This is a Character Sheet for Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water.
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Main Characters
Yuri Kozukata
Voiced By: Risa Taneda (Japanese), Tressa Brooks (English)
Japanese: 不来方夕莉 Kozukata Yūri
Yuri lost her family in a car accident and gained the ability to see and interact with ghosts. However, constantly being haunted by them began to take its toll on her and Yuri tried to commit suicide. Fortunately, Hisoka Kurosawa stopped her and gave her a new home and job. When Hisoka disappears on a missing person's case, Yuri heads to Mt. Hikami in order to find her.
- Apocalyptic Log: Yuri's Notes.
- Bath Tub Scene: Yuri's Shower of Awkward starts with this and gets creepier before flinging herself awake and realizing it's All Just a Dream.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: It's mentioned that Yuri is 'incapable of ignoring requests or people in trouble'.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Orange, a prominent color on her default attire.
- Damsel in Distress: Being the protagonist doesn't exempt her from needing rescue. While searching for Hisoka, Yuri was influenced by the power of Mt. Hikami, and Miu had to save her from a Psychic-Assisted Suicide.
- Driven to Suicide: She attempted suicide by jumping off a cliff in the past, but Hisoka prevented her from going through with it. In Yuri's Bad Ending, she repeats the previous attempt and succeeds, sinking with Ose.
- Finishing Move: She ends the final battle with Ose with a Glance. Where she Glances her determines the ending you get (Glancing Ose underwater will result in the Bad Ending, while Glancing her above the water will result in the Good Ending).
- Madness Mantra: "I'm not sick anymore... I'm not sick anymore..." As indicated in a flashback, Yuri said this in an attempt to cope with her newly-acquired sixth sense and all the spiritual presence she found herself bombarded with, before she was Driven to Suicide that Hisoka prevented in time.
- Positive Friend Influence: Though her relationship with Miu is initially strained, Yuri eventually becomes friends with her, bonding over their similarities, and Miu becomes less cold as a result. She even ends up forgiving her mother for leaving her as a child.
- Psychic Powers: Yuri has been tormented by her powers until she met Hisoka, who began to teach her how to control them.
- Psychometry: She can perform 'Shadow Reading', which allows her to 'glance' at a ghost's past and see how they died.
- Series Mascot: Seems to have become this for the Nintendo era of Fatal Frame, as she inspired a costume in Nights of Azure 2: Bride of the New Moon on Switch, as well as becoming an Assist Trophy in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
- Sole Survivor: Of a car accident that killed her family.
- Sympathy for the Devil: In both of Yuri's endings, her sympathy for Ose and the pain she experienced are enough to calm her and lift the curse off of Mt. Hikami.
- Talking Down the Suicidal: Hisoka did this to her after successfully stopping her from jumping off a cliff in the past.
- Together in Death: In her Bad Ending, she ends up this way with Ouse Kurosawa.
- Virgin Sacrifice: The Tadasume and Matchmaker attempt to make her one.
- When She Smiles: In the Good Ending, she sports a gentle smile as Hisoka calls out to her.
- You Are Not Alone: Yuri says these words to Ose Kurosawa in her Bad Ending. Said character also says it to Yuri, moments earlier.
Ren Hojo
Voiced By: Tatsuhisa Suzuki (Japanese), Joseph May (English)
Japanese: 放生蓮 Hojo Ren
After learning of a custom of post-mortem pictures, Ren asks Hisoka to find such a book. Seeing that one of those pictures includes a little, white-haired girl that he has been dreaming about for some time, Ren heads to Mt. Hikami to find out what's going on.
- Badass Bookworm: He's a writer and the only protagonist that doesn't get spirited away by ghosts at some point. Ren also joins Kei Amakura as a playable, male character to have survived the game. Unlike Kei, though, Ren's survival is assured.
- Cannot Talk to Women: Ren is very uneasy when interacting with women, often unable to look them into their eyes while talking to them. The only exception to this is Rui.
- Can't Catch Up: Averted. Unlike Kei, Ren's sixth sense is as strong as Yuri and Miu's, owing to his shared bloodline with Kunihiko Asou himself.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Black.
- Identical Grandson: Ren looks practically identical to Kunihiko Asou.
- Meaningful Name: The characters of his surname, "放生", mean "to release alive". He survives through the events of the game, regardless of which of the Multiple Endings he gets.
- Men Can't Keep House: Ren is known to be a little disorganized sometimes, which is why Rui helps him out with housekeeping.
- Psychic Powers: As part of the Asou family, Ren has inherited a sixth sense.
- Psychometry: He also has the ability to view a ghost's past, like Yuri and Miu.
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome: He's tall, has black hair, and is handsome enough to have an Unwanted Harem.
- Unwanted Harem: Ren finds himself desired by several women, both living and deceased. A vision at the House of Joining even includes all of the game's female characters dressed as brides and waiting for him.
Miu Hinasaki
Voiced By: Maaya Uchida (Japanese), Kelly Burke (English)
Japanese: 雛咲深羽 Hinasaki Miu
The third protagonist of Fatal Frame V, who is desperately searching for her mother, Miku Hinasaki, who left when she was a young child. She was raised by a friend of Miku's. Miu never really knew the love of a parent and feels empty.
Miu heads to Mt. Hikami, certain to have sensed her mother's presence.
- All for Nothing: In her bad ending, Miu has to watch her mother disappear after spending the whole game looking for her.
- All There in the Manual: The released guidebook reveals that Mafuyu Hinasaki is her father, as was heavily implied in the game itself.
- A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read: Being able to see the deceit and secrets in people's hearts has made her disgusted with them, and she prefers to isolate herself as a result.
- Apocalyptic Log: Miu's Note.
- Broken Bird: Miku's abandonment of her, coupled with her isolation thanks to the awful things she's read within people, have left her regarding herself as an Empty Shell.
