While not lengthy, beautifully-crafted tales, each story is vague enough to keep the danger seemingly coming from any angle. With 13 episodes each season, it would make sense that some of the settings would overlap. After all, part of the fear comes from common and everyday occurrences with horrific twists you might find yourself in one day. In episode 1, we have 4 friends doing a test of courage similar to the plot of season 1 episode 7. You’d think by season 8, people would learn not to mess around in supposedly haunted places yet they do! The circumstances are greatly different, however, so no worries of simply regurgitating old stories.

Of course, it’s the subtle ominous vibes coming from literally everywhere that keep our minds racing and make us susceptible to jumping at every false alarm. Episode 4 certainly does that only it manages to overshoot the mark. Viewers were left confused perhaps due to the lack of clear visuals at an important scene but the conclusion can be found in most comment sections/episode guides.

Thankfully, the rest of the episodes so far manage to keep us guessing yet succinctly provide enough visuals or clues to give us key information so the true horror can be made known. It’s still up in the air who will be dead or alive at the end of each episode and just what or why the killings or disappearances are happening. You’ll wanna keep your eyes peeled for any early indication of just where the individual stories are going.

Yami Shibai has always done a great job of creating an early unease that feels like a long time for only 4 minutes. Anything from a passing shadow, an unaddressed sound, or the curious use of a certain word lets the audience know that something unnatural is likely to occur. Of course, sometimes the warnings are more blatant. In those cases, we must be aware that a twist at the end will surprise us and leave us feeling just as vulnerable and caught off-guard as the poor main characters. Much like the story-telling, the artwork is simplistic yet suitably creepy and changes a bit to better match the tone and setting of each episode.