{"id":55500,"date":"2025-12-26T19:30:21","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T10:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=55500"},"modified":"2025-12-30T22:51:23","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T13:51:23","slug":"silent-hill-f-hinakos-name-was-literally-a-when-they-cry-series-reference-says-writer-ryukishi07-i-think-its-high-time-somebody-noticed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/silent-hill-f-hinakos-name-was-literally-a-when-they-cry-series-reference-says-writer-ryukishi07-i-think-its-high-time-somebody-noticed\/","title":{"rendered":"Silent Hill f Hinako&#8217;s name was literally a When they Cry series reference, says writer Ryukishi07. \u201cI think it\u2019s high time somebody noticed\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Ever since <strong>Silent Hill f<\/strong> lead actress <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/silent-hill-f-lead-actress-tearful-playthrough-of-the-game-may-be-what-inspired-new-casual-mode-fans-theorize\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Konatsu Kato\u2019s tearful playthrough of the game<\/a> exploded on Japanese social media, <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/silent-hill-f-shus-japanese-voice-actor-to-livestream-the-game-and-reminisce-about-what-filming-was-like\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">other voice actors<\/a> and staff members decided to join in on the fun and give streaming a shot too. Recently, the game\u2019s scenario writer Ryukishi07 <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/silent-hill-f-writer-ryukishi07s-doujin-circle-tease-upcoming-livestream-of-themselves-playing-the-game\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">also took a stab at livestreaming the game<\/a> on YouTube, during which he discussed the development process, shared some behind-the scenes trivia, and talked about what could have been if some of his rejected ideas were employed for the game. Hardcore When They Cry series fans may have already noticed this \u2013 but Hinako herself is a  Umineko reference, says Ryukishi07.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"\u301007thExpansion\u516c\u5f0f\u3011 \u30b5\u30a4\u30ec\u30f3\u30c8\u30d2\u30ebf \u30b2\u30fc\u30e0\u5b9f\u6cc1 \u3010\u30c6\u30b9\u30c8\u914d\u4fe1\u3011\" width=\"1160\" height=\"653\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/oHEwHKVemcE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI think it\u2019s high time somebody finally noticed that the names of the characters are just Umineko references,\u201d Ryukishi07 commented in the livestream (around the 00:11:22 mark). As the writer explained, the names of Hinako, Rinko and Sakuko come directly from names of Umineko When They Cry characters, specifically Jessica\u2019s friends Hina, Rin and Saku, who appear in Episode 2 of the acclaimed visual novel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cTo be completely honest, these were only placeholder names to me, and I originally wanted to give [the characters] much cooler names later,\u201d Ryukishi07 said. Apparently, the writer only used \u201cHinako,\u201d \u201cRinko,\u201d and \u201cSakuko\u201d as stand-ins while planning out the story, but it seems that for some reason, whether intentionally or not, they ended up sticking around. However, those probably aren\u2019t the only When They Cry series references appearing in Silent Hill f, and there are many more that didn\u2019t even make it to the final game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a recent interview with <a href=\"https:\/\/dengekionline.com\/article\/202512\/57881\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Dengeki Online<\/a>, Silent Hill f director Al Yang revealed that an iconic blade from Higurashi When They Cry was originally supposed to be one of Hinako\u2019s combat weapons. \u201cAt quite an early stage in development, there was discussion about putting Rena Ryugu\u2019s cleaver into the game. We did try it out, but since everything in Silent Hill is supposed to have a meaning, and everything exists within the story for an actual reason, we unfortunately ended up having to scrap the idea,\u201d Yang notes. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Related articles:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/we-pretended-to-mistakenly-ship-the-game-just-to-get-feedback-silent-hill-f-writer-ryukishi07-reminisces-on-his-humble-beginnings-as-a-game-creator\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u201cWe pretended to mistakenly ship the game just to get feedback\u201d Silent Hill f writer Ryukishi07 reminisces on his humble beginnings as a game creator<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/silent-hill-fs-success-was-helped-greatly-by-memes-fanart-and-theories-it-inspired-devs-say-a-new-approach-to-writing-characters-unlocked-potential-for-virality\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Silent Hill f\u2019s success was helped greatly by memes, fanart and theories it inspired, devs say. A new approach to writing characters unlocked potential for virality<br><\/a><br><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cI think it\u2019s high time somebody finally noticed that the names of the characters are just Umineko references.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":55501,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-55500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Silent Hill f Hinako&#039;s name was literally a When they Cry series reference, says writer Ryukishi07. \u201cI think it\u2019s high time somebody noticed\u201d - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u201cI think it\u2019s high time somebody finally noticed that the names of the characters are just Umineko references.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/silent-hill-f-hinakos-name-was-literally-a-when-they-cry-series-reference-says-writer-ryukishi07-i-think-its-high-time-somebody-noticed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Silent Hill f Hinako&#039;s name was literally a When they Cry series reference, says writer Ryukishi07. \u201cI think it\u2019s high time somebody noticed\u201d - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cI think it\u2019s high time somebody finally noticed that the names of the characters are just Umineko references.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/silent-hill-f-hinakos-name-was-literally-a-when-they-cry-series-reference-says-writer-ryukishi07-i-think-its-high-time-somebody-noticed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-26T10:30:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-30T13:51:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251226-55500-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"432\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"\u0110or\u0111e P\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\u0110or\u0111e P\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Silent Hill f Hinako's name was literally a When they Cry series reference, says writer Ryukishi07. \u201cI think it\u2019s high time somebody noticed\u201d - AUTOMATON WEST","description":"\u201cI think it\u2019s high time somebody finally noticed that the names of the characters are just Umineko references.