Anime Ichiban: Top Ten Yamishibai Stories (Countdown to Halloween 4 of 5)

Introduction

What is Yamishibai?

Yamishibai is a horror anime that began airing back in 2013. Each story (episode) is based on Japanese folklore and urban legends. At five minutes a pop, these tales tell of frightening phenomenon caused by ghosts, monsters, and other, often evil, supernatural entities.

Along with horror, Yamishibai has a distinct visual style. This series’ art takes inspiration from the kamishibai method of storytelling, which uses still images to tell a narrative. As a result, Yamishibai’s animation is usually very jagged and limited.

I won’t lie: Much of this franchise is meh. On top of that, there have been some real stinkers.

HOWEVER, Yamishibai survives because every now and then, it hits the bullseye.

The problem is — as of the posting of this list — there are six seasons, a.k.a., 78 stories under the Yamishibai banner. In total, that’s over SIX HOURS of content. Who even has the time? Evidently, I do, and I’m here to make your next Halloween horror-viewing a bit more efficient.

These are the Top Ten Yamishibai Stories.

Anime Ichiban: Top Ten Anime Couples

Criteria

Have you ever fantasized about being with that special someone? We all have to some degree. There are even those lucky few who have taken this one step further and managed to find that person. If you are one of those people, congratulations.

LofZOdyssey Anime Reviews would like to wish all loving couples a very Happy Valentine’s Day. And if it's not February 14th, here’s to many fulfilling years for you two.

For the rest of us though, we need to find our romance fix somewhere else.

By now it’s no secret. But if you are new here, you should know something about me. I don’t hide my enjoyment of the romance genre. With the variety of different series on this site, there’s nothing quite like a good love story. Seeing two people grow close is enduring. Watching characters try to make a relationship work can be heartwarming.

With every range of sappy emotions involved, it’s no wonder that love is so common in storytelling. It’s so common in fact, the romance genre can’t contain everything. Weather action, comedy, or even horror, couples tend to pop up everywhere.

Anime Ichiban: Top Ten Openings 3rd Edition

Criteria

This is now the third time I’ve explained this. It’s becoming a yearly tradition it seems. One that I’m more than happy to continue with.

That’s right, we have another year under our belts. So, it’s time to do a little reflection. What has come? What has gone? And what has remained a staple of the medium? It’s once again time to look at the top opening songs in anime.

I can tell you, the contender list is getting quite big now. And that's fantastic. Though it does make my job all the harder.

Yet with each new update, I like to think we are getting closer to the ultimate list. A goal I know we’re never going to reach. And a goal I never plan to reach.

As always, what are we looking for?

To start and to reiterate, this list has nothing to do with the quality of a series. A show can be garbage and still find a home here. All that matters is that opening number.

We’re looking at more than if a theme is catchy. Is it memorable? When you hear it, there’s no mistaking where it’s from. At the drop of a hat, you can play it in your head and not miss a note.

Anime Ichiban: Top Ten Tear Inducing Moments

***Warning, the following Ten Top contains MASSIVE SPOILERS for the following series in alphabetical order. Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day, Assassination Classroom, Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai, Clannad, Ghost Stories, K-On, Kill la Kill, Monogatari Series Second Season, Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, and Your Lie in April. Reader discretion is advised.***

Criteria

Well, I can see this being a good time.

A memorable story is one that can produce emotion. We’ve covered that before. I imagine we’re going to continue doing so because it bears repeating. This can be the reason why one anime succeeds and another one fails. But it does come with a catch.

Emotions are subjective. They may not have a good reason. When I do my reviews, I try to articulate exact points why I liked or disliked something. Doing that poses a problem on occasion.

Granted, negativity is easier, and often more fun, to discuss. But to explain why I liked something in detail can be difficult. Especially if I can sum it up in a single sentence. "It made me laugh."

Comedy loses its punch if you explain the joke. What we’re talking about today doesn’t have that issue.

There are three major reactions that are invaluable when enjoying a story. If one of these gets triggered, it means the story was effective. One is uncontrollable laughter. Kind of self-explanatory. We’ve all experienced it. The best comedies succeed here. Another is dread. You don't want to move on. It’s not that you don’t care. It's, to be as blunt as possible, true fear. Great horror can do this.

Anime Ichiban: Top Ten Romance Anime

Criteria

I’ve lost count how many times I’ve said this and I know I’ll say it many more times in the future.

I love me a good romance.

At heart, I’m a romantic and it’s wonderful to see two characters fall of one another. I’ve wondered for a while about why I find these stories so great. And I think it’s about vulnerability. 

A relationship is only as strong as the bonds connecting it. The closer you get to the core of a person’s being, the strong the bond. The better the romance, the closer someone is to the core of their partner.

But people tend to wall themselves off. Whether intentional or in their sub-conscious. There’s nothing wrong with this and we all do it. It’s to protect our more susceptible emotions. Which includes good things like happiness, joy, and fulfillment. Yet it’s the doors we don’t want open we try to protect the most. Sadness, despair, suffering. If those get hit the wrong way, it’s never good. It’s never fun.

Except, to build the strongest relationships, those doors need to open. This isn’t easy. It’s no wonder why people fight against it. And this is where the best romance stories come from.

Anime Ichiban: Top Ten Horror Anime

Criteria

Throw something at any given anime season and you’re bound to hit one, two, or five high school slice-of-life comedies. You’ll also run into a few romance stories here and there. Plus, there's going to be a mech or some other action show in the mix. Every now and then, though, you’ll get something different.

It won’t be cute, it won’t be nice, and it won’t be easy. I’m of course referring to the horror anime.

