Follow TV Tropes

Following

Characters / Shinrai: Broken Beyond Despair

Go To

A list of characters in Shinrai: Broken Beyond Despair. Be warned; all spoilers are unmarked.

    open/close all folders 

Partygoers

    The group in general 

  • All Love Is Unrequited: As shown in Love Dodecahedron, no one's feelings for their loved one are returned- not even Momoko, who's in a relationship with Hiro.
  • Dysfunction Junction: Raiko was deeply affected by the loss of her sister. Hiro's father cheated on his mother and became the worst possible role model for his son. Momoko has severe trust issues as a result of her peers taking advantage of her.
  • First-Name Basis: Unusually for Japan, where Last-Name Basis is the norm apart from family and close friends, the members of the group generally use first names on each other, even the members who don't know or like each other very well. The only exceptions are Runa, who's so formal she uses last names and "-san" on everyone, even her best friend, and Kamen, who rudely calls Raiko "Shinpuku" until Raiko clears her name for the second time.
  • The Friends Who Never Hang: Since the group is composed of a couple of cliques, there are a few pairs of people who only know each other tangentially or through mutual friends. For example, Raiko has only recently gotten to know Momoko at the time of the murders, while Mika doesn't interact much with many people besides Raiko(the girl she's trying to scare) before befriending Kamen in the good ending.
  • Hidden Depths: Most of them represent various character archetypes, but have surprising levels of complexity.
  • Informed Ability: A lot of characters have talents that they never actually show off in the game proper, such as Momoko's singing.
  • Jerkass Realization: In the good ending, the surviving cast members apologize to Kamen for suspecting her, except for Raiko(the only one to believe in Kamen's innocence) and Mika(who makes a non-apology).
  • Love Dodecahedron: Kamen and Kotoba love Momoko, who loves Hiro. Momoko and Runa love Hiro, who doesn't care for either of them. Rie loves Taiko, while Taiko (and possibly Kamen) loves Raiko, who doesn't have anyone she's clearly in love with. Nobara and Mika are the only characters not involved in any Love Triangle.

    Raiko Shinpuku 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/raiko_and_nobara.jpg

The protagonist, as well as a reluctant attendee at the party. She used to be more cheerful and outgoing until her sister's death. She wears a pair of cat ears to the party, having forgotten to take them off.


  • Amateur Sleuth: She's intelligent, attentive to detail and the only one among the group who has what it takes to solve the mystery.
  • Armor-Piercing Question: After Taiko demands actual proof that Momoko is the mastermind behind the murders.
    Raiko: Oh, you mean like 'you' showed us actual proof that Kamen killed her...? Don't worry. Unlike you, I do possess the necessary evidence to support my claims. If you want me to, I can prove it to you right here, right now. But I want you to apologize to Kamen first. She might be innocent, you know? Or do 'you' have any actual proof that she's the culprit?
  • The Atoner: She feels guilty for her sister's death, and strives to be a better person who won't make the same mistakes that led to it.
  • Aww Look They Really Do Love Each Other: Raiko is relatively gloomy and finds her mother, who pushes Raiko's buttons in an attempt to get her back to her old self, annoying. However, in the ending in which the player agrees that Kamen is guilty, Raiko is glad to see her mother after everything that happened. Her diary indicates that this also happened offscreen in the good ending.
  • A Birthday, Not a Break: Raiko's sister died on August 14, Raiko's birthday.
  • Cynicism Catalyst: Zig-zagged when it comes to her sister's death. While it made her more gloomy and introverted, her guilt over allowing it to happen also inspired her to be a better person.
  • Deadpan Snarker: She can often be quite snarky. For example, one dialogue choice about Rie's costume is that she'll be fine "as long as Taiko's a necrophile."
  • Everyone Has Standards: She dislikes Kamen for much of the game, but calls out Taiko when he tries to browbeat Kamen into confessing. Even if you have Raiko accuse Kamen of the murders, she still insists that Kamen be treated fairly.
  • First-Person Smartass: Her internal narration is quite snarky.
  • Foil: To Momoko. Both are introverted and have few people they trust, but while Raiko is emotionally detached, Momoko is a Clingy Jealous Girl who takes betrayal(perceived or actual) very poorly.
  • Hates Small Talk: Since she's introverted and unsociable, she naturally admits that she dislikes small talk,
  • Hidden Depths: According to some who knew her for a long time, like her parents, Nobara and Kamen, Raiko was a much more cheerful person in the past.
  • I Hate Past Me: She deeply regrets her mistakes in the past, and has no desire to revert to the kind of person who would repeat those mistakes.
  • Introverted Cat Person: She likes cats (albeit not the cat costume her mom bought her), and doesn't have many close friends.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She can be fairly gloomy and sarcastic, but she's a kind enough person that she's willing to jump to Kamen's defense and prove her innocence, despite how poorly Kamen had treated her.
  • "Jump Off a Bridge" Rebuttal: In a variation on the trope, she uses the phrase to justify not going along with the majority by not dressing up, rather than criticize someone who does.
    Raiko: What the others are doing is irrelevant to me. If they jump off a cliff, I certainly won't follow them. Or would you want me to do that, too?
  • Luminescent Blush: After being kissed by Kamen in the ending, she turns beet red with Blank White Eyes.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Her reaction if she ends up accusing someone innocent in a bad ending.
  • My Greatest Failure: It's revealed that she feels responsible for her sister's death.
  • Not So Above It All: She admits during the power outage that a part of her wants to play along with Rie's prank so she can "come out on top."
    Raiko: Heh, kinda ironic, wasn't it? Despite acting mature all the time and trying to condemn the others for their childish behavior, I guess I was still pretty childish myself...
  • "Not So Different" Remark: She remarks that she and Momoko are rather similar, and that she has no idea how she'd react if she thought Nobara betrayed her, just like how Momoko thought Kamen had betrayed her.
  • Not So Similar: She and Taiko are the two who first suspect that Momoko was murdered, and are two of the more intelligent characters in the cast. Unfortunately, Taiko becomes irrational and accuses Momoko of the murders in his anger over what happened to Taiko, while Raiko is still willing to consider Kamen's innocence despite disliking her. In the ending in which Raiko says Kamen is responsible for the murders, Taiko bitterly notes that he thought he and Raiko were similar, but that this isn't true if Raiko would sympathize with a murderer.
  • Only Sane Man: Raiko is a good deal more grounded and reasonable than most of the cast. It ends up being played seriously at the climax, when she's the only one who realizes that Kamen isn't the murderer (apart from Kamen herself and Kotoba, the latter of whom is either dead or in no condition to talk).
  • Perpetual Frowner: She's almost constantly shown with a bored, disaffected frown.
  • Pungeon Master: She likes making a lot of death and zombie-related puns regarding Rie's costume.
  • Running Gag: People often make fun of her for wearing cat ears.
  • Socially Awkward Hero: She introverted and gloomy, but is also intelligent and has strong morals, making her the only one capable of putting the clues together to solve the mystery.
  • Sour Outside, Sad Inside: She's not the most cheerful person and keeps others at a distance, but inside, she's mourning the loss of her sister, something she blames herself for.
  • The Spock: She's the least emotional guest at the party, and the only one who's able to stay logical enough to solve the mystery.
  • The Stoic: She's practically emotionless, and Mika struggles to get a rise out of her.
  • Used to Be a Sweet Kid: She used to be a friendlier and more open person before her sister died.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: She tears into Taiko for jumping to conclusions and suspecting Kamen on the good ending path, and orders him to apologize to her.
  • Would Rather Suffer: She says she'd rather kill herself than wear her mother's cat costume, which strikes a nerve with Momoko.

