My Proposal: Why Sadako Yamamura Needs a Redemption Arc
Author: Zachary, first founder of Dimension of Thought

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WARNING SPOILERS FOR RINGU 

 

! MAKE SURE YOU'RE OKAY WITH SPOILERS BEFORE READING !​​

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***THIS ARTICLE IS AN UNFINISHED WORK IN PROGRESS—DON'T READ THIS LIKE A COMPLETE WORK***

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That's a key feature of this website, where things aren't just posted when they are finished, but can also be posted even if not finished. The process of creating this article this is valuable too, and as the author of this article, I want to invite you into it.

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Breaking the Story:

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What would happen to you if you spent 30 years isolated at the bottom of a well? 

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Everyone knows Sadako as the ghost girl who crawls out of wells. Whoever watches her tape will see and feel creepy things, and after seven days, she'll crawl through their TV and claim their life. But Sadako actually has an extremely tragic story.

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​What makes Sadako's story so profoundly tragic is that all her chances were taken away from her. She had very few opportunities in life—and even the few opportunities for happiness that she did have wisped away like smoke. Her story was tragedy after tragedy, each tragedy compounding on the last. Her life culminated in being thrown into a dark well by her own father, and left to die over the course of 30 years.

 

In the well, she experienced a form of isolation and suffering that we cannot even begin to imagine. But the well wasn't the beginning of her isolation—it was the culmination. Throughout her life, Sadako was fundamentally and egregiously misunderstood. Her unique psychic abilities made her an outsider, someone to be feared rather than understood. The people who should have protected her instead reacted with fear and rejection. Even medical professionals failed her, dismissing her struggles by claiming she was "just a normal girl" when she desperately needed real understanding and support. She was caught between two aspects of herself—the normal life she yearned for and the reality of who she was—never fully able to reconcile or express either. Most heartbreaking of all is that Sadako wanted to connect, to be an actress, to live a normal life, but society's fear of her difference ultimately led to her brutal end. Her curse, in many ways, is the eternal echo of that injustice—a cry for understanding that continues to be misinterpreted as merely a source of fear.​

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(I think this is how it goes in Ringu 2? Correct me if I'm wrong—) If I'm correct, in Ringu 2, Sadako says "Why is it that only you were saved?" before she plunges back into the well and accepts her fate. (perhaps it hints/works as a setup for her?)

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Indeed. I cannot stand the immense . She was innocent. She didn't deserve this. In Ringu 0, as we see her, we realize that . She was 19 year old girl who just wanted connection and . 

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I heard it myself in the scene where Sadako woke up in the well. Her screams were utterly unbearable. I could hear her heart shatter from the remnants she had of connection, into despair . And yet, when she looked up and saw her own father. And instead of her father plunging in after her to rescue her, her father closed the lid. This was the last thing she saw. Her father, and the lid closing on the well, everything around her slowly becoming darker and darker, knowing it was her father who closed the lid. As her cries and screams slowly became more an more muffled by the lid as it enclosed on her, echoed, slowly it goes out of the well. And as the lid enclosed, The space for her cries to come out of hte well was smaller and smaller. Until there was no more space. The lid on. And  complete darkness. And by then, along with darkness, her cries are completely enveloped within the well and echo within it. Met by nothing else . Her cries were completely chambered with the well, only to have her profound heart-cries echo in the well, like the sound of an explosion echoing through a closed prison cell. Like magma gathering in a volcano and intensifying over time. And she'd have nothing except that echo in the dark to keep her company. Can you imagine the  And then she could see nothing else. I doubt she could even see her own face in the darkness. How disorienting that must have been. 

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Sadako has been crying out for life. Everything—from Sadako's curse, the comments on Youtube, cries with .

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There are tons of people on YouTube who are devastated by Sadako's tragedy and may well even be crying out for a better ending for Sadako. Some even imagined better headcanon endings for her like (referencing how Ringu 0 shows Sadako and second Sadako) "Sadako never had both her selves merged her other self stayed down the will and she and Toyama went on to live a happy life far away but it's the other Sadako that became evil and bitter at Sadako for leaving her in the well" (though I'm pretty sure the comment said they were twin sisters, not different manifestations of the same person? Which would be a misunderstanding of the story, as canonically they are actually more like two halves of the same person.)​​​

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The Curious Archive article Himeji Castle, Thoughtography, and the Japanese Ghost Story that Inspired ‘The Ring,’ writes, "the story of a neglected little girl who was failed by all figures of authority and murdered in such a horrendous way deserves a bit of a redemption arc."​

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What is a redemption arc?

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A redemption arc is a story about a character who has had evil motivations, or been in a dark place in life, who undergoes a profound transformation toward good. But it's much more than just "becoming good"—it's a journey of healing and growth where the character acknowledges and confronts who they've been, what they've done, and that fundamentally changes who they are.

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True redemption arcs aren't about excusing past actions, or ignoring real character evil. Instead, they explore how someone can:

• Face the weight of what they've done

• Process their own trauma, pain, and unfulfilled needs

• Process what they truly need

• Work to make amends

• Find a path forward toward healing

• Transform their destructive patterns

• Choose to use their power for good

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Yet, doing this would be an unprecedented move within horror. Horror has been a genre where the villains are generally dehumanized. I haven't heard the . If you search up "Sadako redemption arc," this article you're reading right now is the only page that shows up. Given how tragic Sadako's story is, and how much sympathy people feel for her, I was very surprised that no one had already formally proposed a redemption arc for her! Well, maybe it's somewhere within places like ao3, or Wattpad. But I get nervous about these, because I've also seen interpretations of Sadako that are...let's just say, NSFW, to say the least, and are very disrespectful to her character.

