AW SNAP. I gotta disagree hardcore on this one dude. Seishirou is fucking terrifying and hella tragic and about as far from a tsundere as you can get.
I gotta hand it to CLAMP when they wrote Tokyo Babylon; Seishirou Sakurazuka is like A Portrait of a Sociopath. Let us count the ways (list source):
Glibness and Superficial Charm - AND HOW. Seishirou the mild-mannered veterinarian is precisely this.
Manipulative and Conning - The Bet, of course, and all the lies Seishirou has to tell to make The Bet happen.
Grandiose Sense of Self - Nothing specific comes to mind mostly because Seishirou is relatively justified in believing himself special and above it all, but as a contrast to how humble Subaru is, it’s still completely worth noting.
Pathological Lying - and superbly excellent lying as well. It’s classically sociopath behavior for Seishirou to be able to pass off convincingly as a neurotypical human being with a combination of charisma and falsehoods.
Lack of Remorse, Shame or Guilt - Seishirou claims to feel absolutely nothing, and it’s clear he lacks the moral compass to feel poorly for what he does to the Sumeragi twins. The description at the website adds that they instead have a deep rage that is displaced. Seishirou punching the mirror when he talks about how he’s winning The Bet comes to mind - because he really does want to feel something, but it is really not working out for him. =/
Shallow Emotions - while appearing to give all the fucks about Subaru’s emotional reactions to things, Seishirou relies on his ability to lie so perfectly he fools the Sumeragis for a year to maintain this facade. He’s genuinely confused as to why Subaru would spend 9 years looking for him after he killed Hokuto, because he never felt that deeply about the whole thing.
Incapacity for Love - the very point of The Bet, and why I would argue that Seishirou is incredibly tragic. He is unable to care about anything, including himself, which is why Subaru intrigues him so much with all that heartfelt empathy pouring out of a tiny package.
Need for Stimulation: Living on the edge - I will forever find it fascinating that despite knowing that Hokuto’s curse would supposedly kill him if he tried to kill Subaru by punching him through the chest, he tried anyway. And died for it. That gamble makes absolutely no sense unless it’s incredibly twisted love he’s experiencing, or he decided to take the ultimate chance because why the fuck not.
Callousness/Lack of Empathy - also the point of The Bet, and again a tragic point of Seishirou’s personality. Subaru is his polar opposite in every way; Seishirou literally cannot conceive of nor understand the experience of anyone else, nor can he feel anything akin to their emotions, while Subaru has all this in spades. I believe Seishirou legitimately wondered if Subaru could help him feel something, or experience empathy, or even love - but Subaru failed. (Sociopaths are believed to be incurable.)
Poor Behavioral Controls/Impulsive Nature - here the website talks about abuse cycles with significant others - the abusive behavior followed by little gestures of kindness. Seishirou doesn’t really follow this cycle too closely, except arguably in X/1999 where his treatment of Subaru is distant but also alternating between cruel and at least indifferently kind.
Early Behavior Problems/Juvenile Delinquency - well, he killed his mom at 13 to become the next Sakurazukamori, so take from that what you will.
Irresponsibility/Unreliability - Seishirou gives basically zero fucks that he completely destroyed the Sumeragi twins (in particular Subaru), and he has no understanding whatsoever of the worst ongoing damage he wreaked, which is Subaru’s emotional and mental wellbeing (he assumes Subaru hates him and wants him dead, when in reality Subaru is so twisted up over Seishirou because he still wants to protect Seishirou - something Seishirou could never truly appreciate). He might even argue that Subaru did all this to himself.
Promiscuous Sexual Behavior/Infidelity - however seriously Seishirou should be taken in Tokyo Babylon, he’s seducing a 16-year-old when he’s 25, so. :V
Lack of Realistic Life Plan/Parasitic Lifestyle - living as an assassin seems to work out okay for him, so I’ll let this one go I guess. :V
Criminal or Entrepreneurial Versatility - ASSASSIN. The website further defines this as ‘changes life story readily’, and, well. We’re back to Seishirou the Mild-Mannered Vet.
Side note: Love of food is not an uncommon trait in sociopaths because the sensation of eating and experiencing the satisfaction of hunger is similar to an emotive experience. Read Tokyo Babylon and tell me that Seishirou isn’t constantly in tune with the best foods all over the city.
Long story short: Seishirou really wanted to lose The Bet. He gets mad when he realizes he’s going to win. He’s bored and wants Subaru to free him from this endless lack of feeling, where the closest thing he experiences to satisfying stimulation is killing the victims of the Sakura Tree in Ueno Park and when he’s in mortal danger (adrenaline highs are intense, yo, especially for people who can’t feel emotion).
When Subaru fails, Seishirou aims to get what little enjoyment he can out of Subaru by killing him. Instead he kills Hokuto (which again I believe is related to the poor impulse control/living on the edge thing) and is subsequently cursed. The curse prevents Seishirou from approaching Subaru with the intent to kill without risking his own life, and since he has no other reason to approach Subaru (and possibly is aware they are destined to fight one another in 1999) he simply avoids the younger twin.
When Subaru finally finds him, he has absolutely no understanding that Subaru wants Seishirou to live and would still, despite everything, give his own life to see Seishirou live. Subaru hates himself for that but he still cares about Seishirou, and Seishirou just absolutely does not get it - he can’t, because he can’t feel anything. In fact, Fuuma perpetuates more abuse both emotional and physical against Subaru in X/1999 than Seishirou. His interest in Subaru is limited to the fact the Sumeragi is his greatest failure and strangest, possibly only, human relationship.
And when Seishirou finally faces off with Subaru on the Rainbow Bridge, his choice to kill Subaru the same way he killed Hokuto is more indicative of his living on the edge at the risk of his own life than any kind of wish for Subaru to continue to exist. I believe his last words to Subaru were not 'I love you', but rather 'I wanted to love you’, leaving Subaru wrecked with the knowledge that he failed to give Seishirou the gift of the ability to give a damn.
There are a few suggestions that Seishirou was ‘in love with’ Subaru towards the end of his arc; Fuuma later claims that Seishirou didn’t want Subaru to have a single scar on him that Seishirou didn’t put there, and Seishirou’s mom predicted in her death that Seishirou would be killed by somebody he loved, for instance. But frankly, I think you have to look harder for hints that Seishirou was someone who had emotion than for hints that he was a sociopath to the very end - tragically unable to feel a thing, whatever he might have wanted, and cruel enough to use that against a man 9 years his junior with his dying breath.
Seishirou is creepy as fuck, guys, and he definitely isn’t just playing hard to get.
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