In the spook-tastic month of October, I welcome the smell of spirits and fear in season with Halloween. This month I am recommending paranormal related anime titles to add a little shiver to the mix.
Another
Sakakibara Koichi returns to his hometown Yomiyama while his father is working abroad. The first thing he notices is how strangely his classmates treats him and the odd Misaki Mei tells him that their class, 3-3, is close to death. No one tells Koichi why they decided to alienate him, until one of the classmates, Naoya, says that it's because 3-3 is cursed. There's always an "extra" student in the class that believes they are alive. To avoid the curse, they pick one person to ignore, but students continue to die one by one.
While the town initially seemed harmless, the specter of death lingers with 3-3 no matter where they go. Just when you think you are safe, one of the students die. The greatest surprise comes with the last episode when they discover who is the "extra" person. What's great is how they kept the mystery going in the story. I found the suspense and horror to increase per episode leading the final episode to be highly climatic.
Shiki
Sotoba is a quiet rural village known for coffin making. Yuuki has recently moved to the village because his parents were tired of the city and wanted a liberating start. A strange number of deaths starts to circulate in the village. Dr. Ozaki suspects it's a new epidemic that's spreading and continues to monitor the villagers' activity. During this time a strange family moves into the abandoned mansion. Ozaki investigates the victims and learns that it may be the work of the vampiric shiki.
The spiraling fate of Sotoba was doomed from the start and when you are at the end of the series, you realize that the whole village was a metaphor foreshadowing its death. While Yuuki may be a hero, Ozaki in a way plays hero except he's an anti-hero and he realizes this at the very end of the tragic fate that he had brought to Sotoba and its inhabitants. Even though Sunako is one of the antagonists, I do sympathize with her a bit along with some of the shiki. They did not really choose to become shiki. I really commend Ono Fuyumi, the original author of the novel, as a couple of her works have also been made into anime adaptions. The way she spins a tale is truly something. Her husband is Ayatsuji Yukito, the author for the novel version of Another.
Ghost Hunt
Taniyama Mai interrupts an experiment set up by Shibuya Kazuya, a presumed psychic from SPR, Shibuya Psychic Research. She breaks a camera and disrupts a bookcase which falls on Lin, Kazuya's assistant, thus injuring him in the process. To make up for the loss, Mai works part time as an SPR staff. They investigate paranormal cases together along with Buddhist monk, Takigawa, Ayako the shrine maiden and Catholic priest John Brown. Through the many cases they encounter, it is discovered that Mai has latent psychic abilities where her dreams often provide clues to the case.
Yet another one of Ono Fuyumi's works makes it to my list. Why am I not surprised. Having re-watched this series a total of 3 times, I still cannot get over the Bloodstained Labyrinth arc. To this day, I have chills down my spine when I watch it. For those that have also watched Ghost Hunt, did you also feel the same way about this particular arc? The horror was so well written in my opinion. The fear I felt didn't come from the blood or the deaths of the investigators. It came from knowing that this restless spirit, Urado, wouldn't die and continues to kill in the most gruesome way possible. Not all the cases covered were at the same level as Bloodstained Labyrinth, but I really liked that they covered a variety of occult techniques and subjects. My only criticism is that all the characters come out very flat. They don't change much throughout the series and could easily be replaced.
Jigoku Shoujo
It is said that if one has a revenge wish, they can access a certain website and call upon the Jigoku Shoujo (Hell Girl) to complete their request. The person of target in the request will be ferried straight to hell and it is said that the person who put the request will also go to hell when they die. Even when Enma Ai, the Jigoku Shoujo, warns her client each time of their potential fate, they choose to follow through with punishment.
