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Takeo Saeki (佐伯 剛雄 Saeki Takeo) born March 6, 1960 in Tokyo, Japan, is a secondary antagonist throughout the franchise, appearing in nearly every installment in one form or another. He was originally portrayed by Takashi Matsuyama. In both the Japanese and the American versions, Takeo is the murderer of his wife Kayako Saeki following his discovery about her secret feelings for another man, as well as their son, Toshio Saeki, and their cat, Mar. His rancorous act gathers the grudge curse that inhabits their house and affects anyone who steps inside. Takeo is portrayed by Yasuhito Hida in Ju-on: The Beginning of the End and Ju-on: The Final.

History[]

Japanese timeline[]

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Takeo is about to kill Rika.

Takeo was an illustrator working in Nerima, Tokyo, Japan, where he lived with his wife Kayako and only son Toshio. As evidenced in the Ju-on novelization, Takeo Saeki is very possessive and jealous of anyone who steals Kayako's attention; when his wife says she likes a particular actor on TV, he gets very angry. One day, Takeo discovered through Kayako's diary about her secret love for another man, Toshio's teacher Kobayashi. Consumed with jealousy, he becomes obsessed with the idea of an active love affair between Kayako and Kobayashi and believes that Toshio is not his biological son. In a jealous fit of rage, Takeo snapped Kayako's neck to a 90-degree angle, stabbed her to death, wrapped her body in plastic and set it in the attic, before killing Toshio and his pet cat Mar. He later murdered Kobayashi's pregnant wife Manami, ripping out her fetus afterwards. Takeo then called and taunted Kobayashi, asking him to take care of Toshio, as he had assumed his role of father to "Kobayashi's child". Having a conniption in the streets, Takeo then died under the curse he himself created, as he noticed Kayako's ghostly figure emerging from inside a plastic trash bag. 

Aftermath[]

During his visit to the Saeki residence, Kobayashi heard Toshio complaining to his mother that Takeo had killed his cat, and telling her that he had left "for good". Takeo was reported to have died "in the streets" after his murders, implying that he was found dead at some point after his murders. 

His ghost, or a manifestation of the curse, became able to possess anyone who stepped inside the Saeki residence (or became affected by the curse) or directly kills the person, recreating his murders. The second family that owned the house were the Kitadas, and Takeo's spirit influenced the husband Hiroshi to become aggressive, and he is walloped by his wife Yoshimi, who was also possessed by Kayako. After the Tokunaga family moved into the house, Takeo's spirit possessed Katsuya, who under his influence suffocated his wife Kazumi, and placed her body in the attic, and kicked his sister Hitomi out of the place, while she was visiting them. Takeo's ghost directly murdered Rika, in the very same way he did to Kayako.

He does not feature in Ju-on: The Grudge 2, only being mentioned and featured in photographs.

The Beginning of the End[]

Takeo is portrayed in the reboot as a businessman constantly absent from home. His lonely wife Kayako, who strongly desired to have a child, decided to have so without him, and the ghostly boy who lived in their house before their arrival returns to life through her. Toshio grew up annoyed with Takeo and constantly stayed away from him, which gradually made Takeo suspicious of Toshio's true origin. He later discovered the truth from Kayako herself, who told him the boy was not his. Enraged, Takeo snapped her neck in front of Toshio, left his pet cat burn to death inside the microwave and murdered the boy, gathering a grudge curse in their house. His whereabouts after the murders, however, are left unknown.

American timeline[]

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Takeo looks at Aubrey and about to kill her.

The murders are relatively similar in the American remakes, with a few major differences. After reading about her love/obsession for Peter Kirk, Takeo killed Kayako by breaking her neck, stabbing her repeatedly with a box cutter, hiding her dying body in the attic, and drowned both Toshio and Mar the cat in the bathtub, setting the boy's body inside the wardrobe. He then hanged himself in the boy's bedroom (though it’s later revealed that Kayako killed him by hanging him with her hair).

After the Williams family, newcomers from America, owned the house, his spirit took over Matthew Williams, who dragged his wife Jennifer by her hair to the attic, and kicked his younger sister Susan out of the place. Matthew was found dead in the attic afterwards. The ghost directly recreated his murders by killing Aubrey by killing her the same way he killed Kayako. The curse reached an apartment building in Chicago, and Takeo's ghost influenced Bill into suspecting his wife Trish was having an affair. Bill gradually assumed an aggressive behavior and was killed by a possessed Trish, with a frying pan. Trish's hanging body was later found by her stepson Jake.

He does not physically appear in The Grudge 3, only featured in flashback footage and photographs. He is said to have possessed Max Morrison however. With the building completely subdued to the grudge curse, Takeo's ghost possessed Max, who assaulted his boss and the building's owner, Mr. Praski, and expelled his sister Lisa from their appartment. A sneaky Lisa managed to get their younger sister Rose out of there. Max later stabbed Kayako's sister Naoko Kawamata in the neck, and recovered himself right after when Rose completed the ritual to end the curse. Max was soon visited by Naoko's vengeful spirit, and was killed by it.

He does not appear in The Grudge (2020), only being indirectly mentioned and briefly featured in a photograph.

Etymology[]

  • The name Takeo means "sturdy, strength, robust, tough, hard, rigid, strong" (剛) (take) and "hero, manly" (雄) (o).
  • Takeo's surname Saeki means "help, aid" (佐) (sa) and "chief, count, earl, uncle, Brazil" (伯) (eki).

Trivia[]

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Takeo's demise in the Grudge films references Tomoka and Noritaka's deaths in Ju-on: The Grudge 2.

  • Rather than his own, Takeo's demise in the Western series references Tomoka and Noritaka's deaths in Ju-on: The Grudge 2. The couple is hanged by Kayako's ghostly hair and Toshio's ghost "plays" with them afterwards.
  • It is unclear if Takeo's apparitions occur only as a manifestation of the curse, or if he in fact became an onryō as well. In the DVD commentary of a scene deleted from Ju-on: The Grudge, however, Takashi Shimizu refers to him as a "ghost".
  • In Ju-on: The Grudge, a news article in the “Toyama” segment reveals Takeo to have been 34 at the time of his death. In The Grudge films, according to a news article, he is 35 years old when he dies.
  • In the Ju-on novel, his death differs once again - Kayako's ghost kills Takeo by stabbing him in the back with a knife.
  • In the Director's Cut version of The Grudge, he is seen hanging by Kayako's hair, inferring that her ghost was responsible for his death, thus making him the first victim of the curse.
  • Takeo and Mar probably had bad relationship as owner and cat. Mar probably was hostile toward him, so when Takeo killed his wife, he used time to kill cat of his son.
  • It's confirmed that Takeo was always jealous towards his wife.
  • Takeo killed his son Toshio in the Japanese films since he suspected that he was the child of Kayako and Kobayashi. This probably doesn't apply to the American films, as Kobayashi's American counterpart, Peter Kirk, is Caucasian. It is instead implied that Takeo had to kill Toshio because he walked in on him killing Kayako and was a witness.

See also[]

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