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This article is about a character in
Umineko When They Cry.
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Overview

Natsuhi Ushiromiya (右代宮 夏妃 Ushiromiya Natsuhi) is Krauss Ushiromiya's wife and manages the Ushiromiya family household and servants.

Profile[]

Krauss's wife.

She manages the household of the Ushiromiya family in place of her husband, who takes little interest in such matters. She was in charge of all preparations and arrangements for this family conference.

She possesses a strong sense of responsibility, and a great deal of pride.
However, neither her husband nor her siblings understand her very well, so his position is far from enviable.

Appearance[]

Natsuhi is a tall, middle-aged woman with fair skin, dark eyes, and dark brown hair, which she keeps tied up in a side ponytail. Her hair is also slightly tinted with a reddish color. She is considered relatively attractive by both her nephew Battler and brother-in-law Rudolf, with the latter noting how her daughter Jessica inherited Natsuhi's features.

Natsuhi's clothes consist of a purple plum-vintage dress, green earrings, a green medallion on a light purple necktie, and high-heeled purple shoes. Like most of the Ushiromiya women, Natsuhi has an imposing figure, being both very slender and rather voluptuous.

Personality[]

Natsuhi is a very strict and serious woman who has been described as "stiff" by multiple characters. However, she hides a surprisingly short temper and tends to shout quite a bit. She is also very loyal and responsible, and tends to bottle up her feelings and write them down in her diaries so that she will forget about them rather than express herself.

Her strictness seem to have stemmed from grown up in a strict family as shown in Dawn of the Golden Witch manga where she had to wake up in the middle of the night to greet her father who had just returned home and her parents telling her to be a good wife before she gets married. She regrets not being able to build a good relationship with her daughter but does not know how. In contrast to Rosa's hot tempered treatment to her child's bad behavior, she is cold when Jessica does something she is not pleased with.

Her biggest weakness is her pride; she will do anything to protect the family's honor and is even willing to sacrifice herself for the family head's honor. Because of her pride, as seen in Requiem of the Golden Witch, she is unable to accept Yasu as it makes her feel shameful of being unable to conceive a child for many years. This is one reason why the possibility of her accepting the baby very low and thus making it a miracle. However, when she accepts the baby, she will give the baby as much love as her biological daughter so much that the baby never realized that she was not their real mother until someone tells them.

Natsuhi appears to be rather unfortunate, as she is disrespected by most of her family, frequently suffers from headaches, and is very often criticized by her sister-in-law, bordering on verbal abuse. However, if put under constant pressure in certain situations, she is more than capable of not letting herself be subdued psychologically and even takes the lead quickly.

Abilities[]

Natsuhi owns a spirit mirror which can provide deterrence to evil spirits and witches. Natsuhi is also said to have skills in wielding a naginata[2], however this is never shown.

Background[]

Natsuhi is descended from a line of Shinto priests, who arranged for her to marry into the Ushiromiya family. Natsuhi was initially unhappy with this turn of events but came to truly love Krauss.

After their marriage, Natsuhi was burdened with the pressure of providing a child to become the next family head. In End of the Golden Witch, it's revealed that Kinzo gave Natsuhi a baby for her to raise because of her failure to get pregnant. Natsuhi felt disgraced by this and, while out on a walk with the baby and a servant, pushed them off of a cliff and killed them both. Natsuhi kept this a secret and left Genji and Kinzo to discover the deaths for themselves and cover them up. Natsuhi was later able to give birth to Jessica. End additionally reveals that after Kinzo's death in 1984, Natsuhi, Krauss, Nanjo, and several servants conspired to keep his death a secret.

Requiem of the Golden Witch reveals that the child Natsuhi believed she killed, Yasuda, actually survived the incident but suffered damage to their genitals, and was taken to live in the Fukuin House by Genji.

Relationships[]

Overview[]

Ushiromiya Family

Other

Kanon[]

Kanon thinks that Natsuhi views him as an enemy after a rumor spread that she isn't as strict towards male servants. Kanon mainly pities her because to him, she seems deeply pained. This comes from him seeing her crying alone.