- Brother–Sister Incest: What she is the result of.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Maroon.
- Damsel in Distress: In the prologue, Miu is attacked by the Pale Mistress and stuffed into a reliquary. Yuri rescues her in the Sixth Drop.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Due to her Psychic Powers, Miu became disgusted with humans because she was able to read their darkest thoughts. When Yuri rescues her, Miu is angered by her attempt to read her thoughts. After spending more time with Yuri, in addition to being able to rescue her mother, Miu begins to soften up, fearing for Yuri's safety when she goes to the Shrine on the Water.
- Disability Superpower: Her feelings of emptiness make her an excellent actress, allowing her to slip flawlessly into any role.
- Empty Shell: The one thing that truly stirs her emotions is being reminded of her mother in some way. Yuri's similarities to Miku catch her attention.
- Fanservice Model: Her profession as a Gravure Idol.
- Half-Human Hybrid: As a Shadowborn, she is the daughter of a human mother and a ghost father.
- I See Dead People: A power she inherited from her parents.
- Ms. Fanservice: A flashback shows Miu modelling in a revealing, white bikini and scarf. note
- Parental Abandonment: Her mother disappeared when she was three years old.
- Psychic Powers: Inherited powers from her bloodline.
- Psychometry: Like Yuri and Ren, she can see a ghost's past.
- Short Teens, Tall Adults: Despite being in her late teens, Miu is pretty short. Even next to her mother, who was the shortest of the protagonists.
- Telepathy: She can read people's minds and emotions.
- Virgin Sacrifice: She was placed inside a black box, prepared to become a Pillar, before Yuri found her.
- What the Hell, Hero?: When Yuri first rescues Miu, she uses the Glance on her, pissing Miu off enough to Glance her back, warning her to never do that again.
Supporting Characters
Hisoka Kurosawa
Voiced By: Atsuko Tanaka (Japanese), Elena Saurel (English)
Japanese: 黒澤密花 Kurosawa Hisoka
Hisoka is the owner of Kurosawa Antiques and Yuri's employer. While running the store, she also does minor fortune-telling or missing persons requests. Hisoka vanishes on Mt. Hikami while looking for Haruka Momose and Yuri heads off to find her.
- Ambiguously Related: The Kurosawa name is a recurring one in the series, with the most notable example being Rei, protagonist of the third game. Considering this franchise's fondness for complex family trees, Hisoka's family name is likely not a coincidence, but her connection to the other Kurosawas is unclear.
- Apocalyptic Log: Hisoka's entries are titled Hisoka's Journal and Missing Person Files.
- Continuity Nod: She's stated to be related to Rei Kurosawa from the third game, though how they are related is unknown.
- Hope Bringer: Hisoka is the one who stopped Yuri from committing suicide, and after taking her under her care, Hisoka was able to show Yuri the value of her life.
- I Let Gwen Stacy Die: She is tormented by the suicide of Akari Narumi, and it is because of this that she has vowed to never let someone die on her watch again. She can end up suffering this again if Yuri's bad ending is attained, where the latter ends up killing herself alongside Ouse.
- Ironic Echo: When she prevented Yuri's suicide attempt, she told her that she is not alone. When Yuri tries to bring Hisoka back from Mt. Hikami and the latter refuses, Yuri tells her those same words.
- Mentor Occupational Hazard: She goes missing early in the game. Inverted, as Hisoka always survives.
- My Greatest Failure: Was hired to find a girl named Akari Narumi. When she finally found her, Akari had already thrown herself off a cliff to her death. Hisoka feels like she failed her client, and the girl, and wonders if her search for Akari drove her to suicide.
- Only Mostly Dead: During the Twelfth Drop, Yuri finally finds Hisoka in a black box, but before they can escape, she manifests as the hostile ghost Boxed Hisoka. However, after defeating her, she turns back to normal.
- Psychic Powers: She makes a living using hers to help others find items or missing people.
- Psychometry: She calls it "Shadow Reading" and teaches Yuri how to do it.
- Take Me Instead: Hisoka willingly entered a black box to protect Yuri from being turned into a Pillar.
- Virgin Sacrifice: Yuri finds her in a black box in a shrine far off the lake. Thankfully, Yuri gets to her in time, and Hisoka survives.
Rui Kagamiya
Voiced By: Maaya Sakamoto (Japanese), Jennifer Thompson (English)
Japanese: 鏡宮累 Kagamiya Rui
Rui is Ren's 17-year-old assistant who helps him stay organized. When Ren becomes invested in exploring Mt. Hikami, she joins him. Though exasperated by Ren sometimes, she soon finds herself falling in love with him, and, noticing the change in him, becomes worried about them becoming distant. Coupled with her vulnerability to ghosts, Rui is led into a black box by Haruka's ghost at the end of Eighth Drop, but is fortunately rescued by Ren before she is made into a Pillar.
- Ambiguous Gender: In the Japanese version, Rui's gender isn't confirmed in-game (although Rui is most commonly a feminine name).
Word of God mentioned that not even the staff agreed and personally suggested that she is female
, yet also fully supported of Rui being interpreted as either gender. - Apocalyptic Log: Rui's entries are titled Rui's Journal.
- Bifauxnen: Shiragiku asks if Rui is a boy or a girl when she first sees her.
- Cannot Spit It Out: After Ren saves Rui in the Veiled House, she stops short of giving him a Love Confession in the Womb Cavern.
- Damsel in Distress: She's repeatedly taken away by the spirits and Ren needs to rescue her.
- In the Third Drop, Hanging Woman, one of the bosses influences Rui to hang herself. Ren has to stop her to prevent Rui from doing so.
- In the Fifth Drop, Shiragiku hides Rui away in the Shrine of Dolls and forces Ren to find her.
