- "Suffer forever, like I have."
- —Yuko Takabe to her sister
Yuko Tanabe is a major character in The Terror: Infamy, the second season of The Terror. She is portrayed by Kiki Sukezane. Tanabe is a mysterious figure, though her motivations become clear as the series progresses. She is the birth mother of Chester Nakayama, whom she named "Taizo," as well as his twin brother, Jirou Tanabe. She also has a distant ancestor named Chiyo.
Yuko is a Bakemono/yurei, or shape-shifter.[1] Among her powers is the ability to slip in and out of bodies undetected, twisting them into horrible, inhuman shapes, and forcing them to do her bidding.[2] She possesses a terrible hunger, an onnen, that leads to both seek revenge and to try to atone for the mistakes she made in life.
Unlike the other Japanese characters on the show, Yuko is from Japan, rather than a Japanese-American. She is connected to the spirit world, with "something familiar and alien about her."[3]
History[]
A child lost, a vengeful spirit[]
On Terminal Island, San Pedro, 1919, Yuko Tanabe arrives in the United States from Japan, having been promised to marry Hideo Furuya. He is captured by her beauty, calling her exquisite, and thinks himself very lucky to have her. Things change, however, when she reveals a dark secret: that she is pregnant. Upon learning this, he shouts that she tricked him. She says that they could tell everyone the child is his, but he rejects this notion, saying that he had asked for a bride and not a whore. She begs his forgiveness, but in return, he tosses her outside and shuts the door.
She is forced to live homeless on the streets of California, where she eventually gives birth to twin babies Taizo and Jirou, but is soon separated from one of them. She obtains a small rattle for the amusement of her remaining child and tries her best to feed it, but can barely feed herself. She cries and despairs before finally making a decision. She brings the child to a church and turns it in to a nun, who tell her that she did the right thing, as a child can't be raised on the streets. Yuko wonders just what she is, what a woman is if she can't even raise her own child.
She wanders to a high bridge, accompanied only by a small bag. There, she is approached by a woman, Chiyo, who asks her if anything is worrying her. She tells the woman that she was just reflecting, and the woman tells her that she used to do that too. She used to think that it would be peaceful under the water, and that troubles and sorrows would wash away with the tide, but to take it from her that pain doesn't need to be washed away, that it will eventually fade. Yuko tells her that she has the wrong idea, that she's only resting before returning home. However, after Chiyo leaves, she grabs the bag, which is weighted with stones and falls backwards off the bridge. Weighted by the bag, she sinks into the depths and drowns.
She awakens in a beautiful home that is clearly built in a Japanese style. Chiyo, the woman from the bridge, is preparing tea. She tells Yuko that she saved her from an accident and to not worry, that the rest will soon fade. As Yuko looks around the house, she notices a design on a sheet, the Yotsu Hanabishi. It's her own family's crest, but Chiyo dismisses it as a coincidence. Yuko considers her surroundings and finds everything to be in perfect order, the grounds tended to a by a seemingly tireless gardener. However, it soon becomes clear that all is not as it seems.
Yuko in Chiyo's "paradise"
Yuko soon finds that events seem to be repeating over and over, though each time the scenario plays out in different ways. She awakes in the bed, is served tea, and explores the grounds. She steps on some sand, only to start being pulled under, as if it is quicksand. She is being pulled under by ghastly, undead arms, but Chiyo extends a rod, pulling her to safety. Realizing that something is very wrong, she asks Chiyo just what this place is. Chiyo tells her that it should be obvious by now - it's paradise. She tells Yuko that she never left the water, she's safe now. Yuko tells her that she's mother and she has to get back, and Chiyo replies that she has what the priests would call an onnen, an insatiable hunger. Yuko replies that she has to get back, and Chiyo tells her that she's dead and that she will now be her mother. Yuko calls her a demon, a Bakemono. Chiyo calls her ungrateful, saying that she chose oblivion when she jumped into the river. She says that she's waited so long for one of her own, and Yuko seeing the family crest, realizes that the woman must be her ancestor. She says they can join together as blood, that this will be their paradise for eternity.
