User Profile

Ritsuka Application for Memento Eden:

Character Name: Ritsuka Aoyagi

Character Series: Loveless

Age: 12

Background:

For the first 10 years of his life, Ritsuka was an average elementary school student - social, popular, didn't get into any fights. That sort of person.

After that though, he lost all of his memories - essentially becoming a new Ritsuka for the last two years. The circumstances surrounding this sudden case of amnesia are unknown at the moment, but what is known is that, after the amnesia, he wasn't anything like the Ritsuka his family or friends knew. He became a top student in class, but he didn't get along with his friends and his popularity took a turn for the worse. He was insecure about himself and the fact that he existed - after all, he had lost his memories (and with that his mother demanded that the real Ritsuka come back instead of someone with the same face as him) and he wasn't sure whether he would ever gain them back, or if he would lose everything he had memories of since the amnesia.

His mother abused him at times when she saw this Ritsuka do something her Ritsuka would not (even something as simple as eating a type of food that the 'real' one wouldn't eat), or when she felt like this Ritsuka had taken away her own., and his father continually became a stranger to the family. His older brother, Seimei, would protect him at Ritsuka from their mother during these violent outbursts, and genuinely care for him, amnesia or not. Ritsuka took to this affection like a fish out of water, desperately looking for someone to love that would love him back.

Unfortunately, the love that he thought he had didn't last as long as he had hoped. Seimei had told him that, aside from Seimei, he also had a true name -- Beloved. A few weeks after, his brother was supposedly killed. He was burned to death, sitting in Ritsuka's elementary school. After that, Ritsuka became even more pessimistic, and his family and social problems became even worse. He was bored with life, and tired of being alone. Without Seimei, his mother became more violent and he had no one to protect him from her outbursts. He couldn't find happiness for himself because he believed that he didn't deserve it for taking the real Ritsuka's body, and that he would disappear and everyone would forget him.

Once this happens, Ritsuka makes it his goal to find Seimei's killer, who he finds out is The Seven Moons [Nanatsu no Tsuki].

After attending a different school, Ritsuka's life began to change. First off, he meets an adult named Soubi waiting outside the school for him, an acquaintance of Seimei's. Ritsuka immediately takes to him, asking him if he wants to make memories with him - this consists of Ritsuka and the one he is making memories with taking pictures, because he doesn't want to forget or be forgotten. Soon after meeting him and making memories, Soubi kisses him, confusing Ritsuka like nothing else, and swears to protect him. Moments later Ritsuka encounters his first 'spell battle' with a pair of kids his age, together called Breathless. Throughout the manga, Ritsuka slowly learns about this spell battle, and what it means for him to be the Sacrifice, and Soubi his Fighter. Soubi was originally the Fighter for Beloved, but Seimei ordered him to become Loveless' (Ritsuka's true name) Fighter.

The second thing that starts to change Ritsuka's life is his sudden relationships he gains with others. He becomes friends with Yuiko and Yayoi, students in his grade, who helped a lot in making him more sociable and develop. Part of the reason he didn't have any real friends before was due to the fact that he believed that they would forget him if he disappeared (hence, making memories is a must with Ritsuka). He also gets to know his teacher and gets along with her. His relationship with Soubi is an entirely different matter. They're connection is complex and riddled with problems, usually stemming from Soubi lying or hiding the truth from him, after saying that he would obey any order Ritsuka gave to him and tell him the truth.

Meeting Soubi brings many things to light for Ritsuka - in a spell battle, the opposing and losing couple gives Ritsuka a sheet of paper that will help him to find out about Seimei's killers. The paper ends up being a meeting place in a video game of Seimei's, and in it he finds that he can ask about The Seven Moons (conditionally, of course - only certain types of questions). The answers to his questions lead him to the fact that Seimei could still be alive, which make Ritsuka start thinking about how alone he is again - if Seimei was alive, after all, why wouldn't he come back and protect him from mother, or live with them, or talk to him at all? Unless he hated him.

Ritsu-sensei, one of the people he meets in the online meeting room and Soubi's old teacher, tells Ritsuka to ask Soubi to take him to Goura if he wants more information. Ritsuka is being taken from this point, just as they reach Goura. By this time, Ritsuka has also met Soubi's friend Kio, who tells him that Seimei, the previous sacrifice and 'owner' of Soubi, often hurt Soubi. Soubi told Ritsuka that this was untrue, that what Seimei did was different, but when Ritsuka saw that the scars around Soubi's neck were caused by his brother, his opinion of his brother wavered even more, coupled with the fact that he was constantly told that Seimei was a cruel person to everyone but Ritsuka apparently.


Other things to note:

He reads advanced books (compared to his age) and doesn't like being called out for 'crying' because adults don't do it (speaking of which, he often points out what is adult-like and what isn't, hinting that he consciously is trying to act more adult-like, despite being 12. This shows up in his advanced reading choices as well, and attitude about people that are stupid).

