Note: This is a very spoiler-heavy movie with many plot-twists and surprises. Read at your own risk.
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Akikazu
Akikazu Fujishima
Played By: Kôji Yakusho
Akikazu Fujishima
Akikazu Fujishima is an alcoholic, violent, dysfunctional ex-cop and the father of Kanako. He is very cynical and just seems to wait for his death. Some day, when Kanako goes missing, he seems to have found his mission: to find Kanako by all means and to retrieve his "ideal" family (although the very reason of the family breakup was his problematic personality). He is very brutal, merciless and not capable of taking his responsibility as father. His journey leads him to Kanako's friends, to the Yakuza and to super-evil cop Aikawa, who seems to be his only lead to Kanako. The last place he visits is a windy snowfield where Kanako has been buried by her teacher and he can't find her.- Abusive Parents: It’s implied he used to abuse Kanako when she was younger.
- Action Dad: He is a father and does a lot of fighting, shooting and fast driving.
- The Alcoholic: Akikazu drinks a lot, to the point where he completely loses control and beats up whoever he gets his hands on (most notably his family). He's implied to have been a heavy drinker for many years.
- Ax-Crazy: Akikazu is volatile incarnate. He beats his family, kills dozens of people for being in his way, and comments blatant acts of violence when boozed up.
- Car Fu: He turns cars into dangerous weapons. When he finds his wife being together with another man in her car, he uses it own car to ram them at full speed. Later he runs over Detective Aikawa and Detective Asai.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: To gain information from Kanako's doctor, who is a child molester he pushes his knife into his hand and increases the pain more and more.
- The Cynic: He believes that the world is a shithole and everybody, including himself, is messed up. If you watch the world in this movie, he can't really be argued with, although he does make his own contributions to making that world so bad.
- Determinator: Despite all of his flaws, he will never give up until he finds Kanako.
- Dirty Cop: He bribes witnesses with drugs to give him information.
- Domestic Abuse: He is implied to have abused Kanako when she was younger. Later on he punches and sexually abuses his wife Kiriko when he's angry and filled up with booze.
- Down the Rabbit Hole: The whole movie is about Akikazu entering a world of violence, despair and manipulation and his whole journey is a reference to Alice in Wonderland. The farther he gets, the more he learns the dark secrets of his daughter and his own problematic personality shines through. Kanako even carries a copy of the book with her.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Akikazu is an absolute bastard, but even he is horrified by the stuff he sees. This is seen best when Detective Aikawa murders his own wife. Even though he had just raped her before, he is absolutely disgusted.
- Fake Kill Scare:
- When the Yakuza find him, one of the gangsters puts a gun on his head, threatens him to kill him and pulls the trigger, only for the gun to be empty.
- Later he does the same thing to teacher Rie Azuma.
- Gratuitous Rape: He rapes Detective Aikawa's wife in the second he enters her house. It's not quite clear why he does this but one could assume that he believes it's the prize he takes for causing him problems and/or because he envies Detective Aikawa for his family and wants to destroy what he can't have. Doubles up as Kick the Dog.
- Hypocrite:
- He claims to only love his family but does the worst things to them.Akikazu: "What's wrong with me loving my family?"
- When he finds Matsunaga's mother he's very angry with her because she was such a bad parent to his son. He is at least the same and probably even worse.
- He claims to only love his family but does the worst things to them.
- I Will Find You: His driving motivation is to find his daughter Kanako. The whole movie is about his search for her.
- Jerkass: This dude is a colossal prick. He’s abusive, bitter, nihilistic, and cruel.
- Made of Iron: He is beaten up and shot so much throughout the film the he's just a bloody mess. However this does not seem to hurt him very much and he fights on.
- Marital Rape License: Forces himself on his own wife in the middle of the search for Kanako.
- Offing the Offspring: He claims that he wants to kill Kanako to talk his way out of the Yakuza. He indeed does, for all the trouble she caused, and because she looks down on him. As she's dead already, it never happens.
