Overview

Hōjō Satoshi is a character in the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni series and the older brother of Hōjō Satoko. He is not present through the majority of the series but is the initiator of many of the events that take place in his absence, namely the serial murders committed in Watanagashi-hen and Meakashi-hen.

Character Summary

Satoshi is a quiet and soft-spoken person who is kind and seemingly calm, although he clearly worries about his younger sister and seems to get frustrated or discouraged rather easily. Both Sonozaki Mion and Irie Kyōsuke describe him as an airhead who has trouble focusing for very long. Satoshi is in the same grade as Mion.

Satoshi and Satoko's mother and step-father died in an accident on the night of the Watanagashi Festival and became the second recorded victims of The Series of Mysterious Deaths. The two of them fell from a viewing platform and into the river — the stepfather's body was recovered, but their mother's was never found.

After his parents' death, Satoshi's aunt and uncle, Hōjō Tamae and Hōjō Teppei became their foster parents, but having the children and thus the town's hatred thrust upon them so suddenly ended only in resentment towards their new charges. Both Satoshi and Satoko were abused by their relatives, though Satoshi often took the blows for his little sister. This is only revealed by Sonozaki Shion, as she was always concerned that while Satoshi didn't want to make a fuss, Satoko cried and got attention and sympathy, even though Satoshi was ill as a result of the abuse.

Between the constant abuse, his sister's distrust of almost all adults and outsiders, and the town's ostracization of the Hōjō family, Satoshi came to believe he was the only one his sister could rely on and the only one who could protect her. Even after Satoshi's best efforts Satoko still had a mental breakdown and Satoshi tired out. The stress from the abuse made Satoshi ill. Satoshi was suffering from headaches, depression and even delusions (because of the Hinamizawa Syndrome). Satoshi had similar delusions like Keiichi in Onikakushi-hen: he heard footsteps following him and thought that the village was planning to kill him. His paranoia is one of the main reasons that he killed his aunt: he wanted to save Satoko before he is killed or disappeared by the "curse". According to Meakashi-hen, he murdered his aunt in retaliation for abusing Satoko, or perhaps to prevent future abuse. While it is suggested that he may have witnessed his aunt's death in the games, in the anime, Satoshi is said to have killed her. In Matsuribayashi-hen it was revealed that the "drug addict" who supposedly killed his aunt was only a scapegoat made by the Yamainu by Irie's request to cover up Satoshi's disappearance. Combined with the stress of taking care of Satoko and the murder, he succumbs to the Hinamizawa Syndrome and disappears.

Current Situation

There is a debate about to where exactly Satoshi has disappeared. According to the TIPS in Meakashi-hen, he was last seen at a Nagoya train station, boarding a Shinkansen bound for Tokyo; however, there was no solid evidence to confirm the validity of that tip, as it is most likely a forged tip-off to expand the police's search range. Such tip-off has also happened to Ryūgū Rena in Tsumihoroboshi-hen, when Sonozaki Mion told Keiichi that she would order a false report so that the police would stop searching Hinamizawa and just like in Meakashi-hen, the police believed the tips as coming from "reliable sources". Meanwhile, in Matsuribayashi-hen and in Miotsukushi-hen, it is revealed that Irie put Satoshi under heavy sedation in the underground parts of the clinic.

Satoshi appeared in the OVA version of Batsukoishi-hen and was a part of what is arguably a dreamlike sequence. During his appearance he served yogurt to Keiichi as part of a punishment inflicted by their club, all the while saying things that seemed flirtatious towards Keiichi. This does not confirm whether or not he is out of the hospital after the events in Matsuribayashi-hen.

Appearance

Satoshi has blond hair and red-violet eyes, though like his sister their color changes depending on the artist. He is one year older than Keiichi and slightly taller.

The only attire he is seen wearing is either his school uniform, which is similar to Keiichi's and consists of a white collared shirt with a light blue undershirt, black pants, a belt and black shoes; his baseball uniform, of primarily red and white coloration with a gold trim; or a hospital gown in the Irie Clinic.

Satoshi somewhat resembles Maebara Keiichi, mostly in terms of height and hairstyle, and the two of them are compared to each other throughout the series. In actuality, he is more similar Otobe Akira, who was twice mistaken for Satoshi.

Relationships

Hōjō Satoko

Satoko is Satoshi's younger sister. Before his disappearance, Satoshi looked after Satoko and tried to protect her from their abusive aunt and uncle, who assumed guardianship after the death of their parents. In a desperate attempt to help Satoko, he killed (or thought he killed) their aunt after luring her out into the woods. It is implied that Satoko does not know about Satoshi's involvement in her aunt's death and even more strongly implied that she does not know where he is or whether he is alive, but she maintains the hope that he will return someday. There is much evidence Satoshi cares for his sister (at one point, for example, instead of using the money he had to run away from Hinamizawa, he bought a teddy bear Satoko wanted), although he has stated that at times he wishes, or at least wonders what it would be like if, he did not constantly have to take care of Satoko. Even though this he still loves Satoko and Satoko returns his feelings.

