Ritsu Kodo

Ritsu Kodo (鼓堂リツ) is the protagonist of Digimon Dreamers. He is partnered to.

Development
When Digimon Dreamers was announced in 's October 2021 issue Ritsu resembled Hiro Amanokawa from Digimon Ghost Game. Ten'ya Yabuno later changed the design and confirmed Dreamers has no relation to Ghost Game.

Etymologies
Name used in the Japanese version of Digimon Dreamers.
 * Kodou Ritsu (鼓堂リツ)

Name used in the American English version of Digimon Dreamers.
 * Ritsu Kodo

Digimon Dreamers
At some point, Ritsu gained and raised on his Digivice.

When walking to school one day, Ritsu is suddenly summoned to the Digital World by Pulsemon,, and who happily celebrate seeing their summoning had been successful. Ritsu recognises Pulsemon, since it was the Digimon he had been raising on his v-pet, though tells Pulsemon he was actually about to delete him since he seemingly was unable to digivolve passed the Rookie level. Pulsemon objects, and tells Ritsu to train him until he digivolves into an awesome Digimon though Ritsu rejects him and declares he's going home. Ritsu changes his mind upon seeing how determined Pulsemon was to digivolve and, after noticing there were no strong Digimon nearby, learns from Patamon that the residents of Cypress Village were unable to digivolve passed the Rookie stage for some reason. A Megadramon flies over the village, apparently mid rampage, with Ritsu becoming more impressed with Pulsemon upon learning he wants to digivolve to be able to protect the village from threats such as that Megadramon and tells him he can summon him whenever he wants.

Some time later, Ritsu is summoned to the Digital World whilst taking a bath — shocking and embarrassing both Ritsu and the residents of Cypress Village.

One day, Ritsu is once against summoned to the Digital World, though rather than help Pulsemon train he instead relaxes at Burgermon's restaurant with some of the Cypress Village residents. Pulsemon shows up and yells at Ritsu for not helping him to become the strongest Digimon ever and tells him that they're going to going to go train at an active volcano — though Ritsu declares he has no intention of going to a volcano and would prefer to stay at the restaurant. He even gives Pulsemon his phone and tells him to live stream the training so he could see it that way though Pulsemon instead ties Ritsu up and forces him to go to the volcano with it, Patamon, and Bokomon.

Now untied, Ritsu watches on in fear as Pulsemon dodges fiery rocks shot out by the volcano. He tells Pulsemon he has no advice for him, with Pulsemon using the rope to tie a protesting Ritsu to his back figuring that if he dodged the rocks with Ritsu on his back their hearts would become one and he would be able to digivolve. In the middle of doing so, Pulsemon stops and declares he's hungry — leading Ritsu to freak out since the rocks were still hurtling at them.

As Pulsemon eats, with Ritsu now free once again, a Vegiemon is drawn to the food's smell which worries Bokomon as Vegiemon is a Champion level Digimon. Pulsemon finds the situation perfect, since defeating a Champion would be worth lots of experience with that declaration angering Vegiemon as it states a Rookie would be unable to defeat it. Pulsemon insists it will be able to win as its partner will be cheering it on and begins to charge into battle, only for Ritsu to grab its tail and stop it. Pulsemon is confused but then watches as one of the fiery rocks hits Vegiemon, setting it on fire. Pulsemon celebrates winning — though Patamon points out it didn't gain any experience as it didn't actually defeat Vegiemon. Bokomon notes that it was a valuable battle, as they found out that Ritsu was a master of checking his surroundings which will help him to become a master Tamer.

Some time later, just as he was about to get some burgers and fries from Wc Donald's, Ritsu is summoned again. As he complains about the fact he wasn't able to get his food, the Digimon assume it's a greeting and start copying him — though he quickly lets them know that isn't the case. Pulsemon tells Ritsu they had summoned him to give him some good news — Tanemon had been successful in selectively breeding meat. As Ritsu expresses shock that meat grows out of the ground, Pulsemon tries to get some of it though it is stopped by Tanemon as it isn't ready to be eaten yet. One of the many Agumon cook the meat with its Pepper Breath, which allows the residents, and also Ritsu, to eat the meat together. After finishing it, Pulsemon and Ritsu fall asleep.

