- Seiko Osabe
Just a few quick notes on my methodology, before I dabble into the psychological analysis. First, the reason why I left Seiko for last. Both Seiichi and Fukiishi’s profiles have a higher degree of objectivity, considering both characters are quite genuine in their feelings. They don’t lie to the audience, which makes the research and subsequent analysis easier to make. Seiko spends the entirety of the manga manipulating everyone around her, which makes it more difficult to set apart truth from lies. And I understand that that is the entire point of the character, that she’s this riddle wrapped in an enigma, but at some point, the reader has to choose what to believe in, because the manga is skimpy on the details of her backstory. Regarding the present, we can separate truth from lies, because we’re witnessing everything, but the same is not valid when it comes to the past. If I don’t believe the story she tells us regarding her childhood, it’s impossible to make a psychological analysis of any kind. To make sense of it, there’s no choice but to believe some of the things she says. To wit: she’s lying when it comes to her nephew (he didn’t fall on his own), her son (he doesn’t want to blame her for it), and Fukiishi (being a manipulative seducer). She’s telling the truth when it comes to her in-laws (they mock her for being overprotective), her husband (for being unsupportive and absent), and her parents (for neglecting her all her life). There is, however, a caveat: she doesn’t disclose the reason why her parents were neglectful. I’ll call that a lie by omission. In chapter 131, an elderly Seiko begins a very long recollection through her childhood years, during which she talks about how her mother called her “useless” and neglected her, giving preference to her sickly, younger sister, Etsuko. I know I could be wrong; she could just as easily be lying about her childhood! But this will be the basis of my analysis. Another point in my methodology is asserting whether or not Seiko suffers from a mental illness. Neither the author nor the manga have explicitly said that she suffers from any mental disturbance, but it has been a point of contention for the readers from the very beginning. This is the toughest one, for sure. In this case, I will analyze the most common hypotheses that could fit her situation, and I’ll give my answer at the conclusion of this essay. If you have read Seiichi’s psychological analysis, you might think that this is a pointless exercise, given that, while I was writing about him, I preemptively gave an opinion on Seiko’s condition. But, of course, I’m here to explore other options. She may have a condition that has the same symptoms but carries a different name. Seiko’s labyrinthine mind doesn’t allow for any easy answers. Now, let’s begin the analysis.
While I was reading the manga for the first time, I considered the hypothesis that Seiko suffered from postpartum depression. Although pretty much unaware of the symptoms of such a condition at the time, there was a certain depressive melancholy I felt coming from her that made me consider that idea. Maybe, I thought to myself, she just had a bad case of the “baby blues” that evolved into something more serious. Of course, my hypothesis was predicated on the idea that mental illness was the major theme of this manga... Seiko’s character could reflect a realistic depiction of someone grappling with mental health issues after childbirth, although the manga does not explicitly label it as such. This ambiguity leaves room for that interpretation.
The condition commonly referred to as “baby blues” is characterized by mood changes and feelings of worry and exhaustion that some women experience in the first two weeks after giving birth. What’s not normal is for those feelings to last more than two weeks, and be accompanied by a general inability to bond with her newborn baby. For some women, the distress begins during the pregnancy. If the negative feelings persist long after the woman has given birth, she could be suffering from postpartum depression. Untreated, it’s a dangerous condition. It directly interferes with the new mother’s ability to care for the child, as well as herself, leaving her vulnerable to self-harm or harming her baby.
“Women are at greater risk for developing perinatal depression if they have a personal or family history of depression or bipolar disorder or if they have experienced perinatal depression with a previous pregnancy.” Seiko exhibits irritability, mood swings and crying spells throughout the manga, but it’s never stated or implied that his behavior was triggered by the birth of her son. Moreover, during the flashback, Seiko never exhibits feelings of distress, or deep mood swings connected with the pregnancy, other than philosophical wondering if a person like her should ever become a mother. Her doubts suggest a preexisting internal conflict rather than one triggered by hormonal shifts.
One of the most noticeable symptoms of the “baby blues” is the mother’s difficulty in bonding with her baby. Seiko does admit that her newborn son does not at all alleviate her loneliness. However, the intensity with which she eventually bonds with him is the source of the mockery by her husband’s relatives.
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| Chapter 134 |
One of the most noticeable symptoms of the “baby blues” is the mother’s difficulty in bonding with her baby. Seiko does admit that her newborn son does not at all alleviate her loneliness. However, the intensity with which she eventually bonds with him is the source of the mockery by her husband’s relatives.
Much less common than the “baby blues” or postpartum depression is postpartum psychosis; “a severe mental illness. It starts suddenly in the days, or weeks, after having a baby. Symptoms vary, and can change rapidly. They can include high mood (mania), depression, confusion, hallucinations and delusions.” One of the most serious symptoms manifests in the mother’s thoughts of suicide and murder of their baby, since delusions and hallucinations tend to make new mothers act on these impulses and harm themselves and their children.
The real enigma with Seiko is the fact that she never really followed through with either suicide or homicide. We witness one homicide attempt in chapter 24, and Seiichi himself recounts an attempt on his life when he was 3 years-old, in chapter 77. In spite of all of this, Seiko somehow managed to raise her son, all on her own, without any external support system, and Seiichi appears to be a completely healthy boy (physically speaking). There’s no sign of malnourishment (although, I do often question the nutritious value of pork buns) but he seems fine in that regard, and he’s a straight A student (physical education doesn’t count!) which means he was never shaken as a baby. And that is truly astonishing!
Her bond with Seiichi was defined by an unstable push-and-pull dynamic, fluctuating between extreme care and moments of dangerous neglect, showing that someone can be both a threat and a caretaker, embodying the struggle between destructive impulses and protective instincts. Was it a genuine, albeit deeply flawed, attempt at motherhood? Or was it a twisted form of control, keeping Seiichi alive to serve her own needs? Either way, the questions abound: why did she raise her son until he was three, why did she try to kill him, and why didn’t she kill him after the first attempt?
As I have made the argument in Seiichi’s psychological analysis; i.e., what started as a single traumatic event snowballed into something much worse, the same hypothesis can be applied to Seiko. So what was that inciting event? Was it the neglect she experienced throughout her childhood? Was it the pregnancy? Or was it the strain that motherhood put on her already fragile psyche that proved to be the final straw that broke the camel’s back? Maybe the existential dread she accumulated during her childhood years bubbled to the surface when she became pregnant, leading to her behavior after Seiichi was born.