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I'm not sure if anyone has even thought of the concept

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But does the genre of a story matter more than story? And what defines a story in fhte first place—the genre of the plot, or the characters? 

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So, let's ask ourselves—what is the story of Ringu really about? Is it about escaping a curse? About death? About vengeance? About fear? Or is it about a girl who wanted life, and a girl who was robbed of life? About the most extreme cruelty? About failed relationships?

 

But what if it could it also be about redemption? About healing? About showing how light, no matter how dark one's life and condition is, can shine through darkness? How light, no matter how deprived and wronged one has been, can shine beams of unconditional love through? After all, Sadako herself in Ringu 0 healed an old man . She had the potential .She had the potential to be incredible. Imagine what she could have done and who she could ahe become if she was given the chance to grow more. If her story hadn't been cut short. Sadako wasn't just robbed what she wanted, she was robbed of who she'd become. All her future selves—gone. Every life she could have touched—cursed, as she was deeply entrenched in a curse. Her future legacy—gone. 

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Knowing all this, I feel it deeply in my heart. My heart cries out, along with Sadako, for justice. For her to live life. To live the life she never could, and to become the person she could have been. This is why I've taken it upon myself to write a very comprehensive case on why Sadako should have a redemption arc. Not just in a spin off or as an alternate take—a redemption arc in the main Ringu continuity. Sadako deserves justice. Sadako deserves dignity—the dignity that we all share as human beings made in the image of God—and the dignity she was deprived of in her life. Sadako deserves a second chance at life. With that, I present to you my proposal: a Sadako redemption arc.

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Let's analyze the roots of her curse. What's going on here? ​

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Sadako's curse seems self-reinforcing because it was originally caused by people fearing her, which led to the cursed tape. People fear the cursed tape, which one can argue would only reinforce the curse, because we end up where we started, and it becomes a cycle.

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• Sadako couldn't do anything couldn't talk to anyone, was not understood, maybe doesn't even know how to make herself known, perhaps was too vulnerable and the . 

• Psychology: Psychological projection, venting, need to lift a burden, need to be seen, need to process it, need to find meaning for it, need others to share the burden. How art and literature convey emotion. Her memory is disjointed, just as unprocessed and unresolved trauma is embodied as disjointed memories and things that don't make sense. And so, when it's not processed, it manifests as this unprocessed, raw, disjointed, seemingly nonsensical sequence of memories. People think in symbols. People process in symbols, process in words, and process in experiences. But without actually trying to process it, it just remains as raw experience pushed deep into the unconscious. Eventually, it was projected because of Sadako's unresolved trauma pushing out and manifesting that way. That's my personal interpretation for how the curse works.

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Is she doing all this intentionally? I argue: No, in fact! Of course, the curse and all the deaths that come with it are fueled by vengeance and profound, unresolved trauma. However, just because these things power the curse doesn't mean that she is willfully acting on them.  Certainly nowhere near as though if she were in a fully conscious state of mind. A drunk person if behaving wildly does not willfully act—they would have to be a sober to do that. A schizophrenic behaving violently isn't held to the same standard as a mentally normal person. 

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Is her vengeance personal actions? Or is it something else?

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However, here's the thing. She says "You will die in seven days." (we don't know if she actually says this, but we do know that at the beginning the girl when telling it as a "fictional story" says it is what she said) If you noticed, Sadako doesn't say "In seven days, I will kill you." In fact, Reiko never hears her say it. Instead, she worst it. Isn't this strange? This is interesting for someone who . It's in the passive voice. And if she really meant it personally, it's much more likely she'd use the active voice. It seems as though she's referring not to herself even, but rather some mysterious, foreboding force that is presented as inevitable.

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30 years in a well, which is just like solitary confinement. Sensory depirovation.  

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Think about it—no one who is mentally stable will walk like a zombie or have contorted, have unnatural movement patterns, or wear long hair over their head while walking.

 

Therefore, it would be unfair to treat her as though she were personally killing people. Clearly she is doing this in an extremely mental state.   

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When the curse spreads.

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• Desire-good mapping: need to lift a burden, need to be seen, evolves through venting.

• What we can do is have it be 

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What essentially we understand here is this: Sadako has a story that needs to be heard. Not only that. Not only does she have a story, she is a story that needs to be heard. That's why the curse keeps spreading. It needs to be known and truly honored. It is a story that will not stop until it finds resolution—the good ending it deserves. It needs to find redemption. The emotional magma that drives her story . That's what her curse is. A dormant volcano of tragedy, all trapped in a well, full of churning, turning magma of profound human voids, upon voids, upon voids. 

 

Yet Sadako's story through her tape so far has only been receiving fear and confusion in response, which only exacerbates the emotional magma that churns through it in the first place. It increases the intensity of that magma, causing it to bubble and jerk more violently within the well of the volcano it is trapped in. 

 

The sad reality is that no one has responded to her curse with genuinely unconditional love and deep recognition. Even Reiko, who was one of the most compassionate characters in Ringu, didn't show her enough to heal Sadako. Although Reiko was deeply grieved over Sadako's tragedy, and was empathetic of the wrongs done to Sadako, that doesn't necessarily mean she understood her deeply enough to heal the profound scars that drive the curse in the first place. 

