Ryu the Cave Boy
- ️Thu Nov 23 2023
Ryu the Cave Boy (原始少年リュウ) is a 1971 adventure anime set in the prehistoric era where both humans and dinosaurs co-existed.
In the area it's set in (that's unnamed), the population is dark-skinned. One day, a baby, Ryu (Makio Inoue), is born with white skin, which is considered a curse by the Big Horn Tribe. They force his mother, Esta, to abandon Ryu and sacrifice him to the man-eating Tyrannosaurus, Tyranno. However, Ryu is saved by an ape named Kitty. Kitty also lost her child to Tyranno and raises Ryu as her own son.
As an adult, Ryu is constantly under attack for his white skin. One day, Tyranno kills Kitty, and Ryu is unable to save her. With the help of his friends Ran and Don, he perseveres against the racism he faces and and strives towards his goal - kill Tyranno and reunite with his birth mother.
The anime ran from October 30, 1971 to March 25, 1972, ending at a total of 22 episodes.
The anime is an adaptation of Ryu's Path, a science fiction manga by Shotaro Ishinomori. Toei opted to change the setting to prehistoric times rather than a dystopian future like in the manga, therefore omitting elements of science fiction in the story. Ishinomori was dissatisfied with this change and went on to make his own manga adaptation of Ryu the Cave Boy, complete with science fiction elements. Thus creating the The Ryu Trilogy, concluding with the third entry, Banchou Wakusei.
Ryu the Cave Boy has examples of:
- Adjective Noun Fred: The Japanese title of the anime is "Primitive Boy Ryu".
- Ambiguously Brown: All the characters are dark-skinned, but we're never given any specific tells about what region the anime is set in. However, since the existence of yetis is apparent, one can make a guess that it takes place somewhere in Asia.
- Animals Respect Nature: Averted with the vicious Tyranno, who only lives for causing destruction. Most of the animals in the series (like the Savage Wolves and other dinosaurs) also count.
- Aquatic Sauropods: One episode has Ryu and his companions crossing a lake where—unbeknownst to them—a massive sauropod is standing underwater eating aquatic plants. When it stands upright and its head breaches the surface it nearly destroys their raft.
- Artistic License – Biology: Tyranno (the Tyrannosaurus rex) uses his arms like a human.
- Artistic License – Paleontology: Cavemen actually did not live in the same period as dinosaurs, due to dinosaurs going extinct long before their existence.
- Ax-Crazy: Goro is under the belief he's a messenger and can tell the future (not really, he's a fraud) and tries to feed Ryu to a Smilodon.
- Call-Back: Many to Ryu's Path.
- Don, like Jimmy, is the main female lead's little brother who's a Tagalong Kid to the main character.
- Kitty is a protective ape to Ryu, like Peki was to Jimmy.
- Even though Ryu's Path is set in the future, it has the characters wear cavemen-like garb (with the exact leopard prints) just like Ryu and most tribespeople.
- Both series prominently feature cults, Savage Wolves and a Man-Eating Plant.
- All Cavemen Were Neanderthals: The cavemen here check off every stereotype on the list, dressing in animal pelts, falling for old omens and superstitions instead of common sense, and usually being a mishmash of Dumb Muscle, Proud Warrior Race Guy and The Brute.
- Big Bad: Tyranno and Taka.
- Chocolate Baby:
- Ryu has white skin, and his father is unknown. However, this is his mother
◊. - Admittedly, most characters are dark skinned. So how pale-skinned babies keep being born is never explained (unless it's a case of albinism or genes being funny).
- Ryu has white skin, and his father is unknown. However, this is his mother
- Crapsack World: The series is set in a Death World where dangerous beasts like Tyranno roam free and kill whoever they like, and if they don't kill you, the violent Dumb Muscle cavemen (who believe in ridiculous conspiracy theories and think punishing people based on their ancestry is justifiable) certainly will. The tribes are also constantly at war with one another over land and resources.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: A long time ago, a tribe known as the Whiteskin people existed, but they caused chaos and massacred many innocents. As a result, many tribes hate them, to the point any babies that happen to be born with white skin are immediately put to death. This could be read as a parallel to colonialism and racism.
- Dramatic Irony:
- Esta's tribe ordered to leave Ryu to die by the hands of Tyranno. But early in the anime, Tyranno exterminates the exact tribe, leaving only a few sole survivors.
- Unintentional example: Goro hates Ryu for his white skin and wants to have him killed because of it. In Hindi and Sankskrit, "Goro" is a slang term for a white person.note
- Earthy Barefoot Character: Invoked since this is the pre-historic era - many characters are close to nature and live in mud huts, and don't wear shoes unless they're in cold environments (Messa is the sole exception).
