Yamishibai: Japanese Ghost Stories television anime series is getting a seventh season that will premiere this July.
The series chronicles a mysterious, yellow-masked Storyteller whose true name and origin are both unknown. He appears at dusk where children gather and recites sinister tales based on Japanese urban legends, to which his young audience eerily intakes. However, the Storyteller is no ordinary teller of tales. He incorporates a kamishibai, a traditional paper-scrolling device, to add visuals to his already demented narration.
Kenichi Sugimoto of DRAWIZ is returning to direct the new anime at ILCA. Scriptwriters Ayako Yamaguchi, Hiromu Kumamoto, Kuniyoshi Saki, and Mitsuhi Sasagi are also returning. The animators include Yū Ebihara, Tatsuya Morino, Yukio Kanesada, Yoroshi Aka, Seiya Yamaguchi, Atsushi Itou, and Saya Kanamura. IANDA and DRAWIS are credited for production assistance. The artist betcover!! performs the ending theme song “Kekkai” (Barrier).
Kanji Tsuda returns to play the storyteller. The show’s other cast members include: Ryota Murai, Shunsaku Yoshimura, Ryō Shinoda, Nobuhiko Ōakami, Masaki Sawai, Rimo Hasegawa, Sena Horikoshi, Hikaru Kotama, Yūki Nishinoya, Ayaka Ōta, Kumi Nakamura, Sae Izumi, Sachiko Nakagomi, Kazuo Andō, and Virtual YouTuber character Taku Nanase.
The Yamishibai: Japanese Ghost Stories anime’s first season premiered in July 2013, and the sixth and most recent season premiered last July. Crunchyroll has streamed all six 13-episode seasons as they aired so far.
The original series of anime shorts featured six-minute horror stories based on urban legends. The shorts are inspired by Shōwa-era illustrated paper theater productions. Sentai Filmworks licensed the first two seasons of the series and released them on home video with English subtitles in 2016.
Sentai Filmworks is producing an English dub for the series.
Sources: Anime News Network, TV Tokyo, Comic Natalie
ILCA: https://www.ilca.co.jp/works/yami/
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3111906/
