Kayako Saeki is a fictional character appearing in the Ju-on and The Grudge horror franchises. In all films, in both series up to The Grudge 2, she is portrayed by actress Takako Fuji. Fuji did not reprise her role after The Grudge 2, and was replaced by Aiko Horiuchi in The Grudge 3, while Anna Moon took the role in the web series Tales from the Grudge. Actress Misaki Saisho played Kayako in the seventh Ju-on film, Ju-on: Beginning of the End. She was created by director Takashi Shimizu. She represents a popular antagonist in Japanese culture, the vengeful ghost. She is typically characterized by long dark hair covering her pale face, unsettling wide eyes, twisted movements with crunching neckbones, and a haunting Death rattle. She first appeared in Shimizu's short movie Katasumi and spends the majority of the Ju-on series haunting a house in Nerima, Japan. She is one of the fulfillers of the Ju-on curse, which states that when someone dies in a state of intense rage, those feelings remain at the death site and kill whoever it touches. She has proven to be a very popular character in horror cinema, having appeared in many films and other media in various different franchises.