Character Study: Ryou Bakura
Approximate Age: (by the Japanese anime) Fifteen to seventeen
Character Archetype: I hate to say it, but he plays the Damsel in Distress quite well. He's also, to a certain extent, the Wise Wizard, or the Paladin.
Probable Element and Alignment: Dark, Neutral Good
Most Obvious Vocal Quirks: Polite and soft-spoken.
I've always had a rather strange relationship with Ryou Bakura. He was the first Yu-Gi-Oh! character I ever did fanart of, as well as the first I worked with in comic format. (They were kind of... strange... gag things.) Yet I can't be sure I'd call him my favorite character, or even a character I know very well.
Of course, Ryou is something of an enigma. Through most of the series, he's being possessed by one of the following: An ancient, vengeful thief or an eldritch god-- possibly something that is a combination of the two. Dark Bakura is a very convincing actor, and therefore we really can't tell all the time which Bakura is steering the body. (We do know that in the manga, he can be very sensitive about the things Yami B does, especially if he's accused of being evil himself. It's pretty clear that he's the one who broke down in response to Bobasa chasing him away at the beginning of the Memory Arc.) (That incident, by the way, is part of why I like the anime better. I hate to see Bakura cry. :P)
We know that he's fairly polite and quiet, yet the quiet behavior might really be a reaction to the fact that he can't be sure what's going on all the time. He seems like he's probably socially inept, yet how can he be otherwise, with a demonic being chasing anyone who even sort of hurts his feelings into hell, and trapping anyone he acts like he might like into cards and figurines? Ryou can't help but be socially damaged and emotionally shackled; it's a survival trait. (The way he seems to hold himself quietly aloof when being shown around the school by obviously enamoured girls is interesting-- has he simply decided to reserve judgment until they stop fangirling, or is he used to being treated like a doll by the opposite sex and has just learned to put up with it?)
Bakura is also in a state of mourning, which will also skew how a character behaves. He writes letters to his dead sister, asking her how she "and mother" are and telling her what he's been doing. I've seen people call this creepy, but I disagree. If you're going to write a letter to a person, you're going to act like you're having a dialogue; that's how letters are written. He's not any creepier than people who leave flowers and gifts at memorials or stand talking to gravestones in the rain. Grief makes people do odd things.
One thing I know for sure about Ryou Bakura is that I like him when he's angry. We only see a glimpse of this, too; in the manga, during his first appearance, in the anime, during the Duelist Kingdom Soul Card duel. Yet we do see it, and what we see is a frightening determination and resolve, combined with eerie calm. "I will do anything to screw you over, Spirit of the Ring, even if it means I have to die for it." (And yet he'll say it with calm eyes.) Granted, he's in a state of sheer desperation. But perhaps that is something important to remember about him: Ryou Bakura knows what it means to be pushed to the emotional limit, and he's survived it.
I do believe that Ryou is a good person, whatever else he is. If the first RPG that Atem played with Yami Bakura was intended to be symbolic, which it most certainly was (because Takahashi loves that sort of thing) then the white wizard Yugi's character yanked out of Zorc's arm was intended to show Ryou Bakura's truer nature. That character, who was an extension of his will and yet, wasn't quite Bakura himself, not only displayed the same calm anger, but casually gave his own life to restore Ryou's. The total lack of fear he shows in the face of a meaningful death is either something that shows Ryou to be somewhat unhealthy, or far braver than he's given credit for.
During Duelist Kingdom, too, he's the one that puts his hands on Yugi's shoulders after Yugi throws the rooftop duel, in a way that can only be described as protective. It's probable that he understands better than any of the others what's really bothering Yugi (Atem being willing to kill without Yugi's consent), and silently, he reaches out to let Yugi know he's there. This is more likely Ryou acting than Yami Bakura, because Yami B wouldn't think to do it. It's just a sweet, sensitive gesture. In a way, Ryou simply has insight into Yugi's head that the others can't fathom, and that even Yami Bakura probably doesn't understand, because otherwise he would have exploited it.
(I've always suspected that Takahashi intended to give Ryou more character development, btw, he just never got around to it.)