Regardless of the manga’s later events, Seiko raised Seiichi all by herself, never counting on her husband’s help during any sleepless nights nursing a sick infant. Even though we cannot confirm in any empirical way that Seiko suffered from postpartum depression, the fact is that on that fateful afternoon, she decided to put an end to it all. Oftentimes, filicide is accompanied by one or the other. Even when it’s not a key connected to postpartum psychosis, filicide tends to have similar motives, like an unwanted pregnancy or revenge against the spouse. Mothers tend to kill unwanted children or – in a strangely altruistic way – to spare them a worse fate at the hands of abusive fathers (in cases of domestic violence). Moreover, and apart from psychiatric symptoms, the most common reasons for filicide-suicide are poor social support, and an abnormal relationship with the child. Seiko admits feeling all alone in chapter 20, she admits it again in chapter 131, and her bond with Seiichi is far from normal. However, the manga doesn’t provide enough clues to conclude that her loneliness and her bond with her son are the result of postpartum psychosis. The clues go in a different direction that leads to different possible analyses.
Before we get to that, it’s important to mention that Seiko was declared mentally competent to stand trial in her psychiatric evaluation (in legal terms, this means she understood the nature of the charges against her and could assist in her own defense). If we take this information into account, we conclude that whatever is wrong with her cannot be deemed a mental illness. Although, Japan has a track record of being both lenient to offenders with mental illness, and minimizing the psychiatric conditions, to issue death sentences for offenders with mental illness. In the end, however, whether or not she is mentally ill is irrelevant to the trial that pertains to Shigeru’s death, since Seiko was only let go due to the Police’s inability to prosecute her. Did the psychiatrists at the police station ignore a mental illness? Did Seiko manage to simply lie her way out of it?
Another question that needs an answer upfront: is a personality disorder considered a mental illness? This is a very controversial question, since mental health professionals can hardly agree on what constitutes mental illness. Why is this important? Well, I’ve heard a lot of people saying that they feel sorry for Seiko because, despite all the horrible things she does, she can’t be held accountable for her actions because she’s mentally ill, and I’ll admit I’ve fallen in that same intellectual trap.
If the only way the readers can justify the abhorrent things she does is by assuming she suffers from a mental illness that robs her of good judgment or control over her actions, we’re trying to justify the unjustifiable and, in a way, giving her a pass just like Seiichi is doing. However, Seiichi has a great reason to be lenient to his mother’s behavior, considering the emotional ties he has with her. She hurts him, but also takes care of him, which makes him rationalize her image as flawless, but also why her face is always half in the dark. There’s this interesting Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde motif going on with her image, since Seiichi can’t understand her behavior, but he keeps loving her and looking after her best interests. We don’t have such an emotional excuse. The only reason we think she has to be mentally ill is because we don’t want to consider the alternative… That she’s evil. If she is not mentally ill, if she has control over her thought process and decision making, that means she simply could’ve made different choices in life. Less destructive choices. Instead, she chose, time and again, the worst possible outcome to every problem she came across in her life, spreading pain and suffering around her.
One could argue that if there was a personality malformation due to parental neglect during her childhood, then she can’t really be held responsible for her actions. If her worldview is twisted, that’s not her fault. That’s a good angle, and exactly why many mental health professionals consider personality disorders to be a kind of mental illness. For this essay, I’m going to assume that Seiko is not mentally ill. I’m going to assume that a mental illness is a range of conditions that could be solved with medication and/or therapy. A personality disorder is a deformation of a person’s fundamental character due to familial and social environment. According to Sam Vaknin, in his book Personality Disorders Revisited: “Personality disorders start their pernicious work during early adolescence. They involve a clear sensorium (processed input from sense organs), good temporal and spatial orientation, and normal intellectual functioning (memory, fund of general knowledge, ability to read and calculate, etc.).”
The world of personality disorders is deep and labyrinthic. To add complexity, many personality disorders have comorbidities (people with obsessive compulsive disorder might also suffer from paranoid delusions). Also, a personality disorder is not ‘one size fits all’: not every person exhibits the full list of symptoms, and every person exhibits symptoms in a unique way, making it even more difficult to diagnose. So now, I’ll be dabbling in the impossible exercise of going through the different clusters of personality disorders, symptom by symptom, and try to arrive at a reasonable conclusion.
Personality disorders come in 3 clusters (A, B and C). Cluster A is characterized by odd, eccentric thinking or behavior. It includes paranoid, schizoid and schizotypal personality disorders.
People that have Paranoid Personality Disorder (PPD) harbor “a pervasive distrust and suspicion of others such that their motives are interpreted as malevolent”. We see this very early on in her relationship with her in-laws; Seiko can’t stand her husband’s side of the family. That hardly makes her unique. What sets her apart is her response to them. Her friendly demeanor masks her utter contempt for them, and a simple comment from her sister-in-law calling her “overprotective” is enough to put her on the edge. Her nephew’s impertinence pushes her over the edge to the point where she tries to kill him as punishment. Why does she hate her husband and his side of the family so much? The flashback from Chapter 131 might provide some answers. Previously, in Chapter 106, Seiko once again said she wanted to have a baby so she could give him all the love she had never got as a child. She accepted Ichiro’s proposal simply because he asked. Even though the wedding happened without struggle, it didn’t appear to have ever been a happy union. Seiko seems to resent marriage and her in-laws in the same way. We just don’t know if that suspicion and resentment is rooted in past events, or if it’s just paranoia on her part. People with PPD read benign remarks or events as demeaning. In chapter 4, her sister-in-law calls her “overprotective”. We learn later that this particular remark really grinds her gears when she complains about it in chapter 39. Anyone else would probably just shrug it off. Seiko can’t let go of the grudge she feels towards her sister-in-law’s remarks and attitude towards her. From what we can see, the “overprotective” remark and subsequent laughter could be nothing more than gentle teasing amongst family members. It happens in every family. However, we later learned that her sister-in-law feels very strongly that Seiko’s parenting style is harmful to Seiichi’s development. Even if her remarks are not openly hostile, that’s how Seiko perceives them. I doubt that this perception is out of paranoia. A symptom of PPD that she does exhibit is bearing grudges (such as being unforgiving of insults, injuries, or slights). Throughout the manga, there’s not a single slight that Seiko forgives or forgets: she doesn’t forgive her in-laws for the constant taunting and disrespect; she doesn’t forgive her husband for abandoning her in the household, and never supporting her against her in-laws, nor does she forgive her son for wanting a life for himself. The grudges against the people in her life that did her wrong run deep, and she very clearly expresses her discontent in chapter 67. Rather than trying to correct the parts of her life she feels are wrong, or forging an entire new life for herself, she just stews in her resentment until it boils over. Even so, I don’t feel that she possesses enough traits to fit a diagnosis of Paranoid Personality Disorder.
