Umineko: When They Cry/Characters/Meta

The characters of the Meta-World are those who have the privilege to fight the Game Master in order to figure out the truth. Other characters who can ascend to this level are the pieces introduced to the game board by the witches.

Major spoilers for the Core Arcs ahead.

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Erika Furudo

Voiced by: Natsuko Kuwatani

"...Without love, it cannot be seen? ...Hah. That's backwards. Because of love, you end up seeing things that don't even exist."

A cute young detective who happens to wash up on the shore of an island with an impending murder mystery. She calls herself an "Intellectual Rapist". She is the piece set by Bernkastel on the board of Rokkenjima. It turns out that she was never in the island in the first place. She did wash up on the island, but she was apparently dead, and her accident was forgotten due to the "Rokkenjima Explosion Accident".

At the end of Episode 5, she was named the "Witch of Truth" by Bernkastel, but was stripped of the title shortly after by Battler, who had ascended to Endless Sorcerer.

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• And Now You Must Marry Me: Complete with wedding dress.
• Back from the Dead: She comes back in EP8
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She helps Battler solve the puzzle of the epitaph for no reward at all, and then cracks up about the chaos it unleashes in the family (well, not like it wouldn't have been unleashed without her, but...).
• Catch Phrase: "GOOD!" and "Simply by XX, this level of reasoning is possible for Erika Furudo. What do you think, everyone?"
• The Corpse Stops Here: Her attitude towards Natsuhi after Hideyoshi's death.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Thought to be this sometime before the story, if the story about her ex-boyfriend is to be believed.
• Crazy Prepared: The tape seals. Not to mention how she got them all placed...
  • School Swimsuit
• Deconstruction: Imagine what type of personality would develop if everywhere someone normally harmless went; someone always kills another human being. It takes the flimsiest and occasionally technically wrong reasoning to cause the killer to break down into a Motive Rant and everyone praises her for it; so this person came to enjoy her life. She has never been wrong ever; even when actual facts didn't match up. The above description should sound very, very, familiar. This is possibly a Flanderization or Satire, but given Poe's Law it is hard to tell.
  • She could also be seen as a deconstruction of Conviction by Contradiction.
• The Dragon: To Bernkastel.
• Duct Tape for Everything: Especially for creating closed rooms. In fact Erika is so good at solving everything with duct tape that in her second game she was forbidden from using it and had to haggle just to get enough duct tape to cover three rooms.
• Eureka Moment: In Episode 5, "You are the culprit, Ms. Natsuhi Ushiromiya."
  • Except Natsuhi was denied as the culprit in red. Not that it stopped her.
• A Fate Worse Than Death: She is banished to oblivion by Bernkastel after she loses to Beatrice in EP6.
• Flung Clothing: Wears her regular clothes under her wedding dress! Yes, there's no way her normal clothes would have fit. Magic.
  • Ougon Musoukyoku takes it Up to Eleven where she wears her standard costume beneath her sleeveless, legless, skintight swimsuit.
• Freudian Excuse: Touched on in Dawn; the failure of her romantic relationship gives her a fanatical obsession with the truth and the need to utterly defile anything that might obscure it, be that magic or love. Erika even considers herself more powerful than Bernkastel and Lambdadelta in a way, because they'd rather distract themselves from their past miseries with other people's suffering than face those memories (and thus the truth) head-on.
• Genre Savvy: Deconstructed, as her analysis of the deaths as if they were from a novel is used to make her come off as evil and insane. You just don't tell a mother her child died in a way that sounds like from a third-rate mystery.
• Girlish Pigtails
• Girl with Psycho Weapon: A giant scythe.
• Go-Karting with Bowser: Wandering the realms of nothingness doesn't stop Battler from wanting to invite her to his party in EP8.
• Great Detective: Actually tries to refer to herself as such, and if you look at the description, she does match. Although the description doesn't necessarily include being, you know, right.
  • Amateur Sleuth
• Heel Realization: Near the end of EP6.
• I Have You Now, My Pretty: To Battler in EP6.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: Seemed this way at the end of EP6 when she declares to Dlanor that she is happy that someone finally protected her.
• Insufferable Genius
• Jerkass
• Lack of Empathy
• Large Ham
• Lawful Stupid
• Leitmotif: The great detective knows
• Little Miss Badass
• Logic Bomb
• Meaningful Name: Flipping her name around makes it read similarly in Japanese to "Frederica," which was the first half of Bern's name in Higurashi.
• Munchkin: Of the Metagamer variety. She knows she's playing in a murder mystery game, so she does things that would be insane and illogical if she didn't know she was in a murder mystery.
• Nice Hat: Dons a pirate hat while raiding the Golden Land, which we see in its full glory in the Play Station 3 port.
• Photographic Memory: Proclaims herself to have one.
• Pimped-Out Dress: Which was originally Jessica's when she was younger. Natsuhi lends it to Erika since she had nothing suitable to wear.
• Puff of Logic: Disappeared at the end of Dawn because she couldn't figure out how she could be the 18th person on the island if, including herself, there are only 17 people on the island.
• Redemption Equals Death: Subverted by EP8.
• Shy Blue-Haired Girl: Completely Averted.
• Sinister Scythe: Her Weapon of Choice is a blueish-colored scythe made of light.
• Smug Snake
• The Thing That Would Not Leave: Technically she can't leave as long as the storm is going, but the way she turns into one of these within only a few hours really speaks for the depth of her self-entitlement.
• Tyrant Takes the Helm
• Villainous Breakdown: After Battler breaks her locked room theory, then again during the climax of EP5.
• Villainous Rescue: She rescues Ange from a horde of goats who taunt her over her parents and brother being the culprits.
• Worthy Opponent: Her ultimate impression of Battler by the end of the series.
• Wrong Genre Savvy
• Xtreme Kool Letterz: The "E" in "Erika" uses ヱ, an archaic, outmoded katakana that apparently makes it look cooler (as opposed to the orthodox エ). Call it another Sue trait.
• You Gotta Have Blue Hair

