Sol Raveh app

[dancing_flames]

Player Name: Luna
Contact: Plurk: LunaHoshino
Referred by: Marie/Roxy
Other characters: n/a

Character Name: Shuda
Series: Rave Master
Canon Point: The end of Chapter 233, before returning to the human world
Summary/History: http://ravemaster.wikia.com/wiki/Story_Arcs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Rave_Master_characters#Shuda

These aren't very complete, so I'll add to them.

What we know of Shuda's history began in the year 0063. At that time, Shuda was known as the best bounty hunter on the continent, and as such, he pursued Gale Glory in the Kuba Desert for the enormous bounty on his head. At first Gale just continued to run away-- until the day Shuda showed up wearing the Demon Card insignia. In Gale's own words, he "half-killed" Shuda out of anger at the sight of that insignia, dealing an enormous blow to Shuda's pride and causing him to vow to surpass Gale some day. Between this encounter and the events of the manga itself, he manages to work his way up in Demon Card and become a member of the Oracion Seis, the six most powerful generals in all of Demon Card.

Our first actual glimpse of Shuda in the manga occurs in the first volume when he shows up on Garage Island in search of Shiba and the Rave. He'd sent his subordinate Feber to fetch it for him, not counting on Haru's interference or on the fact that Haru was destined to become the second Rave Master. After Feber fails a second time, Shuda takes matters into his own hands and confronts Haru. Haru manages to destroy the Dark Bring Shuda is using in that fight and ensure himself a temporary victory, though not before Shuda discovers Haru's last name and thus his relationship to Gale. Shuda then decides to make a strategic retreat as he's no match for Rave without a Dark Bring; he also declares that he wants to leave Haru alive for now because "things have gotten more interesting."

Some time afterward, Haru and the others discover that there is a Rave hidden deep beneath Tremolo Mountain. However, Shuda is already leading a Demon Card search for it there, and he sends an assassin named Doctor Schneider after Haru in the hope of killing him before he can get his hands on the Rave. But Haru, Musica and Elie manage to defeat Schneider, and Shuda decides to deal with Haru himself by revealing his flying fortress Rhapsodia (which had been concealed beneath the mountain) and raising them all up into the sky on it; he then further elevates himself and Haru on a special invisible battlefield so that the two of them can have a one-on-one duel. It is during this fight that he reveals to Haru that he has no interest in Rave or Demon Card; instead, all he wants is to fight and defeat a member of the Glory family after losing to Gale years ago.

The battle is a harsh one, and while at first it seems as if Shuda will win, Haru manages to turn the tide using Silfarion and Explosion, knocking Shuda off the platform. Shuda is regretful, but accepts his death... only to have a badly-injured Haru grab his arm to keep him from falling, saying that he doesn't want to see anyone else die. Shuda quickly realizes that Haru won't be able to pull him up in his current state. Rather than have them both die, Shuda opts to cut off his own hand with his sword and fall, his last words to Haru telling him to never give up and to live, because he is the warrior this world needs right now.

After this, we see in later flashbacks he returns to the Kuba Desert to find Gale and tell him about everything that has happened, including the fact that Haru is the second Rave Master. Gale decides that it's finally time for him to come out of his self-imposed exile and settle things with King; Shuda offers to fight alongside him for the decisive battle, but Gale refuses, instead giving Shuda a sword he'd found during his years wandering in the desert and asking him to protect his family. Shuda accepts this task and promises not to interfere in the fight.

Shuda next appears briefly in Chapter 53 (with his new mechanical hand), watching over the battle at the Tower of Din but not interfering, just as he had promised Gale. He then vanishes again until Chapter 145, where he encounters Sieg Hart in the former capital of the empire; there he informs Sieg of the current status of Haru and Lucia and the numbers of Raves and Sinclaires that each of them have, then disappears again. He finally joins the fray himself in Chapter 154, albeit (in his words) only to take down Deep Snow, his replacement in the Oracion Seis. Though he is outmatched power-wise in this fight, he is able to win using his wits and the sword that he inherited from Gale.

He then moves on to catch up with Haru, only to find that Lucia has beaten him there; the two heirs of Symphonia and Raregroove are currently engaged in a fierce battle when he shows up and declares that he'll stand witness to this fight. True to his word, he's content to just watch... until Haru opts to use the ninth form of Ten Commandments, the demon sword Sacrifar. Shuda has learned from Shiba what will happen if Haru uses that sword and tries to stop him, only to discover that it's too late-- the sword has already sealed away all of Haru's emotions save for his aggression and fighting spirit. Haru then thoroughly defeats Lucia and almost kills him until he is stopped by Elie and Plue. All would be well except for the fact that Lucia isn't quite as defeated as they'd thought and ends up engaging Haru in ANOTHER battle, and this time Haru is the loser.

Shuda thinks quickly and manages to strike a bargain with Lucia for Haru's life by offering to trade him the piece of Sinclaire the party had with them and threatening to kill Elie if he doesn't agree to the deal. Shuda hands over Sinclaire, Lucia steps away, and the matter seems settled... until Lucia points out that he only promised not to kill Haru and then stabs Shuda in the back-- quite literally.

