Mafuyu Hinasaki

Mafuyu Hinasaki
"I captured a ghost... with THIS camera."
Japanese	雛咲 真冬 ひなさき まふゆ
Age	21
Family	Miku Hinasaki (sister) Miyuki Hinasaki (mother) Masato Hinasaki (father) Miu Hinasaki (implied to be his daughter)
Marital status	Single while alive; later, married through Ghost Marriage
Occupation	Journalist/aspiring novelist
Status	Dead
Date of death	October 6, 1986
Games	Fatal Frame Fatal Frame III Fatal Frame V
Other Appearances	Zero Novel Pachislot Zero
Notes	Mafuyu's Notebook
Themed Menu Item	Miku and Mafuyu's sweet and white drink set
Japanese Voice Actor	Junichi Kanemaru
English Voice Actor	Dominic Allen

"The forbidden rituals of this area... It looks like Mr Takamine was doing research into them... I wonder if his group is still here..."

―Mafuyu Hinasaki

Mafuyu Hinasaki is the first playable character in the Fatal Frame Series. He is only playable for the introduction of Fatal Frame; after that, he's simply a secondary character in the game.

Past

Mafuyu Hinasaki is the elder child of Masato and Miyuki Hinasaki. After the disappearance (presumed death) of his father, he and his younger sister Miku were raised by Miyuki alone. Both had inherited their mother's sixth sense, and Mafuyu was the only one Miku could open up to. Miyuki committed suicide, and Mafuyu found a notebook of hers, which spoke about his abilities and the function of the camera. After his mother's death, Mafuyu acted as both mother and father to Miku, and his kindness reminded her of their mother.

After graduating from university, Mafuyu took on a job at a publisher. He worked under Junsei Takamine, who took notice of Mafuyu's struggles and became his mentor, and they formed a close relationship. For a while, he worked on the same editing team as Kei Amakura, and both were good friends with Yuu Asou, an anthropologist. Mafuyu and Yuu were such good friends that Mafuyu asked Yuu to take care of Miku should anything happen to him.

Fatal Frame

On August 20th 1986, Junsei Takamine, his editor Koji Ogata, and Junsei's psychic assistant Tomoe Hirasaka travelled to the Himuro Mansion for research on Takamine's latest novel. After no word from the group for a month, Mafuyu went in search of Takamine and the others, and took his mother's camera with him.

When Mafuyu entered the mansion, he began to retrace the steps of Takamine and the others, while taking notes. Using the camera, he defeated the first ghost that attacked him, but as he explored further, he encountered Kirie, the powerful spirit of a deceased Rope Shrine Maiden. Because of Mafuyu's striking resemblance to a man she had loved long ago, Kirie released Mafuyu from her curse, and guided him through the mansion, gradually revealing the circumstances surrounding the Calamity. In his notes, Mafuyu mentioned that the mansion was changing around him, shifting him through different time periods. In this state, he and Miku both glimpsed each other from time to time, but were unable to communicate.

When Miku did catch up with Mafuyu by the Hell Gate, he was deeply under Kirie's influence. She wished him to stay with her forever, and refused to let him rejoin Miku, instead claiming him herself. After Miku defeated Kirie in battle and purified her of Malice using the restored Holy Mirror, Kirie and Mafuyu were separated again, and Kirie told them both to leave while she took care of the gate. However, Mafuyu had come to feel compassion for Kirie as he learned the truth about her. Rather than leave her to suffer alone for eternity, he chose to stay by her side and help her if he could. Miku escaped Himuro Mansion by herself, and Kirie and Mafuyu were buried in the underground caverns.

Fatal Frame III

"You go on without me!"

―Mafuyu Hinasaki (to Miku Hinasaki)

Mafuyu makes an appearance in Fatal Frame III as an apparition which Miku chases before slipping into a deep coma as a result of the Tattooed Curse. Miku has a photograph of Mafuyu on her desk, and Kei and Yuu mention him in their notes and letters to each other.

Fatal Frame V

Mafuyu briefly reappears again in a cutscene in Fatal Frame V, in which he and Miku are joined by the Ghost Marriage ritual, a form of posthumous marriage. Miku speaks often of Mafuyu and her longing to be with him again. Her daughter, Miu, is revealed to be a Shadowborn, the child of a dead person and a living one, and it is heavily implied in the game that Mafuyu is Miu's father, though this was not confirmed until the release of the official guidebook. The guidebook explains that Miu was conceived in Miku's dream at the end of FF3, when she and Mafuyu were able to meet briefly at the Abyss of the Horizon.

Alternate Endings

Fatal Frame
In both the Photograph Ending and the Mafuyu Ending of Fatal Frame, Miku and Mafuyu escape Himuro Mansion together, and Mafuyu lives. Because Mafuyu is presumed dead in Fatal Frame III, these endings are not considered canon.

Zero Novel

See full article

In Zero Novel, the novelisation of Fatal Frame, Mafuyu and Miku both escape Himuro Mansion, which turns out to be a virtual simulation designed by unscrupulous descendants of the Himuro family to lure in sacrifices and protect the last Hell Gate in Japan. However, in the final chapter, Mafuyu is tricked into a meeting with another Himuro, who is determined to complete the ritual. Mafuyu's fate is uncertain. Because Zero Novel takes place in an alternate version of reality, this is not considered canon.

Misc. Info

• While Mafuyu does look exactly like Kirie's lover, there is no evidence that this man is in any way related to Mafuyu through the Kurosawa, Munakata, or Hinasaki lines.
• In his character concept, Mafuyu's age was listed as 23, while the Zero Perfect Guide says he is 21.
• Mafuyu is credited as the 'author' for the Zero Novel.
• Mafuyu wears a similar outfit to Naoya, Yoshino Takigawa's boyfriend in Fatal Frame 3.
• There is a glitch in the first game where players have found themselves as Mafuyu (instead of Miku) in the end stage of the game. However, you cannot leave the area nor play through the game as him. Simply examining the mirror stand will take the player to the First Night as Miku.
• In Haunted Visions mode in Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir, Mafuyu is erroneously referred to as Miku's little brother. In fact, he is four years older than Miku.
• Mafuyu's choice to stay with Kirie and help her in her duty is compared to the idea of Ghost Marriage in Fatal Frame V. This does not appear to prevent him being successfully married to someone else later, perhaps implying that Ghost Bigamy or Ghost Divorce are also possible.

See Also

• For quotes by Mafuyu, see Quotes: Mafuyu Hinasaki.
• For other members of the Hinasaki Family, see Hinasaki Family.
• For other members of the Munakata Family, see Munakata Family.
• For other members of the Kurosawa Family, see Kurosawa Family.
• For other player characters in the Fatal Frame Series, see Player Characters.
• For information on other spirited aways, see Spirited Aways.
• For images related to Mafuyu, see Images of Mafuyu Hinasaki.

References