There's no way of telling who's talking through most of Battle City, although I'm quite certain Ryou was totally unconscious from some point while he was in the hospital up to the end of the duel with Yugi, and that Yami Bakura was just pretending to be his host. It seems strange that he would react so poorly to what appears to be a mere gash in the arm, and many people just attribute it to his general tenderness. I'm inclined to think that he must have lost a lot of blood, that the wound was much worse than it looked (we never do see the gash itself, only a bandage and bloodstains) and that the hospital pumped him full of painkillers. Yami Bakura seems to thrive on pain, not to mention he went around eating heavy, rare-cooked foods and doing a lot of other things that the hospital probably wouldn't have approved of. XD
So during Battle City, that body underwent a lot more punishment than just a gash on the arm, and what it really means is that Yami Bakura has a freakish pain tolerance. Meanwhile, all Ryou knows is that he woke up with a gashed apart arm, a roiling stomach, with the strong sense that he's been running around with something very heavy on his injured arm doing only Yami B knows what. He's confused, he's in pain, and there's a damn big red dragon getting ready to snort lightning on his head.
Yeah, I'd freak out (and fall over) too.
The next time we see him, we once again can't be sure it's really him. After all, he just woke up in a strange place. We don't know that his arm is healed or that the drugs have worn off, we don't know that his blood's replenished itself. He's hungry, so he cleans out the kitchen. This could be a sign that Ryou's very practical, or it could be a sign that Yami Bakura is in charge, quietly nursing him back to health.
(One assumes, however, that Ryou probably IS a fairly practical person-- he can't get rid of the stupid Ring, so he just deals. He can't control his situation, so he doesn't get overly upset about it. He lives practically on his own, so he'd have to have a sensible head on his shoulders when it comes to this kind of thing.)
Another side to Ryou that is very firmly his is that he's probably the best duelist we never see play. I don't believe that he had any say in the deck he carries; that belongs to the Spirit that enslaves him, and he doesn't throw it away because he can't. But when Yugi isn't there to explain things (usually because he's the one dueling), Bakura fills the role of ringside commentator, especially during Duelist Kingdom. Other characters sometimes fill the role (Duke is his official pinch-hitter when it comes to this), but Ryou is better at it than most of them. During the duel with Panik, he very clearly has a better grasp on what's happening than Mai, and is the first person to pick up on Yugi's strategy. (Which is a pretty insane strategy, so yeah.) He is similarly canny during the Ceremonial Duel, keeping up at least as well as, if not better than, Kaiba.
The only other character I have seen display such a keen understanding when discussing duels from the sidelines is probably Yugi's grandfather. (Not counting Pegasus.) Ryou does claim to enjoy playing the dungeon master, and this might be a sign of why: he enjoys deep-trenched and insane strategem. I'd hate to play chess with him, but I'd love to play one of his RPGs. (WHY would I hate to play chess with him? Because half the time you'd be clueless as to what the hell he just did to snare you in that checkmate, that's why.) (He'd probably be a good sport about it, but that doesn't mean I'd enjoy it.) So Ryou Bakura is definitely very smart, and is at least capable of seeing through other people's deviousness, through their strategy and machinations when even their opponents can't.
Lots of people like to write Bakura as extremely clumsy. I feel that the clumsiness is a combination of a lowered confidence (due to the nature of his possession) and Yami B amping it up deliberately so that Ryou himself seems even less of a threat. So I, at least, am less inclined to writing him as clumsy post-possession.
I mentioned earlier that I dislike the scene in the manga in which Bobasa declares that Ryou can't help with the Pharaoh's Memories because he carries darkness within him. It's not because I don't like what it does with his character, I just found it kind of mean. :P I think that Ryou had really come to consider himself a part of this group of people, that it was the first time in a long time that he felt like he belonged anywhere, and that Bobasa really shook that feeling. (He probably felt a lot better later when he realized that, yet again, it was all Yami B's fault. Yami Bakura, you jerk. XD)
So even though I don't like the scene, I think the way Bakura reacts there is understandable and within his previously established character, and not wussy at all. XD (Gives Ryou a hug)
Final Distillation:
Much of Ryou's behavior is a result of his being possessed. :P
He is emotionally shackled, due to his possession.
He is very calm about his own anger.
He is fearless at the idea of dying in a meaningful way-- he's very brave.
He actually can take care of himself, when he's keeping out of trouble.
He is intelligent, and has a keen understanding of strategy.
He is a good person, and sensitive to other people.
He values the sense of belonging highly.
