Nobody Knows - Ending Explained

"Nobody Knows" follows a linear, tragic trajectory that culminates in the death of the youngest sibling, Yuki. After their mother, Keiko, leaves for good, the children's initial resilience slowly gives way to desperation. The money runs out, and utilities are shut off. Akira is forced to ask for money from men who are possibly his siblings' fathers, only to be met with rejection and denial.

The film's devastating turning point occurs when five-year-old Yuki, trying to reach for something, falls from a stool and dies. This event, handled with Kore-eda's signature restraint, is the ultimate consequence of their neglect. Faced with an impossible situation and terrified of being discovered and separated, Akira and his friend Saki buy treats for Yuki and place her body in a suitcase—the same kind of suitcase she was smuggled into the apartment in. They travel by train and monorail to a field near Haneda Airport, where planes take off and land, and bury her in a shallow grave. The act is quiet, sorrowful, and devoid of ceremony, underscoring the children's profound isolation.

The hidden meaning revealed upon completion is the crushing irony of the title. It's not that truly "nobody knows"; it's that nobody wants to know. The convenience store workers who give them leftover food and the landlady who eventually sees the state of the apartment are aware something is deeply wrong, yet their intervention is minimal or nonexistent. The ending does not offer catharsis or resolution. The remaining three children simply return to their apartment and continue their existence. The final shot of them walking together signifies that their bond has endured, but their future is utterly uncertain, and their trauma is now a permanent part of their silent, shared world.

While the film is largely interpreted as a critique of societal indifference, some analyses focus more on the mother, Keiko. Instead of seeing her as purely selfish, an alternative reading views her as a tragic figure trapped by societal expectations. In a society that can be unforgiving to single mothers with multiple children out of wedlock, her abandonment can be seen as a desperate, albeit indefensible, attempt to start over and conform to social norms to survive. This interpretation doesn't excuse her actions but frames them within a broader context of social pressure and lack of support systems.

Another interpretation focuses on the film's ending. After Yuki's death, the remaining siblings are shown walking together, and later riding the monorail. Some view this not as a sign of hope, but as the continuation of their bleak, invisible existence. They have absorbed the ultimate tragedy and simply carry on, not because they have overcome it, but because they have no other choice. In this reading, the ending is profoundly pessimistic, suggesting that their resilience is merely a prelude to more silent suffering, as they have now crossed a line from which there is no return to normalcy.