- In the Eighth Drop, Haruka's ghost leads Rui to Mt. Hikami, where she climbs into a black box at the Watarai Residence to be made into a Pillar. Ren goes to Mt. Hikami in the Tenth Drop to save her.
- In the Thirteenth Drop, she, along with everyone else in the shop, falls asleep, and Ren has to protect them all from ghosts.
- Driven to Suicide: During the Third Drop, while she and Ren investigate an abandoned inn on Mt. Hikami, a ghost influences her to hang herself. Thankfully, Ren saves her before it happens.
- Flat Character: She has no character development or focus.
- Green-Eyed Epiphany: During the Eighth Drop, Rui's Journal 4, which Ren picks up during a vision where she mindlessly enters a black box in the Watarai Residence, mentions that she feels worried that she's losing her spot as being the person Ren is the most comfortable with after noticing that he begins to show interest in Ouse. Once you save her for real in the Tenth Drop, it's practically certain that she's realized that she loves him, especially with the ending shot of the chapter.
- The Load: Rui follows Ren around during the Third Drop, the Fifth Drop, and at the end of the Tenth Drop. She won't take any damage from ghosts, but she can get in the way of your shots. Also, in the Third Drop, the reason why you have to fight Hanging Woman is because she has taken control of Rui and is forcing her to hang herself.
- Please, Don't Leave Me: During the Thirteenth Drop, Rui begs Ren not to leave her in her sleep. If you get Yuri's good ending, there's an extra post-credits scene where Rui wakes up and is alarmed when Ren tries to get up, only for Ren to assure her that he's not going anywhere.
- Satellite Love Interest: There's very little information about Rui and her whole purpose is to be a Damsel in Distress for Ren. The only things the game reveals about her is that she's Ren's assistant and she falls in love with him.
- She's a Man in Japan: To an extent, as Rui is never stated to be male or female in Japan, but the English translation opted for female.
- Subordinate Excuse: She clearly has feelings for Ren, but she doesn't realize it until later on in the game.
- Virgin Sacrifice: During the Eighth Drop, after fending off ghosts away from Yuri and Miu, Rui disappears in the middle of the fiasco, having been led by Haruka's ghost back to Mt. Hikami, where she personally crawls into a black box at the Watarai Residence. Ren saves her in the Tenth Drop before she is fully made into a Pillar.
Dr. Kunihiko Asou
Voiced by: Tatsuhisa Suzuki
Japanese: 麻生邦彦 / 麻生博士 Asou Kunihiko / Asou Hakase
The key character to the Fatal Frame series. Asou was a brilliant occult philosopher and scientist, with primary fields of interest in Japanese folklore and the spirit world, in the second half of the 19th century.
Asou took the latest Western technologies and introduced them to Japan, modifying them in an attempt to create devices that could capture supernatural phenomena, such as the Camera Obscura and similar.
- Artifact of Doom: He created several of them, leaving them to his descendants or fellow researchers.
- Ascended Extra: While he was mentioned continuously throughout the previous four Fatal Frame games, he finally appeared as a major character in the fifth one.
- Famous Ancestor: He is one to Mio and Mayu Amakura, Yuu, Misaki Asou, and Ren Hojou.
- Growing Up Sucks: Following his spirit at Mt. Hikami, Kunihiko can be heard lamenting how he fully believed in a world that was beyond the natural and was filled with things that couldn't easily be seen, but stopped believing in it as he grew up. But since he devoted his life to researching the supernatural, he obtained his old view of the world again.
- Love at First Sight: With Ouse Kurosawa.
- Posthumous Character: He died long before any of the games in the series, though Ren will see visions of him in the Last Drop.
- Reluctant Mad Scientist: He never intended to hurt anyone, but most of his inventions are dangerous or even cursed.
- Renaissance Man: Asou was a brilliant inventor, skilled photographer and a gifted researcher that published numerous papers on his various works.
- Seeker Archetype: He devoted his life to exploring the supernatural, travelling across Japan and studying it, creating numerous devices as a result.
- Spell My Name With An S: Asou or Aso. Some of the earlier games spelled him as Asou, while the English translation of the fifth game picked Aso.
Fuyuhi Himino
Voiced By: Asaka Imai (Japanese), Katie Beudert (English)
Japanese: 氷見野冬陽 Himino Fuyuhi
Fuyuhi recently hired Hisoka to find her missing friend, Haruka. Since Hisoka disappears herself and Fuyuhi is worried about Haruka, she heads to Mt. Hikami on her own to look for her. Fortunately, Yuri finds her in the Unfathomable Forest on Mt. Hikami and attempts to take her home, but after the two get separated, Fuyuhi commits suicide under the influence of a hostile spirit. She later appears as the hostile ghost, Fuyuhi with Cut Throat, and later lures Haruka (Fourth Drop) and Yuri (Eighth Drop) to Mt. Hikami.
- Accent Upon The Wrong Syllable: Her name is pronounced "FU-yuhi", but the English dub mispronounces it as "Fu-YU-hi."
- Apocalyptic Log: Fuyuhi's entries are titled Fuyuhi's Letter.
- Bungled Suicide: She and Haruka were part of a suicide pact with other girls and tried to drown themselves, but Fuyuhi and Haruka failed to die.
- Death Song: Fuyuhi sings her and Haruka's kindergarten graduation song as she wanders off into the forest, and she continues to sing as she slices her throat. The song can also be heard while fighting her ghost.
- Disposable Woman: The only purpose of Fuyuhi's death, narrative-wise, is to show what happens to people who wander Mt. Hikami without the help of a Camera Obscura and cannot resist a spirit's influence.
- Driven to Suicide: When she gets separated from Yuri at Mt. Hikami, Fuyuhi is forced to replicate a ghost's suicide when she finds her tantou. This time, she succeeds.
