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This article is about a character in Higurashi When They Cry. |
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Shirou Hanada (花田 史郎 Hanada Shirō) is a detective for the Kakiuchi City police department. He first appears in Tokihogushi-hen.
Profile
Tomoe's former subordinate. He and his colleague Fujita are supposed to be her errand boys. He's a great guy, but he's a bit of a cynic and overconfident. He likes to modify cars and participate in car races.
(Translated from the Entergram Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Hou website.)
Appearance
Hanada has black hair and wears a gray suit with a yellow tie.
Personality
Hanada is serious about his job, though he's a little cynical and sarcastic. Miotsukushi: Ura-hen shows that Hanada's cynicism comes from the fact his brother was killed by a police officer a long time ago and thus he has a dislike for justice, preferring to follow those with power instead. However, there are times where he legitimately takes his role as a detective seriously despite being a spy.
Hanada proves to very cocky, gloating and demeaning Tomoe when he has ample opportunities to kill her. He's also manipulative, making plans to expose Chiba should the latter betray him first.
Background
Hanada was classmates with Fujita in police academy, and they later joined Kakiuchi Station together as fellow detectives. Hanada later had a child with his wife. Miotsukushi: Ura-hen reveals that Hanada's real name is Shirou Takiguchi. He and his brother Kazenori Takiguchi were abandoned by their parents, and Kazenori did his best to provide for Shirou. After Kazenori got involved with student activists and was killed by Yuusuke Minai in the Shirakaba mountain villa incident in 1970, Hanada became bitter with hatred over the loss of his brother.
Hanada struggled to carry on a good life and resorted to robbery. One day he was caught by Akihiko Chiba and instead of being punished was given the chance to work under him, later being made a spy for Kakiuchi Station. Hanada's wife and child are actually those of Chiba; a mistress and illegitimate child that was forced onto Hanada to preserve Chiba's integrity. Because of his resentment towards Yuusuke, he would be the one to cause the fire that killed him and his wife, leading to Tomoe and Madoka Minai being orphaned.
Relationships
- Tomoe Minai (superior officer)
- Shingo Fujita (colleague)
- Osamu Tsukada (acquaintance)
- Akihiko Chiba (employer)
Story
Kageboushi-hen
Hanada first appears without a sprite. While investigating families who may have originated from Hinamizawa, suspicion falls on the Kimiyoshi family, especially Touji, for Aki Kimiyoshi's apparent disappearance. Hanada asked Touji about his recent whereabouts, with Touji claiming he went fishing out in the mountains of Gifu prefecture and showing proof in the form of used fishing equipment in his car. Followup discussions with Touji's coworkers showed that they had no idea he liked fishing. Furthermore, Hanada also fished as a hobby and could easily see that with Touji's equipment he couldn't possibly have caught anything. A forensics team is then arranged to check the Gifu mountains.
Tokihogushi-hen
Hanada makes his first proper appearance. After Nagisa Ozaki's murder and Tomoe's subsequent transferal to Public Relations, she no longer has Hanada and Fujita as subordinates. Hanada and the rest of the police are unable to find any leads for Nagisa's murder.
Miotsukushi: Ura-hen
A year after Nagisa's murder, her case is beginning to grow cold with many people connected to her refusing to reveal anything else and giving very similar, vague responses, almost as if someone is forcing them to clam up. Hanada reveals some additional details about Nagisa's death that were kept out of the previous report, namely that her shoulders were dislocated and there were signs she was moving around before ending up in the spot where she died. He also tells Tomoe that he encountered Rena and asked about her involvement with Nagisa. Hanada told her about Nagisa's death however Rena seemed very apathetic, discouraging Tomoe from seeking Rena out herself. The possibility of bringing Rena in for obstruction of justice since she was suspected of sabotaging Tomoe's car a year ago is brought up, however Hanada mentions that Rena is friends with a member of the Sonozaki family in Hinamizawa and could be given a good lawyer, making it difficult for them to pursue investigation there.
