Morality and Immorality: The story of a black dragon
Akutagawa Ryunosuke is no doubt my favorite character from the series and I cannot help but sympathize with him. Hell, I even see a bit of myself in him. His backstory is one of the most interesting to me. I’ll be following the same naming logic as I did with Atsushi. The character I will refer to as Ryunosuke, and the real life author I will refer to as Akutagawa.
Akutagawa is often referred to as the father of short stories. Ryunosuke is based on two of his most famous works; 羅生門/Rashomon and 蜘蛛の糸/The Spider’s Thread, both of which tackle morality as a topic. In Rashomon, an ex-servant of a samurai is left with 2 choices: either starve to death or steal (note that this is directly parallel to Atsushi, who in the BSD-storyline starts off with the same dilemma!). Arriving in front of the Rajomon gate, he decides to climb up the staircase. At the top of the stairs he sees an old woman. Upon taking a closer look, he notices that the woman is carefully plucking the hair strands of a female corpse. The protagonist, absolutely repulsed by this action, shouts at the old woman. He tells her that she is committing “an unpardonable crime”, forgetting the fact that just a moment ago he himself was contemplating thievery. The old hag justifies her actions by explaining how the dead woman used to scam people; she sold snake meat and passed it off as dried fish to unsuspecting soldiers. Anyhow, the elder empathizes with this deception, for it was done out of necessity. After all, does simply wanting to live not justify the wrongdoings? While listening to this, the servant finds the solution to his problem that he was facing earlier. He concludes that it is alright for him to steal if it is necessary for his survival. If the old woman can, why can’t he? He applies the same logic the hag uses to his situation and the story ends with him stealing her kimono. The old woman is left all alone, staring into the abyss, signifying that one cannot find fulfillment in life by stealing. It is only a downward spiral.
Ryunosuke follows the same logic as the servant and the old woman. As a member of the Port Mafia, and the designated “mad dog” of the organization, his job is to kill all who get in the way of the mafia. Still, he doesn’t kill because he enjoys the act. Neither does he laugh maniacally while doing it, unlike some of his colleagues (mainly Motojiro Kajii). Of course, this is all due to his upbringing in the slums and the teachings of Osamu, the latter of which manipulated him and warped his worldviews completely. Growing up in the slums, a very hostile environment where survival solely depends on your luck, it was made clear to him that human life was not valued. He sees no value in life, because life itself sees no value in him. Throughout his childhood he has been treated as disposable, worthless, of no use. Osamu, after taking Ryunosuke under his wing, did nothing to change this view on life (mostly due to the fact that he shared the same opinion as his subordinate). Essentially, he views all life as equally worthless and that is why he can kill. What is the difference between the life of a child in the slums and that of a child in the city? Why can one die, but the other one cannot? Why does society care more for the child born in the city?
Murder is Ryunosuke’s paradoxal attempt at giving life, his life, meaning. He’s trying to prove that his life doesn’t only consist of misery and pain. In Ryunosuke’s world, everyone is struggling to get by so people take what they can from others, which is the main theme of Rashomon. He follows this mindset by killing and becoming the strongest. This is frowned upon by the story which is made clear by the last line wherein the woman stares in the darkness. We could draw parallels to Fyodor Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment”, where Raskolnikov, a law student, commits a murder and looks for a way to justify what he has done. He uses the same logic as the ex-servant: “I can kill this fraudulent pawnbroker cause I need the money and she is a bad person.”
The second work which Ryunosuke seems to be based off of, is The Spider’s Thread. The protagonist, Kandata, has led a life full of crime and ends up in hell because of this. Despite that, in his life he did one, albeit small, good deed; he had spared the life of a single spider. This results in the Buddha sending a thin spider thread to hell, one which he can use to climb out of there. Kandata immediately rejoices and starts climbing the thread. But as he climbs, he notices others are trying to climb after him. Scared that the fragile thread will snap under the combined weight of everyone, he starts shaking the rope. Ultimately, the spider’s thread breaks because of his efforts to throw everyone off. What actually kept Kandata from reaching salvation was his lack of empathy for the suffering of others. This also is the case for Ryunosuke who does not seem to notice other people’s misery, notably Atsushi’s. He just does not get why Atsushi is the one chosen by Osamu, and by extension the one that got ‘salvation’. It is incomprehensible to him how others can receive help and get saved, everyone but him. It is exactly this selfishness that makes redemption impossible for him. In order for Ryunosuke to get what he so desperately longs for, he must first learn to see and empathize with the suffering of others.
In my opinion, there is a third book that fits Ryunosuke’s character. It is “La Divina Commedia” by Dante Alighieri. The story is an allegory for a sinner who has recognized his wrongdoings and is repenting. In the end, the sinner finds redemption and reaches heaven. Now, if we compare this to Ryunosuke’s character development we see a lot of similarities. He starts off as a crazed killer, taking the lives of others to give value to his own. But as Atsushi confronts him and his ideals more and more, he starts refraining from killing. He doesn’t unnecessarily kill anymore because instead of looking for answers through murder, he now is looking for them in Atsushi. At one point he even promises to Atsushi to not kill anyone for 6 months, a promise he keeps. In chapter 87 of the manga, he even sacrifices his *own life* to save his enemy, his rival; Atsushi. This is a major development, because as I have made clear, Ryunosuke is selfish. He does not see the pain of others. But just this once, he did, he saw Atsushi and he selflessly saved him. Personally, I would love it if Ryu followed the same premise as The Divine Comedy.
The similarities do not end there! Ryunosuke’s Ability, Rashomon, makes him able to control and manipulate the cloth of his jacket. Rashomon is black and has a red glow to it; two colors that are important in the writings of Akutagawa. You see, Akutagawa suffered from many illnesses which made him very sensitive when it came to colors. Black, in particular, he associated with the sinners’ souls of Dante’s hell, while red he linked with blood and death. I’d like to think that this pairs up with the idea that Ryunosuke did not fall into hell, he was born there. This is one thing that separates him from the protagonists of the three aforementioned books.
