Kure Raian is a rising star in the music industry. She has released two albums and is currently working on her third. She has won awards such as the prestigious Juno Award for Best New Artist and the Polaris Prize. Her music speaks to a generation that is searching for an identity and a voice. Raian was born in Toronto, Canada, in 1984. She started playing the piano at age five and soon found herself writing her own songs. When she was thirteen, she moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, and started playing shows with local bands. In 2006, she released her first album, “The Weight.” The album was well-received by critics and sold over 100 copies. In 2007, Raian won the prestigious Juno Award for Best New Artist. The award was given to her after she had been nominated by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARDAS). The prize is considered one of the most prestigious accolades in Canadian music history. In 2009, Raian released her second album, “The Weight II.” The album was even better received than its predecessor and sold over 150 copies. It also won Raian another Juno Award for Best New Artist. In 2011, she released her third album, “Kure.” The album was met with critical acclaim and sold over 350 copies within its first week of release. It also won Raian another Juno Award for Best New Artist.
APPEARANCE Kure Raian
Raian is a strong man with a height above average. His short, spiked blonde hair is light and spikey. He also has a slight widow’s peak on the right side of his hairline. He is a Kure Clan member and has dark scelera eye. In his youth, he bears a slight resemblance with Erioh Kure (current clan patriarch).
The Kengan Annihilation Tournament saw him wearing a dark pair if fighting shorts and a white cross as his combat attire. He wears a pair similar to that worn in the Kengan Association VS Purgatory Tournament with its colors reversed.
Raian, who was a casual wear enthusiast, wore unzipped track jackets and matching track pants under a tank top, two years after the Annihilation Tour.
PERSONALITY Kure Raian
Raian is a disturbed individual with violent and psychopathic tendencies. This manifests in his obsession with domination and murder. Raian doesn’t seem to feel any regret for his violent actions and actually seems to enjoy them. He uses profanity and speaks with aggression. He doesn’t seem to like or care about camaraderie and festive social events. This is evident in his dismissal of Ohma Tokita’s clan farewell party as “kumbaya sh*t.”
Raian was hostile and testy towards almost everyone he met during his first appearance at the Kengan Annihilation Tournament. Even his clan patriarch. Raian was known for his incisiveness and willingness to kill fellow tournament participants Mikazuchi or Lihito. To prove that he was “strongest”, he always stated that he would kill every tournament participant.
Raian is also a testy individual. He often taunts and insults people and causes conflict.
Kure Karura says Raian is the black sheep in his clan because of his psychopathic, ruthless nature.
Raian is capable of acting calmly and composed, particularly two years after the Annihilation Tour. This contrasts with his indiscriminate brutality, which tends to show when Raian is sufficiently motivated or provoked.
He enjoys testing his strength against strong adversaries that interest him, like Edward Wu. Raian chased Edward right after his fight with Alan Wu. He finally found Edward and provoked him into fighting to the death.
Plot Kure Raian
Kengan Ashura
Alongside Erioh, Raian observed Ohma’s first Kengan match against Lihito.
Raian, on the S.S. Kengan found the situation amusing when Kure Karura returned to the ship and admitted that she had a crush. Erioh was furious at Raian’s falling for Ohma and he laughed it off, before telling his grandfather to relax as he was releasing all his “restraints”. Raian exclaimed excitedly, “I will kill everyone!” when Erioh confirmed that Raian would be representing Under Mount, Inc. at the tournament.
Raian harassed Lihito in public toilets on the first day Kengan Annihilation Tournament. Raian, who was covered in blood, came out to face Mokichi during the first round. Raian used the Kure Clan secret technique “Removal” to beat Mokichi before brutally breaking his neck.
He was defeated by Rei and had a brief argument with him until Erioh arrived. Erioh convinced Raian to stop his wildness.