Yuko does not accept this. She grabs the kettle, smashing Chiyo on the head and leaving her bleeding out on the ground. She turns to leave, only to be approached by Chizo, who tells her that there's no way out. She awakes again and this time works on calligraphy with Chizo. She has trouble with the lettering, but reproduces the Yotsu Hanabishi perfectly, telling her that she's quite taken with it. She asks Chizo if she never had a daughter herself, but Chizo says that she doesn't talk of it. Yuko, however, drags the story out of her - that she did have a daughter, one that was never perfect enough for her. Now, her daughter is in the same hell that she very nearly got dragged into when she stepped on the sand. Yuko asks how she killed her daughter, and she says that it was her daughter's own fault. She had brought it on herself. Yuko observes "And so have you," seeing that Chizo has stepped into the forbidden hand. The hand grabs Chizo, and she screams. She begs for Yuko's help. Yuko seems to ignore her at first, but then extends the rod. Chiyo thanks her, calling her "my child." Yuko shoots back that she's not her child, she's a mother. She jabs the rod forward, pushing the woman into the sand until she is pulled under by the clawing hands.
Yuko rises from her grave
As clouds gather overhead, Yuko races for the house. She finds a wall of roots and branches. She claws at them and eventually emerges... a moldering corpse in a graveyard. It is 1941, over twenty years later, and she has risen from her grave, a yurei, a Bakemono. ("Taizo")
Strange happenings[]
Yuko takes the form of a malevolent spirit, causing Hideo Furuya's current wife, Masayo Furuya, to commit suicide in a gruesome manner. At Masayo's funeral, she takes the form of a strong wind which upends her coffin, spilling her body on the ground. She later blinds Hideo, by possessing him and forcing him to look directly into the sun. Later, she takes the form of a wind that blows out the matches lit by Stan Grichuk, who is intending to burn Henry Nakayama's fishing vessel, the Taro. She then uses the same wind to blow Stan into the water, drowning him.
Yuko knitting the skin of her face
In the form of the woman Yuko, she comes to a brothel where Chester's friend Walt Yoshida is having a bachelor party. When Chester does not partake of the services being offered, she appears and serves him tea. She tells him that his heart is burdened, and he explains some of his troubles with his girlfriend, Luz Ojeda. She offers to read his tea leaves, and he accepts. She tells him that the tea leaves say he is two people; that he has light and darkness, life and death, and that he lives in two worlds, but is at home in neither. He is a "sparrow in a swallow's nest." She tells him that a perfect world lies ahead for him, if he looks within himself. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, she is in her room examining her face in the mirror. When she dabs it, some of the skin peels off, revealing decaying flesh underneath. She bends a needle using only her fingers, then uses it to stitch the skin back together. ("A Sparrow in a Swallow’s Nest")
Revenge, the undead midwife[]
Yuko possessing Wilson Yoshida and forcing him to point a gun at American MPs, leading to his death.
After being sent to a prison camp, Hideo was tormented by visions of her. She also appeared before Wilson Yoshida at Hidden Gate Farms. He recognized her and attempted to warn Chester of her, but she possessed him and forced him to knock out an American MP, pick up his gun, and aim it a group of American MPs, all of whom were completely oblivious that Wilson was under Yuko's full control and was unable to stop her actions while in his body. Yuko then forced Wilson to keep approaching despite the soldiers' warnings, leading to Wilson being shot dead shortly thereafter, As he died, Wilson again attempted to warn Chester of Yuko after being freed of her influence. Looking on, Yuko cracked her neck as blood streamed from her face. ("All the Demons Are Still in Hell")
Hideo's bloodied corpse.
She watches in the Colinas de Oro War Relocation Center as Chester and Luz have a conversation together. She later takes control of Hideo, causing him to storm into a mess hall and attempt to strangle his son, Toshiro Furuya. Hideo is sent to a stockade, but a soldier possesed by Yuko releases Furuya and drags him into a forest by the camp and leaves him alone. She then appears in front of him and she asks him if he remembers her and what he said to her. He says he doesn't so she reminds him that he said she was exquisite, he then begs her to spare him and his son. Telling him there's only one person she wants, she seems to kiss him, but bites his tongue off, leaving him to collapse and die on the ground, badly bloodied.
