review of the anime Yami Shibai
Yami Shibai (Japanese Subtitled Japanese Ghost Stories) presents us with a dozen episodes each season, each one dealing with a supernatural fact. Initially strictly related to Japanese folklore, the stories presented (by an external narrator appearing at the beginning of episodes) have diversified to narrate urban legends or supernatural dramas in general.
Each episode has a duration of less than five minutes and to do so goes straight to the point. It also mixes 90% of the animation scenes and 10% of the live images (in the style of the recent anime Kagewani). The presence of live scenes has also improved with the seasons, thanks to clearer images and clearer relevance. Each episode thus presents distinct stories and characters, thanks to a precise introduction at the beginning of each narrative.
What has unfortunately been degraded since the first season (from my memories and from my point of view) is the end of each episode, which has since become much more open to most episodes. Open because, for the most part, we do not know what happens to the main character (neither what happens to him nor what is bad for him). This type of conclusion can be appreciable when used sparingly, but too many episodes without real ending is a way of dealing with stories that leaves an impression of unfinished. No morals to remember nor elements that can concretize the dramatic peak that arrives at each end of narrative.
As for the graphics, they have greatly improved. We are not going to say that the scenes are full of details, far from it, but they seem more fluid, despite a deliberately choppy animation: there are few images per second, or even per minutes, Be that vehicle series.
The episodes look very easily, thanks in particular to their duration but also through the anthological character of the series. I think that sensitive souls will not be fans of the work because the horrifying aspect is more than present, playing with pleasure on the shadows, legends of childhood and the small adventures of everyday life (as a " For example, finding a shoe in a taxi can cause you to die the same evening because of a vengeful spirit, which quickly fuels a paranoia if you are not comfortable with this style of production. So far no jumpscares or other brutal elements to make you sweat out of fear, just a quick and effective narration to watch before going to sleep.
Verdict :6/10
I hope you like this post! You can follow me @redanime so you don't miss my future posts.