Kyoko Harase (原瀬 京子, Harase Kyōko) is a main character from Ju-on: The Grudge 2, portrayed by Noriko Sakai. She is an actress and famous Japanese "scream queen" that crosses paths with the grudge curse as she steps inside the Saeki house to shoot an episode of the horror television show Heart-Stopping Backgrounds. As Kyoko becomes cursed, the rancorous ghost of Kayako finds inside her the chance of returning to life.
Biography[]
Incident on the Set[]
Kyoko in the house with Keisuke and Megumi shortly before filming.
Kyoko guest-starred in an episode of Heart-Stopping and entered the house with the crew led by Keisuke Okuni (the director), with Tomoka as the host. While filming and pretending to feel something "creepy" in the place, the sound technician, Soma, heard a real creepy sound he concluded was coming from Kyoko's michrophone. This interrupted shooting for one day. During the break, Kyoko was approached by the crew's hairstylist Megumi, a sensitive young woman who had noticed Kyoko was pregnant.
Kyoko shooting a horror film.
Megumi offered her some of her omamori as a gift. Though at the house's yard, Kyoko was unaware of a mother serving her child in the kitchen right behind her, and attracted the boy's attention as she spilled her drink. Megumi and Kyoko later noticed a dark, creepy wet stain of the bedroom's floor. Sometime later, while shooting a horror film, Kyoko and the whole crew became confused as one of the extras, a young girl, screamed at her in fright and fainted aftewards.
Encounter with the Curse[]
While driving home with her fiancé Masashi, he suddenly broke, saying he had hit something. Masashi left the car and saw a dead black cat on the asphalt. As Kyoko peared out, she saw a pair of pale legs running towards the carcass.
Masashi decided to ignore the mess and they moved on, only to be interrupted once again as Kyoko noticed a pale boy staring at them from under the steering wheel. As Masahi tried to free the wheel from the boy's grasp, the car swerved and they crashed. Kyoko saw Masashi unconscious, bleeding from the forehead and herself bleeding from the womb, the blood trickling down her legs.
Kyoko is lurked by Toshio
In the hospital, Kyoko learned she had lost her child and that Masashi was in a coma. Kyoko entered Masashi's room and was surprised by the little boy, who touched her womb once again before vanishing. Kyoko suspected he could be a longtime dead brother of hers and asked her mother Aki, and was told she was an only child. Kyoko then suggested the ghost could be her own lost child's ghost.
Kyoko visited a clinic and was told that her baby was actually alive and in good condition. She decided not to tell this to Aki and reached home. While sleeping, she encountered the boy once again. Kyoko later found her mother "sleeping" only to realize she was dead.
While visiting Masashi still in coma, Kyoko was surprised by his hand grabbing hers, pressing it against her stomach. After waking up, Masashi became catatonic. Even though, she asked him what she was supposed to do with their child, and as he touched her belly, Masashi started trembling Keisuke approached Kyoko and told about the death of Tomoka and her partner, and his missing crew members.
Keisuke tells Kyoko about his crew's missing members.
He drove her home and they both saw an apparition of Megumi entering Kyoko's house. Megume left Kayako's journal to Keisuke and he told Kyoko what actually happened in the house, showing her news reports and pictures related to the Saeki murders. At home, Kyoko felt asleep and was lurked by a bloody, ghostly figure of Megumi, and her mother Aki. Kyoko ran back to the house and saw a desperate Chiharu, as the ghost of Kayako crawled down the stairs, and turned to her.
In this moment, Kyoko noticed something moving inside her belly and collapsed in pain. Keisuke found her and took her to the hospital, and Kyoko's condition suddenly required a caeserean operation. While working on Kyoko's parturition, the whole surgeon team was killed, as she woke up and saw Toshio repeating "okāsan" ("mother") to her, before fainting. Meanwhile, Masashi started to suffer seizures on the hospital's rooftop, before being taken by the curse. After Kyoko regained consciousness in the operating room, she saw nothing but her baby wailing on the floor, covered in a blood stainted cloth. She only picked her baby, hugging her lovingly.
Motherhood[]
Kyoko's daughter stares at her as she dies.
Sometime later, Kyoko was walking with her grown-up child when she was suddenly killed by the little girl, as Kayako pushed her down a staircase, scaring a nearby boy. Kyoko fell to the bottom of the steps, bleeding from the head. The girl walked down and took her diary from her mother. Kyoko stretched her arm out, holding her scarf, smiling and gesturing to her daughter to embrace her. Kayako only stared at her until the woman succumbed, and only walked away, carrying her journal.
Etymology[]
- The name Kyoko means "capital city" (京) (kyo) and "child" (子) (ko).
- Kyoko's surname Harase means "field, plain" (原) (hara) and "swift current, rapids" (瀬) (se).
Notes and trivia[]
- Kyoko is presumably possessed after she wakes up from her parturition and when she is seen with the grown-up Kayako. Kyoko's last vision as herself is Toshio calling her "mother".
- Even though it is revealed to be a girl, it is strongly implied that Kyoko's child could actually be a result of Toshio and Kayako's spirits merged, through him referring to her as "mother".
- Kyoko's look slightly resembles Kayako's look from when she was alive as a mother.
Gallery[]
