I have been hooked on Fushigi Yuugi ever since I heard Miaka exclaim in shock, "Otoko?!" And 2 years, 47 TV episodes, 9 OVA parts, and dozens of new anime series later, Nuriko remains my first loyalty in FY and my favorite anime character overall. But I must admit to having trouble expressing myself when I want to talk about him -- why I like him, how I see him. So bear with me if a ramble a little, as I try to explain what I think of Nuriko and what fans should know about him.

Chou Ryuuen was born the middle child of a textile merchant in Eiyou, the capital city of Konan. He and his sister Kourin, one year younger, were inseparable as children, and they were also close to their older brother, Rokou. All indications are that he had a very happy childhood until his sister's death.

Ryuuen was 10 years old when his sister was run over by a cart. She had been following him across the marketplace, but neither had seen or heard the cart until it was too late. There was nothing he could have done, but Ryuuen could not accept her death. Soon afterward, he had an idea. He went into Kourin's room, went through her things. When he put on one of her dresses, and fixed his hair like hers... it was as if Kourin was looking back at him from the mirror. Ryuuen decided that he would bring Kourin back to life through himself. He dressed in her clothes, and called himself by her name, and probably behaved like a stubborn 10 year old until everyone around him gave in and allowed him to do what he wanted to.

His charade continued, successfully, to the time when he first appeared in the Fushigi Yuugi story. Not much is known yet about how he got to the palace (although more should be revealed when the Nuriko novel has been translated), but we do know that, when he was 16, he was sent to live with distant relatives in a remote, snowy village. At the same time, a search began to find a suitable Empress for Hotohori, and it reached even to that remote village, where "Kourin" became one of the candidates to enter the harem. However it came about, he was selected to go to the palace, and spent a year there before Miaka showed up.

When "she" first appears in Fushigi Yuugi, Nuriko is, to put it bluntly, a bitch. Jealous and spiteful toward Miaka, predatory of Tamahome, he doesn't exactly seem like the kind of character that would inspire the pretty much universal good opinion that most fans have of him.

But as the series progresses, Nuriko becomes a true part of the group. He does his duty as one of the shichiseishi, he looks after Tamahome when the younger boy is going crazy from missing Miaka, and when Miaka returns from her own world, he's pleased to see her and cheerfully accompanies her to bring Tamahome back to the palace. Later in the story he becomes fiercely protective of Miaka, Tamahome, and their love, and his ultimate place seems to be a brother/sister role to the other shichiseishi (although most of them seem to share a very sibling-like bond with each other).

What initially drew me to Nuriko was, as you may have guessed, the gender play. But that alone wasn't enough to make him my favorite character. His exuberance in cheering up his friends, his determination to protect Miaka and Tamahome, his words of clearly long thought about advice to his friends -- all these things make him memorable as a character. His actions early in the show easily put him on the (then very short and limited) list of my favorite characters, but it's later in the series that he really shines.

So we get to the Big Question that usually divides Nuriko fans. Is he gay? As much as I am a huge Nuriko/Hotohori couple fan, I don't think that he is. I don't think it matters, either. He loved Hotohori and Miaka each for their own reasons and it's impossible to say anything more than that about his feelings. He gave his love freely to the people who he felt deserved it, and gave his life for his Miko and his friends. Nuriko is Nuriko.

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Article copyright 1999 Thea