The first husband was a violent man. (I read one of the comments that this series had a sequel tv season) Also one of the kids said the father got angry and hit his sister. “My mother and sisters and brothers gathered and talked a lot about it.” They planned his murder (This could also be all the mother’s plan, and she gathered the children to hush them up) and by testing the poison on the cat, the mother poisoned the food which both the father and the cat ate. It was confirmed that the cat was buried in the garden does that confirm thats the first husband also got buried there and the cat is the cover if anyone dig. Ringo ran away with guilt, thats why she called security on him the first time. When she heard that one of her brothers fallen from the second floor she immediately knew it was her mother who pushed him off. (This is semi-confirmed with the mom in the window) She came back to protect her siblings, she knew her mother is greedy for “Life Insurance”. Ringo may also have felt that she is indebted to the stepfather. So she went immediately to the kitchen after coming back to protect the whole family from her mother poison. The mother won’t only target the stepfather as shown by the fruit basket. (The knife plunged on the Dragonfruit which symbolize Ryuta) The brother who was pushed. At dinner, Rie snaps to also protect her step-father from the “poison” way before Ringo’s arrival. Ringo didn’t want her mother to see her as a threat, so she cooperated with her to spy on the other kids. While also using a powder thats similar to the poison so her mother doesn’t suspect anything. When Ringo decided to deliver food to her eldest brother, she knew thats the only way to plan her mothers murder without her mother suspecting anything. On the field trip, Gokui (The eldest) joins them. It was shown he brought a baseball bat in a fishing trip, and later on the mother was hit in the head really hard. In Gokui room one of the calligraphy’s says. (Single bat swing). The mother knew she’s done for when the whole family sided with stepfather. That’s why the whole fruits in the basket has a knife inside them. The mother wanted to kill them all. This was all pieced together by the comment section, and the video. I have never watched the film. This film really has clues and hints everywhere lol.
this theory is fucking wild. this is so interesting because majority of people and what the movies (kinda) implies the opposite of the mum is trying to kill sumio and the kids didn't want that. but this comment and especially the fruit stabbing symbolism makes alot of sense.
I also suspected that the cause for the mother's psychopathy was an abusive husband/father, but I had no evidence as that's really only stereotyping from me. Also, I never thought that the mother may have figured out her children's betrayal, I thought perhaps see just wanted to get the insurance money. If her psychosis was not a result of domestic abuse, it could be possible that the reason she had so many children is to 1. farm life insurance money and/or 2. literally create accomplices that will follow your orders and wont betray you because they are being manipulated and controlled.
I got stuck on the "he can't be the bio dad thing" like why not? He would have been around 15 when the first daughter was born, not a totally crazy age, especially if religion is involved
My understanding is that the mom killed her first husband and buried him in that garden, and had a plan to kill this one too. The older kids figured it out, Ringo ran away and got involved with a shady guy, and Gouki was so traumatized that he became a shut in. Maybe the kid that died threatened to report her, or tried to tell people - we know she isn’t above harming her kids to keep her secret, and even said she doesn’t care if one of them goes missing when they are playing around the garden. When she got together with the second husband, her plan was to kill him too once they were legally married (for the insurance money). That’s why Rie was so violent; she wanted to drive him away from the family. The mother probably did it by poisoning; she first tested it on the cat, and then used it to kill the first husband, and she was already actively trying to kill the second (to me that was clear when one of the younger kids mentioned the dish he was eating was their father’s favorite, and the cat used to like it too), but Ringo wouldn’t let her cook, to protect the new father. This new father was so nice - saving Ringo, trying to actually be a good parent for the others - that the kids decided to get rid of their mom to protect him. I think that’s why Gouki decided to leave his room; Ringo told her plan to him when she was whispering in his ear - and he was on board.
This comment really makes sense to me. When Mom said she didn’t care if the kids went missing, I think she was alluding to being willing to kill them which is why the kids were so upset. Also, Ringo seemed to immediately take over all the cooking after coming home. The mother even had to remind her about the seasoning. Perhaps she took over to make sure the dad’s meal never got tampered with?
Little sad sidenote when I looked into this, Sumio's actor has passed away in 2021 so RIP. You played a character who is the definition of an ideal father figure.
@@YourLeftWetSockHairhis name was hideaki kawashima the translation on wiki from Japanese to English says he was fighting a disease so best guess is cancer.
Some interesting wordplay in the movie! These fill in some missing info: 浦 (Ura), the family's name is a play on 裏 (ura) which implies "more than meets the eye" or "something going on behind the scenes." Some of Gouki's calligraphy: ハハハ サイコーです (ha ha ha saiko desu), as covered in the video, meaning "mom is a psychopath." 強打 行こロス (kyouda iko rosu), is "let's get a massive hit, Los Angeles (Angels or Dodgers)," but sounds like 兄弟殺す (kyoudai korosu), meaning "kills/will kill siblings." This was his warning about what mom has done/plans to do. バット一発十三振だ (batto ippatsu juu sanshin da) is "one home run with a bat, 10 strikeouts" if you read it literally, but 十三 could be read as "tousan," a play on 父さん, a word for "father/dad." Take away "tousan" and you're left with 振だ (shin da), which is meant to sound like 死んだ (shinda), or "died." 一発 can mean "home run" or "one hit." Put it all together: "One hit with a bat, and dad died." Mom somehow convinced Gouki to do the killing blow after slowly weakening her first husband by poisoning his food. Even if it was done to protect the family from the first father's abuse, surely the trauma from that terrible deed and fear or his mother's wrath is what drove Gouki to become a shut-in. 知らぬが仏 鷹 (shiranu ga hotoke taka) 知らぬが仏 literally means "to be unaware is to be like the Buddha (at peace)," very similar to "ignorance is bliss." But the 仏 in it can mean "deceased person," so something like "to be unaware is to be deceased." 鷹 (taka) is "hawk," but more significantly, the first kanji from Takaharu's name 鷹治. So, "to be unaware is to risk meeting the same fate (death) as Takaharu." This must be connected to WHY he's written the coded messages - he wants to warn and save the rest of his siblings but didn't want mom to retaliate. 猛虎 ロスしかない (mouko rosu shika nai) is either "Hanshin Tigers" and "Los Angeles (Angels or Dodgers) are the best" OR "the Hanshin Tigers do nothing but lose," which is pretty funny at first. But もう殺すしかない (mou korosu shika nai) is the very obvious "secret" reading which means "now there's no choice but to kill." Gouki was signaling in his own way that it was time to off mom to end the cycle.
This is the best interpretation comment; the other one translating kyoudai korosu to fraternicide made me confused about whether Gouki killed his brother (it is a possible theory), but it makes more sense that it's about the mom killing his siblings. and "now there's no choice but to kill" would also be a more fitting translation then
Great translation and explanation of the word-plays. It's crazy how much stuff is only able to be understood by Japanese-speakers line the the fruit bowl referencing the kids being named after fruits
honestly the fact that the dad spent over 3 hours searchibg for rie in the night despite the fact that she treated him like shit all the time really says that he was fit to be a father
So basically, original dad was an abusive prick and got son killed.. gyouki and mom and probably Ringo poisoned and killed him, buried him in the garden. But Mom just went nuts after that, abusing the kids and going psycho. This time, she wants to poison new dad but he's a sweet gem and he's won over all the kids and they don't want Mom to hurt him, and conspire to kill her instead, to be happy without mom. Also Ringo returned once she heard her brother was injured and wanted to protect them from mom (My wife found a Japanese forum discussing material that covers the earlier events)
Honestly, this is why I think the children actually chose their stepdad over their mom. That's why we got to see the mom in a comma. They realized that their new stepdad really cares about them, even more than their biological mother who probably sees them as just big piles of money to cash in on through insurance scam. I'd even argue that the reason the eldest son became a shut-in was due to their mom's manipulation to begin with. But after the eldest daughter took over bringing him his food, she must've convinced him to stand up for their stepdad. Since, the stepdad did save her from the debt. At the same time, I like to think that the mom was actually cursed and that's the reason why she became such an evil person. The children may not be aware of it, but it won't matter cause in their eyes the mom was definitely the bad guy.
@@KaladinVegapunk I'd like to think that the curse may actually be real and turns someone into an abusive person. And it was the stepdad saving Ringo that really changed his fate. >Real dad was orignally cursed. >Real dad was kind at first but the curse made him evil >Real dad became abusive and ends up getting his son killed >Mom, Ringo, and Gyouki probably knows about the curse >Mom, Ringo, and Goyuki decided to do something and off'd the real dad. >The curse was passed on to mom >Mom became abusive too >Ringo cut all contact w/ her family due to guilt >Gyouki becomes a shut-in due to guilt and was probably being manipulated by mom >Mom met stepdad hoping to use him for another insurance fraud. >Stepdad genuinely cared about all the children. >Stepdad gained Ringo's trust after he saved her >Ringo chose their stepdad who actually cares about them over their abusive real mom. >Ringo started trying to get Gyouki on her side. >Ringo tries to protect stepdad from Rie cause she knows he's the one that really cares about them. >Stepdad also gained Rie's favor. >Gyouki went out of his room cause he's no longer afraid of their mom. >Dad is now more loved by the children >Mom lost all allies >Ringo and Gyouki decided to put their mom in a comma. They didn't off her cause the curse might be passed down to stepdad. >Stepdad is still unaware of everything, probably because Ringo and Gyouki decided that him not knowing would be for the better.
The kids were definitely won over by how kind the dad was and wanted to save him from the mom. Especially after the whispering between Ringo and Gouki, which leads to think they caused her 'accident'. Even while shes in the hospital, no one seems sad and even Gouki is no longer in his room and is involving himself with their regular family antics at the end of the movie.
It's actually pretty funny to me that the mother screwed herself by picking possibly the most perfect victim for murder. Think about it, the step dad is possibly the kindest and most naive man in the world, I don't even think it occurs to him that there's anything sinister going on, I believe he never knows what is happening right in front of him. Because he doesn't question anything and is genuinely so nice he'd happily sign away all his assets to his new wife and trust her completely, he's an easy target made even easier to dispose of because he doesn't have any connections beyond his new family. Unfortunately it's why everyone turns against the mother and fully accepts him as their new father, he really is just the most wonderful person and nobody besides the genuine psychopath mother wants to kill him just for financial gain. So the traits that made him the best target for a black widow actually saved him.
@@alexliddell3171sometimes the things that make you a target for bad people endears you enough to other bad people or good people that you inadvertently gain their protection and approval , I had a similar situation growing up in the ghetto , one of the local hoodlums thought I was a pretty good kid and very nice so he looked out for me he didn’t let others pick on me and he taught me to stand up for myself without becoming like him and the others we were around
I also noticed that he seems to be absent as the Ura family are waving at the camera, but slowly steps out of the darkness, pacing behind the mother as the family wave at the camera
I agree with most of the observations here. Two more things: 1. In the epilogue, when Ringo is asked about the white powder, she pours some into her hand and tastes it herself. She then offers some to the hostess, who remarks that it basically tastes like salt. To me, the point there seems to be to underline that the powder actually isn't poison - at least not anymore. My sense is that she swapped it out for something else without telling the mother. 2. Ringo is shown whispering something to Gouki. Later on, Gouki breaks his habit and decides to join them on the field trip. The quick scene in the car shows that he's decided to bring his baseball bat, to a fishing trip, for some reason. In the epilogue, we find out that the mother's had an accident, and while they're not really sure what happened because she was alone at the time, she hit her head really really hard.
To add more weight to the Gouki attacking his Mum theory, he's seen a couple of times on the camping trip, taking lots of "practice swings" with his baseball bat at head height.
My favorite part is when he knew he had to look for Rie despite all the things she did to him. He never gives up on his kids, and it's so heartwarming despite the creepy murder stuff going on in the background.
Right like the entire time I was watching this whenever he’d do something selfless and kind I was like “I’m smiling but I’m terrified about what’s happening next”
At first I thought the stepdad was going to be a closeted weirdo that slowly poisoned the family but he actually ends up being the only thing keeping the family together.
@@FlowerZiwayes there was, it was the mum. The conclusion being the children’s acceptance of the step dad and the mothers accident represents the children’s change of heart from going along with the plan to eventually get rid of the new step dad to now accepting the dad. Even the shut in son decided to leave the house to go on the trip. I believe the trip was when the children decided to conspire against the mum. They themselves were in constant danger from the mother.
@@Revelationscreation Tbh I doubt most of the children were in on it. Gouki, Ringo, and maybe Rei, at most. According to the other comment, Gouki either killed, or knew of, the suspicious deaths of his brother and father. The mother looked unhappy Ringo came home, she either knew of her plans or was a threat to them. Rei did her demander to make sure the father didn’t eat any of her mothers cooking. The rest…probably too young to know or understand. I’m pretty sure the scene where Ringo and Gouki whisper is basically setting into stone their plan. They know she killed their other family members and probably tried to kill the one son that fell from the second story.
I didn't get creeped out until you showed the zoomed in shots of the mother in the background. I'm sitting on my bed crocheting at 3 am and my heart dropped and my whole body went cold when you showed that. This mockumentary is amazing and I'm so glad I stumbled upon your channel, your commentary is amazing.
It's kinda ironic the traits that made the mother pick the new dad are most likely what lead to her demise. She thought him being kind, caring, hardworking would make him a perfect pawn to support the family for a while and kill for insurance money, but those traits are what made her kids realize they had a possibility to live a normal life, to leave the terrifying world of uncertainty created by their murderous mother. He survived this horror scenario by being a kindnesspilled carecel
The fact that she made the poor kids cry so badly yet looked up into the camera with a smile was eerie as hell, she is definitely hiding something in that garden (possibly the husband) to make her do such an intense outburst like that to the young kids
And if you watch the subtitles in the following scene, the older son says "when my previous [missing subject] disappeared, Enrike passed away" which is probably the kid saying that the cat died exactly when the dad disappeared - so it was a perfectly timed excuse to bury something there. Side note: the mom is seen fixing the carrot stems in the garden after yelling at the kids - the first meal we see everyone prepare/eat together in the show is the carrots grown in that very garden...
@@babybug2023 Wait, that reminds me of criminals burying animals over buried bodies to trick the police. Basically, when police dogs catch the scent of the body, they'll dig up the animal first. The police would think it was just a false alarm and not dig any deeper.
This type of psychological horror is my favorite. It's so eerie in a way that doesn't feel forced at all. And I love the slice of life aspect to it, makes it easy to watch.
It's like Higurashi (one of my fav stories) where you slowly build dread over time by slightly distorting everyday normal life and making something feel slightly off, before something extreme/inexplicable happens releasing the tension but leaving us with more questions than answers. This leaves the viewer/reader to pick up the pieces and discover the horrifying truth. Very good structure for creating an eerie tale.
@@benaskrensintellect332They kind do it similarly yet somehow different in anime/visual novels too For example, CLANNAD, the interludes with the little robot are kinda weird but also kind of cute, but then later on you learn what they are and suddenly it's not cute anymore, and the weird becomes details
If the oldest son knew that an English speaking production was going to film them, it's entirely possible he did the cross-language pun on purpose to try and signal to the English crew what was happening. And, because it LITERALLY translates to "mom is awesome", his mother would be none the wiser.
Also, saiko is written in katakana, the japanese alphabet for foreign words. It would have to be written in hiragana or a combination of kanji to mean "the best" or the name of the family. He wrote it like that on purpose
Helps that that's the kind of pun a boy would find in like a manga, or would hear from a corny teacher telling a pun in English class. It's that juvenile yet disordered and broken side of a kid that would confess in a way like that if you acknowledge the way child murderers talk, kids who kill, you might confess or reveal something in a way like that he was after all very young when his father was killed
That is my thought, that the new Dad won over the family enough that the kids wanted him to raise them and not Mom, especially if she had killed their previous dad.