Raian defeated Ohma in the second round. Raian, despite appearing to be on the ropes at first, quickly turned it around. He began dominating Ohma and demanded that he use his Advance. Ohma finally activated his Advance and began to overpower Raian with the unleashed power. Raian was satisfied and released all of his power. The fight ended on equal terms. Ohma’s Advance was abruptly stopped and Raian, happy with the fight, knocked Ohma away. Ohma, ready to end the fight, suddenly rose to his feet and began to overwhelm Raian using his Niko Style. He eventually defeated Raian.
Raian, who was elated to be able go on a slaughter-spree, single-handedly defeated a large number of Guardians during Katsumasa Hayami’s revolution. He was able to kill Morooka and Morooka who were high-ranking Guardians.
Raian watched the rest of the tournament from the stands after Hayami’s defeat. He aggressively advised the belligerent audience members to not complain and to watch Ohma fight Cosmo Imai. He watched the rest of tournament, and Gensai Kuroki was declared the winner.
Kengan Omega
Raian has remained in Kure Village since the Annihilation Tournament. Raian and Ohma fought nearly every day after Ohma reached his physical peak. Raian won more victories than the former. As Ohma recovered and gained strength, however, Ohma’s wins steadily increased.
Raian was present at an undisclosed time when Erioh reported that Kure Rikuto, Kure Clan’s successor, had died. Erioh announced the betrayal of the Westward Faction and ordered the execution of Edward Wu, the leader Westward Wu.
After setting up the Worm Ohma and Raian dealt with the Worm blocking the area. Katahara Retsudo was also involved. Yamashita Kazuo was about to be executed when Ohma and Raian intervened. To Ohma’s dismay, Raian went on a murder spree, targeting anyone who was unfortunate enough to be in his presence, including Kashio Toru. Xia Ji was approached by Raian, who immediately punched him in his stomach, cutting off any taunts he might have. Raian accidentally stopped Xia Ji’s desperate attempt to get Ohma to spare his life by striking him with the intent of killing. Xia Ji escaped along with Retsudo after Ohma stopped him from making more attempts to kill his life.
Raian then went with Retsudo to the meeting point, leaving Ohma & Kazuo behind. Raian witnessed the strange deaths of the Worms that survived the attack and realized they had all consumed a poison that would have killed them regardless of their failure to complete their mission. He and Retsudo joined Retsudo at Kure Village the next day.
Ohma visited Narushima Kooga and Gaoh Ryuki at hospital. Just before things could get violent between Ohma, Ryuki and Ohma, Raian made his presence felt from the window five floors above ground. Koga tried to reach the same level in half the time, but Ohma refused. He then pointed out that Koga was unable to do it in half the time. After this, Raian irreverently declared his apathy and fell out of the window without much care in the world.
Mt. Raian enticed Akoya Sishu into a heated argument, daring him not to do anything. Raian grumbled in frustration at the “small fry” who took the spotlight when Kaolan Wongsawat was chosen to be the first fighter on their team.
Raian, Okubo Naoya and Seishu entered the ring to confront the angry gladiator and his comrades after Naidan Monkhbat was killed by Ryuki and Liu Dongcheng. Raian tried to punch Arashiyama Jurota’s face in an attempt to get blood. However, Lu Tian was able to block his attempts. Raian knew that Jurota Jurota, Lu Tian, and RolonDonaire were extremely strong so he decided to back off, knowing that he would have fun fighting.
After Agito’s victory against Lu Tian, Raian met with the Purgatory gladiators to discuss how the Worm was working behind the scenes. Rolon had called for the end of the tournament. Both sides returned to their respective gates. Raian and Alan Wu would then jump the gun to become the next match. Raian couldn’t help but pause as Alan claimed himself to be one of his “parents” despite their mutual desire for death. Alan unleashed his latent power with Guihun and defeated Raian before the referee could announce the match’s beginning.
Although Raian was able to handle Alan’s attacks with ease, Edward and Xia Ji entered Raian’s field of view just before he could retaliate. They were positioned at one of the arena entrances. Raian recognized his target and shifted his focus to defeating Alan. Alan’s attack on Raian was unsuccessful. Raian used his Removal on Alan to cut The King of Slaughter in two. Raian ran to the gates, not caring about the Kengan team’s penalty. Later, he was disqualified and Alan was posthumously declared as the winner.