- Parental Neglect: A central theme in the movie. Akikazu heavily neglected his daughter and really knows nothing about her. Kanako's friend Emi tells him to take responsibility as father (which he doesn't).Emi: "You have the responsibility as the parent!"
- Rabid Cop: Akikazu beats up everybody who stands is his way and is very easily to set off. He treats witnesses very bad as long as they can give him hints where Kanako might be. But is also beaten up several times.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: The moments where he rapes Detective Aikawa's wife and later his own wife are the moments that firmly establish him as a Villain Protagonist who is only slightly better then the people he is up against.
- Sarcastic Confession: Subverted in the very beginning: He happily admits to have killed three people in the store... or that is what everybody is thinking.
- Selective Obliviousness: In the very end he refuses to accept that Kanako is dead and buried in the snowfield but still keeps searching, allegedly to kill her with her own hands.Akikazu: "She is still alive. As long as I live she won't die. She... is me."
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: He starts the movie cursing a blue streak, and he never lets up throughout the story.Akikazu [to a screaming woman in the police station]: "Fucking shut up you shit!"
- The Snark Knight: He hands out cynical and sarcastic remarks like candy to everybody, including himself.
- Sociopathic Hero: Akikazu is a violent, alcoholic, abusive ex-cop who beats up and tortures anybody who is in his way and sexually assaults women when he's drunk. However he still is disgusted by some of the worst acts of the other characters.
- Unscrupulous Hero: Akikazu is completely merciless. He abuses his family, threatens and beats up witnesses and classmates of Kanako, fights with everyone who is in his way and forces Kanako's teacher to give him the location where she buried her. He's still better than other characters in the movie, at least in the beginning.
- Villain in a White Suit: Sociopathic Hero variation. He usually runs around in a white suit. With all the blood, sweat and dirt he accumulates, it doesn't stay like this for very long.
- Villain Protagonist: Akikazu is a ruthless man whose immorality is too great to be an Anti-Hero. The guy beats his family, raping his wife, rapes another woman for no given reason, and abuses and threatens innocent people to get his way.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: In the very beginning he runs around a shopping street completely drunk and pukes just on the pavement in front of two women. The camera doesn't hide away from this.
- Would Hit a Girl: He beats up whoever is in his way, also a prostitute from the street or Kanako's friend Emi. And sometimes he doesn't stop at hitting.
Kanako (MAJOR UNMARKED SPOILERS)
Kanako Fujishima
Played By: Nana Komatsu
Kanako
Kanako is Akikazu's daughter. She is very beautiful and one of the best students at school. After her first boyfriend Ogata commits suicide in a very tragic event, she gets to know the narrator who is a victim of bullying too. She helps him to gets rid of them and gives him a new perspective on life. They plan to leave town and start a new life. However one day, she leaves all personal belongings behind in her room and goes missing, without much of a trace where she could be and Akikazu starts his search.It turns out that she is the one who causes all the trouble. She didn't care about Ogata's death and does everything to ruin the narrator's life. She pushes her classmates into a prostitution ring and deals drugs. She indulges with some old men too and collects multiple evidence against the prostitution ring to blackmail the old perverts together with Matsunaga. This even alerts the Yakuza because it's bad for their business. In the end, she gets killed by the hands of her teacher and buried in a windy snowfield.
- Alpha Bitch: Kanako is the most popular girl at school, always the spotlight of the party and beloved by almost everyone until she disappears. She uses this to her advantage.
- Asshole Victim: When finally the truth is revealed we learn that Kanako died by the hands of her teacher. When you see how much pain and suffering she has brought over the people believing themselves to be her friends, nobody should be too sad.
- Beauty Is Never Tarnished: In contrast to the many corpses and victims shown throughout the movie, she always appears untainted by all of it, at least visually.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: When the narrator meets her in a hotel room, he's completely wasted and wants to kill her for her wrongdoings. She replies that it's a just her dream and she can do whatever she wants in her dream.The Narrator: "Was is to come close to me, lie to me... Turn me into a mess?"