Role in the Story[]

Legend of the Golden Witch[]

The First Day

Natsuhi Ushiromiya is introduced in this arc as Krauss Ushiromiya's wife. She is shown to be a rather prideful woman with a short temper, keen on being the perfect host for the extended family who are visiting the annual family conference. She is also said to have a tendency for stress-induced headaches. Eva humiliates Natsuhi as a "borrowed womb for bearing a successor" and states she has no right to speak about financial matters. This distresses Natsuhi who leaves the room in tears as the conflict between Eva and Natsuhi is introduced by Kumasawa. After the witch's letter arrives, a disbelieving Natsuhi is shown a golden ingot by Krauss in secrecy in order to convince her the legend of Kinzo's gold was indeed the truth. Natsuhi is dismayed by how her husband hadn't told her this earlier and as she retires to her room for the night, she receives a scorpion charm from her daughter Jessica (given to her by Maria), which Natsuhi binds to her room's doorknob before she goes to bed.

The Second Day

After waking up, Natsuhi discovers her room's door covered in bloody handprints with the charm intact. She dismisses it as a prank, but is later shocked and pained when she is summoned to the site of the first set of murders and tries to keep the children away from there. After they realize Kinzo is also missing from his study, Natsuhi brings a rifle with her from his collection in order to use as self defense. Eva suspects Natsuhi for Kinzo's disappearance but Battler defends her.

After Eva, Hideyoshi, Kinzo and Kanon's corpses were discovered, the remaining survivors barricade themselves in Kinzo's study. A suddenly appearing letter from Beatrice has Natsuhi suspecting the servants and Maria, who are then expelled from the study. After the three servants were found dead in the parlor, Natsuhi is seen leaving, reading a letter of challenge issued to her from Beatrice. As the two engage in a duel, the children are desperately search for her. A gunshot is heard and the children follow the sound, only to find Natsuhi dead and crumpled on the floor.

Found shot to death in front of the witch's portrait.

How impudent of her to challenge a witch with nothing but a mere gun. Of course she'd end up like this.

Kihihihihihihihihihi.

Turn of the Golden Witch[]

In this chapter, the unexpected arrival of the guest Beatrice has the siblings hounding Natsuhi and her husband, only to discover they hadn't invited her. That night, she gathers along with the other family members in the chapel and they all acknowledge Beatrice's existence. The next morning, she and the other siblings are discovered in the chapel as sacrifices for the first twilight, unconscious with their stomachs ripped open and stuffed with candy.

Having died early on in the story, Natsuhi doesn't play a significant role in this chapter. However, George, Gohda and Shannon revisit her corpse in the chapel to obtain the key to her room and use her spirit mirror in order to defend themselves against the witch.

Her corpse was found inside the chapel. The direct cause of death is unknown, but it seems her stomach was cut open and her intestines pulled out after her death. On top of that, sweets and candies were packed into her stomach.

Didn't I tell you? Stomachs are packed full of candy.

Banquet of the Golden Witch[]

Natsuhi plays a very minor role in this chapter. She tries to be involved as the other family members solve the epitaph, but she is unable to be of any help and only stands around listening and remarking in confusion. She and Krauss are eventually killed by the Chiester Sisters on the order of EVA-Beatrice, soon after Eva Ushiromiya leaves the room to wash her face and make some coffee. Their corpses are later discovered in the arbor by the rose garden.

Her corpse was found in the rose garden arbor. The cause of her death is assumed to be strangling with a rope-like object. A stake-shaped weapon was sticking out of her calf.

Why do I even have to follow the epitaph in the first place? Is this some kind of game?

Alliance of the Golden Witch[]

Natsuhi again doesn't play any significant role in this chapter. After the siblings confront her and Krauss on whether Kinzo was dead or alive, they are all confronted by Kinzo himself in the dining hall, where he summons Ronove, Gaap and the Chiester Sisters, announcing his ceremony to revive Beatrice. Natsuhi is killed as one of the very first sacrifices for the first twilight and is only mentioned afterwards as Battler is surveying her corpse in the aftermath.

Her corpse was found in the dining hall. About half of her head was destroyed. It's probably reasonable to assume that she was murdered with a powerful gun or something similar.

However, the witnesses don't believe that she was killed with a gun...

End of the Golden Witch[]

Natsuhi has much of the focus in this episode, detailing her marriage with Krauss and their attempts at hiding Kinzo's death. At some point, Natsuhi becomes haunted with calls by The Man From 19 Years Ago, who claims to be Natsuhi's child and that his life was ruined by her. He blackmails her into doing several things or else he'll reveal her "sin"; the first order is to stay in her room all night until he calls again. Natsuhi reluctantly agrees, thinking about her past and recalling a sea breeze. 

