Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (2006 anime)

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (ひぐらしのなく頃に) is an anime adaptation of the visual novel series was announced by 07th Expansion and animated by Studio DEEN. The series contained twenty-six episodes, which aired between April 4th and September 26th, on a number of Japanese television networks, including but not limited to, Chiba TV, Kansai TV, and Tokai TV. The series is divided into six chapters, which are the first six chapters in the original visual novel series. First is between episodes one and four, followed by  between episodes five and eight, and  between episodes nine and thirteen, making the series half over. Next is between episodes fourteen and fifteen, making it the smallest of the story arcs. The last two chapters are, between episodes sixteen and twenty-one, and finally , between episodes twenty-two and twenty-six. In 2020, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni was adapted by Passione into a separate anime to reboot the franchise.

Plot
On one hot summer day in 1983, a transfer student named Maebara Keiichi comes to a peaceful rural village in Hinamizawa. There, he befriends his classmates Rena, Mion, Rika, and Satoko. Accepted as a full-fledged member of the "club," Keiichi and the gang plays all sorts of activities ranging from card and board games to hide-and-seek. But just as Keiichi was beginning to be assimilated in simple rural life, he stumbles upon the dark history of Hinamizawa. As Keiichi dives deeper into the mystery, he finds that his new found friends may not be all what they claim to be.

Main characters

 * Keiichi Maebara (前原 圭一)
 * Played by: Gōki Maeda (movie), Yu Inaba (TV series)
 * Keiichi is the main protagonist in the first three "question" arcs. The son of a famous artist, his family recently moved to Hinamizawa after a violent incident event involving him in their hometown. His charisma and remarkable talent for rhetoric, which earns him the nickname "Magician of Words," allow him to easily make new friends and become popular in the village, not to mention win some of the club activities. Early in the story, in the Onikakushi-hen arc, he is affected by paranoia and driven to commit murder; however, the inner strength and unshaken belief in his friends he acquires in the other arcs are one of the keys to solving the mystery. Eventually, he is even able to recall some of the events of the past repetitions. When he is in need of a weapon, he wields Satoshi's old baseball bat. It is later revealed in the story that before arriving at Hinamizawa, he grew weary of school, due to his ostracism from having a genius level intelligence, and was the perpetrator of a series of crimes involving shooting children with a BB gun. Keiichi has also demonstrated instances which suggest that he harbours certain romantic feelings for Mion Sonozaki.
 * Keiichi is the main protagonist in the first three "question" arcs. The son of a famous artist, his family recently moved to Hinamizawa after a violent incident event involving him in their hometown. His charisma and remarkable talent for rhetoric, which earns him the nickname "Magician of Words," allow him to easily make new friends and become popular in the village, not to mention win some of the club activities. Early in the story, in the Onikakushi-hen arc, he is affected by paranoia and driven to commit murder; however, the inner strength and unshaken belief in his friends he acquires in the other arcs are one of the keys to solving the mystery. Eventually, he is even able to recall some of the events of the past repetitions. When he is in need of a weapon, he wields Satoshi's old baseball bat. It is later revealed in the story that before arriving at Hinamizawa, he grew weary of school, due to his ostracism from having a genius level intelligence, and was the perpetrator of a series of crimes involving shooting children with a BB gun. Keiichi has also demonstrated instances which suggest that he harbours certain romantic feelings for Mion Sonozaki.


 * Rena Ryugu (竜宮 レナ)
 * Played by: Airi Matsuyama (movie), Minami Kato (TV series)
 * Rena is a girl in the same grade level as Keiichi and the main female protagonist of the question arcs. She is very kind and takes care of Keiichi whenever possible, but is also naïve and is usually subject to light teasing by Keiichi. She is distinguished by her obsession with things she perceives as adorable, calling them kāii (かぁいい), which are usually moekko characters or items she finds while scouring the local dump. Whenever she sees something that grabs her attention, she proclaims "I'm gonna take it home!" (お持ち帰り〜) and proceeds to try and do so, becoming virtually unstoppable during these intervals. She also utters the phrase haū (はぅ〜) when excited or flustered, and has a habit of repeating phrases at the ends of her sentences, most famously kana? kana? (かな? かな?). This is also an onomatopoeia of the sound that higurashi cicadas make.
 * Rena is a girl in the same grade level as Keiichi and the main female protagonist of the question arcs. She is very kind and takes care of Keiichi whenever possible, but is also naïve and is usually subject to light teasing by Keiichi. She is distinguished by her obsession with things she perceives as adorable, calling them kāii (かぁいい), which are usually moekko characters or items she finds while scouring the local dump. Whenever she sees something that grabs her attention, she proclaims "I'm gonna take it home!" (お持ち帰り〜) and proceeds to try and do so, becoming virtually unstoppable during these intervals. She also utters the phrase haū (はぅ〜) when excited or flustered, and has a habit of repeating phrases at the ends of her sentences, most famously kana? kana? (かな? かな?). This is also an onomatopoeia of the sound that higurashi cicadas make.