Sonozaki Shion

Shion has deep feelings for Satoshi, and these feelings are the main reason she commits the majority of her murders in Watanagashi-hen and Meakashi-hen, in order to "avenge" Satoshi's "death". Whether he returns her feelings or not is undetermined—he was usually too exhausted from taking care of Satoko to pay much attention to her and did not know Shion even existed for some time after they met, as when they spoke Shion was usually disguised as Mion. Once he learns about the existence Shion, however, he tells her he thinks "Shion" is a nice name.

Before his disappearance, Satoshi asked Shion (disguised as Mion) to watch over Satoko for him when he was gone, a promise Shion remembers too late in Watanagashi and Meakashi-hen. In subsequent arcs, however, she keeps his last wishes in mind and maintains a sister-like bond with Satoko.

Sonozaki Mion

Mion and Satoshi appear to be friends, and Mion invites both Satoko and Satoshi to an after-school club to help distract them from their unpleasant home life. However, Satoshi is often quite curt when speaking to whom he believes is Mion, but whether this is because of his high levels of stress at the time or general impatience with Mion is undetermined.

In Meakashi-hen, Shion suspects that Mion too is in love with Satoshi, since the sisters often like the same things. Later in the arc, Mion reveals to Shion that she also loved Satoshi and suspected that their grandma killed him, due to that, she tried to strangle Oryo, however, Oryo said that neither Satoshi's disappearance nor the cases related to Oyashiro-sama's curse were the Sonozaki's doing.

Mion says to Shion before Satoshi disappears that only Shion can reach him, meaning that she gave up Satoshi for the sake of her sister. (It's speculated that this may be the reason Mion doesn't want Shion to get along with Keiichi since that would mean the sisters' rivalry)

Ryūgū Rena

Rena's and Satoshi's presences do not overlap for very long, but in the time they are together they bond over their shared experiences with Oyashiro-sama and mental instability, though Rena's had largely passed and Satoshi's was just beginning. Rena later regrets not doing more to help Satoshi with his problems and preventing his disappearance.

Maebara Keiichi

Keiichi and Satoshi never meet in the official arcs, though most likely if Satoshi ever came back they would have a rough start. Keiichi harbors some animosity towards Satoshi for abandoning Satoko and sees him as unreliable and generally a bad person, though these feelings are lessened in Minagoroshi-hen. However, in Batsukoishi-hen, Keiichi dreams about hallucinating of Satoshi and him being punished by the girls into acting out yaoi scenes in bunny maid outfits, much to Keiichi's chagrin. In Ayakashisenshi-hen, Keiichi and Satoshi are shown at the beginning of the episode to have already become best friends, though the time at which this OVA takes place is unknown.

Irie Kyōsuke

Before the accident that killed the Hōjō parents, Irie was concerned about Satoshi's health and how it was deteriorating under the stress of ostracization. In an effort to improve his emotional environment, Irie convinced Satoshi to join the Hinamizawa Fighters. Despite initial resistance on Satoshi's part—claiming he would rather read than play sports—he became a faithful member of the team, though once Tamae began abusing Satoko, he started to consider leaving and eventually stopped going to practice. Irie was one of the few adults Satoshi could trust, and after he succumbed to the Hinamizawa Syndrome, Irie saved Satoshi from death by sedating him and treating him deep in the Irie Clinic.

Trivia

•The kanji for his surname Hōjō--北条--is the same as that for the historical clan of Japan and combines "north" with "article" or "line" in a document. The kanji for his first name "Satoshi"--悟史--combines "enlightenment, perceive, understand" with "history."

•Satoshi's first name, "Satoshi," is also the Japanese name of Ash Ketchum from the Pokemon series.

•Satoshi has a difficult time distinguishing broccoli from cauliflower, most likely due to his color blindness, which he shares with Satoko.

•Yū Kobayashi is the same seiyū (voice actor) of Kanon of Umineko no Naku Koro Ni.

•Satoshi seems to be the only protagonist who survives in all arcs, but this may be because he rarely appears in any of them. His fate after the death of Irie is very ambiguous due to Takano Miyo's eagerness to vivisect victims of Hinamizawa syndrome.

•His disappearance, plus the fact that most of the village keeps quiet about his existence, is a major influence for the main POV's paranoia, including Keiichi's paranoia (Onikakushi-hen) Shion's grief (Watanagashi-hen/Meakashi-hen) and Keiichi's protectiveness (Tatarigoroshi-hen).

•Although he first appeared in Meakashi-hen, Satoshi's voice is first heard in Tatarigoroshi-hen. Before Keiichi attacks Teppei he says "let's go, Satoshi" after this, Satoshi actually heard saying "yeah". This is probably a hallucination caused by the Hinamizawa Syndrome; however, Keiichi has never heard Satoshi's voice before so it's unknown how could he hallucinate Satoshi's exact voice.

Article in Other Languages

北条悟史