| Takano Miyo 鷹野 三四 | |
|---|---|
| Information | |
| Alternate Name | Tanashi Miyoko, 田無 美代子
Takano Miyo, 高野 三四 (When living with Hifumi) |
| Age | Mid 30s |
| Birthday | June 20 |
| Weapon(s) | |
| Daybreak Weapon(s) | |
| Catchphrase | Hee hee hee (くすくす・kusu kusu) |
| First Appearance | Onikakushi-hen |
| Portrayed By | |
| Image Song | Bon ~karma~ |
Takano Miyo (鷹野 三四), born Tanashi Miyoko (田無 美代子), is the main villain/antagonist in the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni series.
Character Summary
Takano Miyo is a nurse at the Irie Clinic. She is one of the consistent victims of the curse in 1983. According to the police, her charred remains are found in a drum in the mountains; hoowever, the autopsy later reveals that she had died twenty-four hours before the Watanagashi Festival had even occurred. During Tatarigoroshi-hen, she gives Maebara Keiichi a ride after he finishes his business with Satoko's uncle, and the subsequent revelation of her "death" prior to this incident shocks him.
Appearance
Miyo's appearance in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai
She has long, blonde hair which she has had since a child. As an adult, her brown eyes are more "droopy" or closed than those of other characters. She is also quite buxom, which serves as occasional comic relief in the manga and the anime OVA arcs. In the clinic she usually wears a traditional nurse's uniform with hat. Outside she dresses casually with dark-green slacks with a light-green sweater over a light pink blouse. Over her left breast she wears her signature yellow cross on a gold-green ribbon. She will occasionally wear a dark suit when visiting her superiors. Her other signature outfit is the black uniform she wears when she takes charge and acts as her rank of major. While it varies with updates to the sprites, it consistently consists of a black beret, a black cape over a military uniform or black suit, and a black skirt. In the original sprite as well as in the anime, she retains the gold cross over the gold-green ribbon.
Personality
While very popular at the Irie Clinic where she works, her real personality is eventually revealed to be quite twisted. She enjoys frightening people with tales of Hinamizawa's past. She views people such as the inhabitants of Hinamizawa as guinea pigs for her research, and only truly cares for the memory of her grandfather. She is infamous for her fascination the history and mythology of Hinamizawa, though Sonozaki Mion explains to Keiichi that Takano presents a different interpretation of Hinamizawa's mythology to every person. She once tells Hōjō Satoko that Oyashiro-sama originated from sea creatures, while another story arc she gives Rena her research which contains the theory about parasites controlling people's minds. She tends to speak in a very condescending and patronizing fashion. In the visual novels, she has a distinct laugh (くすくす・kusu kusu), which the MangaGamer version translates as "Hee hee hee."
She also has a cute, childlike side to her personality, as revealed in Minagoroshi-hen and hilariously depicted in the anime adaptation. When Furude Rika offers to open the Saiguden for her, Takano jumps for joy and spins round and round with glee. Rika muses that "Miyo's image stock just crashed all over the world."
Miyo's excitement when allowed to enter the Saiguden, not at having the opportunity to shoot Satoko in the face.
Takano even offers to wear cat ears, a collar, and tail, and beg for milk if Rika will let her pass through the second door to the inside of the Saiguden. Hours after the trip at the conclusion of a budget meeting, Irie Kyōsuke and Tomitake Jirō witness her meowing and lightly hopping around the table as she holds the camera she used to take pictures of the Saiguden's torture tools.
Takano also has an obsession with attaining the level of a goddess. She first adopted the notion of becoming a goddess as a child when Takano Hifumi tells her that it was not Jesus' physical body that was resurrected, but the belief in his teachings. Hifumi believed that one becomes a god when one makes a great achievement that puts ones name in history. He expresses his desire to become a god by making a name for himself in the scientific community in proving the existence of Hinamizawa syndrome. After he dies, Miyo takes it upon herself to carry on his research and have it recognized by the world. Her ultimate goal is to become a goddess along with him. In Kai, she even tells Hanyū that she will drag her down from her “godly throne”.
Her quest proves insincere. When she loses, she is ordered to end her life and take the blame for the various killings and conspiracies. The manga expands the scene in that Hanyū visits her to offer her the status of a goddess if she simply ends her life. However, Takano cannot do this.
Plot
In the later arcs and near the end of the first series of the anime, it is revealed that she arranges to have her death fakes on the night of the Watanagashi Festival to throw off suspicion and allow her to act more freely. The second season reveals her past. Born Tanashi Miyoko, as a young child her parents died in a train accident. Left without any relatives, the government sent her to an orphanage where the staff continually abuse the children. She tries to escape and evades capture long enough to call her father's former professor, Takano Hifumi, as her father had instructed just before he died of his injuries. Recaptured, she witnesses the murder of one of her friends who organized the escape, and is then dragged bathroom where she is ordered to orally clean a squated toilet. Fortunately, Hifumi arrives just at that time to adopt her.
Miyo as a child
Hifumi becomes a sort of grandfather for her, and she cares deeply for him. Since his name can mean "1-2-3," Miyoko decides to take the name "Miyo" which can mean "3-4." He inspires Takano on the path of biological research by allowing her to help him with his study of Hinamizawa Syndrome. When Hifumi dies humiliated and discredited by his superiors, Takano vows to complete on his research whatever human cost. She receives patronage from an old friend of Hifumi, Koizumi who betrayed him under pressure from various government groups. Wishing to atone for his betrayal, Koizumi gives her considerable financial as well as political backing which allows her to form a government research group under the guise of the Irie Clinic. She eventually secures the control over an elite squad of counter-intelligence soldiers called the Yamainu who carry out much of the killings scene in the series, though she does not hesitate to perform some of them herself, including the murder of her lover Jirō and the children themselves in one arc.
