Ryotaro Tsuboi

About Ryotaro Tsuboi

Ryotaro Tsuboi is Klein, the katana-wielding leader of the guild Fuurinkazan and the very first friend Kirito made in Sword Art Online. A cheerful salaryman who plays after work, Klein shepherded his real-life friends through the death game without losing a single one, a feat rivaling any front-liner's. Loyal, funny and utterly dependable, he is the group's big brother, and his survival record quietly proves the game's best strategy was always friendship.

Appearance

Klein is a scruffy, friendly-looking man in his mid-twenties with reddish-brown hair worn under a bandana, light stubble and an easy grin. In Aincrad he dresses like a wandering swordsman in red-and-white gear inspired by a samurai, with a katana at his hip, the uniform of his guild, Fuurinkazan, whose members favour the same storm-god style. In the real world he is a tired salaryman who logs in after work, which makes his in-game warmth even more striking: Klein is everyone's reliable older brother, in both worlds.

Personality

Klein is loyal, funny and utterly dependable, a cheerful working man whose idea of leadership is making sure everyone else gets home. He jokes constantly, worries openly and never once treats his friends' lives as a price worth paying for glory. His loyalty to Kirito is absolute and uncomplicated, from their first meeting to every crisis since: Klein shows up. In a cast full of prodigies and legends, Klein represents the ordinary player at his best, and his guild's perfect survival record quietly proves that friendship was the strongest build in the game.

Background & Story

Ryotaro Tsuboi was the very first player Kirito met on Sword Art Online's launch day, a beginner who asked the beta tester for help learning the basics, minutes before Kayaba's announcement turned the game into a death trap. Offered the chance to escape with Kirito, Klein chose instead to stay with his real-life friends, and built them into the guild Fuurinkazan. Their record is one of the game's quiet miracles: every member of the guild survived the whole two years. Klein himself fought on the front line with his katana, and after the game he remains the group's big brother, first at the Dicey Café table for every reunion.

Powers & Abilities

• Katana Skills: Klein fights with a katana, an extra skill in SAO, on the front line, holding his own in boss raids beside the clearers.
• Guild Leadership: His real power is Fuurinkazan itself: a guild of real-life friends he led through two years of the death game without losing a single member.

Key Relationships

• Kirito: The beta tester who taught him the game on day one and became a lifelong friend, Klein's loyalty to Kirito has never wavered in any world.
• Agil: A fellow front-line regular and Dicey Café fixture, the two of them are the group's dependable adults.
• Andrew Gilbert Mills: Agil, his fellow front-line veteran, after the game, Klein is a fixture at Agil's Dicey Café, where the survivors gather.

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