The Illuminati Arc - Ryuuji's feelings (A Ryuumo Analysis)
I wanna talk about Ryuuji's feelings during the Illuminati Arc (or as I prefer to call it, the Izumo arc), and the relevance and focus given to his feelings regarding Izumo just for all of it to come to a culmination and a new beginning at the end of the arc in the hospital hallway.
Warning: This will be kind of a long analysis, so beware of the length.
It starts with Izumo being kidnapped, and Shima being revealed as a spy, he confronts them and then leaves. The gang only saw the last part of the whole ordeal, and they didn't see Shima's big role in Izumo's kidnapping.
We saw how deeply affected Ryuuji was with Shima's betrayal, being all silent and moody during the first half of the trip but got kicked out of it by Rin. With that his issues with Shima got dealt with and settled down in an individual manner, as he came back to his usual self after that. Now the only thing left unresolved was his personal feelings regarding Izumo.
Now, we know that this is a shonen manga, where the romance has to be shown in a very straightforward and concise way, so that the average reader can take a quick look at it and go, "ah yeah, he likes her/she likes him/they like each other, whatever ok" so that they can continue with the battles and action (although I have noticed throughout the entire manga, that Kato sensei likes to add a large amount of romantic and teenage stuff, which just gives me more content to analyze juejue). So with all this, is clear that the romantic hints will be a lot less detailed and elaborated and more like in your face stuff.
Anyways, going back to Ryuumo.
They were then given a specific moment to sit down and listen to Izumo's backstory told by a summoned Mike. We can see their reactions in relation to Izumo.
First we got this, on ch. 51.
And then this on ch. 52.
Imean, just look at dat face.
He looks sad af, he is the only one with an expression like that. Compared to the rest of the gang, that are more of in a "business/mission" mode like Yukio and Takara, or in a "we gotta save our nakama!!" mode like Shiemi and Rin. Koneko is in the middle ground, still worrying about Shima and the mission but not specifically thinking about Izumo.
But then we got this on ch. 53:
This panel is very short but tells so much, here Ryuuji is the only one having an actual reaction, the amount of focus and details on this panel is impressive: from the shape of the speech bubble, the black background looming over Ryuuji's head, symbolizing the dread, horror and fear he's thinking and feeling for Izumo's situation, his expression of pure angst, shock and worry, with those lines under his eyes, the words of concern he spoke, which look and sound more deep and angsty in the Japanese version. Even Konekomaru turns to look at him for a moment. Ryuuji is showing serious and deep concern for her.
But again, this is a short lived panel that gets interrupted by Shiemi's exclamation of "then let's hurry!" and then Rin saying that he barely listened to what Mike was saying, my poor Rin with his short attention span, but with this panel is established the specific and distinct amount of care Ryuuji has over Izumo compared to the rest of the gang.
Then, when they are infiltrating, Mike is summoned back by Izumo, alerting the gang of her situation inside the facility. Once they are inside and get separated, is Ryuuji's moment to battle against the chimera zombie.
Now, I want to state that Ryuuji is going through so much internal turmoil during this arc, to the point that he is unable to process what he is feeling and why he is reacting this way for Izumo:
He's going through an existential crisis, of
losing his ambition and purpose.
Dealing with the stress of having to fight for his life and his friends.
Seeing the kind of shit the Illuminati do.
Worried af for Izumo: her being kidnapped, being used as a subject experiment, seeing her getting posessed, necrotized, suffering, crying, her mother dying, mourning, witnessing her changing and asking for help right in front of him.
All of this while dealing with the fact that Shima is still a traitor in his eyes.
During his battle against the chimera he's having this internal struggle and monologue that settled deep inside him since the Kyoto Arc, he's remembering about those moments in his childhood when he felt that his life had a purpose (being the pivot of Myooda), but after the defeat of the Impure King, he realizes that everything has changed, everyone has moved on with their lives, and feels like he is no longer needed, that his ambition has no purpose anymore since everyone in Myooda is already doing their own thing and going on separated paths, just like Shima and Konekomaru.
During this moment, he thinks of his dad, Shima and Konekomaru (u know, the closest and most important people in his life), and he also thinks of Izumo and the words she told him during their first altercation.