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THe irony is that even we, the viewers have been afraid of her. And we've watched her through the TV and many of us have responded with fear. It's literally framed as a horror movie! 

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This was the love she never had in her life. This was the understanding she never had in life—or at least, never had enough of (perhaps Toyama is an exception? Even still that wouldn't have been enough to break the curse. Unless I missed something in Ringu 0, I haven't heard or read about Toyama understanding Sadako in the ways she really needs as here. So as far as I know, Toyama hasn't done that in Ringu 0). Love that she desperately needs. Connection that she desperately needs. 

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So, how can we break the curse? With deep, radical courage rather than fear—with love. With radical, unconditional love. Love casts away all fear. Love casts out fear like light casts out darkness. (1 John 4:18) Turning the other cheek. Love can make the worst people turn away from their ways and live a life aligned with moral principles. (reap burning coals Proverb) 

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​- Address "redemption arc" here, and refemption arc​, comparative analysis, define what here. Address how "redemption arc" is often associated with anime and explain how it works, and why it's so loved. Then explain how it's not so associated with horror, and why it's not so associated with horror.

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- Explain: Sadako at the End of the World and Sadako san and Sadako chan already set precedents for a more nuanced, emotional look at Sadako's character. Where Sadako is a protagonist and is not exactly a "passive curse agent" but is instead a fleshed out character with hopes and dreams, and relationships with other characters. It shows people want this.

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In order to know if Sadako can have a redemption arc, we have ask—who is Sadako really? 

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Who is she? Where is she at? What were/are her values? What does she believe in? What experiences shaped her? What did she look forward to? 

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The Simple Things We Don't Know

 

One of the most telling aspects of Sadako's isolation and dehumanization is found not in what we know about her, but in what we don't know. Consider this: we don't even know her favorite food. This seemingly simple detail reveals something profound about how thoroughly she was stripped of normal human experiences and connections.​

 

Think about how basic this information is for most people we know—friends, family, even fictional characters we feel close to. Knowing someone's favorite food represents a fundamental level of human connection and understanding. It's the kind of detail that comes up in casual conversation, in shared meals, in daily life. Yet with Sadako, this basic human detail is lost to us.​

 

Understanding this loss of basic human experiences helps us grasp the full scope of what was taken from her. Any meaningful redemption arc must acknowledge not just the dramatic aspects of her tragedy, but also these quieter, more fundamental losses of human connection and experience.

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Some might also argue metaphysically that Sadako is no longer herself anymore and is instead a totally different entity only driven by the raw emotion and vengeance.

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However, this notion does not hold up when we consider philosophy of mind and metaphysics. The concept of "half/part-human" is not philosophically plausible. Beings are either fully human or not human (if we define humanity as "the representatives of the ground of all being in all existence, and define meaning as an ultimately singular sense, then it doesn't make sense for a being to be only partly a representative of a singular meaning or not" if someone only had access to part of humanity it doesn't make sense by definition if humanity is about ultimate singular representative figures of the ground of all being every part of humanity has to be part of a holistic pursuit of a singular meaning (which is a secular way of saying "made in the image of God")), in that way, it exists after death and even vengeance reflects values of justice and morality at some level and therefore one must be human to experience a concept of justice and morality and gradations of those values. 

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Furthermore, I argue that the human soul cannot be destroyed. 

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- human dignity must be innate, cannot depend on circumstances. I read a troubling post the other day where someone said that a burglar loses moral worth once they enter the house. It's wrong to steal and break in, but that doesn't make a person lose their worth. Do you get to decide another person's wroth on arbitrary preference? Or is it something that is innate and understood, rather than decided?

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​Sadako .

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Of course, many know Sadako is more complex than just an antagonist...

 

But what if I told you that she is actually a protagonist? And more—even a hero? 

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To understand why, we need to understand more about how story works, and how story is structured...

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​If you watch Ringu, you'll find. . Notice how you slowly find out about Sadako. Her uncle even denies that she even existed. "There was no daughter," he said. In the beginning, nobody knows about Sadako. We only get mere hints. But you don't even find out her name. In fac,t you don't ven find out about half ​of her name, until later when they are breaking down the cursed tape and the blinking eye with the "Sada" symbol.

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In screenwriting, we use a framework involving the hero-obstacle-goal for understanding story. When you're watching a movie, as soon as you've identified a hero, obstacle, and goal, that's when it hits you—you're witnessing a story. In my own story paradigm, as you can read about here in the treatise for the holistic narrative continuum who the stakes of the story deal with is essential. We follow along and root for whatever is good, and if the good happen to be about/for someone, then . (which is not my complete story paradigm but is a significant core of it. I think I would call my complete paradigm the holiscendent life continuum/evosystem instead)

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When the story is framed around a person's evolution of desire and good that's when that person becomes a protagonist in a sense.  

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What I mean is this. 

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If you go out and take a walk in the park, you might see a lonely-looking elderly person looking wistfully at a young couple down the street. That's a story. You're now aware of the elderly person's desires, the good at stake here, which makes the person the protagonist. Here, it makes the person the hero because the desire the person is pursuing is aligned with what's good. And you're rooting for them—that's how you know they're the protagonist. You're aware of the obstacle. You're aware of the goals that have to do with the good things and the overarching arc of good at stake. So, you are now rooting for that elderly person like a protagonist—because the person has actually become a protagonist.

