Rika Furude
| Rika Furude 古手 梨花 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Character Information | |
| Classification | Human |
| Gender | Female |
| Also Known As | The Cat (By Eua) |
| Age | 10 100+ (mentally) |
| Birthday | August 21, 1972[1] |
| Height | 137 cm (4 ft 6 in) |
| Blood Type | A[1] |
| Hair Color | Purple |
| Eye Color | Violet |
| Likes | Wine, spicy food[1] |
| Dislikes | Summer, words of "destiny"[1] |
| First Appearance | Onikakushi-hen |
| Portrayed By |
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| Relationships |
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Rika Furude (古手 梨花, Furude Rika) is a major character in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and serves as the protagonist of Minagoroshi-hen and Saikoroshi-hen. Rika is the last surviving member of the Furude family and is revered by village elders in Hinamizawa as the reincarnation of Oyashiro. Rika plays a significant role in the research into Hinamizawa Syndrome, as she is the "queen carrier" upon which all the Hinamizawa Syndrome parasites depend.
Profile
Background
Rika is a daughter of the Furude clan, a special position that has designated her as both the "queen carrier" of Hinamizawa Syndrome and the reincarnation of Oyashiro. The village elders revere Rika due to her religious significance. Although Rika's status allows her to attend and participate in important village meetings, she is not required to attend due to her age. She voluntarily allows herself to be experimented on in the Irie Clinic in order to assist in the creation of a cure for Hinamizawa Syndrome, as the "queen carrier" is important to Hinamizawa Syndrome research.
Eventually Rika's mother becomes uncomfortable with Rika's role as a test subject and attempts to withdraw Rika from the research. During the 1981 Watanagashi Festival, Rika's father began having heart problems. He was taken to the Irie Clinic but was ultimately pronounced dead from a heart attack. On the same night, Rika's mother went missing. Her slippers and a suicide note were found in front of the Onigafuchi swamp, leading the public to believe that the she killed herself to appease Oyashiro's anger. In reality, the incident was orchestrated by the Mountain Hounds under orders from Miyo Takano. Miyo had the Rika's mother killed for interfering in the Hinamizawa Syndrome research. Rika's father was killed to maintain the appearance of one death and one disappearance every year.
Following the death of her parents, Rika moved in with Satoko Houjou in a small house near the Furude Shrine.
In June 1983, Miyo Takano kills Rika in order to cause the Great Hinamizawa Disaster. Upon her death, Hanyuu used her powers to take Rika back in time to a parallel world. Rika attempts to thwart Miyo's plans but fails, causing her death. Again, Hanyuu used her powers to take Rika back in time to a parallel world. This cycle repeated for the equivalent of over 100 years before the events of Onikakushi-hen.
Appearance
Rika appears as a very young girl with purple eyes and long blue hair styled as a hime cut. She is very small, slightly shorter than Satoko Houjou. At school, Rika wears a white short-sleeved shirt with a pink bow, a navy blue skirt, navy blue suspenders, and white socks. Her casual clothes consist of white sandals and a green sundress with a white bow. During the Watanagashi Festival, Rika wears a traditional white and red miko outfit.
While working at Angel Mort, Rika wears a combination of the standard Angel Mort uniform and a school swimsuit.
Personality
Rika often seems wise beyond her years. In Himatsubushi-hen, Rika accurately predicts the deaths of several people including herself, to the bewilderment of Mamoru Akasaka. Outside of these moments, Rika has an overtly "cute" and childish personality, often saying nonsense words and making cat sounds. She typically refers to herself with the pronoun "boku" to enhance her "cute" mannerisms.
When alone or with Hanyuu, Rika's cute personality disappears and she adopts a much more cynical nature. She stops using the pronoun "boku" in favor of "watashi" and, in the anime, her voice drops to resemble an adult woman. She also frequently uses mature language. Seeing as this is the way Rika speaks in internal monologues, it can be assumed that this is Rika's true personality.
Rika is notably insecure about her adolescent body despite how long she has lived. The manga often uses this as comic relief when Rika compares her own breast size to that of Miyo Takano.
Plot
For the first few chapters of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Rika largely appears as a secondary character while Keiichi Maebara serves as the main character. As Rika's connection to the curse of Oyashiro is made more apparent, she becomes a significantly more important character.
Hinamizawa Bus Stop
Watanagashi-hen
Tatarigoroshi-hen
Meakashi-hen
Minagoroshi-hen
Satokowashi-hen
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Mei
Trivia
- Rika Furude is strongly connected to Frederica Bernkastel, the mysterious writer of each poem opening Higurashi no Naku Koro ni.
- Frederica and Rika Furude share a similar appearance and name.
- Both Frederica and Rika Furude are voiced by Yukari Tamura.
- The name "Frederica" is derived from "Furude Rika".
- There is a theory stating that Frederica was born from Rika's despair and hopelessness following Tsumihoroboshi-hen (The evidence for this being a quote from Frederica during this chapter: "Eventually, she started giving up, and lost interest in those worlds. That's how I was born..."). This theory has been partially confirmed by Ryukishi07.[2] However, this took place during a Q&A session whose transcription leaves it ambiguous as to whether Ryukishi07 is referring to Frederica Bernkastel or the witch Bernkastel. Furthermore, the Official Character Guide to Higurashi no Naku Koro ni explicitly claims that Frederica Bernkastel and Rika Furude are completely different.
- Rika's appearance and name bear great similarities to Erika Furudo from Umineko no Naku Koro ni.
- Rika has attempted to avoid her fate by running away from Hinamizawa and living in the forest. She managed to live until mid-July before the Mountain Hounds found and killed her.
- Rika's favorite wine, as seen in the Saikoroshi-hen manga, is "Bernkasteler B...". The full name of the wine is probably "Bernkasteler Badstube", a riesling wine produced in Bernkastel-Kues, Germany. Curiously, the label of the wine says "Riesling Spätlese" (late harvest riesling in German), and Riesling wines are white, however the wine that Rika drinks is red. There do exist red Riesling wines, but they were not commercially avaliable until 2006, well after when Higurashi takes place.
- Rika was BT's favorite character. [2]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "ひぐらしのなく頃に奉". Archived from the original on 27 April 2017.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "ACen 2015 07th Expansion Panel #3: Ryukishi07's Latest Work TRianThology Unraveled for the First Time". Wordpress. Archived from the original on 18 August 2016.