Kanako: "That's right, a mess. There are no rules because it's a dream. Everything is free. You can love anyone. You can do anything to the one you love. Kiss him. Kill him. [...] Occasionally there are lost people who come into my dreams. But they suddenly escape. Because freedom is scary." [shows a picture of the narrator tied up and laughs] - Catchphrase: She says "I love you" at least 5-6 times. But will she be happy after all?
- The Chessmaster: Things go just according to her plan without her getting dirty hands. She makes people do things they wouldn't have been able to do otherwise, like Nagano and Akiko. Even Rie Azuma seems to be in some way controlled by her (although this backfired at first). When the narrator is killed, it happens through the hands of an unseen killer under her mind control (presumably Matsunaga). There can be no doubt that she guilty of incitement to murder but it has even been suggested that the concept of murder by proxy or murder in mediate perpetration (as developed in some jurisdictions) might apply here, i.e using this killer as a kind of abulic (although not necessarily innocent) tool.
- The Corrupter: She, without hesitation, gets the narrator being caught and handed to the prostitution ring, where he gets physically abused and later beaten up and thrown into a river. He now wants vengeance and follows a girl from the gang and tortures her to get Kanako’s location. When they finally meet, he is unable to kill her as he is still in love with her.The Narrator: "Because of the magic you [Kanako] cast... I gradually lose myself."
- Crocodile Tears: When Ogata is buried she fakes sadness but is very happy that he died.
- Damsel in Distress: She left all her personal belongings in her room and disappeared without trace. Her father is out to find her.
- Dark Secret: She appears to be a nice girl until she disappears. Her father finds out that she dealt drugs in school and manipulated her classmates and even younger girls to fall victim to child molesters which she also blackmailed. She also teamed up with school bully Matsunaga to set up the narrator and was at least indifferent with Ogata's fate.
- Dead All Along: When Akikazu starts his search she's already dead after her teacher killed her with a screwdriver.
- Dropped a Bridge on Her: Kanako dies by the hands of her teacher in a rather unspectacular event when she kills her anti-climatically with a screwdriver. She tries to do the same with Akikazu but fails.
- Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: Very beautiful, very evil.
- Fetishized Abuser: This is almost exaggerated, she seems to be happy with Ogata's fate and does everything to ruin the narrator's life. Her being a Trickster Girlfriend and a Manic Pixie Dream Girl is just a facade that is good enough to fool the narrator (subverting both tropes all at once) and that she drops when she feels the moment has come.The narrator: "Did you love Ogata?"
Kanako: "Yes, very. So I killed him. Because I wanted to love him more and more." - For the Evulz: For everything that we know she only commits her acts because she can. One of the characters calls her the devil.Rie Azuma: "She is a real devil."
- Freudian Excuse: Akikazu is an absolute failure of a human being. Considering he was neglectful of her at best, with the very real possibility he abused her as a child, it’s no wonder she grew up to be as vile as she is.
- The Hyena: Kanako laughs a lot, whether it's fitting or not.
- The Insomniac: One of the first things Akikazu finds out is that Kanako was on medication for sleeplessness.
- Lamarck Was Right: She is super-evil in her heart and lives only to manipulate and traumatize people. While she uses some different methods than her father, it should be clear that they both have a lot in common.
- Light Is Not Good: Kanako appears as a very beautiful young woman but has a very Dark Secret (read below).
- Manic Pixie Dream Girl: She turns the narrator's life around completely and gives him a complete new outlook on it by freeing him from his bullies. He wants to move away with her.
- Manipulative Bitch: Kanako mercilessly manipulates everybody within her reach. After being involved in a prostitution ring and eventually convincing even her own class mates to take part in it, she blackmails its members together with Matsunaga. Kanako convinces the narrator Kanako to go on living, so that she can completely destroy him. When he meets Kanako in the hotel room again, she still continues the manipulation and tells him that everything was just a dream (which it was not) and she can do everything in her dream). She also manipulates Matsunaga and even tries to manipulate her teacher (although this backfires).Matsunaga: [sliced up in a bag] "As long I can be with her I would do anything."