    Nobara Akadori 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/raiko_and_nobara_1.jpg

Raiko's longtime best friend.


  • Accomplice by Inaction: While less convinced of Kamen's guilt than the others, Nobara realizes that unlike Raiko, she didn't try to speak up in Kamen's defense, and thus apologizes to her.
  • Affectionate Nickname: Raiko calls her "Bara-chan."
  • The Alibi: She was with Raiko at the time of Momoko's faked suicide, so Raiko manages to avoid becoming one of the suspects despite having left the majority of the guests behind.
  • Anger Born of Worry: After Raiko pursues Momoko out the window, Nobara catches up to her and insists that she never do something that reckless again.
  • Childhood Friend: She's known Raiko since they were little.
  • Dumbass Has a Point: She's rather gullible and not especially bright, but immediately finds it suspicious that Momoko found the only unlocked guest room and immediately went there to hang herself. Nobara doesn't catch on to the real significance of this fact, but Raiko realizes it's a good question.
  • Lovable Coward: She's easily frightened but nevertheless a good person at heart.
  • Nice Girl: She's described as the most compassionate person Raiko knows.
  • Rhetorical Question Blunder: After Mika scares her shortly after the power comes back on.
    Nobara: Mika! The hell's wrong with ya?!
    Mika: Not even Mika knows, akukukuku!
  • Satellite Character: She's mostly defined as Raiko's friend, mainly existing as a way of making her a bit more sociable and giving her an alibi for the time of the murders. Unlike most of the rest of the cast, she doesn't have a close relationship with anyone besides her best friend.
  • Super Gullible: She tends to believe stuff fairly easily.
  • Tender Tears/Tears of Fear: She breaks down crying in grief over Momoko's death and fear that someone else might be killed soon.

    Rie Miyamoto 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rie_and_runa.jpg

The hostess of the party, as well as the daughter of the owner of Miyamoto Mountain Resort. She's best friends with Runa and they are also friends with Raiko and Nobara. She dresses as a zombie for the party.


