Anime Hajime Review: Yamishibai Season 4

***Warning, the following may contain spoilers for Yamishibai season four. Reader discretion is advised.***

Series Synopsis

It’s time to begin our fourth journey into the dark and the macabre. The strange and the creepy. Listen to the stories of the things that go bump in the night.

That’s right, it’s once again time for Yamishibai.

Tongue – A man finds a dead cat in the middle of the road. His mistake was taking pity on the poor thing.

Fish Tank – Three friends break into an old abandoned house. Inside they find a disgusting looking fish tank.

Sewing Shears – A woman moves into her new apartment. Under one of the floor boards, she finds an old pair of sewing shears.

Red High Heel - A tired office worker manages to hail a cab late at night. On the floor of the backseat, the man finds a single red high heel.

Night Bus – A man and his friends ride on a night bus. The man asks to go to the bathroom. When he returns, the passengers are a little off.

Guess Who? – A girl finds the courage to ask the boy she likes out. Their date ends as they wait for the next train to arrive.

Footsteps – A man is out shopping with his wife. He heads off to the restroom to check his phone. By chance, he enters an unusual stall.

Cassette Tape – A young man returns home for a friend’s wedding. In his childhood room, he finds an old cassette tape.

Grinding Teeth – Two friends are on a sightseeing tour. Back at their hotel, one of them gets a horrible toothache.

Calling Crane – Three friends gather one night to play a little game. A game to make contact with the dead.

White Line – Late in the day, a teacher notices a student out in the courtyard. The unknown child is marking the ground with a strange white line.

Snow Hut – A boy is visiting is grandparents during winter vacation. There, he stumbles upon a small snow hut.

Underground Walkway – A man is on his way home when the weather turns fowl. Taking shelter from the rain, the man heads down into an underground path.

Series Positives

Oh my God, we’re doing this again. So, I suppose it’s safe to say Yamishibai will be a series that won’t learn when to die.

Okay, that was a little harsh. While Yamishibai is getting old, this season wasn’t bad. Well compared to the last season, that wasn’t hard to do. Was it as strong as the original? No, but nothing has been yet. The first season of Yamishibai was a gem. Any and all follow ups have been trapped in its shadow.

That said, season four was okay. If anything, it was different. Yet it was different for good reasons. This was a progression of the series. Season four tried new things. And these new things worked for the most part. At the end of the day, season four learned from the mistakes of season three.

And as we’ve done, here are my top three favorite segments.

3) Grinding Teeth

2) Fish Tank

1) Guess Who

We’ll go into more detail about this later, but I need to mention it now. Season four was the most consistent. Take that as you will. Each segment was about equal in quality. To put it another way. There weren't any standouts. But there weren’t that many flops either.

Return of Atmosphere and Tension

As a reminder, let’s talk about why season three failed. It showed too much. Part of Yamishibai’s brand of horror is its short length. There isn’t a lot of time to set up the scare. Every second is precious. Season one and, in many ways, season two focused on the intrigue. What was going on? What was adding up? What wasn’t adding up? What's the threat?

What Yamishibai seasons one and two did was kind of answer these questions. We never got the big picture. We never got a detailed understanding of what was going to get us. But we did understand this. Whatever was lurking, we wanted no part of it.

The set up to the scare did much of the work. Seasons one and two made it clear something was wrong. Something wasn’t right. Then when the scare happened, it was quick. There was no time to register what you saw.

Season three threw that out the window. Many of season three’s segments put more effort on the reveal. I have trouble discussing in detail the monsters of the first two seasons. I never got a good look at them. Not so much with season three. The unknown was right there. Often in full motion and perfect lighting. That took the mystery away. Season four went back to the original strategy. Did it always get it right? Not quite, but we’ll get to that.

The segments of season four were tension filled. I found myself covering my eyes again. But what was special to season four, I didn’t want to do that. What made this season a successor and a progression was the art style. Season one had a unique look which did make a return here. It was good to see it again. Alongside that, there was also more variety in the visuals.

Sometimes it would be Yamishibai classic. Other times it would be more realistic. Then it would be more cartoonish. Then there were parts that were straight anime. Grinding Teeth, for example, didn’t look like Yamishibai. But Yamishibai it was.

To counter my own point, the art style could either help or hinder the horror. On occasion, the mixing and matching could get distracting. Yet there was one stylistic change I would love to see in future installments. Live action.

These moments were effective. They were quick. They didn’t last long. But they added so much to the creep factor. In a weird way, the live action stuff felt the least natural. And for a show like this, that’s a positive.

It was great to see that Yamishibai still knows how to create an atmosphere.

Series Negatives

If any future seasons are as good as the fourth, that’d be disappointing. I’d accept it because they wouldn’t be awful. Except we’ve seen this series at its best. And this isn’t it.

I went into season four with the wrong mindset. I groaned when I learned there would be a season four. Because for all its problems, season three had a solid farewell. I thought that was it. It’s wasted now, but Yamishibai’s future is brighter than what it once was.

As proof of that, here is where I would put my top three least favorite segments. I’m not going to do that because I don't know what to put. As I said, this was the most consistent of the seasons. They were all, at a minimum, okay.

Except for Cassette Tape. That one was kind of dumb.

Season four’s biggest barrier, it was close. It was so close to getting it right again. For the things that were different, many were welcomed additions. Not all them, though.

The narrator and the narration were more prominent this go-around. I can understand why it was added. It did play up the kamishibai style of storytelling that inspired the show. Had this been a legitimate kamishibai tale, then yes, the narration would've been great.

The problem is, these are two separate mediums. One involves still images and requires the personality of the storyteller. The other is animation. You don’t need to say what’s happening. You can just show it.

A nice idea, but many of these stories would’ve benefited without it.

No Release

What season three did was worse. Yet that doesn’t make what season four did okay.

Season three showed too much. Season four often never released its tension. What do I mean by that?

Seasons one and two, you knew there was a threat. You had a general idea of what was happening. Not enough to create clarity. But enough to know, “okay, yeah, that’s a problem.” You don’t get that in season four.

Many segments were all set up. Did this create good atmosphere? Yes. Some of these segments got rather nail biting. They continued to build and build and then the episode was over. Wait, you missed a step. As in, you forgot to add the scare. Yamishibai season four never released the tension.

There were too many episodes where I didn’t see the point. What were you leading us to?

Final Thoughts

I understand if you’ve grown tired of Yamishibai. If you couldn’t get into the first season, well it’s only gotten worse since. If you’ve been hoping that lightning will strike twice, season four doesn’t quite do that.

But it’s not bad.

Yamishibai season four does try a lot of different things. It does add new life to the series. That alone is worth checking out. But with that came a few stumbles as well. Enough to sigh, “Almost.”

Here’s hoping to a season five. Do I really think there’s going to be one? Yes, because, why the hell would you stop now?