"I Want to Eat Your Pancreas," a youthful love comedy centered around four high school boys and girls, is abbreviated to "FuriFura"! It's also garnering attention as it's been announced that it will be adapted into both a live-action and an animated film in 2020! The story depicts the bittersweet love affair between the two heroines, Ichihara Yuna and Yamamoto Akari, and Akari's stepbrother, Yamamoto Rio, and Yuna's childhood friend, Inui Kazuomi. In this article, we'll take a closer look at Yamamoto Rio, one of the main characters!
Rio Yamamoto's Profile
Rio is a first-year high school student born on February 9th under the sign of Aquarius. He's 173 cm tall, and while he's often portrayed as self-conscious about his small stature, he's not that small. Rio excels at studying, and even tutors Yuna in the series! His favorite subjects are math and English, subjects that smart people excel at. And when asked what his least favorite subject is, he answers, "none"...as expected. He also says his charm point is his voice, so keep an eye out for the voice actor in the film adaptation!
Rio is handsome and popular, but...
Rio is not only handsome, but also popular because he has a natural way of interacting with girls. He's constantly confessed his love to her in the story... However, because he's very superficial, he politely turns down girls who aren't his type. Rio's policy seems to be to not be vague about whether he's interested in a girl, since he can move on to the next one by clearly turning her down. People say he's a bit of a playboy, but maybe he's not that kind of playboy! Incidentally, Yuna also seems to have been Rio's type...
Rio, Searching for True Love
Rio told Yuna that he had truly fallen in love only once in his life. In fact, that "true love" was Akari. Rio and Akari were classmates in junior high school, and Rio fell in love with Akari at first sight, and his feelings for her only grew stronger. Then, one rainy day, Rio decided to confess his feelings to Akari, leaving a message on her answering machine and calling her.
Akari heard the message and, on her way to the place Rio had called her, met her mother and Rio's father. When Rio and Rio found out they were going to become brother and sister, he dropped his phone in a puddle, breaking it, and pretended not to hear Rio's messages to avoid hurting her. Later, Rio also found out their parents were remarrying, and suppressed his own feelings. After becoming brother and sister to Akari, Rio began searching for someone he could love even more than Akari.
An unforgettable, true love...
Even after entering high school, Rio continued to search for someone he truly loved. He tried to contact girls he liked, but he struggled to find true love. Rio's feelings for Akari were vague, until something happened that made him reaffirm his feelings...
He saw Akari falling in love with him for real...
Until now, Rio had tried not to think about his feelings for Akari, but when Akari fell in love with Kazuomi, he realized he still loved her. Rio and Akari had been acting like "siblings" until now. Rio had tried hard to maintain that, but when he saw Akari in love like he'd never seen her before, he couldn't hold back and kissed her...
The kiss incident was temporarily put to rest when Akari, who knew Rio's true feelings, flattered him, saying, "Stop doing things like this on impulse." However, even if they pretended it never happened, the fact that they kissed remains unchanged, so needless to say, this incident caused quite a stir!
Yuna, the girl who was asking for advice about "true love"
Knowing that Yuna liked Rio, Akari helped bring the two closer together. Although Rio and Yuna grew closer, it was only as friends, and their relationship never progressed romantically. Rio, who trusted Yuna as a friend, told her about the "one and only time he fell in love." Rio never said that his "true love" was Akari, but Yuna noticed.
Rio doesn't realize Yuna's feelings...
Rio and Yuna became close enough to talk about love, and Yuna told Rio, "I have someone I like, but I can't confess my feelings." Rio, who wasn't even allowed to confess his true love to someone, advised Yuna, "If you can confess your feelings to that person, you should confess even if you know you'll be rejected." As a result, Yuna confessed her feelings to Rio on the spot, and Rio ended up being rejected...
Second "True Love"
After dumping Yuna, Rio lost control of his feelings when he saw Akari falling in love with Kazuomi. However, it was Yuna who stopped him. At first, Rio couldn't even look Yuna in the eye, but as he saw her get angry and cry for him, he gradually became attracted to her.
In Rio's eyes, Yuna, in love, became a "beautiful woman" both inside and out. Then, when Rio goes to the summer festival with Yuna, Akari, Kazuomi, and Rio's classmate, Agatsuma, he becomes jealous when he sees Agatsuma getting along well with Yuna, and finally realizes that he's in love with her.
He decides to confess his feelings to Yuna, even though he once rejected her!
Rio is feeling anxious because Agatsuma has told him that he likes Yuna. Meanwhile, the school festival begins, and Rio and his friends desperately try to invite Yuna, knowing that there's a superstition that says that if they dance the folk dance together at the after-party, they'll end up together. However, before the after-party even began, Agatsuma confessed his feelings to Yuna! She rejected him, saying she had someone she liked, and Agatsuma reported the matter to Rio.
Rio was shocked to realize that Yuna had fallen in love with someone else, but he didn't want to go on without telling her how he felt, so he decided to confess his feelings to her!
What will Rio's confession turn out to be...?
Unfortunately, Rio had forgotten his smartphone in the classroom, so he ran around the school looking for Yuna. Suddenly, Yuna came running up behind him and bumped into him. Yuna then begins to talk about how she wanted to thank Rio.
Thinking that Yuna would thank him and then go confess her feelings to someone, Rio confesses, "You said you just wanted me to know how I feel? That's a total lie! I want you to fall in love with me even now. That's how much I love you." Yuna responds with tears in her eyes that she still loves Rio, and the two start dating.
A serious relationship with no trace of frivolity!
Since Rio started dating Yuna, he has taken great care of her. Rio, who is popular with girls, refuses all the chocolates sent to him by his crush, even on Valentine's Day. Many girls were unhappy that Rio's girlfriend was Yuna, a quiet type in class, but Rio's response helped them come to terms with it!
Rio sincerely interacts with Yuna's family!
Yuna's first boyfriend, a popular guy like Rio, caused her a lot of stress. Then, on Valentine's Day, other girls directly said mean things to her, which caused her anxiety to explode. Rio and Yuna had their first fight, but after Rio honestly told them he didn't want to leave things as they were, they opened up to each other and made up.
Rio went straight to Yuna's house and greeted her mother! There, he told her mother that he wasn't just dating her for no apparent reason. Yuna's mother seemed very happy about this. Rio is no longer a total playboy!
Rio Yamamoto Summary!
So far, we've thoroughly introduced Rio. What do you think? While those around her may think of Rio as a playboy, she's anything but! Perhaps her past heartbreak, which is rare, has caused her to take a detour toward "real love." "FuriFura" is set to be adapted into both a live-action and animated film in 2020! Keep an eye out for Rio's performance in the film!