Schizoid Personality Disorder “is a pattern of indifference to social relationships, with a limited range of emotional expression and experience.” As remover as this one seems to be, certain characteristics of this personality disorder do remind me of Seiko: the aloofness, the lack of interest in any activity and lack of motivation in life goals. Even though she’s clearly dissatisfied with her life, she doesn’t do anything to change her current status to a better one. Her day-to-day life is so bland and devoid of any emotional attachment that I could be convinced that she’s a good candidate for Schizoid Personality Disorder… if only she didn’t exhibit many more characteristics that don’t fit this particular disorder…
Schizotypal Personality Disorder is characterized by eccentric behavior and few, if any, close relationships. They often misinterpret others’ motivations and behaviors and develop a deep distrust of the actions of the people around them. Of all the symptoms that characterize this disorder, I believe Seiko displays odd speech – when she tends to ramble incoherently, like it happened in chapter 7 – she has no relationships outside of her family, and her familial relationships are very shallow, she lacks proper emotional responses, and she’s deeply suspicious of everyone around her: her husband, her sister-in-law, her son and Fukiishi. However, her suspicions are not without a certain logic: her husband all but ignores her (even when she tries to confide in him); her in-laws mock and belittle her; she’s terrified that her son will abandon her, and she’s certain that Fukiishi is to blame for leading her son astray. She doesn’t have bizarre beliefs like wild conspiracy theories or alien abductions that most people with Schizotypal Personality Disorder suffer from.
The personality disorders from Cluster B affect people’s behavior – they tend to act dramatically, erratically, and have intensely emotional responses to things. They may seem like they need much more or much less attention than other people. Cluster B will bring us into very murky territory because many symptoms fit Seiko’s behavior, to the point that things may get quite confusing, but I’ll try my best to explain my positions.
In cluster B we have Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD), which “describes an ingrained pattern of behavior in which individuals consistently disregard and violate the rights of others around them”, according to Psychology Today. As with all personality disorders, it can only be diagnosed in adults, although it is rooted in behaviors from adolescence and even childhood. In chapter 48, Seiichi tries to appeal to his mother’s hatred of the family to get back into the house, but we learn later in chapter 64 that she hates everybody – not just her husband’s side of the family. In chapter 131, we learned what was going through her mind when she started going up that hill overlooking the city. The generalized hatred might be rooted in envy; since she feels like she doesn’t have a loving family, she yearns to destroy a city full of happy families. That could raise some red flags regarding antisocial behavior, but we have no evidence that she tried to harm the community in any way. In fact – other than the two attempted murders – we never see Seiko operating outside the law, or engaging in criminal acts or physical violence. The attempt on the life of her nephew and her son were impulsive acts which is one of the criteria for ASPD. Throwing her son out of the house, as well as wandering around in the rain at night looking for him are also impulsive acts, the later on equally showing a complete disregard for her own safety. Lying is another criterion for diagnosing ASPD. The biggest lie we witness is the one she tells the family about Shigeru’s fall; the way she insists, even to the only witness of her crime, that Shigeru fell off the cliff on his own. She seasons her lie with crocodile tears to make herself an innocent victim who was unable to save her nephew and prevent a tragedy – something the family comes to believe, including Seiichi. The neglect of her only son could fall into irresponsibility, the lack of remorse typical of ASPD, although I believe her lack of empathy towards her son is rooted in other factors, of which I will go into later. Her lack of social interactions and close friendships leave her feeling isolated and lonely; a feeling she can only try to mitigate by keeping her son by her side. The arguments against Seiko suffering from this disorder is that she rarely engages in antagonistic behavior with most people. In fact, superficially, she seems a very agreeable person – even to her son, whom she's actively abusing. Threats of violence or physical aggression are rarely seen. At most, we see her yelling at her husband, and pushing him away, trying to alienate him from Seiichi. A final thought on ASPD: this personality disorder is referred to colloquially by the terms sociopathy and psychopathy. It is rather curious that the name Seiko is just one syllable away from psycho but I don’t think she is a psychopath. From a psychiatric standpoint, sociopathy is more rooted in childhood trauma and social and environmental traumas that make an individual react aggressively towards the world, while psychopathy is more rooted in neurological change in the brain and has a higher degree of self-confidence, a sense of fearlessness in actions, an almost complete absence of emotional range, predatory violence as a way to fix a pervasive sense of boredom, constant thrill-seeking behavior at the expense of others, and a complete absence of a conscience. The lack of emotional range (she doesn’t show any disgust of the dead cat) leads her to engage in affective mimicry (showing the emotion that she thinks she should feel, without actually feeling it). It’s part of what creates a sense of uncomfortableness when we read the manga; we often feel like Seiko is looking through us instead of at us, and most of her emotions with the people around her, namely Fukiishi in chapter 14, are completely fake, and the little girl can tell immediately.
A moment in which this characteristic becomes very apparent is in chapter 33 where she asks Seiichi if he's really that upset that she strangled him, claiming she cannot know these things if he doesn’t tell her. It would seem logical to anyone else, but apparently, for someone with diminished emotional capacity, it's impossible to discern without verbal confirmation.
The other symptom she seems to lack is sadism. The lies she tells her husband’s family are to save herself from prison, and the reason she abuses Seiichi is not because she’s bored: In other words, this isn’t thrill-seeking behavior, and getting a kick of controlling another human being; rather, she manipulates him to keep him from leaving her side, because she’s terrified of being abandoned. Her behavior is mostly reactive rather than the cold and detached way a psychopath would behave towards others. There are other characteristics of psychopathy that Seiko doesn’t show: a grandiose sense of self-worth; a need for constant stimulation/proneness to boredom; promiscuous sexual behavior; early behavioral problems; lack of realistic, long-term goals; many short-term marital relationships; juvenile delinquency, and criminal versatility (i.e., commits diverse types of crimes). For all of her character flaws, we don’t know of any juvenile delinquency, she got married with Ichiro and stayed in the marriage for 13 years, not having any extra-marital affairs, taking care of her only son. As for long-term goals, in chapter 105 she claims for the second time that the only reason she got pregnant was due to her desire to give the baby “all the love she never had as a child herself”.
