Rena Ryūgū

Rena Ryūgū
Higurashi When They Cry character
Rena as seen in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Sui
First appearanceHigurashi no Naku Koro ni Onikakushi-hen (2002)
Created byRyukishi07
Designed byRyukishi07
Voiced by
Portrayed byMinami Kato (drama)[2]
Airi Matsuyama [ja] (film)[3]
In-universe information
AliasReina Ryūgū
NationalityJapanese

Rena Ryūgū (Japanese: 竜宮 レナ, Hepburn: Ryūgū Rena) is a fictional character in the Higurashi When They Cry series. Rena was born and raised in fictional Hinamizawa under her real name Reina Ryūgū (Japanese: 竜宮 礼奈, Hepburn: Ryūgū Reina). While living in Ibaraki Prefecture, she developed mental problems followed by breaking many windows and assaulting several male students to serious injuries with a baseball bat at her local school, and indulged in self-harm, led her to moved back to Hinamizawa. Later she studied at the Hinamizawa Branch School and became friends with Keiichi Maebara and others. She appears naively oddball but is actually hiding her emotions. Rena played the protagonist and antagonist many times in the series.

Rena has been popular with fans of the series, often ranking in polls. She is a character that symbolizes Higurashi When They Cry,[4] and is regarded as a mascot character for 07th Expansion.[5] Her image has substantially inspired the moe genre including menhera and yandere, despite she herself is not an example of the later.[6][7]

Development and design

Ryukishi07 portrayed the duality of Rena,[8] and created her a sense of mystery.[4] On the surface, she is a ditzy, excitable young girl with an offbeat taste in trinkets.[7] She developed some quirks and oddball tendencies such as taking things home from places including dump because they're cute.[5][7] Her garden is full of strange things cause this habit.[9] Besides, she has a habit of saying "haū" and "kana, kana?" and referring to herself in third-person.[10][11] Despite looking exuberant and lackadaisical, she is mentally illness and insanity actually, and has a history of psychological trauma. One example of her resorting to violent methods when stimulated is in Tsumihoroboshi-hen where Rena slaughters her father's new spouse, Ritsuko, as she learns that Ritusko's only after her father's money.[12]: 82 [13][7] She has the highest direct kill count of the entire main cast.[14] However, she is bubbly, caring, and respectful to her friends and will do whatever it takes to protect them.[13]

According to Ryukishi07, Rena "embodies the world of the story like no other character, a girl trying to be normal in a world that won't allow it."[15] He explained how Rena thinks that "if she is desperate and concludes that she has no choice but to kill, she can easily do it", and she can easily pretend to be innocent as she is smart and witty.[16] With a keen insight, She is good at spotting lies.[17] Ryukishi07 said he made Rena weird and close to a pervert on purpose.[9] In a famous scene named the "door scene" by fans, from Keiichi's perspective, Rena tries to force her way into his house to feed him, ferociously screaming with a crazed look in her eyes, all while trying to force her way beyond the chained door.[18]

Yatazakura, member of 07th Expansion, designed a change for Rena's eyes in places where the story makes a sudden turn, removing the light from Rena’s big eyes and giving them an unsettlingly preternatural glow, which fans called the "Higurashi eyes". He stated in an interview that he had analyzed many games and found that suddenly the eyes become cloudy can cause a strong unbalanced fear, so he filled her eyes with flat blue color and touched a bit with an airbrush. Ichijinsha added that the eyes are the first thing that people look at in 2D things, so "when you combine it with the shock factor, the impact is huge." In the anime, this shift is done through uncomfortably angled framing, as well as a gradual increase in the use of blackout shadows to obscure half of Rena’s face.[9][12]: 108 [7]

One of Rena's icons is a cleaver (nata more accurately, a Japanese gardening tool).[19] Her hatchet weapon originally was an axe, but this design was changed during development because it seemed a lot more "stylish". Ryukishi07 described it become "a recurring theme to show on the cover a girl and kyoki[a]".[20]

Rena is voiced by Mai Nakahara in Japanese and Mela Lee and Emi Lo in English.[21][1][22] Nakahara describes Rena as a diverse character.[23] Rena is portrayed by Airi Matsuyama [ja] in the live-action film series,[3] and by Minami Kato in the TV drama.[2] Matsuyama had worried about her performance, and portrayed her in a more realistic way.[24] Asahi, the illustrator of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Oni, described Rena as the most "kawaii" character overall. He stressed the sense of reality and charm of this character, stating that it is an excellent character that will not fade "even after 20 years".[25]

Appearances

Rena originally appeared as the mascot of 07th Expansion on its homepage and card illustrations, and her name is a variant of Ryukishi07.[12]: 10  She was officially introduced in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Onikakushi-hen and has appeared in most installment. Her real name is Reina Ryūgū. Due to her mother's affair and pregnant, she begins to detest her position with her mother and insists on being called "Rena".[26]: 7  With her parents' divorce, she became mentally unstable and desperate, attacking three of her male classmates with a baseball bat and smashing all the windows in her school. She was diagnosed with dysautonomia and hospitalized, during which she attempted to slit both her wrists.[26]: 6  She believed that "Oyashiro-sama" was punishing her for leaving the village by destroying her family and making maggots live in her blood.[15] But the reason for the latter actually is that she suffers from Hinamizawa Syndrome, a fictional disease based on schizophrenia and delusional parasitosis.[27] After moving back to Hinamizawa, she became meddlesome, who couldn't resist cute things and tries to take everything home.[9] She also attributed the missing of Satoshi Hojo to Oyashiro-sama's curse.[12]: 82  Her best friend is Keiichi Maebara, and she has a crush on him. Although she is aware that Mion Sonozaki has feelings for Keiichi, she does not change the way she treats him.[26]: 6 [28] Rena serves as the primary character in Tsumihoroboshi-hen,[29] which is considered one of the most intense in the series.[15]

