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This Article Contains Spoilers -
WARNING: This article contains major spoilers. If you do not wish to know vital information on plot / character elements in a story, you may not wish to read beyond this warning: We hold no responsibility for any negative effects these facts may have on your enjoyment of said media should you continue. That is all. |
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| “ | I've always wanted to come here. I want to see the world of death that lies beyond this borderland. | „ |
| ~ Ryūji explaining his motive to Usagi. |
| “ | Let's go... to the world of death together. | „ |
| ~ Ryūji to Usagi in one of his potential futures. |
Ryūji Matsuyama is the tritagonist of Season 3 of the Netflix series Alice in Borderland. He is a university professor who became obsessed with researching a world between life and death after he tried an experiment on a student who was suppose to have a near-death experience ends up dying from a drug Ryūji administered to the student. After the experiment went wrong, a guilt-wracked Ryūji attempts to take his own life in a car crash that would paralyze him from the waist down, leaving him to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.
Having developed his obsession with the world of death and the borderlands (after having likely experienced the borderlands because of the car crash), he decides to do everything in his power to go back to the Borderlands by speaking to multiple survivors of the meteor strike that hit Shibuya. Once he finds a lead to the "Old Maid" death game and wins it, he is then asked to perform a favour by Sunato Banda, who became a citizen in the borderlands in Season 2.
He is portrayed by Kento Kaku and voiced by Paul Zinno in the English dub.
Personality[]
Ryuji is a calm, confident, and educated man who spent years researching the afterlife, despite numerous critics around him not taking his field of research very seriously. Best highlighted in the scene where Ryuji hands a professor his research paper on the afterlife and near-death experiences, and the professor tells Ryuji that the academy wouldn't waste their time reading his work and that it should be published in an occult magazine.
However, where there is intelligence, there is also a decent amount of cold pragmatism, as seen when he uses his fellow players as meat shields in Rhythm, with Usagi even calling him out on it when she saves one of the players (that Ryuji put in harm's way) from dying.
Biography[]
Background[]
Ryuji meeting Yano after his lecture.
At Shushikan University, Ryuji had a student by the name of "Yano" who attended his classes and listened to his lectures; during one of these lectures, Yano approached him and complimented his work. Matsuyama clarifies, asking if she's interested in mental illness. However, Yano actually meant his work on the afterlife and near-death experiences, which was a first for Ryuji, given how many times his research papers on the topic had been rejected.
Yano told Ryuji that she had read that having a near-death experience may give people a glimpse into the afterlife, and she wanted to experience it herself. She was a genuinely curious student who hoped for Ryuji to prove that the world of death exists. As Ryuji goes on to note, however, the only way to continue this research would be for Yano to have a near-death experience herself, which Ryuji himself is somewhat apprehensive about, considering he would be potentially killing Yano.
Ryuji experimenting on Yano so she can simulate a near-death experience.
After much convincing and begging from the student, Ryuji reluctantly agrees to inject Yano with a drug that would stop her heartbeat and (unbeknownst to Ryuji at the time) would transport Yano into the borderlands. Unfortunately for both of them, after two minutes of no response from Yano, Ryuji tries to wake up Yano and begins seriously worrying about her. After the failed experiment, the authorities suspected Ryuji of murder, but he wasn't charged with the crime due to insufficient evidence.
The experiment broke Ryuji mentally and he made an attempt on his own life out of guilt by getting into a car crash that instead of killing him would merely paralyze him from the waist-down instead as a result.
Just like every other participant of the Joker Tournament he was a previous player in the borderlands as well, and it's presumed that he played in the borderlands due to the events of the car crash.
Season 3[]
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