[This is a rare free talk that I just have to translate. Not a literal translation but gets the point across. Enjoy.]

Hello everybody. It's Nakamura. Thank you for buying up Kure Para again. I'm very thankful. ------This is rather sudden but I question I often get in fan mail is the question ''Which one of your characters (in Kure Para) is your favourite?'' ...Mu------... I tend not be the type to love the characters from my own works (...that's why I find that setting a character's birthday, blood type etc. is a pain in the butt and I hate it... More like I'll post such a thing only when it's necessary.....) That's why questions such as this are a problem but... Lately, surprisingly there are 3 I'm getting quite attached to and have been ranked and I'd like to share this with you..... Actually, it's only the BEST 3......... Below that, they're all ranked the same...... So! Here we go into Nakamura's favourite character ranking.

NUMBER 3 The living witness of Hogou vs. Garyukai AZUMA HARUUMI

What I like about him: The major gag faces he shows once in awhile..... I think...... [Pics shows major SD forms of Azuma.] Text below Azuma's pic: I bet you never thought that this mister who first appeared in #9 [tankoubun] would show up in a place like this. But! Tsubaki's existence was the only way to link Azuma and Tsukasa, and between Tsubaki and Azuma, Azuma's presence was set to be more important than Tsubaki's. Fufu... But... considering that, there are more readers who like Tsubaki over Azuma..... but... this is expected... Anyone prefers a young and cute boy......

...and next!!

NUMBER 2 The Buddha's face who has a scar on his shin (!?) KAMOJIMA TOSHIYUKI [note, Nakamura romanizes Toshiyuki as Tosiyuki...]

What I like about him: The 2-sidedness about him where he's really thinking of something cruel behind that Buddha's face. It seems that when he was younger, he led a rotten life. He is part of the gokudo too; don't be fooled. Text below Kamo-san's pic: This was something I kind of hinted at the beginning of the series so announcing now that ''I like Kamojima'' shouldn't surprise my readers. That's right. I still like this oyaji. That's right, I do. ------And, the final number 1!! Go to page 158.

page 158

BEST 1 Sweet with women, the rule breaking (?) policeman MUNAKATA KAI [the small text beside his name points out that this is a strange kanji to use in a name but she justifies it saying that it's all right since it matches his cruel personality.]

Text pointing to Asago: And if Asago is added to this it's even better!! They are the BEST together as a set. What I like about him: ...What I like about him is probably the fact that he's probably the tallest among Kure Para's characters or that he's my type (so shoot me for loving machos), his blunt/cruel words and actions (so shoot me for having my heart stolen by male characters who most people find hateful) <- But this only applies to characters in mangas. This would never happen in the real world. In short in terms of a character, Munakata is perfect from head to toe .......And to go further, I like the Munakata and Asago combo. Like Azuma, when he first appeared in #6 (maybe there are a lot of people who didn't realize that it was Munakata then......) ...either way, since he first appeared, I had planned that he would be the one to stop Asago from despair so planning their meeting was fun from that point. That's why I still love drawing the scenes with Asago and Munakata. Saying that I'm happiest when drawing these 2 is not an overstatement...... That's why their two shot ended up on the comic cover.

Lately concerning the rose wielding Misumi there seems to be an increase of Misumi lovers saying that they ''love his cruelty/evilness''. True, he's cruel... But for some reason, he ranks the same as Tsukasa and Ryuji etc and thus he ranks #4...... Could it be because of his ronge......? [ronge = slang term for long hair]

visitors since January 5, 2001