The belovedFatal Frameseries is known for its dark atmosphere, deep and entwining storylines, as well as memorable characters both good and evil. Many of the games feature branching storylines with a variety of controllable protagonists, while other characters influence the story through cutscenes and in-game story items.
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The complex family treesof the franchise can be confusing, but they all help to enrich a series that is now finally fully available to Western audiences on modern platforms. While not every character in this list is a playable character, they are generally considered to be on the “good” side of the story, even if they don’t alwaysend up producing good outcomes.
15Sayaka Minazuki
Though Sayaka is not a playable character, she features as a guide to Ruka Minazuki and Choushiro Kirishima, who are both player-controlled characters. Having lost her daughter to the water ritual on Rougetsu Island, she contacts the detective, Choushiro, and grants him the special flashlight that enables him to slay ghosts.
Though her contribution is helpful, she cannot really be considered in the same vein as other, more important characters in the series.
14Mafuyu Hinasaki
Since Mafuyu is only very briefly playable in the prologue of the originalFatal Frame, many players will not remember him fondly. It is also primarily his fault that many of the terriblesupernaturalevents that happen to his sister later unfold. Not a bad person necessarily, but a naive one certainly.
He’s also weirdly implicated in the birth of Miu, despite being Miku’s older brother.
13Madoka Tsukimori
Madoka is one of the four playable protagonists inFatal Frame 4: Mask Of The Lunar Eclipse, and one of the surviving girls of the Rougetsu Island water ritual.
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This poor girl is really not cut out for this kind of supernatural investigative work and complains and doubts herself at every possible opportunity. Though players are inclined to feel sorry for her in many ways, it would have been far more sensible for her to simply stay at home.
12Kei Amakura
Kei appears as a playable character inFatal Frame 3: The Tormented, and much like Mafuyu, it is his naïveté that gets him into trouble.
Uncle to Mio and Mayu Amakura, Kei attempts to enact a spirit ritual following the tragic events surrounding his nieces. Suffice it to say it does not go to plan, and Kei ends up unleashing far more chaos than he otherwise might have done.
11Hisoko Kurosawa
Descended from a Shrine Maiden of Mt Hikami, Hisoko appears inFatal Frame 5: Maiden Of Blackwateras an intelligent and intuitive investigator.
Her skills as a Shadow Reader enable her to find lost items as well as understand things about them. She is also able to tell fortunes and works as a cafe owner and antique dealer. She is also a mentor to Yuri, one of the playable characters in the game.
10Mayu Amakura
One of the central protagonists ofFatal Frame 2: The Crimson Butterfly,Mayu is highly susceptible to the paranormal and becomes increasingly sick as her sister, Mio, tries to save her. Mayu can be frustrating due to her slow movement, but players will largely control her sister throughout the game’s story.
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Whilst she is certainly deserving of our empathy, Mayu irritated a lot of players by wandering off and separating herself from Mio for increasingly bizarre reasons. This unfortunate negative impact on game mechanics detracts from her otherwise likable character design and her powerful impact on the story.
9Misaki Asou
A descendent of Dr. Kunihiko Asou, Misaki revisits Rogetsu Island in order to learn more about the water ritual, in addition to finding a cure for her ‘getsuyuu syndrome’.
She is a strong-willed and resilient character, having survived unimaginable torture in her youth, and like many other characters, her fate is dependent upon player choices made throughout the game’s story. She is relatively courageous compared to her friend Madoka, though it could be argued that Madoka’s tragic fate is a consequence of Misaki’s decisions.
8Ruka Minazuki
Though Ruka generally does not engage in many conversations and is largely isolated throughout the story ofFatal Frame 4: Mask Of The Lunar Eclipse, she is courageous enough to explore and face ghosts by herself and is also a very thoughtful and insightful character.
It is thanks to her that many mysteries on Rogetsu Island are uncovered, all the while battling the psychological Getsuyuu Syndrome.
7Choushiro Kirishima
A former police detective, Choushiro is arguably the strongest protagonist inFatal Frame 4: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse, and his special flashlight makes for a good change to combat from the Camera Obscura.
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Choushiro is a noble and well-meaning gentleman, and he contributes a piece of the Rougetsu Island ritual mask for Ruka. Unlike many other playable characters in the series, Choushiro is already in spirit form, having died years before the events of the game begin.
6Ren Hojo
Ren is an author with a curiosity verging on the obsessive and is not necessarily always the most sensible adult in the room. Much like Rei inFatal Frame 3: The Tormented, Ren is plagued by bad dreams, in particular by the ghost of ashrine maiden named Shiragiku.
He is a forgetful man, often misplacing things and requiring the assistance of Hisoko to recover them. But, he is a good-spirited and resilient investigator, with his heart in the right place.