Willard H. Wright

Voiced by: Hiroki Takahashi

"We are Inquisitors of Heresy. Felling evil witches is our job. However, we must not risk hurting the innocent. We must not suspect them...!"

The detective of EP7. He is the former head of the SSVD, the 8th District Repentance Agency. He is first mentioned in EP5 in the TIPS, where he is referred to as "Wizard-hunting Wright". He has since then resigned from his post. He is called to Rokkenjima by Bernkastel in order to solve Beatrice's murder.

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• The Ace: And how.
• Always Someone Better: He is this to Dlanor, being not only competent at using his own rules, but also a mighty detective himself. Adding that he has twice the amount of rules she has to that result...Subverted that when they do meet, she seems to regard him with respect and a hint of admiration.
• Back-to-Back Badasses: with Dlanor in the Last Stand.
• Badass Longcoat
• Berserk Button: Do not, DO NOT insult the mystery genre. You'll get HEADBUTTED TO DEATH IF YOU DO.
• Brought Down to Badass: In EP8, he and Dlanor face a gigantic goat who nullifies their rules. As they are both without any power to face the goat, he proceeds to do the next logical thing and defeat him with a HEADBUTT because that's what he does.
• But Thou Must!: He initially attempts to refuse to play along with Bernkastel's game; she promptly responds by trapping he and everyone else on the island until he cooperates.
• Catch Phrase: "Don't think too hard about it. You'll get a headache."
• Chekhov's Gunman: He got a mention in the TIPS section of EP5.
• Cool Sword: Will's Weapon of Choice, which he uses to separate truth from fiction. Often portrayed as a BFS in fanart, though it isn't made clear in the games just how big the sword is.
  • The Play Station 3 port depicts it as a narrow-bladed, one-edged sword.
  • Now that he's in Ougon Musoukyoku CROSS his sword is quite clearly a one-handed sword of realistically sensible size.
• Deadpan Snarker
• Determinator Loses an arm fighting Bern, still thinks he has a chance of winning and saving Lion. Made it all the more surprising by the fact that he does win and save Lion in EP8.
• Establishing Character Moment: His introduction has him kicking down doors to rescue an innocent maid from a sham trial run by his own SSVD. Talk about leaving a first impression.
• Eyes of Gold
• Facing the Bullets One-Liner

It's about time someone trimmed your claws! My name is Willard H. Wright, this will be the last time I will draw my sword!

• The Fettered: In spite of his irritability, Will is probably the most unabashed example of Neutral Good in the series.
• Great Detective: The smartest character in the series by far.
• Grumpy Bear
• Handicapped Badass: One of the most widely accepted theories about his duel against Bern is that he didn't use all of his twenty wedges, as Umineko clearly violates some and he refused to destroy the gameboard, as it would be the same as denying Lion a happy ending. This makes him unusually weak from a meta-perspective, as he doesn't have access to any reds the other detectives have, and can only use around 3 or 4 rules from his arsenal. This makes him understanding the truth being Shkanon and the four games, something that even Erika couldn't do, that much more impressive. The heartwarming part comes from him putting that handicap on himself.
• Heel Face Turn: His profile states that he used to be utterly cold-hearted, cruel, and ruthless in his job as a witch-hunter, but something happened that drastically changed his attitude, sending him into a disillusioned downward spiral until he resigned from the court of heaven altogether.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Barely averted in that he survives while succeeding at doing what he tried to sacrifice himself for.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: He's got a gruff demeanor, but he's actually an incredibly good person, becoming disgusted with his own inquisition agency for their brutality, being incredibly kind to Rosa, and eventually turning against Bernkastel for Lion's sake. Not exactly what you'd expect from the guy who banned love from his detective novels. Or the guy who was brought in by a Complete Monster (Bernkastel).
• Kindhearted Cat Lover: Dotes on his pet cat, Diana, to the point of referring to her as his girlfriend.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Referred to almost exclusively as Will by both the characters and the narrative.
• Rage Against the Author: He eventually explains that his reason for quitting the SSVD was due to becoming sick of dealing with nothing but tragic mysteries, which seems to partially fuel his [[spoiler:impassioned defiance of the idea that a happy ending is impossible for Beatrice.
• Retirony: Subverted by EP8.
• Retired Badass: Pointed out in his description.
• Unwitting Pawn: Was driven by understanding and compassion when he agreed to put down the last traces of the witch Beatrice in the form of Clair. This is, of course, exactly what Bernkastel was counting on.