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It doesn't require extensive setup. You just need to see at least one hero with a goal, but there's an obstacle to overcome. 

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Think about it—. When the rest of the diesre and good evolution builds upon certain heroes, obstacles, and goals established, then . 

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Now with this in mind, we can clearly understand how it 

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Desire and good framing are on her. 

• The story frames her as more of a scary, unknown, and ambiguous passive agent controlled by a curse than an evil, active, villainous agent.

• When tragedy is explored, it explores the fact that she is good, and the desire-good evolution has one good as her story being known and her being given solace and her body out of the well. Ringu itself I think shows her great sympathy through Reiko. It explores her perspective. It dives into the mystery of the curse, not assuming any particular person is an antagonist or has antagonistic or evil motives. Not even Sadako. Instead, Ringu's arc delves into the curse and discovers what happened to the Yamamura family. It starts with Shizuko, then we find more about the family, then we find about Sadako. Then we learn about what happened to her. Then we sympathize with her.  

• Perhaps you can even argue that the plot to "break the curse" sets up a story about how Sadako must be saved and honored and broken free.

• Sadako's uncle laments over Sadako, and the tragedy that happened.

• Ringu 0 clearly establishes her as a protagonist. It shows how much she wants. It sets the stage for everything else. You will never see her the same way again.  

• We know Sadako's desires and we see the good at stake. We know she is a hero in the story, we know the obstacles, and we know the goals that relate to the good at stake.​

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So Sadako was clearly a protagonist all along. She showed antagonistic behaviors, but she at heart is a protagonist whose journey took a tragic turn. Think of her as a mind-controlled Superman. Superman is a hero, not an antagonist, but under this state, he would show antagonistic behaviors. 

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hero obstacle goal and my own storytelling paradigms

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Obviously in Ringu, at this point, Sadako is one of the protagonists on some level because of her backstory and obviously we can tell the hero obstacle goal here she is one of the heros 

 

Note: with my storytelling paradigm of story is evolution fo desire and good over time we know her desiers and good were huge cetner such taht we know she's hero Ringu 0 because hero is where story evolution centers on and even 

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This shows that Sadako, by the standards of storytelling frameworks, is actually a protagonist who is forced to show antagonistic behaviors. 

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If Sadako was always a protagonist all along, then this means a redemption arc wouldn't be forcing something new onto her. It would be the natural progression for her story. Although you'll usually find that .

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Argue why there is fan demand:

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Relates to: "There are tons of people on YouTube who are devastated by Sadako's tragedy and may well even be crying out for a redemption arc. Some even imagined better headcanon endings for her like (referencing how Ringu 0 shows Sadako and second Sadako) "Sadako never had both her selves merged her other self stayed down the will and she and Toyama went on to live a happy life far away but it's the other Sadako that became evil and bitter at Sadako for leaving her in the well" (though I'm pretty sure the comment said they were twin sisters, not different manifestations of the same person? Which would be a misunderstanding)" Possibly I can reference this

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Sadako can be redeemed. Because I am Sadako. And I was redeemed. ​​

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When I read Sadako's story on her wiki page for Ringu 0, instantly, something hit different. 

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We both had the profound burden of being "other." Other from backgrounds. Backgrounds of isolation, repeated cycles, and having totally unusual abilities (for me not saying I am a psychic obviously here but more like the abilities I used to create this platform are highly unusual). But back then, my abilities were not cultivated, and no one really understood them. My environment and the people around me, just like hers, could not accommodate me. I withdrew out of fear for revealing my true self. So we both withdrew and repressed ourselves. 

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Just like Sadako, I relied on one person. She relied on Toyama, while I relied on many people whom I clinged onto as "the one person to fulfill my emotion lneeds for love." And would go into realm of fiction.

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She would also cope with fiction. She was an actor, and in Ringu 0, if I recall correctly, Sadako's therapist suggested using theatre therapy.

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We each looked normal and were misunderstood. Our disorders caused problems, but each was not understood and caused problems. 

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We both had difficult family turmoil. 

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In my life, I was . I had a serious mental disorder that made me repress a huge amount of my personality, just like the reason behind Sadako's split. I was stuck between dual modes of my being, just like

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I was very isolated.

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Not only that, there were two sides to ourselves (again, a past issue for me). Recall Sadako had a Second Sadako that Dr. Ikuma fed growth-inhibiting drugs, just like how my environment failed to nurture and inhibit the assessment of that other side of me. Sadako's therapist said that there was nothing wrong with Sadako, that she was just a normal girl. For me, so many people in my life have said something like that. Others misunderstood me and thought it was my fault. My problems were, in fact, made me look normal enough unless you truly saw me. Likewise, everyone thought I was normal when in reality, I was had very unusual and troubled in many ways—it was just that which was unusual and unique and troubled within me was suppressed to appear normal to prevent myself from being vulnerable and hurt and overwhelmed, and no one was able to address what was truly going on in me. The cost was that my personal life was suppressed to an extent as well. And I didn’t know it. And nobody else did. So I lived as though I were normal. Just like Sadako. And that caused many problems for Sadako and the people in her life. Just like Sadako.

