This article is about characters in Higurashi When They Cry. |
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Ichirou Maebara (前原 伊知郎 Maebara Ichirou) and Aiko Maebara (前原 藍子 Maebara Aiko) are the father and mother of Keiichi Maebara, respectively.
Profile
Ichirou / Aiko Maebara.
My father is a painter, and the main reason we moved to Hinamizawa was to set up his studio in a peaceful place away from the city.
My mother is a housewife, but she sometimes goes with my father to Tokyo to help (manage?) with his work.
She is also a good cook and loves mystery novels?
(Translated from the 2006 anime website.)
Appearance
Ichirou and Aiko do not have sprites in any version of the visual novels.
Their appearances in the anime and manga adaptations all greatly differ from each other.
Personality
Ichirou and Aiko are very supportive of Keiichi. Tsumihoroboshi shows that they felt guilty about partially contributing to Keiichi's shooting incident by not being aware of his struggles and tried hard to rectify this mistake.
Background
Keiichi's family used to live in Tokyo. Hoping to start a new life, they moved to Hinamizawa in 1983 after buying an empty lot and building a mansion there. Tsumihoroboshi reveals that they did it after an incident where Keiichi shot at kids with a BB gun.
Role in the Story
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Question Arcs
Tatarigoroshi
The credits say that Ichirou and Aiko die on 6/22/1983 in the Great Hinamizawa Disaster.
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai
Meakashi
The credits say that Ichirou and Aiko reside in Tokyo as of 2004, two decades after Keiichi's death from acute heart failure.
Tsumihoroboshi
The Great Hinamizawa Disaster leaves the fate of Ichirou and Aiko after Rika's death unclear.[1]
Matsuribayashi
In the Fragment named "Preview of lots for sale", which is unlocked after "The fourth sacrifice" and hence implied to take place at some point after the Curse in 1982, Ichirou visits Hinamizawa and encounters Hanyuu and Rika Furude, who convince him to move to the village.
Trivia
- Ichirou and Aiko are named after Ryukishi07's own parents.[2]
- The design for Aiko in the Higurashi manga was contributed by Karin Suzuragi.[3]
- "The beginning, of course, is especially important. If there is no beginning, then the story never starts. ...Nothing happened, so there wouldn't even be an incident. Detectives wouldn't be called, so there wouldn't be any mystery. There would be no mystery, so there would be no solution. ...In other words, it would be the ultimate perfect crime."
- — Aiko talking to Keiichi about perfect crimes in Tatarigoroshi
- "...It's just like the words of the main character's mother in a novel I read recently, called Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni.
Every story needs to have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Eliminating that `beginning' is essential for the perfect crime."
- — Battler Ushiromiya's inner monologue in Legend of the Golden Witch