Nakago is tied with Hotohori as my favorite character in Fushigi Yuugi. Now that may seem like a very big contradiction, since, after all, Nakago IS the one who kills Hotohori. But, oh well, strange tastes for a strange person :)
Since this is the first of my character pages, I think it fair to go right ahead and tell everyone that I don't plan to post the same old statistics that every other fanpage on the web has. You can go to about any character shrine on the anipike and find out what so and so's bloodtype, hobbies, birthday is, ect, and to me, that get's sort of redundant.
These pages are mostly just in tribute to my favorite characters, and will include one or two of my favorite pics, a brief overview, and any personal comments/rants I have about them in general. Oh yeah, I'm just going to go ahead and scream: SPOILER WARNINGS!!! (ahem, now that I have that safely out of the way, I can continue my commentary on his gorgeousness. :)
All right, now that I've officially put my spoiler warning up, I can explain to all the masses of Nakago-haters (unfortunately, my best friend, Loquin (from now on referred to as Loki) included, why I adore my Naka-chan. (ducks violently hurled objects from all other fangirls who drool over the blonde-haired shogun)Okay, let's get the petty, shallow fangirl reasons out of the way first:
1) He's gorgeous (in the background, Loki screams, No he is NOT!)
2) He's sexy (Loki: Not!!)
3) He looks great in armor. (Margi gags Loki before she can say anything else bad about her Naka-chan)
4) In both versions, he has a wonderful voice.
5) I just love powerful, aggressive men ;)
6) the whip ;) (Loki groans in disgust)
All right, shallow reasons aside, there are several reasons that I really like Nakago. For one thing, unlike so many other stories, Nakago was not the typical, flat villain. That is, doing evil just for evil's sake. Yes, I will be the first one to admit that he did terrible things throughout the series, (mainly killing my Tori-chan! sniffle!) but, in his own way, I'm sure he never thought of himself as evil. (then again, most villains don't.)
At heart, all Nakago really wanted was a place where he could be happy, without the pain that he'd been forced to experience all of his life. Yes, he dealt with his pain in bad ways, but if Nakago had had a `normal' life, he more than likely would have grown up a very different man indeed.
In my opinion, one of the truly tragic things about Nakago's character is that because of his abusive childhood (I was soooo happy when Nakago killed that perverted old scumbag of a emperor) he never really knew how to express his emotions in a healthy manner, and never even realized it when people DID love him, since he was so used to being rejected because he was different. Soi truly loved him, but it didn't really hit him until she gave her life to save him from Tasuki's attack. Can you imagine how bad that must have hurt? To realize that someone loved you the whole time, right before they die in your arms? Sheesh, as if Nakago didn't already have a horrible life. :(
Anyways, I'm not going to justify all of the bad things that he did, but you have to admit that his past DID influence his present. I just think that if he had been given a fair chance, someone could've thawed out the ice that enclosed his heart. (also, it should be noted: on one shrine, a Nakago hater remarked that Nakago's symbol, Kokoro, meant `heart's lodging' and was completely inappropriate, since, as THEY claimed, he doesn't have a heart. But, if they would've studied their Japanese a little better, `Kokoro' has three different meanings, Heart, Soul, and Mind. Which, in my opinion, `Mind' fits Nakago much better than `Heart', since he's so clever. (cunning and sneaky! Loki mutters in the background)
Last but not least is my comment on Nakago's voice. Tohru Furusawa did an excellent job as the original Nakago, and despite all nay-sayers, I happen to LIKE the song Blue Eyes Blue, if you really pay attention to the lyrics, you get a VERY good glimpse of Nakago's soul and how he really feels, but I ADORE Nakago's english voice, it's not nearly as deep, and I think it fits him better than the original. (My one huge gripe about Pioneer animation is that they refuse to list character specific cast lists) I mean, how are those of us who support the american companies who dub anime, going to start showing fan support for their voice actors if they won't let us know who played who? (at least AD Vision DOES give you that much!) Oh well, ranting aside, whoever DOES give Nakago such a wonderful voice in the Fushigi Yuugi dub, if I knew who you were, I'd start you a fanclub and give you a great big hug, you are PERFECT for the part! :)
Oh yeah, and I'm a proud member of Nakago's ruling class too! All you Nakago LOVERS, go over to and join Nakago's fanclub!!
