The day of the sports festival is finally here in RuriDragon chapter 25 as Ruri’s efforts to control her powers pay off big time. Bolstered by a new form, she steps up to the plate in an unexpected way that underscores the themes of the series as a whole.
It’s both a blessing and a curse that RuriDragon releases so infrequently, because while the wait between chapters is always excruciatingly long, they’re almost always worth talking about. The sports festival arc has been particularly great as it pushed Ruri to take greater ownership over her dragon powers: an encouraging step forward, especially following the lengthy amount of time the series spent on hiatus. Anyone who expressed any doubts about this story continuing to prove successful seems awfully quiet right now.
Regardless, the main plot of RuriDragon chapter 25 is framed by a new development of Ruri’s powers in a formula that should be obvious at this point. This time, Ruri just happens to wake up and find that her horns have changed shape from the usual straight and narrow to something decidedly more chaotic: Mr. Takemoto explains that this may or may not be because of the sports festival as dragons can sometimes change shape in accordance with heightened emotions, but it shouldn’t matter too much. One of the only effects it might have is to make her a little stronger.
Unlike some previous chapters, the way that Ruri’s powers help push the narrative forward isn’t as obvious here. There’s no calling down lightning or breathing fire this time, but a charitable interpretation of the word “strong” might explain how things turn out. In particular, there’s a moment halfway through when a representative from the action committee is supposed to say a few words to open the sports festival: Nakamura totally bombs, causing Ruri to take on the task. That definitely takes a lot of mental fortitude, especially with no preparation.
Even if Ruri’s confidence was temporarily buffed by her new horns, her recent character development definitely also has something to do with it. She already expressed the desire not to be feared in chapter 23, but RuriDragon chapter 25 introduces another idea in the form of not wanting to overshadow anyone because of her appearance or abilities. As she puts it, “[...]there are plenty of awesome folks at this school who’ve got more to offer than li’l old me, so please don’t be a stranger!!” Her desire to get that message across to the student body may have caused her to swallow her fear.
We all have something that sets us apart from others. No two people are exactly the same, but when we have special skills that are different from those around us, this can be isolating. Learning how to deal with this is part of growing up, which is a theme that RuriDragon is exploring beautifully.
You can read RuriDragon chapter 25 for free via VIZ Media’s Shonen Jump.
