Halloween season is upon us and what better way to spend it then to watch creepy animes. I have the perfectly spooky and disturbing series to suggest and it?s called Yami Shibai: The Theater of Darkness. If you want to learn more about the Japanese culture and what sort of ghosts and ghouls they find scary, then watch this show. It is a collection of Urban Legends from Japan told in a creepy voice by an old man in a mask. Here are my top 13 picks of the creepiest most believable stories from the show. I?ve only given the basic premise of each story because I feel that it?s best to experience these stories for yourself without any major spoilers.
- The Talisman Woman
Yami Shibai ? Season 1 Episode 1
Whoever made the decision to start the series off with this story made an excellent choice. It captured the viewers? attention and was the perfect introduction to this creepy series.This story is about a man who just moved into a new apartment and finds a creepy woman constantly staring at him from the house across the street. I absolutely love how relatable the protagonist is in this story because we all have to move to a new place sometimes. All we can do is hope that our new neighbor looks like a sane person and not like a deranged ax murderer.
2. The Family Rule
Yami Shibai ? Season 1 Episode 3
Every family has strange rules that must be followed at all cost. You might not understand them but ignoring them could lead to dire consequences. When your parents tell you to not leave your room at night, just stay in your room. What I personally took away from this story is, don?t ever get up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night.
3. The Next Floor
Yami Shibai ? Season 1 Episode 5
A man is out shopping with his wife and son when he gets called into work. His family is upset at his leaving but he gets into the elevator anyway. Stories like this are the reason why I prefer to use the escalator or stair over elevators at the mall. All I can say is, be careful what you wish for.
4. Contradiction
Yami Shibai ? Season 1 Episode 7
This one is a cautionary tale for all you thrill seekers out there. There is a reason why haunted mental hospitals are abandoned. Why do you have to be an idiot and invite trouble for the rest of the people in your life? If you want to spend quality time with your partner then just watch a scary movie instead.
5. Inside
Yami Shibai ? Season 2 Episode 3
A kid finds a Russian nesting doll while playing outside and bring it home. His mother is instantly creeped out by it so she takes it outside to throw it away. A few hours later she comes back home carrying the doll and acting very strange. What happened? This is the reason why you shouldn?t let your kids play outside. They?ll bring weird things back to the house. Just sit them in front of the computer or have them read a book instead.
6. Locker
Yami Shibai ? Season 2 Episode 5
Who hasn?t had a crush on someone while they were in school? This one is about a girl who has a crush on her senior and just can?t seem to make up the courage to talk to him. So, she decides to seek help from the supernatural. My advice, if you?re going to enlist help from the dark arts just do a little more research before you get into something.
7. Picking up
Yami Shibai ? Season 2 Episode 11
Here we have a grown man who found something interesting on a train. A very well written full-length novel which he promptly enters in a writing competition under his own name. This person was in college so he should have known that plagiarism never ends well.
8. Netsuke
Yami Shibai ? Season 2 Episode 12
When grandparents pass away they usually leave some sort of heirloom for their family, sometimes accidentally. In this story, a girl is helping her grandmother sort out her late grandfather?s belongings when she finds a pair of earring with faces on them. She should have just left them where she found them. Why you would want to wear faces on your ears is beyond me, but I guess everyone has a different fashion sense.
9. Lend it to Me
Yami Shibai ? Season 3 Episode 1
This is the reason why you shouldn?t go to new places that pop-up out of nowhere during nighttime. On his way home, a man finds a new public bathhouse he?s never seen before and decides to try it out. It?s pretty empty but there is a woman on the other side who starts talking to him. Personally, I would have bolted out of that place the second some stranger started talking to me while I was naked. People need boundaries or bad things end up happening.
10. Tunnel
Yami Shibai ? Season 3 Episode 2
This one is pretty self-explanatory. Two men are driving through the mountain and get lost. They arrive at a fork in the road and have to decide between an open road on the side of the mountain or a creepy looking tunnel. I wonder which one they chose? They should have just parked on the side of the road and waited for morning to arrive or someone else to drive by. Everyone knows horrible things happen in enclosed spaces at night.
11. ?That Side? Festival
Yami Shibai ? Season 3 Episode 6
Japanese festivals seem like they would be a lot of fun to go to unless you get lost. A little girl was playing with her friend at a festival when she looks away for a minute and her friend disappears. Being a good friend, she decided to search for the girl. Bad decision.
12. Empress Doll
Yami Shibai ? Season 3 Episode 8
Another story about what happens when stupid thrill seekers decide to go to abandoned places. Dolls are creepy no matter what culture you?re from or what religion you follow. If you find dolls in an abandoned place then just get the hell out of there.
13. The Fourth Man
Yami Shibai ? Season 3 Episode 9
This is one of those creepy urban legends that come true. Two sisters go back to school after dark because one of them forgot a notebook she needed on her desk. On their way back home, a strange looking man asks them to shake his hand. Should they shake or not? This is the reason why I find Japanese urban legends especially scary because they usually ask you to make a choice between two extremely horrible things. You?re doomed if you do and doomed if you don?t. There is no escape.
