Kei Amakura

Kei Amakura
"I'm sure... everything will be all right..."
Japanese	天倉 螢 あまくら けい
Age	26
Family	Shizu Amakura (older sister) Misao Amakura (brother-in-law) Mio Amakura (niece) Mayu Amakura (niece)
Marital status	Single
Residence	Tokyo
Occupation	Non-fiction writer
Status	Probably alive (see Endings)
Date of death	N/A or 1988
Games	Fatal Frame III
Other Appearances	Zero Shisei no Koe Comic Anthology
Notes	Kei's Letters Kei's Research Notes Yuu's Notes
Japanese Voice Actor	Yusei Oda
English Voice Actor	Josh Keaton

Kei Amakura is the second playable male character in the Fatal Frame series (Mafuyu Hinasaki being the first). He takes care of his nieces, Mio and Mayu Amakura from Fatal Frame II, while his sister Shizu is hospitalised. He was also good friends with Yuu Asou and Mafuyu Hinasaki.

Past

Kei mentions that he worked with Mafuyu under Junsei Takamine. While he finds folklore interesting, he's not terribly familiar with the field; it is only when his niece Mayu disappears under peculiar circumstances, and her twin sister Mio begins to suffer from an odd disease, that he begins to get involved in folklore research.

While researching the urban legend of the spirited aways, Lost Patients and the Manor of Sleep, he comes across the Camera Obscura in a house in a small, unnamed village that isn't listed on any maps. When Mio sees the camera, she appears frightened and distressed by it. Her symptoms worsen until she is sleeping for days at a time, waking only briefly. Kei puts her in the hospital, and sends the camera to his friend Yuu Asou for safekeeping, asking Yuu to look into its origins and share any information he finds about the Manor of Sleep urban legend. Unbeknownst to Kei, Yuu dies in a car accident before he can complete his investigation, but Kei continues to write to him, sharing his findings about the dream disease and its victims.

Fatal Frame III

"If the urban legend of "The Manor of Sleep" is true, and I can wake Mio from her dream, maybe I can save her."

―Kei Amakura

As Kei researches further, he too begins to show symptoms of the curse, including having nightmares of a strange tattooed woman, though at first he blames it on his preoccupation and too much hard work. He sees Mio in his dream, talking to herself and blaming herself for her sister Mayu's disappearance, and though he tries to help her, she is unresponsive and finally disappears behind a locked door. Kei concentrates all his efforts on finding a way to lift the curse. In his dreams, Kei also meets a ghost with long hair, who calls him 'Akito' and accuses him of abandoning her and failing to return.

Looking for answers and information on the curse, Kei finally calls Yuu's house, only to hear from his fiancée Rei Kurosawa that he died in a car accident. She has been experiencing the same dreams he has, and he promises to visit soon to pay his respects to Yuu.

By the time he arrives at Rei's house, Miku Hinasaki, Mafuyu's younger sister, has fallen into a deep coma due to the curse. Putting their heads together, Kei tells Rei he thinks he knows of a solution. He tells Rei that they must go to the Chamber of Thorns in the Manor of Sleep and impale the tattooed priestess with the Tattooed Stakes. He believes this will send her back to sleep, subdue her pain, and end everything.

Kei collects the sacred impaling stakes needed to complete his task from the Handmaidens' rooms in the manor. When he actually gets to the Chamber of Thorns, however, he finds that Reika has already been impaled. The stakes do not restrain her: she rises and comes after Kei, and the doors to the Chamber slam closed.

Depending on the player's actions earlier in the game, Kei is either killed by Reika, leaving black soot marks on Rei's couch, or she spares him because he is carrying Kaname's earring and he is left in a deep sleep like Miku.

Endings

Normal Ending

See Normal Ending

Kei is locked within the Chamber of Thorns, and disappears from the couch, leaving behind only black soot. When Rei breaks the curse, he does not return, and there is no reference to the fate of Mio.

Photograph Ending

See Photograph Ending

Kei Amakura is saved and awakens from the curse on the couch. Mio also awakens from her slumber and curse. Kei eventually introduces Mio to Rei and Miku. Although it has yet to be confirmed in canon, the series creators have stated on Twitter and in interviews that this ending was intended as the true one.

Phrases While Sleeping

While Kei is sleeping on Rei's couch in her living room, he will utter one of two sentences:

"Mio... Mayu.... No... Don't go..."

"Yuu...! Mafuyu...! But why..? Please don't leave me behind..."

Misc. Info

• Kei's name means 'firefly'. The character 螢 is more commonly used as a girl's name.
• Kei Amakura bears an uncanny resemblance to Akito Kashiwagi, Kyouka Kuze's lover. There is no evidence the two men are related.
• While physically strong, he has very little spiritual power, and thus was given the ability to 'hide' from hostile spirits.
• Although Kei's nieces are related to Dr. Kunihiko Asou, Kei himself is not. It is his sister's husband, Misao, who is Asou's descendant.
• It was originally planned that Mio would appear as the third playable character in Fatal Frame III, but the creators decided that making her a protagonist would unnecessarily bloat the game, since Fatal Frame II's story was already "complete", and gave her a minor role instead, with Kei acting as a bridge between the two games.
• Kei is often mistaken for Yuu Asou, because both wear similar clothing. The best way to tell the two apart is that Yuu has a turtleneck shirt while Kei does not.
• Kei's tattoo is indigo.

References

See Also

• For quotes by Kei, see Quotes: Kei Amakura.
• For other members of the Amakura family, see Amakura Family.
• For other player characters in the Fatal Frame Series, see Player Characters.
• For more information on the Manor of Sleep curse, see Tattoo Curse.
• For images related to Kei, see Images of Kei Amakura.