Ryo Shimazaki

Ryo Shimazaki (島崎 亮, Shimazaki Ryō) is a powerful Esper, member of the now defunct terrorist organization Claw and a former part of the Ultimate 5.

Appearance
Shimazaki has spiky hair, a few strands astray over his forehead, heavy eyebrows, a sharp nose, and pale skin. He wears a dark-colored jacket with a maroon v-neck shirt, leather pants, and shoes. He often wears a smile, and his eyelids are usually closed, but when they are opened, they reveal that he is blind and does not have eyes.

Personality
Shimazaki is a laidback and arrogant individual with a nihilistic outlook on life. He is usually seen with a calm and condescending smile on his face. He is very confident in his abilities, believing himself to be the second strongest esper in Claw, even though Suzuki said Serizawa was the strongest of the Ultimate 5. However, he seemed somewhat shocked by his defeat and was visibly frightened when he felt Mob's rage toward his motivations for joining Claw. Hanazawa theorizes this defeat to have significantly affected his psyche, although to what extent is never made clear. He was only following Suzuki around because it sounded like fun.

History
Not much is known about Shimazaki, although in the omake First Meeting, he appears alongside Minegishi to celebrate Serizawa's welcome party, implying they were both members of Claw three years before the World Domination Arc. It is implied he has had access to his powers since birth, as he states he was born with the power to sense others' movements to replace his eyesight.

World Domination Arc


In Shimazaki's first appearance, the Claw leader Suzuki calls him to tell him they are executing their plans. He teleports into a press conference and makes a grand show of his psychic abilities, feinting reaching for a gun to encourage security members to shoot at him so that he can show off his ability to dodge and withstand bullets. He suggests they broadcast the footage on television before showing off his final ability by grabbing the Prime Minister and teleporting outside.

He is then confronted by Teruki, who had witnessed his stunt on television. Shimazaki accepts Teru's challenge and briefly takes an interest in his array of abilities before defeating him with a blow to the solar plexus and teleporting away with the Prime Minister.

When the members of the resistance, including the former 7th division scars, were traversing through the sewer tunnels to the Claw HQ, Shimazaki confronted them, telling them their scars were marks of being defective and disposable before defeating them and returning to HQ. After returning, Toichiro immediately told him to deal with his son, Sho. Complaining about being so quickly given a new task, he left and encountered the duo of Sho and Ritsu. Ritsu took Shimazaki on, with the latter allowing Sho to pass, but their bout was one-sided in Shimazaki's favor. Just then, the rest of the resistance group arrived, and they all took him on in tandem.

However, despite their overwhelming numbers, Shimazaki did quick work for most of the group and got ready to finish it up. After a discussion between Teru and the group on needing to distract Shimazaki to win, the latter decided Teru was the biggest threat and concentrated on attacking him to break the group. However, before he could defeat the teenager, Teru began countering his moves after catching on to Shimazaki's tendency to attack his enemies from behind after teleporting.

Shimazaki expressed his surprise at how Teru could still withstand his blows, claiming to be the strongest in the world after his boss Toichiro. Teru laughed in response and argued about how small Shimazaki sees if he thinks their fight is the world's best. The young psychic remarked that Shimazaki is just as much of a commoner as himself, which angered Shimazaki. However, the discussion between the two served as a distraction long enough for Ritsu and the rest of the group to attack him with their combined esper abilities.

Losing his advantage against the group and accumulating more injuries in the process, Shimazaki tries to focus on heightening his extrasensory sight to try and escape his situation as he continuously keeps getting beaten. This action pushed him to the point of seeing only the espers' aura within his range, awakening to his "Mind's Eye". Shimazaki then decided it was time to get serious and proceeded to teleport instantaneously before everyone could react, using his newfound ability to strike at their vital points.

Shimazaki's one-sided assault has finally put the entire group out of action except for Teru, who has proven to be much stronger than Shimazaki had thought when he hit his vital points like the others. Expressing his surprise at his new power, he comments how it is too late to regret it now and closes in on Teru. However, his Mind's Eye caught the immense power of Mob, who was slowly walking to their location.



Getting excited by sensing an esper with immense power, Shimazaki laughs as he prepares himself to intercept Mob once he is within his teleportation range. However, Shimazaki was casually approached by Arataka Reigen, who luckily and unknowingly exploited the Mind Eye's weakness at 'seeing' only espers. Reigen then proceeds to soundly thrash Shimazaki while shouting out his 'Justifiable Self-Defence Rush' move.

With Mob's arrival, Teru's group recovery, Shimazaki's own severe injuries, and his misunderstanding that the 'club' mentioned by Mob was a part of a larger organization that had already 'taken out' Minegishi and Shibata, the Ultimate 5 member immediately surrendered. Reigen remarked on how easily the esper gave up, but Shimazaki brushed it off by stating that his boss was the only one who was serious about it, and he himself only joined Claw for the fun of it.

Mob became enraged at Shimazaki's selfish reason for joining Claw and immediately scolded him for making a choice that caused so much trouble for everyone for his entertainment. Feeling intimidated by Mob's anger and immense powers, Shimazaki immediately fled via teleportation before anyone could react. The group was worried that he would attack again, but Teru remarks that Shimazaki's confrontation with Mob's anger should traumatize him for the rest of his life, and he hopes that that will be enough to make him change his ways for good.

Powers & Abilities
Shimazaki is a remarkably powerful esper, believing himself to be the strongest esper in the world, second only to the boss of Claw. However, this is contradicted when Suzuki says Serizawa is the strongest of the Ultimate 5. He had shown himself to be far stronger than most opponents with his basic esper abilities alone, such as when he calmly took the punch of Higashio's rubble golem without moving or taking any damage. Similarly to Teru, he can use telekinesis to fly and augment his physical attacks, as well as make powerful telekinetic pushes capable of damaging buildings. However, despite his fearsome psychic powers, Shimazaki's fighting movements are simple, something which Teruki Hanazawa took advantage of by predicting his attacks. Shimazaki is one of the few people who can use two psychic abilities simultaneously.

Quotes

 * (Shimazaki talking to the boss via cellphone) "Oh traitors? How many have been injured? How many out? Don't tell me....we're gonna postpone it?"
 * (Shimazaki's thoughts after being beaten by Arataka Reigen) "Grandmaster...? The opposing team still has got a leader of this caliber. I didn't think it was possible for an esper to disguise himself as weak as an insect or a bug... I took too many punches without my barrier. What should I do....Retreat? But..."

Etymology

 * The name Ryo means "clear" (亮).
 * Ryo's surname Shimazaki means "island" (島) (shima) and "cape, peninsula" (崎) (saki/zaki).