These are the stories of tension and reservation. These are the shows that will get you to cower and cover your eyes. These are the images you see alone on the darkest of nights. These are the anime that get you scared.

I have seen a ton of shows with horror elements and they are effective. The problem is, many of these moments are just that, moments. In terms of a full series, there are a lot, but there aren’t many that are good.

Many shows that classify themselves as horror have a tendency to go a bit overboard. They even sometimes have a habit of going silly. And some are flat-out stupid (I’m looking at you Pupa, you piece of s@#$).

Yet, there are good ones out there. When a show gets it right, my God does it get it right. These next ten…these next ten got it right.

Perhaps the only other genre with this much subjectivity is comedy. What scares one person may not scare someone else. So, these ten are the shows that got to me the most. These are the shows that caused me to step back.

I like to think it takes a lot for a story to scare me. Thus, my only criteria for this list was, which shows proved me wrong?

Anime Ichiban: The Top Ten Studio Ghibli Films

Criteria

Twenty two movies, an entire month of films, and now it comes down to this. Did anyone honestly think Ghibli Month would end any other way?

This was the hardest list I've made. Aside from a few notable exceptions, I'm looking at you Earthsea, every film this month was at one point up for consideration. Some were easier to cut than others, but eventually decisions had to be made.

Weighing visuals against story, characters against themes, heart versus art, there was a lot to consider. Single scenes could make up for and undo a slew of problems while an entire story can stay consistently solid throughout. How do you rank gold higher than other pieces of equally pure gold?

In the past I've relied on a number of factors. While everything ultimately came down to what I thought was a better film, my biggest consideration was what movie I would pick if I were given only a second to decide.

Spoilers ahead, it was crushing to leave films like Whisper of the Heart, When Marine was There, and Nausicaä as honorable mentions because they are each brilliant in their own right. With that in mind, these ten are what I think best represent Ghibli and are the Crown Jewels of its legacy. Without any further ado, here are my Top Ten Studio Ghibli Films.

Anime Ichiban: Top Ten Ending Songs

Criteria

If there’s something easier to skip than a show’s opening song, it would be its ending song.

With cliffhangers, enthrallment, and general curiosity plaguing most audiences, who can sit through the entire ending credits before playing the next episode? It’s perhaps why series are not often associated with their ending themes.

A common trait I see with opening themes is they often do little to set the mood and sometimes fail to portray what exactly is going to happen. Ending themes do this too, but are usually much worse. I can’t even begin to tell you how times an episode has ended on a dark, serious note, where many people have dead, the s@#$ has hit the fan, and then suddenly a light hearted, happy go lucky song that could be found in some random children’s show starts playing; like yeah, that’s not tension killing what so ever.

However, there are occasions where one comes along that stops you dead in your tracks. Whether it’s the tone, atmosphere, or sheer epicness, sometimes an ending song takes you completely off guard.

An ending theme has never swayed my opinion of a show, either positively or negatively. But when a good one does come along, its always appreciated.

Anime Ichiban: Top Ten Openings Redux

Criteria

A year ago I released my Top Ten Opening Themes in Anime. I’ve always intended to update it because I haven’t seen every anime to make a true definitive list. That day isn’t today and it will never come.

But as is the nature of life, opinions change. New things come in, old things go out, and the mindset and reasoning  from a year ago isn’t what I have now. However, a new top ten was only going to come if it was substantially different from the first.

It is. Like a lot.

There's no entry from last year in its original position and actually more to the point, the vast majority of last year’s entries are gone. It was significantly harder to settle and god damn it, ten is not enough.

My criterion is the same.

1. The opening must grab your attention immediately.
2. The opening must stick with you, not just after the episode but after the entire series.
3. The opening must be recognizable should it ever be encountered outside its series. 
4. The opening must get you excited to watch, regardless of how the show actually is.

Anime Ichiban: LofZOdyssey's Top 10 Anime Comedies

Criteria

I do try to review a wide mix of genres. There’s nothing, short of hentai, that I’m not willing to talk about. I want to get the dramas, I want to get the horrors, I want get the romances, the mysteries, mechs, and whatever else there is.

However, I feel it’s undeniable to see that comedies are the shows I’m most drawn too.

Now I’m talking about straight comedies where that's the main point. Other shows might have comedic elements, but are predominantly something else. I have laughed at jokes in series that I still classify as incredibly grim and heavy. But that’s not what we’re looking at here.

We’re focusing on the shows that are out to make you laugh. These are the shows that are extremely lighthearted and do not take themselves that seriously. Does that mean that these anime have nothing but hilarity? Not necessarily. A few of these entries do have occasional somber or touching moments, but they never break the silly, fun atmosphere that’s created.

There were a lot of candidates to narrow down and some, actually most, of the shows on this list aren't ones that I have reviewed on this site. However, you can assume that they all have my full recommendation.

Anime Ichiban: Top Ten Opening Themes in Anime

Criteria

Anime openings are often weird for the sake of being weird. They can have little to nothing to do with the actual show.

Yet this is not a constant. There are examples of times where I want to watch the opening number. That got me thinking, why do I do that? What makes an outstanding opening theme?

I came to the conclusion that:

1. It needs to grab your attention immediately.

2. It needs to stick with you, not just after the episode but after the entire series.

3. You must be able to recognize it on its own if encountered outside its series.

4. It must get you excited to watch the show.

With those in mind here are my Top Ten Opening Themes in Anime

Before getting to the main list, it's important to note that it wasn't easy to narrow down ten.

There are just so many outstanding contenders that I want to include, but can’t. So to make this list a bit longer and stretch the meaning of the word ten, here are two honorable mentions.