OVA
Description
Satoshi Hōjō, older brother to Satoko Hōjō, experienced repeated family upheavals through his mother’s marriages, leading to successive surname changes—Hatake, Yoshizawa, and Matsūra—before adopting Hōjō. After his parents died in a Watanagashi Festival accident where his mother’s body vanished, Satoshi and Satoko entered the abusive guardianship of their aunt Tamae and uncle Teppei. He bore physical mistreatment while fiercely protecting Satoko, accelerating his physical decline.
Attending Hinamizawa Branch School, he joined Coach Kyōsuke Irie’s Hinamizawa Fighters baseball team but later quit for part-time work, saving to buy Satoko a large teddy bear. During this time, he developed terminal-stage Hinamizawa Syndrome, suffering hallucinations, paranoia, and auditory delusions of footsteps. In June 1982, his fractured mental state culminated in Tamae’s murder with a baseball bat on the night of Watanagashi Festival, driven by his resolve to shield Satoko. Days later, en route to Okinomiya to collect the reserved teddy bear, Irie intercepted him upon recognizing severe symptoms. Confined comatose in Irie Clinic’s underground facility, his disappearance fueled the legend of Oyashiro-sama’s fourth-year curse. The teddy bear remained in his hospital room.
His absence left deep marks: Satoko believed he transferred schools, hardening her independence. Shion Sonozaki, harboring intense feelings for him, interpreted his vanishing as being "demoned away," igniting vengeful acts across multiple storylines. She later uncovered his comatose state during Matsuribayashi-hen and visited him regularly.
In divergent timelines, his fate shifts: Saikoroshi-hen (within Rei) shows a world where his parents survived, enabling his normal life and school participation. The console-exclusive Miotsukushi-hen depicts Irie’s successful cure facilitating full recovery and reunion with Satoko and Shion. The Sotsu anime concludes with his 1987 awakening. Finally, the 20th-anniversary manga Rei, set 35 years post-original events, reveals his marriage to Shion and residence in Hinamizawa.
Attending Hinamizawa Branch School, he joined Coach Kyōsuke Irie’s Hinamizawa Fighters baseball team but later quit for part-time work, saving to buy Satoko a large teddy bear. During this time, he developed terminal-stage Hinamizawa Syndrome, suffering hallucinations, paranoia, and auditory delusions of footsteps. In June 1982, his fractured mental state culminated in Tamae’s murder with a baseball bat on the night of Watanagashi Festival, driven by his resolve to shield Satoko. Days later, en route to Okinomiya to collect the reserved teddy bear, Irie intercepted him upon recognizing severe symptoms. Confined comatose in Irie Clinic’s underground facility, his disappearance fueled the legend of Oyashiro-sama’s fourth-year curse. The teddy bear remained in his hospital room.
His absence left deep marks: Satoko believed he transferred schools, hardening her independence. Shion Sonozaki, harboring intense feelings for him, interpreted his vanishing as being "demoned away," igniting vengeful acts across multiple storylines. She later uncovered his comatose state during Matsuribayashi-hen and visited him regularly.
In divergent timelines, his fate shifts: Saikoroshi-hen (within Rei) shows a world where his parents survived, enabling his normal life and school participation. The console-exclusive Miotsukushi-hen depicts Irie’s successful cure facilitating full recovery and reunion with Satoko and Shion. The Sotsu anime concludes with his 1987 awakening. Finally, the 20th-anniversary manga Rei, set 35 years post-original events, reveals his marriage to Shion and residence in Hinamizawa.