 * Rena's real name is Reina (礼奈), a name she used normally before she moved from Hinamizawa to Ibaraki with her parents one year prior to the events of the story. There she discovered her mother having an affair, causing Reina to smash all the windows in her new school and assault three male students with a metal bat under the influence of the Hinamizawa syndrome. Believing herself to be cursed by Oyashiro for leaving Hinamizawa, Reina returned to the village with her father shortly after the incident and changed her name to "Rena" out of shame of her parents' subsequent divorce. So as not to alarm Keiichi, Rena claims to be a relative newcomer to Hinamizawa herself. Because of the incident, Rena is sensitive about the topic of Oyashiro, believing strongly in the existence of the deity and the curse, and becoming angry and unstable whenever anyone questions it. Her weapon of choice is a large cleaver borrowed from her tool shed (the dump in the anime).


 * Mion Sonozaki (園崎 魅音)
 * Played by: Rin Asuka (movie), Rika Nakai (TV series)
 * Mion is the oldest kid in Keiichi's class. As the elder, she is the class president and everyone looks up to her as the leader. Her social skills are on par with Keiichi, whom she highly respects as a friend and rival (though it is later shown that she is in love with him). She acts like a tomboy, and calls herself oji-san (meaning old man), but has a hidden girlish side. She is next in line to be the head of the Sonozaki household, one of the Three Families which holds tremendous influence in Hinamizawa. She is often seen with a holstered airsoft gun, even though she is never seen using it, and was removed in the PS2 adaption of the game; she is, however, very adept in the use of martial arts. She is notable as the only character that has never been driven to the extreme paranoia that causes the others to kill in the question arcs and the first two answer arcs. Her real name is actually Shion, as she was born second to the family, but due to sister swapping even at a young age, she was mistakenly taken as Mion and branded with the oni tattoo, ultimately causing her to stay as Mion. Mion also serves as leader of the after-school club consisting entirely of the main characters. She organizes a variety of strategy-based games for the members to play with penalties for any losers. Penalties usually involve wearing embarrassing or frilly outfits on the way home. Each game she organizes involves bending the general rules or using questionable and crude methods to win such as playing cards with a marked deck or using feminine wiles to discourage opposition.
 * Mion is the oldest kid in Keiichi's class. As the elder, she is the class president and everyone looks up to her as the leader. Her social skills are on par with Keiichi, whom she highly respects as a friend and rival (though it is later shown that she is in love with him). She acts like a tomboy, and calls herself oji-san (meaning old man), but has a hidden girlish side. She is next in line to be the head of the Sonozaki household, one of the Three Families which holds tremendous influence in Hinamizawa. She is often seen with a holstered airsoft gun, even though she is never seen using it, and was removed in the PS2 adaption of the game; she is, however, very adept in the use of martial arts. She is notable as the only character that has never been driven to the extreme paranoia that causes the others to kill in the question arcs and the first two answer arcs. Her real name is actually Shion, as she was born second to the family, but due to sister swapping even at a young age, she was mistakenly taken as Mion and branded with the oni tattoo, ultimately causing her to stay as Mion. Mion also serves as leader of the after-school club consisting entirely of the main characters. She organizes a variety of strategy-based games for the members to play with penalties for any losers. Penalties usually involve wearing embarrassing or frilly outfits on the way home. Each game she organizes involves bending the general rules or using questionable and crude methods to win such as playing cards with a marked deck or using feminine wiles to discourage opposition.