In the morning, a group of children play baseball. When one child hits a ball into the woods, another child goes to retrieve it and sees Yuko. He follows, sees Hideo's body and the blood all over his face, and screams. Chester encounters a couple of guys talking about the incident, how it might be a yurei. One says that the kid saw a woman in a kimono, but the other thinks that he saw nothing, that their own army is killing them. Later, Luz seeks a new doctor after a bad experience with Dr. Kitamura of the camp. She is told by Asako Nakayama of a midwife in the new barracks. She seeks the services of this midwife, who, unbeknownst to her, is Yuko. ("Gaman")
No escape[]
Yuko under disguise as a midwife.
In the hopes of escaping her influence, Chester Nakayama took a job as a translator with the U.S. Army and was sent to Guadalcanal. While stationed there, he many times experienced a strange wind and saw things in the corner of his eye that he thought might be a yurei. He also encountered Sergeant Crittenden, a U.S. army sergeant who had been captured by the Japanese and muttered phrases such as "Kill white devils," and later took a flamethrower and killed a number of U.S. soldiers, later committing suicide in front of Chester. Whether or not, though, Critteden's actions were due to Tanabe's influence was unclear.
Back at the Colinas de Oro camp, however, Tanabe was clearly still at work. She continued to serve as Luz's midwife. Feeling Luz's belly, she told her that her baby was happy and gave her a rattle as a gift. Later, when Luz expressed that Chester's father Henry hated her no matter what she did, she told her that Henry felt forgotten, leading Luz to make a gesture of peace by naming the child after him. Rather, one of the children, as Tanabe also informed her that she was pregnant with twins.
Yuko Tanabe wearing a mask
Later, when Luz's water broke and it was time for her to deliver, Tanabe took possession of Dr. Kitamura's nurse, Nurse Hasegawa in order to oversee the delivery. Kitamaura, however, delivered the babies stillborn, making no real effort. Later, during the Japanese commemoration of the dead, Obon, Tanabe donned the mask of a girl to walk through the crowd and pay a visit to Dr. Kitamura. She took possession of him, calling him a murderer, and forced him to cut himself open with one of his own medical instruments as if he was giving himself a C-section, killing him. As she did so, she took off the mask, revealing her true face - a grisly visage of dead flesh. ("The Weak Are Meat")
"It's time go now... Taizo."
She took possession of Sergeant Terajima at the Military Embarkation Center in Long Beach, California, who was preparing to ship out to Guadalcanal along with other fledgling translators in the Japanese Linguist Program. She made him carry a bag which appeared to be bloodied at the bottom. Once in Guadalcanal, she examined the contents of the bag - a bloodied corpse. A bit later, she left Terajima and took possession of Arthur Ogawa, who had been working together with Chester Nakayama. She made Arthur slap Chester to the ground. She then at gunpoint led Chester to a vehicle and told him to drive. When he asked where, she replied "back home." Chester took off, but did not get far, as his unit commander Colonel Stallings ordered his men to stop him. They shot out one of his tires, causing him to wreck the vehicle. From inside, a single finger unzipped the bag with the corpse. It rose from the bag and came to life, carrying the same face seen by Dr. Kitamura. It stumbled towards Chester, bones creaking. As Chester groaned in fear, it touched him, telling him "It's time to go now... Taizo." ("Shatter Like a Pearl")
Into the fire[]
Chester Nakayama was sent back to the Colinas de Oro War Relocation Center following a medical discharge. He was confronted by Fumi Yoshida, who told him that a spirit follows him, responsible for the death of his sons and her husband. Though Asako scolded her, Chester told her that she was right, that a spirit does follow him. He demanded to know just what Fumi was talking about and as Asako hugged him, her bones creaked as Yuko took control of her body. She said "My sweet baby, how I've missed you." She told him that "our line" must continue and he realized that she was possessed by the yurei. He demanded for her to let his mother go, and she commented "You call her mother?" She demanded that he face her, starting to choke him. As a crowd gathered, she left Asako's body.
