List of Higurashi When They Cry characters

This is a list of characters from the sound novel, manga, light novel, film, and anime series Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. There are six main characters who appear in almost every scenario. The main protagonist is Keiichi Maebara, a young boy who has recently moved to Hinamizawa with his family, and begun to adapt to life in the countryside. Keiichi has a natural charisma which allows him to make friends easily. One of his good friends is a girl his age named Rena Ryugu. She, like him, is new in Hinamizawa, having only lived there for a year before the story begins. Before she met Keiichi, Rena became friends with a girl one year older named Mion Sonozaki, who is looked at as the leader of the group and is the president of their club. Mion has a twin sister, Shion, who lives in the nearby town of Okinomiya. Although their personalities are quite different, she and Mion have switched places in the past; the change is nearly indistinguishable. Another one of Keiichi's friends is Satoko Hojo, a clever girl who is quite skilled at setting traps when playing games with her friends. She usually has an energetic and mischievous personality, but this hides a past full of trauma. Satoko also had an older brother named Satoshi. Her friend, Rika Furude, is revered by the villagers as the heir of the local shrine and plays the role of a miko, or shrine maiden, in the annual Watanagashi Festival. Despite her young age, she sometimes expresses a type of wisdom which would normally be beyond her years, and is quite fond of sake.

Of the remaining cast, there are those such as Kuraudo Oishi, a veteran police officer who is dead set on solving the mystery of the yearly murders that occur in Hinamizawa before his retirement. A freelance photographer, named Jiro Tomitake, comes to Hinamizawa occasionally; he seems to be friends with Miyo Takano, a female nurse at the local village clinic who has a keen interest in Hinamizawa's past and culture. She works with Kyosuke Irie, the head doctor of the clinic who has a severe maid fetish.

There are additional characters not seen in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni proper, who appear in the side-story manga adaptations. In Onisarashi-hen, the main character is a young girl with a bright personality named Natsumi Kimiyoshi, who has just moved away from Hinamizawa. In Yoigoshi-hen, the main character is a young man named Akira Otobe, who was found wandering in the forest around the deserted Hinamizawa many years later.

In Higurashi no Naku Koro ni

Main characters

Keiichi Maebara (前原圭一, Maebara Keiichi)

Voiced by: Sōichirō Hoshi (Japanese); Grant George (English), Goki Maeda (Live action)

Keiichi is the main protagonist in the first three "question" arcs. The son of a famous artist, his family recently moved to Hinamizawa after an unfortunate event involving him in their hometown. His charisma and remarkable talent for speech making 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 and Tatarigoroshi-hen arcs, he is the one affected by the 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 was the perpetrator of a series of crimes involving shooting little children with his toy gun.

Rena Ryuuguu (竜宮レナ, Ryūgū Rena): Voiced by: Mai Nakahara (Japanese); Mela Lee (English), Airi Matsuyama (Live action); Rena is a girl who returned from Ibaraki to Hinamizawa one year ago, and is in same grade-level as Keiichi. She has an obsession with things she perceives as cute—generally, these things are not considered cute by others. Every now and then, she goes treasure hunting in the town's trash heap, searching for 'cute' things to collect, and upon finding something "cute", it's difficult to stop her. She has a habit of repeating words at the ends of sentences, most famously kana? kana? (かな? かな?, lit. "I wonder? I wonder?") and when finding something cute, she says Haū! Omochikaerī! (はぅ〜! お持ち帰りぃ〜!, lit. "Haū! I want to take it home!"). When in "Take it Home" mode, she comically becomes stronger and faster. Despite this disarming trait, Rena is shown to be amazingly observant and perceptive about the things around her (in Watanagashi-hen, she was able to deduce that both Rika and Satoko went to the Sonozaki house by looking through the contents of their fridge and a flier). According to Mion, while Rena might seem cute herself, people should be careful not to anger her as she becomes quite scary when angered. She is especially sensitive about the topic of Oyashiro-sama; in Tsumihoroboshi-hen, her delusions about the god's true nature go so far as to make her take the school hostage, trying to unreasonably force a police investigation into the matter. When she needs a weapon, she uses a large cleaver that she found at the trash heap (in the anime) or a toolshed (in the manga). Her real given name is Reina (礼奈).

Mion Sonozaki (園崎魅音, Sonozaki Mion): Voiced by: Satsuki Yukino (Japanese); Kelli Kassidi (English), Rin Asuka (Live action); Mion is the oldest classmate 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 has a crush on 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 (on screen) 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 family tattoo, ultimately causing her stay as Mion.

Shion Sonozaki (園崎詩音, Sonozaki Shion): Voiced by: Satsuki Yukino (Japanese); Kelli Kassidi (English); Shion is Mion's identical twin sister, who currently resides in Okinomiya. In spite of their different personalities, she and Mion often switch places, and it can be difficult to distinguish between them. Their first switch took place when they were little. Right before tattooing the symbol of an 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. She was sent by the Sonozaki family to a private boarding school, 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. 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); this, along with a different demonic sadistic personality she manifested in her grief, drove her to mass murder. One of the last words that they exchanged before he disappeared was a promise to take care of Satoko, something which she has taken to heart after Meakashi-hen. 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, and also wears yellow ribbon in her hair.