 * Shion Sonozaki (園崎 詩音)
 * Played by: Rika Nakai
 * Shion is Mion's identical twin sister, who currently resides in Okinomiya. In spite of their externally different personalities, she and Mion often switch places, and it can be difficult to distinguish between them. It is noted by Rena that, although externally the twins are very different, on the inside, they are really the same. Their first switch took place when they were little. Right before tattooing the symbol of an demon/oni, which is reserved for the older sister, she was mistakenly identified as Shion, the younger sister, which means that she was actually born as Mion Sonozaki, the older sister. Since then, she switched her identity of Mion with Shion, the younger sister. This initial switch is only mentioned in the sound novel and manga, but not the anime. She was sent by the Sonozaki family to a private boarding school, named St Lucia, but escaped and returned to live near her hometown, where she lives with Kasai. In spite of all this, she and Mion maintain a close relationship. In most of the arcs, she is at a different school from the other main characters, and therefore appears less frequently. She was in love with Satoshi, and blames the Three Families of Hinamizawa for his disappearance in Watanagashi-hen and Meakashi-hen (the latter told from her point of view). In the anime, she is required to perform a "Distinction of Right and Wrong," a ritual of self-mutiliation to pluck out three fingernails in front of witnesses in order to purge her 'sin', believeing that doing so will cause Satoshi to be spared, an event personally overseen by Mion, which drastically strains their relationship. This, along with a demonic alter-ego she manifested in her grief,  eventually drives her to mass murder, which led her previously latent paranoid schizophrenia to eventually develop into a full-on psychosis. One of the last words that they exchanged before he disappeared was a promise to take care of Satoko. In Watanagashi-hen and, more explicitly, Meakashi-hen, her resentment toward Satoko for her role in his disappearance causes her to forget this promise and murder her, only to remember too late; however, in subsequent arcs, she has taken the promise to heart to the point where she is willing to give up her life for Satoko. In Meakashi-hen, she is shown to be delusional to a point beyond the other characters (with the arguable exception of Rena), as she repeatedly deludes, among other things, that she sees Satoshi after his disappearance. She works as a waitress at the Angel-Mort restaurant and is the manager's assistant for the Hinamizawa Fighters little league team. She is often seen carrying a taser, which she'd use in emergency situations, and also wears a yellow ribbon in her hair. She is also shown to be good with guns, along with Kasai, in Matsuribayashi-hen.
 * Shion is Mion's identical twin sister, who currently resides in Okinomiya. In spite of their externally different personalities, she and Mion often switch places, and it can be difficult to distinguish between them. It is noted by Rena that, although externally the twins are very different, on the inside, they are really the same. Their first switch took place when they were little. Right before tattooing the symbol of an demon/oni, which is reserved for the older sister, she was mistakenly identified as Shion, the younger sister, which means that she was actually born as Mion Sonozaki, the older sister. Since then, she switched her identity of Mion with Shion, the younger sister. This initial switch is only mentioned in the sound novel and manga, but not the anime. She was sent by the Sonozaki family to a private boarding school, named St Lucia, but escaped and returned to live near her hometown, where she lives with Kasai. In spite of all this, she and Mion maintain a close relationship. In most of the arcs, she is at a different school from the other main characters, and therefore appears less frequently. She was in love with Satoshi, and blames the Three Families of Hinamizawa for his disappearance in Watanagashi-hen and Meakashi-hen (the latter told from her point of view). In the anime, she is required to perform a "Distinction of Right and Wrong," a ritual of self-mutiliation to pluck out three fingernails in front of witnesses in order to purge her 'sin', believeing that doing so will cause Satoshi to be spared, an event personally overseen by Mion, which drastically strains their relationship. This, along with a demonic alter-ego she manifested in her grief,  eventually drives her to mass murder, which led her previously latent paranoid schizophrenia to eventually develop into a full-on psychosis. One of the last words that they exchanged before he disappeared was a promise to take care of Satoko. In Watanagashi-hen and, more explicitly, Meakashi-hen, her resentment toward Satoko for her role in his disappearance causes her to forget this promise and murder her, only to remember too late; however, in subsequent arcs, she has taken the promise to heart to the point where she is willing to give up her life for Satoko. In Meakashi-hen, she is shown to be delusional to a point beyond the other characters (with the arguable exception of Rena), as she repeatedly deludes, among other things, that she sees Satoshi after his disappearance. She works as a waitress at the Angel-Mort restaurant and is the manager's assistant for the Hinamizawa Fighters little league team. She is often seen carrying a taser, which she'd use in emergency situations, and also wears a yellow ribbon in her hair. She is also shown to be good with guns, along with Kasai, in Matsuribayashi-hen.


 * Satoko Houjou (北条 沙都子)
 * Played by: Erena Ono (movie), Reina Seiji (TV series)
 * Satoko is a younger classmate in Keiichi's school. She has a distinctive style of speech, ending all of her sentences with ~wa, and is known for her boastful laugh. In spite of her young age, she seems to have an impressive arm strength and is quite clever in setting up traps, and likes to practice on Keiichi. Although her personality is quite energetic and mischievous during the events of the games, Satoko's past was full of trauma; she shoved her parents down a cliff because she was paranoid, caused by the Hinamizawa Syndrome, and she was abused by her foster parents (her aunt and uncle), and her beloved brother Satoshi disappeared. And in Matsuribayashi-hen, Irie suggested she killed her parents because she thought they would kill her, and so to her it was an act of self-defense. She was suffering from the Hinamizawa Syndrome at that time, and though Takano wanted to dissect her alive for study, Irie fought to save her life. She is one of the few characters to ever recover from Level 5 of the Syndrome, but has to take shots on a regular basis. Though she greatly misses Satoshi, and feels that by being strong he will return, she comes to regard Keiichi as her new "nii-nii" (にーにー), and once even regards Shion as "nee-nee" (ねーねー). She dislikes kabocha, and confuses cauliflower with broccoli.
 * Satoko is a younger classmate in Keiichi's school. She has a distinctive style of speech, ending all of her sentences with ~wa, and is known for her boastful laugh. In spite of her young age, she seems to have an impressive arm strength and is quite clever in setting up traps, and likes to practice on Keiichi. Although her personality is quite energetic and mischievous during the events of the games, Satoko's past was full of trauma; she shoved her parents down a cliff because she was paranoid, caused by the Hinamizawa Syndrome, and she was abused by her foster parents (her aunt and uncle), and her beloved brother Satoshi disappeared. And in Matsuribayashi-hen, Irie suggested she killed her parents because she thought they would kill her, and so to her it was an act of self-defense. She was suffering from the Hinamizawa Syndrome at that time, and though Takano wanted to dissect her alive for study, Irie fought to save her life. She is one of the few characters to ever recover from Level 5 of the Syndrome, but has to take shots on a regular basis. Though she greatly misses Satoshi, and feels that by being strong he will return, she comes to regard Keiichi as her new "nii-nii" (にーにー), and once even regards Shion as "nee-nee" (ねーねー). She dislikes kabocha, and confuses cauliflower with broccoli.


