Reiji Oyama

Reiji Oyama

Nickname	Hot-blooded karate man
Age	24 (PI), 25 (PI2')' 26 (Matrimelee) 27(Senzo Kuyou)
Birthdate	July 27, 1969
Birthplace	Yokohama, Japan
Height	178 cm (5' 10")
Weight	74 kg (163 lbs)
Blood type	A
Animal	Boar
Zodiac	Leo
Occupation	Construction worker
Attack specialty	Balanced attacks
Family	Tokuji Oyama (Father, deceased) Reiko Oyama (Mother) Onabe Daiki (Boss) Rin Oyama (Cousin) Hatsue Oyama (Aunt)

"How you use your fighting skills determines whether or not you win or lose the match."

—Power Instinct 2

Reiji Oyama (大山礼児, Ōyama Reiji) is one of the characters designed for the series, making his first appearance in Power Instinct and has been a recurring character since.

He is somewhat of a parody of Ryu from the Street Fighter series. In this sense, he could also be considered a parody of the characters who are very much like Ryu in personality. Reiji was voiced by Seigo Aihara in the three first games and by Kijitani Toshiyuki in CR Goketsuji Ichizoku.

Reiji was designed to follow the traits of the typical Karate practicioner found in other fighting games. However, his personality is based on Hoshi Hyuuma from Kyojin no Hoshi (aka Star of the Giants), a 1966 baseball manga which had later got an anime adaptation two years later in 1968. Also in the first game of the series, the 1P cursor was placed over him when the character select screen had first appeared. Because of these factors, he was wrongly considered to being the main protagonist of the series when in actual truth the real main protagonists were the Goketsuji twins themselves. However, in some manga adaptations of the series, he is normally set as the hero of the story.

About Reiji[]

Reiji is very straightforward and honest and is the ultimate training fanatic. He does not do well with minute details, but excels at physical strength matches. He works part-time for a construction company to exert his excess energy. He also constantly searches for a worthy opponent.

Reiji is one of the characters with more conections with others and by the in-game dialogues, seems to be popular between the female characters of the series, even above Sahad who is the the narcisist pretty boy type character of the series. Along the series he gained rivalry with Oume, who defeated him on th 16th Goketsuji Tournament. In Shin Goketsuji Ichizoku Toukon Matrimelee appeared the brothers Buntaro and Shintaro who idolize Reiji and in Matsuri Senzo Kuyou appeared Rin Oyama who is Reiji's cousin sister, according to the relation diagram from CR-Goketsuji Ichizoku, Reiji became mentor of the three teenagers and is training them, however the relation between his disciples is very bad.

Karate Way[]

Reiji is not interested in a martial art or sport other than karate. He holds Black belt 6 Dan by the time of Power Instinct 2. When he was younger, he won all stundent karate championships for five consecutive years, but after that. he stopped participating in that kind of tournaments, cause there wasn't any challenge for him, he just became to strong for that competitions.

Reiji who is an expert in karate, begun to look for tournaments which allowed its contestants to use any kind of techiniques at full strength rather than regular karate tournaments in order see his true potencial. However he didn't found to much of a challenge either in no rules combat until he participated on the 16th Goketsuji Tournament.

Becoming Stronger[]

Reiji was bitter about his defeat on the 16th Goketsuji Tournament. He spent his days thinking what he could do to become stronger, trying to find a way to make his training harder and more efective. One day at the construction company, while he was working, a spanner fell down from the top of the place, Reiji had a quick reaction saving one of his partners to be beaten by it. In that momment, Reiji had an idea(something that doesn't happend very often).

That day at his lunch time, Reiji called his fellows of the cheering party, Reiji told them that he needed their help for training and ask them that every time they were close, without any warning, no matter what, no matter when or where they will be, they should attack him with all their strenght individually or in groups at any time even if the oportunity to attack comes when Reiji is on the bathroom, they should attack.

At firts some members expressed their concern, but at the end the response was positive as they felt honored to help to his role model in his training and at the moment they stop talking, Reiji was surprisingly attacked by his friends. So thats how Reiji started with his new training regime, every day he received sorpresive attacks at any time of the day, he was really enjoying training with his friends and feeling happy as results of his efforts were starting to show up (His body was getting visibly stronger)

But as the days went by, the number of friends willing to keep training decreased til finally nobody showed up. One night Reiji was sleeping on his bed, suddenly, he felt something weird like he wasn't really alone, he tought was only his imagination he closed his eyes, but then something attacked Reiji, who barely evaded the attack, when Reiji got up and turned the light on, he saw three of his friends of the cheering party on his room.

Reiji feel moved that although the training was very hard, tiresome and sometimes a bit dangerous, there was still some of his friends supporting him to achieve his goal of becoming stronger. Reiji couldn't hide his tears of joy.