\u201d","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/silent-hill-f-hinakos-name-was-literally-a-when-they-cry-series-reference-says-writer-ryukishi07-i-think-its-high-time-somebody-noticed\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Silent Hill f Hinako's name was literally a When they Cry series reference, says writer Ryukishi07. \u201cI think it\u2019s high time somebody noticed\u201d - AUTOMATON WEST","og_description":"\u201cI think it\u2019s high time somebody finally noticed that the names of the characters are just Umineko references.\u201d","og_url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/silent-hill-f-hinakos-name-was-literally-a-when-they-cry-series-reference-says-writer-ryukishi07-i-think-its-high-time-somebody-noticed\/","og_site_name":"AUTOMATON WEST","article_published_time":"2025-12-26T10:30:21+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-12-30T13:51:23+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":432,"url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251226-55500-header.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"\u0110or\u0111e P","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_site":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"\u0110or\u0111e P","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/silent-hill-f-hinakos-name-was-literally-a-when-they-cry-series-reference-says-writer-ryukishi07-i-think-its-high-time-somebody-noticed\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/silent-hill-f-hinakos-name-was-literally-a-when-they-cry-series-reference-says-writer-ryukishi07-i-think-its-high-time-somebody-noticed\/"},"author":{"name":"\u0110or\u0111e P","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/e62deb6406bad91fe5f441afc29c1696"},"headline":"Silent Hill f Hinako&#8217;s name was literally a When they Cry series reference, says writer Ryukishi07. \u201cI think it\u2019s high time somebody noticed\u201d","datePublished":"2025-12-26T10:30:21+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-30T13:51:23+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/silent-hill-f-hinakos-name-was-literally-a-when-they-cry-series-reference-says-writer-ryukishi07-i-think-its-high-time-somebody-noticed\/"},"wordCount":438,"commentCount":1,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/silent-hill-f-hinakos-name-was-literally-a-when-they-cry-series-reference-says-writer-ryukishi07-i-think-its-high-time-somebody-noticed\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251226-55500-header.jpg","keywords":["News (Japan-related)"],"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/silent-hill-f-hinakos-name-was-literally-a-when-they-cry-series-reference-says-writer-ryukishi07-i-think-its-high-time-somebody-noticed\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/silent-hill-f-hinakos-name-was-literally-a-when-they-cry-series-reference-says-writer-ryukishi07-i-think-its-high-time-somebody-noticed\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/silent-hill-f-hinakos-name-was-literally-a-when-they-cry-series-reference-says-writer-ryukishi07-i-think-its-high-time-somebody-noticed\/","name":"Silent Hill f Hinako's name was literally a When they Cry series reference, says writer Ryukishi07. \u201cI think it\u2019s high time somebody noticed\u201d - AUTOMATON WEST","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/silent-hill-f-hinakos-name-was-literally-a-when-they-cry-series-reference-says-writer-ryukishi07-i-think-its-high-time-somebody-noticed\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/silent-hill-f-hinakos-name-was-literally-a-when-they-cry-series-reference-says-writer-ryukishi07-i-think-its-high-time-somebody-noticed\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251226-55500-header.jpg","datePublished":"2025-12-26T10:30:21+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-30T13:51:23+00:00","description":"\u201cI think it\u2019s high time somebody finally noticed that the names of the characters are just Umineko references.\u201d","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/silent-hill-f-hinakos-name-was-literally-a-when-they-cry-series-reference-says-writer-ryukishi07-i-think-its-high-time-somebody-noticed\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/silent-hill-f-hinakos-name-was-literally-a-when-they-cry-series-reference-says-writer-ryukishi07-i-think-its-high-time-somebody-noticed\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/silent-hill-f-hinakos-name-was-literally-a-when-they-cry-series-reference-says-writer-ryukishi07-i-think-its-high-time-somebody-noticed\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251226-55500-header.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251226-55500-header.jpg","width":768,"height":432},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/silent-hill-f-hinakos-name-was-literally-a-when-they-cry-series-reference-says-writer-ryukishi07-i-think-its-high-time-somebody-noticed\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u30db\u30fc\u30e0","item":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Silent Hill f Hinako&#8217;s name was literally a When they Cry series reference, says writer Ryukishi07. \u201cI think it\u2019s high time somebody noticed\u201d"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","name":"AUTOMATON WEST","description":"AUTOMATON is a website that covers the Japanese gaming world. We bring you the news on video games from Osaka and Tokyo.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization","name":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","width":374,"height":190,"caption":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/AUTOMATON_ENG","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCabvYnvuUUbbGUrxkaFRgSA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/e62deb6406bad91fe5f441afc29c1696","name":"\u0110or\u0111e P","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/profil-150x150.jpg","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/profil-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/profil-150x150.jpg","caption":"\u0110or\u0111e P"},"description":"Automaton West Editor","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/djordje-p\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/79"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55500"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55524,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55500\/revisions\/55524"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}