Yuko faces the flames
Asako and Henry were forced to reveal the truth of Chester's parentage - that his birth mother was actually Yuko Tanabe. She was still in Japan when she learned of her sister's suicide. She would never let her sister's child be an orphan, so she made the crossing to adopt him. Outside, Yuko walked and hummed, holding a baby. She stood before an empty brave and fell inside, ending up in the remains of the "paradise" she found herself in after she died. Chester found her lying in there and brought her to his family. He told Yamato-san that he needed to help them, as he knew of the old traditions. He said that he only knew pieces of the old kaidan, but would do what he could to help. He sensed that Yuko's spirit was somewhere else and a spirit needed a body to occupy. As such, they would destroy the body and therefore the soul could not exist. Asako was aghast at the idea at first, but agreed it must be done. They burned the body, using fireworks from an Independence Day celebration as cover for their activities. In the "paradise," Yuko's form appeared to burn from the inside. She raced for the door, only to be met by a wall of fire. She plunged through. The structure where Yuko's body was left was nothing but ashes, yet Yuko could still be heard humming faintly inside. "Taizo..." she whispered. ("Taizo")
Resurgence[]
Yuko examines her new body in a mirror
Yuko found and possessed a doctor, who created a new body for her before being forced to inject himself with something. Though the stitching was evident, she was nevertheless able to function again. She put on lipstick and set back to work.
She stalked the Colinas de Oro camp late at night. She went into Chester's barracks and discovered that he was gone, having been sent to Tule Lake for attempting to escape. In his possessions, she discovered a letter addressed to "Luz Ojeda, 4393 St. George Street, Los Angeles, CA." Exiting the barracks, she was confronted by Major Bowen, the camp's chief. He asked her what she was doing in a men's barracks, but she ignored him and kept walking. He told her that he would show her who ran the place. When he grabbed her, however, she possessed him, causing his bones to crack and forcing him to stumble and grunt before leaving him passed out.
Using the information she found, she paid a visit to the Ojeda family home and discovered her father, Bart. He asked her what she was doing there, but when she replied only in Japanese, he demanded that she leave. Instead of leaving, she possessed him and rifled through his possessions, discovering a map, which she used to draw a route from his place in Pasadena, CA to Aguayo, New Mexico, where Luz had gone to stay with Chester. She then forced Bart to commit suicide by jabbing his eye through a pen step atop his desk. ("My Perfect World")
Reclaming a son[]
"Soon we will all be together."
Yuko eventually tracked Chester to Aguayo, where he was performing an ancient Mexican ritual. Having learned of the cuanderismo magic from Luz's abuela, Rocio Trujillo, he decided to use to try to find his long lost brother, Jirou. If his brother was alive, then he would not be able to meet him and the magic would simply have no effect. If, however, his brother was dead, then he would meet a past version of his brother from the time that the photo being used to channel the magic was taken.
The magic was successful and Chester met his brother as a schoolboy. Yuko, however, hijacked the process by taking possession of Chester and then appearing before Jirou in the vision. She introduced herself as his mother, then dragged him down into the "perfect world" that she had stolen from Chiyo. After Jirou woke up in the perfect world, Yuko served him tea, promising him that he, she and Taizo (Chester) would all be together soon. ("My Sweet Boy")
A new target[]
She learned that Luz was again pregnant and would soon be having another child; Henry Nakayama II. Upon learning this, she adopted a watch and wait approach, determined to strike when it came time for Luz to give birth. Meanwhile, Chester, Luz and Luz's family began making preparations to keep her away as the time of the deliver grew closer. Chester managed to track down his adoptive parents, who had been released from the Colinas de Oro War Relocation Center and give them a phone call. He asked them to come to help them. Asako was happy to do so, while Henry reluctantly agreed.
