Horror anime is one of the biggest niches in the industry, and because of that, fans flock to these series to try and get scared. Despite the genre’s popularity, none fill the niche of telling true campfire-style scary stories quite as well as Yamishibai: Japanese Ghost Stories. This anthology series tells its stories by using an animation style inspired by the art of kamishibai, a traditional method of storytelling from Japan that uses illustrated paper cards. The unique art style and genuinely spooky stories have made Yamishibai a cult hit among seasoned anime fans.
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With an astounding 13-season run, Yamishibai is officially returning with a new collection of terrifying tales beginning in January 2025. The production team behind the series announced that Season 14 would begin airing on January 4, 2025, on TV Tokyo. The team also announced the new season’s “theme,” stating that it will focus on greed.
In addition to announcing when the new season would begin airing and giving sparse details regarding the new stories, ILCA also provided cast details for Yamishibai Season 14. Kanji Tsuda will be returning to reprise his role as the Storyteller with Yutaka Shimizu also returning. Akira Funada will be returning to direct the new season alongside Takuya Iwasaki and Norio Yamakawa as producers.
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Yamishibai Excels In Every Way That Too Many Other Horror Anime Struggle
While Yamishibai‘s art style may not be for everyone, it’s certainly effective in building up the appropriate amount of suspense to deliver on its scares properly. Horror anime, while entertaining, sometimes struggles to nail the delivery required to make it actually scary. A great example of this is how much Junji Ito’s masterclass pieces of horror fiction struggle to be adapted into an animated medium. However, Yamishibai, whether it be through the simplicity of its art style or its clever writing tricks, can perfectly execute just about every scare it throws at its audience. In true anthology fashion, some stories just don’t feel as effective as others, but the series truly has something for every type of horror fan.
Horror series always seem to come and go, but Yamishibai‘s enduring success over the years has proven that the series offers something truly special that anime fans actually want to see. Plus, each season can keep fans tied in outside of its unique stories through the brief, otherworldly terrors caused by the Storyteller himself, who always seems to have some malicious plan behind drawing in an audience to tell his macabre tales.
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