#ryo expies

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Woe, MS paint diagram of the retroactive Komaedification of N be upon ye

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Wow both ibuprofen and ryoakira in one page

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Kinda relevant extremely funny lore about me is that the first time I saw the NGE art style was actually this pic from an isshushipping uncredited art sideshow pmv when I was 13 (original)

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Losing my absolute fucking mind realizing they did this with N when Ghetsis tries to kill him in generations. While he's voiced by Akira Ishida

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The idea of Ryo expies has been interesting to me lately (as in there is very silly possibilities for them.) I was wondering if the similarities just…come to you over time, or is there just an official Documentation ™️ of all of them?

Once you know to look for them, they start coming to you, but they've somehow managed to stay as kinda under the surface as anime lore and don't have any kind of wiki that I know of. The closest that there is to a widespread concept of them afaik is the idea of 'Komaedas'/the Komaeda checklist, which is like... similar concept but without the awareness that there is actually a legitimate link here between a lot of the "major" ones

I was actually working on a wiki for them, but I ended up putting it on hiatus because I figured there'd be more interest in a decent translation of gekiman lol (which I have,, also had to put on hiatus because of school, but I'll get back to it soon). It's something I do want to get around to though

The first time I saw any concept of it was from this tweet (which appears to be a repost of a pic from here), but it did give me the idea to try and organize them by lineages, so here's some similar maps I tried to make for Ryos/Akiras/Mikis/Amons with a few friends a while ago. This is the closest to a list that I know of existing, and I know these are definitely still missing a bunch. I don't think I've posted these before? So here I guess, incomplete or not

(Ignore the colour coding; it was kinda an attempt to organize how confirmed of an expy characters are (confirmed influence on character/confirmed influence on series/speculation of varying degrees of insanity) but a lot of it is guesswork since we didn't really go digging through interviews for every creator.)

We also kinda had an attempt running at creating our own checklist based off some ideas from the above linked map, the Komaeda checklist, and this chart, but I honestly haven't looked at it in a few years so I should review it before posting it. Input/criticism on any of this is very welcomed of course

My DMs are also always open if you wanna hang out and talk about any of this. It made me embarrassingly happy to get this ask and I was struggling not to prioritize answering it over like... homework

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@147cookies it's actually surprisingly direct! There's been general admissions of devilman being an influence on death note (the crybaby hand poster, Satan fanart, how using Christian imagery in shounen generally traces back to devilman, etc), but Obata mentions being inspired by Akira when designing L, which makes Light's position as a Ryo more viable as his opponent, all things considered

From L's page on the death note wiki:

When Obata's editor told him that he wanted L to have a face "looking cool based on the angle," Obata added black "bags" under L's eyes, and he cited Devilman's Akira Fudou when expressing his belief that black bags "looked cool."

[Say what you will about the sanity of considering under-eye bags cool lmao. Extremely funny to think about Akira's lower lashes as eye bags though]

I don't know if O&O have ever directly commented on whether Light was intended to take anything from Ryo, but he gets some Lucifer imagery especially in the first OP. I mean, there's a lot of Christian allusions made in death note (I think across the series Light alone is likened to Judas, Adam, Jesus, and Lucifer), but still:

-name: Light → Lightbringer → Lucifer

-the final shot of Light in the first OP being him in front of what appears to be a painting of Lucifer falling from Heaven

As well as arguably following a number of other Ryo-isms (part of a dark haired + light(er) haired homoerotic narrative foil/adversary duo, morally questionable (or flat out wrong) actions for what he believes will make the world a better place, unusually talented/has special abilities, conventionally attractive young man, etc). Tbh I didn't think about it either until I saw him and L on that one venn diagram of gay ships that were all ryoakira-derived and then narumitsu hgshdj

So, yeah, I don't think he's as much of an undeniable Ryo expy as say Kaworu or Joshua or whatnot, but I think he does have some of the Ryo genes in him. They're just a bit harder to spot since afaik he's the only time the Ryo has been the protagonist and the Akira is the antagonist instead. It also makes it way funnier imo that O&O (or at least Obata?) HATE that people think Light and L are kinda gay, cause like... you at least partly used ryoakira as a base, what did you expect to happen