The group barricaded the home of Luz's abuela Rocio and also got help from Father Ysidro, the priest who married Chester and Luz. He prayed over her and they developed a password system - nobody could get in without singing a line of "Los Pollitos," a classic Spanish nursery rhyme. The system at first seemed to work, but then Yuko managed to learn the password, possess Father Ysidro, and sneak her way in. Placing her hand on Luz's belly while in Father Ysidro's body, the group realizes something odd is happening when as the group are singing the opening of the song in unison. Father Ysidro is just singing the response line, repeatedly, a sign he is under Yuko's influence. They pull him away and he shouts in Japanese that the baby is his, meaning Yuko's. Chester is advised to take care of Luz. They shut the doors to the room as Father Ysidro is expelled, shouting "Taizo!". Chester, Henry, Asako, Luz and Rocio take off in the Packard, Luz crying out in pain. Asako advises Chester to hurry. Yuko left Father Ysidro's body shortly thereafter and began to follow the group.
Luz, possessed by Yuko and carrying her and Chester's child
They fled to a bunker in New Mexico, where Chester thought they would be safe and Luz had her baby. Yuko, however, managed to follow them there too. She took possession of the baby itself upon its birth, confusing Luz, who wondered why he didn't cry. Once everyone realized what had happened, she took possession of Rocio instead and rushed off with the child. Asako called after her, begging her as her sister to stop. She then revealed a terrible truth to her: that she was never supposed to marry Hideo Furuya at all. She had in fact been promised to Henry Nakayama. Asako, learning of Hideo's dishonorable nature, made arrangements with Fumi Yoshida so that she would marry Henry instead. Upon learning of this, Yuko, in Rocio's body, choked and beat Asako, leaving her badly bloodied. She then took possession of Luz and ran off with the baby, and began humming to it while walking on a road at night. ("Come and Get Me")
Finding peace[]
Yuko, in Luz's body, walked along a lonely New Mexico road at night, humming to the baby. As she did, she was approached by a car with a family - a man, a woman and their daughter, Esperanza. They asked if they could take her anywhere and she stiltedly asked them to take her to Aguayo. Once there, she killed the two parents and possessed Esperanza to take her to the shack where she had been hiding out, and where she kept her body.
She returned to her own body and began making preparations for a funeral. She dressed up in a kimono, telling the baby that a mother must look perfect for her burial. She told the baby that the moon was full, just like the day they parted, referring to Chester when he was a baby. As the family closed in her, she prepared a grave in the woods. She told the baby that a true funeral was a marvelous thing, but there was nobody to conduct it for them. She gave the baby a "precept name" - Shaku Tai Chou, such that he would never be called back into the world.
Chester arrived, telling her that he had come for his son. She told him that he was not his to have, that she had made a home for him in the afterlife. Chester replied that she didn't really want the baby, she wanted him. He told her that he can reunite her with the baby Taizo that she once held so long ago using the same magic that gave her Jirou. His father had a photo of him as a baby. She replied that he had no father - that his father died before he was even born.
Henry told Yuko that he was indeed Chester's father. He showed her the photo, saying that he would not allow his son to pay for his sins and shredded it. Chester implored Henry to get another photo, but he instead took his gun and shot Yuko. He then gave Chester a protective sutra to hold, telling him to not let go. He began painting her face with Japanese symbols, his own arm also protected by a sutra. Chester noted that they tried that at camp and it didn't work, but Henry countered that it didn't work because they had burned it away. He told Chester to run away with the baby, but Yuko fought back, ripping the flesh off her very face to tear away the symbol and ripping the sutra off Henry's arm.
Chester ran, but Yuko took possession of Henry. She forced him to pick up his gun and shoot Chester in the leg, then shoot himself in the gut. As he died, he grabbed the sutra bag and spread them around the area. Yuko then took the baby and fell back into the grave holding him. Asako and Luz arrived, Asako shocked to find Henry's corpse. Yuko rose from the grave, saying how dare the defile it with the sutras. Asako shouted at Yuko to kill her instead, but Yuko told her to suffer forever, as she had. Asako stabbed Yuko repeatedly with a knife, saying that it would never stop until she was destroyed, but Chester told her that they couldn't destroy her. She would never rest and would always find a way. Luz, however, thought that maybe there was a way. She showed Chester a photo of Yuko herself, back when she was still pregnant with him and Jirou.