Her words resonate in his head as they highlight the reality he's facing: he realizes that he can't go back to the way things were before, that his goal of defeating Satan is unrealistic, he's not going to magically glue and fix the entirety of Myooda back together, everyone already has their own personal goals and purposes, they are taking their own decisions and keep moving forward despite what happened in the past, they find their personal ambitions and interests and pursue them, and now he finds himself alone.
This is one of the main things I think Kato sensei is trying to show us with her work: (aside from showing us the importance and different ways of parental love), she is also teaching us about growing up, maturity and the process of becoming an adult, all this tied to the fear of change, of the unknown, and uncertainty that it entails. (I would also like to add that with the process of growing up, it also comes with the development of romantic feelings and attraction in certain cases).
Ryuuji is realizing all of this and coming to terms with the fact that the ambition he set when he was little and lived with his family is no longer necessary, nor his goal of defeating Satan realistic. He wants to find a new reason, a new ambition to become an exorcist.
Anyways, going back to Ryuumo again jaja.
They all reunite together and we then hear Gedoin boasting about his horrible experiments on humans. We get Yukio summarizing the reason why they kidnapped Izumo and we get these reactions.
Yukio seems slightly worked up, Rin seems shocked and astonished, Shiemi seems mad and shocked as well and then we have Ryuuji, with a face of barely being able to process the information that is being said to him. He looks like he can't even begin to imagine what they did to Izumo.
On the next pages we have each person reacting to the stuff Gedoin did to all the people he used for his experiments, causing each member of the gang to react differently, Ryuuji looks mad af, Koneko looks nervous but determined, Shiemi and Rin are still in shock, Yukio is still in worked up but in mission mode and Takara looks like he got lost lmao I can't.
Then Izumo appears in the distance as she is being taken to the main lab, Shiemi notices and shouts her name, Rin inmediately jumps to rescue her and we get a glimpse of each person seeing Izumo for the first time since the kidnapping.
Now, the next panels are one of the most important ones. Izumo is being offered Rin's hand but as we know, she hesitates and ends up refusing it angrily.
(1) Now, look at the way Ryuuji is the most vocal of the group regarding Izumo's rejection, the speech bubble with the little "???" is only directed towards him, it doesn't have more arrows pointing at the rest of the gang.
(2) He's the one openly reacting to her actions in an unbelieving and angry way, shouting "What the hell is she doing?!" He can't understand why she wouldn't just take Rin's hand and escape with them.
(3) When they go down with Kuro towards the lab center, Ryuuji protects her, Rin and Tamamo from a group of zombies and when she rejects their help with the exorcism of the Nine Tails, Ryuuji snaps at her angrily (even Koneko seems surprised).
Now the translation of this panel is a bit confusing, since the English (and most likely official translation), says "Kamiki!! Cut the attitude!!" but I went to check the Japanese version and the literal translation would be something like "What are (were) you doing earlier?".
(Now, I'm not that proficient with Japanese, I'm learning it on my own but still, I'm doing this with the rest of Ryuumo moments jaja, to practice and getting more feels).
So, if we follow the literal Japanese translation, he was snapping at her for what she did back on the bridge, when she refused to go back with them. He was still hung up on her previous actions and was questioning her about it. He felt and made that thing personal. Compared to Rin and Shiemi who gave almost no importance to her refusal, they didn't take it personally and kept pushing and trying to offer their hand while Ryuuji is trying to understand why she's behaving like that.
Then they see her get posessed and Ryuuji inmediately asks Yukio if there's a way to exorcise the Nine Tails, he was going to do the exorcism without thinking twice. Izumo's mom wakes up and starts performing the ritual, Yukio tells everyone to protect them and Ryuuji tells Izumo to "Hang in there, Kamiki! The exorcist certification exam is in three months!!" That topic being the last thing he heard and agreed with her before she was kidnapped, the last moment he had a bond with her.
Izumo gets exorcized and her mom is now laying down as she tells Izumo her last words.
I'm glad that Tamamo could get a glimpse of Izumo being surrounded by friends before passing away, and just how her words were that of "you will be all right... you have many friends... and Tsukumo, Uke and Mike... so you will be all..."
