Higurashi When They Cry - Characters

Characters

In Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, there are seven 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. Since Hinamizawa is a small town of about two thousand people, with only a single school, there are not many children around his own age; he easily meets the others his age and becomes friends with them.

One of these good friends is a girl named Rena Ryugu. She, like Keiichi, is new in Hinamizawa, having only returned from Ibaraki a year before the story begins. She has an obsession with things she considers to be cute—generally, others do not agree—and will often scavenge for such things at the local dump and bring them back home. 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 tomboyish personality, a facade for a girlish side she keeps hidden from the others. 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, and the change is nearly indistinguishable.

There are other girls in the club younger than Keiichi, Rena and Mion. One is Satoko Houjou, 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 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. Rika is also the girl who becomes the central figure, so that Hinamizawa can avoid a tragic end. Helping her is Hanyū who appears late in the story but in fact has been with Rika for a very long time, though only Rika could see her.

Of the remaining cast, there are those such as Kuraudo Ooishi, 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 Jirou 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 Kyousuke Irie, the head doctor of the clinic and "coach" to the village children. Irie feels a strong connection to Satoko and cares for her deeply. During the Tatarigoroshi-hen arc, Irie expresses the desire to either adopt her, or to wait until she is of age and marry her.