Anime Hajime Review: Yamishibai Season 5

***Warning, the following may contain spoilers for Yamishibai Season 5. Reader discretion is advised.***

Series Synopsis

It’s time to begin our fifth 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.

It’s once again time for Yamishibai.

Wrong Number – A housewife deals with someone who keeps dialing the wrong number.

Give it to Me – An office worker runs into the same little girl every day. With each time, the child asks for something.

The Crow Children – A woman and her daughter are visiting the countryside. While heading to their destination they pass an old lady in black.

Copy Cat – Two lifelong friends enter college. Although one has the habit of copying everything the other does.

Shadows of Women – A woman can’t help but feel that her husband isn’t telling the truth. She suspects he is cheating on her.

Okaishi-sama – A girl is distraught after her boyfriend dumps her. She is willing to try anything to get him back.

Hide and Seek – While passing by, a boy sees someone in the window of an old dilapidated house.

The Neighbors – A woman moves into her new apartment. The place seems way too good to be true.

If You Want to See Ghost – A woman learns of a trick to see ghosts and shows off to her friend.

Flower Reading – A man meets a child whose flower readings are never wrong.

I’m the Only One – The story of one woman who values her beautiful hair more than anything.

The Last Bus – A woman makes the mistake of falling asleep on the last bus of the night.

Seductress – One woman is at the center of numerous missing person cases.

Series Positives

It’s not that I’m surprised Yamishibai is now in its fifth season. I can’t help but imagine this series isn’t going anywhere now.

However, a year has not even passed since season four. There are a ton of shows that have waited much longer. Some have yet come.

This isn’t worth getting mad over. In fact, I don’t care anymore. Bring on number six. Come on number seven. Three, four, five seasons from now it doesn’t matter. Let’s see who outlasts who.

Cynicism aside, should Yamishibai continue as it has been for the last two seasons, it has found a groove. I got what I expected out of this. Season five wasn’t great. It wasn’t awful. It was all around, meh.

I have accepted the reality this series will never capture the high point that was season one.

A patter has arisen. Most stories in an installment will be decent. Some will be forgettable. Thus, leaving only a few standouts worth mentioning. Season five was no different.

As is a tradition at this point, here are my top three episodes from season five. Except I’m going to change the wording a tad. These are my top three scariest episodes of season five. If you're wondering what’s the difference, I can assure you, there is one.

3) Give it to Me

2) Okaeshi-sama

1) Hide and Seek

Something that’s less like tradition, I do want to talk about each of these episodes. They are perfect examples of when Yamishibai gets it right.

Give it to Me had a good payoff. The lead up to the scare was rushed, no getting around that. But the idea was solid. This culminated into a resolution that was legitimate in how unsettling it was.

I don’t know about you, the last place I ever want to see something unexpected is in my car’s rearview mirror.

The reveal was something unnatural, yet not outrageous. The monster in this story would be terrifying to run into. It didn’t turn cartoonish like other examples I can point to throughout the franchise.

Also, I like kids, but damn they are easy to make creepy.

Okaeshi-sama had a great structure. In a short amount of time, we learned everything we needed to know. The events of the episode had an actual reason behind them. Relying on misfortune does work. Sometimes bad things happen and there is no explanation why.

Except Yamishibai has been using this trick way too much. It was nice going back to cause and effect.

The end of the story was as classic as you can get. For the character involved, my thought was, “Wow, that sucks.” Plus, I love how the episode didn’t show us what happened. It only gave enough to know whatever did happen was brutal.

Hide and Seek could have fit right at home in the first season. Each installment tends to have at least one episode that can.

This was an example of what only Yamishibai do.

In less than five minutes, this show can create a tense atmosphere. I always need to acknowledge whenever this series manages to make me shield my eyes.

Granted, most of that tension derived from the impending jump scare. But the real unnerving factor came afterward. If the thing that was in that house was staring at me, I’d crap my pants.

So those were the three scariest stories. None of them were my favorite though. The one that holds that title does so because of what it wasn’t.

Flow Reading

This was the most unique Yamishibai story of the entire franchise. It’s that way because it wasn’t scary. That’s not special. There have been plenty of episodes that were that. The difference is, I don’t think this was meant to be scary.

On the contrary, Flower Reading was super sweet. I can’t believe I'm saying that about Yamishibai.

I go into this show expecting horror. But I have to give credit to good storytelling when I see it. This episode was sad and pleasant at the same time. There was no hint of malicious intent. The ending put a humble smile on face.

I wouldn’t call it the happiest of resolutions. Yet, that does depend on what your definition of happiness is. If I had to guess, the character from this episode would argue he got something he wanted.

Considering what usually happens in this series, he got off easy.

I’m not sure what it says when the best episode of a horror series isn’t a horror episode. Regardless, I’m never going to forget about it.

Series Negatives

I no longer see the point in ranking my top three least favorite episodes. Those that would make it on such a list I forget almost the instant the story is over. Yet those that would make that list also have something in common. I never have any idea what is going on during these stories.

For example, Wrong Number. The episode could have left it as some random entity. That would’ve been fine. Instead, unneeded and under-explained details got tacked on at the end. Leaving the whole thing more confusing than anything.

Why was the woman so frightened from the last call. I can speculate, but given how much she freaked out, what I have in mind is extreme. If I’m right, this would be heavy-handed. If I’m not, the woman overreacted for no reason.

This wasn’t as much of an issue as it has been in the past. It was a poor way to start off the season, though. On its own, season five had two unique problems. The first I started to see back in season four.

I can't get into the direction this art style is taking. It’s going to be weird to say this, but Yamishibai is beginning to look too good. Settings and locations are becoming more detailed. Everything is sharper and easier to see. The characters are looking more and more like anime characters.

This style can lead to good horror. Higurashi and Gakkou Gurashi have proven that. Yet this simply doesn’t work for Yamishibai.

Part of what made the first season so fascinating was its choppy animation. It didn’t feel right. It was rough. This made the stories more intense. Not only were they scarier, they were hard to look at with getting a chill down your spine.

This series has been trying to maintain this same atmosphere throughout its run. Along the way, it lost that storyboard feel it once had. I hope this trend stops and Yamishibai doesn’t go the full animated route.

Also, it was a shame the quick bits of live action didn’t make a return. That was neat extra helping of creep factor season four had going for it.

The other problem was how rushed episodes felt. There were a lot of good ideas here. Too bad many of them got crammed into a five-minute runtime. If some of these stories had the opportunity, they could have been outstanding.

Give it to Me could’ve gone so much further. What if the woman met the little girl a few more times. Let the plot build more. The leap from cute to kill it with fire occurred way too fast. Add a little “off-putting” and “troublesome” in there and you have the makings of nightmare fuel.

Some these stories could have been the basis for an entire series. Seductress would’ve made for a decent horror anime on its own. Actually, it would not surprise me if such a show did exist.

Even at some of its lowest points, Yamishibai kept itself contained. Here it was struggling to hold things together. Just because you can tell a story in five minutes doesn’t mean you should.

Final Thoughts

If you’re still watching this series, this is not the place to stop. It's more or less par for the course. A few winners here and there, it’s only going to cost you a little over an hour of your time.

Although the peak has come and gone, this wasn’t a return to the struggle that was season three. Yet with each season, I can’t help see this series losing what made it what it was.

I may grumble about it but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get a little excited with each new installment. Yamishibai is like an old friend at this point.

At the time of this review, I haven’t seen a confirmation. Nevertheless, we’ll meet back here again in season six.