  • All Love Is Unrequited: She has a crush on Taiko, who doesn't appear to notice her feelings.
  • Anger Born of Worry: Like Nobara, she gets upset with Raiko for her climbing out the window, asking what she was thinking.
  • Book Dumb: She's not very good in school.
  • Cannot Keep a Secret: She ends up spilling the beans about Runa having once been in love with Hiro, after some gentle prodding from Taiko. Her and Runa's conversation about the fake murder prank also gets overheard by Kamen.
  • Didn't Think This Through: Played for Laughs. She realizes too late that her disgusting zombie costume with a large amount of fake blood (which is quite uncomfortable for her) isn't the best way to win Taiko over.
  • The Ditz: She's described as highly absent-minded and a bit forgetful. Hiro takes advantage of this by claiming that she failed to unlock the bathroom, thus tricking her into giving him the keys so he could unlock the guest room for Momoko.
  • Dumbass Has a Point: She's one of the less intelligent guests at the party, and her insistence on Runa's innocence is mainly based on her trust in her best friend. Despite both these facts, she ends up being right.
  • Fatal Flaw: She admits that she has difficulty accepting the idea that one of her friends could be a killer, especially Runa. As a result, this causes friction between her and Taiko after the questioning period.
  • Foil: To Taiko. She's not all that bright and tends to trust her friends unconditionally, while Taiko is intelligent and believes in seeking the truth.
  • Hidden Depths: Despite seeming somewhat scatterbrained, and having an ulterior motive for throwing the party, she is surprisingly considerate of her friends, and does intend for everyone involved to have a good time.
  • Informed Flaw: Downplayed. While her refusal to distrust her friends does cause friction between her and Taiko midway through the game, Runa is, in fact, innocent. Rie may not have acted entirely rationally in response to Runa being named as a suspect, but in the end, she was right. She also accuses Kamen of being the murderer along with everyone else during the climax.
  • The McCoy: She's relatively emotional and tends to trust her friends blindly. She's right about Runa, but ends up going along with Taiko when he wrongly suspects Kamen.
  • Not Me This Time: She admits that while the first power outage was her doing, she had nothing to do with the second. Considering that it happens when she's conversing with Raiko, Nobara and Kamen in the hallway, she's telling the truth.
  • Secretly Wealthy: Downplayed, but with her down-to-earth attitude, people don't realize that her family is rich.
  • Tempting Fate: She declares that her master plan to win Hiro over won't possibly fail.
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: The tomboy to Runa's girly girl.
  • Tomboy with a Girly Streak: She's tomboyish by nature, but is interested in hooking up with Taiko.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Her decision to hold the Halloween party, as well as giving Hiro the keys to open the bathroom, gives Momoko the opportunity she needs to set her plan into motion. Her plans for a fake murder prank also helps enable Momoko to convince Hiro, Kamen and Kotoba to play another prank on her, enabling Momoko to carry out her real murder plan.

    Runa Hikari 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rie_and_runa_7.jpg

Rie's best friend, who has unrequited feelings for Hiro. She and Momoko dress as shrine maiden twins for the party.


  • Death Glare: She gives one to Taiko, not happy about his questioning obviously indicating that he thinks she's a suspect, especially on the grounds that she'd once been in love with Hiro.
  • Establishing Character Moment: She teases Rie about making her guests stand outside in the cold, then formally greets Raiko and Nobara.
  • Foil: To Momoko. Both of them love Hiro, but are blind to his true colors. After learning of Hiro cheating on her, Momoko snaps and kills him and herself, but while Runa is heartbroken to learn the truth about Hiro, she is able to come to terms with it and move on.
  • Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: A blonde who's one of the nicer members of the cast.
  • Horrible Judge of Character: As a result of her infatuation with Hiro, she doesn't pick up on the warning signs about his true personality. Interestingly enough, she actually disliked him before he helped her after her accident, perhaps implying that she understood his true personality better before she developed feelings for him.
  • Kimono Is Traditional: She's fond of kimonos, and wears one as part of her cosplay, as well as in the good ending. A piece of bonus art shows her wearing one for New Year's Day.
  • Last-Name Basis: She refers to the cast by their last names, along with the "-san" honorific.
  • Mock Millionaire: Accidentally comes off as this, since people incorrectly assume her family is wealthy. This includes Hiro, whose attraction to her was based on this belief.
  • Nice Girl: She's a kind and caring individual. While she's honest enough to admit that she had difficulty getting along with Momoko, she was telling the truth about her desire to befriend her.
  • The Ojou: She gives off this impression with her manners, which is why people are surprised to learn that she's actually poor.
  • Penny Among Diamonds: Runa's the only member of the group who comes from a poor family. The Miyamoto family is highly wealthy, and while none of the other eight are in the same category, the Shinpuku family owns its own house, which is more expensive in Japan than in the West.
  • Red Herring: She's a likely suspect for the murder considering her possible feelings of jealousy toward Momoko, and if you accuse her, there's an interactive sequence in which you "prove" her guilt, but she's innocent of the crime.
  • Rescue Romance: She fell for Hiro after he helped her when she sprained her ankle in a bicycle accident. Unfortunately, his attention turned to Momoko shortly afterward.
  • Second Love: In the good ending, she finds another guy she's interested in.
  • Spanner in the Works: Because Runa forgot the green wigs for their group cosplay, Momoko's plan to impersonate Kamen ended up being hindered.
  • Speak Ill of the Dead: While uncomfortable about engaging in this trope, she did mention that there were some "confrontations" between her and Momoko, since the latter was jealous of her. That said, she genuinely wanted to become friends with Momoko.
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: The girly girl to Rie's tomboy.
  • True Blue Femininity: Apart from her costume for the party, she wears blue kimonos in the ending and in a CG for "New Year's Runa."
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Her insistence on inviting Hiro and Momoko despite her issues with them, as well as agreeing to the matching cosplay with Momoko, helped lead to their murder plot.