 * Rika Furude (古手 梨花)
 * Played by: Aika (movie), Hinata Honma (TV series)
 * Rika is the main character in Minagoroshi-hen. She is a younger classmate in Keiichi's school, and is in the same grade level as Satoko. Naturally, she is great friends with her, as they live together in the same house. She is revered by the villagers as the heir of the local shrine, and plays the role of a miko in the annual Watanagashi Festival. She has been the head of the Furude house since her parents died, but rarely attends town meetings due to her young age. While she does speak in normal context, she likes to say nonsense words such as mii (みぃ〜) and nipah (にぱ〜) and often ends her sentences with nano desu (〜なのです), which inflame Rena's passion for cute things. She also likes to describe events using sound effects, such as "The cat was going 'nya nya' and 'scritch scritch'" or saying "Clap! Clap! Clap!" when clapping her hands. In reality, she is being reborn in a 'new world' at some random time before or during June 1983, and in most of the worlds she is the only one to remember the previous lives. She believes she has lived over 100 years by the time of Tsumihoroboshi-hen, but continues to act like a child in order not to alarm her friends. Prior to Matsuribayashi-hen, she is the only one able to see Hanyu, who has been an "imaginary friend" to her all her life. Despite her young appearance, she seems to be quite fond of wine, as well as kimchi, which she uses to silence Hanyu when Rika is in a bad mood; this works because both Hanyu and Rika's senses are linked together, though this seems to be redundant by Matsuribayashi-hen, possibly because of Hanyu's coming into the world. It is later revealed that Rika's death would cause an outbreak in Hinamizawa which everyone would go on a rampage of hysteria. Further on, she attempts to stop Takano from her killing spree by pulling her friends and others around her together.
 * Rika is the main character in Minagoroshi-hen. She is a younger classmate in Keiichi's school, and is in the same grade level as Satoko. Naturally, she is great friends with her, as they live together in the same house. She is revered by the villagers as the heir of the local shrine, and plays the role of a miko in the annual Watanagashi Festival. She has been the head of the Furude house since her parents died, but rarely attends town meetings due to her young age. While she does speak in normal context, she likes to say nonsense words such as mii (みぃ〜) and nipah (にぱ〜) and often ends her sentences with nano desu (〜なのです), which inflame Rena's passion for cute things. She also likes to describe events using sound effects, such as "The cat was going 'nya nya' and 'scritch scritch'" or saying "Clap! Clap! Clap!" when clapping her hands. In reality, she is being reborn in a 'new world' at some random time before or during June 1983, and in most of the worlds she is the only one to remember the previous lives. She believes she has lived over 100 years by the time of Tsumihoroboshi-hen, but continues to act like a child in order not to alarm her friends. Prior to Matsuribayashi-hen, she is the only one able to see Hanyu, who has been an "imaginary friend" to her all her life. Despite her young appearance, she seems to be quite fond of wine, as well as kimchi, which she uses to silence Hanyu when Rika is in a bad mood; this works because both Hanyu and Rika's senses are linked together, though this seems to be redundant by Matsuribayashi-hen, possibly because of Hanyu's coming into the world. It is later revealed that Rika's death would cause an outbreak in Hinamizawa which everyone would go on a rampage of hysteria. Further on, she attempts to stop Takano from her killing spree by pulling her friends and others around her together.


