List of Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni 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 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. Satoko's 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 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 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 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 Okinomiya. 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.