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okay I love reading your posts about ryo expies because it's such a fun topic, so i have to know: out of the main ones (like kaworu, joshua, komaeda etc) how do you think ryo himself would react to them? or alternatively, who's the favorite child

Okay first things first ((*lying on my bed with my face in a pillow kicking my legs in the air*))

Anyways

Hmm… This is kind of tough, because I feel like Ryo's opinions on a lot of them would differ depending on when in the story we're talking about. Like, I think amnesiac-Ryo would probably gravitate towards the kinder expies and would be more quick to criticize their actions, and Ryo with all his Satan memories but before wiping out humanity and killing Akira would refer the more cynical ones willing to take extreme action for their convictions. Post-OG ending Ryo would probably fall somewhere around the midpoint, having come to realize how he lost sight of his initial compassion and the kindness that drew him to Akira, but also understanding why someone could end up doing things like that.

There's also the question of whether you interpret Ryo's favourite trait as kindness, devotion to goals no matter the cost, or the entertainment value of being unhinged. It probably depends on his moods, really. This is all very subjective, so I don't think there's a single right answer.

Kaworu:

I think at all points Ryo would like how easily he empathizes with others, and that he has the balls to just be flat out incredibly gay with Shinji. He would probably would find him overly idealistic about humanity when he has his memories as Satan and hasn't killed Akira yet, but would come around to appreciate that again the way he would have during amnesiac-Ryo times. Could definitely be amnesiac-Ryo's favourite before demons show up. Kinda has the least objectionable traits of any Ryo and has this aura about him that makes you either want to be around him or want to be him, which I don't think Ryo would be immune to.

Joshua:

Loves him and find him hilarious for his shithead behaviour. I think he's the expy that comes the closest to Ryo's actions with the least consequences, since he's kind of able to fix almost everything pretty seamlessly, so Ryo might be envious of that. All of the fussy Ryos would probably be critical of each other's fussiness, Ryo @ Joshua included, but the fun of hanging out with him when he's getting up to shit outweighs it.

Komaeda:

He retains the kind of unhinged messy anxiety freakout 24/7 moments that amnesiac Ryo has more than any other expy I know of, which... I think Ryo would sympathize with enough for it to not be too hard to deal with? I definitely do think he'd like Komaeda in theory, but I'm not sure how them interacting would actually go. He's probably way better at deductions and elaborate schemes than Ryo himself actually is, and willing to just Do Shit, so I think he'd like him for that, but the hope/despair luck cycles can be... difficult to deal with irl when you're just trying to chill.

Homura:

Beloved rare daughter. Honestly, she has probably the overall coolest aura of any expy, especially in a lesbian goth way (which is, like, bonus points). I feel like she's what amnesiac post-demon-knowledge Ryo wants to be like but as a twink. Definitely likes her determination to save Madoka and the lengths she's willing to go for it, including understanding her actions in Rebellion. I think he'd like her a lot, but idk if I can really see them, like, hanging out casually much.

Akechi: (Had mixed responses on if Akechi was major or not, but at the very least p5 is popular enough rn that I felt I should include him.)

Probably one of the ones he has more mixed feelings on. Ryo would find his Prince persona grating for how fake and good boy it is, but when he's being a snippy bitch and enjoying killing shadows or whatever? Hell yeah. Go crazy go stupid. Might get on Ryo's nerves when he's being particularly fussy and cynical though, because I don't think Ryo really enjoys that in company. He particularly sees himself in Goro's sense of what carrying out "justice" looks like and the lengths he'd go to to get revenge on his piece of shit father, but I don't think he'd approve of Goro carrying out hits for Shido for so long as part of his plan instead of opposing him outright.

Bakura: Okay so I'm not actually qualified to answer this since I've only seen ygo s0 and I haven't gotten around to reading the manga yet, so in my stead here's opinions from @firstproqenitor and @mochiies. Fuck you Mikael for being funnier than all of us.

