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| “ | To state it more clearly...I'm going to quit pretending to be a mother. When all is said and done...I've never truly felt I wanted to be a mother. Not even once. I...should have never had a child. I'm really just better off on my own. I thought...that would change. I thought that I could...give the child all the love I've never been given as a child myself. I thought that if I did that...If I did that, then...I could...be saved...When I found out I was pregnant, I thought...I could be saved...But, I also thought...is it really okay for me to have a child? Wouldn't it be better...to have an abortion? I kept thinking like that...even after giving birth. It would have been best if I had never had a child...I thought. After all...in the end...I could not be saved. Yes, I was wrong, you see. So I'll be discarding...this child. It's okay to discard him, right? After all, he's a murderer. Finally...finally, I can be myself again. My life...can finally begin. Thank you. Thank you for becoming a murderer. | „ |
| ~ Seiko disowning her son during his trial. |
Seiko Osabe is the main antagonist of the Shuzo Oshimi manga series Blood on the Tracks, also entitled Trail of Blood.
She is the mentally ill mother of Seiichi Osabe, a middle-school student with few friends. Seiko is often considered by the rest of her family and strangers to be highly protective of Seiichi, often appearing to "protect" him from other people. When Seiichi and his family went on a hiking trip, his cousin Shigeru falls off of a cliff, which results in him being in a comatose state, and Seiko begins to show a much darker, horrifying side to her son, often pushing the boundaries of overprotectiveness.
In various points throughout the manga, Seiichi has disturbing visions regarding his mother and the traumas that she had inflicted onto him, which only worsens after Seiko is sent to jail, and causes Seiichi to eventually murder a brain-damaged Shigeru, and even more so when Seiko disowns him during his trial.The Time skip has her now an elderly lady suffering demetia and spents her final moments with her son as her caretaker before passing away.
Appearnace[]
In stark contrast to her monstrous personality, Seiko is a beautiful woman with dark flowing hair, which serves as a reflection towards how she tries to present herself to others. Even though she is a cruel and vindictive guardian to her son, she tries to give off the appearance as a caring mother to avoid suspicion from others. In reality she looks like a middle aged woman and not like the beautiful woman that her son sees her as
As as child she had short hair and as an elderly lady she looks more frail with her mental and physical health declining.
Personality[]
| “ | Mommy...Mommy...Why did you have me? Did you, want a doll to play with? Was I, a doll? A doll that will always, feel sorry for you. Mommy, did you ever love me? Was I, just like everything else, just a piece of trash to you? That's right. I get it now. I remember...I remember everything now. I hate you. Mommy, I hate you. You're the thing I hate most in the entire world. | „ |
| ~ Seiichi's inner monologue, after remembering his mother's attempt to kill him. |
Based on descriptions of her youth, Seiko appears to have traits associated with sociopathy, feeling emotionally distant to everyone that she interacts with. As a result, she is unable to love or care for anyone, including her own son and other relatives. In certain instances, the people around her describe her as having a face that entails a hatred or indifference to everyone, including herself, which persuaded her into having a perpetual smile to mask her true feelings.
As a result of social pressure and a need to blend into society, Seiko appears to be a calm and happy woman with a smile on her face in almost all of her appearances, though this is merely to hide the much more horrifying side of her. Often times, as a means of getting what she wants, she will take advantage of the good will she still has in her community, and act like she feels guilty about the ways she treated her son, pretending to burst into tears as a means of guilt tripping others. She especially relies on this technique on her own son in order to keep him from living independently of her.
On the surface, Seiko does not appear to care for anybody but her son, as she always obsessively tries to protect her from others, actively preventing him from having a social life. When Seiichi is sent a love letter by a classmate, she orders for the both of them to tear up the letter, making sure that Seiichi stays, and doesn't leave her for the classmate.
Seiko's relationship with her son also appears to be somewhat incestuous in nature, as she is often times shown to attempt to touch parts of Seiichi's body, despite her son's clear insistence that she stops this at first, and on two different occasions kisses him on the lips. One such scene where this is demonstrated is where after they tear up the love letter, Seiko then proceeds to kiss Seiichi on the lips, and then cuddle in a suggestive way. One scene in the manga even shows the two of them laughing and cuddling while Seiichi's father looks in horror. There are also instances where she compares her son to her husband, especially when he leaves the household after several of Seiichi's violent outbursts.