After they wake up, Pulsemon trains, with the Cypress Village residents watching. Ritsu asks it what it's going to digivolve to if it ever manages to, with Pulsemon insisting it would one day digivolve to Bulkmon. As Pulsemon is defeated by its own punching bag, a Jyarimon runs in panicked — telling everyone that an Ogremon had shown up.

They go to the meat farm, where they find Ogremon and Monmon stealing and eating the meat. As Tanemon had made the meat for the residents it tries to stop them though is easily defeated by Ogremon. As Ogremon laughs at how weak everyone in the village is, Monmon telling it the village was cursed and no one could digivolve passed Rookie, Pulsemon attacks Ogremon with the surprise attack pissing Ogremon off and it declaring it will kill Pulsemon in revenge. Just like Tanemon, Pulsemon loses from only one attack though refusing to go down it gets back up and continues to fight. It figures the more damage it takes, the closer it would get to being able to digivolve and tells Ogremon to beat it up as much as it wants. Ogremon and Pulsemon continue to fight, with Pulsemon standing no chance against its Champion level opponent. Ritsu and the Cypress Village residents watch on in horror, with Ogremon stating Tamers were useless and even telling Ritsu he should fight in Pulsemon's place. Ritsu, fearing for his life, apologizes to Pulsemon for being useless with Ogremon laughing and telling him to run away to the Human World where he belongs. Pulsemon, still refusing to go down, tells Ritsu he doesn't have to fight his battles for it and that he just has to believe in Pulsemon and that will be enough to allow Pulsemon to win. Bokomon backs this up, telling him to believe in his partner as that will give Pulsemon strength which spurs Ritsu on to cheer for his partner. As their hearts synch together, Pulsemon begins to digivolve with the residents shocked that someone from their village was about to break the curse. Unfortunately for Pulsemon, only its head digivolves. The Bulkmon head is so big compared to Pulsemon's body it can't even hold it up, which Ogremon and Monmon find hilarious. Not finding the situation funny, Pulsemon/Bulkmon is still able to charge at them with its head on the ground though Ogremon is able to stop it in its tracks without effort which reverts Pulsemon's head back to normal. This doesn't last long as Pulsemon's arms digivolve to Bulkmon's, revert back to normal, followed by its legs doing the same thing, and then one arm and one leg. Everyone watches on in horror, including Pulsemon, with Bokomon theorizing that Pulsemon's digivolution energy from its bond with Ritsu was trying to break the curse but can only digivolve parts of its body due to it. Though Pulsemon is unable to fully digivolve, Bokomon figures it should still have the power of Bulkmon within it which Pulsemon is able to prove as it was able to damage Ogremon with its temporarily digivolved parts (its body still alternating which parts of it was digivolved, meaning Pulsemon alternated which body parts it hit Ogremon with). Pulsemon jokes they should refer to its hybrid forms as "Bulsemon" with "Bulsemon" able to defeat Ogremon. Monmon wheels away its boss in a wheelbarrow, whilst Pulsemon celebrates its win by eating some of the saved meat.

Pulsemon, Bokomon, and Patamon once again summon Ritsu to the Digital World with Ritsu annoyed as he was about to get a victory royal — the Digimon having no idea what that meant. The Digimon take Ritsu to the nearby shrine, hoping they could find some hints there about why Cypress Village was cursed. Ritsu refuses to go in, since it radiates dark energy, though he's forced to go in anyway as Pulsemon ties him up with rope and drags him in. Not seeing a way in, Pulsemon digivolves its arm to Bulkmon's and breaks into it with Ritsumon telling it that it's just gonna end up getting even further cursed.

As they traverse through the shrine they come across a Sandiramon who gets annoyed at being woken up. Pulsemon tells Sandiramon to get rid of the village's curse, though it has no idea what Pulsemon is on about and decides it will kill it as punishment for waking it up. Bokomon tries to calm it down by offering it rocks, though Patamon says it wont work as stuck up Digimon can't be reasoned with as they're too childish to be able to contain their anger. Proving Patamon right, this pisses off Sandiramon even more with Ritsu and the Digimon only just able to avoid Sandiramon's attack. Finding Sandiramon spitting swords at it disgusting, Pulsemon spits at Sandiramon which shocks the snake Digimon. Insulted at Pulsemon's spit being compared to its sword spitting attacks it summons its spear and tries to kill Pulsemon with it though Pulsemon digivolves its arm to Bulkmon and blocks it. Confused as to what just happened, Sandiramon can only watch in shock as Pulsemon alternates which parts of its body are digivolved to Bulkmon with Pulsemon able to defeat it. Having lost, Sandiramon tells Pulsemon it has no idea about the curse and it should look elsewhere. Sandiramon goes back to sleep, with Bokomon pulling out some meat. Sandiramon smells the meat, wakes up, and chases the group deciding it wanted to eat the meat.

