With Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water being remastered for various consoles on October 28, fans are blowing the dust off of their knowledge of Fatal Frame lore and the story so far. There is quite a bit more to its characters than meets the eye, as their family trees are extensive and connect them to many of the ghosts they have to photograph.
This reveals the haunting notion that the Camera Obscura has a tendency to follow certain families around. Not only that, but all these characters may be doomed because of their familial attachments to horrible rituals, creepy mansions, and paranormal phenomena. These family trees are not directly addressed in the game, but the fandom has figured things out over many playthroughs, reading in-game documents and connecting the dots.
Miku Hinasaki's Family Tree
Miku has appeared in the most games in the series, and thus has the most complicated and involved family tree. Despite not being in Fatal Frame 2, Miku's family tree starts with a ghost in that game: Ryokan Kurosawa. He is the patriarch of All Gods Village who had twin daughters named Sae and Yae. The daughters were meant to do a deadly ritual together, but Sae was left behind while Yae ran off with an outsider, assistant anthropologist Ryozo Munakata.
Yae and Ryozo lived the rest of their lives away from All Gods Village and had a daughter named Mikoto Munakata. Mikoto grew up and had a daughter of her own named Miyuki Munakata, and this Miyuki was mother to Miku and her brother Mafuyu. According to Miku, she and Mafuyu's sensibilities to the paranormal was inherited from their mother. It has made fans wonder if this inherited trait dates all the way back to the connection with All Gods Village in Fatal Frame 2. The ill-fated Camera Obscura has also been passed down through their family.
Mio and Mayu Amakura's Family Tree
The protagonists of Fatal Frame 2, Mio and Mayu, do not have as big a family tree as Miku, but that does not make theirs any less interesting or complex. In fact, they are descendants of the creator of the Camera Obscura, Kunihiko Asou. This connection is through their father, Misao Asou, though it's not clear whom the inventor had a child with. Asou has other descendant protagonists, including Misaki Asou from Mask of the Lunar Eclipse and Ren Hojo in Maiden of Black Water. Mio and Mayu have many aunts and uncles, and not all of them are just from the Asou bloodline. In Fatal Frame 3, their mother's brother Kei Amakura is a playable character and protagonist.
Mio and Mayu are also indirectly connected to Rei Kurosawa, the main protagonist of Fatal Frame 3. This is because Rei was betrothed to Yuu Asou, yet another descendant of Kunihiko Asou. So Yuu is added along with Ren Hojo and Misaki to the aunts and uncles of Mio and Mayu. If Yuu did not pass away, Rei would have been their aunt through marriage.
Connections In Fatal Frame: Maiden Of Black Water
Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water has a couple of protagonists, a big one being Miu Hinasaki; the daughter of Miku. This means the complicated family tree that dates back to Yae escaping All Gods Village is still going. In fact, Miu's father (who is revealed Maiden of Black Water), is an interesting complication in the tree as he is another character with strong ties to the first Fatal Frame game.
Outside of Miu, there is more insight into Kunihiko Asou. The game shows that he actually had intimate connections with two girls who now reside on Mt. Hikami as ghosts. Due to their fates, it is unlikely they were the mothers of any of his descendants.
Lastly, Hisoka Kurosawa is another protagonist who works as a fortune teller. Due to her last name, fans have theorized she could be related to Rei Kurosawa from Fatal Frame 3, or could be another descendant of Ryokan Kurosawa from All Gods Village. What is known is that she is a descendant of one of the Mt. Hikami shrine maidens.
Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water will release for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on October 28.