An additional evidence to this is that the eldest daughter,ringo, (i guess?) moved by the father of her being convinced of coming back home and then persuaded Gouki to do something ( the whispering scene) and bringing the baseball bat to the trip (where you can see him swinging a bat in the background) and then the "accidentally fall off the cliff"
@@12DAMDOyep maybe Ringo was just playing along with the mom in killing the dad. Before she was probably coerced into doing her evils deeds. But after the stepdad sacrificed so much for them, specifically him paying out the debt and saving her from trafficking, she decided to come back and do what's "best" for her siblings.
I went to watch it. It was really good and certainly creepy. BUt multiple times, I had to pause the video to stop and laugh at how ridiculous Veronica was. I was losing my mind every time there was that white screen with text where she badly pronounced Japanese terms and explained them.
Ringo didn’t come back home until her stepfather told her about Ryuta’s accident, so she def knew something was wrong and that it was beginning to affect her siblings. I think the mother wasn’t just responsible for the death of her husband, she was starting to murder her own children for the insurance money. Once Ringo realized that the stepfather was a genuinely good person and has no idea what her mother was doing, I think she decided to take action to stop her mother once and for all.
@@Valentineatelier The mother actually tells the stepfather that they can’t afford to spend any more money because they already had to pay so much to help Ringo out when he brings up the idea of spending the insurance money on a new house. This fact is crucial as it’s probably why Ringo starts spying on the stepfather in order to find out if he knows what her mother (allegedly lol) did. If the stepfather is in the clear (which he is and that’s probably why the mother starts feeding him the “special dish”) then that means the mother will most likely try to get him out of the picture so to speak.
@@Valentineatelier probably not, even a movie like this, subtle scares and small, eerie details, make the film, wouldn't go that far. The creators luckily knew where to limit themselves. They will incorporate small details to the point where there are the main important details, but they won't obsessively treat each small detail as if they should exploit it to seem more deep and interesting. At least I hope they wouldn't take such a small detail and try to twist it into a subplot just cuz. I notice Western films and really bad anime of the same drama and style of filmmaking tend to be overzealous with how they treat small details to seem more eerie and interesting and create inauthentic engagement. Probably was just from his retirement fund, as was explained, I feel like you'd expect that from a working class dad who has no other form of income and is not in the best line of work that offers the most money, as revealed at the start of the film when we're learning about how they, mom and dad, met.
The reason the dad is convinced to stay in the house "until the mom gets better" is because the two oldest kids also know about the corpse in the garden. Either he now knows, or they convinced him they're too sentimental in order to maintain the cover up also.
Personally I think he stills naive to that so he still respects mom and cares about her because waking up from a coma and coming home to a new house would be VERY distressing (if she ever actually woke up)
This was actually originally a tv show from the mid 2000's called houshou kinshi (the prequel you showed was actually a tv episode). There are 7 episodes and there are 3 movies. The name translates to "broadcast prohibited" because each episode was supposedly a lost tv broadcast that was shelved and never aired. Although the rest of the movies don't feature the large family, the other plotlines are just as engaging. I hope one day somebody subs the whole series in English so it gains more recognition in the west. Imo it is the best show of it's kind.
other countries really gotta start adding sybs to these things, i lobe them theyre so much better than us dramas or shows, but theyre so hard to find with english subs!!!
He was on the bus with the family on that trip. He was shown holding his baseball bat. Its the only scene of him outside his room. Ringo and Gouki definitely conspired to kill the mother to protect the step dad. As they should. That man is a treasure.
Ringo coming back seemed like the key factor that got the kids to trust their new dad and turn on the mother. Besides, many of the kids seemed to know something was up with the mom, mainly the older ones.
My theory is that Ringo took charge of the kitchen to protect the dad. She could pretend she was adding the poison to please her mom but just add salt or something
I don't think it's a coincidence that the kids all have fruit puns in their name, and that the mom just so happens to have those exact fruit lying around around all the time. The fact that only some fruit gets stabbed and it's a different number each time makes me think it's probably some kind of warning to the kids. If you step out of line or say stuff in front of the cameras you shouldn't have, your fruit gets a knife in it and that's what's gonna happen to you next if you don't cut that out. This lets the mom scold and threaten her kids without the camera crew noticing.
I am thinking about whether it is the opposite way, what if the knives in the fruit is like a council agreement. The knife indicates that the representative kid agrees to initially kill the dad. But at the end, there are knives in all the fruits so all the kids agree to kill but they tried the mom because the dad is much kinder.
保険 has two uses, one is insurance and the other is Japanese equivalent of a Phys Ed class. In that scene, the child's interpretation of his mom always saying "Hoken" is that he must study extra hard in his Phys Ed and does not actually know that his mom is actually talking about life insurance
oh my god that’s why she killed the first dad and why when the second dad asks to use that money for a new house she denies him! (also bc a body is in the backyard)
48:11 I like that you can see the eldest son practicing swinging with his bat here. Its in the background and not the focal point, but since its the only thing in the background moving, it draws your eye.
All the calligraphy in the hikikomori brother's room implies that he was made to do the dirty work of actually killing the original father by the mother. 「バット一発」+「十三振だ」= バット一発、父さん死んだ → One hit with the bat, my father died 「ハハハ」+「サイコーです」= 母はサイコです → Mother is a psycho 「強打」+「行こロス」= 兄弟殺す → Kill my brother 「猛虎」+「ロスしかない」= もう殺すしかない → I have no choice but to kill Japanese wordplay is wild, I know.
@@vanessarottencandy4044 I also looked up the two papers on the wall opposite the door: one merely has the character for "hawk" (鷹) and the other has something to do with the character for Buddha (仏) though apparently when combined with other kanji it can refer to a dead person
Outside the double meanings, assuming I'm not misreading (I had to look a lot up) the literal meanings of much of those make him sound like a major baseball fan. Talking about strikes and hanshin tigers and such, which plays along with the baseball bat he has at the end (that he probably attacked the mother with) I wonder if the mother thinks he's just become a baseball otaku?
Word play is one of the biggest themes here. I have no doubt that he used baseball themed words to basically air out a secret message and in a way confessing. I also thought he was saying that he killed his brother but he was saying "One hit with the bat, my father died. My mother is a psycho...kill my brother. I had no choice but to kill." When saying that out loud he was saying that his mother killed father with a bat. Also taking a look at the prequel that brother died before the father. Obviously she's trying to kill them one by one.
@@dylanchouinard6141 The hawk kanji probably refers to the dead brother Takaharu (Taka means hawk). I can't really make out the characters next to 仏 because it's too grainy. 「何々のが仏」＋「鷹」 All of his calligraphy are baseball puns revealing what is actually going on if you read them phonetically. Sadly I don't know enough about baseball to guess what the kanji is. But given the nature of the rest of his calligraphy, it probably has something to do with the true nature of Takaharu's death. 仏 is read as butsu, which can also mean to hit/strike. So Idk what the baseball pun is but the meaning I can glean is "For xx reason [I] struck Taka."
@ryuavincaux you do know that this is fiction right? It’s not an actual documentary. It’s just a movie that is filmed in the style of a documentary. All those scenes with the mother lurking in the background are 100% scripted
Wait, holy shit. If the dad and cat got poisoned with the powder in the food, Rie's outbursts might've actually been *saving* the dad. Stopping him from eating his bowl during dinner.
Ringo DIDNT poison him though. Mom WANTED them to, just like they did with the original abusive father..he fed his beef to the cat too. this time they all side with new dad and conspire to take out mom though. There's a prequel series from the early 00s. (My wife speaks Japanese and found their forums and discussion) Basically Dad was a prick, they all took him out, but this time they take out mom instead.
@crimsontowers then why would the mother still want to kill the new father when he's not violent? Isn't the intention of the killing to get rid of abuse?
@AizatAli for the new dad, the mom wanted to kill him for the insurance money (most japanese people got a large life insurance) and basically she is crazy already.
I don't know the channel thats translating the episodes, but the channel scared sheep did a similar summary and analysis of the episodes and has just started doing the movies as well.
@@DestinyKillerThe channel name is "Asian Horror" or you can search "Saiko The Large Family" and it should be the first result. The prequel to this was uploaded just recently
The younger brother mentioned the original father hitting his sister. On the bridge she explains that she can't understand why such a nice guy would bother with them. He took every beatdown she gave him but after he stood up she accepted him. He wasn't what she understood as a father. No matter what he only showed love. I think she was trying to provoke him the whole time
It was never poisoned though. There's a TV show from the early 00s that covers it. They'd poisoned the original dad..this time she planned to kill new dad, but Ringo didn't want to go along with it (hence why we see the seaweed powder is safe and not poison) The original dad was an abusive prick and got the son killed, they conspired to kill him. But Mom went psycho, and Ringo/gyouki took her out to project their sweet loving new dad. Old dad is buried in the garden. Mom is 10000% psycho killer. They all end up loving the new dad and siding with him
Like you said, in Gouki's room, the two papers can be read as ハハハサイコーデス as in "Hahaha its awesome". But it can also be read 母はサイコーです "Mom is a psychopath". Using katakana helps to hide the different readings to the sentence. But you were pretty spot on the double reading.
I thought this too! I was torn in thinking that ハハハ would be laughter and it's "I am a psycho!" But I am leaning toward the double meaning being 母はサイコです.
Little creepy thing you would notice if you read Japanese is that when Ryouta was in the hospital and the mom was making the phone call, the little close up with her fiddling with her hands shows the paper she was holding which reads “Life insurance”
Yeah it's somewhat implied that she hurts her children in the hopes for insurance money which was one of the driving factors for them turning against the mother.
Yup, and then it shows two stabbed fruit. She thought Ryuta was gonna die. She planned to kill 7 out of 9 of her children, you'll see 8 stabbed fruits near the end. (Taka being the first) Gyouki and Ringo would have been left alive to do her bidding.
@@summerwintermelon didnt she have 2 new children from the stepfather? what if she was gonna murder all the old kids and start anew essentially. clean off all lose ends and just keep the youngest, most impressionable, and ignorant alive?
36:58 insurance (保険: hoken) and health preservation (保健: hoken) are homophones, so the boy is basically misunderstanding his mom's obsession with insurance
I saw someone on Reddit comment that Ringo started making the food for their dad because she didn't want their mom to poison him like what happened to Enrique and their dad. It's so amazing how many interpretations can be made for this mockumentary!
At the end it shows one of the daughters (I think Ringo) identifying the shaker as being full of a kombu seasoning and tasting it herself. Whether she exchanged it for the poison before or after the first time she cooks for new dad, is unclear, but they seem to be adding things to the food befause the mom is watching. It seems that whatever it was supposed to be (and possibly was the first time it was depicted) seems to be a slow-acting mechanism based on how the first dad "ate it all the time" and was chronically weak/ill.
@@nikmuhamad5370I don’t agree, she’s not the oldest daughter nor is she biologically related to the step dad. I really do think she has a sense of loyalty to him because he paid of her debt. I think it was either the shut in or the girl who has the anger management issues that decided to push the mum of the cliff.
@@nikmuhamad5370to add onto my previous comment, I think the fishing trip represents the children’s acceptance of the step-dad. The shut in, who probably pushed the step mother, also leaving the house further advocates for this reading of the series. The mother conveniently getting into a serious accident when the children finally decided to warm up to step father pretty much confirms that in the end the children conspired against the mother.
From another comment, I don't think it was poisoning. Gouki's room says that he hit his former dad with a bat, and he died. My guess is, with the theme of accidents, particularly falling, the camping trip was probably set up by the mom to kill the father, maybe in a similar way as she ended up having done to her. That might also be why Gouki came out for it. He knew the plan from the beginning with the camping trip. My guess is Ringo just didn't want to give the mom the chance to poison him, though it could also be more symbolic of the same thing happening to the new dad that happened to the old one. Edit: Apparently it's both. The movie is a sequel to an episode of a TV show. The new seasoning might not have been poisoned yet, but in any case, that's probably what happened.
Holy shit. On your last analysis of this film at 49:30. When the camera focuses on Gouki’s room. On the off white locker, there is 2 paper, one with a set kanji “猛虎 (mouko もうこ)” which means Fierce tiger. The bottom paper has a combination of Hiraga and Katakana which is written “ロスしかない” which roughly means There is only loss. We don’t use a phrase like that so I was wondering what’s up with the bottom paper. But. If you combine the top paper and bottom paper and read it together, it reads “もうこロスしかない” which means “we have to kill (add a noun here like HER ) now” Oh my god. That really got me. lol I’m happy my Japanese level is at the point I can see that, but oh man that was so spine chilling lol
Nope, kill in kanji stroke is very different which is 殺す(korosu), and when you combine it together, it says "I have no choice, but to lose the fierce tiger". (猛虎 ロスしかない) Given his pictures, it seems like he is a chinpira who always gets in a fight then all of a sudden he locks himself up in a room, so maybe thats what the paper implies. He had no choice but to lock himself up (I have no choice but to lose the fierce tiger). But lock himself up for what reason tho? But yeah, I could also be mistaken, the way that it is pronounce is the same, mou korosu shikanai (I have no choice but to kill him) and mouko rosu shikanai (I have to lose the fierce tiger) So maybe we have a double meaning here to f up our minds.
Thanks for the info man!! Ive always been a fan of Japanese culture an always wanted to visit Japan to eventually learn how to speak Japanese. But yeah the mom i never noticed her at first till reignbot showed us creepin on people.. she sent a chill down my spine..
I noticed theバット一発 (one swing of the bat) and 十三振だ which can be read as "juusanshinda" (13 strike outs) or the thirteen part can be made to read "tousan" meaning (dad died). Together he is telling how his mom made him kill his dad hitting him on the head with a bat. I watched the prequel and sure one of the young kids drew that moment. And also how she was trying to poison him but she seems to have grown impatient. Also the scene were Ringo goes in to whisper in her brother's ears there's calligraphy 強打 行こロス "kyouda kou korosu) the reading can be switched to 今日だ、こう殺す "today is D-day, we will kill (her?) like this".
In high school, my Japanese class watched Japanology at least twice or three times a week and we were such big fans of Peter Barakan (the little old British man lol) that we messaged him telling him how big of fans we were, which then ended up with the all the Japanese programs from the four high schools in my town Skyping with him. He’s so sweet and was amazing to talk to!!!
I actually noticed the mom in the window of the scene where Ryuta "falls" but I never noticed her creeping in the back of the kid's one on one interviews. I'm amazed that people actually noticed
The whole thing is a masterclass in storytelling through the incidental details. Like, you see the surface-level story, but in the minute, missable stuff, there's a whole other story.