- Dual Boss: You can fight her and Haruka together in the Last Drop.
- Ethereal White Dress: Fuyuhi wears a simple, white dress, and appears as a ghost.
- Evil Weapon: Fuyuhi finds a tantou in the lake, and when she picks it up, a ghost takes control of it and forces her to kill herself. When Fuyuhi appears as a hostile ghost, she is seen holding the tantou and sometimes tries to stab you with it. If she takes enough damage, eventually the tantou disappears.
- Ghost Reunion Ending: According to the guidebook, Fuyuhi and Haruka are two of the shadowy figures seen standing before the Dark Sun in Miu's ending, implying that they reunited in the afterlife.
- High-Pressure Blood: When Fuyuhi slits her throat, it's represented by showing a wave of blood splattering onto her shoes.
- Hope Spot: Yuri is able to catch up with Fuyuhi in the Unfathomable Forest, but the two end up getting separated. While Yuri does find Fuyuhi again, it's only seconds before she cuts her throat.
- Killed Off for Real: Fuyuhi dies at the end of Second Drop.
- Last-Name Basis: Yuri calls her as "Ms. Himino" in the Japanese version, but the English version had her call her by her first name.
- Pseudo-Romantic Friendship: Fuyuhi has an intense connection to Haruka. They were already friends from school, but their Bungled Suicide brought them closer, and when Haruka disappears, she is desperate to bring her back. As a ghost, Fuyuhi is sometimes heard singing her kindergarten graduation song and is also the one who lures Haruka back to Mt. Hikami to her inevitable death. If you defeat her, she moans Haruka's name.
- Psychic-Assisted Suicide: Through Yuri's Glance, she finds out that a hostile spirit had taken control of the tantou Fuyuhi was holding, who in turn forced her to kill herself.
- Recurring Element: She, alongside Haruka, serves as the most recent victim of the game's curse, forcing you to fight her as a ghost.
- Slashed Throat: Fuyuhi dies by slitting her own throat.
- Suicide Pact: Fuyuhi planned to commit suicide with Haruka and three other friends. They walked into a lake to drown themselves in, but she and Haruka survived.
- Survivor's Guilt: She feels guilty over having failed her previous suicide attempt.
- Trailers Always Spoil: The first Japanese teaser trailer basically revealed the whole plot of Second Drop, from Fuyuhi's introduction down to her eventual death.
Haruka Momose
Voiced By: Haruka Tomatsu
Japanese: 百々瀬春河 Momose Haruka
Haruka is a friend of Fuyuhi's who went missing at Mt. Hikami recently, causing Fuyuhi to ask Hisoka to find her. Yuri tracks Haruka down and manages to bring her back down the mountain. Unfortunately, at the end of the Fourth Drop, Haruka is lured back to Mt. Hikami by Fuyuhi's ghost and dies for real, appearing as the hostile ghost Boxed Haruka.
- Accent Upon The Wrong Syllable: Her name is pronounced "HA-ruka", but the English dub mispronounces it as "Ha-RU-ka."
- Apocalyptic Log: Haruka's entries are titled Haruka's Notes and Drenched Note.
- Bait-and-Switch: Haruka appears during the Eighth Drop and one of the cameras catches her staring at Miu's sleeping body. However, nothing happens to her. The person she ends up targeting is Rui.
- Big "NO!": Her last words are her screaming, "No!" as black water fills the black box she's trapped in.
- Bungled Suicide: Like Fuyuhi, she, too, survived the drowning attempt made between her friends.
- Damsel in Distress: Haruka goes missing at Mt. Hikami and has to be rescued. Shortly after Yuri rescues her, Haruka returns to the mountain and is Killed Off for Real.
- Driven to Suicide: When Haruka was younger, she, Fuyuhi, and three other friends made a Suicide Pact and tried to drown themselves at Mt. Hikami. However, only she and Fuyuhi survived. After saving her in Fourth Drop, she returns to Mt. Hikami and dies for real. During the Eighth Drop, when her ghost begins attacking Kurosawa Antiques, she first leaves her suicide note (Drenched Note) in the Storeroom, where she states that she wants to die with everyone before the "end is near."
- Dual Boss: With Fuyuhi in the Last Drop.
- Dying Alone: After being compelled to climb into a reliquary by the supernatural power of the mountain, Haruka comes to her senses, but it is too late; she desperately tries to free herself, but she is stuck in the box, and she dies all alone, despite having originally planned a group suicide with her friends.
- Extreme Doormat: She is described as having trouble refusing anyone.
- Ghost Reunion Ending: See Fuyuhi's entry above.
- Killed Off for Real: Right after Yuri brings her to Kurosawa Antiques, she finds her missing. Upon checking the surveillance camera, she realizes that Haruka has been beckoned by Fuyuhi's ghost to go to Mt. Hikami, and she is nowhere to be seen again. Her subsequent appearance after that is during the Fifth Drop, where she is awakened from her black box as a hostile ghost and has an underwater form, signifying that she has officially become a Pillar.
- Mysterious Veil: Haruka's ghost wears a veil, a sign that she has now fully become a Pillar.
- Pseudo-Romantic Friendship: Fuyuhi is Haruka's best friend and they are close to one another. After Yuri rescues her, she immediately asks about her. As a ghost, she is sometimes heard singing their kindergarten graduation song and whispers Fuyuhi's name when she is defeated.
- Psychic Powers: Haruka possesses a sixth sense that leaves her vulnerable to manipulation by spirits, which is how she succumbs to the influence of Mt. Hikami and returns there, falling to her demise.
- Shoot the Shaggy Dog: When you first meet her as Yuri, you get to see a vision of her climbing Mt. Hikami, entering the Womb Cavern, and personally climbing into a black box herself before she finally gains consciousness just in time to see her drown. Yes, you save her from that fate, but she dies anyway through the same means when the mountain calls her back again.