 * Hanyu (羽入)
 * Hanyu is the mysterious "transfer student" in Matsuribayashi-hen. She has a pair of dark colored horns on her head, one of which is chipped slightly. In the original sound novels, they are mentioned by Keiichi, who mistook them for toys, but after noticing that Hanyu was sensitive about them, he apologizes and the club members assure her there is nothing wrong with them. However in the anime, no one seems to notice or mention them, with the exception of Takano, who calls her a "monster". She has appeared to Rika all her life, but only in Matsuribayashi-hen and Miotsukushi-hen did she gain the power to interact with others, posing as a distant relative of Rika's and given the name "Hanyu Furude." Like many of the characters, she can be frightening when angered, and with her spirit-like nature, her appearance can change with her mood until she takes a physical form. She is the one responsible for the eternally repeating June 1983, which she created in order to save Rika from being murdered. She is also responsible for the "footstep you hear after you stop walking," "feeling of being watched as you sleep," and hearing "I'm sorry" when no one is around or says it, which causes the characters to have severe paranoia. She follows around the characters, repeatedly apologizing for not being able to change their fate. She is very meek and often makes the noise "Au au, au au…" when she is nervous or uncomfortable, or sometimes while trying to make a point. She tends to end her sentences with nano desu (なのです). She dislikes alcohol and kimchi, which Rika imbibes in large amounts as punishment when she finds Hanyu annoying (as Hanyu and Rika's senses are linked together until Hanyu takes physical form). She mentions that she is a "being above humans" after being sacrificed to atone for the sin of humans, while both Rika and Takano describe her as a kind of deity. Rika refers to her as "Oyashiro" when talking with others (evident from Shion's chat with Rika in Meakashi-hen) but does not personally think of her as Oyashiro; instead, she sees her as a close friend. In Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei, Hanyu tells Rika that she was sacrificed to atone for the sins of the people of the village, and Hanyu asked Ōka Furude (古手 桜花) (Hanyu's own daughter and Rika's ancestor, who appears physically almost identical to Rika) to kill her and then make the village a better place. In the DS-exclusive arc, Kotohogushi-hen, it was revealed that Hanyu's real name was Hainiryuun Ieasomuuru Jieda, and that she had a child, Ōka, with the Shinto Priest Riku Furude.
 * Hanyu is the mysterious "transfer student" in Matsuribayashi-hen. She has a pair of dark colored horns on her head, one of which is chipped slightly. In the original sound novels, they are mentioned by Keiichi, who mistook them for toys, but after noticing that Hanyu was sensitive about them, he apologizes and the club members assure her there is nothing wrong with them. However in the anime, no one seems to notice or mention them, with the exception of Takano, who calls her a "monster". She has appeared to Rika all her life, but only in Matsuribayashi-hen and Miotsukushi-hen did she gain the power to interact with others, posing as a distant relative of Rika's and given the name "Hanyu Furude." Like many of the characters, she can be frightening when angered, and with her spirit-like nature, her appearance can change with her mood until she takes a physical form. She is the one responsible for the eternally repeating June 1983, which she created in order to save Rika from being murdered. She is also responsible for the "footstep you hear after you stop walking," "feeling of being watched as you sleep," and hearing "I'm sorry" when no one is around or says it, which causes the characters to have severe paranoia. She follows around the characters, repeatedly apologizing for not being able to change their fate. She is very meek and often makes the noise "Au au, au au…" when she is nervous or uncomfortable, or sometimes while trying to make a point. She tends to end her sentences with nano desu (なのです). She dislikes alcohol and kimchi, which Rika imbibes in large amounts as punishment when she finds Hanyu annoying (as Hanyu and Rika's senses are linked together until Hanyu takes physical form). She mentions that she is a "being above humans" after being sacrificed to atone for the sin of humans, while both Rika and Takano describe her as a kind of deity. Rika refers to her as "Oyashiro" when talking with others (evident from Shion's chat with Rika in Meakashi-hen) but does not personally think of her as Oyashiro; instead, she sees her as a close friend. In Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei, Hanyu tells Rika that she was sacrificed to atone for the sins of the people of the village, and Hanyu asked Ōka Furude (古手 桜花) (Hanyu's own daughter and Rika's ancestor, who appears physically almost identical to Rika) to kill her and then make the village a better place. In the DS-exclusive arc, Kotohogushi-hen, it was revealed that Hanyu's real name was Hainiryuun Ieasomuuru Jieda, and that she had a child, Ōka, with the Shinto Priest Riku Furude.

Recurring characters

 * Satoshi Houjou (北条 悟史)
 * (drama CD), Yū Kobayashi (anime/Japanese), Darrel Guilbeau (English)
 * Satoshi is the older brother of Satoko Houjou. Although he is currently missing, his past influence is the key to the actions of several characters in Higurashi. Keiichi is often compared to Satoshi by other characters, as the two have certain physical similarities, and, in some arcs, display the same odd behavior and paranoia. Like Satoko, he cannot distinguish the difference between cauliflower and broccoli. Satoshi is referred to by Satoko as nii-nii, a childish form of the Japanese word ani (兄). According to the TIPS in Meakashi-hen, he was last seen at a Nagoya train station boarding a Shinkansen bound for Tokyo.  This was revealed prior to the start of Matsuribayashi-hen to be a result of him trying to run away from home due to his abuse, only to change his mind a few moments later. While it is suggested that he may have witnessed his aunt's death in the games, in the anime, Satoshi is implied to have killed her or was so disturbed that he believed he did. Combined with the stress of taking care of Satoko and the murder, he succumbs to Hinamizawa Syndrome. In Matsuribayashi-hen and Miotsukushi-hen, it is revealed that Doctor Irie put him under heavy sedation in the underground parts of the clinic.


 * Oyashiro (オヤシロ)
 * Always referred to as Oyashiro-sama, he is a deity observed in Hinamizawa and seems to be rather violent and brutal; his sacred shrine is full of ancient torture equipment. Legend says that Oyashiro brought peace between the villagers of Onigafuchi (Lit. Demon's abyss), the former name of Hinamizawa, and the demons that spouted from the Onigafuchi Marsh. The actual existence of Oyashiro is something of debate, some can see Oyashiro as the simple "perception" of a god. However, those who experience extreme paranoia (Keiichi, Shion, and Rena in perspective chapters) refer to Oyashiro as the "footsteps you hear when you stop walking" and felt like you were always "being watched".


 * Kuraudo Ooishi (大石 蔵人)
 * Played by: Tetta Sugimoto (Movie), Shinobu Tsuruta (TV Series)
 * Kuraudo Ooishi is a veteran police investigator at Okinomiya who has vowed to solve the mystery of the Hinamizawa murders before his retirement, to avenge the first victim who he was friends with. Due to his uncouth tactics and the lengths that he goes to in order to solve the mystery, he is looked upon as a nuisance by the villagers, especially the Sonozaki family. He approaches one of the main characters to become his informant in several arcs, and is sometimes unwittingly responsible for triggering their paranoia. However, he plays an integral role in aiding the protagonists during the last two answer arcs, Matsuribayashi-hen and Minagoroshi-hen.
 * Kuraudo Ooishi is a veteran police investigator at Okinomiya who has vowed to solve the mystery of the Hinamizawa murders before his retirement, to avenge the first victim who he was friends with. Due to his uncouth tactics and the lengths that he goes to in order to solve the mystery, he is looked upon as a nuisance by the villagers, especially the Sonozaki family. He approaches one of the main characters to become his informant in several arcs, and is sometimes unwittingly responsible for triggering their paranoia. However, he plays an integral role in aiding the protagonists during the last two answer arcs, Matsuribayashi-hen and Minagoroshi-hen.


