Yami Shibai is a series of five-minute episode ghost stories in a thirteen-part series. With each episode focusing on a different story, there is definitely an aspect of horror for everyone to be found in this short series.
This series has a lot of charm in its own way; it has its own animation style definitely different from a lot of anime styles that are found nowadays and it runs well. At first glance, it looks more like something for children, (almost reminiscent of shows like Gorey Tales for Gruesome Children in the United Kingdom) but its ability to make you tense and jumpy for their predictable jumpscares is something to be desired. There aren't many mediums in recent years that can set up something completely predictable but still manage to make the viewer jump and tense up. There were many times throughout this fifty-two-minute series that had me so tense that I got mild muscle cramps.
Each story is unique to its own style of horror with the likes of tropes similar to Ringu, some of Junji Itou's works, etc., but each story managed to continue to keep the horror factor up. There was only really one episode in this I didn't really like for the factor the tone of the horror changed compared to the rest of the series - however, it still unnerved me for different reasons and it kept the series up to par with its horror levels.
With six seasons so far of this absolute little horror gem, all I can say is that if you're a horror fan, you'll definitely get a kick out of this one. It's dark, unnerving, short and sweet, and still has enough of the "is this character literally dumb" moments to also keep you laughing. Yami Shibai is an amazing piece of horror medium and I cannot wait to binge the rest of this (so far) six season anime series.
