petrified, Shiryu tried everything to avoid Algol's petrifying power, but covering his eyes wouldn't work. Desperate, he stabbed his own eyeballs with his fingers, rendering himself blind. In this manner, Shiryu was finally able to kill his foe and save his friends. However, he now thought himself worthless as a Saint. He withdrew to his original training grounds, back to his Master and his friend Shunrei. However, after an old rival sought Shiryu and forced him to fight for Shunrei's life, Shiryu learnt to overcome his blindness and regained his lost confidence.
The Twelve Houses
Shiryu rejoined his friends in time to accompany to the Sanctuary, in order to unveil Saori Kiddo as the goddess Athena and end the hostilities between the two factions. However, Pope Ares set a trap for them and pierced Athena's chest with a golden arrow that would kill her in 12 hours time unless the Saints forced the Pope to remove it. To reach him though, they would have to pass through the 12 Zodiac houses, and their guardians, the Gold Saints, the most powerful of the saints.
Shiryu reached the House of Cancer, where he fought a losing battle against Cancer Deathmask, a psychopathic saint. Shiryu was transported into the underworld, the gate to the land of the dead, where he was almost defeated by Deathmask. However, when Deathmask attacked Shunrei (who was praying for Shiryu back in China) with a long distance attack, Shiryu cut loose his rage, attained the Seventh sense and killed Deathmask, regaining his sight in the process (thanks to attaining the seventh sense).
Next, Shiryu faced down the Capricorn Saint, Shura, who had the ability to cut through almost any substance with but a swing of his arm. Shura dominated most of the fight, though Shiryu put up a valiant fight and impressed Shura with his willpower and bravery. In a last ditch effort to kill Shura, Shiryu cut off Shura's right arm (an impressive feat), and executed his Rozan Kou Ryu Ha, a suicide attack. Shiryu was believed dead, but it was later revealed that before the attack could kill them both, Shura repented for what he had done, and chose to save Shiryu by encassing him in his own Gold armor and sending him back to Earth, though not before Shura asked for forgiveness and gave Shiryu the ability to use the Excalibur technique.
Asgard and the God Warriors (anime only)
The Poseidon Arc
The Hades
Powers and Abilities
As any Bronze Saint, at the start of the series, Shiryu can run, move and attack faster than the speed of sound, is impervious to ordinary weapons such as bullets, has superhuman stamina and agility, and possesses superhuman strength of at least 25 tons, as even Saint trainees can lift several boulders weighing several tons each. After awakening the seventh sense, and particularly towards the end of the series, Shiryu can run, move, react and attack at speeds faster than light, is impervious to most conventional forms of attack (non-cosmo powered) and his strength augments to 90-100 tons. His personal might is such that he alone was capable of deflecting the power of two Athena's Exclamation, a technique performed by three Gold Saints, so destructive that it was said to equal the power of the Big Bang. That Shiryu was able to deflect such an attack multiplied by two, while wearing only a damaged Bronze Armor, is testimony to his great power.
Being a Saint of Athena, Shiryu has mastered several special attacks which he uses frequently:
Rozan Sho Ryu Ha: Shiryu launches a powerful cosmo-infused punch, usually an uppercut, which dependin on his cosmo, can be powerful enough to damage Gold Cloths and punch through mountains. The image of an enraged green dragon appears to devour the enemy as he performs this attack. It is as much a melee attack as it is an energy-based one, and can be used as a long range attack as well.
Rozan Ryu Hi Sho: Similar to the Rozan Sho Ryu Ha, this technique is a straigth forward charging punch infused with cosmo power. Shiryu's fist takes the likeness of a mighty dragon as he rushes through his opponents. Shiryu uses this technique mainly for clearing a path ahead from enemies.
Rozan Kou Ryu Ha: Shiryu's most lethal technique, this is a suicide attack. Shiryu immobilizes the opponent from behind and burns his cosmo to the maximum, causing both to soar towards the sky. They will continue to ascend until reaching the atmosphere, at which point they will burn up, or die in the vacuum of space.
Rozan Hyaku Ryu Ha: Shiryu's ultimate technique passed down by his master. Shiryu stretches his arms forward with both palms aimed to his opponent. As he calls out the attack, over a hundred green energy dragons march across the sky, blitzing the opponent. This technique has a hundred times the destructive power of the Rozan Sho Ryu Ha.
Excalibur: A technique passed down to Shiryu by the Golden Saint Capricorn Shura. It means that the spirit of the legendary Excalibur sword inhabits Shiryu's right arm, giving him the ability to cut through practically any substance with this attack, even entire structures. It is a simple knifehanded chop that can cleave anything in two, and it can be used in close quarters or at a distance.
Shiryu's armor, the Dragon Cloth, has a legendary reputation for being one of the hardest, even though it's only a Bronze Armor. The armor includes the Dragon's Shield, reputed to be the hardest of shields (said to be far, far harder than diamonds) and almost indestructible, and the Dragon's fist, also harder than diamond. However, after losing a fight with Pegasus Seiya, Shiryu decided to never again rely too much on his armor. Whenever the fight seems lost, Shiryu is known to shed his armor, in order to be sure the power he has is his own, and to show that he doesn't need his armor's amazing qualities to win. This also serves as a very effective shock tactic against enemies, as most Saints consider fighting without their armors an act of sheer lunacy.
Shiryu has also developed the ability to fight without the use of his sight, since he's been blinded several times. As such, illusions and blinding techniques are ineffective against him.
Having trained in China, Shiryu is well-versed in Chinese martial arts, and is probably the best physical fighter out of his peers. He was trained by none other than Libra Dohko, the oldest, wisest and one of the most powerful Gold Saints.
Finally, Shiryu is considered the wisest of the five main characters, and his all encompassing knowledge and strategic mind has seen him through several times. He is also, along with Phoenix Ikki, considered to be the strongest/most powerful out of the five main Bronze Saints.
Shiryu has only one weakness: He possesses a weak spot near his heart. This spot is always protected, except for when Shiryu performs his Rozan Sho Ryu Ha, during which he leaves the area unprotected for about a millisecond. However, only his master, his friend Seiya and Capricorn Shura have ever noticed this weakness, which is quite a feat considering the foes Shiryu has faced.
He sports a large tattoo-like image of a great Chinese Dragon on his back. This image is in fact a physical mark of his cosmo. When Shiryu is weak or badly wounded, the Dragon fades slightly. When the images fades entirely, Shiryu is nearing death.
Log in to comment