 * Jirou Tomitake (富竹 ジロウ)
 * Played by: Masashi Taniguchi (movie), Yuma Ishigaki (TV series)
 * Jirou Tomitake is a freelance photographer who occasionally visits Hinamizawa (Around three times every year). He gets along well with Miyo Takano, because of their similar interests in photography.  Despite being only an occasional visitor, he seems to know a fair amount about Hinamizawa's past (Specifically the Hinamizawa murders). Ooishi and the police are suspicious of his true identity. In the first six arcs, he is consistently found dead of suicide (clawing his throat out) on the night of Watanagashi, triggering many of the events that follow. It is revealed later, however, that he was actually murdered by Miyo, who gives him an injection of the H173 drug, produced in the process of developing a cure for the Hinamizawa Syndrome, but has the exact opposite effect (incurring the symptoms of the disease instead). Jirou is revealed in Minagoroshi-hen to be an officer working on the Hinamizawa Syndrome, together with Miyo Takano and Kyosuke Irie, and is but merely posing as a photographer.
 * Jirou Tomitake is a freelance photographer who occasionally visits Hinamizawa (Around three times every year). He gets along well with Miyo Takano, because of their similar interests in photography.  Despite being only an occasional visitor, he seems to know a fair amount about Hinamizawa's past (Specifically the Hinamizawa murders). Ooishi and the police are suspicious of his true identity. In the first six arcs, he is consistently found dead of suicide (clawing his throat out) on the night of Watanagashi, triggering many of the events that follow. It is revealed later, however, that he was actually murdered by Miyo, who gives him an injection of the H173 drug, produced in the process of developing a cure for the Hinamizawa Syndrome, but has the exact opposite effect (incurring the symptoms of the disease instead). Jirou is revealed in Minagoroshi-hen to be an officer working on the Hinamizawa Syndrome, together with Miyo Takano and Kyosuke Irie, and is but merely posing as a photographer.


 * Miyo Takano (鷹野 三四)
 * , Fuyuka Ōura (Child)
 * Played by: Ayako Kawahara (movie), Rie Kitahara (TV series)
 * Miyo is a nurse at the village clinic. She has taken a keen interest in Hinamizawa's past and culture, recording all her speculation in notebooks. At times, her storytelling can be very mysterious and chilling—she seems to enjoy putting people on edge. In the first six arcs, she consistently disappears on the night of Watanagashi, and an incinerated body thought to be hers is found in the mountains (and the autopsy report states that she actually died the day before the festival). Miyo is the person who kills Rika, leaving her body and scattered organs out for the crows to eat. It is shown that following the death of her parents when she was a child, she was sent to an orphanage, where she and other children were regularly abused. Eventually, she calls Hifumi Takano's (her father's former professor) number for help and is saved by him after she and her friends attempt to escape. In the manga, they further detail what happens to her and her friends when they try to run away. She calls Hifumi, but is caught and then is forced to watch her friends undergo strange types of torture. They try to torture her as well, but Hifumi eventually saves her. Her original name is Miyoko Tanashi (田無 美代子), but she changed it when she was adopted by Hifumi Takano. Hifumi was the one who started Miyo on the path of medicine with his study of the Hinamizawa Syndrome. Her gratitude to her adoptive grandfather is what motivates her to kill Rika, as the scientific community mocked Hifumi's work on parasites, and the release of the Hinamizawa parasite would vindicate his research.


 * Kyousuke Irie (入江 京介)
 * Played by: Kōtarō Tanaka (Movie), Tomohiro Kaku (TV Series)
 * Kyosuke is the head doctor of the village clinic. Despite his young age and the fact that he has a severe maid fetish, he is highly respected in the community. He cheerfully makes house calls and seems to truly care about everyone's health. He has (half-jokingly) admitted that he wishes to marry Satoko when she is older, but is not above chasing after Rika when she is wearing one of the uniforms from the restaurant Angel Mort. In addition, he is the manager of the village's baseball little league team, the Hinamizawa Fighters. In the past, he has performed lobotomies without consent, which led to him being banished from the medical academic society in Tokyo. He is recruited by Takano to direct research the Hinamizawa Syndrome, which he feels will redeem himself. It is later revealed that he works under Miyo in research, where he is trying to find a cure for Hinamizawa Syndrome, while not knowing of his employer's true desires.
 * Kyosuke is the head doctor of the village clinic. Despite his young age and the fact that he has a severe maid fetish, he is highly respected in the community. He cheerfully makes house calls and seems to truly care about everyone's health. He has (half-jokingly) admitted that he wishes to marry Satoko when she is older, but is not above chasing after Rika when she is wearing one of the uniforms from the restaurant Angel Mort. In addition, he is the manager of the village's baseball little league team, the Hinamizawa Fighters. In the past, he has performed lobotomies without consent, which led to him being banished from the medical academic society in Tokyo. He is recruited by Takano to direct research the Hinamizawa Syndrome, which he feels will redeem himself. It is later revealed that he works under Miyo in research, where he is trying to find a cure for Hinamizawa Syndrome, while not knowing of his employer's true desires.


