Sakuraba Ryota

Sakuraba Ryota (桜庭 涼太 Sakuraba Ryouta) is an idol under TSUKINO TALENT PRODUCTION. He is a member of the unit Growth.

Official Character Introduction
"Although he is known by the fans as a soft pretty boy, he is actually a pretty cool and realistic person. Having been in the entertainment industry from a very young age, he thinks of himself highly but not to the point of being arrogant. Sometimes during break he helps out with the staff planning. The type of idol who supports the unit starting from the foundation!"

Appearance
Ryota is a thin young man of average height, with wavy gray/white hair and light pink eyes.

Personality
Ryota looks like the typical "pretty boy" on the outside and is regarded by many fans as a nice, soft-spoken young man. But, in reality, he has a sharp tongue and is most often not afraid to say what he's thinking, especially to Fujimura Mamoru.

Just like with Yaegashi Kensuke, Ryota's very protective of Eto Koki, as evidenced when he was skeptical of Koki taking in Mamoru to live with him.

He can be stubborn at times and will say what he wants to say until the other person agrees. He is aware of his personality and knows when he steps out of his boundaries, though.

Though he's always teasing Mamoru (such as calling him a NEET), he's actually shown to really care for Mamoru and greatly acknowledges his talent in music.

Though he's usually calm and composed, when he's faced with something that he fears, he tends to lose his composure. In particular, he has a well known fear of bugs; to the point where he doesn't even like people saying the word "bug", though he's extremely reluctant to admit it.

Kensuke said that Ryota once ran away when a cockroach appeared in their dressing room backstage. He's so afraid of them that he refused to step inside the dressing room for a while, even after Kensuke killed it. Ryota's fear of bugs was revealed to the others when Mamoru found bait to use for fishing and showed it to Ryota, who immediately ran to hide behind Kensuke. He even asked Mamoru to put the bait some place where he can't see it.

He's been revealed to be very responsible, orderly, and a little bit of a neat freak.

Plot
2015 = Ryota, together with Koki and Kensuke, were all part of an agency called "Sun promotion entertainment" where they were doing individual and pair work like modelling, acting, advertising, etc. to gain the debut they all wanted. They went about their daily routine until Koki told them about Mamoru.
 * Age: 18
 * Height: 170 cm

Ryota was, of course, doubting Mamoru at first but decided that he's trustworthy after Mamoru plays them a song, to which Koki replied that they really shouldn't have worried in the first place.

All was going well until Koki found out that their former agency decided to make a new unit debut with members that were younger than they were and who hadn't been with the agency for very long (ZIX).

Koki told the both of them that he planned on quitting the agency, and Ryota followed suit. Mamoru then showed them a flyer for a TSUKINO PRODUCTION audition which would be held soon. Koki asked the two of them to join him in a unit, with Mamoru composing the songs. Ryota suggested that Mamoru should sing, too, and that marks the beginning of their unit.

2016 =
 * Age: 19
 * Height: 171 cm

2017 = Just like Kensuke, after being a full-fledged idol under TSUKIPRO, Ryota decided to challenge himself with many other things that he has always wanted to do, such as being a stage actor.
 * Age: 20
 * Height: 172 cm

In the anime, Growth, together with the other three units (SOARA, SolidS, and QUELL) are aiming to hold a wonderful performance at the Budokan to showcase their music.

2018 =
 * Age: 21
 * Height: 173 cm

2019 =
 * Age: 22
 * Height: 174 cm

2020 =
 * Age: 23
 * Height: 174 cm

2021 =
 * Age: 24
 * Height: 174 cm

2022 =
 * Age: 25
 * Height: 174 cm

Growth
Eto Koki - Koki and Ryota are good friends who have been working with each other for a long time under the same agency. They're both very mature and cool-headed. Ryota is shown to be protective of Koki, as shown when he had doubts about Mamoru living in Koki's house.

Koki values Ryota's friendship a lot and has stated that he had always wanted to debut with him and Kensuke, and was noticeably happy (and surprised) when Ryota decided to quit their agency together with him. He and Koki are on a first name basis, usually calling each other "Ko" and "Ryo" respectively.

Yaegashi Kensuke - Ryota is undoubtedly the closest to Kensuke as they have known each other since they were 11 years old, possibly even longer. Ryota has admitted to liking teasing Kensuke and will do so whenever he wants to, though Kensuke doesn't complain much. Kensuke is also able to tell what Ryota is thinking about most of the time.

Kensuke is the first person that Ryota runs to when he's scared, and Ken was intially the only person who knew about his immense fear of bugs. He and Kensuke are on a first name basis.

Fujimura Mamoru - Ryota was suspicious of Mamoru at first but easily warmed up to him after hearing his song. He likes to tease Mamoru a lot about a lot of things and is really blunt with Mamoru, often calling him "Koki's pet" or "NEET". Regardless of Ryota's "harshness" to Mamoru, he still respects him a lot and acknowledges his talent.

He is revealed to show concern for Mamoru, although he's very shy and secretive about it. When Mamoru was in a slump, he was the one who convinced Koki to give Mamoru more time so he can gather his thoughts, and he was the one who suggested thinking of ways to help cheer Mamoru up. Mamoru, on the other hand, likes acting like an older brother around them. When he found out about Ryota's fear of bugs, he was threatened by Ryota to not make fun of him, although Mamoru was never planning on exploiting Ryota's weakness.

Ryota is also shown to be concerned about the fact that Mamoru doesn't go outside much. They may bicker sometimes but they're still supportive of each other's dreams and ambitions. Like with the other members, Mamoru and Ryota are on a first-name basis, although Mamoru sometimes calls Ryota "Ryo" or "Ryo-kun" (when teasing him).

ZIX
Hishida Mitsuru - Ryota's dislike for Mitsuru is so obvious that the latter is aware of it. Ryota described Mitsuru as "poisonous" and "two-faced" and has admitted that they have somewhat of the same personality, though he tried to deny it at first. Though at first they had a mutual dislike for each other, they have now grown into friendly rivals.

Etymology

 * His surname, Sakuraba (桜庭), can be read as cherry blossom (桜) garden (庭).

Trivia

 * His catch phrase for 2021 is "How's it going?"
 * Ryota's ears turn red when he's embarrassed or feeling shy. (i.e. when Mamoru thanked him after what he did to help).
 * His mom has been a huge fan of idols for a long time so she was the one who made Ryota audition.
 * His likes include music, theater and film appreciation, reading, sour cream, and Western sweets.
 * Ryota thinks that Mamoru can't handle the cold.
 * He thinks that Koki spoils Mamoru too much.
 * Ryota's first love was revealed to also be his kindergarten teacher, despite him teasing Kensuke during an interview about that specific topic.
 * Even before becoming a unit, he and Kensuke were often times treated as a set due to their overflowing amount of work together.
 * Ryota enjoys Koki's cooking very much.
 * He actually enjoys talks of random stuff, especially about love and relationships, between the members.
 * Ryota has admitted to enjoying the narratives Mamoru writes into their songs, saying its on par with his fondness for ballet and musicals.
 * He keeps a book referred to as an "enmachou" (閻魔帳 lit. hell's book or gradebook) that he apparently writes peoples names in.