“The Reception Room”
What They Say:
Yamishibai is a picture-story style of animation whose motif is surrounded and based on the rumors, and urban legends throughout the history of Japan.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Doll horror is one of those divisive things where it gets to some more than others, but I’ve always held that extra special fear of items possessed by a force like dolls. This episode focuses on an elderly couple where they’ve got a very detailed doll that they had ordered that in its own way kind of makes up for the child that they never had. The wife is very much the type that sees the doll as being full of life in a way and she’s quite taken with it Mikoto as they name her, down to dressing her. The wife, unfortunately, is devoting more of her time to taking care of the doll than herself at the same time that her husband is struggling with a cough that’s starting to wrack his body. It’s easy to see how this unfolds and the uncertainty of what the doll represents as it progresses.
In Summary:
There’s a kind of built in predictability when it comes to this series as they’ve covered so many folktales and horror stories that overlap will happen and familiar tales get told again. The difference is in how they execute it since they had some good talents coming on board and tweaks to the familiar that can always be made. Watching as we see how the doll feeds on the couple in order to bring itself to life in its own creepy way is haunting and delightful and you can see easily why it would disturb those prone to this kind of horror.
Grade: B-
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