Raian was able to locate Edward Wu, who was ready to fight him, a while later after the appearance of The Other Tokita Niko. Raian was aided in his struggle against him by Solomon Wu and Fabio Wu. He was able to focus on Solomon until Kure Erioh, Wu Xing arrived.
Power & Abilities Kure Raian
Raian is a Kure’s absolute physical powerhouse. He takes full advantage of this with his fierce fighting style. Raian is one of only a few Kure clan members to have the rare 100% removal rating. However, Raian is still incredibly powerful even without it. Kanoh Agito points out that Raian could match Takeshi’s strength. The other is Julius Reinhold [6]. Ohma says that Raian’s punches are extremely heavy and only Wakatsuki’s have more raw power.
Raian is extremely durable, even without using Removal. He suffered only minor injuries during his fight against Mokichi Robinson, and was later able to absorb an incredible amount of punishment from Tokita Ahma and return the favor after the latter tapped into Advance. Hayami Katsumasa attempted to overthrow the Kengan Association by attempting a coup. He was capable of taking direct hits with bladed weapons from two of Hayami’s Guardians. Raian was even pierced in his shoulder with a crossbow bolt. However, none of these attacks seriously damaged him. Tapping into his Removal allows him even more punishment. This is how Ohma was able to overcome and overwhelm him in a berserker mode, preventing Advance from completely consuming him. Raian was not able to escape that slugfest unscathed.
Raian, a Kure, is a skilled martial artist. He has learned a variety of martial arts that are part of the Kure Clan. He is well-versed in the techniques and capabilities of many martial arts styles, as well as how to exploit them. Raian prefers brute force due to his violent psychopathy. Raian is also happy to fight with brute force, largely because of his violent psychopathy.
[8] Raian believed there was no one that he could not dominate with his pure physical strength. [9]
Raian’s fighting skills have improved dramatically in the two years since the tournament. He was able to fight at full strength against Alan’s Guihun and not use his own removal. While retaining his brutality, he now incorporates Kure Clan techniques that he had previously neglected into his fighting style. Ohma was fully healed and fought Raian almost every day. Ohma admitted that Raian had won more of the matches. Rolon Donaire observed that Raian was strong enough to compete with Kanoh Agito. Karla, Raian’s relative, said Raian could compete with Rolon even though he isn’t very good at techniques. Edward Wu even acknowledged Raian’s potential.
Raian is also able to rapidly adapt and improve his skills. In just one year, he was able to learn all of his Kure techniques and incorporate them into his fighting. Raian was initially easily overwhelmed by Edward Wu while fighting him. Even when he worked with Erioh or Xing Wu, it did not help. Edward managed to defeat 4 elite Kure members and 1 Wu member using only sparse Guihun. Edward was defeated by Raian, who fought him once more on his own. Erioh said that Raian would one day surpass him in his prime.
Kure Clan Style
Kure Erioh says that the Kure Clan Style is intended to give and take life. Many Kure Clan Style techniques focus on incapacitating or disabling their opponent using attacks that target vitals or sensitive areas. These include full-power strikes to the neck, throat, chest, and eyes, as well as attacks against the eyes. Raian was admittedly rusty about his clan’s methods due to not having used them. Raian was able to shake off that rust two years later thanks to his brute strength, and his killer instinct.
Notes & Trivia
Raian was named after Ryan Gracie and is modeled after him. He enjoys killing men who piss him. Unsurprisingly, he’s also extremely skilled at killing those guys. Raian, 21 years old, was the second-youngest fighter in Kengan Annihilation Tournament. According to some, Hayakuwa Samato and Raian are distant relatives. [10]Raian is the only fighter whose epithet was not visually displayed at the Kengan Association VS Purgatory Tournament. The anime’s main theme is In your Face by PABLO.
