# Ju-On: Origins (2020)

> A paranormal researcher obsessively hunts for a cursed Japanese house where a mother and child suffered long ago.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/86587

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 6
- Episode runtime: 30 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: horror, mystery
- Created by: Takashi Shimizu
- Network: Netflix
- Cast: Yoshiyoshi Arakawa, Yuina Kuroshima, Kohki Osamura, Seiko Iwaido, Kai Inowaki, Ryushin Tei, Yuya Matsuura, Kaho Tsuchimura
- TMDB rating: 6.1/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12313914/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: slow
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: eerie, bleak, claustrophobic, dread-filled, unsettling

## What critics say

Audiences rated this Netflix prequel to the Ju-On franchise negatively, with its story and execution failing to satisfy fans of the series.

## Synopsis

Ju-On: Origins (2020) is a Japanese horror miniseries created by Takashi Shimizu for Netflix. Across six thirty-minute episodes, a paranormal researcher, played by Yoshiyoshi Arakawa as Yasuo Odajima, obsessively pursues the truth behind a cursed home where something terrible once befell a mother and her child. His search pulls him through the lives of the people connected to the house, including Haruka Honjo (Yuina Kuroshima) and Yudai Katsuragi (Kohki Osamura), whose encounters with the building's dark history grow more disturbing as the investigation deepens. The engine of the story is the stubborn hunt for an answer, with each episode unspooling a new layer of the curse across a sequence of unnerving moments and fragmented recollections. Set in the Shōwa era of Japan, the series is a prequel to the Ju-On franchise and carries its signature dread into an earlier time. Its mood is claustrophobic, eerie and bleak, with the tension resting on atmosphere rather than cheap scares. Fans of Ju-On: The Grudge, Ringu and The Haunting of Hill House will find resonance in its patient, creeping horror and its haunted domestic space.

## Shows like Ju-On: Origins

- [Bhay: The Gaurav Tiwari Story (2025)](https://ember.film/tv/1105114)
- [The Haunting of Hill House (2018)](https://ember.film/tv/63480)
- [Shiki (2010)](https://ember.film/tv/33642)
- [Don't Come Home (2024)](https://ember.film/tv/179992)
- [Million Yen Women (2017)](https://ember.film/tv/63816)
- [Theatre of Darkness: Yamishibai (2013)](https://ember.film/tv/50684)
- [The Summer Hikaru Died (2025)](https://ember.film/tv/184737)
- [Mononoke (2007)](https://ember.film/tv/15479)
- [The Forest of Love: Deep Cut (2020)](https://ember.film/tv/86141)
- [The Secret of Crickley Hall (2012)](https://ember.film/tv/52610)

---

Site overview: https://ember.film/llms.txt