Asian Drama

According to the introductory note, "Ju-On" is a curse left behind by someone who dies in a powerful rage -- a part haunting, part supernatural virus that infects anyone who comes into contact with it. More than just the premise, that's the plot in a nutshell.

Volunteer social worker Rika (Megumi Okina) stumbles across the curse when she finds an almost catatonic old woman in a shambles of a home, a spooky little boy with a froggy voice and a veritable black hole of a phantom that seems to be sucking the life from the old lady. The story then jumps back and forth along the timeline in a series of chapters named for the characters haunted and hunted by the unsettled souls.

The series featured many firsts for the franchise, including the start of the story in a movie rather than the series proper. Ultraman Cosmos: The First Contact was the prequel to the series and took place ten years before episode 1. In it, 9-year-old Musashi Haruno encounters the being of light, Ultraman Cosmos, and befriends him as the two confront a threat to Earth.

Ten years later, Musashi, now 19 and a member of Team EYES, once again encounters the being of light from his childhood. The dark being Chaos Header has appeared and is corrupting the monsters of Earth, making them become ravenous and violent creatures that threaten humanity. Through Musashi's will to see the beasts and humans live in peace, Cosmos grants him a new power that will allow him to heal the corrupted creatures.