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But everything changed for me when I found Jesus. I saw how much Jesus loved me. How He died on the cross for me. God was the Father that I was searching for all this time. Since then, I have found meaning and purpose through knowing God and loving others. (must elaborate much and be more specific) 

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Now, instead of cursing people with tapes and crawling TVs, I am using my own digital. If you've been on this site, Diemsnion of Thought, you might have read in the home page about how "The purpose is to enrich lives with purpose by tapping into deeper potential with digital power. Rather than taking people away from real life and into the internet, Dimension of Thought is designed to bring the internet closer to real life. This brings people closer to real life." This is my counterpart to the curse. Sadako makes her digital self closer to you, and so do I. I do so in a redeemed way.

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Sadako. Did not though. Her life took a tragic turn. She was thrown into the well. She never got to experience the love that I did. 

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This doesn't mean Sadako's redemption arc must be explicitly Christian. But if Christians primarily are in charge of this, I would strongly encourage them to emphasize biblical imagery and symbolism, unless according to their judgement they decide otherwise is best.

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What would happen if Sadako was treated with unconditional love?​

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• Characters would need patience, kindness, and humility to look beyond the surface and what is ugly at the surface level. They need to be kind to the ones who appear. They must not judge by appearances, as Jesus said.

• Reach out to Sadako

• Try to understand Sadako's personality

• Honor Sadako's dignity as a human being—a human being made in the image of God

• ​Instead of characters hiding away from signs or being creeped out, not only that, but out of kindness and desire to express care, willingness to be there for her, and sorrow for her past, and a desire to see her restored and also to show her that the life she truly wanted is possible? Motivated by all these things, what if the characters paint pictures of her in a life that she wanted? ​​

• What if someone, instead of hiding from the TV, showed sacrificial love and took the risk of entering the TV during a moment when there is a clip? Turn the other cheek. What about when seeing wet footprints, buying fancy shoes for Sadako, and placing them on those footprints? What if, when seeing distorted photos, their response was instead to restore Sadako's photos? 

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• What if someone took her cursed tape, and rearranged it to create a beautiful story? Now one would have to do that respectfully of course, in a way that doesn't assume feelings or experiences or a journey on her behalf. Rather, something perhaps more symbolic or a loving and understanding, albeit somewhat imperfect, representation of what could possibly be. This perfectly fits her. She was an actor in her life, an actor whose own story was unfolding and desperately needed life. And you know how filmmakers and producers and writers complement actors. Perhaps it could be a filmmaker who bears the story for her. A filmmaker who plays a crucial role in a new story for Sadako. A filmmaker who writers a new story for herself. Perhaps it could be a filmmaker with a heart—someone who can turn the clips of her tape into a representation of what the life she wanted could have been, and turn it into a beautiful, complete film—redeeming her story. And show that it is possible. 

• Fill SAdako's well with light

• Fill Sadako's well with oceans of love deeper than it

• Perahps could end with Sadako and marriage and explore how this all relates to marriage and family. Beuase marriage is great manifestation of this. relate it to Sadako and Toyaam

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Weave counterarguments more seamlessly into the rest, and instead address them in a separate section. 

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Who would play Sadako here?

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I think Yukie Nakama (Nakama Yukie in Japanese naming conventions) is probably the best fit. She literally became Sadako. Based on long lists of comments in YouTube comments sections, there is something incredible about her. I have watched Nakama's acting, such as the first episode of His long lost sister has the face of an angel, but she's more of a demon.

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5. Build a case why it is feasible and preempt counterarguments.

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Now, the journey would not be easy, for sure. Sadako . Sadako might seriously doubt people. Sadako might misundrsatnd the protgaonists. Often people with profound trauma struggle to feel loved again. They may project the world. They may hold so many fears and biases about relationships. And especially with her parents because her parents failed to love her (don't know to what extent you can say that about her mother, at least she weren't there for her ever since she died.) Sadako might resist. Sadako might not fully see the love. Sadako might be too afraid to try life again for fear of failure and disappointment.  

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As a Christian, this is why I believe so many people have trouble believing God could love them—beasue parents have such important role in being His image and representatives to children that they simply have incredibly hard time seeing God as an unconditionally loving Father.

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That can be mirrored within the curse itself. The curse can manifest all these things. People have so much to work through. 

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Now, this isn't merely idealistic. This is very practical. 

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• Cite precendents for reboots with a redemption arc

  • Cobra Kai's Johnny Lawrence​

  • More to be added

• If I'm correct, many movies​ nowadays are heading towards redemption ars and trends.

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On potential challenge may be for having Nakama back specifically is that she would be acting at a younger age.  We would also have to ask how old Sadako would be when revived in the first place. 

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However, it's possible that over all these years, Nakama.

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Explain: why people acting so graciously to Sadako is feasible and not "too good to be true,"

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Move this out of main structure, and make some points already covered in the positive framing. Now, some people might argue a Sadako redemption arc would ruin the franchise because Sadako remaining a scary villain is essential to the franchise

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This is my response:​

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I argue that it's not Sadako herself that is scary. It's the curse and her ghost form/behavior, the well, the cursed tape, the signs of the curse like distorted photos, as well as how her tragic story makes it even more horrifying, and where she loses control of herself, that is.

