Story : 9
There is so much to unpack so I will start off with general impressions and then share my thoughts on the individual episodes.
Overall
There really is something great about seeing these classic horror characters being humanized, brought into the light and fucked. It is rather comical that the woman coming out the static television or the ghost that inhibits the bathrooms doesn’t want to kill you and just wants a good fuck, which is exactly what this show delivers. Most of the girls pay homage to their original tale except Mary-chan and looking into the stories based on these tales made me really appreciate how harmless these girls felt. Furthermore, each girl seemed to have her own special ability in the context of intercourse which came full circle in our final episode that truly gave the show a sense of finality. Realizing the show took place in a single universe and the showcase of each girl’s unique power in the final episode really was in fact the beginning of the Toshi Densetsu Cinematic Universe.
Hanako
The name Hanako should actually be well-known as it is the same legend that the anime Toilet Bound Hanako-kun is based on however this show sticks somewhat closer to the original urban legend with the appearance of Hanako i.e. her bobbed haircut and red dress. However, this story takes us through the origins of Hanako, as in how she died, which to many people was a big turn off to the series as we see Hanako waiting for the boy she sent a love letter to and instead gets raped by her teacher, who intercepted the letter, and then dumps her after she dies as a result of the rape. It is a pretty damn horrifying sequence of events I will admit as she cries and resists as hard as a child can while being pinned down by an adult man, plus it doesn’t help that he fucking reminded me of Shou Tucker from FMA. Despite this, I pushed through and without spoiling anything I will say that the story ends in an extremely wholesome manner and is, much like every episode except the 5th, integral to experiencing the full payoff of the last episode.
Sadako
You all know of the girl with long hair climbing out of the television to presumably kill or haunt you, well that girl has a name and it’s Sadako. Unlike the first story, you can rest easy as the other episodes don’t come close to how dark the opening of Hanako’s story was and you can see a much lighter mood explored throughout the rest of the series. Sadako’s misadventures actually have a somewhat deeper meaning as she is striving to adapt to the modern era with evolving technologies due to her original medium of transport, the VHS, becoming obsolete. Her first story was rather topical with context to the mid 2010s as we see a mass exodus of the old media much like Sadako herself, trying to survive in their own comfortable media (newspaper, print magazine, broadcast television) and finally being forced to adapt to newer forms of media (internet based publications, YouTube, Netflix) while Sadako instead takes the pornographic approach. The second episode isn’t so serious and is more of an even more ridiculous exploration of new media in VR and how Sadako is able to penetrate through into even the latest technology.
Hachishaku
This one’s for all the shotacons out there. It takes the idea of shotacon, which is obviously a smol child with an adult woman and absolutely executes on the most extreme concept of this genre. What we end up with is a towering NBA-center-tall woman being ridden like a bull by a little kid which I think is what every shotacon fan wants. We get to the very core of this desire as the difference in size and age is right up there in your face but it's not exactly pedophelia because she is after all a ghost so it’s legal according to my law school friend.Hachishaku is absolutely lovely and much like Sadako her backstory comes from a long time ago and this story is of how she is trying to find purpose and meaning in a world that has moved on. It is also a story that teaches us that not everything you hear is true and often the best surprises of your life come from the things you think are the most horrifying. Hachishaku is rumored to be this roaming giant out to eat little children however she just wants to suck your dick and make it bigger.
Mary-chan
Mary’s story, as I’ve expressed, feels like the most boring concept in the entire series. Here you have these well-known figures such as Sadako which has been ingrained in pop culture and has even spread to other cultures such as being the inspiration of the Ring Girl for instance. Mary’s story of being the doll rejected doesn’t come out at all and her story feels as generic as hentai stories come and instead feels below the average in this series which is sorta disappointing but in 6 individual stories you can’t expect them all to be a homerun
Spoilers for Last Episode
I absolutely adore the last episode as it is a culmination of the past episodes, giving the hentai a true sense of finality which you often don’t get in such short lived series. As we are treated to the grand reveal that all episodes occurred in the same world, we see the ghosts unite in an Avengers-esque moment of truly glorious hentai. In a single scene, we get to see each ghost play their part as Mary-chan uses her aphrodisiac-like saliva, Sadako copying Hanako’s form and Hachishaku transforming him into a boy again as she is the goddess who transform boys to men, it makes sense that she has the ability to do the opposite. As we watch Hanako embrace her childhood friend, he grows up and truly matures, as Hachishaku does to her own subjects, and he continues to embrace Hanako as he transforms finally accepting her into his present life. This transformative scene along with picking up the stray cat truly shows that he and Hanako are in sync, providing the audience with the knowledge that these two will get their happy ending after all.
Art and Animation : 9
I’m an absolute sucker for the artstyle primarily pervasive in shotacon doujin and this hentai embraces that artstyle all throughout its run time. The character design is also great, not distorting too much from the legends and keeping them recognizable and respectful with the realistic body proportions and breast sizes.
No one likes ugly bastard, however the evil presence in this hentai wasn’t given the usual treatment of a fat fuck viciously raping a girl. It didn’t make me feel gross, it just made me feel bad as he was instead given a menacing and genuinely evil design which juxtaposed the rest of series quite appropriately with the more wholesome attitude taken afterwards. The animation never felt lazy either, I didn’t notice much recycling of frames and it felt very fresh as the addition of powers that were sexually natured added a spice not only to the sex but also to the animation and artstyle.
Characters : 8
I covered a lot of how I felt much more specifically in the story section however I will take any opportunity to gush over the complexity of the characters in this show. Nothing was extremely upfront and in your face, the show chose to draw out the character development and it didn’t feel like a snap change when it finally came to fruition, the snap came from when you realized how much had changed and reflected upon the subtle shift in nature you may have missed previously. Hanako’s character development hit the hardest and was definitely the most important storyline however a deeper social commentary is made in the Sadako and Hachishaku’s stories as those of the past attempt to find their place in modern society. I wish that they had fleshed out those characters more and chosen to take a more solemn and perhaps desperate attitude to these characters trying to find themselves amidst a jarring identity crisis however the characters were all likeable and were genuinely fun to watch.
Horror : 2
I speak in jest of course, this show isn’t scary discounting the initial extremely creepy and extremely realistic rape scene which really makes you think about the safety of your own future children as teachers in real life have been known to abuse their proximity to children as avenues for sexual assault. Besides that slap in the face of the terrifying reality of our world, this show doesn’t try to scare you with these legends. The scariest part about watching and reviewing this show was actually researching these legends and being absolutely terrified by the stories and art I came across online. (seriously don’t google these characters)
Enjoyment : 10
Fucking hell it’s been a while since I wrote or even watched hentai and after the initial flop this show has really gotten me back into watching some good ol’ hentai. The main cast were colorful and diverse, even introducing me to characters I’ve never heard of while keeping some well-known characters as well. Every episode was different and inventive in it’s own way, playing to a myriad of quirks which kept me coming back for more every time I sat down for a quick beat em’ up. I don’t think there’s a question whether I’d recommend this show to any fellow person of culture as it gives you everything you could want. It was fun, it had good sex scenes, it was well drawn and edited, it was unique, it was an absolute banger of a hentai.