- Suicide Pact: When she was young, she took part in an attempt to drown herself with her friends, but she and Fuyuhi survived.
- Survivor's Guilt: Haruka feels guilty over having survived the previous attempt.
- Virgin Sacrifice: She was placed into a black box and was supposed to become a Pillar, but Yuri managed to save her. Haruka ultimately becomes one after all when she goes back to the mountain.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Haruka doesn't have a lot of screentime before she dies and is, overall, mostly defined by her friendship with Fuyuhi.
- Wham Shot: As Ren, you're looking through the cameras... and suddenly you see Haruka seemingly alive and well in the Storeroom as though she's never left. It doesn't take long to realize something's wrong, especially since she's dead at that point in the story.
Kazuya Sakaki
Japanese: 榊一哉 Sakaki Kazuya
Kazuya is Ren's friend. He goes missing at Mt. Hikami, but he phones Ren about "getting married." When Ren enters the Watarai Residence again and learns about Ghost Marriages, he learns that Kazuya had been ushered into one and had died when it failed. He reappears as the hostile ghost Boxed Sakaki.
- Ankle Drag: One of his spirit photographs is called "Dragged Man", where you can see him being dragged down the hallway.
- Apocalyptic Log: Kazuya's entries are found in Sakaki's Notes.
- Body Horror: His neck and limbs are broken, causing his ghost to flail and stumble around. You can even hear his joints cracking when he appears.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Upon Ose's rejection, his body was broken and shoved into a black box.
- Dies Wide Open: After his body is contorted, the last you see before he is put into a reliquary is his shocked, open-eyed face.
- Evil Phone: During the Thirteenth Drop, checking the surveillance camera will reveal Kazuya's ghost next to the phone, which begins ringing. It's a literal Call-Back to when he first calls Ren in the Fifth Drop.
- Love at First Sight: He falls in love with Ose upon seeing her photograph and is obsessed with meeting her. However, as the wedding draws near, he begins to regret his decision and realizes he's not the one who Ose wants.
Ghosts
Ose Kurosawa
Voiced By: Houko Kuwashima (Japanese)
Japanese: 黒澤逢世 Kurosawa Ōse
The main antagonist of Fatal Frame V.
After losing her family to a flood, she gained a strong sixth sense. Eventually, she was chosen to be a Great Pillar for the Black Lake, in order to appease the Shadowspring at Mt. Hikami.
However, at the time of her ritual, she saw visions of her fellow shrine maidens being slaughtered and their final moments, along with her own desire to live alongside Asou instead of dying with him, weakened her resolve. Her black box opened, the ritual failed, and the Black Water was released, leaving Ouse to keep falling within the Lake and becoming a vengeful spirit.
- Ambiguously Related: Even moreso than Hisoka. It was stated in one of the in-game documents that Ose originally didn't have a family name, and she only gained the name after becoming an important figure on Mt. Hikami. Given that she was a Virgin Sacrifice, along with the fact that she never got to be with her love interest Dr. Asou, it's unlikely that she had any children. Is the Kurosawa name a coincidence, and she has no relation to the other Kurosawas? Did her family back home adopt the name after she earned it? The answer is unknown.
- Apocalyptic Log: Water-Patterned Journal.
- Body Horror: The curse has left her looking like a drowned woman with blueish skin, disheveled hair, and red eyes.
- Death Seeker: Inverted. Ose secretly desired to live with Asou, and not die with him, which was one of the reasons her ritual failed.
- Dying Alone: In Yuri's Good Ending, Ose accepts it because Yuri sympathized with her pain and suffering. Ose manages to fulfill her duty and seal away the Black Water again.
- Escape Sequence: She is responsible for two of these sequences while Yuri and Miu are together, with the first having you play as the former and the second as the latter. Ose is incapable of being harmed with the Camera Obscura in these encounters, and she will also instantly kill you if she touches you (assuming you don't have any Mirrorstones). Your only option is to retreat.
- Ethereal White Dress: In the past, her attire as a shrine maiden. She reverts to this form in Yuri's Good Ending.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Even in her Cursed state, she shows Ren kindness and never attempts to harm him.
- Flunky Boss: During her actual battle.
- When fought underwater, she summons 5-6 Guardians around her, who disperse and attack separately if not defeated quickly. Fortunately, said Guardians go down in one hit or two.
- When fought above the water surface, she summons some Mook(s) you've encountered earlier in the story. And Guardian(s), if summoned, emerge out of the water to grab you by the ankle before disappearing.
- Heel–Face Turn: In the "Bride of Black Water" ending, she is freed from the curse as Yuri embraces her and she fully accepts her death.
- Hopeless Boss Fight: You have to escape when encountering her for the first and second time.
- Love at First Sight: With Kunihiko Asou.
- Love Hurts: Her feelings for Kunihiko Asou were so strong that they frightened her and it hurt when he left the mountain. She describes those feelings as being a curse on her. In one of Ren's endings, his taking a picture of her makes Ose think that he has rejected her a second time.
- One-Hit Kill: Played straight, if Ose manages to touch the player when she is chasing them. Averted during her actual battle.
- Psychic Powers: Had them as a shrine maiden, using them to ease the suffering of those committing suicide.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: If you can actually see her red eyes, she's probably close enough to kill you.
- Schmuck Bait: Downplayed. Once you damage her enough, you get the opportunity to Glance her right there. However, doing so immediately leads you to the Bad Ending, which means you must fight her a second time if you want the Good Ending.
- Spell My Name With An S: Whereas the PlayStation 2 era games used the JSL romanization, this game uses the Hepburn romanization and spells her name as "Ose." The fandom tends to use the JSL romanization, "Ouse", instead.
