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Maybe the experience is the point. I haven’t just been rushing you, I’ve been rushing myself. |
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Ryan Akagi is one of the two main protagonists of Book 4 - Duet and a passenger aboard the Infinity Train. He is accompanied by his best friend Min-Gi and denizen companion Kez throughout their journey in Book 4.
Appearance[]
Ryan Akagi is a young adult of Japanese descent. He has long brown hair and red glasses.
Ryan's outfit before getting on the Infinity Train and after meeting the Steward in "The Party Car" consists of a leather jacket, a mossy green turtleneck, light blue ripped jeans and maroon ankle boots.
Ryan also brought his guitar with him and uses it for the rest of the season after episode 6. His guitar strongly resembles a Montgomery Ward Airline. The guitar's case has various stickers on it including a dolphin, the province British Columbia, a raised fist, the title for his promo cassette "My Oeuvre", a razor blade, the Chicken Choice Judy mascot, and a lightning bolt.
From episodes 1-5 Ryan wears the One uniform that Amelia wore in Book 3 and the gravity boots previously seen used by Simon. His uniform is a shade lighter than Min's.
Personality[]
Ryan is a free-spirited young man with an almost single-minded passion for music, specifically guitar. He enjoys being with his childhood best friend Min-Gi Park, though they had grown distant as they had gotten older. Something of a "leap before you look" type of person Ryan is self-confident and tends to act mostly on instinct and emotion, for better or worse. He's also a big dreamer, wanting to have been a rock star from a young age and willing to put in the effort even when he doesn't always succeed, usually due to his shortsightedness.
History[]
Ryan was born in Powell Lake, British Columbia in 1966[1] and befriended Min-Gi Park, a boy who was in the incubator next to him. He aspired to be a musician and wrote songs with Min. As they grew up, Ryan still wanted to become a musician while Min was pushed to major in finances in university.
Ryan and Min both went to Powell Lake high school. At one point they went signed up for a Battle of the Band, Min arrived late and got him a shirt, but chickened out just as they were able to go on. After graduating in 1985, his dad gave him his van and he toured Canada as a solo act. He had various girlfriends but they never stayed together long, one of them was even given his van.
He returned to Powell Lake after booking a gig in New York City and wanted Min to join him. When Min refused, he stole Min's keys and lured him to the station. When they are in an empty car and he is able to go into the next car, a portal appears and he throws the keys in. Soon after they both enter.
Book Four - Duet[]
"The Twin Tapes"[]
He and Min are seen being processed before being dropped off in the Passenger Preparation Car.
"The Iceberg Car"[]
He and Min-Gi wake up in an Iceberg Car, where a hovering call bell named Kez greets them and explains that they are in a pocket where they are confronted by three fish in parkas. Kez takes the pair to a thermometer she used and when they try it, the car suddenly turns into a field of lava with the fish now rocks. Min-Gi takes it and the car suddenly becomes a jungle, Min-Gi realizes it controls time as the parka entities, now gorillas, attack them. They use it again and end up in a desert being pursued by giant eyes. He and Min-Gi eventually fight over it and up in a futuristic city when the thermostat is set to the central.
They are confronted by the parka entries, now aliens, who chase after them. He and Ryan exit the train and see the Wasteland, they angrily confront Kez about it and she says the train took them to help them. They say they are friends when Kez sees them fighting. They head into the next car, only to be confronted by cowboy insects for helping Kez.
"The Old West Car"[]
After being confronted by the cowboy insects, Kez distracts them and they head into town to hide. They find a salon and talk to the bartender. After she sees that his and Min-Gi's numbers are the same, and that they got on the train at the same time, she agrees to hide them but quickly turns them in for the reward money. In jail, Kez manages to escape and leaves the two passengers behind. Using bits of Kez's cage, Ryan reaches for the keys and asks Min-Gi if he thinks their families miss them, with Ryan doubting his misses him. He gets the keys but the guard comes back and takes the two to stand trial.
As Ryan tries to represent them, the judge, Judge Morpho, decides they are guilty of aiding Kez in staining their town charter. When they are being brought to a giant bug zapper to be executed, Min-Gi tells Ryan to think like Kez and, seeing a bell by the charter, yells that Kez is their and the town rushes over to stop her. Just then Kez and The Cat arrive and tell them to run. As they walk, he and Min-Gi talk and their numbers go down to 180.