The manga, anime, and visual novel allow a final ending where Rika as an adult/Frederika visits her when she is the child Tanashi Miyoko leaving her home to play with a friend on the day her parents will die. Adult Rika/Frederica Bernkastel asks her if she wants "to live" or "die," and Tanashi Miyoko at first chooses to live. When she questions her choice, she is told that "to die" means getting a "Child's Meal flag." Tanashi Miyoko realizes that her parents are going shopping and, if she was with them, she would get the "Child's Meal" which would give her a final flag souvenir to complete her collection. The child Tanashi Miyoko denounces her parents as "mean" for going to the store without her. Adult Rika/Frederica asks her if she is sure she will not regret her choice. When Tanashi Miyoko asks her why she would regret it, Adult Rika/Frederica refuses to tell her since she is a "meanie." Undaunted, Tanashi Miyoko says with a smile that whatever happens, she will be fine since she will be with her parents.
It would seem that the child Tanashi Miyoko unwittingly chose to die with her parents; however, it is revealed that in this instance the tragedy does not happen. That becomes the ultimate "happy ending" since Tanashi Miyoko never becomes "Takano Miyo." The irony is that as Takano she chooses death for everyone but herself; yet in this final story, she chooses "death" for herself and, in effect, "kills" Miyo which saves everyone.
Kaidan to Odorō, Soshite Anata wa Kaidan de Odoru
Takano also makes an appearance in this horror mystery light novel by Ryukishi07, published in 2007 and later as a manga. While the story is technically supposed to be considered separate from the Higurashi series, it was confirmed to have taken place in the perfect world of Saikoroshi-hen, where Frederica Bernkastel interfered and Takano's parents were not killed (thus, no tragic events ever happened), so Takano's original name "Tanashi Miyoko" is retained. The story also heavily focuses on her, as she is the first to be involved in another curse.
In the story which takes place at a normal city high school, Miyoko is drawn as an average, quiet girl with long black hair and a very melancholic expression, which contrasts heavily with her bright and bubbly nature as a kid. Compared to her personality as Takano in Higurashi, she can be considered just as creepy and dark, if not more-so, than Takano. Her signature laugh and way of speaking is also retained in the novel, so she speaks just like her adult self. While Takano is at least seen to be "cute" and has retained some of her childish nature, no sign of such is ever apparent in Miyoko's character in this story. She is not very well liked in the school and only has a few acquaintances, including a strange boy named Tomohiro Miyajima. Initially, Tomohiro did not speak to Miyoko that often, and they only knew each other as those who often glanced at and took interest in each other. One day, Tomohiro decides to invent a fake curse called "Ohone-sama's curse" and circulate it around the school, mainly for kicks and for easy money, knowing that people would donate to the donation boxes dedicated to the false god. Of course, Tomohiro and his friends knew it was a mere prank, however, they receive a note attached with 50,000 yen (approx. $644 USD) that asks for the god to curse Miyoko.
Soon after, Tomohiro witnesses Miyoko's death by falling off the rooftop of the school; this is later suspected to be a murder, but near the end for reasons unknown, she reappears, seeming perfectly alive and well with no damage done to her body. She jumps off the roof a 2nd time, only to have Tomohiro catch her this time. In the end, she is seen dancing in a school classroom.
Trivia
- As a child, Miyo resembles Lambdadelta, the Witch of Certainty from Umineko no Naku Koro ni. However, it was confirmed in an interview with Ryukishi07 that Lambdadelta and Miyo have no relation with each other whatsoever and that their similarities, i.e. the same name and appearance, were actually just red herrings. The names Lambdadelta and Miyo are both supposed to reference the number sequence 3-4; however, while mi and yo are indeed the Old Japanese roots for the numbers three and four respectively and delta is the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet, lambda is in fact not the third letter, but the eleventh. However, a Lambdadelta's Diary tip heavily implies that she was the one who granted Miyoko's wish of eventually becoming a god.
- Most likely Miyoko's character design was based off Lambdadelta considering that Lambdadelta was given a physical appearance before Miyoko was as she was not given an appearance till the anime adaption of Kai due to her not having a sprite in the original visual novel.
- She has committed the most murders of all characters in the series, although Irie Kyōsuke's record with fatal lobotomies is possibly second most (while the Sonozaki family itself is known for its high number of killings).
- While she is responsible for the Great Hinamizawa Disaster, she herself did not personally commit the murders. The most she has done regarding it is convincing the prefectural governor to initiate Plan 34, so in technicality, the governor is mainly responsible for sending in troops to kill the villagers.
- Tanashi Miyoko makes an appearance as an extra character in Higurashi Daybreak Mega Edition, where she somehow time-traveled to 1983 by accident. She teams up with Okonogi in order to retrieve the magic mirror so she can return to her time. If Takano and Tanashi are ever paired up in a versus battle and win, a comical dialogue is exchanged between the two.
- In Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri and Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Jan, Takano's villain outfit has a small Totenkopf badge on its hat. "Totenkopf" is a German word, it means "dead man's head".
- Miki Itō is the same seiyū (voice actor) of Eva Ushiromiya/EVA-Beatrice of Umineko no Naku Koro ni.
- Additionally, Takashi Miyoko is voiced by Fuyuka Ono the same as Lambdadelta of Umineko no Naku Koro ni.
- In Ryukishi07's latest work, Rose Guns Days, a blonde girl named Meryl Tanashi is an obvious shout-out to Tanashi Miyoko.
Images
