Lets see what the series does right, first and most important is they follow Ito's stories exactly as he presents them. No cutting anything too graphic, no adding pointless scenes, its all as he intended it. Unlike another adaptation of his work Gyo: Tokyo Fish Attack this refrains from making any changes from his story so he's only person that could be blamed for poor writing is Ito himself.
But you can blame the show for adapting some of Ito's more boring/poorly written stories. Some of the stories especially in later episodes can be extremly confusing if not entirly anticlimactic. Stories like a circus that murders its performers to feed the ringleader. Or an elderly woman is being haunted because her town doesnt know how to properly hold a funeral. Some can be extremly boring if not leaving you wanting there to be more explination to the story.
Another thing the show does well is its building of atmosphere. The shows segments are always shown at night or in cloudy whether building atmoshphere mixed with the shows slow and creepy soundtrack setting up the mood briliantly. Its tone is also very quiet and sneaky ofen taking you by surprise when the scary stuff goes down. No build up in the music, no panning for a jumpscare. Just WHAM scary!
Now when it gets down to it the show I feel the best way to watch it is at night, or when its cloudy. Preferably with friends because your more likely to react if others do. And there are some episodes that I feel are much better then others and are a must:
1. Anything with Souichi: 1A 5B 12B His charecter is creepy enough and the stories show Ito's world perfectly
2. Fashion Model: 2A The most intense, and the payoff is really effective.
3. Window next Door, Gentle Goodbye: 6 Both stories show how diverse Ito's stories are. One being on campground urban legend level of creepy, and the secpnd being the most emotional episode and a facinating twist on a ghost story.
4. Painter: 9A Sets up the upcomming Tomie OVA and has the most disturbing final image.
Some of the weaker episodes are:
1. The Circus comes to Town: 8B Ends on a clifhanger but didnt really deserve it.
2. Greased and Bridge: 10 The first part is disgusting as in a girl gets pimple juice poured all over her face nasty(and that's not even the scary part), and the second part is built up for no payoff whatsoever.
So is this the perfect horror show we've been waiting for....not really, but it's creative, has good atmosphere, and if you like genuine creepy horror give it a watch!