Borderline Personality Disorder was my first guess for a diagnosis regarding Seiko but, as I stated above, this is simply an educated guess. I still feel that there are many symptoms of this disorder that fit Seiko’s behavior. That sense of identity instability is perfectly shown in the fact that Seiko’s entire identity hinges on motherhood. Aside from taking care of her son, she doesn't have a personality (no value system, no clear emotional patterns, or interests like books, movies, music, or hobbies). She’s also plagued by a lingering dysphoria that manifests as a sense of loneliness, uselessness and a dull desire to destroy the world around her. Seiko seems to exhibit what is called in psychology ‘emotional lability’ – an exaggerated shift in mood caused by disproportionate emotional responses to triggers in quick succession – and I’ve heard people claim that this is a clue that Seiko has bipolar disorder. A frequently cited example is in chapter 16 when she yells at Ichiro one moment but, right after he leaves, she stretches and walks out of the room humming. What differentiates Borderline Personality Disorder from Bipolar Disorder is the rapid shift in mood. Bipolar Disorder is characterized by having periods of mania followed by periods of depression, and this cycle is repeated over weeks or months apart. BPD’s mood shifts, on the other hand, are considerably faster, changing in the matter of minutes or hours, creating a complete disorienting experience for both the sufferer and those around them. So, I disagree about a Bipolar diagnosis. I think that scene is a better example of Borderline Personality Disorder. An even better example happens between chapters 43 and 48, when Seiko gets her son back into the house, after he spent the night at Fukiishi’s place. During these chapters, she draws him a warm bath, provides him with a sumptuous banquet, and then promptly gaslights him into believing that Shigeru fell off the cliff on his own, grills him about the events of the previous night, and throws him out of the house in utter disgust. This quick succession of events is punctuated by radical shifts in mood that fit perfectly in a BPD diagnosis. Apart from these two moments, though, these mood shifts are seldom seen throughout the manga. I have an idea about why that is, but I’ll leave that for later. Another symptom of BPD that Seiko exhibits are suicidal thoughts and acts of self-harm. She claims she wanted to “disappear” and, in chapter 33, after Seiichi yells at her that he doesn’t need her, her eyes go blank and she bites her own finger until she cracks the nail. This type of non-suicidal self-injury is very common in people with BPD, and it is believed that people engage in this because the physical pain helps them to reduce their emotional pain, creating a feeling of disassociation. She also exhibits paranoia when it comes to Seiichi’s relationships with other people, mainly with Fukiishi. Her fear of being abandoned by her only son prompts her to go to insane lengths to get him back, and she loathes Fukiishi for driving him away from her. She tries to alienate the two children – by making Seiichi promise to stay away from her; and her paranoia runs so deep that she even tries to alienate her son from his own father. There are moments where she clearly states that Ichiro is just interested in his birth family and that he’s a weak, useless man who doesn’t love them. Those feelings of loathing towards her husband and his family, and her unwillingness to visit her nephew in the hospital, are manifestations of her anger, which, in the case of BPD, tend to manifest in a loud, violent way. The majority of her reactions are rather subdued, but this disorder allows for what’s called ‘quiet BPD’. According to PsychCentral, “People with any type of BPD experience the same internal dysregulation and inner turmoil, but folks with quiet BPD are masterful at masking their pain — so they may appear cold, distant, or aloof as a result.” It’s quite possible that this is the case for Seiko Osabe; to the distracted reader, she seems to have her life under control but, in reality, her vent in chapter 20, and the other in chapter 52, when she laments that she can’t run away, unveils a deep, dark hopelessness and despair that is all-consuming. Perhaps this internalizing of emotions helps to explain the fact that, over a period of 13 years, her life remains pretty stable. Overall, I believe that a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder is pretty likely…
At first glance, Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) doesn’t fit Seiko all that much. Apart from the exploitation of others; the lack of empathy; the envy of others or the belief that one is the object of envy, and the arrogant behavior, there is no sense of grandiosity nor any need for constant admiration on her part. But, just like BPD has a side that is uncommon, so does NPD. According to the National Library of Medicine: “There is much contention around the diagnosis of NPD. There are two basic subtypes, including grandiose and vulnerable narcissistic personality disorder (covert narcissism). The grandiose subtype includes overt grandiosity, presence of aggression, and boldness. The vulnerable subtype presents with hypersensitivity and defensiveness and is often easy to miss.” According to Angela Myer, in The Undetected Narcissist Learn to Detect and Decode the Games a Covert Narcissist Plays with Their Children, Legal System, Mental Health Professionals, Others, and You, the reason it’s easy to miss is because it’s often mistaken for extreme shyness, an introverted nature, self-consciousness, and a sensitivity to criticism… humility, even. What truly separates all these characteristics from NPD is a lack of empathy and resentment. Seiko is incapable of understanding the emotions of people around her: her husband, her sister-in-law, Fukiishi, and especially her son. She fails to see her husband’s quiet encouragement and support; fails to take her sister-in-law’s teasing comments in jest; fails to see the depths of Fukiishi’s love for her son, and of course, fails to feel Seiichi’s unconditional love for her, much less to understand how terrified he is of her after she tries to kill Shigeru. She’s hypersensitive to whatever she considers criticism or rejection: from her sister-in-law’s mild criticism regarding her parenting style, to her son’s yearning for independence: both are utterly unacceptable to her. Her sense of inadequacy as a mother, and her deep insecurity are externalized in chapter 39 when she tells Fukiishi’s father all about her past as an unloved child and how excruciating her daily life is. It could be argued that her words to the man on his front porch are just a way to manipulate both him and her son; that would be a fair assumption. However, it doesn’t take a lie to manipulate people.
Even an abusive drunk like Fukiishi’s father doesn’t dare to question her when she’s on the floor, crying that it’s all her fault, that her son hates her, and that she has no reason to live anymore. He’s so taken by her words that he invites her into his house, offers to call the police, and offers her an umbrella… We later learn that everything Seiko said was factual, but the show that she put on gained her a lot of pity from a total stranger. Even more from her son, who would return home not 24 hours later on his own volition. Hearing his mother’s desperate pleas evoked a pit of despair in the boy that compelled him to return to her. In her youth, Seiko fantasized about being an actress, and later she fantasized about loving her husband and her son in such a way that she’d be able to overturn her own painful childhood. Those fantasies of being the perfect wife and mother who could somehow overwrite her own past fell apart quickly when her husband was too busy with his job to pay attention to her, and her son aspired to his independence. Not to mention she sabotaged her potential acting career by not doing anything to pursue her dream (like taking acting classes). That self-sabotage also occurs in her marriage, since Ichiro is not really the type of man to lavish her with attention. She’s just as quickly moved to genuine happy tears (when Seiichi defends her from her sister-in-law’s accusations) as she is enraged at the fact that her son prefers to spend time with the girl he’s in love with (that is why Seiko does her best to undermine the budding romance between them). These mood swings reveal an inability to regulate emotions, and are focused on the narcissistic supply; in her case, Seiichi. Her mood is elevated every time her son is there to protect her, but whenever he acts on his own accord and goes against her wishes, her mood drops precipitously. The most noticeable moments when we see these mood swings in action are: when she hugs Seiichi and then tries to strangle him (chapter 24); when she provides him with a warm bath and a lavish meal, only to gaslight him and kick him out of the house in a fit of rage (chapters 43-48); when she showers him with attention only to completely ignore him in the following chapters (chapters 50-55). In the first two moments, she hates that her son even dares to confront her, and sees his actions as a personal betrayal, especially after he spends the night in Fukiishi’s house. In the last case, she becomes depressed because her nephew lost his memory of her pushing off the cliff, and completely ignores her son’s attempts to win her affection by proving his loyalty to her.
