Please stop reading if you have not seen the movie:
I loved the movie, but the only thing I did not get was KOIKE'S DEATH. Why did she kill herself? Was she obsessed with YU? I just dont' understand why she killed herself---the only thing I could think of was SONO just didn't know how to get rid of the character.
I am trying to figure out why but I just don't know. Anyone have the answer? Something I missed?
Yeah, she was obsessed with Yu. He was the one person who gave her trouble in converting, so once she saw Yu fall apart in agony like she did before, her ultimate goal was completed. His state of mind afterwards would be beyond repair, or so she thought. Combine this with the fact she's just one messed up sociopath, she killed herself. I dunno - I think that's what the director was trying to show us.
shareevery good japanese movies needs a seppuku :P
shareI just thought she did it because her cult was falling apart and she wanted to go with it since a prompter without a cult is like an actor (as in the literal one) without an audience. Or something to that effect.
shareI interpreted it as Koike finally realizing what she has done, which was destroy Yu's family and messing up his relationship with Yoko.
Once Yu joins the cult, she tries to tempt him and have him dance in the palm of her hand. Koike sees herself in Yu, so she tries to strip love away from Yu like what happened to her. But witnessing Yu's grand gesture made her realize that he will always love Yoko, and she realized that she can't keep doing what she's doing, so she felt like the only honorable thing she could was to kill herself.
She realised she couldn't be with Yu ever in this life, so she killed herself.
shareIf it was because she realised how bad she was (Lucky Lefty) then why was she laughing and so happy at Yu going crazy?
I agree that she was totally obsessed with Yu, and yes she wanted him for herself. But part of obsession and want was to make him suffer as she did, so I don't think it was a simple as simply realising she couldn't be with Yu. Plus she could have just killed Yoko, or killed Yu and have him stuffed or somet.
So I guess I agree with the earlier poster who said that she killed herself as her mission was complete - Yu had turned as crazy as she was.
IMDb boards are shutting down. Feel free to check out my YouTube channel - the Asian Movie Enthusiast - if you're interested in Asian movie reviews (see link below).
YouTube Asian Movie Review Channel
https://www.youtube.com/user/anticlimacus100
I loved the movie, but the only thing I did not get was KOIKE'S DEATH. Why did she kill herself? Was she obsessed with YU? I just dont' understand why she killed herself---the only thing I could think of was SONO just didn't know how to get rid of the character.I think the point was that Koike was beyond saving. She was, in a figurative sense, already dead. The beatings & rapes she'd endured as a child & what the Zero Church had done had broken her completely. As we learn from the flashbacks, all the characters have suffered greatly but while most can be saved there's always someone in this type of story for whom it's too late & that, alas, is Koike.
...his previous stuff look like learning exercises compared to this...He has actually said that everything he did before LE has been building up to this. share
Everyone seems to have forgotten about a whole scene from this film. Her father, after beating her etc, tells her how she is an "original sinner" and that there are many original sinners out there, but they just don't know it.
When she first meets Yu, he is a self confessed "original sinner" which is why Koike follows his family around and ends up converting them to the cult, with the excepting of Yu, who she wants to fall apart like herself, and when she sees that happening thats when she sees that her work is done on the family and kills herself.
Previous poster summed it up nicely. She says whilst killing herself something along the lines of "Fall apart Yu. Fall apart into a million pieces"
She saw the mental breakdown Yu suffered during the scene, and knew that her work was done. She had nothing left to do and her goal was complete. Add that onto the fact that she is one messed up individual with an equally messed up past and it makes perfect sense. She enjoyed living for the sake of torturing Yu and getting the Zero church off the ground. Now, she had successfully established a following for the church and Yu was breaking down in front of her (as well as ensuring Yoko would continue in her place). There was nothing else to do and so she didn't want to live with her torments any longer.
I'm not so sure it was a case of mission accomplished = freedom to finally let go.
This movie questions faith and belief. In short, I believe she kills herself because she realises how empty are her 'faith' and 'belief'.
I think it was that she recognized herself in Yu and had become obsessed with him. She was extremely attracted to him but due to her background and current situation had no choice but to hide this attraction, even to herself.
When she witnesses Yu's plight, suddenly it hits her how messed up her life is and how far she's messed up the life of someone she secretly cares about. She has wronged and knows she cannot redeem herself. Furthermore, it becomes clear that never could she be romantically involved with Yu, because doing so would be betraying the cult - as a prompter, HER cult - and everything it stands for. In this she realises that she has already betrayed the cult; simply by plotting to secure Yu for hetself, she has obliterated everything that she strove to represent and uphold. Thus, her life has now become meaningless. Without the cult she has nothing, so she sees no point in living any more.
what dreams may come...
I think that Koike's deleted scenes shed some light on this.
I do not think that she killed herself cause she felt guilty!
In the deleted scene, she talks about her past. It is here that we know for sure that her father raped her(yet when she felt bad, she sought solace in his arms), but at the same time he blames her and tells her how filthy she is. This reminded me of Yoko. Her father tried to rape her(maybe that was another reason for her to get to her?).
Also, there is a scene in which she walks past a group of street artists. One is a belly dancer. She stops Koike and tells her "I can see that you're in love! It's not going to end well(or something like that)". Koike just smiles and walks off.
And the most important part they cut: Koike speaks about how she wanted to be like the sect leader. He helped her mature...she even stopped hating her father. She didn't kill him(as she easily could have), she stopped throwing(fake?) fits at the hospital. She simply stopped seeing him as her father(same as Yoko again. And also Yu, in parts of the beginning). She now sees him as just one of gods creatures. And she says she really wants to save others from their bad existance. The cult leader tells her that everything that has happened to her as a child, the rapes, the beatings...it was all gods plan to lead her to a new life. And she says that she's willing to go to dark places to help others. And that she BELIEVES IT IS WORTH DYING FOR!
I'm not sure if she thinks that Yu's meltdown is a success. Maybe it's to see that he just never succumbs to temptation(neither from her or in any other way). That's what the priest talks about in yet another cut scene. The cult actually isn't so bad if you think about it. It sort of wants to help people to be free, to not be a prisoner of their own desire or lust.
What I always asked myself though: Is she just testing Yu? Or does she really have feelings for him? She must see a kindred spirit in him(both meeting at a time when they don't feel they have a father anymore. She for obvious reasons, he for his father acting out on him for the woman to have walked out of his life. That's like her father, who rapes her, but punishes her for being bad and as if she had forced him to do so).
Look for those deleted scenes, they might shine some light on it. It surely made me see feel more sorry for her than I already did. It seems like she's a mix out of Yu and Yoko...
IMDb boards are shutting down. Feel free to check out my YouTube channel - the Asian Movie Enthusiast - if you're interested in Asian movie reviews (see link below).
YouTube Asian Movie Review Channel
https://www.youtube.com/user/anticlimacus100