St. Lucia Academy (聖ルチーア学校) first appears in Meakashi-hen of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. It is depicted in the first episode of its anime adaptation.
St. Lucia is a private boarding school for smarter girls located some distance from the village of Hinamizawa and the city Okinomiya. Known students include Sonozaki Shion, Kosaka Mizuho, Yukari, and roughly five years later in 1988, Furude Rika and Hōjō Satoko.
Sonozaki Oryō sent Shion to the academy since having a twin of the Sonozaki house heir is considered taboo. Traditionally, the younger twin was strangled; Oryō relented but decided to effectively banish Shion. Shion's twin Mion attends the Hinamizawa Branch School.
St. Lucia Academy in Rei
It is the setting of the abandoned manga-only arc Utsutsukowashi-hen.
Description[]
St. Lucia Academy is a Christian girls-only boarding school, deep in the mountains. Most of the buildings are built in Neoclassical/Baroque Revival style, but as it was shown in Meakashi-hen, the school also has a chapel with impressive Neo-Gothic windows.
Due to it's elite nature and hidden location, it's a popular choice among Japan's richer people. The expectations of the school are high, the environment is strict and many students are under constant pressure to keep up with their studies. Failing in St. Lucia has severe consequences, since the tuition fees are high, therefore dropping out means losing a great amount of money for the parents.
St. Lucia Academy in Satokowashi-hen, hidden deep in the mountains
According to Shion, life in school is extremely tiring and it feels more like a prison than school especially for free-spirited girls like her. In Meakashi-hen, before breaking out of the school in 1982, she plants a rumor of a student-teacher affair, to wreak havoc in the school.
As it was shown in Umineko no Naku Koro ni, due to high expectations and lack of romance with boys, severe bullying is prevalent in the academy, creating a nasty environment among the students. While the school knows about the problem, they merely sweep it under the rug.
In Satokowashi-hen, it's shown that if students can't keep up with the schools' expectations, they will be expected to attend the study hall. While the study hall is optional on paper, in reality, if students refuse to attend it, they will be forced hand in a formal withdrawal from the Academy. As it was shown, the Study Hall starts immediately after classes and lasts until night, throughout the afternoon, robbing students of their free time. First years can improve their grades there and they will be allowed to go back attending Regular Classes. Failing to do so however, will result getting permanently transferred to the Special Class, where students have to attend the study hall every day, until graduating. Refusing the Special Class is also an option, but the school will deny students of their diploma, to maintain the academy's prestige.
Trivia[]
- In Affinity Chapter, Shion imagines Keiichi picking her up on his bike after school.
- In Umineko no Naku Koro ni, Ushiromiya Ange also attends St. Lucia Academy.
- Interestingly, both Ange and Shion's original visual novels sprites have the same school patch on their upper left arm of their respective uniforms; with the difference being coloring, possibly due to different art styles.
- The third season of the anime, which involves a Rika roughly five years older, reveals that she attends and enjoys St. Lucia. Its arc Satokowashi-hen reveals that Satoko also attends but does not enjoy St. Lucia!
Gallery[]
We have cake! Delicious cake!
"You will take this, Satoko, and like it!"
![Shown: Satoko in Detention "There's no droppin' wash basins at St. Lucia's! Any man woman who drops a wash basin spends a [few – Ed.] night[s - Ed.] in the box!"](/wiki/File:2021_S1_E20_Satoko_Prison.png "2021 S1 E20 Satoko Prison.png (826 KB)")
"There's no droppin' wash basins at St. Lucia's! Any
