Have you heard about how much I love Japanese horror? Well, it should be no surprise at this point to continue on with one of my favorite shows, Theatre of Darkness: Yamishibai. Based around the Japanese art of Kamishibai (street theatre storytelling via paper cutouts), Yamishibai takes that same practice and translates it into 5-minute episodes about something scary. This anthology series is one of my favorites and is incredibly addicting! Let’s jump back in and review the episodes in Season 5.
Wrong Number
A woman keeps receiving strange phone calls about picking up her stepson, only to find a dangerous ghost at her door. It’s hard to like this main character, but I hardly feel like she deserved getting, well, whatever happened to her at the end. A simple story that sounds rather like something you’d hear at a sleepover. Not too scary, and the realization that her stepson was drawing pictures of his spectral “mama” was a little cheesy.
Give It to Me
An office woman meets a girl at the park who keeps asking for things. Starts off good enough and slowly gets more eerie. What does this little girl want? We grow more and more suspicious as the business woman does. Scare wasn’t the best, but the work-up was fantastic.
The Crow Children
A woman and her daughter have a run-in with a creepy lady in town. A woman always dressed in black and followed by crows is a cool concept. I would much rather see an extended episode after finding out she lures children to their deaths with shapeshifting corvids.
Copycat
Two college-bound women fight over one’s inability to make a life of her own. I can only imagine what it’s like to have someone copy you through everything you’ve ever done in life — how annoying it must be! This episode wasn’t scary at all, but there’s a bit of a sad ending where we see the copycat kill herself because the main girl died. Sad she can’t even have that to herself.
Shadows of Women
A woman becomes convinced her husband is cheating on her, only to find it’s a gaggle of shadow women. Homegirl is crazy and needs to get a hold of herself. I’m just wondering how she didn’t see this group of shadow women fawning over her man until now! A little twist with this one — the man is probably the one who made the women this way in the first place. Very sus!
Giveback-sama
Another urban legend, I love this stuff! A teen whose boyfriend broke up with her for her best friend is so sad about it, she tries to call a demon to get her boyfriend back. Well, it works, but at a dire price. When she doesn’t finish the ritual, it comes back to get her too. I love urban legends, so of course, this one was really fun to watch.
Hide-and-Seek
When a boy disobeys his grandmother and plays hide-and-seek in an abandoned house, he is cursed to stay there forever, forgotten by his family. I always feel a little bad for kids that get caught up in messes because they’re just kids, y’know? The giant witch eyeball and being turned into a straw doll was what did it for me. Poor grandma, too.
The Neighbors
If you’ve ever wondered about your neighbors, this is a warning to mind your own business. After moving into a new apartment, a woman investigates scratching noises coming from the next apartment and soon finds herself in deep trouble. It kind of reminded me some of the deaths in Ju-on, especially the weird noises coming from the next apartment over. Teaches you not to be nosy, for sure.
If You Want to See Ghosts
Another warning for those who gossip. A girl tells everyone the secret to seeing ghosts, but now wishes she hadn’t. I can understand wanting to know a secret and then getting caught up in the repercussions of telling it (can’t everyone?). While not the most terrifying to watch, it certainly is scary to imagine a Ring-like curse spreading because you couldn’t keep your mouth shut.
Flower Reading
Imagine playing “he loves me, he loves me not” but with death. A man meets a girl playing this game at a bus stop, telling fortunes about mundane things. After predicting what will happen next, the man sees his wife, who we find out is dead. More of a cute, sad story than a scary one.
I’m the Only One
A woman obsessed with her beautiful hair happens upon a scissor-wielding ghost in the mirror. While the ghost itself isn’t to bad, the fact that the woman can’t see what is slowly happening to her until it’s too late is scary. I will say though that not knowing the ghost’s endgame plan after taking over the woman’s life is bothering me. Like, are you going to go to work for her now, too?
The Last Bus
A woman complaining about her life falls asleep on a bus and is visited by the ghost of her childhood friend who committed suicide for bullying. While I think you should stick up for your friends — or anyone being bullied — it’s kind of messed up to fight for the same thing to happen to someone else, especially after all this time. Not my favorite episode.
Seductress
A mantis creature disguised as a woman leads men to their death, and a detective gets caught up in the case. A bit different than the usual episode set-up: the detective is shown to be dreaming as the Kamishibaiya (our favorite series narrator) walks past. The change in format was fun, and I wouldn’t mind seeing an extended or Part II episode.
With the exception of the two urban legend-type stories, this season had a lot more mid-level episodes. Not bad at all, just something I noticed. We get a terrific intro to each episode with the smiling-masked Kamishibaya, and an ending song that makes me feel like I’m watching Toonami at 4 am. What more can I ask for?
What did you think of Season 5 of Yamishibai? Let us know in the comments!
Theatre of Darkness: Yamishibai is currently available to stream on Crunchyroll. Make sure to read my reviews on Season 1, Season 2, Season 3, and Season 4!
