Tsuboi Ryoutarou

Tsuboi Ryoutarou (壷井遼太郎), known as Klein (クライン) in «Sword Art Online» (SAO), «ALfheim Online» (ALO) and «Project Alicization», is a supporting character in the Aincrad Arc and a reoccurring character through the Sword Art Online series. He was one of the 10,000 players who were trapped in Sword Art Online, where he was the guild leader of «Fuurinkazan», one of the clearer guilds. After Sword Art Online was cleared, he began playing ALfheim Online as a Salamander.

Real Life / Sword Art Online Avatar
In both Sword Art Online and the real world, Klein wore a red bandana that held up his hair and was tied around his forehead. In Sword Art Online, he had spiky reddish hair, but he has brownish hair in the real world. He also had a hooked nose, a slight beard on his cheeks and chin, and, according to Kirito, he looked like a wandering samurai or a bandit. During the two years in Aincrad he used red robes and black armor resembling those of a samurai including a katana, along with his guild members.

ALfheim Online Avatar


In ALfheim Online, Klein's appearance is mostly the same as his appearance in Sword Art Online, except that his hair is dyed red in ALfheim Online.

Background
Originally, Klein was a new player who identified Kirito as a beta tester, and requested help from him. After learning the basics of the game from Kirito and learning that Sword Art Online had become a death game, Klein rejoined his friends in order to assist them, and later formed a guild with them. He was a stern supporter of Kirito, despite the general opinions of beta testers.

Personality
Klein is one of the friendliest people in the series and sets the mood when he is around. He never holds grudges against others and is always ready to lend a helping hand. He cares deeply for his friends and always wants to be by their side fighting alongside them when they are in danger even to the point of getting angry when Kirito was fighting Death Gun, saying he should have converted to Gun Gale Online as well. He gets angry when people get into situations that can get them killed since he wants to protect as many people as he can.

Klein is a very loyal person, which is apparent in his friendship with Kirito, despite the latter usually treating him with coldness. Klein is also a "bachelor" and is shown trying to get together with various women in the series, such as Asuna, Freyja, and even Kazuto's sister, whom he had yet to meet.

November 6, 2022


On November 6, 2022, Ryoutarou and his friends acquired a copy of Sword Art Online and were featured on the news as one of only 10,000 people who managed to purchase the game. Soon after logging into the game following its official launch, Klein noticed and identified Kirito as a beta tester, and asked to be taught the basics of fighting. Soon after understanding the basics, he attempted to log out so that he could eat his pizza, but noticed that there was no log out option.

Afterwards, Klein and Kirito were recalled to the Town of Beginnings, where Kayaba Akihiko announced that Sword Art Online had become a death game and a reality. Shortly afterwards, the avatars of players, including Klein's, were transformed to look like the real bodies of the players.



After the tutorial, Kirito took him to the streets of the city, telling him that they needed to get to the next village together. But Klein refused the offer by saying that his friends must be in the plaza and that he needed to be with them. He suggested that they could all go together, but noticed that Kirito felt worried about the idea, so he dismissed it. Soon they parted ways, with Kirito heading to the next village and Klein returning to the plaza.

Red-nosed Reindeer
<!-- In November, 2023, Klein heard rumors from NPCs that Nicholas The Renegade, a rare Flag Mob, would spawn under a specific tree at midnight on Christmas Eve. Interested in the treasure said to drop upon its defeat, which included an item that supposedly could revive a dead player, the man spent the next month preparing his guildmates for the event. At 02:00 on December 19, when he led Fuurinkazan to the Ant Hill on the 46th Floor as part of these preparations, he spotted an exhausted Kirito collapsed in front of the dungeon's entrance. Since Klein had suspicions the solo player was also planning to fight Nicholas, he sent the rest of his guild ahead with a few tips for handling the dungeon's Giant Ant, before handing the boy a healing potion.{Poor sentence -Gsi}{Comes out of nowhere -Gsi}{Useless paragraph -Gsi}