After Tomoe is almost killed by Natsumi and the latter is subdued, Hanada is ordered to get an analysis of Natsumi's blood for any chemicals or drugs in it. Some of Natsumi's medicine is then sent to a police station in Gifu prefecture for analysis, with Tomoe and Hanada driving there to pick up the results. They stop at a Kakiuchi service area for Hanada to get gas while Tomoe goes off by herself to get a drink. She sees Rena boarding a bus and decides to follow her, calling Kakiuchi station and asking them to pass a message on to Hanada through the car radio about where she's going. Tomoe eventually talks to Rena and discovers she had no idea at all Nagisa was dead and believed she just didn't show up to their meeting a year ago; this conflicting information leads Tomoe to think something's up with Hanada. She later discovers that Hanada's name wasn't written on the vehicle scheduling sheet when he and Tomoe left, and their car exploded at the service area, having been rigged to blow up with C4 when the radio went off. This could only have happened when they were at the service area and not while they were driving, with Tomoe realizing that Hanada tried to kill her and betrayed the police force. Unfortunately, Hanada has completely disappeared since the incident.
Hanada reappears hiding in the back of Tomoe and Tsukada's car after the latter had revealed critical information about Akihiko Chiba and Lowell Inc. to the former. Hanada knocks them out by injecting alcohol into them, soon taking them to the harbor where he plans to send their car rolling into the sea and make it seem as though they died in a drunk driving accident. Tomoe regains consciousness and attempts to escape the car, however she cannot do much due to her inebriation. Hanada mocks her futile attempts and explains that he was ordered to get rid of her the second she learned about the Placil medicine, showing regret that she could've stayed alive longer if she didn't continue the investigation. He also explains that his boss is Chiba, the same person Tsukada was talking about, and that Hanada himself was responsible for killing Tomoe's parents 12 years ago.
Hanada sends the car rolling and walks away laughing, expecting the two to meet a watery end. Tomoe and Tsukada escape anyway, but Hanada is still nowhere to be found. His family is interrogated for possible leads however the wife shows indifference to the fact her husband is a criminal. Tomoe determines that Hanada must still be hiding in Kakiuchi, as he was cocky enough to stand by and watch his plan play out before leaving at the last minute.
Hanada is seen at Kakiuchi Airport handing off payment to some of Chiba's men for taking a Placil shipment. He plans to run away to another country and lay low until the investigation dies down, but unbeknownst to him Kakiuchi Station has learned about the shipment, with the entire police force heading to the airport. Caught off guard by the sudden raid, Hanada struggles to escape the airport, soon getting the idea of stealing the plane the Placil shipment came in. He gets in and begins takeoff, but Tomoe drives up the runway and rams her car into one of the landing wheels, causing the plane to crash.
Tomoe jumped out of her car at the last minute but was greatly wounded as a result. Hanada emerges from the wreckage and corners her at gunpoint, firing several warning shots. He has a breakdown at the fact that Tomoe's family has always ruined his plans, explaining that his brother was killed by Tomoe's father Yuusuke 13 years ago. After his brother Kazenori's death, Hanada became enamored with revenge and became a lapdog for Chiba, doing a lot of horrible things under him. He accidentally lets slip that Nagisa's death was an accident, and Tomoe picks apart Hanada's life, telling him he refused to accept help from those reaching out to him and that at times he legitimately embraced justice as a detective. Hanada becomes enraged, unwilling to accept that his entire life was worthless and threatens to shoot Tomoe for real, but before he can pull the trigger he gets shot in the side by Yamaoki and falls over. As he clutches his sides in pain, the rest of the police department stands aside as Tomoe finally arrests the man she was hunting her entire police life.
Hanada later confesses to having borrowed Tsukada's car a year ago and using it to kidnap Nagisa. He knocked her out by injecting her with something, and she regained consciousness in the back of his car while he was driving. She tried to escape the car but Hanada didn't try to stop her since she was still delirious and because the door's child lock was active. However, the lock was faulty, and so Nagisa eventually opened the rear door, fell out onto the road and died from being hit by a truck.