Yamishibai: Japanese Ghost Stories 3rd Season

hamletsmage Apr 10, 2016

3

If you're wanting to watch Yamishibai season 3, you've probably seen the other two seasons. You don't really have to, since each episode is rather stand alone, but I will be referencing the other two seasons in this review. At least, a little.  Story: Each episode is a story, usually something akin to an urban legend. I would say that season 3 of Yamishibai has more grotesque monster stories than the previous two seasons. In fact, just about every story ends with some sort of horrible creature being the cause of the terror. As with the other two seasons, there's a lot of open questions, but urban legends don't need answers, right? The other main difference is that the story teller has changed to a small boy drawing in a journal.  Animation: It's still the same paper scroll type animation style. Which is rather hit or miss with the viewer. I personally felt the scroll style didn't work as well with the stories in this season. I don't know if it was just how the monsters were portrayed or what, but I felt a different animation style would have worked better.  Sound: The sound effects were spot on. This is more about the ED, which didn't suit the mood of the anime at all. Seriously? Rapping disembodied mask things? That's what the ED is? It just...doesn't mesh.  Characters: There's only 1 reoccuring character, the boy who is drawing the stories. Everyone else is cannon-fodder for the monsters. As it should be. But unlike some of the tales in the first two seasons which had some character development, this one felt bland in terms of characters.  Overall: I think the studio is running out of ideas. 

ironsakura Jan 3, 2021

6

Story: Basically 13 short little stories based on Japanese urban legends or myths. In my opinon, this season is not as good as season 1, but better than season 2. In season 1, every episode was scary, creepy and/or disturbing. This season was just weird. A few creepy/scary episodes, but most were just gross and/or wierd. Also, in most of them it seems like it's a girl or young woman that is the victim, not sure if that has any significance. The Story Teller is replaced by a young boy drawing while singing a creepy song. The theme of this season seems to be "body horror", which to me personally is less scary than supernatural or psychological horror. Animation: The animation is the same as in the 1st two season. It is still done well and is based off of the Japanese paper theatre story tellers. I enjoy the style, even though it isn't anything fancy. I do like the monster designs and I think they are well done for most of them. Sound: The sound is still done very well and continues to have a major impact on each episode. The opening song and ending song I had a hard time listening too because it was too creepy. Characters: No real comment, because as always, each story has its own characters. I did feel more empathy for the characters in this season though, because, as mentioned before, most of the victims were little girls or young women. Overall: I think this season was better than season 2 but worse than season 1. It has still kept me interrested enough to go on to season 4.

JadedDragos Oct 23, 2018

9

This season I really liked. I flew through this seasson without really knowing it. Every episode was really good and entertaining. Hard to pick some favorites out of this season since I pretty much loved every one of them. Animation was the wonderful 2D type from previous seasons and was good as ever. Good music at the beginning and ending themes. Character development was good per episode as well as the creepy boy that you see at the beginning of each episode. (You'll see....) Great season to watch!