    Mika Tamashii 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kamen_and_mika.jpg

A habitual prankster who has scared almost 100 people. She dresses as a Shinigami for the party.


  • Establishing Character Moment: She's introduced trying to scare Raiko, only to fail.
  • Everyone Has Standards: As much of a prankster as she is, she wouldn't fool around in a serious situation, so she's dead serious when she announces that Momoko is dead.
  • The Friend Nobody Likes: While she's not a jerk like Hiro or a pervert like Kotoba, she's considered fairly obnoxious, and is the only character besides Hiro who doesn't have a best friend at the party. In the good ending, however, she manages to befriend Kamen, who's willing to give her a second chance after learning more about her.
  • Hidden Depths: Scaring people aside, she turns out to be a surprisingly caring individual. While Kamen had written Mika off as a nuisance, she actually becomes friends with her in her second diary entry.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's obnoxious and immature, but surprisingly caring toward others. While she struggles to give an apology for doubting Kamen, she's also the first to check up on Kamen after the Halloween party.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: She's dead serious when she announces Momoko's "death."
  • Pervert Revenge Mode: She gives Kotoba a good whack whenever he does something perverted.
  • The Prankster: Likes playing practical jokes on people.
  • Shinigami: She dresses as one for the party, and wields a cardboard scythe.
  • Signature Laugh: "Akukukuku!"
  • Third-Person Person: Constantly refers to herself in the third person.

    Momoko Mori 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/momoko_and_hiro.jpg

A popular musician in the class's school, who recently started going out with Hiro. She, along with Runa, cosplays as a set of shrine maiden twins for the party.


  • Affectionate Nickname: Kamen calls her "Momo."
  • Alliterative Name: Momoko Mori.
  • All Take and No Give: Surprisingly enough, she ends up on both ends of the trope. In most of her relationships with her classmates prior to meeting Kamen, Momo was a Giver whose kind and helpful nature was frequently abused. When it came to Kamen, however, Momo gradually ended up becoming the Taker, with Kamen noting how Momoko always asked Kamen to do thigs for her.
  • Berserk Button: As a Clingy Jealous Girl, she naturally gets angry whenever anyone tries to get between her and Hiro or calls her out on her possessiveness.
  • Big Bad: She is the culprit of the murder plot.
  • Clingy Jealous Girl: She apparently came off as this on a few occasions. She got angry with Runa for talking to Hiro, and her attitude apparently upset Hiro enough that they argued about it. In fact, she was so easily jealous that when Kamen warned her about Hiro, she suspected Kamen of trying to break them up, and threatened to end their friendship if she persisted.
  • The Dead Guy Did It: The murderer of Momoko Mori and Hiro Shiratake who also attempts to murder Kotoba Gaikoku is none other than Momoko herself, who faked her hanging, killed Hiro, set up the fire to kill Kotoba, and then hanged herself for real. The characters only realize she is the culprit after she's dead.
  • Deconstructed Character Archetype: She deconstructs the Clingy Jealous Girl, since this aspect of her is the product of severe trust issues caused by people taking advantage of her. Because she doesn't have many friends, she's somewhat possessive of the few people who are close to her. Her inability to accept that Hiro never cared for her leads to her lashing out at Kamen when Kamen tries to tell her the truth, and plotting to kill Hiro and frame Kamen for murder when she believes that he's cheating on her with Kamen.
  • Dramatically Missing the Point: She doesn't realize that Kamen's trying to help her, and instead accuses her of trying to steal Hiro away.
  • Driven to Suicide: She hangs herself in the guest room. The first time, she's faking it, but when Raiko returns, she's actually dead.
  • Dude Magnet: She gets quite a bit of attention from the boys, receiving love letters on a regular basis. In the cast alone, two boys and one girl are interested in her.
  • Dude, Not Funny!: After Raiko flippantly says she'd rather kill herself than wear the costume her mother got her, the usually cheerful Momoko tells her that suicide is no laughing matter. This may be because Momoko is planning to commit suicide herself.
  • Fatal Flaw: She has trust issues as a result of being taken advantage of in the past, which leads to her being clingy by nature, and turning murderous when she learns about Hiro going behind her back.
  • Flaw Exploitation: She takes advantage of Kotoba's lust for her to rope him into her scheme, since she needs a third accomplice and he's easy to use. It also may have been her idea to have Hiro ask Rie for the keys and lie about Rie having locked the door to the restroom, since she's forgetful enough to be unsure whether she unlocked the restroom.
  • Foil:
    • To Raiko. Both are introverted and have few people they trust, but while Raiko is emotionally detached, Momoko is a Clingy Jealous Girl who takes betrayal(perceived or actual) very poorly.
    • To Runa. Both of them love Hiro, but are blind to his true colors. After learning of Hiro cheating on her, Momoko snaps and kills him and herself, but while Runa is heartbroken to learn the truth about Hiro, she is able to come to terms with it and move on.
  • Manipulative Bitch: She plays Kamen, Kotoba and Hiro like fiddles as part of her grand murder plot.
  • Murder-Suicide: She kills Hiro (as well as Kotoba if you can't save him in time), then herself.
  • Only Friend: Kamen is her only friend, so Momoko snaps when she believes Kamen betrayed her.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: After Raiko flippantly says she'd rather kill herself than wear her mother's cat costume, Momoko's cheerful facade breaks and she calls Raiko out on making light of suicide.
  • Rose-Haired Sweetie: Subverted. While she has pink hair and seems like a nice person, she's actually, a clingy girl who masterminds a murder plot.
  • Shrinking Violet: She's fairly introverted and shy, but not when she's on stage.
  • Sympathetic Murderer: Since she's an emotionally fragile person who was broken by Hiro cheating on her, it's not hard to see why she would snap and plot his murder.
  • Thanatos Gambit: Her entire plan in the game is to kill Hiro, Kotoba and herself, then pin the blame on Kamen.
  • Treachery Is a Special Kind of Evil: In-universe, Raiko and the other characters seem to believe that Momoko's worst crime is betraying her best friend Kamen and trying to frame her for Momoko's murders, even though Kamen had never wronged Momoko, unlike Hiro and Kotoba. To a lesser extent, Raiko is also appalled by Momoko manipulating her victims to helping take part in a plan that would involve their deaths.
  • Walking Spoiler: As the true murderer and main antagonist of the game, she is naturally this.
  • With Friends Like These...: One way of viewing her friendship with Kamen. While she says Kamen is one of the few she trusts, she ultimately doesn't believe Kamen when Kamen tells her that Hiro is cheating on her, and when she discovers Kamen's texts, she concludes that Kamen betrayed her.
  • Woman Scorned: Her motive in a nutshell, since she wants revenge on Hiro for being unfaithful to her, and on Kamen for supposedly stealing him away.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Does this to Kotoba. Killing him wasn't her original plan, but after he fulfills his role, he knows too much for her to keep him alive.

