Synopsis
Saburou Sonozaki is a member of the prefectural assembly and part of the powerful Sonozaki family that effectively runs the village of Hinamizawa. He is first introduced in the Watanagashi-hen story arc, traveling to the Okinomiya Police Station specifically to pressure detective Kuraudo Ooishi into abandoning his investigation of the Sonozaki family. The attempt fails, since Ooishi's own superiors order him to back off before Saburou even needs to press the point.
He resurfaces in Minagoroshi-hen, arriving at the Child Welfare Office alongside another of Mion Sonozaki's uncles, a member of the municipal assembly, showing how quickly the family closes ranks whenever outsiders threaten its interests.
His most notable appearance, part of the story adapted in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai, comes in Matsuribayashi-hen. There the corrupt officer Ootaka, secretly working as a mole for Miyo Takano, tries to bully Ooishi into letting him view a reported body possibly belonging to Rika Furude by boasting of his supposed closeness to Saburou. When Saburou actually arrives with Akane Sonozaki, he flatly claims not to know Ootaka, publicly humiliating him; the manga even shows him hauling Ootaka away to "discuss" the matter privately. He later reappears to help Keiichi Maebara during the demonstrations depicted in Tataridamashi-hen.
He is portrayed as an older man with grey eyes and grey-black hair and a mustache, usually dressed in a black and grey-green kimono. His Japanese voice actor is Yukio Yoda.