While Kirito rested, Klein admonished the solo player for recklessly spending so much time and energy on leveling at great risk to himself. Once the boy confirmed the man's unspoken suspicion of preparing himself for the event, Klein dropped his roundabout inquiry on Kirito's safety so they could both discuss the potential resurrection item. As he was skeptical the item could actually revive those who had died in SAO, the man criticized the boy for fervently believing in the rumor, postulating all the players would have already been released from the outside if Akihiko had lied about the game's death premise. However, when Kirito explained he had to pursue the extremely small possibility that the deceased players' minds had only been transferred to a reserved holding area until the end of the game, Klein saw the swordsman still blamed himself for the destruction of his Moonlit Black Cats about half a year prior. Though he could not dissuade Kirito from his course of action, the man admitted he understood wanting to do everything he could for a deceased friend as well, before leaving to check Fuurinkazan's status.

At about 22:00 five days later on December 24, Klein learned from one of his guildmates posted on the 49th Floor that Kirito had teleported to the 35th Floor (Aincrad). As he bought a tip that the boy had purchased information on possible tree coordinates for Nicholas's spawning point, but none of these coordinates were located on the 35th Floor, the man decided the swordsman were onto a possible lead, so he gathered the rest of Fuurinkazan and followed him into the Forest of Wandering. About thirty minutes before midnight, the group finally reached Kirito one zone before the latter's destination, whereupon Klein implored the swordsman to work together with them for the event and let whoever received the revival item keep it, declaring the swordsman to be the strongest among the Clearers. Before anyone could react, however, they were approached by a large coalition from the Divine Dragon Alliance (DDA), who had been following Klein and the others. Sensing the lengths the other guild was willing to go to defeat Nicholas, Klein ordered Kirito to proceed ahead and challenge the event boss while he and the rest of Fuurinkazan held the DDA off, with the stern instruction not to die.-->

A few days before Christmas, Klein and Kirito met at the Ant Hill on the 46th Floor, which was the most efficient leveling area at the time. Then again during Christmas, when he tried to convince Kirito not to battle Nicholas The Renegade alone, but Klein eventually let Kirito go while he and his guild kept the Divine Dragon Alliance from taking on the boss. When Kirito came back, he gave the revival item to Klein, telling him that to use it on the first person he saw dying.

The Progressors
At the beginning of March, Klein and the other Clearers spent a week in an effort to circumvent the GeoCrawler, the Field Boss of the 56th Floor that was blocking the path to the local Labyrinth, as frontal attacks against it were ineffective, while its position prevented flanking the monster. On March 6, 2024, Klein and Kirito attempted to bait the GeoCrawler with an A-class meat; however, they were forced to quickly retreat to the local village, barely managing to close the gate behind them before the boss could enter.

When Asuna entered into a dispute with Kirito later that day regarding whether or not Non-Player Characters (NPCs) should be used to distract the GeoCrawler, Klein interrupted to inquire on the vice commander's level. Upon Asuna disclosing her current level, the man declared that while his own level was significantly lower than hers, Kirito had reached one level higher than her. To Klein's surprise, this provocation resulted in the boy being challenged to a first-strike duel, prompting Klein to apologize to Kirito for inadvertently forcing him into the predicament.

The day after Kirito's victory in the duel, on March 7, the Clearers learnt that a lullaby could lull the GeoCrawler to sleep. Upon successfully utilizing this piece of intelligence to incapacitate the monster, Klein and the rest of the vanguard party climbed over its back and attacked its weak point from behind until the monster was defeated.

August, 2024
Klein was one of the members of the crusade against Laughing Coffin.

October, 2024
On October 18, 2024, Klein and his guild encountered Asuna and Kirito in a safe zone in the Labyrinth of the 74th Floor. Their meeting was interrupted by an Aincrad Liberation Force (The Army) platoon, whose leader demanded a map of the Labyrinth. After the platoon departed, Klein, Kirito, Asuna and members of the Fuurinkazan decided to follow the platoon in case encountered trouble. After seeing that the platoon had engaged with «The Gleam Eyes» and that crystals could not be used within the boss room, Klein and his guild helped get The Army members to safety.

November, 2024
On November 7, 2024, Klein participated in the 75th Floor boss battle against «The Skull Reaper». As Heathcliff's identity was uncovered in the aftermath of the battle, Klein and the other Clearers, excluding Kirito, were paralyzed by the mastermind of the death game in order for him to have a duel with Kirito. Before the duel, when the black swordsman apologised to Klein for leaving him on the first day, Klein shouted that he would only forgive the boy if he bought him a meal in the real world as compensation.

