Kazuhiko is a minor character who appears in When Marnie Was There directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi of Studio Ghibli.
He is a childhood friend of Marnie. Kazuhiko was first seen at Marnie's parents party at the Marsh house dancing with Marnie. The two of them spent time together and was always loyal and supportive of her, such as when he helped Marnie get out of the silo, while she sat on the floor crying in fetal position.
Sometime after reaching adulthood, he and Marnie moved to Sapporo and got married -- Marnie gave birth to a daughter (whom she and Kazuhiko named Emily) about two years after she and Kazuhiko got married.
Kazuhiko passed away unexpectedly sometime during his daughter's childhood, and Marnie was so devastated by his death that she not only had herself committed to a sanatorium, but also had their daughter sent off to a boarding school so she could be properly cared for, as the family apparently didn't have any friends or relatives that could (or were willing) to take their daughter in.
Emily didn't come back to live at home until she was 13 but she was (sort of understandably) furious with Marnie for basically abandoning her and the mother and daughter were never able to truly reconcile. In fact, after Emily reached adulthood and basically ran away from home after having one last argument with her mother to run off and marry the man who got her pregnant, the next time that Marnie heard anything about her and Kazuhiko's daughter was when she got a call informing her that Emily and her husband had been killed in a car accident.
This ultimately led to Marnie assuming guardianship of her and Kazuhiko's only grandchild, Anna, who was still basically just a baby at the time. Marnie vowed to try and give Anna the kind of life that she herself had been unable to have and had been unable to give to her and Kazuhiko's daughter, Emily -- and during their time together, Marnie would sometimes tell Anna stories about her childhood and various stories about Kazuhiko, including when he had saved her from the silo after she had gotten locked up in there for an entire night.
While Marnie clearly loved Anna and did take very good care of her, Marnie herself ended up passing away about a year after Emily and her husband did (when Anna would've only been around 2 or so). And similar to when Emily had been sent off to boarding school, Anna was sent off to an orphanage when it became apparent that there were no other friends or relatives that could (or were willing) to take her in. Anna resided at the orphanage until she was adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Sasaki at the age of 5.
Anna eventually learned of the story of Marnie and Kazuhiko from Hisako, a longtime resident of Kissakibetsu (a rural seaside town in Hokkaidō that Anna had been sent to for the summer by her adoptive parents) who also happened to be an old friend of both Marnie and Kazuhiko from when they were kids. When Anna's adoptive mother, Yoriko, arrived at the end of the summer to bring her daughter back to their hometown of Sapporo, she ends up giving her an old photograph that she had carried around with her during her time at the orphanage, claiming that it had belonged to her biological grandmother. When Anna notices that it's of the marsh house (the house that Marnie had grown up in), it ultimately makes her realize that Marnie and Kazuhiko were her biological grandparents (and that Emily and her husband were her biological parents).
Etymology[]
- The name Kazuhiko means "harmony, peace" (和) (kazu) and "boy, prince" (彦) (hiko).
Trivia[]
- Other than Hisako stating that Kazuhiko had died of an illness, it's never fully explained how Kazuhiko died (i.e., what illness he ultimately died of).
- We never hear anything about the relatives on Kazuhiko's side of the family, including Emily's paternal grandparents (i.e., Kazuhiko's parents) or any of Kazuhiko's potential siblings (assuming that he wasn't an only child like Marnie was).