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]
Madalena, Madason's mother
Young Bianca, Madason, and Sabre
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
Zenithia 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 V's media, but not in the game itself
Non-Dragon Quest art[edit]
Princess Lum, from Urusei Yatsura
The Legend of Zelda
A kappa woman