Bokomon teaches Ritsu and the Cypress Village residents about DigiCode, though Pulsemon sleeps through the lesson.

As Pulsemon practices writing its autograph in DigiCode Ritsu asks what Lil Pal is doing. Being called little annoys Pulsemon and it demands that if he is going to give it a nickname to give it a cooler one and hates being called little as it makes it seem like he would prefer it stay as Pulsemon. He eventually calms down and turns it from an insult to instead being that Pulsemon is so cute Ritsu would prefer it that way due to its cuteness. Ritsu is surprised saying something like that doesn't embarrass it and changes the subject, asking again what it was doing. It shows off that it was practicing writing its autograph with it writing "The Strongest" rather than its own name since that's supposedly what people will refer to it as in the future anyway. Ritsu finds that lame, which annoys Pulsemon.

Starmon shows up, sees one of the unused autograph cards, picks it up, and asks if anyone wants its autograph though they decline. Starmon assumes they were just being shy, though becomes annoyed when Pulsemon starts drawing its autograph on its body. Bokomon tells the others that Starmon was a self proclaimed star that boasts about its combat experience to as many people as possible with Starmon disagreeing stating it was not just a star, it was the creator of a universe and they should refer to it as the Big Bang. They ask why Starmon had even come to the village, with it stating it had wanted to get some of the legendary Cypress Meat there as Tanemon had started selling it. Tanemon charges 1000 bits, with Starmon surprised it would have to pay with how big of a celebrity it supposedly is. The group mock and insult Starmon, who asks for a sample to see whether it should buy some and after finding it amazing is insulted when Tanemon tells it what it gave it wasn't actually the same meat as it had instead given it regular meat. Pulsemon and the others laugh at Starmon and call it a loser which annoys it with Pulsemon challenging it to battle. The others tell Pulsemon to stop, as they didn't think they could beat it, but Starmon declares it was too late with Pulsemon able to avoid Starmon's meteor attacks by digivolving its feet into Bulkmon's. Seeing such a thing freaks Starmon out and now super high in the air Pulsemon de-digivolves its legs and changes to digivolving its head and falls onto Starmon, having its giant Bulkmon head collide with it. This was enough for Pulsemon to win, with Tanemon giving Starmon some Cypress Meat to make it feel better. Bokomon looks up the meaning of pal, and seeing it means friend tells Ritsu he should've told him earlier and that is delighted he gets to be Ritsu's "Pal-semon" though upon hearing that decides maybe they should forgoe nicknames as a surprised Pulsemon questions why.

When Ritsu Kodo is summoned to the Digital World|d one day, the Cypress Village residents express excitement at the fact a human was visiting them. Ritsu tells them they don't need to be surprised since he shows up all the time only for him to be shocked when they all run passed him and to a different human, Joe Wakamiya. A large amount of the residents jumping on him in excitement. Joe was surprised to see a Human living in a village with Digimon, whilst Pulsemon was surprised that other humans exist. Joe tells them that he travels the Digital World looking for the door to the S Dimension so that he can find his brother, with Pulsemon surprised at the fact he spends all his time in the Digital World. As Joe tells them about some of his journeys in the Digital World Pulsemon asks him if he knows of a way to reverse the curse of Cypress Village, which had him realize why there are so many weak Digimon in the village. Pulsemon boasts that he can digivolve parts of his body, with Joe thinking he's just joking though is proven wrong when Pulsemon digivolves his head into Bulkmon's. Figuring he had no idea how to reverse it, they decide he had been lying about his experiences and his goals at which point multiple Kuwagamon show up and attack the village. Joe tells them they were actually here as hired assassins to stop him getting to the S Dimension and tells an excited Pulsemon to let him deal with them as they're his enemies not theirs. He pulls out a shell and blows on it to summon his partner,, with Pulsemon and a forced Ritsu joining Joe on its back. Wingdramon then defeats the Kuwagamon. Pulsemon asks if they can go with Joe, though he tells them it's his adventure and he can't pull others into it and that they should go onto an adventure of their own instead. Pulsemon then declares it will train hard so it can go on an adventure with Ritsu.