- Never Found the Body: Akikazu takes a shovel to dig up her corpse in the snowfield in the end. He can't find her and believes that she still might be alive. After all we know, she's really dead and he just refuses to accept this fact.
- No-Sell: When the narrator meets Kanako in the hotel room after having gone through hell, he hits Kanako over the head with a baseball bat. It has no effect, probably to represent how much she has moved away from being a normal girl.Kanako: "Scared?"
The narrator: "I'm scared. Very scared."
Kanako: "It's okay." [hugs him] - No Sympathy: Kanako does not care when Ogata (her boyfriend) commits suicide, seemingly not sympathizing for the weak. The same goes with the narrator who is manipulated into a fate at least just as bad, but absolutely no one cares.Matsunaga: "She is crazy and so empty..."
- Playing Both Sides: She uses her influence to let Matsunaga (bullied her first boyfriend) fight against Shimatsu (bullied the narrator).
- Plot-Triggering Death: Although nobody knows it, it's her death rather than her just mere disappearance that sets everything in motion.
- Posthumous Character: She is basically dead from the beginning and only appears in flashbacks but somehow has still lots of influence over the characters because she manipulated lots of them.
- Put the "Laughter" in "Slaughter": She is The Hyena and laughs the most after the narrator has been gang-raped by the prostitution ring.
- Rape Leads to Insanity: This is left ambiguous with her but still a possible interpretation. When Akikazu talks to one of the child molesters, there's a flashback where Kanako claims that he had sex with her years ago, after which she became the evil person she is now. While seems to be very capable of doing it, it's not clear if this story is true or not and Akikazu denies it. He confesses to have beaten and strangled her however.
- Ridiculously Photogenic: She looks insanely good on all of the pictures that she appears on. While there are lots of photos shown around in this movie, every character uses an extra-long time to watch those with her on them.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: The movie basically turns to this when we learn that Kanako was Dead All Along and that Akikazu will never see her again (at least not alive).
- Shout-Out: She has a copy of Alice in Wonderland at her hand and seems to identify with Alice.Kanako: "I'm lonely and I'm... falling."
- Slasher Smile: You can say what you want, but her way of smiling is very unsettling. Has some traits of a Psychotic Smirk too.
- Slipping a Mickey: It was her after all who drugged the narrator, although it's unclear whether she used ecstasy, LSD or some other kind of knockout chemicals.
- The Social Darwinist: Kanako has traits of type 6 (the weakness punisher). She has the habit to team up with equally-minded bullies and chooses people who show a lot of weakness (Ogata and the narrator) and then to manipulate them by giving them the feeling they can overcome their weakness and fear, only to completely ruin their lives.
- The Sociopath: She is extremely successful in manipulating anybody (setting up the narrator, convincing class mates into a prostitution ring, using people to commit murders), without taking any responsibility or regretting anything.Female gang member: "Everyone's lives are ruined because of her. But why... Why does everyone become obsessed with her? She is the... Demon."
- Trickster Girlfriend: When Kanako speaks with the narrator, she usually uses understatements (when seeing his wounds), witty comments and tricks like giving him sake instead of water or running around on the roof so that it looks she might be jumping.
- The Ugly Guy's Hot Daughter: She is very pretty, no comparison to her father Akikazu.
- Understatement: After the narrator is bullied by Shimitsu, he goes around with visible injuries. Kanako just plays this down and smilingly asks if this is a horror movie.
- The Vamp: She uses her charm and femininity to screw everybody around her. She also uses her sexuality to make the narrator fall in love with her (to set him up and completely destroy him afterwards) and to control her doctor who is also a child molester.
- With Friends Like These...: Almost everybody who believes to be her friend gets screwed up in the worst possible way. She deals drugs to her friends and hands them over to the prostitution ring.Emi: "Kanako is very scary. She lures people in by telling them what they want to hear. And then ruins them."