Yuko in her perfect moment
Chester told Yuko that if she took his son, there would be no future generations to honor her memory. He explained that what she truly longed for was a time before all of this happened, a perfect moment when he and Jirou where there inside of her, still. When she asked him to picture a perfect moment, this was the one she imagined. He told her that they would both go back to that moment, together. Luz performed the ritual and they both went back to that time, where there was them, and a Yuko from the past. Chester told her that she sacrificed herself for them, and now she should let them live. She asked him if it was possible to stay and he told her that perhaps only she could. She stepped forward and the two Yukos became one. She smiled at him, stepped away, perfectly content among the cherry blossoms of the woods, forever at peace. Back in the physical world, Chester could be heard telling her "I will leave you now, then." ("Into the Afterlife")
Known victims[]
The following are the known victims of Yuko Tanabe, who were either injured or killed either by her, or by someone possessed by her. † indicates that the victim is known to have died as a direct result of her actions.
| Victim | Cause/Notes | Image |
|---|---|---|
| Chiyo† | Dragged down into the underworld after Yuko lures her to forbidden sands | 
|
| Masayo Furuya† | Forced to poke herself in the ear with a hairstick | 
|
| Hideo Furuya† | Possessed and forced to blind himself by looking directly into the sun, later mauled by Yuko herself |
|
| Stan Grichuk† | Blown into harbor water and drowned | 
|
| Wilson Yoshida† | Possessed after discovering Yuko nearby and alerting Chester. After taking control of Wilson's body, Yuko forced him to point a gun at American soldiers, who killed him |
|
| Toshiro Furuya | Nearly strangled to death by his own father, Hideo, after he was possessed by Yuko | 
|
| MP Nessler† | Possessed and forced to jump from a watchtower and commit suicide after accidentally discovering Yuko in a barrack | 
|
| Dr. Kitamura† | Forced to commit suicide by cutting himself as if giving himself a C-section | 
|
| Sergeant Terajima | Possessed and forced to transport a bag containing Yuko's corpse to Guadalcanal, final fate unknown | 
|
| Arthur Ogawa | Possessed to force Chester Nakayama to drive away from the army camp to try to escape his service there, crashed and badly injured, fate ambiguous as to whether he survived or not | 
|
| Chester "Taizo" Nakayama | Injured in the same car crash as Arthur, but survived. Later choked briefly by his adoptive mother Asako Nakayama when Yuko possessed her | 
|
| Major Bowen | Possessed and forced to act strangely and then knock himself out. Later killed by Amy Yoshida to avenge the death of Ken Uehara | 
|
| Bart Ojeda† | Possessed to give Yuko information on Luz and Chester's whereabouts. He was then forced to commit suicide by pressing his eye down hard on a pen set atop a table | 
|
| Doña Maria† | Possessed following the wedding of Chester Nakayama and Luz Ojeda, later forced to commit suicide and discovered dead in her bed by Chester | 
|
| Jirou Tanabe† | Dragged down into the "perfect world" she stole from Chiyo during a cuaranderismo held by Chester | 
|
| Father Ysidro | Possessed to steal Luz and Chester's child, attacked and injured in the process | 
|
| Asako Nakayama | Choked, beaten and badly bloodied by Yuko possessing Rocio Trujillo after revealing that she was originally promised to Hideo Furuya and Yuko was promised to Henry Nakayama | 
|
| Esperanza | Possessed by Yuko to lead her back to her body, and orphaned by Yuko killing her parents | 
|
| Esperanza's Mother and Father† | Killed and left reclining in their car, exact cause of death unknown | 
|
| Henry Nakayama† | Possessed and forced to shoot himself in the gut, bleeding out slowly until he died | 
|
Motivations[]
Although Yuko Tanabe's motivations are not always clear at first, they become more obvious as the series progresses. She forces Masayo Furuya to kill herself most likely because she provided a herbal mixture which would have resulted in the abortion of Chester and Luz's children, i.e., her grandchildren. She kills Hideo Furuya for having rejected her for being pregnant, and forces him to choke his son as well. She forces Wilson Yoshida to kill himself, likely for his assocation with Fumi, who was instrumental in arranging her marriage to Hideo. She forces Dr. Kitamura to kill himself for his negligent treatment of Luz Ojeda, resulting in the stillbirth of her children.