    Hiro Shiratake 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/momoko_and_hiro_1.jpg

Momoko's boyfriend, as well as an arrogant individual who wants to be the best at everything. He wears a vampire costume to the party.


  • Acquired Situational Narcissism: After acing his first test, he became obsessed with outdoing everyone else.
  • Asshole Victim: He's the biggest jerk in the cast, and his cheating on Momoko results in his death.
  • Attention Whore: He's an egomaniac who wants to be the center of attention. He only became interested in Momo because of how popular she was.
  • The Charmer: He wormed his way into Runa and Momoko's hearts, but didn't feel anything for them at all.
  • Competition Freak: Due to his egomaniacal personality, he can't resist competing with others. He agrees to Momoko's prank plan to outdo Rie, and tries to scare Raiko to succeed where Mika failed.
  • Didn't Think This Through: Even if he didn't know Kamen was a lesbian, he should have realized that being willing to callously dump her best friend wouldn't have won him any points with her.
  • Freudian Excuse: His parents neglected him, resulting in him trying to seek out attention. His father's womanizing habits probably rubbed off on him, too.
  • Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Raiko comments that the above Freudian Excuse explains his behavior but doesn't justify it.
  • The Friend Nobody Likes: Apart from his girlfriend Momo and Runa, whose love for him blinds her to his flaws, no one likes him. He's also the only one besides Mika who doesn't have a best friend at the party. He's a Dating and a Control example, since Runa asked Rie to invite him(in part because Momoko wouldn't have come if he hadn't, and Kamen wouldn't have come if Momoko wasn't invited).
  • Hate Sink: He is extremely unlikable through and through, and his deplorable treatment of the girls who love him kickstarts the story's conflict.
  • Jerkass: From the very beginning, he comes off as an arrogant and unlikable jerk.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: While it's poor form to tell a scary story that passive-aggressively accuses his girlfriend of being a Clingy Jealous Girl, he's actually not wrong about Momoko. Runa actually agrees with him.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: If you might initially think that there's something good about him underneath his harsh exterior, think again. The more you learn about him over the course of the story, the more loathsome he turns out to be.
  • More Hateable Minor Villain: He may not be the killer, but he is much more of a scumbag than said killer, Momoko (a Sympathetic Murderer). After Momoko became popular, Hiro set out to make her his trophy girlfriend, ditching Runa Hikari when he realized she wasn't rich. He later tried to charm Momoko's best friend, Kamen Eiga, while he was dating Momoko, and caused Momoko to think her best friend was sleeping with her boyfriend, setting off Momoko's murderous revenge plot. Hiro is ultimately killed by Momoko, with nobody mourning his death, and Raiko Shinpuku agrees that even his bad childhood does nothing to excuse his actions.
  • Nice Mean And In Between: The Mean of the three guys. Even apart from his cheating on Momoko and callously dumping Runa, he's almost constantly condescending, rude and/or passive-aggressive.
  • Red Herring: He comes off as suspicious, especially considering his telling the story about the murder-suicide, and Momoko ending up hanging herself. In fact, he's the correct choice for the prime suspect just after you question everyone. However, he didn't actually commit the murder (especially since he's a victim), and accusing him results in Kamen being accused of his murder, leading to a bad ending.
  • White Hair, Black Heart: He has white hair and is by far the most unpleasant person in the cast.