In the scene where Ringo takes dinner to the eldest 20:39 ,the calligraphy pun series on the wall tells the tale of how the original dad and the third son died. Also foreshadowing killing his mom. • バット一発 (“Single bat swing”) and 十三振だ (“13 strikes”, but can be read as “toh-san shinda” or “dad’s dead”)→former dad was bludgeoned by a bat • ハハハ (“hahaha” or “haha wa” “mom is”) and サイコー (“saiko” being “awesome” or “psycho”) →Mom’s a psycho • 強打 (“Kyoda” meaning “heavy hit” for baseball, or “heavy blow” for blunt force trauma) combined with 行こロス (“Iko Los”, “Off to Los Angeles”) reads together to 兄弟殺す “Kyodai korosu”→Fraternicide • 知らぬが仏 (loosely translates to “what one doesn’t know won’t hurt you” while 仏 hotoké can mean “Buddha” or “The Deceased”) and “鷹” (“Taka”) is part of the name in the deceased third son’s name ・猛虎 (“Mo-ko” means “Charging Tiger”, a reference to The Hanshin Tigers baseball cheer) and ロスしかない (“Los shika nai”, normally “Los Angeles or Bust!”) when read together becomes “Mo Korosu Shikanai”→“I can now only kill” In the original full film, the “Only Kill” calligraphy combo moves around from the back of the eldest’s room to the front of his room’s door between scenes, showing his resolve to wipe mom out IMO The director Toshikazu Nagae is a master in peppering playful and dark as shit clues
The dad was so nice. Growing up,I never had a dad, atleast only for a bit until my mom and dad got a divorce. The fact that he thought that ringo not coming home was his fault,and even paid for the dept.. carrying ryuta in his back and apologizing to rie really made me cry. He cared about his children despite them not being his own..
Ringo never tried to poison the step-father because at the end of the movie she was seen tasting the powder that she put in the meat dish that she made especially for the step-father. Even Veronica tasted the powder and said that it tasted like salt. Ringo definitely changed the powder to a lookalike but totally harmless alternative to fool the mom into thinking that she was doing what her mom wanted (which is to poison the step-father to get more insurance money). You omitted the clip thinking it wasn't that important.
The mother's acting is so good, especially in 19:18 when she first sees Ringo. She captured perfectly the face of a mother that's NOT happy to see her own daughter return home.
i watched the film before this video. i found that the mother not acting as excited as expected a lil weird too. it was only the comment section that made me connect the dots
I guess it's kind of endearing that Rie didn't want her stepdad to end up like her biological dad that she had to resort to beating him up to try and push him away and once again showed his good nature by him blocking Ringo from being attacked by Rie.
I love that you brought up japanology! I loved that show and used to watch it before bed cause it was such a soothing and calm show but taught me lots of little tid bits about japan
I made sure to quickly check out the movie before the spoiler section since I figured I might as well. I didn't understand the creepiness, apart from the scene of the mom spraying water on the plants. In fact, the movie seemed kind of boring, apart from the heartwarming, feel-good nature of the step-dad bringing his family together. Watching this video immediately after the movie, that boredom returned as I rewatched the scenes in the recap section. That all changed shortly into the analysis of the interviews. Never in my life have I gone from being bored to being genuinely creeped out, bordering on panicking, just by rewatching something that hadn't gotten a rise out of me the first time. I felt actual tension in my chest that still hasn't left me nearly half an hour after the fact.
I was genuinely so surprised that you didn’t get the ending! To me it was the most horrifying part. So the film crew explains that the mom “hit her head when no one was there”, right? Now watch the entire last bit of the film again (the camping trip) and only focus on the oldest son. What is he doing? He is PRACTISING BASEBALL SWINGING MOTIONS! I’m sure that Ringo was as you also guessed instrumentalized by the mom to assist in the disappearance of the first husband. Seeing that her stepdad was actually a good father though she went to the older son and told him to come with them to the camping trip to once and for all get rid of mom. That’s why he’s practicing the swings in the background. It seems harmless at first because his obsession with baseball is explained early on but in fact he was actually preparing to strike down the mother just as Ringo asked of him!
@@popcorn6931 I think it isn’t really far fetched to come to the conclusion I came to above when you consider that this entire film relies highly on picking up on minor details :)
Horror that doesn't scream its presence to the audience but rather keeps itself hidden in plain sight, and you later on find out that you've been staring at it without knowing is so creepy since it had broken the safety we thought we were in.
Oh man subtle horror is so criminally underrated. Once you pointed out the mom lurking in the background it recontextualized the entire film. And even better, the non-paranormal pragmatic explanation actually becomes much more horrifying than the alternative. Combine that with actual character arcs. Super impressive storytelling!
Since you mentioned the second film closer to the end of the video. There actually are 7 films in the series before this one. The series title is ニッポンの大家族 , the English title from what i could find is Banned From Broadcast. The films can be viewed standalone and they all are in a mocumentary style.
Honestly, one of the things this movie seems to do masterfully is flesh out an entire family dynamic. It's a lot of story and a large cast to put into a horror movie, but nothing seems overlooked, all the characters have motivations and arcs, and the mystery and horror is part of the overall experience, not the end-all and be-all of it. Just terrific, and I hope you cover the other movie(s) as well.
I've never been more intrigued, the fact that it makes u more uncomftable, rather than scared is amazing. I absolutely loved the commentary, how u pieced it all together and the theory's u had. I need more stuff like this XD
Honestly, I read Gouki as a prisoner of his mother. Thinking on what happens, she's rather insistent on always being in his vicinity, even as a child of hers is in the hospital and "she wishes she could be there" I believe he was a witness to the eventual death of the first father, but wasn't an active participant in it and ever since had been watched constantly to ensure he didn't say anything (probably under threat that he would be next if he tried to) That or he is legitimately traumatised to such a degree he became non-verbal, and is being monitered to make sure he stays that way, not counting on his calligraphy holding double meanings.
Yeah that was weird. I'm not Japanese, but my impression has always been that Hikikomori don't get into too much trouble other than basic self-destructive tendencies like Internet addiction, maybe posting on black-pill forums, and not cleaning their rooms. Why keep such a close eye on a young adult shut-in?
I would add that maybe he was forced to help his mom carry the body to the garden and bury it. That alone would have traumatized him. His mom might have even threatened him to stay silent. Possibly threatened that his siblings would be orphaned and separated.
@@Mergerie_Smithatonhe is the eldest child, so probably by the time first dad was killed he was the only child that could physically help her in burying the body. I think both the eldest son and daughter were coerced by the mom in killing the first dad. Daughter poisoned and son buried him. In the end it was also these 2 who conspired against the mother leading to her accident. Ringo after seeing how much stepdad is a good person that has sacrificed again and again realized their family is better off without the mom.
@@peteartieda58I think it's that the daughter is preparing food for the dad this go round because she saw her mom poisoning her dad. Notice that when she gets back SHE'S the one preparing food and serving her step dad and brother. She's ALSO the one watching the mom during the interview about the ghost picture, which reign didn't comment on even though she showed the scene. Also SHE'S the only one who gets out of the house. The brother is a shut in and is either being poisoned or kept prisoner by the mom. No way mom would let her leave if she was involved when she's losing her shit over the young ones playing near the garden. Also note the brother doesn't come out of the room until Ringo talks to him and promptly goes back to exile after his mom's "accident".
@@midnightfenrir oh I thought the only instance of the eldest daughter, Ringo, snooping in the interviews was with the stepdad. But still though the mom probably would've seen thru Ringo insisting that she does the cooking when she came back. I think the mom is cunning that she'd notice Ringo is using the same scheme she did with 1st dad if this is the case.
The saiko/psycho pun is used EVERYWHERE in japanese storytelling and media, especially in horror/thriller. Like if a character does something dangerous or illegal they might comment "sakiodesu ne" which can be translated/subbed as "Isn't it psycho?" Or "that's awesome". Biggest example i can think of off the top of my head is from the anime Cyberpunk Edgerunners where after David gets kidnapped and forced to watch a cyberpsycho braindance.
It's actually pretty explicit here - it's written as katakana サイコ not さいこ or in kanji. Katakana is generally used for loan words from other languages or proper nouns that aren't japanese in origin.
psychological horror has existed for decades, while respectable this show is not even that good, albeit it's okay since they probably had a low budget. everything is "matter of fact" and "on your face", I laughed so much at the son's room door with plot's elements literally posted on it... now you would argue "but it's for his family to notice", yeah know it's obvious it's meant at an extradiegetic level, for the audience.. likewise the "jaw" of this content creator ("more after") dropping when we see what is maybe the mother upstairs, like literally in plain sight, but for who? the audience again. The shots with the fruit basket in the foreground: no comment, notice me senpai level. The format now... "I don't care if any of you disappear" like nothing happened: while the documentary format should give more "realism", it actually gives the opposite since everything is forced, the editing is inconsistent... like the camera filming from the ground just for the audience to gather more info, or the camera holder just sneaking upstairs... the blunt questions about the disappearance of their father... to what should have been a 5 years old child... by a cliche of a foreign journalist... so yeah it's a movie in the form of a documentary not the contrary.. it goes on and on. I don't know this content creator but the fact that she was not bothered to check the meaning of some kanjis while it can be done in a few seconds with any OCR app and preferred editing in an already long video how she can't be bothered is pretty regrettable
@@pomdapi2804 Agree, it's enjoyable for what it is but hardly the subtle ambiguous masterpiece some ppl here seem to think it is. It's actually pretty blatant and on the nose in many ways. The psycho/saiko pun is obvious from the beginning even if you have only the most basic knowledge of Japanese.
@@pomdapi2804I felt like I was losing my mind oh my god, thank you for commenting this because while it's a serviceable piece of horror, it's hardly exemplary of the genre. Creepy if you wanna stretch it, but simultaneously on the nose and almost stupidly subtle. Some good bits of naturalistic acting, though!
I agree that in the end, the dad won the kids over by being patient and compassionate. Since he used his retirement fund to save Ringo he is worth much less money than before, which I think kind of forced the kids to act fast, since the mom might've been so displeased with that, that she planned to do away with him sooner rather than later. I also find it really odd than the shut-in son took a baseball bat of all things to a fishing trip, it's odd that he came with them at all. He is even seen at the end doing the family excercices in the garden and he is smiling.
My interpretation: that son was there to ‘neutralize’ the physical and psychological threat that is their mom. He hung onto the bat the whole time and the last slide show of photos showed him standing behind everyone holding it out menacingly.
@@FeechLaMannas oh very plausible! He might have been in cahoots with Ringo and they planned the whole thing, she did whisper something to him after all.
He's even in the background behind the father (without an umbrella, still holding onto his bat), as they wave the film crew goodbye in the middle of the night.
Regardless there is still the lingering question. The big one is simply-weather or not, This force on the house aka the dead child is the one invading the interview’s. Or if the mother was the one the whole time acting independently.
Gouki seems like he's being intentionally monitored by his mother, like maybe he witnessed her killing her first husband and became a shut-in due to the trauma and fear. He would've only been a 16yr old kid at the time his father 'disappeared' and I don't think it's entirely out of the question that his mother used his young age to perhaps encourage his shut-in behavior and even influence him to drop out of school. It appears that she has no problems roping her children in on things (if we are taking that theory to be true), so if he was coerced into participating in the murder it makes even more sense that she would further influence him into becoming a shut-in as a way to control him.
I think the mom used him as a murder weapon and forced him to become a shut-in so that no one realizes her secret. Seems natural for a murderer to want to hide their weapon. He ultimately came out of the house due to Ringo's influence and was able to turn on the mother.
Maybe the reason the mother said she couldn’t leave the house to visit the middle brother in the hospital because of Gouki, it’s because she’s afraid he might tell something to the crew members or even leaving the house to expose her with anyone
I adore vids like this that explore not some overhyped topic but something geniuenly cool to share with the world. I love this. Thank you, your vid is amazing!!!!
Another kanji pun in Gouki’s room (you can see it at 49:30) where one says猛虎 and another says ロスしかない (rosu shika nai)。 猛虎 means ferocious tiger and can be read as もうこ (mouko) So if you combine it with the other paper, it will be read as もうころすしかない (mou korosu shika nai) Which means “there’s no other choice but to kill”.
The food motif is so real like I’m rewatching the doc now and noticed that that the second daughter is called “Mikan”, a tangerine-like citrus fruit that is grown in warmer regions of Japan. Also, Sumomo is represented by a peach as Momo is Japanese for peach and “Raichi” sounds like Lychee! Dan can also mean “dango”!
It also connects to her garden. It's actually interesting now that I think about it, you grow plants but are not emotionally attached to them, yet they are dependent on you. And people usually grow gardens because of what the garden can give them back. Vey interesting stuff, I'm sorry I'm not explaining it well.
The segment where you went back and zoomed in on the mom hiding in the background of the kids' interviews gave me AWFUL flashbacks to Lake Mungo, which is also a mockumentary. What is it with mockumentaries hiding the creepiest stuff in the background smhhh gave me the chills, great video btw
I put this video in the background while I clean as usually and had to stop and save it for later to fully focus on it because it's THAT good. What a great commentary, brilliant video and brilliant subject
The shot of the mother's reflection in the mirror, spying on her child and the interviewer gave me the most intense, eye-watering, nose-running goose bumps lol That was terrifying the way they did it. So easily missed. Makes it feel very real and scary. Makes me feel like I'm being watched right now lol
This video made my skin absolutely CRAWL. When you went back over all the clips mom was in, I physically teared up because the fear invoked such adrenaline and terror in me. This was FANTASTIC.
Almost like a subtle version of Eric Idle as the narrator of the classic 1978 mockumentary "The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash", where he is the slave to the camera's position and movements rather than vice versa...
@@catfoodzplz That's basic "film style" shooting The camera is set up, director announces scene begin, and she turns to face the camera as she delivers her line. Then they cut and set up for the next shot. The alternate is multi-cam where all cameras are rolling and the scene plays from start to end, then is cut together from the different angles that were shot -- that's not what was done here because you would have been able to see the other cameras. (Hope I'm not spoiling all of film and TV for you!)
I definitely think Gouki did it. Throughout the camping trip he’s shown in the background practicing his swing. There’s also the photo in the final sequence which shows him pointing the bat at the camera. I think when the mom went to the bathroom, he attacked her, then claimed she fell.
I can see how the movie certainly implies that - if he did do it with the bat, the mom in the hospital would not look the way she did though. Like, they'd know if she'd been conked in the head with a baseball bat.
@@ClandestineSnowmani was thinking of this too -- I'm pretty sure the injury would be recognized as a blunt force injury or injury caused by blunt object, which if told they were camping and slipped hitting their head on a rock, it would align with the injury they would be seeing in the hospital
Me too. I think Gouki was made to kill their dad, and his brother, also (by the mom), which is why he's become a recluse. When we see Ringo whispering to Gouku, a baseball bat is seen leaning on the wall -- foreshadowing I guess.
the son heard his mom talking about "Hoken" and thought she meant 保健 or health preservation so he wanted to study physical health but she actually meant 保険 which means insurance
This is the best piece of content I have consumed in a lonnnng time. To get to know such a film exists and the individual but deep analysis of the audience, just wow
I'm stunned. Like legitimately stunned. I missed so much of the background stuff. I'm actually freaked out. Why did I decide to watch this at midnight? Why is this so good? I love how smart this is. It didn't rely on jumpscares at all.
I watched the whole movie, and my interpretation is that the mother killed her first husband and used her children as accomplices. The reasoning is unclear, but it’s possible that the domestic violence the third son mentions could have been the justification the mom used. They were seemingly trying to poison him, but it’s possible Gouki killed him with a bat for some reason, maybe he realized what was happening and Gouki attacked him before he could call the cops. But then they realize she wasn’t just defending herself when she drowned the 9 year old son. All of them are afraid to report her since they’re all somewhat responsible. Gouki is traumatized and stays inside while Ringo tries to escape. I think initially Rie assumes the new dad was in cahoots with the mom since she killed the first husband after meeting the second at her job. The kids start to understand the dad really is a good man after saving Ryuta and Ringo, but the mom wants him dead for spending all that money on Ringo’s debt. The mom gives Ringo some bs on why the dad needs to die, maybe she blames the accidents on him or threatens to hurt the siblings. She tries to poison him, but when he stands up for her while also assuring Rie he loves all the kids, she has a change of heart. She makes a plan with Gouki and they attack the mom at the campsite. It’s unclear if the dad knows the truth, but it seems like he does since he’s not bothered by her accident and no longer wants to leave the house (and the body buried). All is seemingly well, but things are left up in the air when Ringo is making the food. Tldr, they’re all psycho. Also, rather ironic that after turning her husband into a vegetable garden, she becomes a vegetable herself.
