General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20267 min read

JU-ON: Origins (呪怨：呪いの家)

JU-ON: Origins (呪怨：呪いの家, Ju-On: Noroi no Ie, literal English title "Ju-On: House of Curse") is a 2020 Japanese horror television series and the first horror original produced by Netflix Japan, released on Netflix on July 3, 2020.¹^•² It is a six-episode installment of the Ju-On (The Grudge) horror franchise, and Netflix's trailer for the series describes it as the franchise's first drama adaptation.³

Key fact	Detail
Original title	呪怨：呪いの家 (Ju-On: Noroi no Ie), literal title "Ju-On: House of Curse"²
Release	July 3, 2020, worldwide on Netflix; 6 episodes¹^•²
Director / writers	Sho Miyake (director); Hiroshi Takahashi and Takashige Ichise (script)¹
Setting	Tokyo, between 1988 and 1997⁴
Lead characters	Paranormal researcher Yasuo Odajima (Yoshiyoshi Arakawa) and rookie actress Haruka Honjo (Yuina Kuroshima)²
Franchise position	First drama adaptation of the Ju-On franchise; the iconic ghosts Kayako and Toshio do not appear³^•⁴
Critical reception	Metascore 58 ("Mixed or Average") on Metacritic⁵

Spoilers

Premise and plot

The series follows Yasuo Odajima, a paranormal researcher who takes an interest in the unnatural experiences of Haruka Honjo, a rookie actress who hears the sounds of footsteps at night in her house. After learning of Odajima from a TV variety program, Haruka seeks his counseling, and a chain of mysterious incidents begins to occur around the two of them. As Odajima chases one incident after another, he realizes that everything is connected to a "cursed house," and his investigation unearths the grim past of a mother and child who lived there.²^•⁴^•⁶

The story spans multiple years, starting in 1988 and moving forward to 1997, with several side characters becoming entangled in the web of horror and linking to one another in the familiar fashion of the Ju-on franchise.⁷^•⁸ Netflix's synopsis describes the series as focusing on "the true events" that form the inspiring base of the story, the beginning of the "curse," and the chain of terror that befalls all who come into contact with the house.¹

Episodes

The six episodes, as listed on Netflix Japan, run from 26 to 31 minutes each:⁶

"行ってはいけない家" (The House You Must Not Visit), 28 minutes: Odajima hears from a young female talent about strange footsteps in her room and receives a tape of the recorded sounds.
"墜ちていくふたり" (Two Falling), 29 minutes: after events at a cat-loving house, the fates of Kiyomi and the students who framed her begin to spiral; Haruka learns from Tetsuya's mother that mother and son both have psychic powers.
"窓辺にいた女" (The Woman at the Window), 29 minutes: now a mother living with her son and Yudai, Kiyomi keeps seeing the ghost of a woman in white; Haruka dreams of Tetsuya and visits his mother.
"連鎖する呪い" (The Chain of Curses), 27 minutes: Odajima, still searching for the cursed house's location, visits M, the perpetrator of a serial murder case involving young girls; a gruesome incident occurs in which a pregnant wife is killed by her husband.
"忘れていた記憶" (Forgotten Memories), 31 minutes: Odajima realizes his own past is deeply connected to the cursed house and has a detective let him inside, where he sees a vision of Kiyomi and begins searching for her.
"屋根裏にいたもの" (What Was in the Attic), 26 minutes: a couple expecting a child moves into the cursed house and has a terrifying psychic experience; Odajima, Haruka, and Michiko visit the house together seeking answers.

Place in the franchise

Ju-On began as films by Takashi Shimizu, with the first released in 2000 and gaining popularity in Japan and Hollywood, in part through the American remake The Grudge.⁴ AsianWiki lists Ju-On: Origins as the ninth related title in the franchise, following Ju-on (2000), Ju-on 2 (2000), Ju-on: The Grudge (2003), Ju-on: The Grudge 2 (2003), Ju-on: Black Ghost and Ju-on: White Ghost (2009), Ju-on: The Beginning of the End (2014), and Ju-on: The Final Curse (2015).² The Netflix trailer described it as the franchise's first drama adaptation.³

Production

Creative team. The screenplay was written by Hiroshi Takahashi, known for writing Ring (1998) and other chapters of the Ju-On series, and Takashige Ichise, who produced Ring, its sequel Spiral, and the original Ju-On films. The series was their first television collaboration.⁴ Sho Miyake, born in Sapporo in 1984 and previously known for Playback (2012) and the multi-award-winning And Your Bird Can Sing (2018), directed the series as his first venture into horror; Takahashi approached him with the script and recommended him as director.⁹^•⁴

A franchise installment without its icons. Miyake has said that the hardest part of the project was that Kayako and Toshio, the ghosts audiences associate with Ju-On, do not appear as characters; the curse is invisible and represented only through the story, changing how the characters understand the world when they hear of it. The script also covers many types of horror in every episode, from evil spirits to gore, murder, and horror based on true events, with frequent scenes of violence between human beings as well as ghosts.⁴

Crew and cast. Music was composed by Kuniaki Haishima, with photography by Hidetoshi Shinomiya and visual effects by Hajime Matsumoto; creature modeling was by Screaming Mad George. Producers were Takashige Ichise and Mikihiko Hirata, with executive producers Toshinori Yamaguchi (NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan) and Kazutaka Sakamoto (Netflix).¹ The cast includes Yoshiyoshi Arakawa, Yuina Kuroshima, Ririka, Koki Osamura, Seiko Iwaido, Kai Inowaki, Tei Ryushin, Yuya Matsuura, Kaho Tsuchimura, Tokio Emoto, Nobuko Sendo, and Kana Kurashina.¹

Reception

The series holds a Metascore of 58 on Metacritic, labeled "Mixed or Average," based on five critic reviews: three positive, two mixed, and none negative.⁵ Joel Keller of Decider (80/100) wrote that the series fills in some blanks for fans of the JU-ON or The Grudge franchises with a well-drawn story and interesting characters, while remaining intriguing to any horror fan.⁵ Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com (70/100) noted that it drags at times and is hard to follow in plot terms, but said it reminded him why the franchise "just won't die."⁵ Haleigh Foutch of Collider (67/100) placed it between the creeping dread of classic J-Horror and the gore of New French Extremity, calling it a late franchise installment that brings something new.⁵ More critical takes came from The A.V. Club (50/100), which found the material stretched thin over a large canvas, and The Guardian (40/100), which saw effective gore but "an empty space" where the franchise's familiar imagery had been removed.⁵

The Review Geek's season review scored the series 4/10, arguing that it felt lost between horror and mystery, with horror moments pushed aside in favor of an investigative mystery, and an ambiguous ending that left the door open for a second season; it praised the late-game flashbacks shot entirely in black and white as a noteworthy stylistic touch.⁷ A Times of India review took the opposite view, rating the season 3.5/5 and calling it "an overstuffed yet violently dark tale of horrors" with an understated and effective approach.¹⁰ A Spanish-language retrospective likewise judged the production uneven and noted that a requested second season was never made.¹¹

Availability

The series streams on Netflix, including the ad-supported tier, and as of recent checks was not carried on Disney+, Prime Video, or Apple TV+.¹² It was added to Netflix in the United States on July 3, 2020, and became available in Japan from July 8, 2020, with audio tracks and subtitles in Japanese, English, and several other languages depending on region.¹³

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › International serial drama and telenovelas › East Asian drama series › East Asian web and streaming serials › Titles Iv to My

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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