- World's Most Beautiful Woman: She is famed by everybody for her beauty, to the point where people state that she is the only thing beautiful in this world.The Narrator: "Kanako Fujishima. The one and only beautiful creature on earth."
- Yank the Dog's Chain: The narrator is bullied constantly and when he meets Kanako he finally seems to overcome his sucky life. It turns out that Kanako just manipulates and corrupts him, and he gets killed after a series of even more suffering.
The Narrator
The Narrator
Played By: Hiroya Shimizu
The Narrator
He is the unnamed narrator and nothing more than an Ordinary High-School Student. He gets to know Kanako who has lost her first boyfriend to suicide. He befriends her and after she helps him to surpass his own bullies, he falls madly in love with her. He plans to go away with her and start a new life. However his fortune turns again and he is put into a lot of hellish situations and gets parted from Kanako. He meets her again in a hotel room, shortly before she disappears, to meet his fate... which is to die embarrassingly, probably by the hands of Matsunaga, who Kanako has teamed up with to completely destroy him. He entered the hotel room to kill her after being gang-raped and blackmailed by people from the prostitution ring and Kanako is responsible for everything but he can't do it.- All of the Other Reindeer: The narrator is widely hated by everybody for no other reason than because he's weak and always alone.
- Batter Up!: He uses a baseball bat to beat the shit out of a girl from the gang that threw him into the river. While this is successful, he also uses it to hit Kanako over the head in the hotel room, but it has no effect.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: His wish "Can I be like Ogata?" is made under the presumption that Ogata was a cool guy. When he is struck by the same fate like him and notices, it's far too late and maybe he would have made a different wish.
- Being Human Sucks: The narrator gives a very saddening speech about how great it would be to not be imprisoned in this human existence where he can be bullied at any moment just because he's alone and weaker than his tormentors.The Narrator: "Why can't people live in the water? It's so peaceful here... But over here is hell. Why am I a human? These hands and feet. Eyes, mouth, and ears. My hair. My nose that's taller than others. I don't want any of this at all. If I'm only gonna get hurt, I don't want my heart. I'm definitely... Not fit to be a human."
- Cold-Blooded Torture: He captures one girl from the gang that threw him into the water after he had been gang-raped. To find out where Kanako is he uses a utility knife and slices up up her ear together with her earring. Later he slices her cheek. He stays in cold blood the whole time.The Narrator: "This is the proof that I've lived."
- The Corruptible: The narrator is basically a good, benevolent, harmless person who wants to be like Ogata and Kanako wants to help him with this. He fails to see that very manipulative Kanako has other plans and after some manipulation and drugs/alcohol, he finds himself capable of torturing another girl and finally wanting to kill his love Kanako, but he can't do it and is killed himself soon after.
- Despair Speech: The narrator gives a very soul-crushing one at the very beginning of the film, in which he dreams about being not human anymore so he can finally escape his bullies.
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Deconstructed. The narrator can't stand being bullied anymore and sees no happiness in a world with the lack of freedom he has. When he meets Kanako he wants to be like Ogata but he fails to see that Ogata was forced into isolation and that his attitude makes him an easy target for a very manipulative and corrupting character who exploits all of his flaws. In the end, he can't escape his bullies, resorts to violence is finally killed from out of the shadows (presumably by Matsunaga).
- Driven to Suicide: He contemplates suicide but changes his mind after Kanako interferes and seemingly gives him something to live for. It does not turn out well for him.
- Establishing Character Moment: His first appearance shows him being beaten up by his bullies while giving a desperate speech about how much Being Human Sucks. This sets the mood for the rest of his story arc.
- Friendless Background: The narrator has no friends when we get to know him.
- Gone Horribly Right: The narrator wants to become like Ogata and Kanako promises him to help him. The problem is that the narrator completely fails to see that Ogata was bullied and embarrassed until he chose death. When the narrator is beaten up, drugged and handed over to the prostitution ring for gang-rape with embarrassing pictures, he very well became like Ogata, but not to his advantage to say the least.