    Kamen Eiga 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kamen_and_mika_4.jpg

A brutally honest girl who, for some reason, can't stand Raiko. She's Momoko's best friend. She wears a witch costume to the party.


  • Because You Were Nice to Me: She grew to like, and possibly be attracted to, Raiko after the latter stood up for her.
  • Broken Pedestal: In a sense, Raiko comes off this way to her. A week after Raiko saved her from being falsely accused of shoplifting, Raiko stands her up, and returns to school as a completely different person.
  • Brutal Honesty: According to Raiko, she says whatever's on her mind. Her diary entry implies this is because she's bottled up her feelings for so long.
  • Establishing Character Moment: Her introduction involves her gushing over how "sexy" Momoko's costume looks, warning Hiro not to break Momoko's heart, and then making snide comments about Raiko, summing up her three most important relationships.
  • The Gadfly: She often enjoys teasing Momoko, who responds in kind.
  • Gayngst: She angsts a bit about being gay, her friend not loving her back, and having to keep it secret due to worrying about how it might affect her friendship.
  • Hidden Depths: Initially, she seems like a Jerkass who's only nice to Momoko, but the revelation of her sexuality and her past encounters with Raiko make her a significantly more complex and sympathetic character.
  • Incompatible Orientation: She's a lesbian, but Momoko isn't, so Kamen decides not to tell her. Because Momoko ends up suspecting that Kamen wants to steal Hiro away, never realizing that Momoko loves her she ends up regretting that decision.
  • Jerkass: She constantly mocks Raiko for her gloomy demeanor, and doesn't get along with Hiro, either.
  • Jerkass to One: She's significantly meaner to Raiko than anyone else. Even Hiro, whom Kamen hates for good reason, mostly gets snarky remarks that could be mistaken for good-natured teasing.
  • Jerkass Realization: After Raiko helps clear her name, Kamen realizes how cruel she was to her and apologizes.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While she's not exactly a nice person, she does undeniably care for Momo, and eventually resolves to be nicer to Raiko.
  • Last-Name Basis: She refers to Raiko as "Shinpuku" when she isn't using an insulting nickname(she uses the former when she's being semi-polite and the latter when she's in a bad mood) and since she doesn't include an honorific, this is fairly rude by Japanese standards. After Raiko clears Kamen's name, however, Kamen starts calling her "Raiko-chan" instead, a change Raiko immediately notices.
  • Laughing Mad: After relating everything that led up to the murder, she erupts in a fit of mirthless laughter.
  • Luminescent Blush: Her face is often red during the good ending, since she's still a bit awkward around Raiko.
  • Master Actor: As vice-president of the Drama Club, Kamen is a talented actress. Because of that, the others wonder if her reactions after being accused of the murders are genuine.
  • Meaningful Name: Her name means "mask" in Japanese. The achievement for reading her Diary Entry B is "Unmasked."
  • Only Friend: She and Momoko are each other's only real friends at the start of the game.
  • The Only One I Trust: She becomes this for Momoko, although it takes almost two years for her to achieve that status. That said, Momoko refuses to believe what Kamen says about Hiro, and threatens to cut off her friendship if Momoko tries to get between them.
  • Red Herring: As a result of her suspicious behavior throughout the night and Momoko's plan to frame her, she's considered the most obvious suspect, and is arrested in three out of the five endings, save for the "accuse Runa" ending and the good ending.
  • Second Love: First falls for Raiko at age 11 when she clears her of shoplifting but Raiko fails to meet back up with Kamen after Reiko dies, then falls for Momoko two years before the party, then after Momoko dies, she falls again for Raiko who again clears her of murder.
  • Took a Level in Kindness: She becomes significantly nicer in toward Raiko in the good ending, in hopes of befriending her.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom: She failed to delete the messages from Hiro on her phone, resulting Momoko reading them and becoming jealous.
  • Unwitting Pawn: Momoko manipulated her into helping out with the murder plan, and ultimately intended for her to take the fall for it.
  • Walking Spoiler: It's difficult to talk about her without spoiling a twist of some sort, such as her sexuality and her true feelings for Raiko.

    Kotoba Gaikoku 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/taiko_and_kotoba.jpg

Taiko's best friend, and a notorious pervert. He dresses as a prisoner.