I assumed it was insurance as the reasoning of the killing. The dad seems very naive and optimistic, and considering how the kids talk about how nice their previous dad was made me think, "the mom is definitely one of those killers that prey on victims who are too oblivious".
@@nunyabusiness3652 I got the impression that the first father wasn't that great a guy or at least not as good as the current dad. The way that the kids talked about him was very stilted like there was more going on there. In Ringo's case that may have been out of guilt or fear but she never mentions him being violent like the son does. Mabye she doesn't want to act like she had motive to kill him but he definitely was worse than the way she painted him. Of course there is the prequel to answer that question but I get weird feelings about the first dad from this. So much so that I wouldn't be surprised if he killed the first kid with how little info we get about that situation
I thought the reason as to why rie is so violent with the new dad is because she's trying to make the dad leave the family bc she know her mom will try to kill him
From watching the prequel, I can confirm it was Gouki that killed the father. The father was also pretty abusive, and I didn't hear anything about insurance in the prequel, so I'm just assuming that the motive for the original father's death was due to resentment.
I think Gouki put the mom in the hospital. The intro talking about baseball, the son being interested in baseball, the movie building his mystery, the only thing Gouki seamingly brings to the camping trip was his bat, him in the background by himself practicing his swing. Then the mom ends up in the hospital comotose with a head injury. And the movie says she was FOUND like that and they THINK she fell off a cliff. I think Gouki has been planning this for awhile. My theory is Gouki found out what his mother did to his father (and probaby brother) and thats when he became a shut it. And she probably knew he found out which is why she is so dedicated to taking care of him so he wont talk and why she was so suspicious when asked why he became a shut in like "oh um yeah uh i dont know"
@@adisaster8734I feel like the mother perhaps indeed wanted him gone too and asked Ringo to do it which is when she decided to mommy dearest must go and started plotting with her brother.
The camera angle makes it so he's swinging right at head level of one of the family members. If it's the mother in the shot, that's very well-done foreshadowing through cinematography.
The young son reveals that the mother and older siblings discussed their sick dad. So they were likely all in on his murder for insurance money. They live with the guilt which is why the eldest locks himself in and Ringo left.
Did you notice that in the first film the kids are also happy exercising? Did you notice the old dad looking at the cat as it's eating from his bowl? Maybe the cat died poisoned, with all the red the kids were drawing on the eyes it seemed pretty bad. Maybe dad caught on, confronted Ringo, Gouki had to "defend" her. Ringo then realized she was being setup by the mother and ran away then when she was back she told Gouki everything and he got the mother. Also, based on the kanji, Gouki's name means courage/fortitude. He has that with a bat but not sure what fruit he's meant to resemble. Anyways, these Japanese films are incredible for "reading the air" training. :)
the dad confronting ringo makes so much sense especially since that one kid mentioned he hit one of his sisters! 😭 if he was verbally and physically abusive, it's potentially an additional reason why the mom would kill her husband aside from life insurance.
I saw someone said "GOUKI" means Demon. It implies that he's the one doing the dirty work. Ringo just did what the mother did in the 1st Dad & the brother. She controlled Gouki to do horrific things again.
The dad was an orphan who wanted a family of his own, which means he doesn’t have a family. He was going to be the next life insurance scheme. There would’ve been no contestants to the will. I think he befriended the children enough that they turned against the mom. He was a lot more loving.
This is part of a series called "Banned from Broadcast", there's around 9 or so movies in this series, all of which are low budget and feature a documentary or found footage style. The director of these, Toshikazu Nagae, also created an independent Paranormal Activity "sequel". The series is mostly an anthology, however Banned from Broadcast 2 - A Damned Big Family, and this one are ones that have any relations to the the Ura family.
The film is not the third in a trilogy. The reason the "Cursed Family" film, the earlier one where the original father is still in the picture, says it is #2 in a series is because it was the second film in (what I assume to be) an anthology film series in Japan called Banned From Broadcast. There are, as far as I can tell, at least 6 numbered films in this series, and three more (including Saiko) that don't initially appear to be numbered. It would seem most of these movies are unrelated to each other, just sharing the series name as an anthology.
From what I know, this is related to the second one for sure, a sequel definitely. I think the movie versions are sequels to some episodes in the original series.
I just watched the prequel to this! It explained a lot and I highly recommend everyone to watch it to. I will give a main summary of what happens in it, and it really helps explain some of the things in this movie to. So spoilers :) Basically, the dad is pretty abusive. Like Rie, but even worse. While he would only get abusive when he would punish the kids, when he did it was bad. And so the children held resentment to him - especially the older ones. So the mother and Ringo would put poison in his special food, which the cat would also eat (fun fact - in this film, Ringo was studying to become a pharmacist!). Then there was the photograph, and the exorcism that followed which the dad skipped. I didn't find much with that part, probably once again because of my bad Japanese lol. But, then the dad didn't come home. While it was assumed that because he didn't show up to the exorcism, he was taken to the photograph - the drawings that the children drew told otherwise. In one of the drawings, Gouki was angry and killed the dad with his baseball bat. And another drawing showed how the dad and the cat died together and were buried together. There is definitely heaps I missed, but blame no english subtitles and barely any comments for that haha. I find it interesting tho - after watching this film first, I thought that the mother killed the dad for insurance money, but after watching the prequel, I definitely think it was more out of resentment. Perhaps after the dad died that she realised the benefits of insurance money? Not sure lol.
There may actually be a supernatural element because during the 3 hour exorcism Ringo spent an hour screaming and convulsing on the floor and had no memory of it after. The father was obsessed with keeping the family in the house and he may have been beating Ringo because she wanted to go to university. After the family murdered the their father Tsukasa took over his role and then she became obsessed with keeping the family in the house. Ringo and Gouki left the house and fell into misfortune. After Tsukasa's "accident" Sumio has taken her role now and no longer plans to force the family to move.
39:22 ok hold on. I'm watching the interviews again, she has way too many kids, they're all being sneaky about the dad, the powder they put in the dad's food, the way the eldest brother and sister were whispering to each other before he finally came out of his room. Was the mom a black widow and she involved the older kids in her schemes, and that's why Rie kept being mean to him, she was trying to drive him away before he became her next victim? And now with the mom in the hospital, did the kids decide they liked this dad better than their mom?
I'd like to think that's the case and that powder Ringo was seasoning the beef with was actually that seaweed powder idk maybe I'm just naive but I'd like to think that good triumphed in the end
@@_mooshrooom It makes a lot of sense. Overall, it seems that we can ask agree that the kids decided that the dad was the one they wanted to stay with and took the mom out of the scene.
@@_mooshrooomthink about it: Rei always lashed out at mealtime, pretty quickly into each meal too. It’s like she was trying to get the dad not to eat what was being cooked for him by destroying the meal.
The son describing how his previous father wasn’t well and couldn’t work to me confirms that the mother was poisoning him. Also, it’s interesting that the mother only seems to have been abusive towards the males of the family.
The third daughter also suffered an accident in the previous year, so personally, I think she went after the children who said or did something she didn't like or maybe questioned her.
In the first series with this family (crazy ritual for the photo and all), Ringo the eldest daughter was in charge of making the “special meat dish” for their biological and abusive father. Mom most likely abused her into doing it, and seeing her make the dish again for Sumio was a major yellow light until she took a lick of the MSG salt herself.
Another thing to note about the notes in Gouki's room, the "サイコーです" one has "saikou" written in katakana which is typically used for foreign words. That could lend more credence to it meaning "psycho" instead of "the best"
This video has mentally changed me. Thank you for posting about this mockumentary, it was amazing and the detail and descriptions of it has sent chills through me! If you were to do another of these, I would LOVE it.
Just by your explanation, I feel like the shut-in brother did it, in cahoots with Ringo. There was that point where she was whispering to him and maybe they were planning together - seems kind of suss that a hard-core shut in, that won't even leave his room for meals would suddenly go on a trip, unless he had a plan.
In my limited experience with japanese media that deals with curses, the way japanese stories deal with curses seem to deal with some supernatural or unexplained incident that slowly drives people to madness, being themselves the ones who are actually fully guilty and responsible for their crimes, so the curse might not be something actually supernatural, but the family believing it to be was driven mad.
Completely unrelated but this made me think about The Magician, where the protagonist's family is somehow cursed by a wizard and all heirs die at a certain age (iirc), a whole history of looking for a way to break the curse, and the grand reveal towards the end: The wizard was just sneaking in every time they were old enough and taking matters into his own hands
@@KibitoAkuya there are some stories (which don't come to mind rn) that treat with people using superstitions and curses that aren't real and taking ownership of them for their own benefit
I asked my parents what the kanji said at the shut-ins room. At time 47:02, one says "swung [something] 13 times" and the other one says "once with a bat"
The first husband was a violent man. (I read one of the comments that this series had a sequel tv season) Also one of the kids said the father got angry and hit his sister. “My mother and sisters and brothers gathered and talked a lot about it.” They planned his murder (This could also be all the mother’s plan, and she gathered the children to hush them up) and by testing the poison on the cat, the mother poisoned the food which both the father and the cat ate. It was confirmed that the cat was buried in the garden does that confirm thats the first husband also got buried there and the cat is the cover if anyone dig. Ringo ran away with guilt, thats why she called security on him the first time. When she heard that one of her brothers fallen from the second floor she immediately knew it was her mother who pushed him off. (This is semi-confirmed with the mom in the window) She came back to protect her siblings, she knew her mother is greedy for “Life Insurance”. Ringo may also have felt that she is indebted to the stepfather. So she went immediately to the kitchen after coming back to protect the whole family from her mother poison. The mother won’t only target the stepfather as shown by the fruit basket. (The knife plunged on the Dragonfruit which symbolize Ryuta) The brother who was pushed. At dinner, Rie snaps to also protect her step-father from the “poison” way before Ringo’s arrival. Ringo didn’t want her mother to see her as a threat, so she cooperated with her to spy on the other kids. While also using a powder thats similar to the poison so her mother doesn’t suspect anything. When Ringo decided to deliver food to her eldest brother, she knew thats the only way to plan her mothers murder without her mother suspecting anything. On the field trip, Gokui (The eldest) joins them. It was shown he brought a baseball bat in a fishing trip, and later on the mother was hit in the head really hard. In Gokui room one of the calligraphy’s says. (Single bat swing). The mother knew she’s done for when the whole family sided with stepfather. That’s why the whole fruits in the basket has a knife inside them. The mother wanted to kill them all.
This was all pieced together by the comment section, and the video. I have never watched the film. This film really has clues and hints everywhere lol.
YOOO okay this makes sense
this theory is fucking wild. this is so interesting because majority of people and what the movies (kinda) implies the opposite of the mum is trying to kill sumio and the kids didn't want that. but this comment and especially the fruit stabbing symbolism makes alot of sense.
I also suspected that the cause for the mother's psychopathy was an abusive husband/father, but I had no evidence as that's really only stereotyping from me. Also, I never thought that the mother may have figured out her children's betrayal, I thought perhaps see just wanted to get the insurance money. If her psychosis was not a result of domestic abuse, it could be possible that the reason she had so many children is to 1. farm life insurance money and/or 2. literally create accomplices that will follow your orders and wont betray you because they are being manipulated and controlled.
I think you got everything nailed in one comment
meta
I think we can all agree on one thing: Sumio wasn't the step dad. He was the dad who stepped up.
Sumio was a king who just wanted his kids to be happy and healthy
I got stuck on the "he can't be the bio dad thing" like why not? He would have been around 15 when the first daughter was born, not a totally crazy age, especially if religion is involved
@@kaziered I thought he was 49 and Ringo was 24? How would he have been 15? He would have been in his early 20s. Unless I misheard.
@@lainiwakura1776 At 6:53 it shows the dad as 39 :)
My step-dad IS my dad. The only one I have, the only one I’ll ever need. xx
My understanding is that the mom killed her first husband and buried him in that garden, and had a plan to kill this one too. The older kids figured it out, Ringo ran away and got involved with a shady guy, and Gouki was so traumatized that he became a shut in. Maybe the kid that died threatened to report her, or tried to tell people - we know she isn’t above harming her kids to keep her secret, and even said she doesn’t care if one of them goes missing when they are playing around the garden. When she got together with the second husband, her plan was to kill him too once they were legally married (for the insurance money). That’s why Rie was so violent; she wanted to drive him away from the family. The mother probably did it by poisoning; she first tested it on the cat, and then used it to kill the first husband, and she was already actively trying to kill the second (to me that was clear when one of the younger kids mentioned the dish he was eating was their father’s favorite, and the cat used to like it too), but Ringo wouldn’t let her cook, to protect the new father. This new father was so nice - saving Ringo, trying to actually be a good parent for the others - that the kids decided to get rid of their mom to protect him. I think that’s why Gouki decided to leave his room; Ringo told her plan to him when she was whispering in his ear - and he was on board.
Honestly the route I’m going with the film. It ties it all together pretty well
Also had the thought that when Rie kept attacking new father at mealtime, it stopped him from eating the poisoned food.
This comment really makes sense to me. When Mom said she didn’t care if the kids went missing, I think she was alluding to being willing to kill them which is why the kids were so upset. Also, Ringo seemed to immediately take over all the cooking after coming home. The mother even had to remind her about the seasoning. Perhaps she took over to make sure the dad’s meal never got tampered with?
This makes sense
This is super well thought out and makes a lot of sense. Thanks!
Little sad sidenote when I looked into this, Sumio's actor has passed away in 2021 so RIP. You played a character who is the definition of an ideal father figure.
What was his name?
@@YourLeftWetSockHair He's name is 川嶋秀明, it seems he died of illness, not named in his wiki page, at the young age of 52.
WHAT??? Oh no... ;;;
Rip
@@YourLeftWetSockHairhis name was hideaki kawashima the translation on wiki from Japanese to English says he was fighting a disease so best guess is cancer.
Some interesting wordplay in the movie! These fill in some missing info:
浦 (Ura), the family's name is a play on 裏 (ura) which implies "more than meets the eye" or "something going on behind the scenes."
Some of Gouki's calligraphy:
ハハハ サイコーです (ha ha ha saiko desu), as covered in the video, meaning "mom is a psychopath."
強打 行こロス (kyouda iko rosu), is "let's get a massive hit, Los Angeles (Angels or Dodgers)," but sounds like 兄弟殺す (kyoudai korosu), meaning "kills/will kill siblings." This was his warning about what mom has done/plans to do.
バット一発十三振だ (batto ippatsu juu sanshin da) is "one home run with a bat, 10 strikeouts" if you read it literally, but 十三 could be read as "tousan," a play on 父さん, a word for "father/dad." Take away "tousan" and you're left with 振だ (shin da), which is meant to sound like 死んだ (shinda), or "died." 一発 can mean "home run" or "one hit." Put it all together: "One hit with a bat, and dad died." Mom somehow convinced Gouki to do the killing blow after slowly weakening her first husband by poisoning his food. Even if it was done to protect the family from the first father's abuse, surely the trauma from that terrible deed and fear or his mother's wrath is what drove Gouki to become a shut-in.
知らぬが仏 鷹 (shiranu ga hotoke taka) 知らぬが仏 literally means "to be unaware is to be like the Buddha (at peace)," very similar to "ignorance is bliss." But the 仏 in it can mean "deceased person," so something like "to be unaware is to be deceased." 鷹 (taka) is "hawk," but more significantly, the first kanji from Takaharu's name 鷹治. So, "to be unaware is to risk meeting the same fate (death) as Takaharu." This must be connected to WHY he's written the coded messages - he wants to warn and save the rest of his siblings but didn't want mom to retaliate.
