Theatre of Darkness: Yamishibai 3

Wow. Just. Wow. I don't think I've ever seen a series fall so far from grace before this. This is both impressive and really depressing.--- Story: 2 They follow a "monster of the week" type of story in this season. I'm not even sure these are based on actual Japanese folklore and scary stories anymore. The stories were extremely bland and boring, with maybe only an episode or two actually entertaining me rather than frustrating me. Art: 9 I'm putting sound and art in the same category here. They were by far the only good aspect of the show this season. The art was a major improvement from the last season and was aesthetically pleasing. It fit the tone of the show well. However, there were a few episodes where the art style changed DRASTICALLY for no reason. It was pretty jarring. The sound was just as good as the other seasons, the ending song is strange but still fits the tone of the series. The voice acting is still impressive and realistic, and the music was still creepy. Character: 1 Lol what characters? They're all cardboard cutouts of personalities and stereotypes we've all seen before. They're nothing, that's their characters. Also, another important thing to note is that the narrator from the past two seasons is gone and is replaced by some fish-face lookin' kid. Hooray. Enjoyment: 1 I hated every minute of this season. The only enjoyment I found was riffing on it with my sister. The monster designs are REALLY bad, the scares were non-existent, and the characters were B O R I N G. Overall: 3 This season was trash. Utter. Trash. Honestly, it's really sad seeing such a good series trashed after only two seasons. The only reason I would recommend this to anyone is if you gather a bunch of friends and riff on it the whole show. Ugh.

You know how sometimes the finale of a show can ruin the whole thing and negate even the episodes and aspects you really liked? I feel like the opposite of that is what happened to Yamishibai 3. Allow me to explain: Up until the final episode, I hated most of the episodes because the stories were shallow, the monsters looked goofy and the characters had a total of 0 personality. The reason I picked up Yamishibai was because it had a mature way of dealing with horror. The scares weren't purely based on shock value or visuals, but worries and fears that are innately human. That'swhy I've found even the bad episodes of season one and two enjoyable; if the horror wasn't there the stories and concepts were at least worth thinking about. I've mentioned in my reviews of the earlier seasons that what Yamishibai does well is psychological horror and that monsters and such don't go very well with the shows simplistic style. You'd think that by the third season, producers etc would have realized what the shows strengths and weaknesses are but nooooooo. For some reason they decided that body horror and monsters should be the primary focus of the third season and let me tell you, it sucks. I think animated horror in general should stay away from using visuals as the medium for their scares. I just don't find it scary. Since the art in Yamishibai 3 is a lot more colorful and childlike, the visual "horror" isn't just nonscary, it's flat out goofy. I _tried_ to be scared but most episodes made me giggle... Then comes episode 13, the finale. I won't spoil it but in my opinion what the ending reveals, mitigates the seasons flaws by giving a valid and interesting reason for them to be there. Now, is it worth sitting through 54 minutes of trash? Not really. Fortunately you don't have to! If you watch one ore two other episodes the final one will make perfect sense and then you can move on and forget this season even happened. Except for episode 13 I would suggest episode two and episode nine. Spiders are my weak spot so I could barley watch episode two and number nine has the same feel as the stories in the first and second season!

Story: This is, essentially, one giant call-back to the first season. Everything was done really well here, even if a few episodes have that "Season 2 charm" (Read: aren't that good.) We've returned to the general idea of horror creep where viewers are subjected to a steady increase of fear. There's a law implemented, either explicitly or non-explicitly shared, and then the following events follow through with that general characteristic. Now, I will say that it's possible certain parts didn't deliver due to fatigue. I did marathon every episode, so it's likely that my 'lackluster' perception on a few episodes is due to me growing callous tothe tropes within these episodes, but I also know that some of these genuinely gave me the creeps, so I don't think that this is the case. I think the real issue is that those producing this show were merely running out of material, and I'm rather glad to see that this season is the implied end to the series. If there's more, cool. If not, the way it ends is superb. Art: Similar to S2, things look cleaner. I don't think this helps. It omits the rustic, nightmarish feel and replaces it with a digital, modern experience. Everything I do as a millennial is digital and crisp. Want to freak me out? Give me a Windows '95 to browse the internet. If this analogy is going over anyone's head, what I'm basically saying is: one way to throw me off is to take away anything I'm used to. I'm used to things being organized. That's how modern life is. Disorganize your images and then throw me in. Or, rather than make every monster look somewhat similar, make them look unbelievably different, or animate them differently, so I don't get used to it. Sound: The ambience was fine and set in well. There's DEFINITELY fatigue in this area, though. There wasn't anything new or memorable about the sounds and tracks used in this season. There probably could have been something to fix this, but I'm not sure. Some people felt a few of the monsters sounded stupid, but I'll have to disagree. They sounded retro, similar to the sounds of monsters we experienced as children. It added a nostalgic attribute to the experience, and I thoroughly enjoyed that spook factor. Character: Again, same as always. Just enough character to give us what we need, and then some. Enjoyment: Much more enjoyable than the second season, but it doesn't come nearly as close to how I felt about the first season. The first season was an experience. I can't really put it any other way. So, when comparing this season to that one, it's easy to see why this lands in between all of them. ((If you liked this review, check out my other reviews by going to my profile and clicking the 'reviews' tab. I review virtually all anime and manga I find!))

Rate a 7 English Subtitled Plot Introductory was a nice change of pace. First and second involved the same cast but only the scenery had changed. Here i am sure you can put two and two together to realize that you are looking at a different piece. Although sadly the wording could have been chosen better. For not only was in not scary but seemed a bit off like a poor translation. As for the ending that won it for me. Sure all the proceeding episodes were at the same horror level as season 2(somewhat tame) but it played into the introductory in a somewhat unexpected approach. In doingso made it into the final episode. And at the very end while it was a somewhat expected reveal it provide some informative approach to the gathering. In other words people can't help but to link two and two together. Like the sound of clapping means applause but it can also mean other things like i need your attention similar to that of a whistle. In sort lesson learned from this season is don't be quick to judge anything even small aspects. Art The same as the preceding seasons. Those that aren't aware (as you should be having gotten to season 3) it is somewhat cheap. I say somewhat for it does well for an audience of kids. The animation is that of puppetry if using paper as puppets. Production is also cheap because during vocals there is little in terms of lip moment, which kills the reality vibe. I will say on a positive notation the credit art was a pleasant thing to see. For it made the credits slightly fun to watch for its slight originality from other episodes of its season.