- Together in Death: Ose's spirit is repeatedly heard calling out for someone to die with her, to ease her suffering as a pillar. In Yuri's Bad Ending, she and Yuri jump off the cliff, appeasing each other's loneliness.
- Virgin Sacrifice: She was chosen to become a Great Pillar. However, her ritual failed and caused the Black Water to overflow and curse the mountain.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: She wanders the mountain, desperate to ease her loneliness and pain... but ultimately killing almost everyone she encounters.
Shiragiku
Voiced By: Natsumi Takamori (Japanese), Sarah Pitard (English)
Japanese: 白菊 Shiragiku
Shiragiku is a white-haired girl that appears around the Doll Shrine and likes to 'play' with visitors. She seems to have some form of connection to Kunihiko Asou in his childhood.
- Apocalyptic Log: Shiragiku's Notebooks.
- Childhood Marriage Promise: Before her ritual, she gave Asou a braid of her hair as a form of promise to come back and become her Yuukon partner. He agreed, but her death traumatized him so badly that he repressed his memories of her.
- Creepy Child: Turns into this as a ghost.
- Creepy Doll: She summons these when battling you.
- Doppelgänger Attack: She can make her summoned Dolls to look exactly like her, and they can simultaneously run towards the player character.
- Emotionless Girl: She doesn't show very strong emotions.
- Flower Motifs: Her kimono is adorned with a higanbana design.
- Flunky Boss: She summons Dolls to assist her in her battles.
- Forgotten Childhood Friend: Of Kunihiko Asou's.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: In both of her endings, she realizes that she doesn't want Asou to be burdened with the same fate as hers and sends Ren, thinking he is Asou, away to live his life.
- I Will Wait for You: She has been waiting for Asou all this time.
- Mystical White Hair: Caused by her albinism, but is seen as a sign of her strong, spiritual powers.
- Unperson: She was told that she was not really alive or a real person, until she turned 7 years old. At which time, she was going to be turned into a pillar.
- Virgin Sacrifice: She was turned into a pillar at a young age.
Keiji Watarai
Japanese: 渡会啓示 Watarai Keiji
Watarai is a half-Japanese folklorist from England. He eventually moved to a house on Mt. Hikami. After his sudden disappearance and death, his house became a legend in the village and is said to appear and disappear with the fog. He appears as the hostile ghost Boxed Man.
- Apocalyptic Log: Watarai's entries are found in the Folklorist's Notes.
- Body Horror: His neck and limbs are broken, and his joints crack with movement.
- But Not Too Foreign: He is Japanese and English, but with a fully Japanese name.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: As one of Ose's failed suitors, his body was broken and twisted to fit into a black box.
- Curiosity Killed the Cast: His interest in Mt. Hikami's rituals eventually led to his death.
- Love at First Sight: Upon seeing Ose Kurosawa's photograph, he fell in love with her beauty.
- Not Even Bothering with the Accent: One would expect in the English dub for him to have a relatively English accent. Unfortunately, he does not.
Kyozo Kururugi
Japanese: 枢木恭蔵 Kururugi Kyozō
Kyozo once went to Mt. Hikami in order to end his life, but he panicked when one of the shrine maiden's gaze seemed to look into his soul. He fled in fear, but became enraged of her trying to see his secrets and returned to the mountain, killing every shrine maiden.
After killing the shrine maidens, he committed suicide.
- Alliterative Name: Kyozo Kururugi.
- Apocalyptic Log: Bloody Notes.
- Asshole Victim: With his actions, he is easily among the least sympathetic of the victims of Mt. Hikami.
- Ax-Crazy: After reciprocating the shrine maiden's gaze, he went insane and killed every shrine maiden on the mountain. His spirit continues to kill anyone he encounters.
- He Knows Too Much: His motivation for massacreing every shrine maiden he encountered on his return visit to the mountain was due to one of them having seemingly discovered his past secrets while gazing at him during his initial visit.
- Jerkass: Kyozo was not a nice person, who indirectly caused his sister's death with what he did to her lover, and eventually went on a horrific murder spree entirely out of paranoia of having his secrets revealed.
- Murder-Suicide: He rampaged in a murderous spree on all the shrine maidens and the Flamekeepers he encountered on the mountain before killing himself.
- Self-Immolation:
- When defeated, he sets himself on fire and charges at the player. A well-timed shot can put the flames out and allow the player to Glance at him.
- Performing Fatal Glance on him shows that he immolated himself before cutting his own throat.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: He killed his sister's lover with the intent to "protect" her, only for her to be so traumatized by it that she was Driven to Suicide.
- Slashed Throat: How he eventually killed himself.
- Tattooed Crook: He covered himself in spells before heading up the mountain.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Kyozo didn't know that killing the shrine maidens was one of the factors that caused Ose's ritual to fail, resulting in Mt. Hikami being cursed. The fact that he killed the Flamekeepers that were keeping the holy fire aflame which might at least have slowed down or locally restricted the curse certainly didn't help either.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: What he thought himself to be, when he killed his sister's lover in order to "protect" her.
Shino Kururugi
Japanese: 枢木志乃 Kururugi Shino
Sister of Kyozo Kururugi, she was in love with a man, but Kyozo killed the man in question. Traumatized by this incident, she went to Mt. Hikami to kill herself and succeeded in doing so. When the Black Water corrupted Mt. Hikami, she was among the hostile spirits roaming about in the mountain.
- Driven to Suicide:
- When she was alive, Kyozo killing her lover caused her to go to Mt. Hikami to commit suicide, and she did so via self-hanging.
- As a hostile spirit, she forces living people she encounters to die in the same fashion she did, successfully with Tomoki Harakawa the inn owner and attempted on Rui (but failed due to Ren's efforts).
- Hanging Around: How she offed herself. Her hostile spirit still has the noose around her neck.
