Kaidan Restaurant

Kaidan Restaurant is based on a series of horror short story books collection for children that ran from the mid 90s to 2010, when the last book got released, reaching 50 volumes. MAL says it's picture books but it's actually short story collections, each story goes for about 10 to 12 pages and every other story has an illustration to go along with it. I've personally read about 10 or so of these books and I feel like the anime does a very good job translating the material to animation.

The books and the anime are actually a sort of modern take on several classic horror, ... folktale stories and more modern urban legends. Most have Japanese sources but there are a good number of European stories as well. If you have any interest in Japanese literature, especially related to the weird, folk tales and horror, then you'll recognize a lot of these. Some of the stories are based on sources as old as the Konjaku Monogatarishu and Ugetsu Monogatari compilations. Some are based on very modern urban legends related to technology, like being able to talk to the dead through a cell phone, creatures from the Beyond being able to use TV signals to cross dimensions, etc.

Although it's a show written for children, you would be surprised how it doesn't shun away from a lot of things a show like this in the West would do. Children actually die in tragic ways here. This is not a spoiler, just a warning. It's also very well written, setting a good precedent; it's not because it's for children that it needs to be lazy, uninteresting and avoid exploring themes like death, loss, pain, tragedy and the like. Just remember, it is a show for kids first, so it won't wallow in depressing themes, but it uses well to tell the stories it wants to tell. It explores all these things very well and in a very Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai-ish way. That's how it usually starts; the 3 main characters, Shou, Ako and Reiko get together, usually after seeing something weird. Shou remembers a story relating to that event and tells it to the other characters. Sometimes the characters themselves go investigate whatever weird thing that happened in their town or in their school. Most episodes are divided into 3 stories, sometimes 2 and a couple of episodes have a single story.

This show was extremely popular in Japan in its demographic and it's easy to see why. For adults however, it might require a little bit of persistence. Some stories are rather mild and an episode here and there can be a little dull, but if you keep going, there are very good tales to go through, some quite tragic and emotionally charged. Each story is self contained so you can skip the ones you don't like, just make sure to watch the last episode. It's a very nice one and it gives some development to one of the main characters.

Each episode gets a little intro by Garcon, the ghost who runs the Kaidan Restaurant. In the books he serves the same purpose, welcoming  the main character of each story as he or she enters the restaurant to tell or be told a horror story. Here however, he just introduces the stories with the help of other supernatural creatures, but they happen in other places. He's also played by Mr. Hirata Hiroaki, one of the most charming male voices in the industry today.

Going with this show's premise of introducing each story as dishes, I think this anime is a good palate cleanser. If you watched something very somber or depressing, or if you just watched something too cute and excessively sweet or silly, then I think you'll enjoy going through this, especially if you're into horror. There's also a movie out there but what this really deserves is a second season. All in all, it's a very satisfying show to go through.

Kaidan Restaurant is apparently based on a series of children's books; naturally one would expect its story to be simplistic and its characters to be one-dimensional. Neither is entirely untrue, however surprisingly these apparent shortcomings do not detract from the enjoyment this show provides.

The series lacks a definitive overarching plot and rather consists of an anthology of horror stories centered around a group of school children and the town they live in. The stories are presented by the manager of the Kaidan restaurant to the viewers. They may be experienced or narrated by the protagonists. Though almost none of these stories are genuinely frightening, they ... do have their slightly unnerving moments; some even border on the emotional rather than the supernatural.Also the inclusion of several folktales and traditional ghost stories not only from Japan but from around the globe, makes for a delectable recipe.

Not having seen the live-action movie that followed the anime, I do not know if the story continues or not; but I would like to know more about the Ghastly Garcon and his connection to Ako, which was hinted at in the last episode.

Overall a delightful series which may be far from perfect, but serves its purpose decently and provides a welcome relief from continuously watching serious plot-heavy stories in anime.

Score :7/10

Recommended.

P.S. I absolutely loved the ending theme song, LOST BOY.

TL;DR
+ story variety
+ surprisingly enjoyable
- "is this really from 2009?" visuals
- some annoying stereotypic characters
- ass-pulls

Story
Story is about 3 middle schoolers telling or experiencing some classic japanese horror stories. Each episode is split in 3 parts, something that happens to them, something they tell and 1-2 minute short. When you see horror tag in anime, it usually means a lot of blood or human torture. Your classic horror movies often rely on on jump scares - woman walks down the dark halway of her house with only flashlight, nothing but her footsteps are heard, suddenly killer appears behind her with loud "bang" ambience and you ... get scared just for that moment. I'm glad these stories are different - they build up tension just to leave you creeped out at the end.
Few problems I had - to me they often felt unfinished, like they tried to squeeze as much as possible into their allocated time. Also, I was surprised how often were authors bringing up the concept of death, since this is basically kids series. And because this is kids show, none of the characters died despite being really close to it, thanks to some randomness that occured. Don't get me wrong, I didn't want to see them die, but it was killing the tension - whenever someone was about to die, you just knew he'll be fine.

Art
Probably the weakest point. Animation was pretty weak, backgrounds and character design simplistic, those ghosts/monsters more often than not, uninteresting.

Sound
Ending was ok, no opening. Surprising right? How dares a japanese show to not have an opening theme! Actually it had something similar - shows you as guest going to thriller restaurant, where ghosts and monsters present you menu with some "creepy" foods, while playing "classy mansion" ambience in the background. Was supposed to serve slight comedic purpose - didn't work on me, as those food names sounded incredibly cheesy. Left me with "what the hell are you trying to do with this" feeling every time.
Background sounds were nice and atmospheric, except for one or two which sounded awfuly generic. (can't exactly remember)

Character
Character development is close to 0. This isn't surprising as each episode is a standalone set of stories. As main you have this trio of kids - scaredy cat, who likes stories, tsundere girl who doesn't believe in ghosts but always tags along because "it can't be helped" and a blondie boy, who usually saves the day. There are few more of their classmates, but they don't always play a role in episode.
So I didn't like 2 out of this main trio. The tsundere girl - she always has evidence right in front of her yet still refused to believe in ghosts. It's like she knew she's in anime or something. Also her "high class" image was annoying 9.9 out of 10 times. The blondie guy was mostly the story teller and life saver. This is literally how few stories went:
girlX: "Nice weather today."
blondie: "That reminds me of this story I read the other day..." *story begins*
Yeah he's that kind of guy. And his saves seemed way too random and pulled out of nowhere.

Enjoyment
Despite the bad stuff I mentioned, show is surprisingly enjoyable. Each story is unique and will leave you little bit creeped out. Therefore was fun to watch (except for occasional annoyance from few characters).

Overall
Do you like horror stories? How about classic japanese horror stories? Then please don't get put off by "kids" tag, as it shouldn't stop you from enjoying this little piece of work.
Although, I can't help but think how much better this could be, would they drop the kiddy aspect and made it more like Yami Shibai but animated, or Aoi Bungaku Series but episodic.