Everything you need to know about The Terror: Infamy on AMC

Kiki Sukezane as Yuko – The Terror. Photo Credit: Ed Araquel/AMC.

Understanding the Japanese undead and the Obon Festival

According to Japanese tradition, humans have a soul called a reikon. Upon death, the reikon departs the body and inhabits a kind of purgatory where it waits for the proper ceremonies to be performed so it can join its family ancestors in the afterlife. If the rituals are performed properly, then the reikon will serve as a family protector and return during each year’s Obon Festival to accept the gratitude of their descendants.

This familiar transition from life to afterlife can be disrupted in a number of ways: the person dies by sudden violence, the ceremonies are botched or their soul is simply consumed by intense emotions like revenge, rage or sorrow. The reikon can then transform into a yurei, an entity that can forge a pathway back into the living universe, obsessed with fulfilling the last thoughts of their former physical selves.

The yūrei spirit remains in the living realm and continues haunting until it can be laid to rest by either the resolution of its emotional issues or until a proper burial ritual can be performed.

And guess what? The Terror: Infamy premieres in the U.S. on August 12 for a very important reason. That’s the day before the beginning of the 500-year-old Obon Festival, the three-day long Japanese holiday following the Buddhist tradition of celebrating and honoring family ancestors. Family members trek to the cemeteries to clean and decorate their forebears’ graves, while the reikon, the ancestral spirits, return to Earth to contemplate their family’s household affairs.