 

Now, I concede that in a story, oftentimes it is truly the case where the villain is scary as a person—in their personality and character. And oftentimes, the villain's horror as a person and character is what largely defines the story, and is key to the essence of the narrative. Sometimes, it is so necessary that the story would not be the same without it. There are instances in fiction that iillustrate this principle, one of such is Sauron from Lord of the Rings. Sauron is a classic example of a villain whose personal evilness defines the story, especially in terms of his desire to dominate Middle-earth. His character is terrifying not only because of the power of the One Ring but also because of his malevolent will and how it drives the narrative. The heroes must confront Sauron’s personal evil, which is inseparable from the threat he poses to the world. However, there are also stories where the villain's terrifyingness as a person is NOT essential to the story, but rather is just a symbol or representation of something more profound that genuinely defines the terrifying element of the story. With that, I make my case that for Sadako herself, although they people are indeed terrified of her, people are not primarily terrified of her as a person. Instead, the fear comes from the entire experience of the curse after watching the tape, rather than just Sadako's personhood. What makes Sadako terrifying is not primarily who she is, but rather what she represents.

 

Much of the fear of the curse in the Ringu movie revolves around the signs, tension, buildup, rumors, the continual deaths of people, the stakes, the mystery, the 7 day deadline, and the fear of losing loved ones. But Sadako herself is in the background until the end of the movie. As a character, she is explored sympathetically and from the point of view of injustice and tragedy.

 

However, deep down, I don't think Sadako herself, as a person, is feared as much as any of the other things. In fact, the movie portrays her in a sympathetic and tragic light even while portraying her terrifying aspect. It's more that she is afraid of her behavior, such as the imagery of her crawling creepily out of the well—we don’t really fear the "Sadako” as a human identity and life. Most fear we feel about Sadako herself is a result of her behavior and situation and curse and her external appearance and such rather than anything inherent in Sadako herself as a person. If we see Sadako herself as a person as terrifying, it’s more about her tragic backstory and the horrors of that. If Sadako herself was enough and her character was enough, or was the element of horror much more significant than anything else, then we would see fewer critiques about movies like Sadako 2019, where people criticize it for failing to capture the same tension and much of the original Ringu. All you would need is Sadako to show up and terrify her in a "Sadako identity" way. In fact, note that many of these movies are simply called Sadako, such as Sadako 3D, Sadako DX, and the example I already mentioned Sadako 2019. But as we can see, it's the tension and buildup, almost like a mystery/thriller rather than just horror and the curse, that really made Ringu iconic, which is why people are criticizing later movies for lacking it even though Sadako herself is there. It’s important to realize that Ringu is not a traditional horror movie like Friday the 13th, becuase it resembles a mystery and thriller very closely as well, and then adding horror elements. 

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How Our Misunderstanding Perpetuates The Curse

I. Pattern of Misunderstanding
- Just as society's fear of Sadako created the curse
- Film industry's fear-based portrayal perpetuates it
- Each attempt to "modernize" only further dehumanizes her
- Creates cycle of reducing her to horror tropes

II. Examples of Missing The Point
A. Sadako 3D
- Turned psychological horror into jump scares
- Made well scene about 3D effects not isolation
- Missed metaphorical meaning of technology
- Focused on surface level "updating" 

B. Sadako DX
- Tried to "solve" emotional trauma with logic
- Reduced curse to scientific puzzle
- Missed opportunity with genius teen character
- Lost human element entirely

III. Self-Fulfilling Prophecy in Media
- Fear of complex emotions leads to simplification
- Simplification leads to monster portrayal
- Monster portrayal leads to more fear
- Cycle mirrors the actual curse's spread

IV. Meta Commentary Possibilities
A. Characters discovering these portrayals
- Sadako seeing how she's been represented
- Reacting to misunderstanding of her story
- Finally being seen as person not monster

B. Industry parallels to original story
- Society feared what it didn't understand
- Movies fear complex emotional narrative
- Both end up creating what they feared

V. Breaking The Cycle
- Need to face complexity not run from it
- Understanding breaks curse in story and meta level
- Yukie Nakama's return symbolizing return to humanity
- Redemption arc as breaking both cycles

VI. Thematic Resolution
- Just as curse needs understanding to break
- Story needs understanding to be told right
- Meta commentary becomes part of redemption
- Art reflecting life reflecting art

(Note: This could tie into that volcano metaphor - how suppressing/simplifying Sadako's story, like suppressing her powers, only makes the eventual eruption more powerful)

Want me to expand any of these points? This could be a really powerful section that ties the meta-commentary directly into the core themes! 🌋

 

Some might argue, though, "What about the close-up shot of her eye in Ringu? This is arguably the most 'personally horrifying' moment for Sadako. If Sadako is redeemed, then there is no more Sadako to stare at anyone that way! Eye is the window of the soul, and it shows how terrifying she is with her hatred!"

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another fear:

people afraid of shadows of their subconscious

Sadako could be amnifestations of shadows of subconcsious 

if we go by "dreamlike ghost states" not "whole person i sa ghost"

Imagine charactesr there seeing and fearing their corresponding ghost parllels

 

To that, I respond that we don’t have to have the main Sadako embody that element of horror. What about a dream version of Sadako? Or other possibilities. Remember Ringu 0, where there were two Sadakos, one good and the other evil and scary? While in a redemption arc, she would not be "split," of course, in the same way, what this does show is that it is not necessary for Sadako herself to be consumed by her curse in order for there to be a scary manifestation of her or at least some part of her psyche. So perhaps as she is dealing with her trauma, everyone must venture into the scary territory, and there is a ghost-like version that represents her trauma and psyche that appears sometimes and can give the terrifying eyeshot if necessary or do other things like that. And yes, the creepy well crawling and TV crawling were there too I think, but that defines it less than the entire curse expreince as a whole. 

