Satoko Hojo

Satoko Hojo is a character in the Higurashi no Naku Koro niseries. She is the younger sister of Satoshi Hojo and the insinuator of the events that took place in Tatarigoroshi-hen. She is also one of two main characters in Ayakashisenshi-hen, alongside her friend Rika Furude.

Summary
Satoko never understood why her mother repeatedly married and divorced various men. In fact, she could never decide whether or not she actually liked her mother, since their relationship was far from perfect. Men kept appearing beside her mother one after another, and Satoko couldn't adjust to any of them. The only family member that she felt she truly trusted was her brother, Satoshi.

At some point, she started playing pranks on her step-fathers, and even filed a fake abuse report against Mr. Hojo. Each step-father would act aggresive by bullying her in response to her behavior, but whenever she recounts the bullying, she would believe that her current step-father did all of it. Satoko's parents were supporters of the Dam Project in Hinamizawa and were shunned by all villagers. They were called "traitors" because most of the town was decidedly against the dam project, as it would flood Hinamizawa. Because of their parents' standing, Satoko and her older brother were distrusted by most of the village as well. Since Satoko was somewhat of a nuisance towards her parents, she believed that they would be better off without her, and would kill her at some point. This belief was the starting point of her succumbing to the L5 terminal phase of the Hinamizawa Syndrome.

On the day of the Watanagashi Festival on June 1980, Satoko's parents decided to take her out to Shirakawa Park to escape from the celebration of the villagers' victory over the dam project, and to support Mr. Hojo's and Satoko's relationship. However, the parents' attempt to get closer to Satoko only worsened her suspicions and paranioa. When they took her to a viewing platform over a muddy river, she was certain that they were going to kill her right there. In what she considered as self-defense, she pushed them over the clift. She was later hospitalized at the Irie Clinic to be treated for her poor health, and was almost bisected for researching the Hinamizawa Syndrome. She was saved thanks to Irie's development of C-130.

Afterwards, she and Satoshi were taken in by their uncle and aunt, Teppei and Tamae Hojo, respectively. Satoko was abused during that time and always clung to her brother. When the Watanagashi Festival came around, Tamae was murdered by Satoshi as to protect his sister from the abuse. Satoshi then disappeared, Teppei fled to Okinomiya to live with his mistress and Satoko started living with her recently orphaned friend Rika Furude.

Satoko, despite her past, is an energetic and playful girl. She has a very distinctive laugh, and loves to set traps to play pranks on her friends (mostly on Keiichi Maebara). Her traps can be dangerous, however; in Matsuribayashi-hen, she set traps for the Yamainu, some of which proved fatal.

Like Rena Ryuuguu, Satoko can be incredibly analytical and intuitive at times; in Tsumihoroboshi-hen when Rena held the school hostage, Satoko was able to completely map out the blueprint of the school and the location of the bomb in her head, as well as connect all of the various clues together, especially pieces of seemingly-useless information, such as what types of containers were used to hold the gasoline Rena used, the reason a students' ball went missing, how the drain canal runs and how and where the bomb was set up.

Satoko referred to Satoshi as "nii-nii" (にーにー, from 兄 ((ani, older brother)) ), a cute term for older brother, when he was around, and has since referred Keiichi as such, as well as calling Shion Sonozaki the female equivalent, "nee-nee" (ねーねー, from 姉 ((ane, older sister)) ), though in previous arcs, Shion had murdered Satoko.

Saikoroshi-hen
In the world of Saikoroshi-hen, where no tragic events occur, this Satoko contrasts highly with the Satoko we all know. Since no tragic events happened, Satoko did not kill her parents, but rather had learned to accept them over time. She lives in a stable family with her brother Satoshi (whom she is also not as endearing towards) and has learned to speak very polished and formal Japanese, with also a more advanced vocabulary, unlike her normal self where her speech is quite rough. Her speech can also be particularly demanding and sharp when she is upset. Satoko is also very cold and uncaring towards Rika, and does not have much of a close relationship to Mion nor Rena; rather, she hangs out more with her peers, and is quite popular among her age group. Due to her attitude towards Rika, Rika regards her as an insensitive brat who doesn't care about anyone's pain. However, it is revealed later in the arc that her particular attitude towards Rika is mainly due to Rika shamelessly and constantly exploiting her male classmates, and Satoko, along with the others disappointed by Rika's actions, did not want to associate with her at all.

It is important to note that anything pertaining to Satoko in this world does not affect the Satoko of post-Matsuribayashi-hen in any way at all.