Pulsemon trains to go on a journey with Ritsu, with Ritsu and other Cypress Village residents watching. Ritsu daydreams about how cool Joe and Wingdramon were, then snaps out of it and freaks out saying he's not the type of person to go on an adventure.

Pulsemon looks around, saying he has felt like they're being watched recently and right in the middle of eating some meat come across a drooling Espimon — the group having no clue where it had come from. Pulsemon assumes it had come to steal their meat, though Bokomon tells them that probably isn't the case she its a spy Digimon. Ritsu asks if it's the reason Pulsemon had felt like they were being watched and though Espimon denies its face says otherwise. Ritsu warns the group to be careful since they now know they're being spied on, though Epsimon tells it it will tell it anything it wants and starts telling it all about itself. Ritsu, finding this weird, asks Espimon if its actually a paparazzi instead of a spy though it denies being one and insists it's a spy that looks for rumours and suspicious information. It had heard about a Digimon who could only digivolve certain parts of its body and had come to find out more information about this unusual phenomenon so that it could sell that information to Vademon for lots of money. Having heard this, Pulsemon decides it would go and sell the information to Vademon itself, with Espimon falling into despair at the fact that if it does that wont be able to do so itself. Refusing to allow that to happen, Epsimon decides it will defeat Pulsemon so that it can sell it as research material. They are able to avoid each other's attacks and praise each other, with Pulsemon telling Espimon it should put his talents to more than just being a journalist — Espimon annoyed as its a spy not a journalist. Epismon uses its Divanish technique to turn invisible, and though Pulsemon tries to sense its presence it's no use and Espimon is able to land multiple unanswered attacks. Espimon attacks randomly, but on top of being invisible Epsimon is too fast for any of the random attacks to hit it. With Pulsemon unable to do anything and it taking hit after hit, Ritsu wonders what he can do to help and decides to pull out some meat. Pulsemon becomes excited to eat meat cooked by Ritsu but is disappointed when Ritsu says that isn't the plan. He reminds everyone how Espimon had revealed itself because of the meat before and figures if they cook some it'd reveal itself once again. Though it doesn't become visible again, it's unable to stop itself from drooling over the meat with the drool being visible. Pulsemon digivolves its head to Bulkmon and proceeds to easily defeat Espimon. Having learned what Pulsemon's ability was, Espimon decides that Vademon would have no interest in such information which leads to Ritsu asking if it knows anything about the village's curse. Though it knows nothing about it itself, it suggests they should go to Witchelny to learn about curses. After telling them about what Witchnely is, Pulsemon decides they should go on an adventure there. Patamon tries to get more information about Witchenly from Espimon but it is too busy talking about how it will sell information about the town's meat to listen.

Espimon tells them they can find, who knows about Witchelny, in the Sea of Memories.

Ogremon and Monmon hang out with Ritsu and the Cypress Village Residents, apparently having become friends with everyone at some point.

