Name:中本翔 (Nakamoto Shou)
Born: 9th July
Starsign: Cancer ("Kaniza" in Japanese)
Blood Type: B
Summary: Because of his exceptionally outstanding school record, (Nakamoto) became known as a genius from the time he started school. His strict medical family upbringing is reflected in his too-serious personality. He likes cats.




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Nakamoto likes cats! (ahem. Sorry. I've heard enough things involving Nakamoto with odd cat-miaow sounds in the background.) Yes, Nakamoto likes cats. Even the manga synopsis says he likes cats! (Anyone who's a fan of Kanna Nobutoshi will understand the cat reference...lol)

Nakamoto Shou is my favourite of the M characters and I think part of the reason for that is because he is so intense and complex. In all of the background/flashback material, we see him as a very rigid, inflexible, unsmiling boy who works and does nothing else. A term often used to describe him in the novels is "冷静" (reisei) which means "serene" or, more literally, "cool and calm", which I think nails it pretty well. However, in some respects that - along with his formal language - is only one part of his character. Beneath the level exterior is both a slightly wicked sense of humour (Takagi's sarcasm often appeals to him, and he can be quite...er...sangfroid on his own account if he wants to be). He has a strong sense of right and wrong and is extremely principled, though has a tendency to see things sometimes in theoretical terms. That said, he understands a good deal about his companions and how they think and feel - which is summed up particularly in the OVA with the note he leaves for Arai. That said, his understanding of life revolves around the things people - himself included - should be focused on, (studies, good manners, etc) and he has a tendency to crack a little when things are out of his control. His tendency to taking things seriously also allows Arai to tease him - which he has no problem in doing - and this occasionally creates friction between them.

Nakamoto is also referred to as a "genius" who often gets full marks in everything he does. This is also probably how he first comes across in the early sections of the original manga, too. Certainly he does study an awful lot - at least once into a fever - and this is mostly because his father has high expectations of him to follow in the family profession and be involved in a high capacity in the hospital like he is himself. For this reason, Nakamoto's father has a lot of sway over the way Nakamoto lives his life - even at one point in the PLUS manga wanting to arrange a marriage to a suitable girl for his son.This is probably the most likely reason for his controlled, even demeanour.

It's generally easy to tell Nakamoto is speaking in the manga even if the picture doesn't show him, because of the way in which he talks - he always uses the slightly more polite "Boku" rather than "Ore" that Takagi, Yuusuke and Arai use...and he conjugates all his verbs properly in the "more polite" form (ie - "de wa arimasen" instead of "ja nai", "okite kudasai" instead of "okite", "wakarimashita" instead of "wakatta", etc.) At one point even his grandmother observes how formal his language is! The only time he is less formal is when he's with the school cats, at which point he seems to relax and maybe be more himself.

Nakamoto's family situation - his father aside - is also complicated. He has a very young stepmother, who was once acquainted in some dubious manner with Takagi. In the two series of manga Nakamoto Kyouko is depicted somewhat differently - darkhaired in the first, blond in the second - and her personality seems stronger in the first than in the second. It's also only hinted that Nakamoto likes her in the original manga, whereas it's blatantly obvious he has a crush on her in the PLUS manga and the drama CDs. In the original manga, he doesn't want to go back home until he can 'see her as his stepmother and nothing else'. He also tells her that in the past, when he's got involved in things, he or other people have got hurt and he's caused trouble by doing so. So that's why he's learnt to keep out of things - that's why he stands back and lets them go on without questioning or arguing about them.  In the PLUS manga, it is Kyouko's encouragement (and, er, kiss...?!) that allows him to stop his father from planning the arranged match.
Nakamoto's birth mother died when he was in the second year of middle school, (so age thirteen or fourteen) This event affected him badly, although he rarely talks about it, since they were very close. It's revealed in one of the drama tracks that his mother was the person between him and his father's pressure and ambitions, and after he lost her he felt that he was totally alone in the world.

Nakamoto's most progressive character developments come in the PLUS manga, however, where he begins to stand up for himself with his father and take his life into his own hands. On Arai's coercion, he takes a part time job playing piano in a local bar, which he enjoys, and is surprisingly keen to become involved in Takagi's band project "M" (It must be noted that in the manga Nakamoto always plays piano/keys, whereas in the drama CD it is guitar, and Kanna Nobutoshi, of course, plays electric guitar). He and his father have at least one violent argument over his grades dropping, when Nakamoto actually tells him straight out that if it's anyone's fault, it's his father's for putting so much pressure on him and not understanding . By the end of the PLUS manga, Nakamoto's "top of the class" position has eroded to the point that he, like Arai, is forced to become "ryuunen" (repeat-year students). Ironically, despite his intelligence, Nakamoto doesn't graduate first time around, and he and Arai are left to look out for one another in the year to come ^_^.

Nakamoto has a fairly level friendship with Mikimaro and Yuusuke - he and Yuusuke find common ground when discussing the ideas their fathers have for them - and Mikimaro often drags Nakamoto along in the beginning when he is uncertain about joining in their activities, so it's probably fair to say that Mikimaro was the icebreaker where Nakamoto was concerned. Yet it is with Takagi and Arai that Nakamoto has his strongest bonds.