| Saeki | |
|---|---|
| |
Vital statistics
| |
| Position | Unemployed |
| Age | Adult / Deceased |
| Status | Divorced |
Physical attributes
| |
| Hair | Short grey |
| Eyes | Blue |
"... I'm sorry, sister. It's just... I want to tell someone, so who else would I...?" |
Saeki Takamura was the aunt of Miki Takamura and the younger sister of Miki's mother. She had taken her own life three years prior to the plot. In the Good Ending, it is revealed that Saeki is the monster that has been tormenting Miki throughout the game, but whether the monster was truly Saeki's ghost returned to haunt the living, or merely a figment of her niece's disturbed imagination remains unconfirmed.
Appearance
As a human, she is an adult with short, gray hair with bangs and blue eyes. She bears a great physical resemblance to her niece, Miki, and wears a yellow, halter neck dress. However, in the form of a monster, she has dark brown hair, red lidless eyes, and seems to have no legs or abdomen.
Other traits as a monster
Saeki in the form of a monster
As a monster, Saeki uses her arms for locomotion, and can move in surprising speeds. Her face has no skin, exposing red, swollen flesh. However, she doesn't actually cope with that, as she shows no other than animalistic behavior as a monster. It is currently not known how exactly she lost her abdomen. She will also vocalize loud, ear-piercing roars and growls.
Early Life
When she was young, Saeki's parents died, leaving her in the care of her older sister. However, their relationship became strained (likely due to her sister mental health problems) and, as a result, Saeki was eventually removed from her sister's care and placed in an orphanage, and later moved in with a foster family. She remained in contact with her sister, but it is assumed she remained with her foster family until she grew up and moved out.
Adult Life
When Saeki was an adult, she married a wealthy man and moved to his large home, where she became acquainted with Shinji Miura. Saeki was happy in her marriage, though she apparently suffered from fertility problems and began seeing a gynacologist for treatment. She was very excited when the treatment worked and she fell pregnant. However, she seemed saddened by her strained relationship with her sister. Sadly, Saeki's baby - a boy - was stillborn. Saeki was devastated by the loss of her child and even more so by the lack of comfort and support from her husband, sister and niece (although this was technically not Miki's fault, as she was forbidden to visit her aunt by her mother).
Saeki seemed to blame herself for her child death and started to believe that everyone thought she had deliberately "killed" her son. Saeki's husband eventually divorced her and moved away, leaving Saeki alone in the house they once shared. Saeki became severely depressed and paranoid; she began hearing voices and believing that everyone hated her. Eventually, she couldn't take it anymore and decided to end her life. She attempted to kill herself by jumping from a second storey window, but only suceeded in breaking her leg and was taken to hospital. The day she was released from hospital, Saeki attempted suicide again, hanging herself in one of the spare bedrooms of her home. This time, she was successful. Before she committed suicide, however, she left her home to her niece Miki, showing that she still loved and cared for her, despite (incorrectly) believing that Miki no longer cared for her. Saeki died three years prior to the events of the game.
Relationships
Saeki's sister
Saeki's relationship with her sister was strained, at best. Saeki was raised by her when both of their parents passed away, before being taken in by an orphanage facility. Due to her sister's hysteria condition, she sees Saeki as condescending, smug and attention-seeking. When Saeki reveals that she is expecting her first child, her sister flies into a rage, irrationally accusing her of getting pregnant only to keep her rich husband happy. After Saeki's miscarriage, she mocked her and forbade Miki from visiting her when her mental health began to decline, calling her a "nutcase" and "crazy" and refusing to support her in any way. Even so, up until the end of her life, Saeki was grateful to her sister for raising her and believed she only became like this because of the trauma of losing their parents at a young age.
Miki Takamura
Saeki loved her niece Miki very dearly and they appeared to have a close, mother-daughter relationship. Miki appeared to be closer to her aunt than she was to her own mother and the pair had a lot in common. Saeki was always kind and supportive of Miki, and kindly offered to make her a stuffed bear shortly after discovering she was pregnant. After losing both her baby and her husband, however, Saeki's mental health rapidly deteriorated. As Miki never came to visit her (unbeknownst to Saeki, Miki's mother prevented her from doing so against her will), Saeki started to believe that Miki hated her and even experienced voices and hallucinations of her niece, telling her she should die.
Shinji Miura
It is not clear how the relationship was between her and Shinji, but it can be assumed they were well acquainted as neighbors before she committed suicide.
Saeki's husband
Saeki apparently had a good, loving relationship with her husband, but his love for her eventually faded after she became severely depressed following the death of her baby. Saeki's husband may not have loved Saeki as much as she loved him, as he didn't support her much after the death of their child and eventually left her, never to return, simply because he "couldn't cope" with her depression.
Personality
Saeki was a kind, compassionate and motherly woman. She was somewhat shy and emotionally vulnerable, likely due to her parents' dying when she was quite young, her sister's verbally and emotionally abusive behavior and spending at least some of her childhood in an orphanage and foster home. Saeki was always polite and never got angry, not even with her sister when she was abusing her. Her sister described her as being an "optimist".
Following her baby's death and her divorce, Saeki became very depressed, bitter and paranoid, believing everyone hated her. She found life so lonely and unbearable, she eventually committed suicide. Saeki loved reading and encouaged her niece to become a writer, which Miki eventually did, in honour of her deceased aunt. Saeki was also creative and artistic, making dozens of stuffed animals for her unborn baby, and doing her own dress-making, Saeki was also a very generous woman, kindly offering to make her niece a stuffed bear and also leaving her home to Miki upon her death.
Saeki's online diary, detailing her pregnancy, stillbirth and downward spiral into depression.
Trivia
- While reading Saeki's online diary, the player can read about how Saeki was being told about how everybody (her sister, the news people, stuffed animals, Miki, etc.) hates her and wants her to die, although this can't have happened because Miki loved her aunt and denied saying that, and her animals can't speak, hinting Saeki might be schizophrenic.
- 'Saeki' happens to be the surname of Kayako, the main antagonist of the Ju-on (The Grudge) horror films, who's ghosts terrorises the people unfortunate enough to move into the house where she was murdered by her husband. It is unknown if this is intentional or a coincidence.