 * Rumiko Chie (知恵 留美子)
 * , Hitomi Miwa (live action)
 * Rumiko is the female teacher of Keiichi's class, who is a parody character of Tsukihime's Ciel (permission for her usage was given by Type-Moon). The voice actress for her character in the anime series is the same as the voice actress of Ciel from the Tsukihime anime. Going along with the parody, her favorite food is curry rice, just like Ciel, and she will react violently when anyone insults it. Also, in the comedic chapter Batsukoishi-hen, she is shown wielding six small wooden boards in the same fashion that Ciel wields her "Black Keys" swords.


 * Mamoru Akasaka (赤坂 衛)
 * , Takehito Koyasu (drama CD)
 * Mamoru is the main character in Himatsubushi-hen. He is a young police investigator at the Metropolitan Police Department in Tokyo. He befriended Rika while investigating a case in Hinamizawa four years ago, all due to a prophecy about his wife which came true, though he just brushed it off as coincidence. In an untold world, Mamoru regrets being unable to save his wife and Rika, and learns martial arts to clear his mind, hoping to relive the time before Himatsubushi-hen to save them. Through a miracle, Mamoru inherits his martial art skills in Matsuribayashi-hen, using them to single-handedly defeat a Yamainu squad, and decides to save Rika from her destined death as a payment for saving his wife through her prophecy.


 * Tatsuyoshi Kasai (葛西 辰由)
 * Tatsuyoshi is an employee of the Sonozaki family, who looks like a secret agent. He was more active in the past, but has settled down to become Shion's caretaker. He somehow knows both Teppei and Rina, and is aware of their lifestyles and badgering tactics. In Matsuribayashi-hen, he displays extreme strength and combat experience while raiding the Irie Clinic, frequently subduing members of the Yamainu.
 * Tatsuyoshi is an employee of the Sonozaki family, who looks like a secret agent. He was more active in the past, but has settled down to become Shion's caretaker. He somehow knows both Teppei and Rina, and is aware of their lifestyles and badgering tactics. In Matsuribayashi-hen, he displays extreme strength and combat experience while raiding the Irie Clinic, frequently subduing members of the Yamainu.


 * Teppei Houjou (北条 鉄平)
 * Played by: Hiroo Ōtaka (movie), Tomohiro Waki (TV series)
 * Teppei is Satoko and Satoshi's uncle/foster father. He and his wife were forced to take care of Satoko and Satoshi after the death of their parents, but they abused them. He currently lives in Okinomiya. According to Kasai, he is a pimp and uses his lover Rina to swindle men out of their money. He is killed by Keiichi in Tatarigoroshi-hen to protect Satoko, and by Rena in Tsumihoroboshi-hen when he tries to blackmail her father. Shion contemplates killing him in Minagoroshi-hen to protect Satoko, but Keiichi stops her before she can make the same mistake.
 * Teppei is Satoko and Satoshi's uncle/foster father. He and his wife were forced to take care of Satoko and Satoshi after the death of their parents, but they abused them. He currently lives in Okinomiya. According to Kasai, he is a pimp and uses his lover Rina to swindle men out of their money. He is killed by Keiichi in Tatarigoroshi-hen to protect Satoko, and by Rena in Tsumihoroboshi-hen when he tries to blackmail her father. Shion contemplates killing him in Minagoroshi-hen to protect Satoko, but Keiichi stops her before she can make the same mistake.


 * Tamae Houjou (北条 玉枝)
 * Satoko and Satoshi's aunt/foster mother. She was beaten to death on the night of last year's Watanagashi Festival, causing Teppei to flee Hinamizawa. A drug addict was charged with her murder, but various characters suspect that Satoshi was the true murderer, which he either was, or deluded himself to think he was.
 * Satoko and Satoshi's aunt/foster mother. She was beaten to death on the night of last year's Watanagashi Festival, causing Teppei to flee Hinamizawa. A drug addict was charged with her murder, but various characters suspect that Satoshi was the true murderer, which he either was, or deluded himself to think he was.


 * Oryou Sonozaki (園崎 お魎)
 * Oryō is Mion and Shion's grandmother and head of the Sonozaki household. She appears to be a very harsh old woman and is considered the most powerful person in Hinamizawa. Both Mion and Shion call her 'Oni-baba', meaning 'demon granny'. She had the twins separated when they were young, in order to try to avoid the curse of twin heirs, also treating Shion badly whenever they meet. Shion suspects that she was the mastermind in Satoshi's disappearance, and accidentally kills her while attempting to interrogate her in Watanagashi-hen and Meakashi-hen. Although she appears to be somewhat of a tyrant, she occasionally shows her softer side such as agreeing to help Satoko when Keiichi stood up to her and is only harsh to keep appearances. She respects him after this and later described him as an interesting young man in Minagoroshi-hen (but warns him that he will be chased around with a sword if he shows up again).
 * Oryō is Mion and Shion's grandmother and head of the Sonozaki household. She appears to be a very harsh old woman and is considered the most powerful person in Hinamizawa. Both Mion and Shion call her 'Oni-baba', meaning 'demon granny'. She had the twins separated when they were young, in order to try to avoid the curse of twin heirs, also treating Shion badly whenever they meet. Shion suspects that she was the mastermind in Satoshi's disappearance, and accidentally kills her while attempting to interrogate her in Watanagashi-hen and Meakashi-hen. Although she appears to be somewhat of a tyrant, she occasionally shows her softer side such as agreeing to help Satoko when Keiichi stood up to her and is only harsh to keep appearances. She respects him after this and later described him as an interesting young man in Minagoroshi-hen (but warns him that he will be chased around with a sword if he shows up again).