In actuality, her possessiveness over Seiichi isn't out of genuine love or affection for him at all, but rather because she felt that having a child would give her a purpose in life, though she had also admitted that having Seiichi in her life proved to be more burdensome, willing to find a way to get rid of him for good. When Seiichi was just an infant, Seiko actually attempted to kill him by tossing him off of a hillside when she felt that he didn't fill up the empty void. This had also played a big factor into why Seiko had tossed Shigeru off of the cliff in the first place, disabling him for life. When she was holding onto him, she saw Seiichi's face and not Shigeru's, and by instinct tossed him off the cliff to let out what she felt she should have accomplished years ago.
When Seiichi is later tried for the death of Shigeru, which was entirely her doing as she goaded him into various violent behaviors, instead of feeling any guilt or remorse for her actions, she is only thankful that she can finally leave Seiichi, and gleefully disowns him.
At an old age, Seiko appears to act far more genial than she used to, expressing remorse for her actions towards Seiichi when he splashes hot tea in her face, though this could primarily be a result of her deteriorating mental health, showing clear signs of dementia and having to now rely on her son in her last moments.
How much of her psychotic, manipulative nature remained during that time is never elaborated on, though it is hinted at that she was still willing to take advantage of her son, best shown when she hands him a photo album that has pictures of the two of them, in order to toy with his emotions. In addition, she tries to justify her actions when she tells Seichi about her past, and described her attempt at killing her son as "beautiful". As the story progress Seiko shows that she had become more remosrful and explain her life on why she became the way she is showing in her final moments aware of her madness before passing away.
Biography[]
Past[]
According to Seiko, she grew up as a quiet child, seeing it as befitting her name. Despite this, she had admitted to feeling jealous of other girls her age who were able to speak their own thoughts. Over time, she came to enjoy "quietly looking all around".
She also had a younger sister named Etsuko, who her parents gave more of their time and attention towards due to her illnesses, though Seiko was completely emotionally distant from her.
In the main story[]
Seiko shows her abusive nature to her son into keeping him for her own benefit and tried to murder his cousin for annoying him.
Quotes[]
| “ | Seiichi. Don't get smart with me. Who do you think you are? You're just a kid. | „ |
| ~ Seiko after her son asks her why she is insecure. |
| “ | You don't need me...no one needs me...no one ever did...no one...e'eer...ee...e | „ |
| ~ Seiko biting her finger when her son stands up to her for the first time in is life. |
| “ | Remember how Shige was fooling around? I-I told him, "Stop it, that's dangerous!" He said, "What're you talkin' about? Mom was right, you're so overprotective!" And then, Shige lost his balance...and I...I ran toward him... | „ |
| ~ Seiko gaslighting her son into believing that she didn't push Shigeo off the cliff. |
| “ | Seiichi: ...Mommy...can I...do anything? Seiko: You? What could you do? Look at that face. Just like your daddy. |
„ |
| ~ Seiko to her son. |
| “ | Dear Sei, When you were born, I thought hard about your name. Choosing a name is very important. Your name may even decide your whole life. The "Sei" in our names means "quiet". Ever since I was a child, I felt I had to be quiet because my name was Seiko. I was jealous of the lively girls who could just say whatever they wanted. But I like where I am very much, quietly looking all around. I want to quietly give you all my love. That's why I gave you the "Sei" from my name along with the "Ichi" from your daddy's Ichiro's. Please let me keep watching over you forever. Love, Mommy |
„ |
| ~ A letter that Seiko sent to Seiichi. |
| “ | I quit...being a mother. | „ |
| ~ Seiko during the trial surrounding her son's murder of Shigeru. |
| “ | I was...killed. But...I'm sure that you were killed, too. By everything that happened to you. When you're killed, destroyed liked that...you end up killing others, too. | „ |
| ~ Seiichi after hearing his mother's backstory. |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- In a letter that Seiko sends to her son, she reveals that both of their names share the kanji "Sei", which means "quiet", befitting both characters personalities, Seiko in how she holds back her true colors and her abusive nature, and Seiichi in how he is unable to communicate his issues to others due to her mother's frequent gaslighting.
- It should also be noted that Seiko gave her son the name "Seiichi" as a means of naming him after her husband, Ichiro (Ichi for short), further highlighting her incestuous relationship with him. Seiichi's name can therefore roughly means "quiet Ichi".
- Shuzo Oshimi had stated in interviews that he had partially based Seiko's character, as well as several of the manga's events, off of his own mother, as well as his own experiences with her, especially an instance where she interfered with his interactions with one of his first crushes. He even stating that he intended for the story to be written in an auto-biographical format. However, many of the other events in the manga are fictional.