day 6

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For today's prompt i decided to choose a character that I'd consider rather odd to be a villain but a villain, nonetheless and that is Ryo from Devilman Crybaby. I'm not entirely sure about which pronouns to use since Ryo is supposed to be a fallen angel and they don't have a specific pronoun but for avoiding confusion in my speech, I'll use "he" since that is what his gender is in his human form and they to refer to their angelic form. Devilman Crybaby is an ironic series which really makes us question the good and the bad. An angel is supposed to be an epitome of goodness and peace and a devil is supposed to be ruthless and merciless but Devilman Crybaby throws a different limelight on these sentiments with the use of special characters especially Ryo. Throughout the series, we are made to fall in love with such a gentle looking person but we fail to realise the bigger picture. Ryo is written in such an devilish intricate way that it makes me absolutely love him.

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Ryo was the human form that the banished angel from heaven, Satan, took when he came to Earth. Thus, he has two different aspects of his personalities that were contradicting to each other and made him more interesting to watch despite the minor confusion. I loved how I viewed him as a ive friend and a good human in general but was shocked upon his slow revelations throughout the series. This gap in his personality stood out the most to me and i enjoyed seeing his twisted personality to shine through. His actions made me realise how messed up the reality truly was and it also emphasized on the demons within us. He had humanized emotions of empathy and care towards Akira but after watching the show, it made me question those feelings as well. Were those really genuine emotions or just another facade? This contradictory action combined with his morals and values made him such a great character that I enjoyed watching him a lot.

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Composure and maturity are the traits that Ryo's character is heavily based on. He had the guts to formulate such a meticulous plan and seemed to not waver in the slightest when the plan didn't pan out the way he wanted to. I loved how we are slowly exposed to his shrewdness and how his personality traits are peeled off slowly in layers. It seemed as if he knew and was confident that the destiny was on his side. His greed and selfishness was what that drove him to such insanity to obtain revenge and he thought that emotions weren't a thing for a long time. Yet again, we see his contradiction side peeking through with this idea. Throughout their time, Satan thought that emotions were non existent and thus, were able to act on such ideas. However, meeting Akira changed that perspective and we see towards the end of the series, how the emotions have slowly built in such a merciless creature.

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Initially, I found Ryo to be a caring friend and I liked him for it. For a short amount of time, i didn't find him particularly interesting and it made me question why he was labelled as an important character in the series. However, thode slow revelations about his character made him more impactful. I didn't quite catch on what they were hinting when it came to Ryo in the beginning but it soon became clear what his role was supposed to be. He played his role just perfectly, making Akira believe in him, taking care of him and going to lengths to make sure his Devilman secret remains a secret. However, it was Ryo himself who broke his own chains of trust and decided to let the true demon shine. This take on demon and angel was really fresh and I loved how they showed it the perspective of Ryo. According to the fallen angel, Satan, demons resided in all of us and they wanted to show the humans what demons truly meant with the help of Akira.

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Ryo/Satan is not a very popular villain and they aren't talked about as much as others. The series itself is unique when it comes to impact. It was pretty impactful when I watched and read it and i loved seeing Ryo/ Satan as the real villain in the series. It was refreshing to see Devil and Devilman being friends and then turning against each other because of their morals. I found the concept to be quite distinct but the impact was short term. However, I Ryo left a mark on me and his character really stood out to me despite me forgetting the series soon after. It was just something about his character that really left a mark on me. When i saw this prompt, i instantly decided to write about Ryo to show some appreciation to him.

#31spookydays

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