  • Abhorrent Admirer: To Momoko. As a result of his constant and unwanted advances of him, she comes to hate him enough that she wouldn't mind killing him.
  • Asshole Victim: He can die as a result of the fire. Considering his perverted personality, the group doesn't feel too bad for him. Kamen notes that Momoko wasn't originally planning on killing him, but had to do it because he knew about her plan, and didn't feel bad about it because of the kind of person he was.
  • Broken Pedestal: While Taiko doesn't admire Kotoba, per se, and admits that Kotoba is deeply flawed, he's shocked to learn that Kotoba was stalking Momoko.
  • Cruel and Unusual Death: Being burned alive is a terrible way to go.
  • Everyone Has Standards: While he's a pervert and a stalker, he finds Hiro's telling a ghost story to passive-aggressively accuse Momoko of being a Clingy Jealous Girl to be in poor taste. While he was in on the fake murder prank plan, he didn't know that Momoko and Hiro's argument was staged, thus his reaction was genuine.
  • The Friend Nobody Likes: As a result of his perverted personality, no one really likes him. In fact, even his best friend, Taiko, freely describes him as an idiot, and stops defending him once he's faced with proof of his wrongdoing.
  • Going Commando: He doesn't like wearing underwear.
  • Gratuitous Foreign Language: As a master of several languages, he likes using foreign words and phrases, particularly when trying to pick up girls.
  • Handsome Lech: He's a notorious pervert.
  • He Knows Too Much: While he wasn't one of Momoko's targets, she decided to kill him to prevent him from spilling the beans about their plan, since the final stage involved her framing Kamen for the deaths.
  • Nice Mean And In Between: The In-Between of the three guys. He's a pervert and a stalker, but there are lines he won't cross.
  • Scars Are Forever: If he survives the fire in the basement, he'll likely have permanent scarring.
  • Stalker with a Crush: To Momoko. He constantly sent her letters and followed her around but backed off after Kamen threatened to tell the police.
  • Unwitting Pawn: To Momoko. Since Momoko needed an additional accomplice to pull off her plan, she chose him because he was easy to manipulate, and she hated him enough that she wouldn't mind disposing of him.
  • Wounded Gazelle Gambit: He pretends to fall and injure himself to convince Taiko to stay put during the blackout.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Part of the reason he's killed is to create a distraction, and the other part is because he's fulfilled his role and is now nothing but a liability.

    Taiko Kikai 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/taiko_and_kotoba_6.jpg

A kind and helpful boy that has a strong sense of justice.


  • Beware the Nice Ones: He's one of the nicer guests, but after Kotoba is killed or badly burned, Taiko will be consumed by a vengeful fury and become firmly convinced that Kamen is responsible.
  • Cluster F-Bomb: He lets off a barrage of profanity while accusing Kamen of burning Kotoba alive.
  • Commander Contrarian: He serves as Raiko's main opponent in the game's climax.
  • Disappointed in You: He says this to Raiko if she fails to convince him of the identity of the mastermind behind the killings before refusing to listen to her, resulting in a bad ending.
  • Dude, Not Funny!: He makes it clear that Rie's plan to stage a fake murder was in exceptionally poor taste. To a lesser extent, he also suggests that making a tombstone for every guest besides him and Rie wasn't the best move, either.
  • Fatal Flaw: He trusts Kotoba so much that this trust clouds his judgment. He's reluctant to believe the more serious accusations against Kotoba, even if they're true, and when Kotoba either dies or is badly burned, he lets his rage get the better of him and blindly accuses Kamen.
  • Foil: To Rie. Rie's not all that bright and tends to trust her friends unconditionally, while Taiko is intelligent and believes in seeking the truth.
  • Hypocrite: Despite stressing the importance of pursuing the truth, no matter how painful it can be, he has a bad habit of blindly trusting Kotoba. He also is overly quick to suspect Kamen, since while he has his reasons, he's missing some details that point to the true culprit's identity.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: Even at his worst, when he irrationally suspects Kamen of being the murderer, he brings up some valid criticisms of Raiko's theories. Rather than dismiss them out of hand, Raiko often considers them legitimate points and responds with evidence that corroborates what she is saying.
  • Jerkass Realization: If Raiko manages to convince him of Momoko's guilt, Taiko realizes how unfair and irrational he was in suspecting Kamen, and apologizes.
  • The Kirk: He tries to be The Spock, but his friendship with Kotoba and anger over the latter's death or near-death causes him to irrationally accuse Kamen. He also admits that he actually likes Rie's loyalty to her friends.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: After Raiko pokes holes in his theory, Taiko becomes deeply ashamed of suspecting Kamen.
  • Nice Mean And In Between: The Nice of the three male characters. He's generally a kindhearted individual with strong morals, and while he briefly loses himself in his rage over what happens to Kotoba, he calms down and apologizes if Raiko calls him out.
  • Nice Guy: He's generally a kind and upstanding person. While he does become suspicious of Momo after Kotoba dies, he apologizes to her once he calms down.
  • Not So Similar: He and Raiko are the two who first suspect that Momoko was murdered, and are two of the more intelligent characters in the cast. Unfortunately, Taiko becomes irrational and accuses Momoko of the murders in his anger over what happened to Taiko, while Raiko is still willing to consider Kamen's innocence despite disliking her. In the ending in which Raiko says Kamen is responsible for the murders, Taiko bitterly notes that he thought he and Raiko were similar, but that this isn't true if Raiko would sympathize with a murderer.
  • Oblivious to Love: He doesn't seem to realize that Rie has feelings for him, even though the party is largely for his sake. When he realizes that the tombstone is missing only two names- his and Rie's names- he's mildly confused and doubts the joke's in very good taste but doesn't realize why she made the tombstone that way.
  • Ordered Apology: Raiko demands that he apologize to Kamen. He complies, not just to appease Raiko, but because he genuinely feels awful about going too far in suspecting her.
  • Sympathy for the Devil: In the version of the good ending in which Kotoba lives, Taiko visits Momoko's grave (instead of Kotoba's) and expresses pity for her despite everything she did. In the bad ending in which Raiko accuses Hiro, he feels some pity for Kamen, since in the scenario Raiko proposed, Kamen murdered Hiro and Kotoba in revenge for Hiro killing Momoko.
  • This Is Unforgivable!: He says that he'll never forgive Raiko for taking sides with a murderer. After he calms down, though, he says that his rushing to suspect Kamen is unforgivable.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: He becomes significantly shorter-tempered and more argumentative in Chapter 5 and is quick to blame Kamen for killing the three victims.
  • You Just Told Me: He pulls this on Rie to get her to admit that Runa's in love with Hiro. Having suspected this, he asks her about it directly and uses her surprised reaction to confirm his theory.
  • Your Little Dismissive Diminutive: After Kamen comes clean about Momoko's supposed counter-prank to Rie's fake murder that led to Momoko's real Murder-Suicide plot, Taiko claims that Kamen's just adapting what she's saying to Raiko's "little" story.