(Excuse me while I go cry in a corner)
So, I just wanted to add the fact that Ryuuji was right behind her and he was the first one shown mourning with the biggest panel (happening after Rin's panel and Yukio's giving the veredict).
Then everyone is back to fighting against the zombies, Izumo recovers Uke and Mike and she proceeds to ask the gang for help, as Ryuuji stands there looking and waiting, with an arched brow, for her to finish her sentence.
Here, he is finally getting one of the things he was always searching for with Izumo since the beginning, which was to form a bond, for them to work together and letting him help her. Shiemi and Rin answer her first, as the main nakamas and next is Ryuuji being a whole tsundere telling her it was "Needless to say, idiot." (In the direct Japanese translation).
Then everyone is fighting against Gedoin and Ryuuji is the one that lands the final protective blow that allows Izumo to finish her aria chant and use her Mitamashizume no Harai or Repose Spirit ritual.
Finally they are all done with the big heated battle, Shima appears and Ryuuji gets more closure to his personal issue with him.
Then on the hospital is when things finally wrap up regarding Ryuuji's feelings. We see that he's the first one to wake up, leaving Rin and Konekomaru sleeping back in their room and is shown walking towards the girl's room to "check up on them". Check up on Izumo you mean Ryuuji.
Then occurs the whole thing with Tsukumo and Izumo starts telling Shiemi (and Takara as well, being that he's still in the room), about her little sister and her reason to become an exorcist.
Now I want to highlight the fact that at this point when she closed the door and started talking, Ryuuji was already on the other side of the door and listened to her entire revelation, evidenced by the next page.
The best part was that even though Izumo is telling Shiemi, Kato sensei made it so that Ryuuji also listened to it, since he was the first one to ask her about her reason to become an exorcist. He asked for it and finally got his answer: Izumo was doing everything for her little sister's safety. She was putting her family first. The very same reason Ryuuji wanted to become an exorcist, for his family, the very same life motto Lightning reminds Ryuuji to go attend to, some chapters later.
And Ryuuji blushes at this.
We see him stare at nothing with a look of realization and acceptance as he blushes silently. *screams internally* (What does this mean?! Is this what I think it is?? I don't want to assume stuff but seriously is all THERE!!! Is so painfully obvious UGH!)
(ALSO, please remember the shirt he's wearing during this scene, it will be relevant for another post I will make.)
Then we see Rin and Koneko approaching Ryuuji and him instantly becoming all nervous, sweating, averting his eyes, (since he almost got caught blushing), trying to shoo them away in a quiet voice to not alert the girls inside but fails to do so as Izumo opens the door angrily embarrassed and proceeds to "exorcise" Ryuuji, and only Ryuuji. This being because it was evident with him telling the guys to "go back", and that "this is not a good time", was obvious enough for Izumo to realize that he had heard everything she had said, including her crying. And thus it was payback for listening to private stuff.
Also I want to add that they are the only ones making eye contact on the last panel. UGH so cuTe <3.
Also, the heck he was shooing them away but he wasn't actually going to leave with them?!?! He didn't seem like it, his a$$ looked dead set on staying there, dis dude, seriously, the dedication.
But, bueno, continuing with the analysis.
If anything, Ryuuji could be blushing because of many things:
Learning about her reason.
Both of them sharing the same goal and purpose (reunite their families).
Izumo crying and shouting her heart out.
Izumo finally being honest with herself.
Whatever the reason, the truth we know is that Ryuuji is blushing because of her.
After all that drama, battles, stress, danger, suffering, high tension and confusing feelings, he's now in the right state of mind to understand and process why he reacted the way he did during this entire arc and before.
Because he likes her.
Imean, NoThInG iS cOnFiRmEd in canon yet but we still got a whole a$$ love declaration seven chapters later with both characters blushing at each other for two panels straight. So ._. think whatever you want.
Anyways, that was my analysis on Ryuuji's feelings during the Illuminati Arc regarding Izumo.
(Sorry if I made a misspelling or grammar mistake somewhere, I spent the whole day writing this thing and my eyes and brain can no longer process English nor words correctly.)
Thanks for reading this far! See ya next time~!! <3