"The Pig Baby Car"[]
After finding themselves in a large gravity defying kitchen, Kez hides in a chef’s hat and asks them to call her “Lorraine”. After asking Kez what she did in that car, they are approached by a giant Pig Baby and a Cow Creamer. After the Cow Creamer learns they did not bring a treat, she has them make one to appease Pig Baby, but that they are low on butter. Ryan jumps up to find a cook book despite Min-Gi telling him to wait. They find that it is filled with post war American food with Min-Gi suggesting they make brownies, but Ryan thinks Pig Baby would eat anything. However nothing they make pleases him and the Cow Creamer suggests they make brownies.
To get more butter, Kez takes them to the microwave where she inadvertently started a grease fire that destroyed the other cookbooks. They scrape as much of the butter off as the can and make brownies. When they are done, he completes Ryan for taking his time their numbers drop to 178. After Min-Gi says he thinks Ryan was supposed to be on the train by himself and that he would help him get his number down, he inadvertently causes their numbers go back to 202, causing him to think Ryan forgot his lesson. After appeasing Pig Baby, Cow Creamer demands more treats and refuses to let them go. After seeing the exit in Pig Baby's mouth, they reveal the Kez is with them causing him to cry and they jump into his mouth to escape. Once out, he tells Ryan he will help him get them off the train, unknowingly hurting Ryan.
"The Astro Queue Car"[]
As they are in a car with a semi-completed infant puzzle, Min-Gi smugly encourages Ryan to complete it and leave when the exit opens. Min-Gi tells him to keep learning lessons as they enter a car with a line of astronauts waiting to be let into a club. Ryan goes directly to the bouncer, who doesn’t let him in as Min-Gi tells him to wait in line. He helps Ryan try to sneak into an air vent, but it doesn’t budge, and refuses to help Ryan dig in and does nothing as he is stuck in goo. As Ryan runs through portals to try and get inside, he skids and nearly falls off a floating rock.
Min-Gi and Kez save him and Min-Gi scolds Ryan for not listening when he said they should wait in line, however he backs into the astronauts and they fall down, revealing they are skeletons. After realizing following the rules wasn’t the right answer. His number goes down to 192 before returning to 202 for not apologizing to Ryan. After Ryan convinces him to act like they are performers, they make disguises and Kez makes it look like the astronauts are fans. They are let in, but their boots stick to the ground and the car and Kez start to glitch as metal tentacles emerge from behind a beaded curtain.
"The Party Car"[]
When the Steward emerges, they freeze in place but are told by it that they’re belongings are there’s, dropping off a metal crate before the car returns to normal. After finding their clothes and interments, they enter to find actual friends of Kez who want them to play. They change into their regular clothes and Kez takes them to a waiting room after mistaking it for the bathroom. As they wait, Min-Gi starts to play a song they wrote when they were six. Key gets them at, while Min-Gi is ready at first, he chickens out and heads for the bathroom.
Ryan realizes Min-Gi ditched him onstage again and the crowd started to boo him. He tries to open the door, but Kez tells him it can only be unlocked if the party is a success. Ryan finds Min-Gi in the bathroom who expresses his fears that even if they do become famous musicians, he afraid that being Asian will cause them problems down the line. After Ryan names a few Asian musicians, they start to compose a new song and are joined by Kez. Their numbers go down to 172 as they unlock the exit.
"The Art Gallery Car"[]
After entering an Art Gallery Car, he and Min start chatting it up as if they were still in high school. However, the further into the car they go, the colder they get and they start to argue with each other, Min saying Ryan is screwing up his life while Ryan says Min doesn’t have to act like everything is alright all the time.They split up before a larger argument breaks out, only to be interrupted by Kez. After looking at a mobile from a certain angle, he realizes it is the exit and he and Kez get out but Min-Gi doesn’t see them. He also Kez try and fail to get back in the car as a creature made of arms starts to lean over Min. When Ryan says he is not leaving his friend, his number reaches zero and an exit appears. He struggles with the thought of going home and leaving Min, but also wants to leave the train. Soon after his number goes up to 115 and the exit closes. Min-Gi eventually finds the exit and gets out. While Ryan is happy, Min-Gi starts to cry and accuses Ryan of abandoning him.
"The Mega Maze Car"[]
As Min-Gi berates Ryan for abandoning him, Ryan says he chose to stay but doesn’t tell Min-Gi about the exit. Kez announces that the next car is here home and they enter to find a castle surrounded by a maze. Kez guides them as they head to the castle. As they walk, he and Min-Gi talk about their lives. Min-Gi expresses his disdain for the life in finances his parents want for him and his job as an assistant manager of a chain restaurant while complementing Ryan on his budding music career. Ryan expresses his jealousy over Min-Gi having loving parents and a position as a university student, something he believes he can never get into.