Ultimately, it serves no purpose other than to diminish his confidence and maintain her position of control as the ultimate arbiter of his worth. There’s another significant moment in chapter 1, when Seiichi wants to hang out with his buddies and Seiko undermines his plans by mentioning that Shigeru is visiting. In one fell swoop, she made her son change his plans, avoiding direct confrontation, asserting her superiority and keeping him tethered.
Seiko’s passive-aggressive actions throughout the manga inflict a great deal of mental and emotional damage to her son. Another characteristic is avoidance of social situations. One of the more noticeable behaviors is how she avoids seeing her nephew in the hospital for fear of being criticized by her in-laws. Obviously, she cares little about the boy, but the idea that her sister-in-law will turn on her after the humiliation she put her through in early chapter 5 – by calling her overprotective and laughing at her – is something she doesn’t want to go through again. It’s clear that that early humiliation is still pounding in her brain and it makes her painfully uncomfortable around her husband’s family Naturally, she blames everybody else for her problems: she blames her sister-in-law for mocking her, she blames her husband for siding with his sister and not defending her, she blames Fukiishi for her son’s behavior, and she blames Seiichi for misbehaving and showing signs of wanting to become independent from her. This tactic is a common way to deflect guilt, shame and responsibility from themselves onto everyone else. Another characteristic that is quite frequent in Covert NPD is envy. When she’s telling her son about her childhood years in chapter 131, Seiko reveals that she felt envious of her little sister Etsuko for all the attention her parents lavish on her, especially her mother. Seiko was an only child for six years before her little sister was born, during which she was showered with love by her mother. Then, because Etsuko was sickly, her parents lavished much more attention on her and Seiko was left out. She recounts her mother telling her that she was useless and she didn’t want her.
We never learn why Seiko was supposedly hated by her mother and ignored by her father. The readers can only speculate… But it’s implied in this flashback that Seiko's first six years were of happiness (while living with her grandparents and while her mother was kind to her) while the rest of her life was a living hell. The experience of going from being the sole recipient of her mother’s affection to being seemingly “left out” could have been the deepest wound to her developing sense of self. In her adult years, Seiko also loathes the idea of having her failings laid bare for everyone to see, and facing public defeat. The night she finds Seiichi and Fukiishi together at the park and fails to bring her son back home, combined with Fukiishi’s defiant attitude make her furious, leading to a vengeful response aimed at restoring her sense of superiority and power. She gets angry when Seiichi resists her attempt to gaslight him regarding Shigeru’s fall. Her mood becomes explosive when she drills him about the time he spent with Fukiishi and, as the boy confesses of his exploits the night before, she throws her son out of the house. Her revenge on little Fukiishi is just as despicable: she manipulates her son’s teacher into believing that the girl is responsible for her son’s strange behavior and random act of violence towards three of his classmates. Seiko sees everyone as a menace to her authority, but especially Fukiishi. She tarnishes her reputation to such a degree that the whole school learns about their exploits, which leads to Fukiishi’s father giving the poor girl a thrashing.
Another example is in chapter 16, when Ichiro tries to convince her to visit Shigeru at the hospital. Convinced that her husband doesn’t care about her or her son, Seiko yells at him to go away, shielding Seiichi from his own father. Oftentimes, she would engage in parental alienation (a strategy aimed at damaging the child’s relationship with the other parent) to convince her son that she was his only protector in the world. To Seiko, Ichiro isn’t just a flawed husband, he’s a cowardly traitor who didn’t give her what she needed, and therefore can’t be trusted to look after Seiichi.
For all these reasons, I’m inclined to believe that Narcissistic Personality Disorder (of the vulnerable variety) is a very plausible diagnosis for Seiko. Someone as emotionally insecure as Seiko explores others for personal gain, which is another defining characteristic of NPD. She apparently cannot manipulate Ichiro to her own advantage, but it’s clear she wants his full attention, and she resents her husband for spending so much of his free time with his parents, his sister and his nephew, rather than with her. Ichiro spends so much time working and going to company outings that he escapes the grasp of his wife’s manipulations. The times that she tries to get Ichiro’s sympathy or attention, it seems to go right over his head. Every time they have a conversation, his answers are always vaguely reassuring, but never in a way that suits her needs. His workaholic nature and his existing family ties inadvertently shield him from her cold control. As a result, Seiko turns her sights on Seiichi. This is the origin of the incestuous bond she has with the boy; the way she parentified him was a mechanism for her to control her son in the way that she couldn’t control her husband. What she got as a result was unwavering loyalty and unconditional love. Most parents, even the ones dissatisfied with their daily lives, find great joy in the unconditional love their children show them. Not Seiko, though… Her love is not unconditional or reciprocal or even nurturing. Her focus is solely on receiving, and to her, love and loyalty are never enough; any sign of dissent is seen as a grave betrayal and is promptly punished.
Any act of kindness is only done in service of her own emotional needs, never to foster a loving relationship with her son. In chapter 60, after Seiichi yells at his aunt, Seiko cries copiously on the bus while she hugs her son and tells him how happy she is that he defended her from her sister-in-law’s accusations. His action validates her perceived victimhood, reinforces her sense of being wronged by her sister-in-law, and temporarily elevates her fragile self-esteem. It’s the only moment in the entire manga where she seems genuinely happy, and yet, she never considers Seiichi’s motivations for being rude to his aunt, nor the discomfort he might have felt. She’s not interested in correcting his bad behavior or fostering a reciprocal emotional exchange. Her fleeting joy is centered on her honor being defended against her enemies.