The next morning, Natsuhi wakes up to discover that her husband Krauss is missing and her daughter Jessica had been killed, along with several other people. The Man calls back and says that he's kidnapped Krauss, who can be heard in the background. After some more threats, Natsuhi is told to go into an empty guest room and hide in the closet. 

She does so, and then sees Hideyoshi come in and start crying, lamenting the death of his son George. Hideyoshi is then attacked and killed by an unknown assailant, and the rest of the family comes in to investigate. They cover up his corpse and carry it off, and Natsuhi comes out of hiding when they leave. 

At some point during the calls, The Man directs Natsuhi to pick up an item with her favorite season written on it, which turns out to be autumn; Natsuhi remembers that she's never told anybody about her favorite season except Shannon

The detectve Erika Furudo had been investigating these murders throughout, and accuses Natsuhi of being the culprit; Natsuhi didn't want to tell them about The Man, and so she cannot come up with an alibi to explain her disappearances. Eva begins physically and verbally assaulting her, sad and angry over the death of her husband and son; Natsuhi finally breaks down and reveals her sin. 

The Sin 

19 years ago, she and Krauss were trying to have a child together, but Natsuhi just couldn't get pregnant. Kinzo decides to give her a baby to adopt since she can't bear one herself. While going on a walk with the baby and a servant, Natsuhi considers her circumstances and becomes angry, thinking that Kinzo doesn't think very highly of her; she gives the baby to the servant and then pushes them off a cliff, killing them both. She kept this a secret from everybody, and eventually got pregnant with Jessica.  

The Witch's Court 

In the meta-world, a court session is called to determine if Natsuhi is the culprit; in this case, all reds presented by non-witches must have evidence to back them up. Erika has been collecting evidence against Natsuhi, having them confirmed in red. Battler tries his best to disprove her theories, and eventually becomes impaled with the Red Truth. However, in the ????, Battler dscovers new evidence that leads to Natsuhi's innocence. 

Dawn of the Golden Witch[]

Natsuhi doesn't play any significant role in this chapter as she is chosen as one of the sacrifices for the first twilight, targeted by Chick Beato for the love trial. Beato initially struggles against her when Natsuhi pulls out her spirit mirror, but Battler saves her.

Her body is then discovered in her room. Erika tries to examine her corpse but only gets vague information.

Her corpse was found in her room.

Furudo Erika didn't perform a proper investigation, so the details of the cause of death are unknown.

In reality, she was only playing dead as a part of a big prank, but Erika decapitated her.

Her corpse was found in her room.

Her neck was completely severed by a blade. The most perfect kind of corpse, both impossible to mistakenly identify as dead and completely recognizable.

Natsuhi later appears in the tea party at Battler and Beatrice's wedding where she begrudgingly accepts Jessica and Kanon's union.

Requiem of the Golden Witch[]

In the Tea Party, the adults solve the epitaph and are given the ten tons of gold and a cash card worth 1 billion yen, beginning to argue over it. Krauss tells his siblings that the only way to exchange the money is through him; Natsuhi agrees to this but starts to become desperate as the argument continues. The argument becomes very heated and Eva tries to convince everyone that they already have enough money on the cash card. Natsuhi becomes frantic and runs at Eva who accidentally shoots her in the head, kick-starting the Rokkenjima Massacre.

Twilight of the Golden Witch[]

Natsuhi dies on the 2nd Twilight of Bernkastel's game.

Trivia[]

  • When Ryukishi07 originally drew Natsuhi, he intended to use her for Beatrice's design, but he changed it.[3]
  • Ryukishi wanted Natsuhi to have an affair with Gohda but it was changed due to staff complaints.[4]
  • A common nickname for Natsuhi in the Japanese fanbase is "Nappi" (なっぴー). It appears to have been coined by a user on the 07th Expansion forums on September 7, 2007, a month after the release of Legend.[5]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 07th Expansion All Character Settings Collection
  2. End of the Golden Witch, Chapter 13: Closet. Narration: Natsuhi had some experience with using a naginata, though only casually. Unlike Eva, she couldn't brag about being able to hold off any single ruffian indefinitely.
  3. Episode 1 Shinsou Kaimei Dokuhon. Ryukishi07: "Actually, at first I thought Natsuhi was going to be Beatrice. But after I drew her and looked at her, I realized she didn't look like Beatrice. She has the face of a full-blooded human being, so I decided that she should be Jessica's mother."
  4. Episode 8 Shinsou Kaimei Dokuhon page 16
  5. 07th Expansion Umineko BBS via Internet Archive
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