Satoko Houjou (北条沙都子, Hōjō Satoko): Voiced by: Mika Kanai (Japanese); Minx Lee (English), Erena Ono (Live action); Satoko is a younger classmate in Keiichi's school. She has a distinctive style of speech, ending all of her sentences with ~wa. 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; her parents died in an accident, she was abused by her foster parents (her aunt and uncle), and her beloved brother Satoshi disappeared. However, in Matsuribayashi-hen, Irie suggested she killed her parents, as she had a bad relationship with them and felt threatened, and so to her it was an act of self-defense. Though she greatly misses Satoshi, and feels that by being strong he will return, she comes to regard Keiichi as her new "nii-nii" (a cute term for older brother), and once even regards Shion as "nee-nee". She dislikes Kabocha, and cannot tell the difference between cauliflower and broccoli, because she is colorblind.

Rika Furude (古手梨花, Furude Rika): Voiced by: Yukari Tamura (Japanese); Rebecca Forstadt (English), Aika (Live action); 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 not speak a lot, she likes to say nonsense words such as "mi~" and "nipa~" and often ends her sentences with "-nano desu", 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 fact, she is one of the main components of the eternally repeating June 1983, and is the only one who is consistently able to remember the past repetitions. 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 Hanyuu, 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 Hanyuu when Rika is in a bad mood; this works because both Hanyuu and Rika's senses are linked together, though this seems to be redundant by Matsuribayashi-hen, possibly because of Hanyuu's coming into the world. The wine she drinks is hinted to be Bernkastel vintage.

Hanyuu Furude (古手羽入, Furude Hanyū): Voiced by: Yui Horie; Hanyuu 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 (however, no one seems to notice or mention them). In fact, 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. 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 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 dislikes alcohol and kimchi, which Rika imbibes in large amounts as punishment when she finds Hanyuu annoying (as both Hanyuu's and Rika's senses are linked together). Rika refers to her as "Oyashiro-sama" when talking with others (evident from Shion's chat with Rika in Meakashi-hen) but does not personally think of her as Oyashiro-sama; instead, she sees her as a close friend.

Secondary characters

Satoshi Houjou (北条悟史, Hōjō Satoshi): Voiced by: Mitsuki Saiga (drama CD), Yū Kobayashi (anime); 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. Similar to Satoko, he cannot distinguish the difference between cauliflower and broccoli. Due to this, it can be inferred that both Satoshi and Satoko are color-blind. Satoshi is referred to by Satoko as nii-nii, a childish form of the Japanese word ani (兄, meaning older brother). 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, at least in the anime, and in Miotsukushi-hen, it is revealed that Doctor Irie put him under heavy sedation in the underground parts of the clinic, while in the visual novel equivalent, he is still alive yet his whereabouts are unknown.

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-sama 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-sama is something of debate, some can see Oyashiro-sama as the simple "perception" of a god. However, those who experience extreme paranoia (Keiichi, Shion, and Rena in perspective chapters) perceive Oyashiro-sama as a being who can only be heard as "footsteps that you hear as soon as you stop walking" and felt as "You're being watched"; this aspect of Oyashiro-sama is revealed to be Hanyū, since some of the characters can hear (but not see) her (until Matsuribayashi-hen).

Kuraudo Oishi (大石蔵人, Ōishi Kuraudo): Voiced by: Chafūrin (Japanese); Joe DiMucci (English), Tetta Sugimoto (Live action); Kuraudo Oishi is a veteran police investigator at Okinomiya who has vowed to solve the mystery of the Hinamizawa murders before his retirement, to avenge one of the victims 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.

Jiro Tomitake (富竹ジロウ, Tomitake Jirō): Voiced by: Tōru Ōkawa (Japanese); Kyle Hebert (English), Masashi Taniguchi (Live action); Jiro 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). Oishi 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).

Miyo Takano (鷹野三四, Takano Miyo): Voiced by: Miki Itō (Japanese); Karen Strassman (English), Fuyuka Ōura (Child), Ayako Kawara (Live action); Miyo is a nurse at the village clinic who has 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). Later, however, it turns out that she is the mastermind of the events taking place in Hinamizawa who wants to murder Rika as part of her plan to have revenge on the people who spurned her grandfather's research. It is revealed that she fakes her death through the first six arcs of the story (the corpse in the barrel being a stolen corpse), and murders Rika in three of the arcs after which she also kills everyone in Hinamizawa. Her original name is Miyoko Tanashi.

