Character Relationship Map: Ichiko

Characters

• Ichiko Kawanabe (played by Hana Sugisaki) — protagonist

  The protagonist, a traumatized young woman who raised her terminally ill sister Tsukiko. After falsely assuming Tsukiko’s identity to attend school and surviving sexual abuse and accidental homicide,...

• Yoshinori Hasegawa (played by Ryuya Wakaba) — protagonist

  Ichiko’s devoted partner of three years who proposed marriage. Upon discovering her true identity and past through detective Goto and her mother, he chooses to understand and protect her rather than a...

• Hidekazu Kita (played by Yuki Morinaga) — supporting

  Ichiko’s former classmate who witnessed her crime, helped dispose of the body, and later harbored a crush on her. He provides her temporary shelter, learns about her past, and ultimately accompanies h...

• Masao Koizumi (played by Daichi Watanabe) — supporting

  A social worker and Natsumi’s lover who became a frequent visitor. He exploited his position to sexually abuse Ichiko during her high school years, a traumatic event that directly leads to his acciden...

• Shuji Goto (played by Shohei Uno) — supporting

  A detective investigating the discovery of a skeletonized body. He reveals to Hasegawa that Ichiko’s assumed identity is false and guides him toward uncovering the tragic truth behind Tsukiko’s death...

• Natsumi Kawanabe (played by Yuri Nakamura) — supporting

  Ichiko’s mother who struggled with poverty and a sick child. To protect her daughter’s future, she buried Tsukiko secretly, falsified Ichiko’s identity for schooling, and later lived in hiding under a...

• Kiki Yoshida (played by Seina Nakata) — supporting

  An aspiring pastry chef who took in a homeless Ichiko as a live-in newspaper delivery girl. She encouraged Ichiko’s dream of opening a cake shop and assisted Hasegawa in retracing Ichiko’s recent step...

• Fuyuko Kitami (played by Ruka Ishikawa) — supporting

  A depressed young woman who contacted Ichiko online for assistance with suicide. She visits Kita to find Ichiko and accompanies him to the beach, where her death is later confirmed alongside another b...

Canonical Relationships

Family, romantic, and professional connections based on plot evidence.

• Yoshinori Hasegawa → Shuji Goto (Professional Investigation Contact) — A detective-driven information relationship that redirects Hasegawa's search.

  Goto visits Hasegawa, reveals that Ichiko Kawabe does not exist, and guides him toward the truth about the skeletonized body.

• Ichiko Kawanabe → Yoshinori Hasegawa (Romantic Partner) — Ichiko's most stable romantic relationship, threatened by the revelation of her hidden identity.

  Ichiko and Hasegawa begin living together and remain happily together for three years before he proposes marriage.

• Natsumi Kawanabe → Masao Koizumi (Romantic Lover) — An intimate relationship that becomes entangled with exploitation and family crisis.

  Koizumi, the social worker assigned to the family, has an affair with Natsumi and becomes a frequent visitor to her apartment.

• Ichiko Kawanabe → Natsumi Kawanabe (Family Daughter) — A strained mother-daughter bond shaped by poverty, secrecy, caregiving, and shared guilt.

  Natsumi is Ichiko's mother, and they live together while caring for the younger daughter.

Story Dynamics

Alliances, conflicts, and narrative interactions that evolve throughout the story.

• Ichiko Kawanabe → Fuyuko Kitami (Narrative Online Suicide Contact) — A disturbing connection showing Ichiko's continued movement through hidden identities and desperate people.

  Kitami says she met Ichiko through social media and believes Ichiko could help her kill herself.

• Hidekazu Kita → Fuyuko Kitami (Alliance Search Companions) — Their brief cooperation leads directly to the film's final tragedy.

  Kita hears Kitami's request for Ichiko, understands the situation, and drives with her to the seaside town where Ichiko is waiting.

• Hidekazu Kita → Yoshinori Hasegawa (Alliance Shared Protectors) — Formerly separate men become aligned through their concern for Ichiko.

  Kita and Hasegawa both state that they love Ichiko and want to help her after discussing her past.

• Yoshinori Hasegawa → Kiki Yoshida (Alliance Information Allies) — They cooperate to reconstruct Ichiko's movements and identity.

  Hasegawa visits the newspaper store and Yoshida to retrace Ichiko's earlier life after she disappears.

• Ichiko Kawanabe → Kiki Yoshida (Social Supportive Friends) — Yoshida offers Ichiko practical support and a hopeful future-oriented friendship.

  Yoshida takes in homeless Ichiko as a live-in newspaper delivery girl and encourages her dream of opening a cake shop.

• Ichiko Kawanabe → Hidekazu Kita (Social Former Classmate) — A connection rooted in school life, secrecy, attraction, and long-term knowledge of her past.

  Kita is Ichiko's classmate and spies on her after she accidentally kills Koizumi.

• Ichiko Kawanabe → Masao Koizumi (Conflict Sexual Abuser) — A traumatic abusive relationship that directly precedes Koizumi's accidental death.

  After losing his job and beginning to drink during the day, Koizumi sexually abuses Ichiko when she is a high school student.

Story Analysis

A traumatized woman repeatedly constructs new identities while the buried consequences of family desperation and abuse pursue her.

Plot Progression

1. A Childhood Without Records — Ichiko grows up in poverty without a formal family register. Her household is overwhelmed by illness, caregiving, and adult secrecy.
2. Burial and Borrowed Identity — A devastating death leads Natsumi and Koizumi to hide a body on Mount Ikoma. Ichiko is then forced to live publicly under another identity.
3. Abuse and Violent Escape — Koizumi's abuse turns Ichiko's hidden life into a direct threat. His accidental death, witnessed by Kita, sends Ichiko into homelessness.
4. Dreams of an Ordinary Life — Yoshida gives Ichiko work and a dream of opening a cake shop. Ichiko later builds a happy domestic life with Hasegawa and receives a marriage proposal.
5. The Past Reclaims Her — The discovery of a skeletonized body exposes Ichiko's false identity. Hasegawa, Goto, Natsumi, and Kita reconstruct the truth before a final seaside tragedy.