 

Also, those elements do contribute to what made Ringu so iconic and scary in the first place, but they are still more manifestations of the entire curse experience instead of being the equivalent of necessary core elements/themes/story arcs. Regarding the eyeshot, she's doing the eyeshot while in a ghostly form, which, as we mentioned, can be interpreted as not representative of her actual human identity/personhood. If we had more eye shots, also, it would be too predictable. Sadako redemption doesn't mean we can't have more "horrifying personal gestures" like the eyeshot. Horror evolves, and sometimes, even if something made the first movie iconic, it, on its own, does not necessarily define the entire series, as the series itself will evolve as all things do. The key is that the evolution is natural and not forced into the story and instead reflects an organic desire and good evolution. 

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Here's one potential direction a redemption arc could take: Why do people turn into onyros in the first place?

 

Yes, we know that it's because their deep rage, trauma, and sense of vengeance tie them to the world. What are the metaphysical and fantastical systems that cause that? How does this fantasy work? What is the metaphysical framework here, and how does it operate? There, we can explore the underlying structure of it all and confront even deeper, more profound sources of horror. Good horror doesn’t just scare; it wakes you up and makes you afraid of what you truly ought to fear.

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We can unveil the metaphysics and show more of the world the story has to offer. We can show how every fantasy framework works here. Most importantly, we can show how it relates to life.

 

It is also essential for us to distinguish between being afraid of a past version of Sadako versus being afraid of a future version of Sadako. People can fear the past version but don't have to fear the future version. So therefore, as long as we consistently brand the past version as scary and the future version as approachable and likable and don't confuse the two, then we will be good.

 

Therefore, it is entirely possible to maintain the scary image of the original Ringu while having a redemption arc. Yes people are scared of Sadako, but are not ultimately scared of her in another sense, what really made Ringu iconic (if I am correct about what made it iconic) is the fear of the curse, and in reality they are not scared of her personhood. It simply requires divorcing the concept of "Sadako" with "Scary curse" and that the scary curse can still drive the plot in different ways that do not require Sadako herself to be consumed in it. 

 

- How house was built over the well

- How the uncle denied the existence of Sadako, or any daughter

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- How the clip's version of the well somehow does not have the house and is recording an earlier chronological date

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it would make sense for her to be physically the age she was when she died (19, although her body was supernaturally kept alive in the well for another thirty years before actually dying, but for the sake of the story purposes it makes msot sense to continue where she left off in the life she actually lived) 

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you also preserve the youth and "so much more life to come and potential" 

but it would make sense for her to be mentally have much more than just a 19 year old too because of all those years in the well and it makes sense for her to have a struggle to readjust to 19 year old life. Which in itself parallels how Yukie Nakama would be revisiting her own role and the struggle of catpreuing acting an age much younger than yourself

 

However, we still have the debate of whether her supernatural preservation counts as "revived since death" or not.

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But say—what if instead of just "revive at age of death" and to account for whatever physical logistics there would be, instead we just wrote the story as instead of depending on whether the body was preserved or not and that counts or instead more of a choice to "return your body to the point where you truly lived." And then we have many other narrative possibilities like perhaps she's revived within the well itself, and then we can take the possibilities further with the potential that the protagonists descend into it physically and pull her out.

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Evolution the Horror

 

Sadako san and Sadako chan also touches on that right?

 

What made the TV scenen so scary is the breach into the safe zone and barrier between the "tv world" and "real world."

But that may have become old and .

nowadays we still have digital fears 

we can play on that here 

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so we can mock and pretend we're going to build up to a TV breach but snitad we can subvert expectation and play on the following instead:

nowadays we have similar coresponding fears

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• Fear of AI replacing humanity (perhaps Sadako's curse somehow making cursed AI's that are displacing people or somethign)

• Fear of data privacy

• Fear of deepfakes and being identity theft or idk what its called and serious crimes like that

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6. Visionary insights on the potential direction of horror as a whole, connect it to the idea that segregating art and story by "genre" is problematic because it projects artificial mold for what a story ought to look like, when in fact story at its root is about life and  expreince rather than a specific class of horror.

 

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• Horror needs to evolve; otherwise, repeating all these old elements will not work.

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• All stories have the surface pleasure story, and the deeper story behind it—the story about emotional meaning. In professional writing I think we call this the emotional core, or the emotional story. This is a universal storytelling principle. You can't just have horror for horror's sake, just like you can't have action purely for action's sake or comedy for comedy's sake. It must serve an emotional story. Furthermore, there must be a return value for exposing oneself to the inherently disturbing, dark, and terrifying things that horror involves. These things must not become ends in themselves, because it would be twisted and unethical to enjoy disturbing things for disturbing thing's sake. 

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• Good horror stories don't just evoke fear for fear's sake. They make you fear the things that truly ought to be feared. ​​

  • Examples: You should have a healthy fear of pride, fear of the ephemerality of life, fear of letting bitterness take over your life

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• Good horror stories can be cathartic.

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• Good horror stories make you confront the fear, suffering, and evil of the real world.

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• Good horror stories shows the darkness in order to make the light shine brighter. 

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• Elements like action and horror we all know are actually elements of deeper story. True's story involves drama. All of them do. Not necessarily drama in a literal sense. But a deeper personal story. Some kind of conflict or journey to a higher good. Horror would be, like everything else, on element that serves the broader idea of meaning. Only then would it be meaningful. We can't just have horror for horror's sake. Otherwise, that isn't story. It's just either a tragic plot with no meaning, or it's just "stuff happening."

