Maebara (Bloody Maiden)

Not to be confused with Keiichi Maebara of Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni]]

Maebara is a major character in the manga Bloody Maiden: Juusanki no Shima. Maebara is an employee of a museum located on Tooma-Rimiki-jima, a island in the middle of a large lake, said to be the hideout of a group of pirates who managed to resisted even the attempts of Oda Nobunaga to defeat them. Oda eventually surrounded the island, thanks to the betrayal of one of the pirates, the husband of the leader, a female pirate named Benihime. Benihime and 12 of her followers were captured by Oda's forces and executed by crucifixion (a method of execution Oda first learned of from Portuguese missionaries).

Maebara discovered the treasure of the pirates in a limestone cave under the island, in a shrine on the edge of an underground lake. The cave itself has several entrances on the island, including some hidden in buildings on the island- the caves were used as a fortress by the pirates. At some point in his excavation, Maebara came convinced he had come into contact with the spirit of Benihime. "Benihime" ordered him to sacrifice 13 maidens on the island to calm the spirits of the pirates.

Maebara allows the Naginata-jutsu club of the Fujimigahara Girls Academy to visit the museum, which is owned by a wealth relative of Kotone Igasaki, a member of the club, as part of a training exercise. The girls arrived and stayed in a guest house on the island, but found no sign of Maebara, who was supposed to be meeting them. The teacher tried to call Maebara, but discovered the island had no cell phone service. The teacher then went looking for him, only to be discovered by Maebara, who was not wearing a leather mask, and stabbed to death. Later that day, a storm blew in, and later, the girls discovered that the phone lines had all been cut, and found ominous e-mails about a human sacrifice on the screen of a computer.

Two of the girls, the captain and vice-captain of the club, went to look for the teacher, looking for her on a hill with a wind turbine on top. Sensing there could be danger, they took a katana and wakizashi they found in the museum. The girls encountered Maebara on the interior of a wind turbine, and the vice-captain was forced to flee to the top of the turbine. Maebara followed her, and after a short standoff, Maebara knocked her off the top of the turbine, killing her. Kotone, the captain, however, escaped. Maebara would go on to kill several other girls from the naginata club. Meanwhile, the girls in the guest house were aided by a mysterious man named Arima Tsuyoshi.

Finally, after several more deaths, Maebara was cornered in the caves under the island by Kotone, armed with a katana, and a girl named Miaki Onitsuka, armed with a kitchen knife. Maebara attacked the two girls, tackling Kotone, however, Miaki stabbed him in the neck with her knife, killing him before he could finish off Kotone.

Shortly after Maebara's death, Arima reveals he is involved in the murders, and intends to kill all of them except Kotone, who he intends to marry. Arima reveals that in the past, he was in executive of the Igasaki Group, until he molested when she was a child. For this, he was placed in charge of a wind power facility on the island. Arima states that he intends to kill all of those who know about the scandal and then take over the Igarashi group.

Three other girls from the club, however, attack Arima with naginatas, and fight against him, Arima killing one of them. Kotone, Arima, and the others, then see visions of the spirits of Benihime and several others, ending in Benihime taking her husband, Arima, Maebara, several of the pirates, and Kotone up in a shaft of heavenly light, inviting them to build a "new world" with her, stating "they are all her husband". It is not clear, however, whether this really happened, or if it was a hallucination, as, at the same time, a large amount of timed explosives placed by Maebara detonate, destroying the caves and rocking the entire island. Kotone is killed by a flying katana, presumably shrapnel from the explosion, which also impales Benihime. Assuming the vision was a hallucination, Arima is probably killed in the explosion (it is possible that he is actually the "Benihime" in the vision").