Pulsemon ties Ritsu up and forces him to go with it to the Sea of Memories, and upon seeing Wizardmon from afar whilst on a nearby cliff — jumps off it into the water to get to it. It jumps out of the water, scaring Wizardmon — Ritsu still tied up and going along for the ride. Pulsemon tells Wizardmon it had been looking for it, had seen it from afar whilst on the nearby cliff, and had jumped off it into the water to get to it. It tells them they wanted to go to Witchelny to lift the curse of Cypress Village and when Wizardmon tries to recall Witchely, its head begins to hurt. As it continues to try and remember about it, it gives up and tells them it has amnesia and gets headaches every time it tries to think about Witchelny. When they ask it for help to get to Witchelny, it asks them if they were looking for knowledge and after they confirm they are — it suddenly attacks them stating they are not its friends. Not scared of Wizardmon, Pulsemon fights back and Wizardmon struggles — unable to remember its finishing move. No matter how hard it tries to do an attack, random magic tricks happen instead, and as Wizardmon gets angrier and angrier it attacks Pulsemon with its fishing rod. Even without using any attacks, Wizardmon was strong — leading Pulsemon to digivolve its head into Bulkmon — which allows it to defeat the Wizard Digimon. Wizardmon apologizes for flipping out, telling it that as it has amnesia it can be of no use to the duo. A Dragomon then comes out of the sea. It had sensed Wizardmon's latent magical powers, and attacks it — having decided it wanted those powers for itself so it could use those powers to become ruler of the sea. Wizardmon trying to remember its powers causes it headaches, which also causes it to do random magic tricks. Dragomon is confused and demands an answer, and learns that Wizardmon has amnesia. Pulsemon digivolves its head into Bulkmon and attacks Dragomon, but its attacks do nothing to the Ultimate level Digimon. Dragomon then easily defeats the partially digivolved Pulsemon. It turns its attention back to Wizardmon, though Pulsemon refuses to give up and attacks Dragomon again. As Dragomon slams Pulsemon into a wall, Wizardmon tells it to stop and begs Ritsu to take Pulsemon away as Dragomon was here for it, not them. They refuse to back down, stating they had to protect Wizardmon as they needed to get to Witchelny to learn how to remove the curse on Cypress Village.

Feeling like it had been in a similar situation before, Wizardmon thinks back and is able to remember the time it and its friends were attacked by. As Wizardmon was on the brink of death, Leomon had thrown it through a portal to another World so it could heal its wounds which is how it had come to find itself where it was. It thanks Ritsu and Pulsemon for helping it to get some of its memories back and tells Dragomon it would not be defeated by it as it had friends in Witchely to go back to. Ritsu and Pulsemon are happy to see it had regained its memories, with Wizardmon pulling its staff out of its hat so that it could fight Dragomon. Pulsemon, realizing that it had done so, reacts excitedly and tells it that it can feel the same type of pulse within it that Pulsemon itself has. Pulsemon insults Dragomon and tells it that it should get ready to lose — with Dragomon attacking Pulsemon, easily defeating it. Now turning its attention to Wizardmon, Dragomon tells it that even with its regained powers and memories it stood no chance against an Ultimate level Digimon. Wizardmon however, blocks Dragomon's Trident with its magic — shocking everyone. Pulsemon, now awake, tries to finish Dragomon off itself, but is once again defeated with very little effort from Dragomon. Dragomon attacks Wizardmon with its tentacles, but as Ritsu freaks out about how many of them there are — Wizardmon uses its staff to chop the ends of all of them off. As Wizardmon defeats Dragomon with its Thunder Cloud attack, Pulsemon begins to resonant with Wizardmon with Pulsemon happy as Wizardmon uses electric attacks as well. This has Ritsu wonder if this resonation was why the two Digimon had been so in synch since Wizardmon had got its memories back.

Pulsemon decides it wants to be as strong as Wizardmon and asks if it can have Wizardmon's staff but Wizardmon turns it down, stating that even if it had the staff it wouldn't become as strong as it. Wizardmon thanks for the duo for helping it get its memories back, then upon being asked for an explanation tells them that Witchelny, in its current state, would be unable to help them — this information shocking Ritsu and Pulsemon.

Pulsemon assumes that Wizardmon just didn't wanna share, since the magic within Witchelny should be able to help solve the digivolution curse of Cypress Village. Wizardmon tells that that that isn't the case, and that Witchelny was unable to help them as it had fallen into ruin due to Feresmon. It explains everything it had done, and becomes motivated to return home so that it could put a stop to Feresmon's rule. It tells its new friends that they can probably find a spell to help them within a spell book in the New Earth Archives in the library of the Academy but breaks the news to them that said library had been sealed and that no one was allowed to enter. Since Witchelny was unable to help them in its current state, it tells them to go there once it has been restored to its former glory with Wizardmon shocked when Pulsemon jumps onto it with a tied up Ritsu being dragged along as well. It tells Wizardmon that the two of them would obviously be going with it to Witchelny so that they could help defeat Feresmon.

