Ryunosuke is a really neat little kid, and it's no wonder he is so precious to both his parents. He is very grown-up for his age (I'm not sure how old he is, but he looks ten or eleven), and although he has a healthy streak of mischief, is usually very responsible and well-behaved. (I'm always confused by the little flash of red in the front of his hair, but we'll let that go.)

More than anything, Ryu would like his parents to be able to get along. He accepts that it's not very likely to happen, but of course he still hopes. Thankfully, he doesn't seem to feel that he's the cause of their problems. Really, Ryu is under quite a lot of pressure from both his parents to be what they want. Kyusaku is far easier to live with, but his very easy-goingness sometimes makes him difficult to relate to as a father. Ryu must wonder sometimes who's the grown-up and who's the child.

Ryunosuke: I wish he'd just go to bed.

Fortunately, he has Nuku Nuku to look after him and keep him company. Nuku Nuku is a wonderful big sister to Ryu, and in a way he's bringing her up too, by teaching her about how people live. Ryu has a much more sophisticated understanding of people's feelings than she does, especially when it comes to Mama-san and Papa-san - or Kaja and Toja (Mum and Dad), as he calls them. With a father like Kyusaku, Ryu is bound to be bright academically, but he's also smart in ways that Kyusaku is not. A boy with a high EQ.

Ryunosuke's best friend apart from Nuku Nuku is Yoshimi, a girl of his own age on whom he seems to have a little crush. Ryu doesn't seem embarrassed for Yoshimi to see the strange world he lives in - well, some things about it, like Nuku Nuku, are pretty neat. It's good to see he has a normal friendship like this.

Ryu is a gentle kid, who hates the violence that keeps erupting whenever his parents' wills clash. He gets especially angry with Akiko, and even told her once 'I hate you when you're like this!' He disapproved of his grandfather's suggestion of playing war-games with robots, preferring a game with no losers.

Of course, Ryunosuke's character is summed up in the first scene of Nuku Nuku - he is the sort of person who, if he found a stray cat in an alley, would try to take care of it. There are a lot of challenges in his life, but I think he's equal to them.

Back to People page

Home