Participation Details[]

Power Instinct

Reiji's goal is to be as strong as his father was. Knowing about the lineage of martial arts of the Goketsuji family, Reiji is sure that he will find many worthy opponents and by facing them he will start his way to becoming a true warrior.

Power Instinct 2

After a year of intense training, Reiji's muscles and height increased. Even his spiritual power seems to be stronger, so the tournament is the perfect opportunity to find out if he will be able to take advantage of his new attributes. As fruit of his discipline, not only has his previous attacks also have improved, but he has some new attacks to use against his opponents.

His boss Daikichi, was who helped Reiji to prepare for the 17th Goketsuji Tournament and using concepts from civil engineering taught him most of the new techniques that he the new tournament the most important was the Ryu kishou Enzan.

Power Instinct Legends

Always looking for a good fight, Reiji signed in for the Goketsuji Friendly Exhibition Tournament to have the opportunity to fight against the one called "the strongest man in the world".

Toukon Matrimelee

Reiji received an invitation to participate in a fighting tournament that is going to be held in a faraway country in which the prize is to get married with the princess of that Kingdom. Reiji decided to participate in the Matrimelee tournament. However his aim is not really the princess; he participates to test his Karate.

Bonnou no Kaihou

One of Reiji's dreams is to produce a movie that shows the way he thinks a man should live. Participating in the Bonnou no Kaihou tournament, he will be closer to realize that dream!

Senzo Kuyou

Reiji joined the Matsuri Senzo Kuyou tournament without even thinking about it. He is all about fighting, so a fist-to-fist encounter with the other combatants was enough to make him happy to join.

Special Moves[]

Gekishouhadouha (Violent Palm Moving Wave) - Reiji throws a ball of lightning at his opponent. In Matrimelee, it was made a fireball.
Ryuenshou (Flying Dragon Punch) - Reiji goes flying into the air, executing a flaming two-punch uppercut attack, engulfing the opponent in blue flames, though the color was changed in Matrimelee. This attack can also be done while dashing.
Raikoukyaku (Lightning Kick) - Reiji unleashes a barrage of lightning-fast kicks. This could also be done while dashing. In Power Instinct Legends, if one taps the button for a long enough time, he will periodically throw fireballs from his legs.
Shouenbu (Dragon Dive Attack) - Reiji comes flying down with a deadly flaming kick from midair. Since Power Instinct 2, he swings an additional kick when the initial attack connects.
Omae Nanka Kouja - Reiji executes an elbow drop on the opponent, then can come back up with a deadly kick with both legs. This special move was a chain command move in Power Instinct Legends, and was made a command attack in Matrimelee.
Koga Rengeki (Tiger Fang Violent Attack) - Reiji grabs his opponent, then flips over with them to where he lands on top of his foe, and repeatedly punches them in the face. This was originally a throw in Power Instinct 2 and Power Instinct Legends, but was then made into a special move in Matrimelee.
Ryu Kishou Enzan (Dragon's Rising Flames Slice) - Reiji rushes the opponent and unleashes a wild combo of attacks, finishing the opponent with a Ryu En Shou. This was somewhat changed to a dramatically different move in Matrimelee.
Geki Ko Sho Shou (Violent Tiger Rising Palm) - Reiji powers up and slams a karate chop into the ground, making a blast in the shape of a tiger rise out for massive close-range damage. It is an unblockable attack.

Music Themes[]

Otoko no Karatemichi (Way of the Karate Man) - Power Instinct
Otoko no Karatemichi: Part II (Way of the Karate Man: Part II) - Power Instinct 2
Otoko no Karatemichi: Yakyuu Ouenfuu (Way of the Karate Man: Baseball Version) - Power Instinct Legends
The No-Money Ranger - Matrimelee / Bonnou no Kaihou
Otoko no Karatemichi: Kanzen Ban(Way of the Karate Man: Complete) - Senzo Kuyou

Related Characters[]

Buntaro and Shintaro Kuno: Both are admirers and disciples of Reiji.
Rin Oyama: Cousin
Keith Wayne: Friendly Rivalry
Kurara Hananokoji: Liking
Kuroko: Good Friend (usually coaches Reiji)
Annie Hamilton: They share confidence in each other.
Daikichi Oninabe: Reiji's boss at the construction company
Tokuji Oyama: Reiji's Father
Megumi Oyama: Half sister(not canon)

Appearances[]

Sprites[]

Artwork[]

Trivia[]

In The King Of Fighters '94, Rugal (the final boss) has a collection of statues of his defeated foes. One of the statues looks like Reiji performing the Raikoukyaku. It is possible that this was a stab at Atlus from SNK.