The World YAMIZUKAN (2017)

 

Director: Noboru Iguchi

Screenplay: Noboru Iguchi, Oolongta Yoshida, Takashi Iizuka and Uuronta Yoshida

Voice Cast: Takumi Saitou as the Storyteller

A Night of a Thousand Horror (Shows)/A 1000 Anime Crossover

 

The really obvious aspect, if surprising thing to learn of, that needs to be brought up is that the director is that Noboru Iguchi behind The Machine Girl (2008), who has been a collaborator with the studio behind this micro-series a few times, studio ILCA. The Yamishibai: Japanese Ghost Stories franchise is one of their longest (and ongoing) works, over multi series adapting short horror stories told in a way based on the kamishibai method of story-telling, street storytellers who used illustrated miniature stages, with YAMIZUKAN being very much the more explicitly inspired by Western (especially American) horror tropes. The best way to approach this series too, for the best experience, is to not try to take it all  seriously, as some of the plot twists in this work are clearly ridiculous on purpose. Still gleefully macabre, there are however times where this feels like a send-up on the genre, and to those who can appreciate even the plot twists that come out of nowhere, this will be a worthwhile experience just in terms of the experimentation in the varying animation and illustration styles brought in too. Even live action to really catch viewers off guard.

 

For the full review, follow the blog link HERE.