- Kick Them While They Are Down: The narrator is attacked by the bullies and the prostitution ring while he's high on drugs and completely helpless.
- High-Pressure Blood: When he is killed in the hotel room, the blood from his stab wound has very high pressure.
- History Repeats: He goes though the same tragedy like Ogata but doesn't commit suicide. If you see how much Bystander Syndrome and Gang of Bullies in the film's world exist, you could come to the conclusion that this won't be last time this will happen somewhere.
- Hope Spot: The narrator finds temporary hope when he wins a swim contest and Kanako lets the Matsunaga gang beat up his bullies. He believes that he can run away with Kanako and start a new life with her. He's completely mistaken about everything.
- Horrible Judge of Character: He calls Kanako "the one and only beautiful creature on earth". There's no way how he could be more wrong, at least speaking of her character.
- Instant Humiliation: Just Add YouTube!: While there's no video involved, his bullies threaten to show the pictures of him being gang-raped by the prostitution ring to everybody in school and on the internet. Comes with some Post-Rape Taunt and an Embarrassing Nickname ("Alice").
- Mushroom Samba: The narrator goes through a heavy one after having been drugged by Kanako, who has done this before to other characters. He's at a party where we see very bright lights and colors, fast-paced flash cuts and visual effects and hear with the lyrics "I like my LSD"note .
- No Name Given: The narrator is never given any name. The gang that rapes him calls him "Alice".
- Ordinary High-School Student: The narrator starts out as just a normal high school boy with the wish to make a difference in his life, but he's weak and gets bullied constantly. When he meets Kanako, he falls in love on first sight and he wants to run away with her. Little does he know which pains are still in store for him...
- Peerless Love Interest: Just like Ogata he becomes Kanako's love interest and he had zero friends.
- Rape Leads to Insanity: The narrator finally snaps after being raped by the prostitution ring, and becomes violent himself, in a way that he tortures a girl to find out about Kanako's location. He also beats Kanako with a baseball bat without success.
- Shower of Angst: When he reaches his lowest point after being gang-raped and having destroyed Kanako's pictures, he sadly takes a shower. His mother wants to help him but he refuses.
- Symbolically Broken Object: He smashes the pictures of Kanako in the moment he reaches his lowest point while being in disgust, surprise and disbelief, thinking of We Used to Be Friends.
- Trauma Conga Line: The narrator gets bullied, drugged, beaten up, gang-raped and blackmailed with embarrassing photos to test how much pain he can take until he ultimately snaps.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: The narrator is bullied constantly and when he meets Kanako he finally seems to overcome his sucky life. It turns out that Kanako just manipulates and corrupts him, and he gets killed after a series of even more suffering.
Matsunaga
Yasuhiro Matsunaga
Played By: Mahiro Takasugi
He is the leader of a Gang of Bullies in Kanako's school. He bullies Ogata until he jumps off the roof. Later, Kanako uses her influence to make him beat up another gang of bullies (the one that tortures the narrator). It turns out that he teamed up with Kanako to destroy the narrator. He is probably the person who kills the narrator in the hotel room and is beaten and sliced up by the Yakuza in the end. It's left ambiguous but it seems that he was manipulated and in the end betrayed by Kanako too.
- Asshole Victim: Matsunaga is heavily beaten and sliced up by the Yakuza and the last time we see him he's in a body bag taunting Akikazu. No one cares, after what he has done to the narrator.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: When we last see him, he's heavily wounded in a bodybag under the control of the yakuza, but is still seemingly externally controlled by Kanako, who has completely brainwashed him. This is also implied in the scene where the narrator is killed by someone who is under heavy manipulation of Kanako, presumably Matsunaga.Matsunaga: [sliced up in a bag] "As long I can be with her I would do anything."
- The Bully: He is one and does not shy away from letting Ogata and the narrator know. He usually has his gang with him.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: When he's sliced up in a body bag, one of the Yakuza gangsters stomps his foot into his open chest. Matsunaga shouts in pain. The is the last time see him.