Other Characters

    Reiko Shinpuku 

Raiko's older sister, who died four years before the start of the story.


  • Affectionate Nickname: Nobara calls her "Ghostly," even before her death.
  • Cool Big Sis: While Reiko was alive, she and Raiko were very close.
  • Driven to Suicide: Vaguely implied. Reiko died very suddenly, and Raiko blames herself for her sister's death, so it's possible that something happened to Reiko and she, with no one to turn to, killed herself.
  • Noodle Incident: Apparently, something happened and Raiko, as a result of jumping to conclusions, caused Reiko's death.
  • Posthumous Character: She's been dead for four years.
  • Walking Spoiler: It's almost impossible to talk about her without revealing the root cause of Raiko's issues. In fact, since Raiko once describes herself as Rihatsu's "one and only daughter," the fact that she even has a sister is a surprise.

    Rihatsu Shinpuku 

Raiko and Reiko's mother.


  • Absurdly Youthful Mother: She was born on March 10, 1975, and had her first daughter on November 5, 1992, making her seventeen years old at the time of the birth.
  • Affectionate Nickname: She calls her husband "Yuuyuu."
  • Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: She often embarrasses her daughter by teasing her.
  • The Cuckoolander Was Right: She can be annoying and childish, but she turns out to be right that Kamen has feelings for Raiko, even if it's based off of Kamen throwing a paper airplane at the back of Raiko's head during class.
  • The Gadfly: She enjoys teasing her daughter. According to Extra Scene B, they used to enjoy teasing each other a lot when Reiko was still alive, and Rihatsu hopes doing so will bring Raiko out of her shell.
  • Hidden Depths: She doesn't just tease her daughter for the fun of it, but in the hopes of bringing her out of her shell and helping her return to how she used to be before Reiko's death.
  • Strong Family Resemblance: She strongly resembles both her daughters, especially when it comes to her hair color.

    Yuuichirou Shinpuku 

Raiko and Reiko's father, and Rihatsu's husband.


  • Affectionate Nickname: He calls his wife "Ricchan," and his daughters "Rai-chan" and "Rei-chan."
  • Last Episode, New Character: He first appears in the good ending, .
  • What the Hell, Hero?: He tells Rihatsu that she shouldn't tease Raiko so much. He's sympathetic to her reasons, but says Raiko will need time to get back to the way she used to be.

    Henjin Akadori 

Nobara's father. He's best friends with Raiko's father. He also drives Raiko and Nobara to the resort.


  • Anaphora: He hates bad writers, bad drivers and badminton.
  • Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: He's overly affectionate with his daughter and Raiko, much to their disgust.
  • Berserk Button: Despite being mild-mannered and overly affectionate, bad driving really sets him off.
  • Bit Character: His only role in the plot is to drive Raiko and Nobara to the party. Even Raiko's parents play more of a role in that they help explore their daughter's backstory in an optional scene.

    Nobuhiko Shinpuku 

Raiko's uncle, a police official. For tropes relating to him in Genba No Kizuna, see here.


Top