Tales of Terror from Tokyo and All Over Japan: Volume 3 Part 2 Review

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: An anthology series showcasing all manner of random horror tales from Japan.

Review: Now we come to the final volume of the set, and they appear to have saved the best for last. All the improvements that were done in the first part of volume 3 carry over except you have the added bonus of more tales and even a scary entry. Another major change is the inclusion of a character that loosely connects the stories to one another. I say loosely because this girl, Ai, played by the lovely Mei Kurokawa, appears in half the tales, but she doesn't bring up previous events or make a true association between segments; she is simply a character reused over and over. I should note she even dies in a few stories, so, while I did like this idea in theory, they fundamentally wasted the opportunity. Oh well, she's cute and that alone spices up more of the entries. Also, Ms. Kurokawa appears in one of the spinoff movies about a haunted apartment building which I hope to review. With all of that out of the way, let's take one more look at these tales of terror!

Only Two of Us: To start things off, we obviously have the introduction of the Ai character who is babysitting her cousin, I guess, whose mother recently died. This cousin was staying with Ai's aunt and is overly attached to people and does not want to be left alone. When Ai leaves momentarily to use the bathroom, she comes back to find the cousin freaking out. Later that night, when the two are sleeping, Ai awakens to the sound of the cousin talking and she claims to see a dark figure in the room. Ai does see the shadowy figure who is all black except for overly distinct eyes; think "Ju-on: The Grudge" when Rika first sees Kayako. The next day, Ai inquires what happened to the cousin's mom and learns she burned herself alive; damn that's about as hardcore of a suicide as you can get! When Ai leaves, she explains that the cousin moved around a bit before she lost all contact on her whereabouts; she also sees the shadowy ghost lurking behind the cousin as she walks away. Not too bad of an opening story, but the effect on the ghost was kind of weak; why couldn't they have used makeup instead of whatever the hell they used for the one scene?

A Woman Next Door: A guy living in a small, dilapidated apartment building appreciates the isolation and freedom until he discovers he has a next door neighbor. After a night of singing, he comes across the neighbor, who is a middle-aged woman, and looks kind of pissed, but then she smiles at him. Behind the woman, however, is a kid dressed in all black with every inch of the body covered; not going to lie, the kid looks like they would be a badass anime villain. One day, a delivery man says he has a package for the neighbor and asks if he can leave it with the guy and he obliges; the package appears tremendously heavy, large, and also all black. That night, the woman comes by with the kid and picks up the package with ease when the guy notices the kid has a mechanical arm. The guy, curious, creates a makeshift mirror on a stick which he uses to peer inside the neighbor's balcony. The mirror shows the kid is now a large adult who grabs the stick with the same mechanical arm and emits robotic sounds. Then the robotic creature tries to get into the guy's apartment before the woman calls the kid back. The ending feels abrupt, but I appreciate when more tales have something beyond ghosts and we haven't had robots yet.

Three People Are Coming: After class ends at god knows what hour, Ai is last to leave due to some douchebag knocking her over. Seriously, what guy is going to just linebacker charge a sexy girl and leave her? That was your in, dude, you blew it! You could have given some bullshit excuse why you're in a hurry to butter her up (my sick grandma needs me), help her up, and flirt all the way home! Tsk tsk. Anyway, Ai gets on an elevator alone when it breaks down suddenly. She uses the elevator's speaker to contact someone who suspiciously claims they're sending three people to help her. Out of nowhere, ghostly hands materialize and begin to choke my poor Ai momentarily. Confused, Ai is then choked by another pair of hands until she practically passes out. Scared out of her mind, Ai keeps her back to the walls as she anticipates the third set of hands, but the elevator comes to the ground floor. Hesitantly looking around, Ai grabs her stuff when she is grabbed from the front by the third set of hands that choke much harder than the previous two. The story ends with the apparent first death of the Ai character. This wasn't too bad and should be the moment when you're like, "Didn't I just see that girl in the first story?"

A Snapshot: Miraculously surviving her last ghostly encounter, Ai is hanging out with friends at a karaoke bar when one of the guys brings an oddly dressed girl to hang out with them that he says was sitting outside. After singing a few songs, the group tries to get the strange girl to engage the situation more, but she is reluctant to participate and simply sits there quietly. Ai then suggests they take a photo, with the two guys and the strange girl, followed by Ai forwarding the photo to another of their friends. When the power goes out, the strange girl starts to speak nonsense about planes and the dark. The group later leaves but notices the girl is not following with them, and Ai goes to collect her. Ai finds the girl cowering in the bathroom screaming about fire and hell. Then we cut to Ai at school with the friend Ai sent the photo to thinking that it was some kind of joke. The photo of the strange girl has changed a bit, and Ai explains that she learned the karaoke bar was once a bomb shelter during WWII and many girls were burned alive there. This was an okay story, but this was the moment when you realize they are not going to properly utilize the Ai character and link the segments together.

