Netflix’s ‘Re/Member’ Ending Explained: Why Does Asuka Appear in the Newspaper in The End Credits Scene?

Re/Member on Netflix is the perfect thing to watch if you’re looking for a fun, campy, scary movie this weekend. This Japanese teen horror flick, which was released in Japan in 2022 but added to Netflix this week, has everything you could want: time loops, a funny-looking monster, romance, found family, and even a fun-filled trip to the beach. And yes, it is based on a manga, thanks for asking.

The manga in question was originally called Karada Sagashi (which translates to “Body Search” in English), by Welzard, with art by Katsutoshi Murase, and was published in 17 volumes that concluded in 2017. The 2022 movie was adapted by Welzard and Murase, and directed by Eiichirô Hasumi, and while it’s hardly high art, it is a lot of fun. The concept revolves around six teenagers who are trapped in a time loop together, and must put together a dismembered body—or, re-member the body, if you will—before they are all brutally murdered by a monster.

It’s a cool premise, but the execution can be confusing at times. Plus, the Re/Member movie comes with a post-credits scene with a plot twist that needs explanation. Read on for the Re/Member ending explained, including a breakdown of the meaning of that Re/Member end credits scene.

Re/Member plot summary:

The movie opens with a little girl fleeing from a mysterious man with an axe. The murderer eventually catches the little girl, and, presumably, chops her up.

A credits sequence consisting of Russian newspapers, tells us this little girl was murdered in 1947 and that there was a “body search” for her remains. Then we see footage of a Russian prisoner being interrogated, who says, “They acted as a substitute for her, becoming her sacrifice. And they disappeared without a trace.” Then we see some spooky Russian book that reads, “It repeats the same day forever. It never stops until all body parts are found.”

Cut to the present day. Asuka Morisaki (played by Kanna Hashimoto) is a shy, lonely high school student who feels invisible to her peers. Also, she is seeing creepy visions, like a bunch of bloody hands come out of the creepy well at her school. But she manages to come out of her shell when she is sucked into a time loop with five other students. Every day, the six teens relive the day July 5, in which they have a perfectly normal day at school, and are then transported to their school’s chapel at night, where there is an empty coffin with the imprint of a body. There, they are brutally murdered, one by one, by a monster they call the Red Person, which looks like a little girl covered in blood. Obviously, this must be the same little girl from the opening of the film.

One of the students, Shota (Kotarô Daigo), the nerd, quickly deduces that the teens are trapped in a “Body Search,” and must find all the body parts and return them to the coffin to break the spell. It’s gruesome, but the teens do start finding the body parts around the school, and, thankfully, the time loop saves their progress. Also, the kids become friends in the process. They even spend a fun day at the beach together, much like like the stereotypical “beach episode” of an anime show. (Remember, this is based on a manga!)

Eventually, every part of the body has been recovered except for the head. The teens decide to search the house where the little girl died in 1947, hoping to find clues as to where the head might be. They find the little girl’s doll hidden in the wall, and, though they don’t see it, the ghost of the little girl appears, too. Then the doll disappears. That night in the chapel, instead of the Red Person, the teens are confronted by a new terrifying monster. It’s tall, lanky, and sort of looks like a hairy Gumby. They all die that night, like always, but one of the girls, Rie, is eaten by the monster.

When they wake up the next day on July 5 again, things are different. Most notably, Rie is not there. No one outside of the time loop has heard of Rie. The teens determine that, by finding the doll, they woke up this new monster, and if they get eaten by the monster, they will be erased from existence. So, the pressure is on to find that head and break the curse.

Re/Member ending explained:

Asuka, our protagonist, confronts the school librarian, who has been acting suspiciously. It turns out the librarian once did a Body Search of his own, but he can’t really remember it. Because, if you complete the Body Search, you will forget you ever did it. And that means all of those meaningful friendships that were forged will be forgotten.

Asuka tearfully tells her love interest, Takahiro, that she is going to forget him if they succeed. Takahiro gives Asuka his tie clip, and promises that he will find his way back to her. Asuka shares her theory that the little girls’ head is hidden inside the head of the new monster. She’s right! The teens cut open the monster, and out falls the head. Everyone but Asuka is eaten that night, but, thankfully, she manages to get the head in the coffin.

The next day—July 6—everyone is alive and back to normal. But no one remembers what happened. On the news, Asuka sees that the remains of a human skull were discovered by a construction worker in the creepy well at her school. Though none of the teens remember being friends, they are all selected to be on a school committee together. While walking to their meeting, Asuka drops Takahiro’s tie clip. Takahiro picks it up and suddenly seems to remember everything. He runs to Asuka and gives her back the pin, telling her he has found her. Asuka smiles, as if she, too, remembers. And with that, the movie ends.

…But wait, there’s more!

Is there a Re/Member post-credits scene?

Yes. At the very end of the Re/Member credits, there is an after-credits scene that suggests the story is not yet over. The camera returns to a shot of the creepy well at the school and plummets down into the well’s depths. At the bottom of the well, there is a crumpled-up newspaper with a headline that reads “2nd grade girl brutally murdered in vacation home.” It’s the girl who was murdered, whose body the teens had to find.

But then the headline magically transforms in front of our eyes. The new headline reads, “2nd grade girl brutally murdered within amusement park grounds.” The picture in the paper of the girl transforms, too, from “Miko Onoyama (Age: 8)” to “Asuka Morisaki (Age: 8).”

What?! Asuka Morisaki is the name of the protagonist!

What is the Re/Member end credits scene meaning?

So why is Asuka’s name in the newspaper? She wasn’t brutally murdered at age 8, because she grew up to be a lonely teenager who helped break a time loop curse… right?

Or was she? Is it possible Asuka was a ghost the whole time? After all, she was able to she visions that the other students weren’t able to see, like maggots on the picture of Miko Onoyama in the school library. And she spoke of feeling invisible after a nasty rumor started that she was faking the illness that kept her out of school. “After I got better and went back to school, nobody would even talk to me anymore,” she told Takahiro. Is that because kids suck, or because Asuka is a ghost girl!?

Or is it just that Asuka is now cursed, in the same way that the little girl named Miko was cursed? The movie doesn’t specify, obviously hoping to intrigue viewers into tuning in for a possible sequel. But my money is on Asuka being a ghost. There’s no news on a sequel yet, and the manga, Karada Sagashi Kai, came to a conclusion in 2017. For now, we’ll just have to wait and see.