Although she expresses sympathy and guilt for her son’s suffering, it never equates to empathy. Many times throughout the manga, her words indicate she has no clue what her son is feeling. She’s not insensitive to his problems (like his stuttering), but she only seems to understand them on a surface level. She can never put herself in his shoes. Her life is riddled with fantasies of redemption, and she sees in Seiichi her only chance to redeem herself from her past; all the while ignoring that she’s so emotionally malformed that her desire to give Seiichi “all the love she never got” only expresses itself through control and emotional abuse. Seiko will do whatever it takes to keep her son under her boot, turning him into her own toy. He’s just a pawn to his mother’s whims in a game he has no idea he's playing.
Histrionic Personality Disorder “is characterized by constant attention-seeking, emotional overreaction, and seductive behavior. People with this condition tend to over dramatize situations, which may impair relationships and lead to depression. Yet they are highly suggestible, easily susceptible to the influence of others.” That Seiko overdramatizes certain situations there can be no doubt; however, I don’t really see any other symptoms that she displays that would fit this particular disorder. The most theatrical we ever see her is in chapter 39 when she vents her woos to Fukiishi’s father. This attitude can be interpreted as an attempt to manipulate her son – who is listening on the balcony – that is, if you think that Seiko knows that Seiichi is in the house, but even so, there’s no reason for her to say those things to a complete stranger, screaming and crying on his porch. And yet, it works! Fukiishi’s father (a stranger to her) feels deep sympathy for this woman who has been searching for her son all night, in pouring rain, and has a wounded hand. He invites her into the house, offers to take care of her hand, offers to call the police on her behalf, and offers her an umbrella when she decides to leave. For this one moment, she has that man’s sympathy. Seiko, however, doesn’t take him up on any of his offers. It makes me doubtful that her intention was to be the center of attention in that one moment. Her telling her sad childhood story was for Seiichi’s benefit, it feels. Throughout the manga, it doesn’t appear that Seiko seeks or enjoys being the center of attention or the life of the party. She even says that she tries to stay away from anybody’s happiness. As for being influenced by others… it could fit…I’m still wondering why she gave up on her career path, why she accepted Ichiro’s marriage proposal so quickly and why she thought getting pregnant would make her happy… There seems to be a great deal of influence from her friend Sachiko, to Ichiro, to her sister-in-law, even. The ideas were never her own, but merely put in her head by others. Apart from this, I don’t see how she could fit a diagnosis of this personality disorder.
Avoidant Personality Disorder is a condition that belongs in Cluster C and is characterized by feelings of extreme social inhibition, inadequacy, and sensitivity to negative criticism and rejection. Like so many disorders previously explored, this one seems to have roots in childhood experiences such as growing up in an environment marked by criticism, neglect, or emotional abuse. From all we can see throughout the manga, Seiko seems a good candidate for this one. She wants to be invisible, claims that she cannot do things like other people, and is extremely bothered by any comment that might be construed as criticism, mainly being called “overprotective” by her sister-in-law and mocked by her husband’s side of the family. Even though she describes herself as a child incapable of hanging out in a group and she describes having exactly two best friends in her entire life – maybe because large groups were too intimidating to her – on the other hand, she relished the idea of acting as a form of forgetting the guilt and shame that followed her throughout her life. And what could be more exposing of oneself as the acting business? It’s also worth noting that her best friend when she was in high school, Sachiko, approached her, not the other way around. Sachiko gave her the best of both worlds and momentarily coaxed Seiko out of her shell. Until she, too, disappeared. We never learn what happened to Sachiko as Seiko doesn’t provide any details of her whereabouts or what happened with their friendship. Her fear of embarrassment and rejection, when she thought her first boyfriend was cheating on her, led her to ghost him instead of confronting him and figuring out the truth. And, as I mentioned earlier, she only married Ichiro because he popped the question. In the first few chapters, she appears fairly gregarious: she seems to have a good relationship with her husband’s side of the family (mainly her sister-in-law) and nephew Shigeru. In reality, she hates her sister-in-law, because she figured out upon meeting her, that Seiko was a self-loathing “introvert”, and stated that she “didn’t like that side of her”. Seiko’s avoidance of her in-laws after the incident with Shigeru is less indicative of Avoidant Personality Disorder and has more to do with the fact that she finally worked up the courage to shun them against their perceived insults. Before the incident, she seems perfectly fine pretending to enjoy their company when her objective is keeping Seiichi in the house rather than going out with his school friends. We know that her gregarious nature is performative, but for people with Avoidant Personality Disorder that performative side simply doesn’t exist. So, even though in her early years, both with family and fellow students, she seemingly displays some symptoms of this disorder, I’m not sure this would be a fitting diagnosis for Seiko.
Dependent Personality Disorder “causes feelings of helplessness, submissiveness, a need to be taken care of, for constant reassurance, and an inability to make everyday decisions without an excessive amount of advice and reassurance from others”. At first glance, it’s easy to think that Seiko would be a good candidate for this disorder: she often feels helpless, abandoned and rejected by the people in her life and, for how domineering she is over Seiichi, she’s incredibly submissive to her in-laws, her parents, and even acquaintances in her life. One of the symptoms of this disorder is going “to excessive lengths to obtain nurture and support from others to the point of volunteering to do things that are unpleasant”. Doesn’t this describe Seiko’s adult life? After all, she married a man she didn’t particularly love, spent 13 years dealing with a family she abhors, and took care of a child she doesn’t particularly like… and for what? Because she’s terrified of being abandoned. Ultimately though, I’m not entirely sure that giving up on her job and making herself completely dependent on her husband can be interpreted as a symptom of this particular disorder, or if it’s simply the way of doing things in Japan in late 70s and early 80s. Also, her self-esteem is nonexistent, but that’s applicable to a whole bunch of personality disorders. Seiko is much more aloof with everybody in her life, than she is actively trying to get their approval, so even though she ticks a few boxes of symptoms of this personality disorder, I don’t think she suffers from it.
Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder is characterized by “a pervasive preoccupation (obsession) with order, perfectionism, control and specific ways of doing things. These behaviors make it difficult to complete tasks and cause issues with relationships.” The first symptom to “be preoccupied with and insist on details, rules, lists, order and organization” reminds me of Seiko’s morning ritual concerning her son’s meals. It’s established early on that Seiko has a strict dietary plan for Seiichi’s breakfast that involves either a pork bun or a red bean bun. Every morning, she comes to her son’s room and asks him which bun he would like to eat for breakfast. You could be forgiven for thinking that since cooking steamed buns is a laborious task (it takes around 45 minutes of preparation) and you don’t just cook one, but a whole batch (around 8 or 10), it would be natural to think that Seiko doesn’t want those steamed buns to spoil, which is why she forces them on Seiichi every day. That thought did cross my mind. As the story went on, though, I found it more difficult to believe that Seiko does a lot of cooking in the house. There’s no proof in the manga, but it is my belief that the buns are not home-made. Those steamed buns may very well have come from a convenience store, but they are a manifestation of Seiko’s pathological need to control her son.
