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 mother.
The anime ran from October 30, 1971 to March 25, 1972, ending at a total of 22 episodes.
The anime is one part of The Ryu Trilogy by Shotaro Ishinomori. Ishinomori also wrote the sequel manga, Ryu's Path and 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.
- 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.
- Artistic License – Biology: Tyranno (the Tyrannosaurus Rex) uses his arms like a human.
- Artistic License – History: Cavemen actually did not live in the same period as dinosaurs.
- Axe-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 dinosaur. He leads his people to doom and is responsible for Tyranno massacring them all.
- 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: Here, the cavemen believe in ridiculous omens, sell their children in exchange for resources, wear lioncloth and generally are The Brute.
- 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: All tribes are a bunch of racist cultists with messed up beliefs and are quick to use violence on each other, while dangerous beasts like Tyranno roam free and kill whoever they like.
- 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.
- 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 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: According to the law of Ryu's tribe babies born with white skin are ordered to be fed to Tyranno.
- The Fellowship Has Ended: Averted. In the end of the anime, Ryu and Esta reunite. She joins him, Ran and Don in having many fun adventures. However, Kiba is dead.
- Hollywood Prehistory: Humans and dinosaurs live in the same era and the setting is in a barren, rocky, depressing jungle. In addition, there also exists carnivorous plants, and in the frosty areas, yeti.
- Humans Are White: Inverted and reverse-enforced. All humans are brown, or black-passing in the case of Ran. Pale skin is seen as a curse, hence pale-skinned babies being killed after birth]].
- Humans Are Bastards: The tribe repeatedly war with one another cling to archaic beliefs. For example they believe that pale skin is a bad omen, hence forcing Esta's son Ryu to be Fed to the Beast, Tyranno. It is an animal (Kitty the ape) that takes pity on the baby and saves 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 tribes of the region kill anyone with white skin, even babies like Ryu, because they believe white skin is a bad omen. It's only thanks to a kindly ape that he was saved.
- Long Hair Is Feminine: All the prominent female characters (Ran, Messa, Esta) have long hair.
- Only One Name: None of the characters have surnames, and instead introduce themselves as "X of the Y tribe".
- Race Lift: One issue of a Kurdish magazine lightens the skin tones of the characters to the point the dark-skinned characters are look white.
- Savage Wolves: In this series' setting, every animal is trying to kill you, and for Ryu and the gang it's wolves in particular.
- Scenery Porn: A lot of shots of the anime focus on the son and the lush forestry that comes with the pre-modernization setting, especially with suns and oceans.