- For the Evulz: He is evil just because he can and has absolutely no remorse about anything.
- Japanese Delinquents: He's one of the troublemakers in school, has tattoos and many piercings.
- The Social Darwinist: He tortures people with his gang just because they're weak.
- Villain Team-Up: He teams up with Kanako to frame the narrator. Afterwards, Kanako even betrays him and he gets caught by the Yakuza which is his final destination.
- Zipping Up the Bodybag: He gets sliced up by the Yakuza and put into a body bag. After some talk with Akikazu, he gets tortured by a gangster who zips up the bag. There's no definite confirmation that Matsunaga is dead but this is the last time we see him.
Detective Asai
Detective Asai
Played By: Satoshi Tsumabuki
Detective Asai
He is one of Akikazu's fellow cops and completely ineffective in every way. He's a Perpetual Smiler, mostly keeps his lollipop and just visits crime scenes whenever he feels like it. He doesn't obstruct Akikazu but is no help either. He has some interest in the prostitution ring too and kills Detective Aikawa and covers it up as suicide. The last time we see him he's run over by a car, it's not fully clear if this kills him or not.- Dirty Cop: He is this on a more subtle level. After Akikazu and Detective Aikawa engage on a very bloody fight on the freeway, we learn that he has interest in the prostitution ring too but wants to keep this undercover.
- Dissonant Laughter: His upbeat nature and constant smile is so displaced in the film's world that it becomes grotesque. Even though he's surrounded by crime he always keeps a happy attitude, genuinely having a good time.
- Oral Fixation: He always needs something in his mouth, mostly his lollipop.
- Perpetual Smiler: He is always upbeat, smiling and holding his lollipop despite being surrounded by crime, violence and sociopathic people. He even keeps smiling after being run over by car.
- Police Are Useless: He is completely ineffective as cop and just visits crime scenes whenever he feels like it and doesn't solve any case. He doesn't stop Akikazu from finding Kanako but is no help in any way either. He always keeps his smile and his lollipop however.
- Shout-Out: Detective Asai is a cop who is only rarely seen without his lollipop. The same thing happens in Kojak.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: We never find out what happens to him. The last time we see him he's run over by a car, but as Detective Aikawa has easily survived the same thing, we can hardly be sure that he's dead.
Kiriko Fujishima
Kiriko Fujishima
Played By: Asuka Kurosawa
Kanako's mother, although she doesn't know much what's going on in her life. She is constantly victim of Akikazu's dysfunctional behaviors and has an affair with another man.
- Awful Wedded Life: Before they separated, her marriage with Akikazu was living hell, with him being highly dysfunctional, cynical and always able to strike again. Even after they broke off, she still can't get away from his influence.
- Broken Bird: Years of a horrible family life have left their scars on her. She's very nervous, cries a lot and is psychologically unstable. She can't really function on her own.
- Nervous Wreck: She is extremely troubled and fearsome and cries very easily. Given her backstory it's no surprise.
- Parental Obliviousness: She's useless as a parent herself. When Akikazu starts his search for Kanako, he asks his wife first, although she doesn't have much of an idea about Kanako's life.
- Wet Blanket Wife: She constantly reminds Akikazu that he should take responsibility as father. If you see how much he sucks as a parent, this is highly understandable.
Detective Aikawa
Detective Aikawa
Played By: Joe Odagiri
Detective Aikawa
He's one of the most evil characters in the film. He's a sociopathic cop who is given the mission to cover the cops' involvement in the prostitution ring by killing Kanako's classmate Nagano. He seems to be Akikazu's only lead on Kanako, so they both engage in a very bloody fight on the freeway. He doesn't care about anything anymore, is very violent and trigger-happy enough to kill his wife for no particular reason other than she happens to be nearby in a car. After being run over by a car, he survives a suicide attempt and is killed by Detective Asai, who covers this up as a suicide.- Asshole Victim: Him being corrupt and his behavior towards the people closest to him makes him one of the most evil characters in the movie, so nobody is sad when he is is heavily wounded in his fight with Akikazu or when he dies by the hands of Detective Asai.