- Expy: Ryu is a human raised by apes after being abandoned by his parents, much like Mowgli from Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book. Similarly, Tyranno can be considered one of Shere Khan as he is an animal who desires to murder him.
- Fantastic Racism: Of sorts. Pale skin is seen as a curse, hence Ryu being subject to constant attacks from strangers who believe he'll bring a plague on to the lands. Only a few characters are willing to treat Ryu with respect despite his skin colour.
- Fed to the Beast: While the cavemen live in fear of Tyranno, they all have an agreement to feed outcasts, criminals and those who slighted them to him. This is probably because it allows them to punish offenders while ensuring that the dinosaur's appetite is placated at the same time.
- The Fellowship Has Ended: Averted. In the end of the anime, after Ryu and Esta reunite, she joins him, Ran and Don in having many more adventures across the lands. However, Kiba is dead.
- Heroic Sacrifice: has a few instances of this:
- Kitty, Ryu's ape mother, went to rescue her adoptive son from being persecuted by the Big Horn Tribe in spite of her injuries. She ended up getting killed by the Tyranno, though Ryu survived.
- Messa went to save Ryu and her son Ben from the Tyranno. She stabbed the Tyranno's tail to draw it's attention to her, giving the boys enough time to escape. The Tyranno then proceeded to swat her away. Subverted: She survives and escapes together with her family.
- Emma saving Ryu by throwing herself in front of Taka's spear.
- Son lured the Tyranno away from Esta, giving her enough time to escape. He was mortally wounded by the Tyranno, but by chance ran into Ryu and died in his arms.
- Gan protected Don during an ambush laid by Taka. He threw himself in front of Don to protect him from Karim's spear.
- Hollywood Prehistory: Humans and dinosaurs live in the same era and the setting is in a barren, rocky, depressing jungle. Also, in the frosty areas there are yeti.
- Humans Are White: Inverted and reverse-enforced. Pale-skinned babies are automatically killed, leading dark-skinned people to be the majority.
- Humans Are Bastards: The series doesn't hold back on showing how humans tend to act no differently to the animals they fear. For example, the Big Horn Tribe forced Esta's baby to be Fed to the Beast shortly after he was born, and it was an animal (Kitty the ape) who saved him. Even in the Grand Finale, the final villain isn't Tyranno, but a fellow human, Taka - who hates Ryu because of his skin colour because when he was a baby the Whiteskins murdered his entire family, even though Ryu never did anything to him.
- Human Traffickers: Tanga is a ruthless warlord/merchant who enslaved other humans for labours. Ryu helps his captives escape, and also kills him and his gang.
- Inconsistent Dub: In the Hungarian dub, Tyranno's name is changed to Siránó. However after episode 4, everyone began calling him Tirannusz, and no one brings up that his name for the first 3 episodes was something different.
- Intimidating White Presence: The cavemen tribes view white skin as a curse, to the point that when babies are born with white skin, they're instantly taken away from their parents and murdered. Esta cried and begged the chief not to take Ryu away, but he ordered him to be Fed to the Beast anyway. Later, when Ryu returns to the village alive, they express disgust at his skin colour and tell him it would be better off for everyone if he died.
- Lifesaving Misfortune: Goro usurped his brother Amra from his position as chief and had him left for dead in the mountains. He also had his nephew Ben be imprisoned for his defiance. This ended up saving their lives as Ryu and the others happen to be on said mountain not long after and treated Amra. Ryu also went on to infiltrate the village to rescue Ben. Furthermore, the Tyranno was already on its way to the village and ended up killing Goro along with the rest of the tribe.
- Long Hair Is Feminine: If there's a female character with an important role in the story, chances are that they have long hair. The "femininity" aspect is also enforced, as men are chosen to be warriors while women usually work as medics or other jobs.
- Must Make Amends: In episode 9, after Ryu exposed Goro as a fraud, Messa felt remorse for forsaking her family and decided to help the boy. During the duel with the Smilodon, she snuck behind Goro and took his shiv, throwing it at Ryu, allowing him to kill it.
- Only One Name: Most of the characters do not have surnames, and instead introduce themselves as "X of the Y tribe". This is possibly justified as it is set in the prehistoric era and modern naming conventions did not exist back then.
- Race Lift:
- Uncertain Doom: After Tyranno rampaged through the Sumekari tribe's encampment, its unknown what happened to Chief Majara or the rest of the tribe as the show only showed Taka and his underlings Tome and Karim still pursuing Ryu.
- Savage Wolves: Ryu & Co. are at one point chased by wolves trying to devour them, leading him having to fight them off with a stick.
- Scenery Porn: Due to the series having a pre-industrialization setting, oceans, skies, sunsets and mountains take up a lot of the background and are almost always depicted in vivid detail, sometimes overtaking the whole screen.