The expanded arcs of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna includes Rena being involved in a series of murder cases investigated by Tomoe Minai. Victims in the case include the boyfriend of Ozaki Nagisa, Rena's childhood friend, who was wounded in Rena's attacks in Ibaraki Prefecture, and Nagisa herself.[30][31][32]

In Higurashi: When They Cry – Gou, the sequel to the series, Rena was present for the Three Families announcing that Oyashiro-sama's curse is no more, and entered university as she grown-up.[33][34][35] One of the main characters in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei which is set in 2019, Kihiro, is mentioned as Rena's son.[36]

She made a guest appearance in a crossover manga with Ryukishi07's another work, Umineko When They Cry.[37] Rena has also appeared in Trickster Online,[38] Super Heroine Chronicle,[39] Last Period,[40] SINoALICE,[41] Ao Oni Online,[42] Elemental Story [ja],[43] and PUBG Mobile[44] as part of a collaboration event. Besides, she also appeared in the official illustrations of Grisaia: Phantom Trigger the Animation Stargazer[45] and A Couple of Cuckoos.[46]

Reception and legacy

The scene of "Uso Da!" jumpscare is received generally positive reception and identified as a fan favorite[47]

Rena was selected in the best 4 in the 2007 Anime Saimoe Tournament.[48] In a 2013 poll by BIGLOBE, Rena was ranked as the 5th most popular "yandere" character.[49] In a 2015 poll held by Kaga Create, Rena was voted the most popular Higurashi When They Cry character with 2,973 votes. To celebrate this result, PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 3 have released the Rena Ryūgū theme.[50][51] According to a survey in August 2015, Rena was considered one of the most typical "menhera" anime and manga characters.[6] In a Netorabo poll, Rena was the most popular Higurashi When They Cry character in 2020, polling 19.6%.[52] In its 2021 poll, Rena was the second-most frightening Higurashi When They Cry character, polling 22.5%,[53] and the second-most character on the classmate list.[54] At the same year, Rena was voted the fan-favorite character amongst the Higurashi When They Cry cast with 5,515 votes in a MyAnimeList poll.[13] Numerous figures of Rena have been created.[55][56][57] Other merchandise, including acrylic stands and watches, have been modeled after Rena,[58][59] including cushion replicas of her cleaver.[60]

She has been well-received by critics. APGNation's Nicole Seraphita praised the character development of Rena Ryūgū as "perhaps the best of the lot", pointing out she comes across as a rather generic girl-next-door type at first, but she evolves into something far more interesting as more of her background is revealed.[61] Marcus Estrada from Hardcore Gamer praised Rena's role characterization in Tsumihoroboshi-hen that "Rena is a much stronger, deeper character than anyone may have expected".[62] Hinamizawa Shūichi of Netorabo described Rena as synonymous with the psychological horror part of the series, and praised the horror and contrast of the scenes involving her.[63] Jenni Lada for Siliconera also pointed out that the shift of Rena is especially evocative due to she was set up as the "cutest" character at the beginning of the story.[64] Sarah Fimm from The Mary Sue said Rena is "especially scary", and called her the "demonic little sister".[65] The Capsule Computers reviewer Luke Halliday praised Rena's Japanese voice actor Mai Nakahara for "doing a great job with the character", though he thought Rena's character molding is slightly stereotypical.[66] Theron Martin of Anime News Network praised Rena's English voice actor Mela Lee for performing sufficiently close to the original.[67] Rebecca Silverman from the same website criticized Rena's role in the When They Cry: Rei episode "Hirukowashi-hen" for she was used to make an "uncomfortable" lesbian joke,[68] and the THEM Anime Reviews thought this episode shows that Rena is "perhaps the least feminist of the girls".[69] Anime Feminist writer Lilith Miao stated that Rena was the first character with "multiple personalities" that she got invested in, but she criticized the inaccurate portrayal of Rena's split personality in the plot.[70]

Rena's most famous word, "Uso Da!" (嘘だ!, lit. 'That's a lie!'), stemming from she suddenly screams the term as Keiichi angers her in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Onikakushi-hen. The scene is regarded as a symbol of the work's shift towards psychological horror.[71] Episode 3 of Higurashi: When They Cry – Gou reproduced this scene.[72] The derivatives of the buzz word included the nendoroid figure of Rena Ryūgū with interchangeable "Uso Da" face,[73] a mug,[74] a theme hoodie,[75] and LINE stickers.[76]

In 2007, the 12th episode of When They Cry: Kai pulled temporarily from the airwaves because Rena bore some similarities to a murder incident where in Kyoto, a female minor killed her father with an axe while he slept.[77] During the Osaka city mayor election in 2014, the candidate Shigeo Ninomiya cited Rena's word on Twitter to express his enthusiasm for the election.[78] In 2017, the Ogawa Junior High School in Nakagawa, Tochigi found 12 glass doors were broken and the word "Higurashi" written in red spray paint across the windows in the staff room, which was thought to be a reference to Rena Ryūgū.[79]

Footnotes

Notes

  1. ^ A pun of "dangerous weapon" (凶器, kyoki) and "insanity" (狂気, kyoki).

References

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