Nakago is a character from Watase Yuu's manga Fushigi Yuugi. I'm going to open by giving some very basic information about him as it was translated from the manga by Tasuki no Miko. Some of the comments are additional side notes by myself, but the overall content is very general - just something to be sure we all know who he is before I start in on details. In the context of the story, Nakago would fall into the position of the villian.

Birth Name:	Unknown
Seishi Name:	Nakago
Age:	25
Family:	None at present. His mother is the only family ever mentioned or shown, and she was raped and killed when he was very small. There is no chance that he has any other family as his entire race (the Hin) was genocided by the emperor of Kutou.
Height:	193cm (6'4")
Bloodtype:	Unknown
Birthday:	November 17
Abilities:	He's good at everything. ^.~ He is a master at using his 'chi' and could walk all over any of the other seishi. Until Seiryuu is sealed at the very end of the series, he is the single most powerful character there is - able to defeat even ALL of the Suzaku seishi with their abilities combined at once against him.

Now that I can be certain we all at least know who he is, I can cover the more contraversial issues surrounding him. Nakago is the villain, yes, but I added "in the context of the story" for a reason.

Nakago is my favorite character in Fushigi Yuugi, and while most of the websites you'll visit present him as cruel, heartless, and evil and point out how contrary that is to his seishi symbol, that's not the view you'll find here. Please be patient with me and brace yourself for my spiel. I hope someone understands.

To begin with, inside Nakago is a very vulnerable person. In the flashback scene with his mother you see him looking up at her with sad eyes and asking why everyone hates them (the answer being that they are Hin and nothing more). He's extremely sensitive to hate despite his seemingly cold exterior. And he has the capacity for great loyalty, protectiveness, and sacrifice. When his people were being wiped out and the soldiers came to his home and raped his mother she told him to run, but he stayed.

Unfortunately he was just a small child and didn't know anything about his seishi powers or how to control them, so when in his fear and rage for his mother they went off, he not only destroyed all of the soldiers in the immediate area, but everyone there, including his mother. The remaining soldiers, who had just finished killing off the last of his tribe, recognized the symbol on him and because of that he was spared and taken to the emperor. Please note that the emperor of Kutou is nothing like the gentle and honorable young emperor of Konan. The emperor was a very sick man. Nakago was a very beautiful little boy - just like a beautiful little girl is how the emperor put it - and he took him as a kind of plaything.

So what you have a little boy who has never known love or acceptance except from one person, his mother, who is now dead and he inadvertantly was the one who killed her. He has no one left. He's scared and sensitive and this scumbag emperor (the man who killed his entire race) takes him in in the palace and abuses him in every sick way possible AND expects him to serve him.

Nakago is smart though, and intead of lashing out in rage at those around him, he stays silent and learns to control the seishi abilities he was born with and, like Hotohori, hopes for the day when the Seiryuu no Miko will come and he can end the hell he lives in. He felt useless and afraid in his weakness as a child, and he applied himself heart and soul to discovering his seishi skills and perfecting his control of them so that he might never be powerless again.

After all that happened to him, and the continual ridicule and rejection he experienced from people around him even after becoming shogun, Nakago is not heartless. When he sees Soi, no more than a child, being used by some men he steps in and kills them. She did turn out to be a seishi, but he didn't know that when he saved her. He has a soft-spot for women and is protective towards them when he sees them being abused. That's how he found Seiryuu no Miko - when he rescued her from men trying to rape her. He may have suspected she could be Seiryuu no Miko, but he didn't know she was (even as Tamahome and Hotohori did not KNOW Miaka was Suzaku no Miko). I believe he saved her, and Soi, because of his memory of what happened to his mother. It's almost a kind of penance. He couldn't help his mother, so he saves other women instead. His cool outside is a facade he hides behind to push other away from him - to protect himself. He refuses to allow himself any attatchment to other people after what's happened.

Nakago devotes his life and existence to vengeance for his people against the world that did this to them. All he wants is peace from himself and the memory of them. He also displays incredible loyalty to Seiryuu no Miko (Yui) even after he no longer has to, sending his chi to protect her from a falling building. That takes place well into the second part of the manga if you aren't familiar with the scene. She was one of the few people in his life, other than Soi who he loved, that he had respect for. My argument is that Nakago does what he does because he's a man at the end. He has no where else to go. Even if he were to take over Kutou and simply kill the emperor, he would still be living in a world that despised him - feared and obeyed him - but hated him. It would be a lot of extra work and pain for the rest of his existence. He has one hope and nothing left so he drives through and does whatever he deems necessary.

When Tamahome's family is killed by Suboshi, it was at Nakago's subtle hint (he knew that was one of the things that would force the others in the 'game' to move the direction he needed them to go in) but you don't see him rushing off to do it himself. I don't think he could have done it. True, he saw the usefullness of it were it to happen, but had he confronted Tamahome's family himself they would not have been killed. Nakago doesn't kill children. And for information on what I think about the whole Miaka issue with whether or not he would have raped her, I say "absolutely not". Watase Yuu herself attests that the entire thing was Tomo's idea, and Nakago was never really all that keen on it.

To close, I'd like to leave you with Watase Yuu's Nakago. That's Nakago as she intended him regardless of what your own impression of him may have been while watching the series. Thank you Kai Ling for providing the translation to the following "free talk".

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Watase Yuu's Nakago Free Talk

It was decided from the start, that his past will not be revealed until the very end, let him be the bad guy from start to finish; therefore, everyone had a very strong impression of him, and he became a character that was discussed the most. My Nakago is a sad, lonely yet fragile person, he's the kind of young man who cries in the dark.

Some people say he is a really evil person, and others say he's cold-hearted and strong-at-heart; alot of different views. Actually, till now, Nakago has been well received, the producer of the CD (?? ^^;) likes him the best, and for those who know the ending, may even shout aloud "Ah"! When Nakago said "Want to be a god", "Want to take over the world", etc type of words, it was only to create a reason for himself to live, even if he wants to commit suicide, but he remembers that in the afterlife, there is his mother whom he killed by mistake, and he dared not do it, his craze is perhaps due to his guilt!

Therefore, he allowed Tamahome (it's not the same as doing it himself, he is a young man who is frank with himself) to defeat him, when he was questioned by Yui as well, he could actually have constructed a huge and elaborate lie, except he had accepted that whatever will be will be. Maybe he thought that it was because since Soi was already dead! The way Soi protected Nakago, it must have shattered the armour of his heart into pieces.

There was a 12 or 13 year old reader who wrote in a letter,"Even though one could say Nakago deserved to go to hell, that is not right. True hell belongs to those people who were never loved." Strong yet grieved Nakago, in my heart is definitely not a strong person. Even though he acts against his character, he is not an evil person.

When I was writing the second part of the story, I feel that the strongest ones are women and those who love others to the fullest. (I am not sure about this last sentence ^^;;) Strong!!

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If you still have questions that aren't answered, or if you'd like even more information about Nakago, I recommend visiting the Nakago Fan Club which is located at
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Garden/8332/nakago_fanclub.html.

Or, you can e-mail me at nakagos_soi@yahoo.com and I will do my best to answer any questions you have.

You can visit Seimei at The Continuous Fushigi Yuugi


Article copyright 1999 Seimei.
Watase Yuu "free talk" copyright Flower Comics and Watase Yuu - translation work copyright 1998 Kai Ling.
Character stats translation copyright Tasuki no Miko.