TERASAKA RYOMA (寺坂 竜馬); E-16

Birthday: 10th April

Height: 180cm / 5’11

Weight: 77kg 

Blood type: O

Favourite subject: P.E

Worst subject: Anything literary

Interests: Martial arts exhibitions, wrestling DVDs

Past club: “Going home” club (AKA: nothing)

Treasure: His best friends

Favourite food: Gyudon

Family: Mother (Food company employee); Father (Security firm employee); Younger sister 

Codename: Pseudo Takaoka (given by Karma)

High school: Tamako Higashi High School

University: Hinomoto University 

As of 7 years later timeskip: Politician’s personal secretary

Why did he transfer to E-Class?: Bad grades across the board 

Voice actor: Kimura Subaru (JPN); Marcus D. Stimac (ENG)

L.A portrayal: Sugawara Ken 

Terasaka is brash, impulsive, reckless and doesn’t think things through. He has a rude and rough manner of speaking and carries himself with an air of self-importance. As he acts without thinking, he ends up honest to a fault which leads to him being straightforward and direct in his approach to things. He has a quick temper that is easily triggered, to the delight of those who tease him. 

He feels strongly towards those he cares about and, initially, this manifests as him asserting control over and ultimately stifling them. Over the course of his arc, these strong feelings evolve into him assuming a fiercely protective role and one of deep responsibility as he integrates with the rest of the class and evens out his relationship with Yoshida, Muramatsu, Hazama and Itona into one of understanding, trust and equality. 

Although his simplemindedness and general idiocy is a defining character trait, especially regarding his grades and capability for strategic and critical thought, he demonstrates a sharp perceptiveness throughout the series. He notices details others miss, even if he doesn’t always use those details effectively, which is noted right from chapter one and gains prominence during the Horibe Itona Time arc. 

In the beginning, he holds a selfish and individualistic mindset where he thinks only of what would most benefit him. However, as he grows, this morphs into the direct opposite. He becomes selfless, putting himself in the line of fire to help others, and group-oriented, even described as the one who keeps the class together by the end.

“寺”: Temple/office + “坂”: Slope/embankment 

“竜”: Dragon/metaphor for an emperor or hero + “馬”: Horse/the “dragon horse” piece in shogi

• His character contains many references to Gian from the Doraemon franchise, down to him sharing a voice actor with Gian in Japanese (Kimura Subaru).
• His tagline for the popularity poll for the manga was “Your property is my property!” in a specific reference to Gian from Doraemon.
• This being said, Kimura wasn’t actually chosen to voice Terasaka based on his performance as Gian, but because of his performance as Takakura Kanba in Mawaru Penguindrum.
• Matsui himself had Konishi Katsuyuki (Tengen in Demon Slayer, Diavolo in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure) in mind as a voice for Terasaka.
• Terasaka and Takebayashi frequent a maid cafe together. Initially, Terasaka only went because Takebayashi invited him and he was curious, but now it’s a regular thing they do. He eventually tricks Yoshida into going with them too.
• He owns a black iPhone.
• Although he loves singing (something that contrasts with his image), he is terrible at it. To the extent that the rest of the gang actively avoid him when he wants to do karaoke and he ends up dragging Kimura along instead.
• He hastily forced together band consisting of Nagisa, Karma and Hayami in the mobile game & a manga illustration that quickly broke up due to his awful singing.
• While everyone else wears typical indoor shoes when inside the classroom, Terasaka wears slippers. It’s even specified that he wears fluffier slippers during winter.
• In Korosuu, Terasaka’s maths lesson parodies Fist of the North Star down to referencing the famous quote, and meme, “Omae wa mou shindieru” / “You are already dead”.
• Terasaka has filled out the entirely wrong column on a bubble sheet during a test before.
• Even though he was made fun of by Karma and the rest of the class for wanting to pursue a career in politics, it’s noted in volume 14 that if he were to run for election, he already has their votes.
• He gave Ritsu her codename “Box of Moe” and Okuda her codename “Poison Specs”. Concerning the former, he vehementaly denies knowing what moe even is and gets flustered over imagining her as a maid.
• He and Muramatsu attend the same high school after graduating from Kunugigaoka and the same university after that (albeit different campuses).
• Initially he had no real aspirations, but by the end of the series he aspires to work as a member of the National Diet.
• At some point after the seven year timeskip, he becomes Karma’s personal secretary.
• He, Hazama, Muramatsu and Yoshida are together in all their character intros in the anime openings, including Korosensei Quest. They are the only group of characters alongside the sniper duo for which this is the case.
• His undercut is grey in its first coloured appearance in the manga and was later changed to bleach blond.
• He dressed as a mummy for Halloween because it was an easy costume, but was then put off when Hazama told him about the mummy’s curse.
• Hara is the only one who can truly stand up to him.
• Being around Kurahashi puts him at ease and allows him to be more open.
• He is closer in weight to Karasuma than he is to Maehara, the second heaviest student.
• Even though he’s at the bottom of 3-E grades-wise, he doesn’t score at the bottom of the whole grade in the first midterms. This could indicate Korosensei’s teaching already having an impact.
• The two times Terasaka cries are due to Korosensei. First out of fear, then out of grief. At the very start and very end of the series.
• In the anime, Terasaka is the only student during the final roll call to wrap his arms around and hold Korosensei’s tentacle to his chest, as everyone else pins him to the ground as instructed. This mirrors how Korosensei would wrap his tentacles around Terasaka in particular and lift him in the air.
• Although his English is noted to be the poorest among the class, he still manages to coherently yell at the government official in charge of Korosensei’s detainment after kicking him in the face. This is testament to how advanced 3-E are in the subject thanks to Irina overall.
• Itona calls Terasaka’s nose “dumpling-like”.
• His blood type ‘O’ is the universal donor blood type. Those with it can give blood to anyone regardless of type, befitting Terasaka's self sacrificial tendencies for the sake of others.
• Though Okuda chloroforms him during the play at the daycare and knocks him out, he’s shown to be up and on his feet helping out with the construction a few pages later. In the anime, they swapped him for Yoshida in that later scene, probably taking this into account. Otherwise, it reads as an insane display of his endurance.
• Terasaka admits that he finds Yoshida stylish.
• In the anime, Terasaka is the first character alongside Karma to appear in a scene with Itona.
• In the 3DS game, when you initiate a friendship building conversation with Terasaka, he invites you to get ramen at Muramatsu’s place and to see Yoshida’s bikes.