Movie

Room Laundering

Name: Room Laundering
Released: 2018

2018 • Unknown

Woke Score

1.4

out of 10

Plot

Yakumo Miko's father died when she was 5 years old. The next year, Miko mother went missing. Miko then moved in with her grandmother, but, at the age of 18, Miko's grandmother passes away. She shuts herself away from others. One day, her uncle from her mother's side, Ikazuzi Goro appears. He sets up a place for Miko to live and also a place for her to do part-time work. Her part-time job is "room laundering." After starting her job, Miko sees ghosts. She struggles to solve the worries of the ghosts who are staying in rooms. Ikazuzi Goro tells Miko that her mother was able to see ghosts which affected her. Miko asks him to find her mother.

Overall Series Review

A charming and idiosyncratic coming-of-age story, *Room Laundering* follows the deeply introverted Yakumo Miko, an 18-year-old with a supernatural gift. She takes a job living in apartments where a tragic death has occurred—a process called "room laundering"—to remove the stigma for future tenants. Her true work becomes helping the trapped ghosts find peace by solving their unfinished business, ranging from failed music careers to a murder. The film centers on Miko's journey to overcome her isolation and trauma stemming from her mother's disappearance and her family's unique ability to see the dead. It is a story about the vital importance of connection and emotional acceptance.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics1/10

The film is a Japanese production focused entirely on personal trauma and supernatural ability. Characters are judged solely by their emotional state and actions towards each other, whether living or dead. The narrative does not utilize race, intersectional hierarchy, or the vilification of any ethnic group to drive the plot, adhering to universal meritocracy and personal journey.

Oikophobia1/10

The movie is set within Japanese society and deals with a cultural/legal phenomenon regarding 'stigmatized properties' (*jiko bukken*). It does not frame Japanese culture or ancestry as fundamentally corrupt or racist. The film is a story about finding one's place within a familial structure and society, treating the institution of family, even a fragmented one, as a protective force.

Feminism3/10

Miko is the central figure, a young woman with a special supernatural gift who is instrumental in resolving all the plot's mysteries. Her uncle is portrayed as a 'sketchy hustler' who exploits Miko's gift, and her male neighbor is described as a 'bumbling sap,' creating a dynamic where the female lead is competent and emotionally vital while the key male figures are flawed or incompetent. However, the story is primarily a coming-of-age narrative about overcoming personal isolation, not an explicit anti-male lecture or anti-natal message.

LGBTQ+1/10

The narrative centers on an emotionally isolated young woman and her relationships with her family (uncle, grandmother, missing mother) and a male neighbor who is romantically interested in her. There is no presence of alternative sexual ideology, deconstruction of the nuclear family concept, or focus on gender theory as a theme in the film.

Anti-Theism1/10

The film involves the supernatural with its use of ghosts and the afterlife, but this functions as a tool for Miko's emotional and psychological healing. There is no element of hostility towards organized religion, nor is a specific religion (such as Christianity) depicted as the root of evil. The morality driving the plot is transcendent, as Miko's role is to help the ghosts find objective closure and peace.