He attends therapy every Wednesday, and while he's not getting worse, it's questionable as to whether he is getting better or not. He seems to be stuck in his negative emotions (feeling a 'draft in his heart' when someone says they like him, etc.). He likes his therapist though, Katsuko-sensei, and considers her important enough to make memories with.

Personality:

Ritsuka's personality is pretty complex, but it can be summed up pretty well by saying that he has a negative edge to his words. He's not the most optimistic of kids, due to his past, and that's not going to change any time soon.

First of all, Ritsuka tends to act older than he is. He doesn't outright say it, but it can be taken from some of his actions. He reads advanced philosophy books, but doesn't act like he's better than anyone else because of it (though he does to act haughtily), and when he's heading to the library, he pointedly says that he's going to the 'adult section' to Yuiko. When he's crying or acting timid and someone points it out, he immediately says that he's not no matter what - even when he first meets Soubi, the guy grabs his arm and before he even asks who he shouts at him that he's not crying. At the same time, one of the first things he notices is that Soubi is an adult, like that's an important factor as to who he is. With parents like Ritsuka's, he's become an independent kid, and he was forced from his family life to grow up a lot faster so that he could cope with it.

Despite trying to act older than he is though, he is still just a 12 year old kid. He can become excited over anything that seems fun (like making memories) and looks up to his brother until the end. He's embarrassed as well, usually when Soubi says 'something weird' (which is usually something perverted).

By nature, Ritsuka is also cautious. Soubi notes it when he first meets Ritsuka, that all he does is ask him questions. It's understandable at the time since Soubi is a stranger, but later on we're shown times when he has to be cautious - around his mother. If he says the wrong thing, something her Ritsuka wouldn't say, then she would fly into a rage that usually ended up in Ritsuka being abused. He even has to remember which foods the old Ritsuka would eat since he was a picky eater, while the Ritsuka that he is now is not so much (he still has foods he doesn't like, but he's not anywhere near as picky as the old Ritsuka was). Applying that cautiousness to real life scenarios is only natural.

Ritsuka's greatest fear is to be forgotten, or to forget again. In his eyes, his own existence is both questionable and forgettable - he's only been 'alive' for 2 years, and he's using someone's body that isn't his. He believes he shouldn't have it, that he doesn't deserve it, and that the old Ritsuka should come out to take it back and make mother happy. There's no reason for him to have happiness, he thinks, when he's stealing someone's body, intentionally or not, and especially not if his existence can disappear at any moment since there's another Ritsuka waiting to come out.

Ritsuka is lonely as well, and his fear of being forgotten only amplifies his wanting to not be left alone in the end. If he's given affection, he takes it with everything he has and tries to make it work. At a point in the manga, Ritsuka's mother ties him up to a chair and forbids him from leaving because she's afraid he'll be killed. Even though he's confined and in a scary situation, when his mother goes down in front of him and drapes herself on him, he says it feels nice. It's not often he's bugged by his mother, after all. It's usually abuse. This is why his friendship with Yuiko lasts as well, since she actually puts effort into trying to get Ritsuka to respond to her in a non-harsh way, and also why Soubi's lasts with him.

The possibility that Seimei is alive only heightens his feelings about being alone and forgotten, since Seimei was the one that Ritsuka looked up to always, and when he needed him, Seimei disappeared. He believes that there's the possibility that Seimei dislikes him, or thinks he's annoying, or even hates him. He doesn't think that there are any other reasons why Seimei would stay away from him and leave him with their abusive mother.

The decisions that Ritsuka has to make within the manga are often ones that involve contradictions within his mindset: He wants to be strong and make others strong, but he hates thinking of hurting people, and with fighting he often has to make the decision to hurt the ones he is fighting; he wants to see and trust Soubi because Soubi has made memories with him and been affectionate towards him, but because of his lying, he doesn't as well.

With all of the relationships that he's starting to gain in the manga thought, especially in the later chapters, he's beginning to open up more to people and not feel so excluded from the rest of the world. Doubting the justification of his own existence makes these relationships tough, but not impossible for him. Though he wants to be an independent person and make his own way in life, he arguably needs to be dependant as well since he doesn't want to be alone. Despite his negative responses, he isn't a mean person: he's a kind person, and the type of people he hates (the ones that allow themselves to be used, that are stupid, that only do what other people recommend they do) are the type of people that haven't tried living to their full potential. Ritsuka encourages people to do better, like he did when Yuiko said she couldn't do the chin ups on the bar.

Item Lost:His camera. This item is really important to him, seeing as it contains pictures (or 'memories') of his friends back at home, and in his opinion it proves that he existed and helps to ensure that his friends won't ever forget him, and vice versa.

Friends (137):

Friend of (137):