Kyosuke Irie (入江京介, Irie Kyōsuke): Voiced by: Toshihiko Seki (Japanese); Dave Mallow (English), Sachitaro Tanaka (Live action); Kyosuke is the head doctor of the village clinic. Despite his young age and the fact that he has a severe lolicon/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. It is later revealed that he works under Miyo, 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, Chie Rumiko): Voiced by: Fumiko Orikasa; Rumiko is the female teacher of Keiichi's class, who is a parody character of Tsukihime's Ciel-Senpai (permission for her usage was given by Type-Moon). The seiyū for her character in the anime series is the same as the seiyū of Ciel from the Tsukihime anime. Going along with the parody, her favorite food is curry rice, just like Ciel, and will react violently when anyone insults it.

Mamoru Akasaka (赤坂衛, Akasaka Mamoru): Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu (drama CD), Daisuke Ono (anime); 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, he however just brushed it off as coincidence. In an untold world, Mamoru regrets about unable to save his wife and Rika, and learns martial art to clear his mind, and hopes to relive the time before Himatsubushi-hen to save them. Through a miracle, Mamoru inherits his martial art skills in Matsuribayashi-hen, 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, Kasai Tatsuyoshi): Voiced by: Fumihiko Tachiki; Tatsuyoshi is an employee of the Sonozakis, who looks like a secret agent. He was more active in the past, but has settled down to become Shion's caretaker.

Teppei Houjou (北条鉄平, Hōjō Teppei)): Voiced by: Katsuhisa Houki (Japanese); Steve Kramer (English); 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 and by Rena in Tsumihoroboshi-hen (he is originally to be killed by Shion in Minagoroshi-hen, but is stopped by Keiichi before she can) in their attempts to protect Satoko and Rena's father respectively.

Tamae Houjou (北条玉枝, Hōjō Tamae): Voiced by: Kujira; 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 drunk bum was charged with her murder, but various characters suspect that Satoshi was the true murderer.

Oryō Sonozaki (園崎お魎, Sonozaki Oryō): Voiced by: Okohira Shizuka; 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'. 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).

Kiichirō Kimiyoshi (公由喜一郎, Kimiyoshi Kiichirō): Voiced by: Tsukada Masaaki; 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, Mamiya Rina): Voiced by: Misa Watanabe; 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 canal 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.

Akane Sonozaki (園崎茜, Sonozaki Akane): Voiced by: Kikuko Inoue; 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.

Frederica Bernkastel: Voiced by: Yukari Tamura; 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. She even has an intention of making a world where Rika's or Satoko's parents did not die, or pairing Keiichi with various girls. 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. She is hinted to be one of the witches in Umineko no Naku Koro ni.

Yukie Akasaka: Yukie is Mamoru's wife, and is only seen in Himatsubushi-hen. 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. Her child, Miyuki, survives.

Manga-exclusive characters

In Onisarashi-hen

Natsumi Kimiyoshi (公由夏美, Kimiyoshi Natsumi): Natsumi is a normal high school girl who recently moved from rural Okinomiya to a large city. With her bright personality, she easily made new friends in her new home. She has received a confession of love by Akira Toudou, whom she likes in return. However, she has not answered it yet. She has shrugged off the beliefs and culture of her ancestral home at Hinamizawa, as well as the warnings from her overly-superstitious grandmother, whom she lives with. After Hinamizawa's "disaster", Natsumi's greatest fear is being discovered as being related to people from Hinamizawa and once living near there, in Okinomiya.

Kuraudo Oishi (大石蔵人, Ōishi Kuraudo): Kuraudo Oishi consistently attempts to make contact with Natsumi to find out the truth about a certain "unsolved mystery".

Mamoru Akasaka (赤坂衛, Akasaka Mamoru): Mamoru is an elite career investigator from the Metropolitan Police Department in Tokyo. He teamed up with Oishi to solve a certain mystery.

In Yoigoshi-hen

Akira Otobe (乙部彰, Otobe Akira): Akira is a man wandering in the forest of the deserted Hinamizawa. He looks similar to Satoshi.

Mion Sonozaki (園崎魅音, Sonozaki Mion): Mion is a woman who claims to have been in Hinamizawa ever since the disaster; her true identity remains a mystery. She is later revealed to be Shion Sonozaki in the final chapter.

Ryūnosuke Arakawa (荒川龍ノ介, Arakawa Ryūnosuke): Ryūnosuke is a tabloid reporter who travels to Hinamizawa when its lockdown is ended in the present day.

In Himatsubushi-hen

Miyuki Akasaka: Miyuki is Mamoru's daughter who was able to be saved after Yukie's accident. It is said that she is seven years old, and, so far, she is the only character to have his/her age said outright. Mamoru sees a resemblance to the approximately five-year-old Rika in her. She, like any child, is very energetic. She is shy, which is shown when she meets Oishi. She always adresses her father as "Papa", and is frequently shown worrying about him. She only appears in the Himatsubushi-hen manga epilogue, although there is a picture of her in the anime. She may be named after her mother.