Hazuki Kurikara
Hazuki Kurikara (くりからはづき) was an employee of Chunsoft in the early days of the Dragon Quest series, working as a sprite-artist and character designer. Kurikara's first role was designing the characters Eliza, Psaro, and his lover Rose along with creating incidental background tiles for Dragon Quest IV in 1990. He would then be being given considerable freedom in designing the first original depiction of the hero Ortega in the 1991 release of Dragon Warrior III as well as the in-game logo and closing scene. Kurikara also scripted the opening cinematic for the American release of the game, which would be retained and expanded upon in the 1996 Super Famicom remake and the 2024 HD-2D remake.
Kurikara's largest contributions to the series would be in Dragon Quest V, designing major characters such as Nera Briscoletti and the adult version of the Hero along with several supporting characters. Beyond working on Dragon Quest, Kurikara also created sprite art for other Chunsoft titles such as Otogirisō (弟切草).
Gallery[edit]
Character sketches[edit]
The adult Madason concept art.
Bianca in her wedding gown.
Mrs Whitaker, Bianca's mother.
Honey concept art. Note her wings, which would not appear until her cameo in Dragon Quest X
The Winter Queen.
Prince Wilbur.
Maria's first design.
Maria's second draft, taking cues from Nera's first design.
Nera Briscoletti's first design.
Nera's second design, which was used in the Super Famicom release.
Nera in her wedding gown.
Prince Albert, Madason's uncle.
Gertrude, Madason's cousin.
The Zenith Dragon.
Various NPCs.
Locations[edit]
Fighting Bjørn on top of La Guardia.
Mt. Zugzwang interior.
Mt. Zugzwang cavern.
Talon Tower interior.
Talon Tower central pillar.
Scenes[edit]
Dragon Warrior III logo concept art.
The stairway to Faerie Lea, which was deemed too intricate for the Super Famicom release.
The murder of Pankraz.
Escaping Crocodilopolis.
Madason swapping the Gold Orb with himself.
Sprite work[edit]
The logo of Dragon Warrior III borrows the Zenith Dragon's design.
Ortega's sprites created for Dragon Warrior III.
Dragon Warrior III's closing screen.
Fan art[edit]
Nera celebrating Christmas.
The three dragons that appear in Vs media, but not in the game itself.
Non-Dragon Quest art[edit]
Princess Lum, from Urusei Yatsura.
The Legend of Zelda.
A kappa woman.