While I do recommend this title, Jigoku Shoujo, is not my favorite series to watch. I recommend it despite never finishing the first season because I believe there are audiences better suited to this series than I. I stopped midway because I found the episodes very repetitive. It lost its appeal to me even though it went on for three more seasons. Had they introduced Ai's backstory earlier, I may have stayed for the entire ride. What I think made this series captivating to many people and to me in the beginning at least, was that these grudges that characters had were very relatable. You can't help, but sympathize with them because of the way the story was written. They had no choice but to punish their abuser. It's worth mentioning that Ai's friends are based off of Japanese youkai.
Shinrei Tantei Yakumo/Psychic Detective Yakumo
Yakumo is a university student born with a unique red left eye with the ability to see spirits. Because of this, he was ostracized as a kid. Haruka consults with Yakumo when people around become possessed or turn up dead. The two pair up to solve paranormal activities while a mysterious man with tinted glasses watches with malice from a distance.
If you crave for some fresh paranormal mystery, you may want to give this series a try. It is much lighter than all the titles here. However it is not very memorable. Spirits encountered in the story are mostly harmless and there's no real spook to the supernatural. Our titular characters are very dull. The writers tried to portray Yakumo as a cold and aloof young man who is actually kind. However, I find the representation of Yakumo very bland. The way they portray him as cold is having him ignore existing characters. It's poorly developed overall.
Mononoke
In a series of 12 episodes, the nameless Medicine Seller, travels with his wares, but also with an exorcism blade. Wherever he goes, he searches for evil spirits known as mononoke. In order to exorcise a mononoke, he has to find the Form, Truth, and Reason. To do so, the Medicine Seller investigates deeply into his case and confronts the dangerous spirits. In the first episode, he encounters a pregnant woman named Shino at an inn and sees that the room she is placed in is haunted by the Zashiki Warashi.
I never forgot how disturbed I felt after finishing the first episode. Mononoke does not shy away from subjects like rape and abuse. I do recommend its sister series, Ayakashi, which a collection of Japanese legends. One of the stories covered is somewhat of a prequel to the Mononoke series. Mononoke does a great job drawing the viewer in with the mystery. In addition to the story, the art itself is highly stylized and full of Japanese symbolism. It takes rewatching to closely examine the references put in by the animators. Nearly all backgrounds you see in each episode is referencing something in the story. Other than the early 3DCGI, this series has outlived animation trends and can very easily become timeless.
Yami Shibai
In these short ten minute episodes told in kami shibai, a traditional form of story telling in Japan, each story covers an urban legend with unsettling results. Be warned, there are no happy endings here. True to classic Japanese horror, each story has some sort of malevolent end to their characters.
While I do not plan to watch all 7 seasons of Yami Shibai, this is one of the best horror short stories out there. I have observed that most Japanese horror stories have inexplicable disturbances that are typically never resolved in the end. That's the premise of Yami Shibai. It is suppose to leave restless every episode. The way they draw characters and spirits is truly disturbing. Something about the expressions is creepy and unsettling.
Kokkoku
The Yukawa family has fallen into ruin. Juri desperately wants to move out from her home, but has failed all her job interviews. Her deadbeat father, Takafumi, has no job and her NEET older brother, Tsubasa, plays games all day long. Juri rests her hopes on her adorable nephew, Makoto. Just when things couldn't get any worse, Makoto and Tsubasa are kidnapped and the kidnappers demand a heavy ransom. At that moment, Juri's grandfather reveals an ancient family secret. The Yukawas own a mystical stone that allows them to enter the world known as Stasis where time has stopped. It was thought that only the Yukawas should be able to move freely through time until they realize there were unwanted visitors in the Stasis. To add on, the cryptic existence of Heralds make Juri unsure of what the Stasis truly is.
While Kokkoku doesn't count as paranormal, it is another type of horror. The Stasis has some unknown rules in which we slowly learn through the series. It is maintained by the Heralds or the Handlers as Juri's grandfather mentions. It is also necessary to mention that one can get trapped in the Stasis and never return. I find it scary that it's actually quite easy to get trapped there and these Heralds are intimidating.
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