<noinclude> <nowiki>*</nowiki> = optional row <PRE>

</PRE> </noinclude>Otobe Akira is a new character in the Higurashi no Na ku Koro ni series, and the main character of Yoigoshi-hen. He comes to a Hinamizawa in the wake of the Great Hinamizawa Disaster, once the SDF's ban on the area was released. When he initially meets "Sonozaki Mion" he has been separated from the people he came with and is unable to clearly recall the events that have occurred since his arrival. He initially believes that the car and people he came with have simply disappeared.

He is seemingly very timid, however it appears that it may be due to the unusual situation he finds himself in. Both Mion and Shion initially mistake him for Hōjō Satoshi on meeting him, and at one point, "Mion" even asks him if he can tell the difference between broccoli and cauliflower, a thing that neither Satoshi nor his younger sister Satoko could do.

Akira has blonde hair, parted to the left side of his head and has amber eyes. He wears a dark blue shirt with black stripes on it. He also wears white pants and a long, black jacket. He also bears a strong resemblance to Satoshi, to the point that he has been twice mistook for him. The only differences are their slightly different eye color, and that Satoshi’s hair are a bit more combed and tidy than Akira’s.

Akira left his parents and their rural home against their will, intending to go to Tokyo and take his college entrance exams. He got into a college and worked hard to succeed, but enamored by city life, he started spending money that he got through his part-time job and his living and tuition expenses, his parents transferred to impress his friends and his girlfriend. Eventually he found himself with a huge debt to settle and had no way to pay it off.

Akira was, from the beginning of the arc, a terrible coward. He felt like he could not go home and face his parents with his debts, but also could not bring himself to stand up and deal with them. Instead, he joined a group of people heading to the abandoned Hinamizawa, where they intended to commit what is commonly called a "charcoal suicide" (burning charcoal in an enclosed space and inhaling the asphyxiating fumes). He backed out at the last second and pretended to take the sleeping pills like his companions. After everyone had fallen asleep, he stole the credit card and pocket book of a fellow passenger, intending to use the dead woman's money to pay off his own debt. He later regrets doing so, and returns them when he and "Mion" find the car again.

Assisting "Mion" in her quest helps him find his own inner strength, and he comes out of the experience a changed man.