猛虎 ロスしかない (mouko rosu shika nai) is either "Hanshin Tigers" and "Los Angeles (Angels or Dodgers) are the best" OR "the Hanshin Tigers do nothing but lose," which is pretty funny at first. But もう殺すしかない (mou korosu shika nai) is the very obvious "secret" reading which means "now there's no choice but to kill." Gouki was signaling in his own way that it was time to off mom to end the cycle.
This is the best interpretation comment; the other one translating kyoudai korosu to fraternicide made me confused about whether Gouki killed his brother (it is a possible theory), but it makes more sense that it's about the mom killing his siblings. and "now there's no choice but to kill" would also be a more fitting translation then
Wow, this got me goose bump
Yo how is that not the top comment
Great translation and explanation of the word-plays. It's crazy how much stuff is only able to be understood by Japanese-speakers line the the fruit bowl referencing the kids being named after fruits
ハハハ サイコ is written in Katakana making it a pretty obvious reference to "Mom is psycho," and also laughing, maybe hysterically.
honestly the fact that the dad spent over 3 hours searchibg for rie in the night despite the fact that she treated him like shit all the time really says that he was fit to be a father
How can anyone be fit for a psycho family? Lol
So basically, original dad was an abusive prick and got son killed.. gyouki and mom and probably Ringo poisoned and killed him, buried him in the garden.
But Mom just went nuts after that, abusing the kids and going psycho.
This time, she wants to poison new dad but he's a sweet gem and he's won over all the kids and they don't want Mom to hurt him, and conspire to kill her instead, to be happy without mom.
Also Ringo returned once she heard her brother was injured and wanted to protect them from mom
(My wife found a Japanese forum discussing material that covers the earlier events)
Honestly, this is why I think the children actually chose their stepdad over their mom. That's why we got to see the mom in a comma. They realized that their new stepdad really cares about them, even more than their biological mother who probably sees them as just big piles of money to cash in on through insurance scam.
I'd even argue that the reason the eldest son became a shut-in was due to their mom's manipulation to begin with. But after the eldest daughter took over bringing him his food, she must've convinced him to stand up for their stepdad. Since, the stepdad did save her from the debt.
At the same time, I like to think that the mom was actually cursed and that's the reason why she became such an evil person. The children may not be aware of it, but it won't matter cause in their eyes the mom was definitely the bad guy.
@@KaladinVegapunk I'd like to think that the curse may actually be real and turns someone into an abusive person. And it was the stepdad saving Ringo that really changed his fate.
>Real dad was orignally cursed.
>Real dad was kind at first but the curse made him evil
>Real dad became abusive and ends up getting his son killed
>Mom, Ringo, and Gyouki probably knows about the curse
>Mom, Ringo, and Goyuki decided to do something and off'd the real dad.
>The curse was passed on to mom
>Mom became abusive too
>Ringo cut all contact w/ her family due to guilt
>Gyouki becomes a shut-in due to guilt and was probably being manipulated by mom
>Mom met stepdad hoping to use him for another insurance fraud.
>Stepdad genuinely cared about all the children.
>Stepdad gained Ringo's trust after he saved her
>Ringo chose their stepdad who actually cares about them over their abusive real mom.
>Ringo started trying to get Gyouki on her side.
>Ringo tries to protect stepdad from Rie cause she knows he's the one that really cares about them.
>Stepdad also gained Rie's favor.
>Gyouki went out of his room cause he's no longer afraid of their mom.
>Dad is now more loved by the children
>Mom lost all allies
>Ringo and Gyouki decided to put their mom in a comma. They didn't off her cause the curse might be passed down to stepdad.
>Stepdad is still unaware of everything, probably because Ringo and Gyouki decided that him not knowing would be for the better.
I'm gonna call my dad and tell him I love him today
The kids were definitely won over by how kind the dad was and wanted to save him from the mom. Especially after the whispering between Ringo and Gouki, which leads to think they caused her 'accident'. Even while shes in the hospital, no one seems sad and even Gouki is no longer in his room and is involving himself with their regular family antics at the end of the movie.
It's actually pretty funny to me that the mother screwed herself by picking possibly the most perfect victim for murder.
Think about it, the step dad is possibly the kindest and most naive man in the world, I don't even think it occurs to him that there's anything sinister going on, I believe he never knows what is happening right in front of him. Because he doesn't question anything and is genuinely so nice he'd happily sign away all his assets to his new wife and trust her completely, he's an easy target made even easier to dispose of because he doesn't have any connections beyond his new family.
Unfortunately it's why everyone turns against the mother and fully accepts him as their new father, he really is just the most wonderful person and nobody besides the genuine psychopath mother wants to kill him just for financial gain.
So the traits that made him the best target for a black widow actually saved him.
@@alexliddell3171sometimes the things that make you a target for bad people endears you enough to other bad people or good people that you inadvertently gain their protection and approval , I had a similar situation growing up in the ghetto , one of the local hoodlums thought I was a pretty good kid and very nice so he looked out for me he didn’t let others pick on me and he taught me to stand up for myself without becoming like him and the others we were around
Its exactly why he came out of his room for the first time.
Yeah, Ringo and Gouki plaanned it up
@@alexliddell3171❤aa away a aww àxddddd❤
@@alexliddell3171w😊😊😊😊😊❤
goki is seen swinging his metal bat in the background of the camping trip in multiple shots, so its implied he hit his mother with the bat
One of the comments near the top has all the calligraphy translated, there is many references to baseball, more specifically metal bats!
I also noticed that he seems to be absent as the Ura family are waving at the camera, but slowly steps out of the darkness, pacing behind the mother as the family wave at the camera
the kids plotted against their mom, just like the mom plotted against her first husband
yeah and the film ends with him saying saiko (psycho)
I agree with most of the observations here. Two more things:
1. In the epilogue, when Ringo is asked about the white powder, she pours some into her hand and tastes it herself. She then offers some to the hostess, who remarks that it basically tastes like salt. To me, the point there seems to be to underline that the powder actually isn't poison - at least not anymore. My sense is that she swapped it out for something else without telling the mother.
2. Ringo is shown whispering something to Gouki. Later on, Gouki breaks his habit and decides to join them on the field trip. The quick scene in the car shows that he's decided to bring his baseball bat, to a fishing trip, for some reason. In the epilogue, we find out that the mother's had an accident, and while they're not really sure what happened because she was alone at the time, she hit her head really really hard.
To add more weight to the Gouki attacking his Mum theory, he's seen a couple of times on the camping trip, taking lots of "practice swings" with his baseball bat at head height.
holy shit you might be something that would explain why he comes out of his shell and everyone circles back
@reignbot you gotta pin this fr
YOU COOKED
oh that thing with the salt makes a lot of sense!
Mockumentary or not, W dad. Got shitted on multiple times and still never gave up on them. Screw the mom.
My favorite part is when he knew he had to look for Rie despite all the things she did to him. He never gives up on his kids, and it's so heartwarming despite the creepy murder stuff going on in the background.
Exactly wut an awesome dad !
Right like the entire time I was watching this whenever he’d do something selfless and kind I was like “I’m smiling but I’m terrified about what’s happening next”
Dude really managed to survive entirely by being a very caring and kind father
that's how you know it's fiction
At first I thought the stepdad was going to be a closeted weirdo that slowly poisoned the family but he actually ends up being the only thing keeping the family together.
OMG RIGHT, I THOUGHT THERE WAS A SECRET REASON AS TO WHY THEY ALL HATED HIM
@@FlowerZiwayes there was, it was the mum. The conclusion being the children’s acceptance of the step dad and the mothers accident represents the children’s change of heart from going along with the plan to eventually get rid of the new step dad to now accepting the dad. Even the shut in son decided to leave the house to go on the trip.
I believe the trip was when the children decided to conspire against the mum. They themselves were in constant danger from the mother.
That would be too pretentious though.
@@user-bx4ti6ig3i yea
@@Revelationscreation Tbh I doubt most of the children were in on it. Gouki, Ringo, and maybe Rei, at most. According to the other comment, Gouki either killed, or knew of, the suspicious deaths of his brother and father. The mother looked unhappy Ringo came home, she either knew of her plans or was a threat to them. Rei did her demander to make sure the father didn’t eat any of her mothers cooking. The rest…probably too young to know or understand.
I’m pretty sure the scene where Ringo and Gouki whisper is basically setting into stone their plan. They know she killed their other family members and probably tried to kill the one son that fell from the second story.
I didn't get creeped out until you showed the zoomed in shots of the mother in the background. I'm sitting on my bed crocheting at 3 am and my heart dropped and my whole body went cold when you showed that. This mockumentary is amazing and I'm so glad I stumbled upon your channel, your commentary is amazing.
Japan actually has a TON of super good Mocumentary/found footage movies, it’s just that most of them have never been subbed in English
This is whats gonna make me jump back into studying Japanese, I love this stuff
Koji Shiraishi is my favorite mockumentary maker his stuff is so strange and so creepy
@@illona2537 I highly suggest the Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi! File series and the Honto ni Atta! Noroi no Video series if you can find them
Noroi is a great mockumentary, horror, found footage film
@@zippolighter4903 I was thinking of that film too. But it is also the only Japanese mocumentary I've ever seen.
It's kinda ironic the traits that made the mother pick the new dad are most likely what lead to her demise. She thought him being kind, caring, hardworking would make him a perfect pawn to support the family for a while and kill for insurance money, but those traits are what made her kids realize they had a possibility to live a normal life, to leave the terrifying world of uncertainty created by their murderous mother. He survived this horror scenario by being a kindnesspilled carecel
That last line was like a flashbang I love it.
Bet that would mean the kids did it, that would make a lot of sense
KINDNESSPILL CARECEL LMAOO
You say that's how he survived the horror scenario, but you already admitted it was what got him into the horror scenario
@@customsongmaker why can't it be both?
The way the mother scolded her kids in her backyard. “I don’t care if all of you disappear!”
Hands down she killed her last husband.
The fact that she made the poor kids cry so badly yet looked up into the camera with a smile was eerie as hell, she is definitely hiding something in that garden (possibly the husband) to make her do such an intense outburst like that to the young kids
And if you watch the subtitles in the following scene, the older son says "when my previous [missing subject] disappeared, Enrike passed away" which is probably the kid saying that the cat died exactly when the dad disappeared - so it was a perfectly timed excuse to bury something there. Side note: the mom is seen fixing the carrot stems in the garden after yelling at the kids - the first meal we see everyone prepare/eat together in the show is the carrots grown in that very garden...
And her son
@@babybug2023 Wait, that reminds me of criminals burying animals over buried bodies to trick the police.
Basically, when police dogs catch the scent of the body, they'll dig up the animal first. The police would think it was just a false alarm and not dig any deeper.
and let out a creepy smile when the camera points at her, scary af
The moms reluctance to leave and her weirdness with the garden, the first husband is 100% buried in the garden
Japanese loves this style of horror. Its the everyday weird stuff that they have mastered and delivered countless times since the 70s.
This type of psychological horror is my favorite. It's so eerie in a way that doesn't feel forced at all. And I love the slice of life aspect to it, makes it easy to watch.
usually after a statement like that ud at least list your top 3 if not more to back ur claim
It's like Higurashi (one of my fav stories) where you slowly build dread over time by slightly distorting everyday normal life and making something feel slightly off, before something extreme/inexplicable happens releasing the tension but leaving us with more questions than answers. This leaves the viewer/reader to pick up the pieces and discover the horrifying truth. Very good structure for creating an eerie tale.
@@benaskrensintellect332They kind do it similarly yet somehow different in anime/visual novels too
For example, CLANNAD, the interludes with the little robot are kinda weird but also kind of cute, but then later on you learn what they are and suddenly it's not cute anymore, and the weird becomes details
Any more films of this nature you would recommend?
If the oldest son knew that an English speaking production was going to film them, it's entirely possible he did the cross-language pun on purpose to try and signal to the English crew what was happening.
And, because it LITERALLY translates to "mom is awesome", his mother would be none the wiser.
smart move of the eldest son
Do you have the time stamp?
@@SweetMapple 45:09
Also, saiko is written in katakana, the japanese alphabet for foreign words. It would have to be written in hiragana or a combination of kanji to mean "the best" or the name of the family. He wrote it like that on purpose
Helps that that's the kind of pun a boy would find in like a manga, or would hear from a corny teacher telling a pun in English class. It's that juvenile yet disordered and broken side of a kid that would confess in a way like that if you acknowledge the way child murderers talk, kids who kill, you might confess or reveal something in a way like that
he was after all very young when his father was killed
The middle daughter totally switched the dad's poisoned food with mom's or something, after she decided to protect him instead of push him away.
I do like the oddly wholesome reading of "Dad is saved from murder by spouse through the power of just being a great father figure."
That is my thought, that the new Dad won over the family enough that the kids wanted him to raise them and not Mom, especially if she had killed their previous dad.
An additional evidence to this is that the eldest daughter,ringo, (i guess?) moved by the father of her being convinced of coming back home and then persuaded Gouki to do something ( the whispering scene) and bringing the baseball bat to the trip (where you can see him swinging a bat in the background) and then the "accidentally fall off the cliff"
this is what i think too.. heck, Ringo seemed quite defensive of dad, so maybe the poison was intended for mom all along..
@@12DAMDOyep maybe Ringo was just playing along with the mom in killing the dad. Before she was probably coerced into doing her evils deeds. But after the stepdad sacrificed so much for them, specifically him paying out the debt and saving her from trafficking, she decided to come back and do what's "best" for her siblings.
I went to watch it. It was really good and certainly creepy. BUt multiple times, I had to pause the video to stop and laugh at how ridiculous Veronica was. I was losing my mind every time there was that white screen with text where she badly pronounced Japanese terms and explained them.
Ringo didn’t come back home until her stepfather told her about Ryuta’s accident, so she def knew something was wrong and that it was beginning to affect her siblings. I think the mother wasn’t just responsible for the death of her husband, she was starting to murder her own children for the insurance money. Once Ringo realized that the stepfather was a genuinely good person and has no idea what her mother was doing, I think she decided to take action to stop her mother once and for all.
Wasn't it also that she just couldn't? She didn't come back until the father paid off her debt
@@acowinthebarn3312right, I was about to say this. I wonder if there’s anything deeper to where the stepdad got the money to pay off Ringo’s debt
@@acowinthebarn3312 She only opened up about her problems and let the stepfather know about her situation after he brought up Ryuta.
@@Valentineatelier The mother actually tells the stepfather that they can’t afford to spend any more money because they already had to pay so much to help Ringo out when he brings up the idea of spending the insurance money on a new house. This fact is crucial as it’s probably why Ringo starts spying on the stepfather in order to find out if he knows what her mother (allegedly lol) did. If the stepfather is in the clear (which he is and that’s probably why the mother starts feeding him the “special dish”) then that means the mother will most likely try to get him out of the picture so to speak.
@@Valentineatelier probably not, even a movie like this, subtle scares and small, eerie details, make the film, wouldn't go that far. The creators luckily knew where to limit themselves. They will incorporate small details to the point where there are the main important details, but they won't obsessively treat each small detail as if they should exploit it to seem more deep and interesting. At least I hope they wouldn't take such a small detail and try to twist it into a subplot just cuz. I notice Western films and really bad anime of the same drama and style of filmmaking tend to be overzealous with how they treat small details to seem more eerie and interesting and create inauthentic engagement. Probably was just from his retirement fund, as was explained, I feel like you'd expect that from a working class dad who has no other form of income and is not in the best line of work that offers the most money, as revealed at the start of the film when we're learning about how they, mom and dad, met.