- Ax-Crazy: The man is absolutely insane. He slaughters people For the Evulz and enjoys his job as a payed killer.
- Dirty Cop: When Nagano (one of Kanako's classmates) tells the police about the prostitution ring, they order him to kill her so she can't tell about human trafficking where the cops took interest.
- Driven to Suicide: Played with. He tries to commit suicide but fails as his gun is empty. He is shot by fellow cop Asai immediately afterwards, who claims that Aikawa committed suicide.
- Fingore: In the fight between Akikazu and Detective Aikawa on the freeway, Akikazu shoots off half of Aikawa's hand.
- Interesting Situation Duel: He and Akikazu have an epic confrontation and shoot-out on the freeway.
- Kick the Dog: He kills nobody other than his own wife for no apparent reason. Akikazu asks him why he doesn't just kill his own son (who is nearby in a car) and while he doesn't, he seems to be ready to it any minute.
- Made of Iron: He is run over by a car and being stabbed to the neck which doesn't hurt him very much. A gunshot to the head does however.
- Psycho for Hire: He's completely crazy and kills people just whenever he feels like it. The cops want him to kill Nagano. He does not have much dialog and shows strong indications of sadism and pleasure.
- Serial Killer: It's not clear how many people he has killed, but in any case he seems to be quite trigger happy. This doubles up with Pacifism Backfire and No Good Deed Goes Unpunished (for the victim).Akikazu: "You are crazy. You even killed your own master."
Detective Aikawa: "He commanded me to stop killing. He won't shut up so I made him be quiet!" - The Sociopath: He is a dirty cop who is ordered to kill Kanako's classmate Nagano and is very willing to do this and shows strong signs of sadism and pleasure while committing evil acts. Akikazu asks him why he doesn't kill his infant son (who is nearby in a car) and while this never happens, Aikawa seems to be ready to do it whenever he feels like it, especially since he killed his wife without much of a reason just seconds before.
- Unsexy Sadist: He shows strong signs of sadism and looks very creepy.
Seiji Ogata
Seiji Ogata
Played By: Hitoshi Hoshino
Ogata
Ogata is Kanako's first boyfriend. He doesn't get much of a characterization as he commits suicide in the very beginning of the film. Later on, the narrator wants to be like him but fails to see that they both are targets of bullying because of their weakness.- All of the Other Reindeer: Just like the narrator, he's hated by his peers just because he's weak.
- Driven to Suicide: He commits suicide by jumping from the roof after a long term of being bullied by the Matsunaga gang. Nobody takes much notice of this.
- Friendless Background: Just like the narrator, he has no friends when we meet him, only his girlfriend Kanako is with him.
- Peerless Love Interest: We was Kanako's first love interest and he had zero friends. From all we know Kanako kept their relationship a secret.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: He dies before he can get very much characterization. We later learn that he's very similar to the narrator.
Rie Azuma
Rie Azuma
Played By: Miki Nakatani
Rie Azuma
She is one of the teachers on Kanako's school. Her involvement in the plot seems to be minor and vaguely defined at first. One of the girls (Akiko) that Kanako has fed to the prostitution ring is the daughter of teacher Rie Azuma. In a flashback, Kanako meets Azuma and shows her a picture of Akiko in bed with some old guy. When Kanako explains how Akiko was never forced, that she actually enjoyed it and that she (Kanako) absolutely regrets nothing, Azuma completely snaps and stabs and kills Kanako with a screwdriver in her rage. Azuma buries her body in a secure location. When Akikazu finds said picture, he confronts her and she confesses that she has killed Kanako, so Akikazu forces her to dig Kanako up. As Azuma has no memory about where exactly, Akikazu keeps searching but without success. Then the movie ends.- Small Role, Big Impact/Chekhov's Gunman: Her screentime is limited but she has a huge impact on the plot. Read the spoiler above for more information but it's highly recommended you watch the movie before.
