A spinoff from the more wellknown Yami Shibai/Theater of Darkness franchise The World Yamizukan is a strange series indeed. Unlike its parent franchise which based itself on Japanese myths and urban legends The World Yamizukan seems to be more focused instead on Western material. From aliens to clowns to mysterious Amazonian tribes to rods/skyfish this short series exudes such a pulpy atmosphere that it would be easy to believe this would have been shown back in the 70s when this type of magazines were at their peak. For those not familiar with its parent The World Yamizukan has a very simple format. Its an anthology series of completely unrelated stories with a supernatural component. About five minutes each which is usually more than enough to give a good hook and premise though the conclusions more often than not leave something to be desired. The presentation ironically enough is both its weakest and strongest asset. On one hand the art style is gorgeous very similar to the pulp magazines its trying to emulate and with one exception that uses live action photography pretty much every single episode has a different style which keeps the visuals fresh and impacting and if Ive got to be honest its what carries the series as a whole. On the other hand the animation or lack of it really lets the series down. For those whove watched Yami Shibai before its not a big surprise. The animation consists mostly of several still images in succession but even when compared to its parent series Yamizukan comes short in that sense. With the exception of the first two episodes where the characters are cutouts that we can see move around the scene every episode after is just a series of full images where the animation consists mostly of just changing the zoom in each image. As for the writing itself I wont deny it its complete camp something which is not helped with the deadpan narrators voice. If what youre looking for is horror you wont find much of it here and Id argue that its more so a scifi anthology. However take into account that Im so used to killer snowmen and hitchhiking dangers stories already and the series might be scarier for someone that has not been bombarded with all this themes throughout their whole life. I dont know if this was studio ILCAs way to attract more of a western audience or if it was a sincere attempt to showcase western myths to a Japanese audience but all in all Id say that if youre interested in this series give it a try. Is it a good series? No but it is fun. It is also short. So even if you dont end up liking it its not like you wasted a big amount of time anyway.