The reason the dad is convinced to stay in the house "until the mom gets better" is because the two oldest kids also know about the corpse in the garden. Either he now knows, or they convinced him they're too sentimental in order to maintain the cover up also.
Personally I think he stills naive to that so he still respects mom and cares about her because waking up from a coma and coming home to a new house would be VERY distressing (if she ever actually woke up)
This was actually originally a tv show from the mid 2000's called houshou kinshi (the prequel you showed was actually a tv episode). There are 7 episodes and there are 3 movies. The name translates to "broadcast prohibited" because each episode was supposedly a lost tv broadcast that was shelved and never aired. Although the rest of the movies don't feature the large family, the other plotlines are just as engaging. I hope one day somebody subs the whole series in English so it gains more recognition in the west. Imo it is the best show of it's kind.
other countries really gotta start adding sybs to these things, i lobe them theyre so much better than us dramas or shows, but theyre so hard to find with english subs!!!
Yoo!!! Thanks for the info! I've searched the title and found some explanations videos by a TH-camr "Scared Sheep". I'll be checking those!
@@justanuglyboy imma watch rn
any idea where the others in the series can be found? all i could find was the "prequel"
@@Lazrael32 Look up "放送禁止" along with the episode number you want. There's very few videos titled in romanji.
The fact that Gouki was a shut in, means that nobody would notice if he went out for a day at a "cliffside" with mom...
He was on the bus with the family on that trip. He was shown holding his baseball bat. Its the only scene of him outside his room. Ringo and Gouki definitely conspired to kill the mother to protect the step dad. As they should. That man is a treasure.
i could see the kids turning on the mum after finding comfort and happiness with their new dad, especially ringo and rei
Ringo coming back seemed like the key factor that got the kids to trust their new dad and turn on the mother. Besides, many of the kids seemed to know something was up with the mom, mainly the older ones.
My theory is that Ringo took charge of the kitchen to protect the dad. She could pretend she was adding the poison to please her mom but just add salt or something
It's rie not rei 😂
I don't think it's a coincidence that the kids all have fruit puns in their name, and that the mom just so happens to have those exact fruit lying around around all the time. The fact that only some fruit gets stabbed and it's a different number each time makes me think it's probably some kind of warning to the kids. If you step out of line or say stuff in front of the cameras you shouldn't have, your fruit gets a knife in it and that's what's gonna happen to you next if you don't cut that out. This lets the mom scold and threaten her kids without the camera crew noticing.
I believe this is the case, and could also explain where Gouki got the idea for secrets codes in something that seems innocuous (his caligraphy)
i think it’s a form of magick personally
it just the hints the director left for the viewers
I am thinking about whether it is the opposite way, what if the knives in the fruit is like a council agreement. The knife indicates that the representative kid agrees to initially kill the dad.
But at the end, there are knives in all the fruits so all the kids agree to kill but they tried the mom because the dad is much kinder.
I like how your brain works! ❤
保険 has two uses, one is insurance and the other is Japanese equivalent of a Phys Ed class.
In that scene, the child's interpretation of his mom always saying "Hoken" is that he must study extra hard in his Phys Ed and does not actually know that his mom is actually talking about life insurance
oh my god that’s why she killed the first dad and why when the second dad asks to use that money for a new house she denies him! (also bc a body is in the backyard)
lol an english version of that scene would be something like "Mom always talks about 'life insurance', so I'm studying how to insure a good life"
保険-insurance
保健-PE
The two words have the same pronunciation
@@kalpic11 Pretty sure the answer is first husband is burred in the garden
this is what i was saying when she brought it up
48:11 I like that you can see the eldest son practicing swinging with his bat here. Its in the background and not the focal point, but since its the only thing in the background moving, it draws your eye.
All the calligraphy in the hikikomori brother's room implies that he was made to do the dirty work of actually killing the original father by the mother.
「バット一発」+「十三振だ」= バット一発、父さん死んだ → One hit with the bat, my father died
「ハハハ」+「サイコーです」= 母はサイコです → Mother is a psycho
「強打」+「行こロス」= 兄弟殺す → Kill my brother
「猛虎」+「ロスしかない」= もう殺すしかない → I have no choice but to kill
Japanese wordplay is wild, I know.
This solidified my opinion, that he caused his mothers "accident". In the driving scene, he leans on something, that seems to be a baseball bat
@@vanessarottencandy4044 I also looked up the two papers on the wall opposite the door: one merely has the character for "hawk" (鷹) and the other has something to do with the character for Buddha (仏) though apparently when combined with other kanji it can refer to a dead person
Outside the double meanings, assuming I'm not misreading (I had to look a lot up) the literal meanings of much of those make him sound like a major baseball fan. Talking about strikes and hanshin tigers and such, which plays along with the baseball bat he has at the end (that he probably attacked the mother with) I wonder if the mother thinks he's just become a baseball otaku?
Word play is one of the biggest themes here. I have no doubt that he used baseball themed words to basically air out a secret message and in a way confessing. I also thought he was saying that he killed his brother but he was saying "One hit with the bat, my father died. My mother is a psycho...kill my brother. I had no choice but to kill." When saying that out loud he was saying that his mother killed father with a bat. Also taking a look at the prequel that brother died before the father. Obviously she's trying to kill them one by one.
@@dylanchouinard6141 The hawk kanji probably refers to the dead brother Takaharu (Taka means hawk). I can't really make out the characters next to 仏 because it's too grainy. 「何々のが仏」＋「鷹」
All of his calligraphy are baseball puns revealing what is actually going on if you read them phonetically. Sadly I don't know enough about baseball to guess what the kanji is. But given the nature of the rest of his calligraphy, it probably has something to do with the true nature of Takaharu's death. 仏 is read as butsu, which can also mean to hit/strike. So Idk what the baseball pun is but the meaning I can glean is "For xx reason [I] struck Taka."
THE MOM IN THE BACK OF THE INTERVIEWS GAVE ME A HEART ATTACK
time stamp pls
@@mia_3342 around 40:49 OP starts pointing her out
@@stfjeno soul left my body😭
@ryuavincaux you do know that this is fiction right? It’s not an actual documentary. It’s just a movie that is filmed in the style of a documentary. All those scenes with the mother lurking in the background are 100% scripted
What was behind the mother when they were interviewing her? was it Enrico's ghost behind the door on a shelf?
Wait, holy shit. If the dad and cat got poisoned with the powder in the food, Rie's outbursts might've actually been *saving* the dad. Stopping him from eating his bowl during dinner.
You are SPOT ON!👍😀
Wasnt it their miso though?
Ringo DIDNT poison him though. Mom WANTED them to, just like they did with the original abusive father..he fed his beef to the cat too. this time they all side with new dad and conspire to take out mom though. There's a prequel series from the early 00s. (My wife speaks Japanese and found their forums and discussion)
Basically Dad was a prick, they all took him out, but this time they take out mom instead.
@crimsontowers then why would the mother still want to kill the new father when he's not violent? Isn't the intention of the killing to get rid of abuse?
@AizatAli for the new dad, the mom wanted to kill him for the insurance money (most japanese people got a large life insurance) and basically she is crazy already.
There is actually a person on TH-cam working on translating all the films from this kinda anthology series called "Banned From Broadcast"
who?
can you send the link of his channel?
Even if you can't link it just let us know the channel name please
I don't know the channel thats translating the episodes, but the channel scared sheep did a similar summary and analysis of the episodes and has just started doing the movies as well.
@@DestinyKillerThe channel name is "Asian Horror" or you can search "Saiko The Large Family" and it should be the first result. The prequel to this was uploaded just recently
I have a feeling that Rie was hurting her dad out of safety. She interrupted the nightly dinners so Sumio wouldn’t eat any more of the poisoned food
Or she was trying to drive him away so he would leave and not get killed.
I love how many interpretations can be made from one scene
The younger brother mentioned the original father hitting his sister. On the bridge she explains that she can't understand why such a nice guy would bother with them. He took every beatdown she gave him but after he stood up she accepted him. He wasn't what she understood as a father. No matter what he only showed love. I think she was trying to provoke him the whole time
It was never poisoned though. There's a TV show from the early 00s that covers it. They'd poisoned the original dad..this time she planned to kill new dad, but Ringo didn't want to go along with it (hence why we see the seaweed powder is safe and not poison)
The original dad was an abusive prick and got the son killed, they conspired to kill him. But Mom went psycho, and Ringo/gyouki took her out to project their sweet loving new dad. Old dad is buried in the garden.
Mom is 10000% psycho killer. They all end up loving the new dad and siding with him
@@KaladinVegapunk "it was never poisoned" "They'd poisoned the original dad"? I feel like that's contradictory
Like you said, in Gouki's room, the two papers can be read as ハハハサイコーデス as in "Hahaha its awesome". But it can also be read 母はサイコーです "Mom is a psychopath".
Using katakana helps to hide the different readings to the sentence. But you were pretty spot on the double reading.
I thought this too! I was torn in thinking that ハハハ would be laughter and it's "I am a psycho!" But I am leaning toward the double meaning being 母はサイコです.
was just about to suggest that the third 'ha' could instead be a hidden 'wa', glad you caught it!
It's pretty smart how they used katakana for that to show it's a double meaning in english
Yeah that katakana really makes me think it's more psycho rather than saiko. Because that would've just been written in hiragana.
You can also read Korosu in the bottom one
Little creepy thing you would notice if you read Japanese is that when Ryouta was in the hospital and the mom was making the phone call, the little close up with her fiddling with her hands shows the paper she was holding which reads “Life insurance”
Yeah it's somewhat implied that she hurts her children in the hopes for insurance money which was one of the driving factors for them turning against the mother.
Yup, and then it shows two stabbed fruit. She thought Ryuta was gonna die. She planned to kill 7 out of 9 of her children, you'll see 8 stabbed fruits near the end. (Taka being the first) Gyouki and Ringo would have been left alive to do her bidding.
@@summerwintermelon didnt she have 2 new children from the stepfather? what if she was gonna murder all the old kids and start anew essentially. clean off all lose ends and just keep the youngest, most impressionable, and ignorant alive?
And at 17:04 in this video you can see the mother standing on the balcony when the camera tips up for half a second.
This type of horror is so ahead of the curve. Nowadays TH-cam is obsessed with found horror/ mockumentaries
36:58 insurance (保険: hoken) and health preservation (保健: hoken) are homophones, so the boy is basically misunderstanding his mom's obsession with insurance
Damn
I saw someone on Reddit comment that Ringo started making the food for their dad because she didn't want their mom to poison him like what happened to Enrique and their dad.
It's so amazing how many interpretations can be made for this mockumentary!
nope mom still ask Ringo to poison last dad as well as the new dad. but this time ringo will get it all hehe(mom coma)
At the end it shows one of the daughters (I think Ringo) identifying the shaker as being full of a kombu seasoning and tasting it herself. Whether she exchanged it for the poison before or after the first time she cooks for new dad, is unclear, but they seem to be adding things to the food befause the mom is watching. It seems that whatever it was supposed to be (and possibly was the first time it was depicted) seems to be a slow-acting mechanism based on how the first dad "ate it all the time" and was chronically weak/ill.
@@nikmuhamad5370I don’t agree, she’s not the oldest daughter nor is she biologically related to the step dad. I really do think she has a sense of loyalty to him because he paid of her debt.
I think it was either the shut in or the girl who has the anger management issues that decided to push the mum of the cliff.
@@nikmuhamad5370to add onto my previous comment, I think the fishing trip represents the children’s acceptance of the step-dad. The shut in, who probably pushed the step mother, also leaving the house further advocates for this reading of the series.
The mother conveniently getting into a serious accident when the children finally decided to warm up to step father pretty much confirms that in the end the children conspired against the mother.
From another comment, I don't think it was poisoning. Gouki's room says that he hit his former dad with a bat, and he died. My guess is, with the theme of accidents, particularly falling, the camping trip was probably set up by the mom to kill the father, maybe in a similar way as she ended up having done to her. That might also be why Gouki came out for it. He knew the plan from the beginning with the camping trip.
My guess is Ringo just didn't want to give the mom the chance to poison him, though it could also be more symbolic of the same thing happening to the new dad that happened to the old one.
Edit: Apparently it's both. The movie is a sequel to an episode of a TV show. The new seasoning might not have been poisoned yet, but in any case, that's probably what happened.
Holy shit.
On your last analysis of this film at 49:30. When the camera focuses on Gouki’s room. On the off white locker, there is 2 paper, one with a set kanji “猛虎 (mouko もうこ)” which means Fierce tiger.
The bottom paper has a combination of Hiraga and Katakana which is written “ロスしかない” which roughly means There is only loss. We don’t use a phrase like that so I was wondering what’s up with the bottom paper.
But. If you combine the top paper and bottom paper and read it together, it reads “もうこロスしかない” which means “we have to kill (add a noun here like HER ) now”
Oh my god. That really got me. lol
I’m happy my Japanese level is at the point I can see that, but oh man that was so spine chilling lol
Nope, kill in kanji stroke is very different which is 殺す(korosu), and when you combine it together, it says "I have no choice, but to lose the fierce tiger". (猛虎 ロスしかない)
Given his pictures, it seems like he is a chinpira who always gets in a fight then all of a sudden he locks himself up in a room, so maybe thats what the paper implies.
He had no choice but to lock himself up (I have no choice but to lose the fierce tiger).
But lock himself up for what reason tho?
But yeah, I could also be mistaken, the way that it is pronounce is the same, mou korosu shikanai (I have no choice but to kill him) and mouko rosu shikanai (I have to lose the fierce tiger)
So maybe we have a double meaning here to f up our minds.
So I'm not the only one thinks those calligraphies are kinda off when you tried to them all at once
Thanks for the info man!! Ive always been a fan of Japanese culture an always wanted to visit Japan to eventually learn how to speak Japanese. But yeah the mom i never noticed her at first till reignbot showed us creepin on people.. she sent a chill down my spine..
He kill his father, basically the paper says that.
I noticed theバット一発 (one swing of the bat) and
十三振だ which can be read as "juusanshinda" (13 strike outs) or the thirteen part can be made to read "tousan" meaning (dad died). Together he is telling how his mom made him kill his dad hitting him on the head with a bat. I watched the prequel and sure one of the young kids drew that moment. And also how she was trying to poison him but she seems to have grown impatient.
Also the scene were Ringo goes in to whisper in her brother's ears there's calligraphy 強打 行こロス "kyouda kou korosu) the reading can be switched to 今日だ、こう殺す "today is D-day, we will kill (her?) like this".
I literally cried watching the part when dad steps up and find Rie, what an amazing parent
In high school, my Japanese class watched Japanology at least twice or three times a week and we were such big fans of Peter Barakan (the little old British man lol) that we messaged him telling him how big of fans we were, which then ended up with the all the Japanese programs from the four high schools in my town Skyping with him. He’s so sweet and was amazing to talk to!!!
That’s such a sweet story! ❤
Cool
I actually noticed the mom in the window of the scene where Ryuta "falls" but I never noticed her creeping in the back of the kid's one on one interviews. I'm amazed that people actually noticed
time stamp pls
The whole thing is a masterclass in storytelling through the incidental details. Like, you see the surface-level story, but in the minute, missable stuff, there's a whole other story.
@@mia_334217:04
@@mia_3342 26:58
i only notice her in the mirror and whas such a jumpscare probably many watch the mocumentary multiple times
In the scene where Ringo takes dinner to the eldest 20:39 ,the calligraphy pun series on the wall tells the tale of how the original dad and the third son died. Also foreshadowing killing his mom.