It’s notable to point out that breakfast in Japan consists of rice, miso soup, and a protein like grilled fish. Seiichi doesn’t have a high dietary variety, since his breakfast consists almost exclusively of either a pork bun or a red bean bun – both of which he hates. Her question to Seiichi about what he wants for breakfast is methodical and it’s designed to instill the illusion of choice when, in reality, Seiichi never really gets a say in the matter. Apart from the morning steamed buns, Seiko removes the bones from a fish intended for Seiichi to eat. She often vacuums her house (even though she’s home alone every day). It’s seen in many panels that the Osabe household is spotless.
According to research, OCPD spans across several areas of the person’s life. Her control is hyper-focused on Seiichi, rather than a broader obsession with lists or organization. Her breakfast ritual, as well as other similar actions, are daily power plays designed to keep Seiichi completely dependent on her. As for the house, she behaves like someone performing the role of the perfect housewife (just as much as she performs the role of perfect mother). Seiko’s ability to perform these roles shows she’s not paralyzed by any obsessive thoughts.
People who suffer from Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder also “use extreme caution to avoid what they perceive to be failure”, and this reminds me of the way she deals with her sister-in-law (despite the fact that she manages to see right through her mask). Seiko tries to not do or say anything that her in-laws find disapproving. When the entire family laughs at her “overprotective nature”, her expression is one of complete submission to their reaction. Seiko truly believes that her in-laws can’t stand her, that her husband ignores her and doesn’t care about her feelings, and that her mother hates her ever since she was a child. From an objective standpoint, none of her thoughts are provable. We, as readers, tend to agree with her because the story is told from Seiichi’s perspective and the boy doesn’t have his own identity; he simply reflects his mother’s thoughts. From an objective standpoint, it’s just as easy to believe that her in-laws are just joshing her, and that Ichiro truly loves her (even if he’s not really good at showing it). From what we see, it’s difficult to think that Seiko was overstating when she said her husband was unhelpful. As for her mother, well, we never see her other than in Seiko’s memories, so we don’t know what the true story between them was.
Another symptom is being “unwilling to throw out broken or worthless objects, even if they have no sentimental value.” In chapter 56, it’s visible that Seiko has given up on her ‘perfect housewife’ façade and several panels show that chaos now rules the Osabe household. Despite some rigidity in her thought patterns, and her difficulty coping with criticism, it’s not very plausible to me that Seiko suffers from Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, because we never see her becoming paralyzed by her thoughts.
It would be tempting to believe that all of Seiko’s problems can be condensed into a single personality disorder but, in reality, her problems might be multicausal. She could have a comorbidity between a personality disorder and a mood disorder, for instance. My best guess is Narcissistic Personality Disorder (the covert subtype) with a touch of clínical depression and – going by her backstory – PTSD and Depersonalization-derealization disorder… The reason why this is so complex is because no one disorder seems to explain her entire behavior throughout the manga. For example: what can possibly explain the ‘word salad’ in chapter 7 and chapter 20? What explains the self-destructive streak that makes her want to ‘disappear’ and destroy everything around her? Does she have any pangs of conscience in chapter 30, or is it all an act? Does she want her son to lie for her and protect her from the police, or does she want him to tell the truth and release her from her familial obligations? And in her later years, is she suffering from dementia, or is she just faking not remembering who her son is? So many questions, so many elusive answers…
We witness two moments of ‘word salad’: one in chapter 6 and the other in chapter 20. These moments feel like a jumble of extremely incoherent speech, but we learn later, through the unfolding of events, that the moment in chapter 20 is real; she is reenacting the moment before she tried to murder her three-year-old son. The equivalent moment in chapter 7 seems to reflect conversations with her husband, answers she never gave him (because good communication between Seiko and Ichiro is non-existent, seeing that she mostly just smiles and says nothing whenever her husband talks to her, but we learn of her frustration with him).
Maybe it all comes down to her deep-seated self-destructive nature, but there’s also the issue of her pathological bond with Seiichi. She sees her son is an extension of herself, so her departure would mean severing this incestual bond that she seeks to destroy. Having a son didn’t make her happy, abandoning her son didn’t bring the happiness she thought it would bring, so one could think that being reconnected to the same son 25 years after she abandoned him was something she would desperately try to avoid, but that might not be the case…
Before I get into that, there’s a small issue that needs to be explored: that is the acknowledgment of guilt. The question that torments the readers; whether Seiko knows that what she’s doing to her son is wrong is heavily implied throughout several chapters early on and is definitely answered in chapter 105 in the courtroom. As I mentioned previously, in chapter 30, when she cries to her sleeping son that he should have a better mommy, one might wonder if she’s ever genuinely remorseful or if she’s always just performing… When she talks with Fukiishi’s father, Seiko confesses to feeling terrible about keeping him in the house. Her woeful words in chapter 30 are echoed in chapter 70 when she repeats to Seiichi, in tears, that she made him do horrible things she knew were wrong.
In chapter 105, she confesses to the judge that she was wrong to get pregnant, that an abortion would’ve been better, and that she was never suited to be a mother. There is no denying that she knows her actions have had nefarious consequences in Seiichi’s life. Seiko has an element of repugnance, of true evil; she’s evil because she is an egoist who uses her son as some kind of spiritual unguent to heal herself from her own childhood traumas. It may not have been done out of malice, but it certainly was malicious in its results. She became a cruel puppet-master, playing on the strings of her son’s emotions and making him do whatever she wanted, against his will. If she truly had good intentions, she would never have acted this way.
So now, I arrive at the last part of my analysis. Is Seiko suffering from dementia, and does that matter in the grand scheme of things? ‘Dementia’ is such a slippery concept that it is impossible to prove one way or the other. Seiko has a flair for drama, but the landlord says that she has been behaving strangely as of late, and he has known Seiko for 10 years… When Seiichi sees her again, she seems to exhibit some mental confusion (not recognizing him and not knowing where she is), but that’s not conclusive evidence for a dementia diagnosis. Other than gaining sympathy, why would she fake being senile? Only to get the rent money?
