Yami Shibai 3

Horror is pretty rare in anime, which is a shame especially for fans like me who love the thrill of a genuinely scary story. Not many shows or movies actually deliver that spine-tingling feeling, the kind that makes your heart race and your breath catch.

That’s why I was so glad to come across Theatre of Darkness: Yamishibai. Unlike a lot of so-called "horror" anime that rely more on psychological tension or just straight-up gore, Yamishibai actually brings real fear. It knows how to build a creepy atmosphere, and when the jump scares hit, they really hit even if it's just for a moment.

The eerie music ... adds to the tension and pulls you deeper into each short story. And the voice acting? Honestly, it’s top notch. You can really hear the fear and panic in the characters' voices, which makes everything feel way more intense.

The stories in Season 3 might not be as strong as those in Seasons 1 and 2, but the plot twist in the final episode was both surprising and satisfying. I also liked how the ending sequence changes in every episode, and the artwork the child is drawing is a nice touch.

In a genre where true horror is hard to come by, Yamishibai is a rare gem, one of the few anime that actually knows how to scare you.

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.

You know how sometimes the finale of a show can ruin the whole thing and negate even the episodes and aspects you really liked? I feel like the opposite of that is what happened to Yamishibai 3. Allow me to explain:

Up until the final episode, I hated most of the episodes because the stories were shallow, the monsters looked goofy and the characters had a total of 0 personality. The reason I picked up Yamishibai was because it had a mature way of dealing with horror. The scares weren't purely based on shock value or visuals, but worries and fears that are innately human. That's ... why I've found even the bad episodes of season one and two enjoyable; if the horror wasn't there the stories and concepts were at least worth thinking about.

I've mentioned in my reviews of the earlier seasons that what Yamishibai does well is psychological horror and that monsters and such don't go very well with the shows simplistic style. You'd think that by the third season, producers etc would have realized what the shows strengths and weaknesses are but nooooooo. For some reason they decided that body horror and monsters should be the primary focus of the third season and let me tell you, it sucks. I think animated horror in general should stay away from using visuals as the medium for their scares. I just don't find it scary. Since the art in Yamishibai 3 is a lot more colorful and childlike, the visual "horror" isn't just nonscary, it's flat out goofy. I _tried_ to be scared but most episodes made me giggle...

Then comes episode 13, the finale. I won't spoil it but in my opinion what the ending reveals, mitigates the seasons flaws by giving a valid and interesting reason for them to be there. Now, is it worth sitting through 54 minutes of trash? Not really. Fortunately you don't have to! If you watch one ore two other episodes the final one will make perfect sense and then you can move on and forget this season even happened. Except for episode 13 I would suggest episode two and episode nine. Spiders are my weak spot so I could barley watch episode two and number nine has the same feel as the stories in the first and second season!