Overview

Takano Miyo is the main villain/antagonist in the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni series.

Character Summary

Takano Miyo is a nurse at the Irie Clinic. She is one of the consistent victims of the curse in 1983. According to the police, her charred remains are found in a drum in the mountains; hoowever, the autopsy later reveals that she had died twenty-four hours before the Watanagashi Festival had even occurred. During Tatarigoroshi-hen, she gives Maebara Keiichi a ride after he finishes his business with Satoko's uncle, and the subsequent revelation of her "death" prior to this incident shocks him.

Appearance

She has long, blonde hair which she has had since a child. As an adult, her brown eyes are more "droopy" or closed than those of other characters. She is also quite buxom, which serves as occasional comic relief in the manga and the anime OVA arcs. In the clinic she usually wears a traditional nurse's uniform with hat. Outside she dresses casually with dark-green slacks with a light-green sweater over a light pink blouse. Over her left breast she wears her signature yellow cross on a gold-green ribbon. She will occasionally wear a dark suit when visiting her superiors. Her other signature outfit is the black uniform she wears when she takes charge and acts as her rank of major. While it varies with updates to the sprites, it consistently consists of a black beret, a black cape over a military uniform or black suit, and a black skirt. In the original sprite as well as in the anime, she retains the gold cross over the gold-green ribbon.

Personality

She is very popular at the Irie Clinic where she works, but her real personality is eventually revealed to be quite twisted. She enjoys frightening people with tales of Hinamizawa's past. She also views people as guinea pigs for her research, and only truly cares for the memory of her grandfather. She is infamous for being an occult maniac, almost to the point of being considered a joke, as Sonozaki Mion mentions to Keiichi that Takano tells a different interpretation of Hinamizawa's mythology to every person (the version she once told Hōjō Satoko supposedly claimed that Oyashiro-sama originated from sea creatures). She has many scrapbooks containing all her different theories about Oyashiro-sama's curse, and she sometimes lends them to people for fun, such as Sonozaki Shion and Ryūgū Rena. She is very interested in the history and mythology of Hinamizawa, and in one story arc gives Rena her research on the matter prior to her own death. This contains the theory about parasites controlling people's minds, and seems to be loosely based on the Hinamizawa syndrome theory, making it the theory closest to the actual truth (save for the part about aliens). She also talks in a very condescending and patronizing manner, sometimes causing people to hate her. In the visual novels, she has a distinct laugh (くすくす, which translates to "kusu kusu", though the MangaGamer version translates this as "Hee hee hee") which is used very often.

Takano also has a cute, childlike side to her personality, as shown in Minagoroshi-hen. When Furude Rika offered to open the Saiguden for Miyo, complete with Rika's signature "Nipah!", Takano jumped for joy and spun with glee, an expression that looked as if "Miyo's image stock just crashed all over the world" (as said by Rika).

Takano even offered to wear cat ears, collar, and tail, and beg for milk so Rika would let her pass through the second door to the inside of the Saiguden. Hours after the trip, when a budget meeting was finished, Irie and Tomitake witnessed her meowing and lightly hopping around the table, holding the camera she used to take pictures of the Saiguden's torture tools.

Takano also has an obsession with attaining the level of Godhood. She first adopted the notion of becoming a God as a child, when Takano Hifumi, not long after rescuing her from the orphanage, tells her about the story of Jesus's resurrection. He tells her that it was not Jesus' physical body that was resurrected, but the belief in his teachings. Hifumi believed that one becomes a God when they make a great achievement that puts their name in history so that even when they die, they will be immortalized in a sense. He then expresses his desire to become a God himself, by proving the existence of Hinamizawa syndrome and making a name for himself in the scientific community. When he dies, Miyo takes it upon herself to carry on his research and have it recognized by the world. Her ultimate goal is to become a God along with Hifumi, so that they can be together for all eternity.

However, her quest is not absolute. When she has lost, she is told to end her life. The manga expands the scene and has Hanyũ visit her and offer her a position as a god if she simply ends her life. Takano cannot do it: kill herself in order to become a god. The manga, anime, and visual novel allow a final ending where Rika as an adult/Frederika visits her when she is the child Tanashi Miyoko leaving her home to play with a friend on the day her parents will die. Adult Rika/Frederika asks her if she wants "to live" or "die," and Tanashi Miyoko at first chooses to live. When she questions her choice, she is told that "to die" means getting a "Child's Meal flag." Tanashi Miyoko realizes that her parents are going shopping and, if she was with them, she would get the "Child's Meal" which would give her a final flag souvenir to complete her collection. The child Tanashi Miyoko denounces her parents as "mean" for going to the store without her. Adult Rika/Frederika asks her if she is sure she will not regret her choice. When Tanashi Miyoko asks her why she would regret it, Adult Rika/Frederika refuses to tell her since she is a "meanie." Undaunted, Tanashi Miyoko says whatever happens will be fine since she will be with her parents.

It would seem that the child Tanashi Miyoko unwittingly chose to die with her parents; however, it is revealed that in this instance the tragedy does not happen. That becomes the ultimate "happy ending" since Tanashi Miyoko never becomes "Takano Miyo." The irony is that as Takano she chooses death for everyone but herself; yet in this final story, she chooses "death" for herself and, in effect, "kills" Miyo which saves everyone.