Haru goes berserk when faced with Shuda's apparent death, beating the crap out of Lucia and about to kill him until Shuda comes to (he wasn't quite dead after all) and tells Haru that it's enough, he can stop now. They're interrupted by the appearance of Endless and a Demon Lord, shit gets real, and it turns out that things are a hell of a lot more complicated than they first thought. But that's a matter for a later story arc.

While Shuda is recovering, the party discovers that they are running out of money and need to find a way to earn more. It isn't until learning that they're near the village of Ribeyla that a plan is hatched: the village holds a dance contest every year with a prize of 1 million Edels. Shuda reveals to the others that he was a well-known ballet dancer when he was younger, and though he can't compete due to his injuries, he volunteers to train Elie and Lazenby so they can enter the contest.

http://ravemaster.wikia.com/wiki/Haru_Glory#Blue_Guardians_arc -- this is a brief but decent summary of the arc that follows, as Shuda doesn't make many appearances in it after the dance contest itself (he stays behind in Ribeyla because of his wounds and only shows up briefly to save the day on the Albatross; his whereabouts are then unknown for the rest of the arc).

Personality: The Shuda we first see in the manga is ruthless and arrogant, out to get the Rave and not caring who he has to hurt or what he has to destroy to get it. He has no qualms about leaving Garage Island in shambles or badly injuring Genma and Shiba in the name of getting his hands on Rave; in fact, he seems to be enjoying the whole thing. His entire image is that of the perfect Demon Card general-- cruel and driven.

What we don't find out until later is the fact that he actually has no love for Demon Card at all, nor interest in Rave itself-- everything he does is because he wants to become strong enough to one day surpass Gale Glory in battle and thus be able to repair his shattered pride after his humiliating defeat at the hands of the other man. The fact that he's willing to accept his defeat by Haru and choose to cut off his own hand rather than allow them both to fall to their death is proof that he is in fact an honorable person at heart.

The battle with Haru serves as a major turning point in his character development. Even Gale remarks on it when next they meet: "You change every time I see you. You've grown, both as a warrior and a man." The change is drastic enough that Gale feels he can entrust the safety of his family to Shuda, making him promise to look after them.

By the time volume 19 rolls around, Shuda has grown into a man truly worthy of Gale's trust, in many ways much like him. He's calm, composed, yet capable of great passion and intensity when the moment calls for it. His former arrogance has all but disappeared and morphed into a dislike for those who are overconfident and arrogant as he once was; he chides Moore the Full Moon for boasting about his invisible and inaudible chakram attacks, telling him that those things don't change the fact that the chakrams are still there before defeating him with a single blow. He's still confident in his abilities, to be sure, but it's on a more realistic level now, and he is capable of recognizing when he is outmatched.

Mashima himself describes Shuda as being a "samurai" in one of the later guidebooks, and this description is quite fitting: he is a man of his word now, honoring his promises even when they cause him personal pain, such as his vow to not get involved in the fight between Gale and King. He also has unshakeable loyalty and faith in his companions, especially Haru-- he won't hesitate to lay down his life for them should it become necessary, as he demonstrates on more than one occasion. What's more, though he looks out for Haru, he trusts in Haru's own strength and ability to handle himself.

At the same time, however, he serves as a tempering force to Haru's impulsiveness. Twice he has to hold Haru back (quite literally) from acting rashly during the dance contest at Ribeyla, telling him to calm down and wait and see what happens before rushing in. He is very logical, analyzing a situation before deciding how to react to it; when he finally does act, it's decisive and without any sort of hesitation.

The combination of these traits and his intelligence (which he displays both during his fight with Deep Snow and his quick thinking in finding a way to negotiate with Lucia for Haru's life) make him the ideal warrior, and as such he ends up playing the mature older brother/guardian role to Haru and the rest of the party, though his lone wolf nature means he keeps a certain amount of distance between himself and them even when he's traveling with them. He'll likely never be that social, but he's not going to stop looking out for Haru no matter what.

Powers/Abilities: Shuda is a highly-skilled swordsman, not only physically strong, but agile as well from his background in dance. He's strong enough to have earned himself one of the top positions in Demon Card even before he received a Dark Bring; before that, he was known as the best bounty hunter on the continent. He's no slouch where battle is concerned, proving himself to be capable of defeating Deep Snow despite the latter's use of the Type-56 Dark Bring that unlocks the true potential of its user by destroying the limits of the human body.

In addition, his affinity to fire makes him particularly resistant to that element. In a later chapter he's shown to be able to take a direct hit from the Demon Lord Megido's flames and barely be scorched at all, something that impresses Megido himself. His katana Tenkuuzakura also seems to have the ability to create/absorb flames, but this is never really expounded upon in the manga so it's mostly just speculation based on the things we see him do with it.

Shuda is also the owner of a Dark Bring, a magical stone possessing a specific set of powers. His is named Ballettänzer Flare, the flame Six Star Dark Bring that gives its owner the power to create explosions in any spatial coordinates that the wielder is familiar with. This means that he can cause an explosion in any area he knows by creating a pink gridded sphere around the target that then detonates. By his current canon point, he's capable of creating large numbers of explosions simultaneously, and the Dark Bring's powers have increased to the point where the spheres are able to immobilize the targets before detonation. (If this needs to be nerfed at all, just let me know!)

Items on your character:
- Tenkuuzakura (the katana he received from Gale)
- His Dark Bring, Ballettänzer Flare
- This outfit