Rika Nonaka

Rika Nonaka, known in Japan as Ruki Makino (牧野 留姫), is a fictional character in the anime and manga series Digimon Tamers. She is voiced, both when talking and singing, by Fumiko Orikasa (Japan) & Melissa Fahn (US).

Rika is the type of person who, in the beginning of the series, sees Digimon as nothing more than mere computer data, wanting her partner, Renamon, to be the strongest Digimon ever. But she eventually realizes that the two must be on equal partnership and friendship. She is very bitter and slightly antisocial thanks to her parents' divorce (as a result, her shirt in the beginning of the series has a blue heart broken in two), but Takato Matsuki (Takato Matsuda) and Henry Wong (Jenrya Li) manage to bring out the best in her. She lost a tournament to Ryo Akiyama two years before the series begins, which explains why she resents him. Rika takes Jeri Katou (Juri Katou) under her wing, teaching her about Digimon Taming when Jeri becomes a Tamer.

Rika's relationship with Renamon is unusual, more as a human contemporary than either a pet (like Guilmon was) or a playful child (like Terriermon). Rika's proud, independent, grouchy and cynical personality is substantially different from most of the female characters in the series. The exact reasons for this are unknown, although her mother is unusually young and her father is absent (see below).

Digimon Tamers: The Adventurers' Battle
With Takato, Henry and their partners on vacation in Okinawa, it was up to Rika and Renamon to keep the peace in Shinjuku as Digimon continued to appear at a rapid pace. When Digimon started appearing all over the world, Omnimon appeared to transport Rika and Kyubimon, along with Henry and Gargomon, to the battle site where Takato and Growlmon were fighting the true enemy: Mephistomon. Rika was present when the battle continued into an alternate dimension where the Tamers' Digimon combined their attacks to create the "Trinity Burst" attack to defeat Gulfmon and put a halt to the chaos in the Real World.

Digimon Tamers: Digimon Runaway Express
Rika's family and friends were planning a party for her and she was less than enthusiastic when Takato spilled the beans to her, after suggesting they go cherry blossom watching together when they actually happen "later" as Rika describes. The appearance of Locomon called her into action, along with Renamon, jumping onto one of Locomon's carriages with Takato. Taken over by a Parasimon which tricked her into attacking Takato and Renamon with memories of her father, Rika was freed when Guilmon destroyed the Parasimon controlling her. She Bio-Merged with Renamon to Sakuyamon to help defeat the Parasimon invasion in Tokyo. Following their defeat, Rika attended her birthday party thrown by her friends, only to leave just after blowing the candles out. Takato found her watching the sunset but Renamon stopped him from going to her, letting Rika be alone with the memories of her father. Soon after Rika came back inside her home she found Takato laying on the couch sleeping. Amazed by this site she has Renamon take Takato back to his home. Soon after, Takato woke up to find himself in his own bed in his own home. Not really worried of how he awoke in his bed, he went to take a shower to refresh himself. While in his shower, Renamon appeared in the bathroom. As soon as Takato seen her shadow behind the curtain, he continued his shower not really wondering as much as of why she was there in his house waiting for him to come out of the shower. After his shower was done, Renamon was kind of surprised for some reason to see him. Takato just then realized that the towel that he had wrapped around himself just had fell to his ankles. He was a little embarrased and put the towel up back around himself. Renamon had then apologized for her intrusion but Takato simply told her that it was ok and that these things happen every now and then. Renamon then smiled and Takato smiled back happily. Takato then got dressed and walked out the door with Renamon by his side. He asked her why she wasn't with Rika at the time and she told him that Rika has not awaken yet even though it was the weekend and it was 11:00 in the morning. Just now knowing this, Takato began to feel a little uncomfortable. He wonders if she is just sleeping or she is just off somewhere and by herself again. Renamon grew a little worried about him and figured he had feelings for her. Him and Renamon then went to look for Rika at her house and she wasn't there. They then looked all over town and even at the park and finally they found her by herself listening to her music. When they walked up to her, Rika then told Renamon that she thanked her for getting Takato out of bed. Takato then got even more uncomfortable with this situation and went to sit down on a bench that was at least one or two feet across from her. Rika then figured something was wrong with him and went to sit next to him. Takato then put his head down and didn't say a word. As Rika sat down, she asked him if he was ok but Takato didn't say a word to her. These were Takato's words after when he gave himself a minute to think about it. "Renamon came to my house just earlier and told me that you were still asleep and you weren't even home. I figured that something happened to you. Something bad. I was so worried." Rika was then shocked to realize that Takato had more feelings for her more than she thought. She then apologized and Takato said it was ok. As long as she wasn't hurt he felt more comfortable around her. She then turned to him and hugged him tightly and didn't let go for at least for five minutes. He then returned the hug tight as well. Soon after Rika, Takato, and Renamon left the park and went back to her home to get more relaxed, Takato turned on the T.V. He was watching the news for a little while and Rika asked him if he would like something to drink and he replied with a simple yes. Rika sat next to Takato so he could calm down and relax a little more. Renamon then joined them both on the couch sipping on some iced tea that Rika had made for each of them. Renamon asked Takato to get up and come over to her to warm up because of the cool weather from the outside day. He nodded his head and sat on the floor and warmed himself up on Renamon's fur. With her fur against him, he felt even more comfortable and a lot more safe. The story goes on from there.

Trivia

 * According to, Rika's earliest designs were influenced by Trinity of The Matrix, as an example of a strong female lead, before later settling on the red spikey 'pineapple-head' look instead.


 * After Rika received her D-Power and before she chose Renamon, among the shadowed Digimon who wanted Rika to tame either of them are:
 * 1st Window: Gekomon, Deramon, Minomon, Musyamon, WaruMonzaemon, a Digimon that might be Dolphmon
 * 2nd Window: Apemon, Phantomon, Bakumon, Tsubumon, Mummymon (in his human form)
 * 3rd Window: Gizamon, Tuskmon, Aquilamon, SkullMeramon (in his hat and trench coat from Adventure/ Season One), a Digimon that might be Apocalymon
 * She is the only character who actually got one of her image songs converted over to the US dub, in that, during Runaway Locomon, Melissa Fahn sings 'Promise', during the same sequence where Fumiko Orikasa sung 'Yuuhi-no Yakusoku', or 'Promise Of The Setting Sun', in Runaway Digimon Express.
 * During most of the series, Rika's top depicts a blue broken heart symbol. During the later part of the series she gets a new top from her mother in which the heart is complete. She continues to wear it for the rest of the series and in 'Runaway Locomon' possibly as a symbolization of her personality change over time.
 * In the anime seasons, Rika was the first female human who managed to bring her Digimon the Mega level. The only other case so far is Yoshino Fujieda in Digimon Savers who made her Lalamon evolve to Rosemon. Another case may be Hikari Kamiya, whose Angewomon digivolved into Magnadramon during one of the movies.