Lion Ushiromiya

Voiced by: Ayako Kawasumi

"I'm the embodiment of the one hope held by the Beatrices of a million worlds... So, even at times like this, I have to be everyone's hope. I'm not giving up on this game yet."

A version of the man from 19 years ago, as in the baby Natsuhi was given by Kinzo, who exists in alternate universes where they weren't thrown of a cliff and where he grew up to be the future successor to the Ushiromiya family instead. Lion teams up with Willard H. Wright in his investigation of Beatrice's death.

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• The Ace: To the point where George notes that Lion tends to come across as a little too perfect sometimes.
• Ambiguous Gender: Very intentionally; The narration refers to them very gender-neutrally, they have an androgynous appearance, and nobody seems to know what their gender actually is.
  • Bishonen/Bifauxnen
  • Lampshade Hanging: Even Will doesn't know what it is, and it's one of the mysteries that he's supposed to solve. When he actually asks Lion, he doesn't get a straight answer.
• Break the Cutie
• But Not Too Foreign: Lion is of mostly Japanese heritage, but has some Italian blood due to being Beatrice Castiglioni's grandchild.
• Deadpan Snarker: When around Will, who's also quite the snarker.
• Determinator: Has definitely become this by the end of the EP7 Tea Party.

"I'll definitely survive...and so will you...!"

• Etiquette Nazi: Woe betide anyone who doesn't act politely enough in front of Lion's relatives.
• For Want of a Nail: As previously stated, Lion is Natsuhi's first child if s/he wasn't thrown off the cliff. Bernkastel actually states that the probability of that was 1/2578917. It's also interesting to note that in the world where he exists Beatrice, the epitaph, Shannon and Kanon do not exist, Battler does not go back to the island, and the murders do not occur.
  • Not so much on that last one, as Bernkastel takes great delight in revealing...though the reasons are completely different this time.
• Happily Adopted
• Heroic Bastard: Lion, like Yasu, is the child of Kinzo and Beatrice II, Kinzo's daughter.
• Running Gag: Has quite the reputation as a butt-pincher in the Ushiromiya family, and winds up doing this to Will whenever he gets out of hand.
• Spell My Name with an "S": Is referred to as Lion, Leon, or even Lyon. But Word of God says that Lion is the correct spelling.
• Student Council President: Was this in middle school and high school, according to George.
• The Watson: Will H. Wright calls him/her this.

Black Battler

Voiced by: Daisuke Ono

"Battler Ushiromiya. That's supposed to be my name. I've been called that many times... I guess it's obvious, since it is my name. But me and the Battler Ushiromiya I know... sad to say, we're pretty different."

A version of Battler that appears only in the All There in the Manual short story "Forgery no.XXX" and the Fighting Game Ougon Musoukyoku Cross. He represents the idea that Battler is responsible for the Rokkenjima murders.

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• All There in the Manual / Canon Foreigner: Of sorts. He is given a minor shout-out in Episode 8 since the solution to Bernkastel's culprit game is that Battler, Rudolf and Kyrie are the culprits.
• Anthropomorphic Personification: Of the belief that Battler is the culprit.
• Ax Crazy
• Card-Carrying Villain
• Clap Your Hands If You Believe: The story where he appears in basically says he's powered by in-universe Wild Mass Guessing and Fan Fiction.
• Creepy Monotone: When he's not hamming it up.
• Dark Is Evil
• Dissonant Serenity: His default expression.
• Evil Counterpart / Enemy Without
• Evil Laugh
• Evil Redhead
• Expy: He is very similar to Shiki Nanaya in Tsukihime/Melty Blood in that he's the evil counterpart to the protagonist.
• Fan Nickname: Culprit!Battler
• For the Evulz
• Lack of Empathy
• Large Ham: He has his moments.
• Mythology Gag: His Palette Swap in Ougon Musoukyoku Cross gives him a black suit, white shirt, green tie, and white hair, mirroring the color scheme of Battler's appearance in the Episode 8 ???? as Toya Hachijo.
• Obviously Evil: Dissonant Serenity? Negative palette swap of Battler? His name is "Black Battler" and his special ability in Ougon Musoukyoku is "Massacre"? He's obviously the most trustworthy person on the island!
• Red Eyes, Take Warning
• SNK Boss: Just watch.

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