Search - Ayakashi: Samurai Horror Tales, Vol. 2 - Yotsuya Ghost Story on DVD

Passable Samurai-Period Psychological Horror

Neil Laughlin | San Jose, CA USA | 05/16/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The second story arc of the Ayakashi series focuses on a playwright's recounting of the story of the kabuki play Yotsuya Kaidan. The real play is a recounting of a series of murders and hauntings in Bunsei-era (early 19th century) Japan based loosely on a combination of actual events. This anime is interesting in that it exposes a Western audience to a major work of Japanese drama, animated in a comparatively realistic, serious fashion. I suspect that to Japanese audiences it was the Western equivalent of watching an animated adaptation of Macbeth.



If this review makes this anime sound somewhat esoteric, then I've done my job. It's a challenge to judge the literary merit of a horror anime about a famous kabuki play most Westerners have never heard of. If you aren't interested in kabuki, you would likely experience this anime as a samurai-period drama with supernatural elements about villainous people doing awful things to each other and their unfortunate victims before karma catches up to them. If you're on a limited budget or want to see the best of what Ayakashi has to offer, skip straight to Ayakashi - Samurai Horror Tales, Vol. 3 - Goblin Cat.

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