Appearance
Satoko has blonde hair and, depending on the media, either red, pink or purple eyes. She is also fairly short, though taller than Rika, and has sharp canine teeth. She wears a black headband most of the time.

On school days, Satoko wears a green dress with a yellow tie or bow, a white sailor collar and black tights with brown shoes. On her free days, she wears a pink, sleeveless collared shirt, blue shorts, a belt and pink sneakers.

When Satoko transforms into Magical Girl Trap Satoko, she wears a playful yellow dress which is very decorated. The dress has many patterns and a large yellow bow on its back. The outfit is bright, with long socks and a yellow ribbon, yellow wristbands, yellow shoes with light sanding and a big bow at an angle on her head.

Satoshi Hojo
Satoko is Satoshi's younger sister. Early on in the series, Satoko was completely dependent on Satoshi, thinking that Satoshi would always come to her aid whenever her soiree went bad. However, when Satoshi disappeared, she blamed herself, for always clinging to him. She vowed to become more independent from that point on. Satoko loves her brother, and Satoshi returns her feelings.

Keiichi Maebara
Satoko has a somewhat mixed relationship with Keiichi, as she likes to practice her trap-making skills on him, and Keiichi resents her for doing such things. Nonetheless, Satoko can trust in Keiichi as Keiichi can Satoko when the odds are against them, and both of them have been shown to care about each other quite a lot. Satoko sometimes calls Keiichi "nii-nii", due to his resemblance to Satoshi, but the resemblance has also drawn a negative reaction from her due to the emotional trauma of his disappearance.

In both Tatarigoroshi-hen and Tsukiotoshi-hen, Keiichi killed Teppei for the sake of saving Satoko from his abuse. Satoko did not always responded well to this.

Shion Sonozaki
Satoko's relationship with Shion had a rocky start. Shion initially hated Satoko for always clinging to the love of her life, Satoshi, and even threw books at her in retaliation. Later in Meakashi-hen, after Satoshi's disappearance, Shion started killing those who she deemed responsible for his disappearance. Satoko was crucified and stabbed repeatedly with a dagger. Later in the series, Shion took care of Satoko, under Satoshi's wishes. The two of them share a sisterly relationship from that point on.

Rika Furude
After Satoshi's disappearance, Satoko and Rika began living together, as they were both orphans. As a result, they have became best friends and are extremely close. The only time this is not so is in Saikoroshi-hen, where both Rika's and Satoko's parents are alive and well. Since they are not orphans, they live with their parents and do not have the same close bond, or seemingly any bond at all (however, this conflicts with information given in Tatarigoroshi-hen, when Satoko says Rika was her best friend even when both their parents were alive). Satoko treats Rika badly in Saikoroshi-hen, taunting her and once even stealing something Rika was reading and playing keep-away with her friends. Rika proceeds to beat up Satoko with a chair for how she abused her in that world. This event does not affect their relationship or even occur outside of Saikoroshi-hen.

Miyo Takano
Takano was Satoko's nurse at the Irie Clinic, where Satoko was treated for Hinamizawa Syndrome after being taken in by her uncle and aunt. Because she was treated quickly and with experimental medicine, Satoko survived her bout of the Syndrome but was required to have daily shots afterwards to prevent a relapse. Since this incident, Satoko maintained friendly relationships with those at the Clinic, Takano included, and Takano valued Satoko as an important test-subject in the development of Crazy Medicine, though in Minagoroshi-hen, Takano kills her without hesitation.

It is also interesting to note that a young Tanashi Miyoko looked very similar to the Satoko of June 1983.

Kyosuke Irie
Irie was Satoko's doctor at the Clinic, as well as something of a foster father. Irie cares deeply for Satoko, and he has jokingly voiced a desire to marry Satoko when she is old enough, but this is more an expression of his wish to save her from her uncle than a romantic attraction to her. This does not stop him from "admiring" Satoko in her various "punishment game" outfits, however.

Trivia

 * It is suggested that Satoko has extraordinary strength for someone her age, such as in Tatarigoroshi-hen when she shoved Keiichi twice across the room after he harmlessly pet her, and later pushed him off of a bridge.
 * Satoko has a difficult time to distinguishing broccoli from cauliflower, due to her color blindness (this can be passed onto females, although very rare), and Satoshi has the same problem. It is also worth noting that in Minagoroshi-hen, Takano asks Satoko which is green, broccoli or cauliflower. Satoko unsteadily answers broccoli, and Takano replies "Correct!" before shooting her to death.
 * In the anime-only arc Yakusamashi-hen, it is shown that Satoko can detect sounds like a cat. She was able to hear a member of the Yamainu's leg graze a trap she set in the middle of the night.