Within Witchelny, Leomon is teaching a group of younger Digimon about magic. Devimon and a group of Vilemon find them though, which causes the young Digimon to run away. Devimon tells Leomon it is not allowed to teach magic, with a fight ensuing. Due to Feremon's magic, Devimon's attacks were strengthened — which allowed it to easily defeat Leomon. Devimon mocks Leomon about the supposed death of its friend Wizardmon, with Leomon telling it that Wizardmon wasn't dead and would return to them one day. Just as it was about to finish Leomon off Ghostmon, one of the Digimon Leomon had been teaching, attacks Devimon with its attacks doing nothing. It tells Devimon it wants to learn about magic so that it could use it to help other Digimon and make the World a better place but it doesn't listen and defeats Ghostmon. Leomon yells out that Devimon and the others had just monopolized magic for its own gain and had stolen the chance for younger Digimon to learn and grow with this claim angering Devimon. It turns its attention from Ghostmon back to Devimon and decides that Leomon's punishment was death. Wizardmon yells out for Devimon to stop, with Devimon shocked — only for it to see Pulsemon, with its head digivolved into Bulkmon — instead of Wizardmon. Everyone is shocked, and as they question who Pulsemon was — it attacks Devimon with its Bulkmon fist (having de-digivovled its head and digivolved its arm). As it mocks Pulsemon, it tells it it will defeat it only be shocked when it sees Pulsemon was with Wizardmon. Leomon and Ghostmon were delighted at the fact it had returned but Devimon was less so. Devimon flies away, saying it needs to tell Feresmon about this. Pulsemon laughs saying that's good, and that it can take it with it to meet Feresmon, with Devimon shocked upon seeing the Bulkmon headed Pulsemon riding on its back. Rather than take Pulsemon with it to meet Feresmon though, it attacks Pulsemon — causing it to drop from the sky and land on the floor.

With Devimon having escaped, the group were unable to do anything leading Leomon to take everyone to its secret hideout. Wizardmon happily reunites with its friends, with them happy to see that its wounds had been healed. They tells it that they had been teaching magic to other Digimon and had been searching for a way to defeat Feresmon, with this claim causing Pulsemon to loudly yell that it was going to defeat Feresmon. Wizardmon tells a confused crew that Pulsemon and Ritsu had helped it out and that they were going to help them defeat Feresmon, though Mojyamon doubts their skills. Ghostmon asks to come along so that it can help defeat Feresmon but Pulsemon turns it down as it didn't think it would be strong enough to help them. Determined to test out Ghostmon's strength, Pulsemon challenges it to battle and though Mojyamon tries to put a stop to it Numemon is able to talk it into allowing a battle to happen so that they could see how strong Pulsemon was. Pulsemon is able to defeat Ghostmon easily by digivolving parts of its body into Bulkmon, with the partial digivolutions shocking Wizardmon's friends. As Pulsemon boasts, Ghostmon cries stating that it didn't know just how had the residents had it since they weren't allowed to learn magic and that the fact it wasn't allowed to learn any and get stronger meant that Feresmon had stolen it and its friends futures. Ritsu corrects Ghostmon, telling it that they were pretty much as the same and explains the curse of Cypress Village. It tells Ghostmon that they don't want it to rush recklessly into battle, with Ghostmon touched by the fact they were so similar. Pulsemon tells it to stay home and leave its future in its hands, with Pulsemon's resolve bringing it to tears. Wizardmon's Witchelny friends were also impressed with its resolve. Ritsu tries to stay behind with Ghostmon but he is given little choice when Pulsemon ties him up. The group, sans Ghostmon, then leave on their journey to take down Feresmon.

The united group of allies charge to the castle. Upon reaching it, they are attacked by the Vilemon. After taking them out, Minotaurmon, Cyclonemon, and DarkLizardmon ambush the group. Cyclonemon attacks Leomon, Mojyamon fights DarkLizardmon, and Numemon fights Minotaurmon. As those fights happen, Leomon yells at Wizardmon to go on with it — and the other non combatants — joining it. As the remaining party reach the castle, they run into Devimon. Devimon instantly attacks Pulsemon, with Devimon able to avoid its Bulkmon attacks this time. Wizardmon joins the fight but neither of them are able to do much to it, with Wizardmon figuring it had been magically enhanced to become stronger. By using Witchelny's magic to power itself, its power was 50% stronger than had it digivolved to the Ultimate level — making it a very powerful foe. And to make matters worse, Feresmon's abilities power it up even more.