"Deep in Ryo’s heart, he feels that Akira is the one thing in the world worth keeping, but he doesn’t realize it."
Before Guts and Griffith, before Shinji and Kaworu, and even before Madoka and Homura, Akira and Ryo are the original anime duo characterized by both homoromantic subtext and how they're the perfect Foils of each other. And like with everything else, Crybaby takes the subtext up a few notches.
General
- For Valentines Day, Science Saru produced two pics for the anime's Twitter account
— showing Miko and Miki getting valentines from each other, and the same for Akira and Ryo.
Akira/Ryo
General
- For friends, Akira and Ryo sure hug a lot, which doesn't happen that often between two male best friends in other series. To emphasize, they shared a hug four times in the span of ten episodes, when in most anime a hug between best friends would happen either once or twice at best in the span of twelve to twenty-four episodes or more.
- Made even more prominent by the fact that the show takes place in Japan, and for cultural reasons, Japanese people aren't known for showing public displays of affection frequently at all. Even for couples it's rather frowned upon. Ryo's initiations may be partially excused due to him having spent quite some time in the States as a professor, and thus having a more differentiated view on the matter. Then again, his general lack of displaying emotions openly makes it even more obvious he cares more than he could admit when he is shown being rather touchy-feely with Akira.
- Even though he is quite wealthy, he is regularly seen spending a lot of money on Akira without a second thought, be it extensive meals at his place, gifting him a motorcycle and a phone or outright tossing him a large stash of money to spend to his liking. While he generally doesn't come across as very sensitive or caring, it appears to be his idea of the equivalent to it. He also appears to have picked up that Akira may prefer a black motorcycle to a white one (as white seems to be Ryo's favorite color).
- The March 2018 issue of the Otomedia magazine features an image of Akira and Ryo taking a selfie◊. If you look closer, you can even see that they're practically cuddling.
Episode 3 - Believe Me
- Nothing suggestive happens, but the scene where Akira pushes Ryo into a pool before diving in himself reeks of domesticity, especially since it's one of the very few lighthearted moments these two share in the series. Keep in mind that Ryo doesn't seem to be the type of person who likes anyone getting in his personal space, yet he barely reacts when Akira makes him eat a burger. And when Akira pushes him to his pool, Ryo quietly protests for him to stop yet he doesn't actively try to fight back or shove him off. Basically, it subtly shows how comfortable Ryo is with Akira, even if he doesn't outwardly express it.
- This episode also has some characters acknowledging that Akira and Ryo have a lot of subtext to their relationship, such as Taro. Even in context, some of their interactions sound borderline romantic and it wouldn't be far off to liken Ryo to a Yandere.Ryo: Choose, Akira, you either live with me or die with her!
Episode 4 - Come, Akira
- When Akira's phone breaks in his battle with Jinmen, Ryo is seen saving his data by transferring them to his own phone. While it may have more practical reasons, he does seem to have the empathy to realize those photos may be of personal value to him, since buying Akira a new phone wouldn't be an issue.
- He also set a unique ring tone for incoming calls from Akira's mother, something he certainly didn't need to do at all.
Episode 8 - I Must Know Myself
- This episode has Ryo incriminating Akira, which is a Shout-Out to the Amon: The Darkside of the Devilman manga where he does the exact same thing. While the main reason for this action is somewhat more pragmatic, it's strongly implied that Ryo did it out of possessiveness as well.
Episode 9 - Go to Hell, You Mortals
- There's a scene where Ryo calmly muses on how long Akira is taking. According to the official material, Ayumu Murase was instructed to say that line like "a girl waiting for her boyfriend".
- In the same scene, Ryo was looking at childhood photos of him and Akira with a tender smile on his face — the scene highlighting that despite all the evil things he has done, Ryo genuinely treasures their relationship.
Episode 10 - Crybaby
- The subtext between these two becomes full-blown after Ryo's Face–Heel Turn and eventual transformation into Satan, especially when he gives a Love Confession to Akira by repeating his monologue about love from the very first episode.
- True to the manga, Ryo reveals to Akira that he made him a Devilman not to help him defeat the demons, but to help him survive the oncoming apocalypse and live alongside him; although this time there is a bit more weight to his action. From the way the story is narrated in Crybaby, Ryo/Satan lived for several millennia and spent what's likely centuries on Earth living alongside brutal, merciless creatures who prioritized survival and strength over everything else; and the time he spent with Akira when they were children was relatively short in comparison, no longer than one or two years at best. Despite it being so brief, Ryo was nevertheless moved by the kindness Akira showed to him and the friendship he offered him — moved enough that even ten years later, the first course of action after discovering the existence of demons is reunite with Akira and (unbeknownst to him at the time) ensure his survival by merging him with Amon.
- The scene where Ryo discovers Akira is dead was oddly suggestive even in the original manga, by virtue of Ryo and Akira laying down naked to each other — not helped by the fact that as Satan, Ryo has a very feminine figure. note The manga mitigates it somewhat when you look at Ryo's grim expression during his speech, but in Crybaby Ryo spends the entire scene with a deeply satisfied smirk on his face like he's proud of what he just did with Akira. You would be forgiven for thinking this was a post-sex scene, if you were to take it out of context. Though the luster of Akira's implied sex with an attractive angel is blown away pretty fast when you realize he's only a torso at this point.
- In context the scene is very tragic, but take note of the fact that Ryo's post-war confession to the now-dead Akira is totally focused on his affection for Akira. In the manga Ryo focuses more on how as Satan he rebelled against God, the effects his rebellious life style have had on him over the eons, and finally realizing that by his own standards he's no better than God. By contrast, this Ryo pays no attention to any of those concerns, focusing totally on the life he's led with Akira and how happy it has made him; even delivering a subtle, roundabout love confession in the process of his musings. Unlike in the manga where he views Akira's death with grim acceptance, in Crybaby he cries bitterly at Akira's death as he embraces his corpse. Not to mention, the pleas he makes are words one wouldn't normally say to a friend, but to a lover.
- Ryo's demeanor in the aftermath of his war with Akira and his Devilmen army seems really carefree and silly, like he just weathered a schoolyard scuffle with his best friend. A lot of us can remember that time we were frustrated with a friend and we wailed on each other, only to realize how silly and pointless it was afterward; maybe even laughing at how dumb we were. The fact that even the total destruction of his demon army, and Akira fully intending to kill him does nothing to deter Ryo's affection speaks volumes of how much Ryo cares about Akira. Ryo finally realizes how pointless all of his struggles were if he can't have Akira by his side as his eternal companion, completely regretting his brutal murder of Akira in a moment of passion. Only unlike a schoolyard scuffle, Ryo can't take this one back, as much as he would desperately want to.
- There's also the feminine figure of Ryo's true form as Satan. While Satan and all the other angels are androgynous intersex beings who existed long before Akira came to be, it still has a lot of loaded implications when you count Ryo's love for Akira. It wouldn't be far off to assume that Ryo views his new feminine form as a far superior than anything Miki could ever offer to Akira in terms of physical satisfaction. Unfortunately for him, Akira is far too angry with Ryo to even bother considering these implications.
Miko/Miki
- At first it was a one-sided obsessive rivalry, as the majority of Miko's character arc involves her trying to surpass her in the track team. Then comes the end of Episode 9 where she confesses that she loves her and attempts a Heroic Sacrifice to save her.Miko: We used to run here often, didn't we? We were always running. I love you!Miki: I love you too!