Plot

Later in the series, it is revealed that her death, in each case, was faked to throw off suspicion and allow her to act more freely on her true plans. The reasons behind her actions are revealed in the second season as the show delves into her past. She was born Tanashi Miyoko, but her parents died in an unfortunate train accident when she was quite young, so the government had her sent to an orphanage. She and other children were abused repeatedly there, and eventually, try to escape. They are pursued, largely because the orphanage gets government money based on the number of children they house. One of the larger staff members catches her, but she escapes his powerful hold by biting his thumb. She evades capture long enough to call her father's former professor Takano Hifumi's number for help as her father had instructed some time before his death. She is re-captured and sees that her fellow comrades were also captured and are being tortured tremendously. She is brought to a bathroom where the same man who's finger she had bitten ties her up with a long rope and dropped her into the bottom of a squatting toilet so she could "clean up with her mouth". She is eventually rescued and adopted by Hifumi. In the anime, she is brought to a bathroom where she is choked before being rescued and adopted by Hifumi.

Hifumi becomes a sort of grandfather for her, and she cares deeply for him. Hifumi was the one who started Takano on the path of medicine with his study of Hinamizawa Syndrome. When Hifumi died, having been humiliated and discredited by his superiors, Takano decided to carry on his studies in order to prove his theories, and, in doing so, was perfectly content to make the entire village go mad with paranoia by killing the Queen Carrier, and then ordering the annihilation of the villagers as well. She is literally obsessed with proving the theories he spent his life on and making a name for both of them.

She has control over an elite squad of soldiers called the Yamainu, provided to her by the Tokyo group, who carry out much of her dirty work, although she does not hesitate to do some of it herself. In many cases, she has been personally responsible for the death of the Queen Carrier and of her lover Tomitake Jirō.

Kaidan to Odorō, Soshite Anata wa Kaidan de Odoru

Takano also makes an appearance in this horror mystery light novel by Ryukishi07, published in 2007 and later as a manga. While the story is technically supposed to be considered separate from the Higurashi series, it was confirmed to have taken place in the perfect world of Saikoroshi-hen, where Frederica Bernkastel interfered and Takano's parents were not killed (thus, no tragic events ever happened), so Takano's original name "Tanashi Miyoko" is retained. The story also heavily focuses on her, as she is the first to be involved in another curse.

In the story which takes place at a normal city high school, Miyoko is drawn as an average, quiet girl with long black hair and a very melancholic expression, which contrasts heavily with her bright and bubbly nature as a kid. Compared to her personality as Takano in Higurashi, she can be considered just as creepy and dark, if not more-so, than Takano. Her signature laugh and way of speaking is also retained in the novel, so she speaks just like her adult self. While Takano is at least seen to be "cute" and has retained some of her childish nature, no sign of such is ever apparent in Miyoko's character in this story. She is not very well liked in the school and only has a few acquaintances, including a strange boy named Tomohiro Miyajima. Initially, Tomohiro did not speak to Miyoko that often, and they only knew each other as those who often glanced at and took interest in each other. One day, Tomohiro decides to invent a fake curse called "Ohone-sama's curse" and circulate it around the school, mainly for kicks and for easy money, knowing that people would donate to the donation boxes dedicated to the false god. Of course, Tomohiro and his friends knew it was a mere prank, however, they receive a note attached with 50,000 yen (approx. 644 USD) that asks for the god to curse Miyoko.

Soon after, Tomohiro witnesses Miyoko's death by falling off the rooftop of the school; this is later suspected to be a murder, but near the end for reasons unknown, she reappears, seeming perfectly alive and well with no damage done to her body. She jumps off the roof a 2nd time, only to have Tomohiro catch her this time. In the end, she is seen dancing in a school classroom.

Trivia

•As a child, Miyo resembles Lambdadelta, the Witch of Certainty from Umineko no Naku Koro ni. However, it was confirmed in an interview with Ryukishi07 that Lambdadelta and Miyo have no relation with each other whatsoever and that their similarities, i.e. the same name and appearance, were actually just red herrings. The names Lambdadelta and Miyo are both supposed to reference the number sequence 3-4; however, while mi and yo are indeed the Old Japanese roots for the numbers three and four respectively and delta is the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet, lambda is in fact not the third letter, but the eleventh. However, a Lambdadelta's Diary tip heavily implies that she was the one who granted Miyoko's wish of eventually becoming a god.

•Most likely Miyoko's character design was based off Lambdadelta considering that Lambdadelta was given a physical appearance before Miyoko was as she was not given an appearance till the anime adaption of Kai due to her not having a sprite in the original visual novel.

•She has committed the most murders of all characters in the series, although Irie Kyōsuke's record with fatal lobotomies is possibly second most (while the Sonozaki family itself is known for its high number of killings).

•While she is responsible for the Great Hinamizawa Disaster, she herself did not personally commit the murders. The most she has done regarding it is convincing the prefectural governor to initiate Plan 34, so in technicality, the governor is mainly responsible for sending in troops to kill the villagers.

•Tanashi Miyoko makes an appearance as an extra character in Higurashi Daybreak Mega Edition, where she somehow time-traveled to 1983 by accident. She teams up with Okonogi in order to retrieve the magic mirror so she can return to her time. If Takano and Tanashi are ever paired up in a versus battle and win, a comical dialogue is exchanged between the two.

•In Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri and Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Jan, Takano's villain outfit has a small Totenkopf badge on its hat. "Totenkopf" is a German word, it means "dead man's head".

•Miki Itō is the same seiyū (voice actor) of Eva Ushiromiya/EVA-Beatrice of Umineko no Naku Koro ni.

・Additionally, Takashi Miyoko is voiced by Fuyuka Ono the same as Lambdadelta of Umineko no Naku Koro ni.

•In Ryukishi07's latest work, Rose Guns Days, a blonde girl named Meryl Tanashi is an obvious shout-out to Tanashi Miyoko.

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