Shizuku Mikomori
Japanese: 水籠雫 Mikomori Shizuku
A descendant of the shrine maidens who carries an umbrella. She was killed after leaving her umbrella by the river, when the wind blew the umbrella into her and stabbed her through the eye. Shizuku is the only ghost in the Ghost List that never tries to attack you.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: She was killed by an umbrella when it got picked up by the wind.
- Cute Ghost Girl: Her lack of hostility helps reinforce her cuteness compared to some of the other ghosts.
- Death by Irony: She was killed by her own umbrella, which she placed by the river to honor her ancestors.
- Dies Wide Open: Her eyes are shown to be open after being killed.
- Harmless Enemy: Although she is usually encountered as a Specter, she appears once as a "fightable" enemy during your first visit to Hikami Tunnel; however, she doesn't even try to attack, and you can't obtain her Glance until the Last Drop.
- Psychic Powers: Implied. Shizuku states in her Fatal Glance that the spirits of the mountain come out when it rains, and as a descendant of the shrine maidens, she should be able to look into the souls of others as well, which would explain how she knew about the spirits.
- Quieting the Unquiet Dead: She would visit Mt. Hikami to offer prayers for the restless souls of the dead.
- Surprisingly Sudden Death: Shizuku was unexpectedly killed by her umbrella. She just barely had enough time to turn to face it after hearing something being blown towards her.
- Undignified Death: When compared to people who died by hanging, falling off a cliff, or getting run over by a car, being killed by an umbrella in the wind easily makes for one of the most humiliating deaths in the game.
Shrine Maidens
Emi, Inori and Honoka Mikomori
Japanese: 水籠笑彌 / 水籠祈 / 水籠仄火 Mikomori Emi / Mikomori Inori / Mikomori Honoka
Inori (left), Honoka (top right), and Emi (bottom right)
A group of shrine maidens that lived on Mt. Hikami. Their duty was to use their powers to allow people to commit suicide without any of their past burdens and see all of their selves.
They were all slaughtered by Kururugi and their spirits now coax people to their deaths.
- Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Played straight for a long time, their ghost forms are unblemished and beautiful. Subverted in the final chapter, when they show the injuries and mutilation that Kururugi caused them.
- Driven to Suicide: In life, they used their powers to comfort people before they committed suicide. As cursed spirits, they simply drive them to suicide.
- Eye Scream: Kururugi slashed Inori and Emi's eyes out after killing them.
- He Knows Too Much: Lampshaded when confronting Yuri for the first time near the end of the Second Drop.You have seen too much. You cannot leave this mountain.
- In the Back: This was how Honoka was killed.
- Miko: All of them are devoted to the shrine's faith.
- Plot-Triggering Death: Their deaths are part of what caused Ose's ritual to fail.
- Psychic Powers: They used their powers to observe the thoughts and secrets of people, before they committed suicide.
- Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: All of them were classical Japanese beauties in life.
- Virgin Sacrifice: If they had lived long enough to use up their powers, they would have been turned into Pillars themselves.
Marriage and Funeral Celebrant
Japanese: 結女 / 匡女 Yume / Tadasume
Marriage and Funeral
A pair of old high priestesses that oversaw the rituals at Mt. Hikami. One was in charge of performing the post-mortem marriages and the other oversaw the sinking of the boxes into the Shadowspring.
Their spirits continue to perform their duties, calling men to the mountain and marry them off to Ose or by summoning women to become new Pillars.
- Apocalyptic Log: Notebook with White Cover (Marriage Celebrant) and Notebook With Black Cover (Funeral Celebrant).
- Dual Boss: Their last battle is fought together in the penultimate area.
- Ethereal White Dress: The Marriage Celebrant is dressed in white robes.
- Hypnotize the Captive: Both use mirrors that disorient and manipulate women into entering the black boxes as sacrifices.
- The Matchmaker: The Marriage Celebrant, of course, who takes her duty very seriously. It is her job to find men to call to the mountain and perform a post-mortem marriage to the shrine maidens to be sacrificed. Any man that doesn't make the cut, especially for Ose, is killed.
- Mind-Control Device: The sacred Dark Sun mirrors they hold can hypnotize victims.
- Never Mess with Granny: Both are very old and some of the most powerful spirits.
- Playing with Fire: Both of them can use their Dark Sun Mirrors to summon ethereal fireballs that home in on the player when fighting them.
- Recurring Element: They serve as the game's ceremony masters who oversee the setting's main ritual.
- Virgin Sacrifice: Both of their duties involve performing these on women.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Their intentions are ultimately good, as the marriages can strengthen the Pillar and the sinking of the black box will ultimately purify the Black Lake. But how they get to that is... questionable.
Flamekeepers
A group of shrine priests who were in charge of keeping the sacred flame of Mt. Hikami alight as a deterrent against the Black Water curse should the Shadowspring ritual fail, they were entirely massacred in Kururugi's murder rampage during his return trip to the mountain.
- Faceless Goons: The veil that they wear as part of their uniform conceals their faces.
- Playing with Fire: They can launch ethereal fires that home in on the player with their staff.
- Recurring Element: They serve as this game's equivalent to the headless priests and the veiled priests, with them wielding a staff each and launching homing ethereal fires being similar to the veiled priests (and one of the headless priests) as well.
- Shoot the Medic First: More "touch" than "shoot". When battling two or three Flamekeepers at a time, upon defeating one, his teammate(s) may revive the downed one before he fades away, at which point the player can perform Fatal Glance on the Flamekeeper trying to attempt the revival to take him out with one touch.
- Warrior Monk: They're hostile spirits of Mt. Hikami shrine priests that the playable character must battle and defeat to proceed.
- Wolfpack Boss: The player fights three spirits of the Flamekeepers at a time late in the story.