 * Kiichirou Kimiyoshi (公由 喜一郎)
 * Head of one of the Three Families, and the official village chief of Hinamizawa. He seems to be a kindly old man, but is vehement in his hatred for Hinamizawa's enemies. As this includes Satoshi and the rest of the Houjou family, he is killed by Shion in Watanagashi-hen and Meakashi-hen.
 * Head of one of the Three Families, and the official village chief of Hinamizawa. He seems to be a kindly old man, but is vehement in his hatred for Hinamizawa's enemies. As this includes Satoshi and the rest of the Houjou family, he is killed by Shion in Watanagashi-hen and Meakashi-hen.


 * Rina Mamiya (間宮 リナ)
 * , Kyōko Hikami (drama CD),
 * Rina is a woman who appears in Rena's life in the story Tsumihoroboshi-hen. She is the lover of Teppei Houjou, and together they swindle men out of their money through intimidation and blackmail schemes. Her real name is Ritsuko, but she uses Rina as a fake name. Rena kills her to protect her father. She is killed in Tatarigoroshi-hen, when her body was found in a bag in a storm drain after having been tortured to death by an unknown assailant, in Minagoroshi-hen, when she is murdered by members of the yakuza when she tries to flee Okinomiya, and in Miotsukushi-hen, where she is killed by Takano. Her death often triggers Teppei's return to Hinamizawa.


 * Akane Sonozaki (園崎 茜)
 * (Japanese) Megan Hollingshead (English)
 * Akane is the mother of Mion and Shion Sonozaki and is the daughter of Oryō Sonozaki, the leader of the Sonozaki household. She attends the council meetings with Oryō and obeys her commands despite the fact that she lost the inheritance of the Sonozaki estate for marrying an outsider.


 * Tetsurou Okonogi (小此木)
 * (anime, Japanese), Ken Narita (games, Japanese), Dave Mallow (English)
 * Okonogi is the leader of an organization called the Yamainu. The Yamainu are a group of what are essentially mercenaries, working for the group "Tokyo". They work for Miyo Takano to help her carry out her plan to destroy Hinamizawa, but betray her in the end when things go wrong.


 * Nomura (野村)
 * Nomura is a mysterious woman who represents "Tokyo"; an organization plotting the whole murder and massacre of Hinamizawa. "Tokyo" members consist of very powerful figures such as governmental and political people. Within this organization, there are three main members who investigate directly in Hinamizawa: Kyousuke Irie, Miyo Takano, and Jirou Tomitake. "Tokyo" has control over a large group of soldiers, known as the Yamainu, whom they lend to Takano.
 * Nomura is a mysterious woman who represents "Tokyo"; an organization plotting the whole murder and massacre of Hinamizawa. "Tokyo" members consist of very powerful figures such as governmental and political people. Within this organization, there are three main members who investigate directly in Hinamizawa: Kyousuke Irie, Miyo Takano, and Jirou Tomitake. "Tokyo" has control over a large group of soldiers, known as the Yamainu, whom they lend to Takano.


 * Frederica Bernkastel (フレデリカ・ベルンカステル)
 * Frederica is an omni-present being surrounding the Higurashi universe. Frederica is the writer of the poem about Rika's struggle to escape the fate of June 1983, giving hints about each arc. She likes playing with time and events, as seen in puzzle piece #52 and the end of the second season of the anime, entering an alternate world and stopping Miyoko's parents from dying. Although she claims that she is not Rika, it's implied that she is the collective mentality of the several thousand reincarnations of Rika. The pronunciation of "Frederica" roughly resembles Rika's name in eastern order, and Bernkastel is well known for its wine.
 * Frederica is an omni-present being surrounding the Higurashi universe. Frederica is the writer of the poem about Rika's struggle to escape the fate of June 1983, giving hints about each arc. She likes playing with time and events, as seen in puzzle piece #52 and the end of the second season of the anime, entering an alternate world and stopping Miyoko's parents from dying. Although she claims that she is not Rika, it's implied that she is the collective mentality of the several thousand reincarnations of Rika. The pronunciation of "Frederica" roughly resembles Rika's name in eastern order, and Bernkastel is well known for its wine.


 * Yukie Akasaka (赤坂 雪絵)
 * , Rie Kanda (drama CD)
 * Yukie is Mamoru's wife, and is only seen in Himatsubushi-hen. In that chapter she stays in the hospital while she is pregnant, and, after praying for her husband's safety while he is in Hinamizawa, falls down the stairs and dies, while her child, Miyuki, survives. In the Minagoroshi-hen and Matsuribayashi-hen chapters however, it is revealed in these alternate timelines that Mamoru returned early after heeding Rika's warning, thus preventing her death.