A mysterious, white-clad man drops a long-haired woman into a well, a chilling scene that echoes through the film’s eerie atmosphere. The well itself is crowded with other women, all with flowing hair and wearing nightgowns, creating a haunting tableau that hints at a legend ready to unfold.
Thirteen years after the original, two suicides spark an investigation by Detective Koiso and his partner into a string of mysterious deaths. Each victim dies after a video plays on a device, and just before the end a voice whispers, > You're not the one. < This ominous cue nudges the case toward a cursed creation by the online artist Kiyoshi Kashiwada, brought to life on screen by Yusuke Yamamoto.
At the center of the mystery is Akane Ayukawa, Satomi Ishihara, a compassionate homeroom teacher whose former pupil died years ago. Akane learns that the schoolgirl’s best friend, Risa, had begun digging into the cursed video before it vanished from the internet. The trail leaves behind an enigmatic Error 404 message, a clue that triggers playback when a viewer is alone. Within the video, Kashiwada seemingly allows himself to be killed by a long-haired woman, a haunting tableau that foreshadows the perilous forces at work. The spirit warns Akane that she is “the one,” a revelation that sends ripples through their world and leads to a dramatic confrontation when the computer screen becomes a doorway to consequence. > You’re not the one. <
Meanwhile, Koiso and his partner uncover more than just a haunting: Kashiwada’s apartment is a curated, almost artificial space, its wallpaper and furnishings suggesting a meticulously constructed set. The landlady remarks that everything feels superficial, a motive that feeds the sense of manufactured reality surrounding the case. Akane, it turns out, is not only connected to the past but also to a dangerous present: she is a telekinetic who once used her powers to protect her high school from a violent attacker, a past that earned her the label of freak rather than admiration. This power becomes crucial as the story advances.
Takanori Andō, Koji Seto, a boy who admires Akane, grows into a supportive boyfriend and ally. The video’s pull becomes personal when it targets Akane and their home; as they search for safety, multiple screens flash the ghostly woman, and a towering LCD display truck on the street casts a giant image of the specter that abruptly snatches Takanori away.
Detective Koiso resists the idea of a haunted video, even as evidence mounts that the original broadcast killed its first viewers and the site’s employees. He ventures to Kashiwada’s apartment to uncover the truth and finds a wallpapered mosaic of white butterflies that hides notes and history, a symbolic map of the killer’s fixation. The landlady’s observation that the place is artificial only deepens the mystery.
Akane and Koiso eventually head to the old Yamamura household, which no longer hosts the inn but sits beside a derelict mall next to the well. A grotesque Sadako facsimile materializes, attacking Koiso, and the women once thrown into the well become imperfect versions of Sadako who swarm and ambush Akane. Yet Akane’s resolve holds; she confronts the threat with her telekinetic might and, amid the chaos, she locates Takanori trapped within a mobile phone at the center of the ruin. A horde of imperfect Sadako copies converge, but Akane’s fear triggers a decisive blast of power that decimates them all.
The battle culminates on the roof, where the “real” Sadako waits. Sadako proclaims that they are the same, a claim Akane denies, arguing that she fights to protect people while Sadako seeks destruction. In a self-sacrificing moment, Akane trades herself for Takanori’s life. Sadako merges with Akane, her hair wrapping around and burying Akane beneath a mass of spectral strands.
Takanori escapes when he destroys the phone, but the roof crumbles and Akane reappears on the floor, alive but covered in Sadako’s hair. The mid-credits tease hints at a world still artificial as Kashiwada’s landlady moves away, her whispered question echoing: > Isn't it all artificial? < In the post-credits scene, the video’s intro replays with a chilling new line: > Here we go again <.