Behind the scenes[]
- The official character description of Tanabe from AMC states that there "not much to say about Yuko Tanabe, not much that we know at least." The details of the character were kept officially a mystery prior to the season's debut, and are slowly revealed throughout the season.[4]
- It has been stated by show star Derek Mio that "the monster in our season has her own story, back-story and motivations." Given this and the mysterious nature of the Tanabe character, it is possible that she may be the "monster" of the season.[5] This is noted by Tim Surette of TV Guide, who states that the Tanabe character is an obake (Japanese ghost) who possesses bone-cracking jerky tics which are "the subtle calling card of Japanese horror."[6]
- For the creation of this character and the season's other horror elements, the show's writing team did extensive research on kwaidan, or Japanese ghost stories.[7]
- Whereas the Tuunbaq of the first season was largely kept a shadowy figure, the Tanabe character has a much larger presence in The Terror: Infamy.[8]
- The show's crew laid out certain rules that Tanabe follows as a yurei when it comes to possession. It is not a remote control possession - her spirit literally enters someone else. This is represented by a visual shudder. Some, however, may try to fight, resulting in the creaky, stilted movements seen in the series.[9]
- In an interview with Pop Culture TV, Tanabe's actress, Kiki Sukezane, stated that her character moved to L.A. from Japan when she was 19 and had a tough time in both Japan and L.A., as a picture bride. Having had a hard life, she is now back to haunt people. She describes her character as being like "karma," that everyone Tanabe affects is experiencing karma, but Tanabe does as well. She further stated that "her character embodies the theme of not wanting to 'forget about your past or ignore your past.'"[10]
- For the scene in "Shatter Like a Pearl" in which Tanabe emerges from a bag, a contortionist doubled for actress Kiki Sukezane.[11]
Production sketches of Yuko Tanabe
- In a behind the scenes video for the series, "Yuko's Hell in Life and Death," series star and consultant George Takei stated the tragedy at the core of The Terror: Infamy starts at the beginning with a cruelty done to a person. The yurei returns and tries to get at whoever made their own life a horror story, seeing one person after another as the enemy. Yuko actress Kiki Sukezane stated that the scene in which Yuko sank into the sand was not too difficult, but it was fun. Yuko's look as she rose as a corpse was created by Bill Terezakis, who did the show's special makeup effects. Sukezane described the special makeup as the hardest aspect of the show, as it took 3 1/2 hours before shooting.
- Another such video, "Yuko's Journey & Frightening Transformation," recaps Yuko's story from the beginning of the series until the end.
- Showrunner Alexander Woo described the story of Yuko Tanabe as having had a real American solution in a blending of two traditions. He stated that in the writers room the show staff recognized a real opportunity to tell a ghost story in a way that couldn't be told in a film, one that had an opportunity to get to the humanity of the character and give her a happy ending.[12]
Videos[]
External links[]
- AMC - The Terror: Infamy Q&A — Kiki Sukezane (Yuko Tanabe)
- IndieWire - 'The Terror: Infamy' Costume Designer Reveals the Secrets Hidden in the Ghost's Kimonos
Notes and references[]
- ↑ Newsday - 'The Terror: Infamy' review
- ↑ Boston Globe - 'The Terror: Infamy' conjures...
- ↑ Meet the Characters
- ↑ AMC - Yuko Tanabe
- ↑ Rotten Tomatoes - Harley Quinn... and More
- ↑ - TV Guide - The Real Horror...
- ↑ NBC News - AMC's 'The Terror: Infamy' brings the horror...
- ↑ The Ringer - The Supernatural Isn't...
- ↑ Indiewire - ‘The Terror: Infamy’ Ghost Reveals Her Terrifying True Face...
- ↑ Pop Culture - 'The Terror: Infamy' Star Kiki Sukezane Talks...
- ↑ *Syfy wire - Infamy EP and Derek Mio Unpack the Shocking Ending of 'Shatter Like a Pearl'
- ↑ The Wrap - ‘The Terror: Infamy’ Showrunner Breaks Down Yuko’s Ending and Explains What Happened to Chester’s Brother