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• It's strange that one particular genre, horror, is emphasized for its own sake rather than like other genres

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• If the story calls for it, we need to because something is fresh will be

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• People have gotten used to the “long haired well and TV crawling ghost girl” trope. Now we need something fresh. 

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• Many attempts didn’t do as well as they could have already because they didn’t revive the original elements.

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• We already had many attempts that explored Sadako from a new angle.

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• Ringu 0 already revealed her humanity and her profoundly tragic story. It also revealed 

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• Therefore horror should allow for redemption arcs. 

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7. Everything will be infused with my paradigms on story and life such as "story is the evolution of desire and good over a time structure" and "holiscendent life evosystem" 

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Imagine what it may look like

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New protagonist:

• 7 days to reach her.

• Steps into her world.

• To reach her.

• To connect with her

• Perhaps it's an intentional effort; instead of just watching tape for curiosity, one does it for solace.

• Undersatnding. Connection. Healing. No to stop a curse but to love the person behind the curse. 

• The character could grapple with the decision to explore and find out, respond in fear, respond by hiding, or respond by understanding.

• The character could grapple with whether to be distant and not deal with emotion, to stay physically safe.

• Perhaps even the character could have technically been safe another way but then chooses to enter Sadako regardless.

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Perhaps instead of terror, it could parallel God's 7 days of creation somehow. 

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Marriage and love. 

Perhaps Ringu could take on a new meaning with "wedding ring." 

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8. Call to action

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"

Today we have a massive problem of porn and onlyfans and parasical relationships. Love and relationships has become commodified. People are literally having LIFE DRAINED OUT OF THEM just like the cursed tape dos.. Nobody will stay on onlyfans after watchign this if we can really turn it into a HORROR trope

idol industry no more parasocial

redeem "celebrity culture"

no more porn hijacking people's minds and isolation ghtem from reality and other rpeople

"Good horror makes you afraid of what you truly ought to fear"

not just a single movie though we need to make this into a POP HORROR TROPE

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" this relates to Kpop as art as the person! What if we had to new paradigm of art as person here? Perhaps Sadako could be a pioneer of art as the person as a actress and performer! Maybe she could also be a singer, not just performer. Imagine this—what if we watched her grow and realize even more talents! Maybe that could be how we fulfill her future self dreams! What do you think? We could watch her 

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So I don't know how the Visionary Manifesto for Central Valley would apply here I mean perhaps we can do corresponding and from globalization perspective given now the globzliation trends and also coutnerparts of Japan somehow perhaps parallel or counter narratives whatever the story is. Must respect and be true to the real Japanese and all it's regions struggles and culture and life and etc..

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Author's note to self: Throughout this, weave in how we can make this be incredibly IMPACTFUL for society!:

•  Good nobody will stay on onlyfans after watchign this if we can really turn it into a HORROR trope

• idol industry no more parasocial

• ​​

• redeem "celebrity culture"

• no more porn hijacking people's minds and isolation them from reality and other rpeople

• "Good horror makes you afraid of what you truly ought to fear"

• Not just a single movie though. We need to make this into a POP HORROR TROPE, and Sadako redemption arc would be INCREDIBLY POWERFUL for that .

• These things have often been normalized. Even among people who are serious about quitting, there is some sense of normalization. But if we turn it into a horror trope, we can prevent people. We must also show them the right way. Live in real life and connect with real people. Unconditional love. 

 

 

 

 

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Here's how a possible desire-good mapping could go for the Redemption of Sadako​​

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The Redemption of Sadako

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Desire and Good Evolution Mapping:

1. Vengeance: Justice done, rights wronged, everyone to be given what they deserve.

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2. Forgiveness: Sadako desires to be forgiven for killing. People there want to be forgiven. Everyone else wants to be forgiven for seeing it as merely a curse and feeding into the curse's power by seeing Sadako as merely a scary ghost. People have to forgive each other for passing the curse on to the next person. People are accusing each other of "random deaths" because of tape. 

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3. Justice: 

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4. Connection:

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5. Understanding:

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6. To stay alive: Tangibility

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7. Break the curse:

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8. Physical proximity to people: 

The fight to stay either close to people and risk, risk activating the curse again.

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9. Spend the 7 days as best as one possibly can: 

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10. New Beginnings

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the story naturally continues. If we go by desire-good evolution and hero-obstacle-goal then yes.

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I'm not sure which one is the best option—have just one movie, or many more? I mean of course I love this so I'd want it to be continued like this a sa series, but that depends. My thoughts alone aren't enough. I want to hear  your opinions too.

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Other creative decisions like where to end the movie. How to end the movie. If we include Sadako's new life there—and if so, how much we include. Maybe if we did include it, we could use it as a setup to a sequel where it is covered.

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Maybe ​we could have a sequel to this where Sadako where we explore her new revived life. WHo knows? Perhaps the end of the redemption arc could leave off at a point where Sadkao. 

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More possibilities and questions that I invite you, and each and everyone else here, to think about:

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IF she's not carrying out the curse deliberatly, and these story is a manifestation of her deep psychological voids, why 7 days? And why 7 days all the time? Is this a manifestation? And why does Sadako choose to manifest herself and come out of the TV? 

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I'm Zach, the author if this proposal. All the ideas and thoughts here are mine, and the majority of this article is written directly by my own hand. A few minor paragraphs were written by AI.