Embedded Files
Its the last set of Yamishibai episodes, and man are they a doozy. @_@ The last episode is a little different from the rest but we'll get to that later....
Merry-Go-Round
Shinichi and Saotomi visit a rooftop amusement park for old time's sake, and as the mall is going to close, she decides to ride the merry-go-round before they leave. Shinichi hangs back to take pics and watch, and as she goes around, some changes begin to take a toll on her. Her fellow riders--who started out as dour--grow even more excited, and after she disappears, Shinichi starts to panic. That's when Saotomi's warped voice from the floor calls up to him: "Shinichi~! Watch meeeee." Highlights to this episode are the clown you want to whack with a chair and Saotomi's transformation.
Cuckoo Clock
Rumi and her mother visit her grnadmother, whom owns quite a fascinating cuckoo clock that tweets on the floor. But what starts as a simple interest evolves into obsession as Rumi chants the clock's ticking as her eyes watch the pendulum, though her eyes aren't necessarily in sync. Late that night, she goes to inspect it and the clock falls off the wall.
The next morning, Rumi's mother find her daughter....though not necessarily the same as when she went to sleep. Highlights to this episode are the bird, and Rumi's slow descent into time keeping.
In the Water
The star of the school's swim team wants to go all in, so he goes to the school's pool that night to squeeze in more practice. As he swims laps, he finds that he's not necessarily alone in the water. This episode relies most on the ambiance, and the water effects are quite nice. Near the end, there's an effect that reminded me of Ouse Kurosawa in Fatal Frame 5 rising from the Black Lake, so that was a nice little unintentional nod to it. I would argue, while the atmosphere is good in this episode, its the weakest of the 13. But fortunately, the season ends with a good, if ambiguous bang....
--Drawing--
Remember our little friend who sketches during the opening and is the hand that draws the ending shots? Well, a student teacher comes across him, discovering the little Dali is in her class. Curious of his standoffish behavior, she tries to get through to him, but he scoffs at her offer for him to draw her: "That's boring. I don't want to." That explains plenty as she follows him around after hours: his favorite subjects are the terrifying fears and transmogrified victims of the season's stories and untold tales (the man with the telephone is particularly terrifying, though as contextless as the giant bird devouring someone head first). Trying to figure out what this child is exposes the young woman to so much horror that, upon cornering her in the classroom, she now has become interesting enough to draw. The epilogue to this epilogue episode (lol), blurrs the line of what's really going on. Has the boy become the storyteller? Was the boy always the storyteller? And what is the storyteller's true motivation? WHO CARES, BOY, WE GO HORROR TO TELL. Its up to you what you take from it. Here's Choco's take on it:
That...gods damned kid.
No, not the kid...the mask…
Or...wait...!?
So yes...with many ghost stories, you're bound to wind up with some hit or miss moments. Yamishibai Season 3 was definitely full of hit or miss moments. Season 3's and perhaps the whole series ending, however, is one hell of a NOPE!
So yeah, we've been seeing this boy drawing the entire series. Turns out, this dead-eyed boy attends a school with other kids. A school with a new teacher. After school, the principal talks about how the student has been like that for quite some time. That, and students whom were absent, are now missing. Curious, the teacher follows the boy...and he's drawing...and what's close by is something...horrifying happening. This happens numerous times, and each time, she's freaked the fuck out.
So after class, she examines the sketchbook. The first thing she turns to is some...thing grabbing three children...and they looked like children that she saw just at the start of the day.
After that, the boy comes in. His interest is piqued by the teacher, whom now has ALL THE DRAWINGS behind her. And he then declares that he's going to draw her.
At that moment, his face sloughs off...and we see a familiar mask.
And we hear a familiar voice.
Wait...hold up...
Not only has this old man been telling stories to these children…
He's been here the whole time. Telling these stories to us.
…
WHAT. AN. ASSHOLE!!!!!
This season was really strong, with very good stories and the framing story that yanks you back into WTFville. If you can only watch one season, this one is my recommendation. For the eps, click the image to take you to crunchyroll:
Oshi...mai....
--Dio (10/29/16)
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