However, as they talk, the Parka Denizens, Judge Morpho, Cow Creamer, Nigel the bouncer, and Pig Baby, aged into a toddler, enter the car with the intent to hunt them down. They evade their pursuers and make it into the castle. They watch as Kez is chased by Judge Morpho and urge her to come inside when the drawbridge starts to close. Kez makes it just in the thanks to Pig Baby eating the Judge. Once inside, she introduces Ryan and Min-Gi to her roommate Morgan, and the castle starts to talk.
"The Castle Car"[]
As Morgan starts yelling at Kez for bringing more passengers to her, she accuses Kez of trying to replace Jeremy Bradford, a passenger who took care of her. He and Min-Gi accuse Kez of lying to them as Morgan drags them to Jeremy's room and starts to pelt Min-Gi and Ryan with hats and mini quiches. As he and Ryan are constricted by clothes. Kez manages to get Morgan to calm down. As Kez apologizes for Morgan's behavior, Ryan berates her for not realizing when she makes mistakes and leaving with out fixing them. Min-Gi confirms this by saying never apologizes and Ryan asks her to leave. They see their pursuers camping out outside the moat and Min-Gi reads Jeremy's journal.
After reading through it, they learn that Jeremy spent five years with Morgan and Kez before the entries stop. After learning from the last entry he was going to have breakfast with Kez, they sneak out to find her when Morgan is asleep. She tells them how the day Jeremy left, she and him were talking about the survivors guilt he had from the car crash that killed his mother and sister. She tried to help him and eventually succeeded when his number reached zero. She explains how she called for Morgan to come, but she arrived just as Jeremy went through the exit. Min-Gi says she helped him and Ryan reluctantly agrees. However soon the car starts to glitch again and a steward appears, telling the passengers the train is theirs and unlocking their boots before leaving. Their numbers start to move but stay at 202. Ryan starts to laugh hysterically before storming off, ignoring Min-Gi's please to help.
"The Train to Nowhere"[]
A few days later, Ryan has locked himself in a room while Min-Gi is bringing him food, which he has not touched along with previous meals. Ryan laments that they could be on the train for years while he says they will eventually get their exit. At that Ryan reveals he already got his while Min-Gi was trapped in the art gallery and considered taking it, calling himself a monster as Min-Gi and Kez leave. Later that night he hears Min-Gi practices his stylophone and he finally leaves his room. Min-Gi reveals he has no ill will towards Ryan as he just had a bad thought. He angrily rejects the path others want him to take and agrees to tour with Ryan.
Soon after Min-Gi gets his exit but Ryan's number still says 202. Morgan pressures Min-Gi to leave but he refused to go with out Ryan. In retaliation, Morgan let’s their pursuers in to try and force Min-Gi out. As the angry denizens race to them, Ryan and Min-Gi tell Kez to apologize for her actions, which she does and they start to forgive her and apologize, except for Judge Morpho, who bursts out of Pig Baby's mouth to attack them only to be swatted away by Morgan. As they use the Parka Denezin's device to repair the damage, Ryan realizes he was forced both him and Min-Gi into this life and he gets a second exit. They say their goodbyes to Kez, with him ringing her, before leaving the train.
After an unknown amount of time, he and Ryan are performing a song they wrote, “Train to Nowhere” at a club in Utica, New York. They receive a mostly positive reaction from the crowd. A woman in the audience asked for a cassette tape and they tell her they’re working on it.
Trivia[]
- Ryan and Min-Gi are the first known case of two people boarding the train at the same time in the same place. He and Min also start with the same number (202).
- Ryan and Min-Gi were accidentally revealed on an Instagram post about the crew yearbook.[2]
- Ryan is inspired by Ryan Pequin, a former storyboard artist for the show.[3]
- He's also the inspiration for the character's Canadian origins, having grown up in Powell River, BC.
- Ryan, like Min-Gi, was born in 1966 according to show creator, Owen Dennis.[1]
- Ryan is the second known passenger to have his exit close on him with Tulip being the first, but he is the first known passenger to have his exit close on him due to his number going up.
- It’s unclear the exact number of siblings Ryan has. However, in the first four minutes of "The Twin Tapes", he is shown to have at least two older sisters and two younger brothers.
- In the very beginning of "The Twin Tapes" Ryan's dad tells Min's dad that they live in Cranberry. Cranberry is a real street name in Powell River, BC.
Reference[]
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