• バット一発 (“Single bat swing”) and 十三振だ (“13 strikes”, but can be read as “toh-san shinda” or “dad’s dead”)→former dad was bludgeoned by a bat
• ハハハ (“hahaha” or “haha wa” “mom is”) and サイコー (“saiko” being “awesome” or “psycho”) →Mom’s a psycho
• 強打 (“Kyoda” meaning “heavy hit” for baseball, or “heavy blow” for blunt force trauma) combined with 行こロス (“Iko Los”, “Off to Los Angeles”) reads together to 兄弟殺す “Kyodai korosu”→Fraternicide
• 知らぬが仏 (loosely translates to “what one doesn’t know won’t hurt you” while 仏 hotoké can mean “Buddha” or “The Deceased”) and “鷹” (“Taka”) is part of the name in the deceased third son’s name
・猛虎 (“Mo-ko” means “Charging Tiger”, a reference to The Hanshin Tigers baseball cheer) and ロスしかない (“Los shika nai”, normally “Los Angeles or Bust!”) when read together becomes “Mo Korosu Shikanai”→“I can now only kill”
In the original full film, the “Only Kill” calligraphy combo moves around from the back of the eldest’s room to the front of his room’s door between scenes, showing his resolve to wipe mom out IMO
The director Toshikazu Nagae is a master in peppering playful and dark as shit clues
This is cool.
This is so cool to learn thanks for the info!!
amazing, really adds more context to the theory that Gouki attacked his mom to save the father.
Out of all comments regarding the calligraphy, this one is the best, thank you for explaining in such detail!
Wow that’s very insightful!! Thanks
The dad was so nice. Growing up,I never had a dad, atleast only for a bit until my mom and dad got a divorce. The fact that he thought that ringo not coming home was his fault,and even paid for the dept.. carrying ryuta in his back and apologizing to rie really made me cry. He cared about his children despite them not being his own..
Ringo never tried to poison the step-father because at the end of the movie she was seen tasting the powder that she put in the meat dish that she made especially for the step-father. Even Veronica tasted the powder and said that it tasted like salt. Ringo definitely changed the powder to a lookalike but totally harmless alternative to fool the mom into thinking that she was doing what her mom wanted (which is to poison the step-father to get more insurance money).
You omitted the clip thinking it wasn't that important.
Great catch!!!
I saw a comment sayign that arsenic in smol quantities ain't poissonous
Side note . You can die from salt poisoning. As specialty over time . Wow I can’t spell
@@hopehwgeverything can basically kill you over time if you eat too much of it
Thanks I was really confused with that, I thought ringo was gonna poisoned the whe family
The mother's acting is so good, especially in 19:18 when she first sees Ringo. She captured perfectly the face of a mother that's NOT happy to see her own daughter return home.
She looks like she's about to explode but trying so hard to keep it down
Because new dad spend all his savings on her, mother thinks that it went to waste.
YES! i expected her to hug her or something!! My daughter doesnt have to work in the sex industry anymore and has returned home! but no...
Yes! Their acting is so good!
i watched the film before this video. i found that the mother not acting as excited as expected a lil weird too. it was only the comment section that made me connect the dots
I guess it's kind of endearing that Rie didn't want her stepdad to end up like her biological dad that she had to resort to beating him up to try and push him away and once again showed his good nature by him blocking Ringo from being attacked by Rie.
I love that you brought up japanology! I loved that show and used to watch it before bed cause it was such a soothing and calm show but taught me lots of little tid bits about japan
and when the world needed her most, she returned!
For real thank goodness for her return!
The world doesn't need her lmao
@@LLJWLLLP999 ... but I guess it's what we deserve?!
@petahoee8281 world dosent need anyone, but let us be happy lol. Reign is great
@@LLJWLLLP999ironic
when the mom was pointed out in the backgrounds of the interviews i genuinely started freaking out 😭
ME TOO OMG
I made sure to quickly check out the movie before the spoiler section since I figured I might as well. I didn't understand the creepiness, apart from the scene of the mom spraying water on the plants. In fact, the movie seemed kind of boring, apart from the heartwarming, feel-good nature of the step-dad bringing his family together. Watching this video immediately after the movie, that boredom returned as I rewatched the scenes in the recap section.
That all changed shortly into the analysis of the interviews.
Never in my life have I gone from being bored to being genuinely creeped out, bordering on panicking, just by rewatching something that hadn't gotten a rise out of me the first time. I felt actual tension in my chest that still hasn't left me nearly half an hour after the fact.
Especially since you see her standing upstairs when the boy falls. They never addressed how or what happened. Just that he fell
I was genuinely so surprised that you didn’t get the ending!
To me it was the most horrifying part.
So the film crew explains that the mom “hit her head when no one was there”, right?
Now watch the entire last bit of the film again (the camping trip) and only focus on the oldest son.
What is he doing?
He is PRACTISING BASEBALL SWINGING MOTIONS!
I’m sure that Ringo was as you also guessed instrumentalized by the mom to assist in the disappearance of the first husband. Seeing that her stepdad was actually a good father though she went to the older son and told him to come with them to the camping trip to once and for all get rid of mom.
That’s why he’s practicing the swings in the background. It seems harmless at first because his obsession with baseball is explained early on but in fact he was actually preparing to strike down the mother just as Ringo asked of him!
Soo ITS basically good ending , screw evil mom we love dad
I was mad that she didn't get the ending
nah it doesn't look like there's any motives in those practice swings... anyone can be swinging the air like that
@@popcorn6931 I think it isn’t really far fetched to come to the conclusion I came to above when you consider that this entire film relies highly on picking up on minor details :)
They said a fall from a cliff clearly. Did you miss that or ignoring?
Horror that doesn't scream its presence to the audience but rather keeps itself hidden in plain sight, and you later on find out that you've been staring at it without knowing is so creepy since it had broken the safety we thought we were in.
Oh man subtle horror is so criminally underrated. Once you pointed out the mom lurking in the background it recontextualized the entire film. And even better, the non-paranormal pragmatic explanation actually becomes much more horrifying than the alternative. Combine that with actual character arcs. Super impressive storytelling!
Since you mentioned the second film closer to the end of the video. There actually are 7 films in the series before this one. The series title is ニッポンの大家族 , the English title from what i could find is Banned From Broadcast. The films can be viewed standalone and they all are in a mocumentary style.
放送禁止 had 7 TV episodes and 3 movies. Saiko! is the 2nd movie and is a sequel to the 2nd episode, filmed 6 years later.
It looks like most of them are on youtube, too.
@@escalatingbarbarism5096 What titles are they listed under? I tried searching, but I can't find them.
@@Villano_Five I searched "放送禁止" and found multiple playlists. It looks like none of them are subbed, but they're there.
@@escalatingbarbarism5096 I've become interested and I was wondering how you found them?
Honestly, one of the things this movie seems to do masterfully is flesh out an entire family dynamic. It's a lot of story and a large cast to put into a horror movie, but nothing seems overlooked, all the characters have motivations and arcs, and the mystery and horror is part of the overall experience, not the end-all and be-all of it. Just terrific, and I hope you cover the other movie(s) as well.
I've never been more intrigued, the fact that it makes u more uncomftable, rather than scared is amazing. I absolutely loved the commentary, how u pieced it all together and the theory's u had. I need more stuff like this XD
Honestly, I read Gouki as a prisoner of his mother.
Thinking on what happens, she's rather insistent on always being in his vicinity, even as a child of hers is in the hospital and "she wishes she could be there"
I believe he was a witness to the eventual death of the first father, but wasn't an active participant in it and ever since had been watched constantly to ensure he didn't say anything (probably under threat that he would be next if he tried to)
That or he is legitimately traumatised to such a degree he became non-verbal, and is being monitered to make sure he stays that way, not counting on his calligraphy holding double meanings.
Yeah that was weird. I'm not Japanese, but my impression has always been that Hikikomori don't get into too much trouble other than basic self-destructive tendencies like Internet addiction, maybe posting on black-pill forums, and not cleaning their rooms. Why keep such a close eye on a young adult shut-in?
I would add that maybe he was forced to help his mom carry the body to the garden and bury it. That alone would have traumatized him. His mom might have even threatened him to stay silent. Possibly threatened that his siblings would be orphaned and separated.
@@Mergerie_Smithatonhe is the eldest child, so probably by the time first dad was killed he was the only child that could physically help her in burying the body. I think both the eldest son and daughter were coerced by the mom in killing the first dad. Daughter poisoned and son buried him. In the end it was also these 2 who conspired against the mother leading to her accident. Ringo after seeing how much stepdad is a good person that has sacrificed again and again realized their family is better off without the mom.
@@peteartieda58I think it's that the daughter is preparing food for the dad this go round because she saw her mom poisoning her dad. Notice that when she gets back SHE'S the one preparing food and serving her step dad and brother. She's ALSO the one watching the mom during the interview about the ghost picture, which reign didn't comment on even though she showed the scene.
Also SHE'S the only one who gets out of the house. The brother is a shut in and is either being poisoned or kept prisoner by the mom.
No way mom would let her leave if she was involved when she's losing her shit over the young ones playing near the garden.
Also note the brother doesn't come out of the room until Ringo talks to him and promptly goes back to exile after his mom's "accident".
@@midnightfenrir oh I thought the only instance of the eldest daughter, Ringo, snooping in the interviews was with the stepdad. But still though the mom probably would've seen thru Ringo insisting that she does the cooking when she came back. I think the mom is cunning that she'd notice Ringo is using the same scheme she did with 1st dad if this is the case.
The saiko/psycho pun is used EVERYWHERE in japanese storytelling and media, especially in horror/thriller. Like if a character does something dangerous or illegal they might comment "sakiodesu ne" which can be translated/subbed as "Isn't it psycho?" Or "that's awesome". Biggest example i can think of off the top of my head is from the anime Cyberpunk Edgerunners where after David gets kidnapped and forced to watch a cyberpsycho braindance.
It's actually pretty explicit here - it's written as katakana サイコ not さいこ or in kanji. Katakana is generally used for loan words from other languages or proper nouns that aren't japanese in origin.
That is the most freakiest psychological horror that I've ever seen. Wish this was brought to western audience more. Thank you reign!
psychological horror has existed for decades, while respectable this show is not even that good, albeit it's okay since they probably had a low budget. everything is "matter of fact" and "on your face", I laughed so much at the son's room door with plot's elements literally posted on it... now you would argue "but it's for his family to notice", yeah know it's obvious it's meant at an extradiegetic level, for the audience.. likewise the "jaw" of this content creator ("more after") dropping when we see what is maybe the mother upstairs, like literally in plain sight, but for who? the audience again. The shots with the fruit basket in the foreground: no comment, notice me senpai level. The format now... "I don't care if any of you disappear" like nothing happened: while the documentary format should give more "realism", it actually gives the opposite since everything is forced, the editing is inconsistent... like the camera filming from the ground just for the audience to gather more info, or the camera holder just sneaking upstairs... the blunt questions about the disappearance of their father... to what should have been a 5 years old child... by a cliche of a foreign journalist... so yeah it's a movie in the form of a documentary not the contrary.. it goes on and on. I don't know this content creator but the fact that she was not bothered to check the meaning of some kanjis while it can be done in a few seconds with any OCR app and preferred editing in an already long video how she can't be bothered is pretty regrettable
@@pomdapi2804 you have any suggestion for psychological horror?
@@pomdapi2804 Agree, it's enjoyable for what it is but hardly the subtle ambiguous masterpiece some ppl here seem to think it is. It's actually pretty blatant and on the nose in many ways. The psycho/saiko pun is obvious from the beginning even if you have only the most basic knowledge of Japanese.
@@pomdapi2804🤓 ☝
@@pomdapi2804I felt like I was losing my mind oh my god, thank you for commenting this because while it's a serviceable piece of horror, it's hardly exemplary of the genre. Creepy if you wanna stretch it, but simultaneously on the nose and almost stupidly subtle. Some good bits of naturalistic acting, though!
The way the mom is just appearing everywhere when the kids do their individual interviews, is so scary😨
I agree that in the end, the dad won the kids over by being patient and compassionate. Since he used his retirement fund to save Ringo he is worth much less money than before, which I think kind of forced the kids to act fast, since the mom might've been so displeased with that, that she planned to do away with him sooner rather than later.
I also find it really odd than the shut-in son took a baseball bat of all things to a fishing trip, it's odd that he came with them at all. He is even seen at the end doing the family excercices in the garden and he is smiling.
My interpretation: that son was there to ‘neutralize’ the physical and psychological threat that is their mom. He hung onto the bat the whole time and the last slide show of photos showed him standing behind everyone holding it out menacingly.
@@FeechLaMannas oh very plausible! He might have been in cahoots with Ringo and they planned the whole thing, she did whisper something to him after all.
He's even in the background behind the father (without an umbrella, still holding onto his bat), as they wave the film crew goodbye in the middle of the night.
Regardless there is still the lingering question.
The big one is simply-weather or not, This force on the house aka the dead child is the one invading the interview’s.
Or if the mother was the one the whole time acting independently.
I think he has joined the family in the end because the mother was gone. It's meant to imply she was the reason
Gouki seems like he's being intentionally monitored by his mother, like maybe he witnessed her killing her first husband and became a shut-in due to the trauma and fear. He would've only been a 16yr old kid at the time his father 'disappeared' and I don't think it's entirely out of the question that his mother used his young age to perhaps encourage his shut-in behavior and even influence him to drop out of school. It appears that she has no problems roping her children in on things (if we are taking that theory to be true), so if he was coerced into participating in the murder it makes even more sense that she would further influence him into becoming a shut-in as a way to control him.
I think the mom used him as a murder weapon and forced him to become a shut-in so that no one realizes her secret. Seems natural for a murderer to want to hide their weapon. He ultimately came out of the house due to Ringo's influence and was able to turn on the mother.
Maybe the reason the mother said she couldn’t leave the house to visit the middle brother in the hospital because of Gouki, it’s because she’s afraid he might tell something to the crew members or even leaving the house to expose her with anyone
I adore vids like this that explore not some overhyped topic but something geniuenly cool to share with the world. I love this. Thank you, your vid is amazing!!!!
Another kanji pun in Gouki’s room (you can see it at 49:30) where one says猛虎 and another says ロスしかない (rosu shika nai)。 猛虎 means ferocious tiger and can be read as もうこ (mouko) So if you combine it with the other paper, it will be read as もうころすしかない (mou korosu shika nai) Which means “there’s no other choice but to kill”.
The food motif is so real like I’m rewatching the doc now and noticed that that the second daughter is called “Mikan”, a tangerine-like citrus fruit that is grown in warmer regions of Japan.
Also, Sumomo is represented by a peach as Momo is Japanese for peach and “Raichi” sounds like Lychee!
Dan can also mean “dango”!
No need to read between the lines on sumomo, sumomo means plum
And also, ringo means apple
Rie is pear i believe .. remon is lemon
And there was knives in the fruits 🤔
Sumomo is Japanese plum. Momo means peach in Japanese
It also connects to her garden. It's actually interesting now that I think about it, you grow plants but are not emotionally attached to them, yet they are dependent on you. And people usually grow gardens because of what the garden can give them back.
Vey interesting stuff, I'm sorry I'm not explaining it well.
The segment where you went back and zoomed in on the mom hiding in the background of the kids' interviews gave me AWFUL flashbacks to Lake Mungo, which is also a mockumentary. What is it with mockumentaries hiding the creepiest stuff in the background smhhh gave me the chills, great video btw
oh my god yes!! it reminded me of the same thing
You are so right!