Fairy Dance Arc
Ryoutarou was present at Andrew Gilbert Mills's Dicey Cafe to celebrate the «Aincrad Capture Commemorative Party», and was later also present during the unveiling of a content update in ALfheim Online, the «Floating Castle Aincrad», which introduced «New Aincrad» to the ALO universe.

Extra Edition
Klein joined Kirito and the others in the «Deep Sea Plunderers» quest in ALO.

Phantom Bullet Arc
On December 13, 2025, before the Bullet of Bullets tournament had begun, Klein, along with Asuna, Leafa, Lisbeth, and Silica, went to the fields to fight some monsters. While engaging a giant lizard in battle, Klein grabbed its tail but was assailed by the monster's poison breath. As Asuna was unresponsive, Klein had to call her several times before he was healed.

Klein was seen watching Kirito's battle during the Bullet of Bullets tournament at Asuna's rented house in Yggdrasil City. Upon seeing «Death Gun», he reacted by saying he knew the person from SAO as one of the members of the red guild, «Laughing Coffin».

Calibur
Klein was one of the players invited to join Kirito's party in an attempt to clear the Inverted Ice Pyramid. During the adventure, Klein helped Kirito obtain the Holy Sword Excalibur by setting Freyja, who was later revealed to be Thor, free. Thor rewarded him with Mjölnir for his assistance, which he then gave to Lisbeth as he did not use blunt weapons. Later when Skuld appeared at the end of the quest, Klein asked for her address.

Mother's Rosario
Klein accompanied Kirito to help Asuna in the Labyrinth on New Aincrad's 27th Floor. Together they managed to help stall a guild for three minutes in order to allow Asuna and the Sleeping Knights to fight that floor's boss. Several days after the boss battle, Klein participated in a barbecue party hosted at Asuna and Kirito's Forest House, which ended in an impromptu boss raid on the 28th Floor. Several months later, Klein was one of the thousands of players who came bid their final farewells to Yuuki in ALfheim Online. Some time later, Ryoutarou participated in a picnic with his friends in the real world.

Ordinal Scale
One evening, Ryoutarou and his guild participated in a battle against Kagachi the Samurai Lord in Ordinal Scale. The following evening, Ryoutarou and his guild, except for one member, gathered at a park for another boss battle. While the guild was waiting for the missing member outside of the appointed battlefield, another boss appeared right beside them. Although the guild was managing well against the monster, they were suddenly attacked by Eiji. Seeing Eiji incapacitating his friends with his fists, Ryoutarou dropped his Augma and attempted to retaliate. However, after a few unsuccessful attacks, Ryoutarou had his arm broken by Eiji, who then put the Augma back on him before offering him to the boss monster. The moment his hit points reached zero due to the boss's attack, the Augma stole his memories of Sword Art Online. In the aftermath, Ryoutarou was admitted to a hospital to treat his injuries.

Sometime later, Klein helped defeat «An Incarnation of the Radius» to help save the lives of the Sword Art Online survivors trapped by Shigemura Tetsuhiro.

One Handed Curved Blade

 * Reaver

Katana

 * Tsujikaze

Gallery

 * See Tsuboi Ryoutarou/Image Gallery

Trivia

 * Ryoutarou was one of the hardcore gamers who were waiting for three days in line during the SAO release.
 * The author chose to name Ryoutarou's avatar as "Klein" based on an American bicycle company named Klein Bikes.
 * In-story, Ryoutarou's avatar name was derived from the term Klein bottle (クラインの壺), based on his real name Tsuboi Ryoutarou.
 * Klein was one of the 10+ players who had the «Katana» extra skill.
 * In the 4-koma manga parody of Sword Art Online, Klein is much more prominent and he tends to pester Kirito with messages or calls.
 * In all commercially released media Klein first met Kirito on the first day of the SAO official service start, but in the web version, Klein first met Kirito on September, 2013 (2023 in the light novel timeline), three months before the Christmas Event.
 * Klein nicknames Kirito as Kiri-no-ji (キリの字).

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