[Mikael]: okay so the problem is that yami bakura doesnt really have any sense of morality, so he and yami bakura wouldnt really get along well. I think they would stare at eachother, ryo in like a quiet contemplation as he takes a drag off a cigarette and yami bakura just having a shit eating grin. Ryo notices that Bakura is dressed eerily like he is, before yami bakura blurts out something about how if they formed an alliance they could destroy the world, and ryo blows smoke in his face, returns the shit eating grin, then says something like "you know what your problem is? you lack subtlety" and then turns and leaves. (i think part of the joke is that ryo also is not subtle at all)

[Mikael]: ok it might be funnier if ryo like speeds away in his car at the end or something

[Mikael]: and then bakura would have like slashed his tires

[Amber]: i agree with that lmao

[Amber]: i do think that as satan, ryo would understand bakura but also not entirely agree with the direction hes going in (maybe)

[Amber]: esp bc ( sorta spoilers for the last arc of ygo) || yami bakuras actions are very fueled by trauma and the need for revenge, plus he's also merged his soul with a god born from hatred, which is why current bakura that possesses ryou in the present acts like that lmao ||

[Amber]: i have feelings for how bakuras back story is handled but im not gonna get into that lmao

As for who Ryo's least favourite is, I think it'd be Light, hands-down. There isn't really anything about him Ryo would like: a cop, a prep, spoiled by lifelong privilege, uncritically accepts the societal rules he's been fed and furthers them in the most extreme way possible, and let's be real, he's not as smart as he thinks he is. That said, he is very fun to bully. I don't think Ryo would be very fond of the expies that cross the line into things like sexual assault and grooming either, though.

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Oh also consulting on that last ask ended up with us discussing how shit would go if all the Ryo expies were forced to live in a house together, so bonus I guess:

-Kaworu is relatively unbothered by the madness but does try to keep things civil where possible. Tells Shinji his siblings are a little wild but generally downplays it because he doesn't know what's normal and Shinji is not prepared when he goes over for the first time

-Mikaela is like "god I can't stand living here you're all insane and I just don't have the patience to deal with the fallout every time" and has to stop Yuu from trying to join Komaeda in building bombs in the kitchen

-Mika's one of the less likely ones to kill someone over interpersonal drama, however physical violence is still very on the table and he probably considers whether or not he has a moral obligation to take out certain others (top of the list being Light)

-Homura is the first to have a psychotic breakdown because dealing with deranged twinks is even worse when you're not a twink yourself

-Anthy starts trying to poison the rest of the household. Homura joins her when she finds out

-Ryo is second to have a psychological breakdown (as soon as the weed runs out)

-the ones who would get REALLY fed up first would be Goro and then Mika and Homura, but Homura reacts first and Mika and Goro stew for a while. Goro definitely tries to kill someone when he snaps though

-[Mikael]: Ryo doesn't really interact with anyone. He owns the house but is a cryptid in it. Sometimes people will spot him ominously leaning and like . Smoking or shoving his face full of candy in the middle of the night. They know he lives in the house because they can like. Hear him blasting music but they can never tell where it's coming from

[Me]: Bro Strider if he wasn't abusive

-eventually they start to form factions. Don't know who sides with who or how long any of these last though

-Dio and Sephiroth just instantly kill each other at the same time. While having sex.

-Light and Goro start sapiosexually courting eachother before Goro realizes what a spoiled brat he is and then gets into a fist fight with him which devolves into repeated attempts to kill each other as non-homoerotically as possible. The more Goro gets to know Light, the more he hates him, and the more he especially hates the ways that they're similar

-Yami Bakura keeps laying traps for everyone home alone style but they constantly fail. Like he does this extensively. They only ever succeed in trapping Komaeda (who everyone assumes just keeps getting into these accidents by himself) and occasionally Teru (who effortlessly escapes from said traps and both genuinely thinks they're normal pranks and enjoys winding Bakura up when he gets out of them. Slaps Bakura on the back and says "that was a good one" each time while Bakura is fuming with rage)

-Joshua is the only one in complete control the whole time. He thinks this shit is hilarious and is constantly egging the others on and trolling them. This is his Heaven, at least until a few of them figure out how to get under his skin intentionally. Livestreams the big fights or schemes online

-N, Clear, and Normal Bakura start a therapy group, but Mikaela and Kaworu are the only ones that show up. N and Mikaela cry on the regular there while Clear and Bakura start playing smash in the background. Kaworu insists he's completely fine but just goes because he thinks group therapy is a good idea

-no one in this fucking house can be trusted to cook besides Clear and, ironically, Mika (the guy who can't actually eat it). Way harder to get Mika to actually cook for them than Clear though