My thoughts exactly!!!
It’s a classic in Japanese horror, please check out koji shirairi’s movies! He’s awesome at the “zoom in on a creepy face in a window” thing
this!! love Lake Mungo!
I put this video in the background while I clean as usually and had to stop and save it for later to fully focus on it because it's THAT good. What a great commentary, brilliant video and brilliant subject
The shot of the mother's reflection in the mirror, spying on her child and the interviewer gave me the most intense, eye-watering, nose-running goose bumps lol That was terrifying the way they did it. So easily missed. Makes it feel very real and scary. Makes me feel like I'm being watched right now lol
That may be because you are.
39:19 that's actually terrifying. she's not a ghost or anything, but the way she's spying on him is so creepy.
Humans are more terrifying than ghosts sometimes
This video made my skin absolutely CRAWL. When you went back over all the clips mom was in, I physically teared up because the fear invoked such adrenaline and terror in me. This was FANTASTIC.
watch the movie lake mungo! it’s similar
Thanks! Wish u uploaded more
I cannot get over how the interviewer turns around after each sentence at 28:42 it is SO perfect for that NHK style editing hahaha
I just noticed that, lmao
I cackled 😭😭😂😂😂
Almost like a subtle version of Eric Idle as the narrator of the classic 1978 mockumentary "The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash", where he is the slave to the camera's position and movements rather than vice versa...
It’s also so creepy! It makes it feel like the camera people are otherworldly, how did they so quickly and smoothly keep track of her in the takes?
@@catfoodzplz That's basic "film style" shooting The camera is set up, director announces scene begin, and she turns to face the camera as she delivers her line. Then they cut and set up for the next shot. The alternate is multi-cam where all cameras are rolling and the scene plays from start to end, then is cut together from the different angles that were shot -- that's not what was done here because you would have been able to see the other cameras. (Hope I'm not spoiling all of film and TV for you!)
I definitely think Gouki did it. Throughout the camping trip he’s shown in the background practicing his swing. There’s also the photo in the final sequence which shows him pointing the bat at the camera. I think when the mom went to the bathroom, he attacked her, then claimed she fell.
I can see how the movie certainly implies that - if he did do it with the bat, the mom in the hospital would not look the way she did though. Like, they'd know if she'd been conked in the head with a baseball bat.
@@ClandestineSnowmani was thinking of this too -- I'm pretty sure the injury would be recognized as a blunt force injury or injury caused by blunt object, which if told they were camping and slipped hitting their head on a rock, it would align with the injury they would be seeing in the hospital
@@cfrosted923 Wouldn't it be more of a sharp impact though?
@Roadent1241 if hit off a sharp edge of the rock yes but you can just as easily perish hitting your head off the blunt part of a rock
Me too. I think Gouki was made to kill their dad, and his brother, also (by the mom), which is why he's become a recluse. When we see Ringo whispering to Gouku, a baseball bat is seen leaning on the wall -- foreshadowing I guess.
the son heard his mom talking about "Hoken" and thought she meant 保健 or health preservation so he wanted to study physical health but she actually meant 保険 which means insurance
This is the best piece of content I have consumed in a lonnnng time. To get to know such a film exists and the individual but deep analysis of the audience, just wow
I'm stunned. Like legitimately stunned. I missed so much of the background stuff. I'm actually freaked out. Why did I decide to watch this at midnight? Why is this so good? I love how smart this is. It didn't rely on jumpscares at all.
I watched the whole movie, and my interpretation is that the mother killed her first husband and used her children as accomplices. The reasoning is unclear, but it’s possible that the domestic violence the third son mentions could have been the justification the mom used. They were seemingly trying to poison him, but it’s possible Gouki killed him with a bat for some reason, maybe he realized what was happening and Gouki attacked him before he could call the cops. But then they realize she wasn’t just defending herself when she drowned the 9 year old son. All of them are afraid to report her since they’re all somewhat responsible. Gouki is traumatized and stays inside while Ringo tries to escape. I think initially Rie assumes the new dad was in cahoots with the mom since she killed the first husband after meeting the second at her job. The kids start to understand the dad really is a good man after saving Ryuta and Ringo, but the mom wants him dead for spending all that money on Ringo’s debt. The mom gives Ringo some bs on why the dad needs to die, maybe she blames the accidents on him or threatens to hurt the siblings. She tries to poison him, but when he stands up for her while also assuring Rie he loves all the kids, she has a change of heart. She makes a plan with Gouki and they attack the mom at the campsite. It’s unclear if the dad knows the truth, but it seems like he does since he’s not bothered by her accident and no longer wants to leave the house (and the body buried). All is seemingly well, but things are left up in the air when Ringo is making the food. Tldr, they’re all psycho.
Also, rather ironic that after turning her husband into a vegetable garden, she becomes a vegetable herself.
However in the prequel we see that the son died BEFORE the father went "missing"
I assumed it was insurance as the reasoning of the killing. The dad seems very naive and optimistic, and considering how the kids talk about how nice their previous dad was made me think, "the mom is definitely one of those killers that prey on victims who are too oblivious".
@@nunyabusiness3652 I got the impression that the first father wasn't that great a guy or at least not as good as the current dad. The way that the kids talked about him was very stilted like there was more going on there. In Ringo's case that may have been out of guilt or fear but she never mentions him being violent like the son does. Mabye she doesn't want to act like she had motive to kill him but he definitely was worse than the way she painted him.
Of course there is the prequel to answer that question but I get weird feelings about the first dad from this. So much so that I wouldn't be surprised if he killed the first kid with how little info we get about that situation
I thought the reason as to why rie is so violent with the new dad is because she's trying to make the dad leave the family bc she know her mom will try to kill him
From watching the prequel, I can confirm it was Gouki that killed the father. The father was also pretty abusive, and I didn't hear anything about insurance in the prequel, so I'm just assuming that the motive for the original father's death was due to resentment.
I think Gouki put the mom in the hospital. The intro talking about baseball, the son being interested in baseball, the movie building his mystery, the only thing Gouki seamingly brings to the camping trip was his bat, him in the background by himself practicing his swing. Then the mom ends up in the hospital comotose with a head injury. And the movie says she was FOUND like that and they THINK she fell off a cliff.
I think Gouki has been planning this for awhile. My theory is Gouki found out what his mother did to his father (and probaby brother) and thats when he became a shut it. And she probably knew he found out which is why she is so dedicated to taking care of him so he wont talk and why she was so suspicious when asked why he became a shut in like "oh um yeah uh i dont know"
im surprised she didnt try to kill him considering she brings him food everyday.
@@adisaster8734I feel like the mother perhaps indeed wanted him gone too and asked Ringo to do it which is when she decided to mommy dearest must go and started plotting with her brother.
The camera angle makes it so he's swinging right at head level of one of the family members. If it's the mother in the shot, that's very well-done foreshadowing through cinematography.
The young son reveals that the mother and older siblings discussed their sick dad. So they were likely all in on his murder for insurance money. They live with the guilt which is why the eldest locks himself in and Ringo left.
48:12 you can see Gouki in back practicing with his bat before mother got “an accident and hit her head “
Did you notice that in the first film the kids are also happy exercising? Did you notice the old dad looking at the cat as it's eating from his bowl? Maybe the cat died poisoned, with all the red the kids were drawing on the eyes it seemed pretty bad. Maybe dad caught on, confronted Ringo, Gouki had to "defend" her. Ringo then realized she was being setup by the mother and ran away then when she was back she told Gouki everything and he got the mother. Also, based on the kanji, Gouki's name means courage/fortitude. He has that with a bat but not sure what fruit he's meant to resemble. Anyways, these Japanese films are incredible for "reading the air" training. :)
the dad confronting ringo makes so much sense especially since that one kid mentioned he hit one of his sisters! 😭 if he was verbally and physically abusive, it's potentially an additional reason why the mom would kill her husband aside from life insurance.
I saw someone said "GOUKI" means Demon. It implies that he's the one doing the dirty work. Ringo just did what the mother did in the 1st Dad & the brother. She controlled Gouki to do horrific things again.
He’s not the step dad. He’s the dad who stepped up.
The dad was an orphan who wanted a family of his own, which means he doesn’t have a family.
He was going to be the next life insurance scheme. There would’ve been no contestants to the will.
I think he befriended the children enough that they turned against the mom. He was a lot more loving.
good observation
Omg that’s a good detail
Video starts @ 1:26
This is part of a series called "Banned from Broadcast", there's around 9 or so movies in this series, all of which are low budget and feature a documentary or found footage style. The director of these, Toshikazu Nagae, also created an independent Paranormal Activity "sequel".
The series is mostly an anthology, however Banned from Broadcast 2 - A Damned Big Family, and this one are ones that have any relations to the the Ura family.
Oh shit, is he the Tokyo Night guy? Excellent!
Which one is she watching? I want to find it
this is a fiction?
The film is not the third in a trilogy. The reason the "Cursed Family" film, the earlier one where the original father is still in the picture, says it is #2 in a series is because it was the second film in (what I assume to be) an anthology film series in Japan called Banned From Broadcast. There are, as far as I can tell, at least 6 numbered films in this series, and three more (including Saiko) that don't initially appear to be numbered. It would seem most of these movies are unrelated to each other, just sharing the series name as an anthology.
From what I know, this is related to the second one for sure, a sequel definitely. I think the movie versions are sequels to some episodes in the original series.
7 eps. tv series and 3 movie which 2 are sequal to ep. 2 and ep.6
I just watched the prequel to this! It explained a lot and I highly recommend everyone to watch it to. I will give a main summary of what happens in it, and it really helps explain some of the things in this movie to. So spoilers :)
Basically, the dad is pretty abusive. Like Rie, but even worse. While he would only get abusive when he would punish the kids, when he did it was bad. And so the children held resentment to him - especially the older ones. So the mother and Ringo would put poison in his special food, which the cat would also eat (fun fact - in this film, Ringo was studying to become a pharmacist!). Then there was the photograph, and the exorcism that followed which the dad skipped. I didn't find much with that part, probably once again because of my bad Japanese lol. But, then the dad didn't come home. While it was assumed that because he didn't show up to the exorcism, he was taken to the photograph - the drawings that the children drew told otherwise. In one of the drawings, Gouki was angry and killed the dad with his baseball bat. And another drawing showed how the dad and the cat died together and were buried together.
There is definitely heaps I missed, but blame no english subtitles and barely any comments for that haha. I find it interesting tho - after watching this film first, I thought that the mother killed the dad for insurance money, but after watching the prequel, I definitely think it was more out of resentment. Perhaps after the dad died that she realised the benefits of insurance money? Not sure lol.
There may actually be a supernatural element because during the 3 hour exorcism Ringo spent an hour screaming and convulsing on the floor and had no memory of it after. The father was obsessed with keeping the family in the house and he may have been beating Ringo because she wanted to go to university. After the family murdered the their father Tsukasa took over his role and then she became obsessed with keeping the family in the house. Ringo and Gouki left the house and fell into misfortune. After Tsukasa's "accident" Sumio has taken her role now and no longer plans to force the family to move.
Hi! Thanks for the info. Where can I watch it? I'd like to watch that part too...
Thank you so much, this does provide some interesting context
Omg poor cat.
thank you for sharing! and yes i agree it wasn’t for the money, otherwise she would have cashed in much sooner than 7 years later.
Bro... I need more of this. I need more of this A-LOT. Please, do more of this. I need more of this. Great Video btw!
39:22 ok hold on. I'm watching the interviews again, she has way too many kids, they're all being sneaky about the dad, the powder they put in the dad's food, the way the eldest brother and sister were whispering to each other before he finally came out of his room. Was the mom a black widow and she involved the older kids in her schemes, and that's why Rie kept being mean to him, she was trying to drive him away before he became her next victim? And now with the mom in the hospital, did the kids decide they liked this dad better than their mom?
The eldest son has a baseball with him on their way to the vacation...
I'd like to think that's the case and that powder Ringo was seasoning the beef with was actually that seaweed powder idk maybe I'm just naive but I'd like to think that good triumphed in the end
Or maybe Rei the 16 year old daughter threw the food and stuff just to prevent the fater from ingesting that powder
@@_mooshrooom It makes a lot of sense. Overall, it seems that we can ask agree that the kids decided that the dad was the one they wanted to stay with and took the mom out of the scene.
@@_mooshrooomthink about it: Rei always lashed out at mealtime, pretty quickly into each meal too. It’s like she was trying to get the dad not to eat what was being cooked for him by destroying the meal.
The son describing how his previous father wasn’t well and couldn’t work to me confirms that the mother was poisoning him.
Also, it’s interesting that the mother only seems to have been abusive towards the males of the family.
The third daughter also suffered an accident in the previous year, so personally, I think she went after the children who said or did something she didn't like or maybe questioned her.
I meant the fourth daughter
@@JalenGabrielle the little girl who "fell off her bike"
In the first series with this family (crazy ritual for the photo and all), Ringo the eldest daughter was in charge of making the “special meat dish” for their biological and abusive father.
Mom most likely abused her into doing it, and seeing her make the dish again for Sumio was a major yellow light until she took a lick of the MSG salt herself.
Another thing to note about the notes in Gouki's room, the "サイコーです" one has "saikou" written in katakana which is typically used for foreign words. That could lend more credence to it meaning "psycho" instead of "the best"
yes! good point!
Never seen this TH-cam channel before but really enjoyed this video.
Super eerie and well presented. Love it!
This video has mentally changed me. Thank you for posting about this mockumentary, it was amazing and the detail and descriptions of it has sent chills through me! If you were to do another of these, I would LOVE it.
Check out Lake Mungo if you liked this.
OHHHHH MYYYYYY GODDDD THE MOM JUST HANGING AROUND DURING THE INTERVIEWS??? THE JUMPSCARES KILLED ME
Just by your explanation, I feel like the shut-in brother did it, in cahoots with Ringo. There was that point where she was whispering to him and maybe they were planning together - seems kind of suss that a hard-core shut in, that won't even leave his room for meals would suddenly go on a trip, unless he had a plan.
your voice is so soothing you can talk about the most horrific stuff and im like :333
I’m begging, please find more of these type of mockumentary and make more of these videos! i’m obsessed!!!
保険 (insurance) and 保健 (health) are both pronounced hoken. The boy misunderstood it as health
Oooooo damn
was thinking this
I think Mom is doing things just to make alot of money
@@fatisummer9106 its a mockumentary bro 😭
@@fatisummer9106 its clearly staged… ofc theyll add some elements to make it interesting or else whats the point of a mockumentary
In my limited experience with japanese media that deals with curses, the way japanese stories deal with curses seem to deal with some supernatural or unexplained incident that slowly drives people to madness, being themselves the ones who are actually fully guilty and responsible for their crimes, so the curse might not be something actually supernatural, but the family believing it to be was driven mad.
Completely unrelated but this made me think about The Magician, where the protagonist's family is somehow cursed by a wizard and all heirs die at a certain age (iirc), a whole history of looking for a way to break the curse, and the grand reveal towards the end: The wizard was just sneaking in every time they were old enough and taking matters into his own hands
@@KibitoAkuya there are some stories (which don't come to mind rn) that treat with people using superstitions and curses that aren't real and taking ownership of them for their own benefit
@@KibitoAkuya That's so fucking funny though.
"They thought they caught a curse but all they caught were these hands." -The Magician, probably
@@francescamendoza336leaving a comment here so I can be reminded of this absolute gem
I asked my parents what the kanji said at the shut-ins room. At time 47:02, one says "swung [something] 13 times" and the other one says "once with a bat"
And at 47:15, one says "hit strongly" and the other "go rosu" (whatever that means)