Tall Woman
Japanese: 背の高い女 Senotakai On'na
"You'd better get used to me."
A very tall, incredibly terrifying, outright malevolent, and completely mysterious ghost woman who occasionally pops up to harass Yuri, Miu, and Ren. Based off the Japanese story of Hachishaku-sama, the Eight-Feet Tall Lady.
- Ax-Crazy: Why does she try to kill you? Is it because she is compelled by Mt. Hikami to continue the cycle of deaths in the mountain? Nope. She just wants you dead because she enjoys killing.
- Boss in Mook's Clothing: She can be this when you first encounter her, as she deals shocking amounts of damage.
- Evil Phone: Subverted. In the last drop, outside of Hikami Tunnel, you will hear the phone in the phone booth ringing in the distance. If you approach the booth, the Tall Woman will suddenly appear and attack you. After she appears, however, the phone stops ringing, and you cannot answer it.
- Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: There is absolutely ZERO backstory on this lady mentioned anywhere in the game.
- Humanoid Abomination: She looks human enough, but she's also a malevolent ghost that won't hesitate to attack and kill you if given the chance. The utter lack of information about her backstory doesn't help.
- Jerkass: She is a completely malevolent ghost, and from her quote above, she takes a sadistic pleasure in hunting the heroes down.
- Jump Scare: She pops up in one of Ren's security feeds when he's monitoring the girls, purely just to frighten him.
- Long-Range Fighter: Her ridiculous height lets her attack you from a distance with just her arms.
- Nightmare Face: If she kills you, you're treated to a close up shot of her creepy smiling face.
- Random Encounter: She can appear almost anywhere, albeit at a rare chance.
- Slasher Smile: Her perpetual expression is an incredibly unnerving grin.
- Statuesque Stunner: Averted. She is incredibly tall and wears a simple sundress, but her appearance is played up for horror.
- Youkai: It's quite possible she is Hachishaku-sama herself, a malevolent youkai.
Miscellaneous Ghosts
- Ambiguous Situation: Performing Fatal Glance on any of the ghosts of the children who played with Shiragiku in life shows a scene in which Shiragiku played with them, but the scene doesn't elaborate on how the children died. The lack of Body Horror signs on their bodies doesn't help to clear up the ambiguity, either.
- Body Horror: Those who were Driven to Suicide or died via Psychic-Assisted Suicide still display the injuries and mutilations at the time of their own death as hostile ghosts.
- Humanoid Abomination: Some of the ghosts, including the first one the player faces, appear to be male or female but are actually an amalgamation of personalities fused together. They also serve as The Goomba.
- Malevolent Masked Men: The Shadow-touched, the hostile box-carrier spirits.
- One-Hit Kill: The Slashed Throat attack from Kirika Reizen kills the playable character in the form of a Psychic-Assisted Suicide should it connect.note
- Recurring Element:
- Two female ghosts whose deaths in life occurred due to falling from high places, just like Broken Neck as well as Broken Neck Woman and Fallen Woman.
- A male ghost, as the result of a man being run over by his possessed car, serves as this game's version of a crawling specternote .
- The children who played with Shiragiku in life are this game's version of child ghosts.
- Wolfpack Boss:
- The spirits of the three children, who played tag with Shiragiku in life, are always together when confronted.
- The player also must fight five Guardians late in the game.
Others
Ayane
Voiced By: Wakana Yamazaki (Japanese), Janice Kawaye (English)
Ayane is a character from the Dead or Alive series, who can be unlocked as a playable character after completing the main story. She is searching for Tsugumi Katashina, who disappeared at Mount Hikami.
- A Day in the Limelight: The "Threads" are a side story played from Ayane's perspective.
- Badass Normal: Ironically, since Ayane has no proper way of fighting the spirits due to her martial arts not working on them and the lack of a Camera Obscura, she is forced to rely on her ninja training to sneak around and a flashlight to render them helpless for a short while.
- Crossover: She originates from the Dead or Alive series.
- Hypocrite: She's glad that Tsumugi doesn't hate her sister, despite spending much of her time hating her own. It's possible that Ayane sees a kindred spirit in Tsumugi and wants her to have better relations with her sister than Ayane's relations with Kasumi.
- In the Hood: Dons a black, short hoodie in her first chapter. Ditches it later, ostensibly to not obstruct the Shadow Sigil spell she needs to sense and see ghosts.
- Ms. Fanservice: As expected, her figure and clothing are rather sexy.
- The Paralyzer: What the Spirit Stone Flashlight halts spirits hit by it for a short time, but it can't banish them. Compare this with Choushiro Kirishima's flashlight in the fourth game, which actually can banish ghosts.
- Pet the Dog: She's very kind to Tsumugi, and goes out of her way to save her.
- Power Tattoo: The Shadow Sigil. After failing her first attempt at finding Tsumugi, Ayane gets this so she can actually see the ghosts that grabbed her previously.
- Sexy Backless Outfit: The corset that she wears, which gives a glimpse of the spell written across her back.
- Stealth-Based Mission: Her chapters are mostly composed of this. Ayane merely has a flashlight that can temporarily stun spirits, not destroy them.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: Pulls this on Tsumugi during a flashback cutscene.
Tsumugi Katashina
Voiced By: Natsumi Takamori (Japanese), Sarah Pitard (English)
Japanese: 片品紡 Katashina Tsumugi
A socially awkward girl, she had attempted suicide before heading to Mt. Hikami. She goes missing, which leads to Ayane being recruited to find her as part of a missing person's case.
- A Day in the Limelight: She's only seen in a photo in the actual game, but she becomes your designated Damsel in Distress in Ayane's side story.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Tried to commit suicide at least once, since she wasn't loved by her family. Her notes indicate a serious aversion of her mother.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Her disappearance at Mt. Hikami is what made Ayane go to the area and look for her.
