Ryunosuke Tatsumi

"Well, I thought even working out of sight at the Louvre would be enough for me, so I jumped at the chance. Actually, I guess there's no being out of sight when you're at the Louvre. Hahaha."

- Ryunosuke Tatsumi

Ryunosuke Tatsumi (辰巳隆之介) is a secondary character featured in the live-action Rohan au Louvre film adaptation.

He is a curator at the Louvre who is an expert in Asian art. Tatsumi accompanies Rohan Kishibe, Emma Noguchi, Kyoka Izumi, Nicolas Thomas, and Hugo Renard to the abandoned warehouse where Nizaemon Yamamura's painting is stored.

Appearance
Tatsumi is a middle-aged man of average height and build with wavy, neck-length black hair. He wears thin silver-rimmed glasses, a checkered suit jacket on top of a turtleneck sweater, pants, and dress shoes.

Personality
Ryunosuke Tatsumi appears distinctly intellectual and self-assured. However, his demeanor projects an aura of arrogance and possible contempt. His speech, while cordial and eloquent, can be condescending, and his seemingly out-of-context quotations from give off an air of showing off his knowledge rather than genuine conversation.

Despite his respectful surface, Tatsumi's behavior is subtly off-putting which becomes apparent upon interaction. His remarks often bear a superficial politeness, yet they come with a dismissive undercurrent. For example, he disregards Pink Dark Boy's content, claiming to have understood it merely from the cover. Such instances reveal that his gentlemanly conduct is more performative than sincere. Tatsumi has an inconsistent attitude of humility, such as when he describes his role at the Louvre as a temporary hire due to staff shortages, all the while exuding a sense of superiority.

His love for the Louvre is undeniably profound, as shown by his aspiration to work even in the lowest position out of sight. However, his underlying possessiveness towards the institution hints at an underlying darker facet of his character, such as his casual remark about wishing to have the entire Louvre to himself. As the leader of an art theft group, Tatsumi's greediness eventually leads to his downfall as he regrets what happened to Maurice Legrand, believing he killed him due to forcing him to keep creating forgeries for their thefts.

Tatsumi's expertise as an appraiser is recognized and respected. His confident proclamations on artwork authenticity, even in ambiguous situations, demonstrate his command in his field. However, this assertiveness can sometimes cross the line into arrogance, further adding to the off-putting side of his personality.

In tense situations, Tatsumi appears to become defensive and argumentative, showcasing a competitive nature. He is ready to challenge others with his knowledge and authority, dismissing differing views in a condescending manner. However, when confronted with plausible counterarguments such as when Rohan correctly deduces the theft group's existence, Tatsumi can be left momentarily speechless, suggesting a potentially vulnerable side that's usually well hidden behind his self-assured front.

Despite his unfavorable traits, Tatsumi's expertise, knowledge, and dedication to his role at the Louvre make him an invaluable asset in critical investigations.

Background
Ryunosuke Tatsumi was a famous appraiser. In 2019, The Louvre Conservation Centre was built to move the Louvre's collection to protect them from flooding in the. Over 1000 pieces of art in The Louvre's underground warehouse were discovered, but records of a valuable collection containing hundreds of Asian art donated at the beginning of the 20th century were lost from the World War. As an expert in Asian art, Tatsumi was temporarily hired to work at the Louvre at this time as part of the collection investigation team.

At some point, Tatsumi started an art theft group, leading Maurice Legrand, Nicolas Thomas, Hugo Renard, Kawai, and Watabe. Using his position to his advantage, he was able to easily steal paintings. Firefighters and curators had access to every room in the Louvre, so they used the abandoned warehouse Z-13 for their own purposes. Maurice had exceptional skills in reproducing paintings, so they would take original masterpiece paintings from there, then give them to Maurice, who created a detailed forgery. The firefighters sent the forged painting to the Louvre's storage room, while Maurice hid the original painting in the back of one of his other paintings. He then shipped it overseas to Japan, where his gang members would bid on the cheap painting in an auction, so they can retrieve the original painting from the back. Tatsumi would give them orders through phone calls.

Rohan au Louvre
After Kawai and Watabe's attempt to steal Maurice's Noire painting from Rohan Kishibe's house, Watabe calls Tatsumi, telling him he's backing out from the job since something is off about Rohan. Believing the job wasn't legitimate, Watabe quickly ends the call after telling Tatsumi that there was nothing on the back of the painting.

In the sculpture exhibition room at the Louvre, Rohan starts sketching when Tatsumi approaches him. He greets Rohan with a quote from a letter that wrote to his brother, claiming it describes Rohan well. Emma Noguchi introduces all of them to each other, informing them that Tatsumi is the Asian art expert she had just mentioned to them earlier. Tatsumi declares himself as a fan of Rohan's art, though denies reading Pink Dark Boy, saying he understood the contents just from seeing the cover in a bookstore. Chatting as they walked along, Tatsumi mentions that Maurice seems to have died from an accident. Suddenly, the group hears a loud scream. Above them in the second-floor exhibition space, Emma is shocked to see her boss Jacques Blanc acting afraid. Jacques constantly looks back as if he is terrified at something while begging for help, but nobody could see anything behind him. In his panicked state, Jacques jumps off the railing and lands on the floor below, where Emma and Tatsumi rush over to. Jacques manages to tell them about a spider and black hair.

When Rohan requests to go visit the Z-13 warehouse where Nizaemon Yamamura's Black Painting is stored, Emma agrees. Tatsumi joins them on the way, making Rohan suspicious because of his timing. At the entrance to the underground passage, Emma introduces Rohan and Kyoka to the two firefighters, Nicolas and Hugo. Hugo asks them to hand over any flammable items or anything that could harm the stored items like lighters, pens, knives, and keys. While in the storage room, Nicolas knocks off a painting from the wall. It ends up being an unpublished painting from, which makes Rohan and Emma suspicious since it should have been sent to the Louvre's newly constructed storage center already. Tatsumi declares it's a fake and tells Nicolas to dispose of it. However, Rohan rejects his claim and believes it is authentic. He shows them an art material he found with Maurice Legrand's name on it and then explains his theory of how he believes Maurice is part of an art theft group and how they were operating. Tatsumi vehemently attempts to deny Rohan's claims until Rohan states it would be easy for Maurice to accomplish such a task with allies such as curators or firefighters who could freely access rooms in the Louvre. Tatsumi, Nicolas, and Hugo stay silent upon hearing Rohan's correct theory. After some time, Tatsumi starts arguing, but Nicolas and Hugo don't pay attention to that. Hugo is concerned about Nicolas, who is staring into the darkness of the warehouse. Stunned, Nicolas wonders why a soldier is there and is suddenly shot with several bullets.

As Nicolas dies, Hugo loses his calm and accuses Rohan of doing something since Watabe contacted them earlier saying Rohan is dangerous. Paranoid because Tatsumi spoke in Japanese with the group earlier, Hugo thinks Tatsumi may also be betraying him like what happened with Maurice. Tatsumi confesses to Rohan, complaining that Maurice suddenly went crazy after seeing something in the warehouse and talked about quitting their theft group. Tatsumi tried persuading him to stay since his forgery skills were the only way their group could function. Suddenly, a black spider crawls up Tatsumi's back. Everyone is confused when Tatsumi mentions Maurice's name, as only he could see the illusion of the man due to the Black Painting. Tatsumi is killed by this illusion of Maurice, who strangles him.

Trivia

 * Ryunosuke Tatsumi replaces the role that Gaucher played in the manga. However, Gaucher still has a minor appearance in the film, being an older curator of the Louvre in the past instead.