I’m not entirely certain that Seiko wouldn’t prefer to live homeless, if it meant that she could die alone in the streets of Tokyo… After all, her suicidal idealizations are also well known since the early chapters (chapter 20, 24, 77). Not only does she idealize her own demise, she actively begs her son to kill her (once when he's a child and the other when he's an adult). Later, after she falls down the stairs, she tells Seiichi she doesn’t want him to do anything for her. That feels like a verbal ‘Do not resuscitate’ request. Life has never been pleasant for her and she has never had any goals to live for. In chapter 20, Seiichi learns that he is the only reason his mother is still alive. Every time she confronts him with the idea of her death, he refuses to help her. Her moments after meeting an adult Seiichi capture her resigned nihilism, her emotional vacancy, and her complete disconnection from the will to live. Is this depression, or part of PTSD due to her child abuse? We’ll never know. Also, knowing her, it’s not unreasonable to suspect that it’s all performative, that she wants Seiichi back under her boot and she’s manipulating him again. Somehow, I don’t think that’s her primary motive. Her self-hatred and her nihilism run deep, which is why she’s not scared of Death, why she smiles when she sees the dead cat by the side of the road. Death feels like a wonderful release from the burdens of Life. Day by day, she’s quietly quitting life; refusing to move, refusing to eat, until her eyes close forever.
She’s surprised to see her son and even more surprised that he offers to pay her rent. That she takes him up on his offer is no definitive proof that she’s faking dementia. If it is, it’s probably in its early stages, because she acts pretty normal most of the time… I don’t find it particularly strange that she has her son’s phone number. After all, Ichiro probably made sure that she would have it. Except, Seiko never called Seiichi once in 20 years… The police did. However, I find it befuddling that she kept the photo album with her all those years. Why keep the memories of the people you despise?! That’s the question that is never answered in the manga, but it’s the one that feeds the curiosity of Seiichi and readers alike. Can she be faking dementia to get sympathy? Of course, but it is worthy of note that she only gets sympathy from the police officers and she couldn’t have known that they would get in contact with Seiichi, much less that he would offer to pay her rent so we wouldn’t have to deal with her in his own home. When she claims to not have a son and not recognize Seiichi at all, whether that is a sign of dementia or she’s just faking, it’s a moot point. After all this time, she still didn’t want to see him.
The mental confusion is seen by people in her life like the landlord and the police officers. It’s unclear whether she has dementia or simply a mild cognitive impairment (MCI) since her symptoms don’t seem severe enough. A certain memory loss, difficulty concentrating, finding it hard to carry out familiar tasks (like paying rent), struggling to follow a conversation, being confused about time and place, and mood changes are all symptoms of dementia. The reason why it’s dubious is because she benefits from her son’s economic assistance. She doesn’t refuse it. If she’s comfortable living on the street as she claims, why take Seiichi up on his offer? If she wanted her son back in her life, why not just call him? Why go through all this trouble?! It makes no sense! Is Seiko trying to rekindle the only undertaking she felt gave her life some meaning: being a mother? That may sound strange at first, but when Seiichi goes to her house on the day of the typhoon, we see that Seiko has been taking care of a little white cat. There is no evidence that the cat belongs to her; for all we know, it’s just a stray cat that Seiko goes out of her way to feed and care for. Seiichi sees the food bowl and follows Seiko as she goes out in the rain to find the missing cat. When she finds it, she carries the animal in her arms and brings him back home. Seiichi witnesses his mother prostrate over the cat while it’s eating, and all of these actions are reminiscent of attitudes she had towards him as a child. He can’t help but draw comparisons.
Is Seiko so demented that she mistakes the cat for her child? Or is something else going on? The cat represents the innocence and unconditional love she yearns for but was incapable of maintaining in her relationship with her son. We learn during Seiko’s flashback that she grew up in her grandparents’ place with cats, during the happiest years of her life. Perhaps seeing a lost cat roaming around her backyard triggered her desire to recapture those good old days. Whatever the reason, she took this animal under her care and that’s enough to make Seiichi suspicious of her motives. And then, there’s the photo album. Caring it with her suggests a need to relive the past and preserve an idealized version of her relationship with her son. It also hints at her deteriorating mental state, where the lines between past and present blur. Her care for the white cat and her attachment to the photo album illustrates an inability to fully move on, instead clinging to fragments of her identity as a mother and a care provider.
While Seiko seems to have found solace in caring for a stray white cat, it’s possible that she’s subconsciously drawn to the symbol of death and rebirth. Perhaps she sees the cat as a reflection of her own troubled past and her desire for redemption. After the night of the typhoon – just like before that day – Seiko doesn’t make any attempts to contact her son, even though they seem to have turned over a new leaf. More than a year and a half pass by before she trips down a flight of stairs and ends up in the hospital with a concussion. Even then, she doesn’t contact Seiichi, the hospital does! Seiko makes sure her son hears that she doesn’t want him to do anything for her, and to leave her there, exactly how she is. Her silence and her reaction to her injury suggest a sense of resignation. That emotional isolation might be a form of self-imposed exile. The fact that Seiko doesn’t reach out to Seiichi after the typhoon, even after their emotional conversation aligns with all we learned about her throughout the manga’s events; she often pushes people away, even when she craves connection. She chooses to remain lonely, in the hell she’d created for herself, as if her self-hatred does not allow her any alternative. Having acknowledged (back in the courtroom) that Seiichi was incapable of ameliorating her loneliness and unhappiness, Seiko seems to understand that nothing would be gained from having her son care for her now; a rare moment of lucidity, perhaps…
Her insistence on being left in the hospital, despite her deteriorating health, is a final act of self-sabotage, just like her actor’s career, and her job in the advertising agency. Eventually, she relented (or she’s simply not strong enough to push him back). For indiscernible motives, she lets her son take her home, feed her, wash her and take care of her… A few months go by before she stops accepting food and water. At this point, it’s impossible to discern her thought process. We just know that, little by little, her wish for a release from this bothersome world is about to be fulfilled. Her initial refusal of Seiichi’s assistance, followed by her eventual acceptance, suggests an internal conflict. Perhaps she’s torn between her desire for independence and her longing for human connection – a fundamental human need – especially as her physical and emotional fragility become more apparent. Perhaps she was simply seeking relief from her burdensome life of loneliness, pain and self-hatred. Or, maybe her psyche is just so fractured by the dementia that there’s no logic behind her actions at all.
Ultimately, Seiko’s final act is as inscrutable as the rest of her life, leaving the audience to wrestle with the same questions that have haunted Seiichi throughout the story. Her actions add to the mystery and tragedy of her character. Her final act is a poignant reminder of the unfathomable and often contradictory nature of the human psyche.
