| Yuriko Saeki | |
|---|---|
| |
Vital statistics
| |
| Position | Unemployed |
| Age | 41 / Deceased |
| Status | Divorced |
Physical attributes
| |
| Hair | Short grey |
| Eyes | Blue |
"... I'm sorry, sister. It's just... I want to tell someone, so who else would I...?" |
Yuriko Saeki (佐伯 百合子) was the aunt of Miki Takamura and the younger sister of Miki's mother, Minako Takamura. She had taken her own life three years prior to the plot. In the Good Ending, it is revealed that Yuriko is the monster that has been tormenting Miki throughout the game, but whether the monster was truly Yuriko's ghost returned to haunt the living, or merely a figment of her niece's disturbed imagination remains unconfirmed.
Appearance[]
As a human, she is an adult with short, gray hair with bangs and blue eyes. She bears a great physical resemblance to her niece, Miki, and wears a yellow, halter neck dress. However, in the form of a monster, she has dark brown hair, red lidless eyes, and seems to have no legs or abdomen.
Other traits as a monster[]
Yuriko in the form of a monster
As a monster, Yuriko uses her arms for locomotion, and can move in surprising speeds. Her face has no skin, exposing red, swollen flesh. However, she doesn't actually cope with that, as she shows no other than animalistic behavior as a monster. It is currently not known how exactly she lost her abdomen. She will also vocalize loud, ear-piercing roars and growls.
Early Life[]
When she was young, Yuriko's parents died, leaving her in the care of her older sister. However, their relationship became strained (likely due to her sister mental health problems) and, as a result, Yuriko was eventually removed from her sister's care and placed in an orphanage, and later moved in with a foster family. She remained in contact with her sister, but it is assumed she remained with her foster family until she grew up and moved out.
Adult Life[]
When Yuriko was an adult, she married a wealthy man and moved to his large home, where she became acquainted with Shinji Miura. Yuriko was happy in her marriage, though she apparently suffered from fertility problems and began seeing a gynacologist for treatment. She was very excited when the treatment worked and she fell pregnant. However, she seemed saddened by her strained relationship with her sister. Sadly, Yuriko's baby - a boy - was stillborn. Yuriko was devastated by the loss of her child and even more so by the lack of comfort and support from her husband, sister and niece (although this was technically not Miki's fault, as she was forbidden to visit her aunt by her mother).
Yuriko seemed to blame herself for her child death and started to believe that everyone thought she had deliberately "killed" her son. Yuriko's husband eventually divorced her and moved away, leaving Yuriko alone in the house they once shared. Yuriko became severely depressed and paranoid; she began hearing voices and believing that everyone hated her. Eventually, she couldn't take it anymore and decided to end her life. She attempted to kill herself by jumping from a second storey window, but only suceeded in breaking her leg and was taken to hospital. The day she was released from hospital, Yuriko attempted suicide again, hanging herself in one of the spare bedrooms of her home. This time, she was successful. Before she committed suicide, however, she left her home to her niece Miki, showing that she still loved and cared for her, despite (incorrectly) believing that Miki no longer cared for her. Yuriko died three years prior to the events of the game.
Relationships[]
Minako Takamura[]
Yuriko's relationship with her sister, Minako, was strained, at best. Yuriko was raised by her when both of their parents passed away, before being taken in by an orphanage facility. Due to her sister's hysteria condition, she sees Yuriko as condescending, smug and attention-seeking. When Yuriko reveals that she is expecting her first child, her sister flies into a rage, irrationally accusing her of getting pregnant only to keep her rich husband happy. After Yuriko's miscarriage, she mocked her and forbade Miki from visiting her when her mental health began to decline, calling her a "nutcase" and "crazy" and refusing to support her in any way. Even so, up until the end of her life, Yuriko was grateful to her sister for raising her and believed she only became like this because of the trauma of losing their parents at a young age.
Miki Takamura[]
Yuriko loved her niece Miki very dearly and they appeared to have a close, mother-daughter relationship. Miki appeared to be closer to her aunt than she was to her own mother and the pair had a lot in common. Yuriko was always kind and supportive of Miki, and kindly offered to make her a stuffed bear shortly after discovering she was pregnant. After losing both her baby and her husband, however, Yuriko's mental health rapidly deteriorated. As Miki never came to visit her (unbeknownst to Yuriko, Miki's mother prevented her from doing so against her will), Yuriko started to believe that Miki hated her and even experienced voices and hallucinations of her niece, telling her she should die.
Shinji Miura[]
It is not clear how the relationship was between her and Shinji, but it can be assumed they were well acquainted as neighbors before she committed suicide.
Yuriko's husband[]
Yuriko apparently had a good, loving relationship with her husband, but his love for her eventually faded after she became severely depressed following the death of her baby. Yuriko's husband may not have loved Yuriko as much as she loved him, as he didn't support her much after the death of their child and eventually left her, never to return, simply because he "couldn't cope" with her depression.
Personality[]
Yuriko was a kind, compassionate and motherly woman. She was somewhat shy and emotionally vulnerable, likely due to her parents' dying when she was quite young, her sister's verbally and emotionally abusive behavior and spending at least some of her childhood in an orphanage and foster home. Yuriko was always polite and never got angry, not even with her sister when she was abusing her. Her sister described her as being an "optimist".
Following her baby's death and her divorce, Yuriko became very depressed, bitter and paranoid, believing everyone hated her. She found life so lonely and unbearable, she eventually committed suicide. Yuriko loved reading and encouaged her niece to become a writer, which Miki eventually did, in honour of her deceased aunt. Yuriko was also creative and artistic, making dozens of stuffed animals for her unborn baby, and doing her own dress-making, Yuriko was also a very generous woman, kindly offering to make her niece a stuffed bear and also leaving her home to Miki upon her death.
Yuriko's online diary, detailing her pregnancy, stillbirth and downward spiral into depression.
Trivia[]
- While reading Yuriko's online diary, the player can read about how Yuriko was being told about how everybody (her sister, the news people, stuffed animals, Miki, etc.) hates her and wants her to die, although this can't have happened because Miki loved her aunt and denied saying that, and her animals can't speak, hinting Yuriko might be schizophrenic.
- 'Saeki' happens to be the surname of Kayako, the main antagonist of the Ju-on (The Grudge) horror films, who's ghosts terrorises the people unfortunate enough to move into the house where she was murdered by her husband. It is unknown if this is intentional or a coincidence.