Blue Raincoat: Well, Ai is back at it again, but this time she's hanging out with some guy coming on too strong for our dear little Ai; though, she does appear to like the guy for whatever reason. There is a knock at the door and Ai answers it to find it's some girly-looking boy asking for something. Ai interprets this something as money and basically says she's too broke so go to hell--in much more pleasant terms of course. Honestly, if they hadn't said explicitly that it was a boy I would have assumed it was a girl; also the kid is wearing a dripping wet raincoat when it isn't raining out. After Ai and loverboy eat, Ai is stuck doing the dishes while loverboy momentarily disappears. Don't worry though, it's all a ploy to lure Ai back to his bedroom and land a kiss; you sly dog! After dodging another kiss, loverboy screws up his attempt at groping by making his hand go up Ai's back instead of down; come on dude, I thought you were sly? But out of nowhere, raincoat-boy bitch slaps Ai and then she sees the apparition appearing around the apartment. There is something about the raincoat-boy being the internal thoughts of loverboy or something, but I don't know. Ai runs away and loverboy has turned into raincoat-boy and repeats the line about giving him something...we can assume nookie. If they're going to make Ai appear to have a sixth sense of sorts this could have been another way to tie the segments together.

Unbroadcast Footage: This story felt super short, but the plot was interesting. Members of a film crew were taping a special at a house where bodies were mysteriously found when they recorded unusual activity. The producer, or whoever he is, debates whether they should keep or delete the footage. All that they really see is a ghostly looking woman behind the host while she talks and then one of the camera crew members appears when they claim she wasn't present at the shoot. You see this camera crew member earlier in the segment, but I don't know what they were trying to imply; they never say she was dead or anything. I liked where they were going with this one, but they seriously wasted a chance to do something cool.

He's Home: This was another slightly offbeat tale involving a boyfriend of a single mother. They have this noir tone to the music and narration, but I don't know if that was the right decision. The husband died, but they keep a shrine to him in the bedroom which makes the boyfriend a bit uncomfortable. We see instances of when the boyfriend would see the ghost of the husband, but I'm not quite sure the intent of the ghost as he looks stern but never does anything. The boyfriend appears to interpret this as some kind of allowance to be with the wife, but then the ghost keeps appearing. There's something about a lantern festival perhaps being the time when the ghost appears but they totally lost me on that one; a couple years manage to go by in a little five minute short. The boyfriend doesn't even appear to be getting nookie...

Visitor: Didn't we already have a segment with pretty much the same title? Well, when a girl finds herself sick for a prolonged period of time, leave it up to Ai to bring her homework! While the girl is trying to get some rest, she hears the doorbell ring repeatedly but no one is there. After this continues, she peeks out a window and sees another girl trying to do her best impression of Carrie White after the prom. Deciding it's best to ignore this and get back to bed, the girl is then shocked to see the bloody girl peering into the house through a window above the door; definitely a creepy shot right there. When there is a knock at the door it does turn out to be Ai delivering that schoolwork as promised. Later, the girl calls her mom begging her to come home, but the mom tells the girl she's being a baby. The girl then decides to camp out in front of the door staring at the bloody apparition as she stares back through that same window above the door. When Ai returns again, the girl acts differently and Ai notices a trail of blood that the girl appears to be wiping up endlessly. Carrie starts to come out of a closet but is held at bay by the girl. Ai says fuck this shit and leaves as the girl is left to continue mopping up with Carrie looking on. This entry was the best from this volume and kind of scary as well. Not a lot is explained, but it was really freaky.

Sleepy Head: As Ai and her friend walk home from school they discuss why the friend is always so tired; it would seem our dear Ai thinks she's a psychologist and wonders if the sleepiness has to do with the girl's stepmother. Brushing Ai off, the girl goes home and tries to talk to the stepmother who ignores the girl. The girl takes a nap, but is awakened by a bell attached to the door ringing (is their house doubling as a convenience store?). When the girl investigates she sees herself enacting the same events from earlier. Baffled, the girl watches on as more versions of herself appear in some kind of endless time loop. At one point, the stepmom finally acknowledges the girl, embraces her, and explains that it was the first time she was referred to as mom by the girl. This happiness is short lived, however, as the stepmom stabs the girl in the back with a large knife but it's all a dream. When the girl tries to go back to sleep we hear the cycle starting all over again. Eh, your guess as to what's going on is as good as mine.

Second Round: Following a similar premise as the last segment, this story takes a slightly more comical approach to the situation. Inspired by "Taxicab Confessions," or something like that, we are introduced to an unusual taxi driver and his even weirder clients. The driver starts off at a hospital which will be important in understanding that the audience is coming into the loop already in progress. The first client is an old lady; the driver doesn't want to pick her up, but she pays well. Immediately after dropping off grandma, a sexy lady in a red coat appears and the driver tries to flirt with her; the girl disappears when they reach the destination and she leaves only half the cost. The last client is some business guy screaming a lot and wanting to go to the hospital; when the business guy gets out of the taxi his pants are falling off for whatever reason. Before the driver can leave the hospital, the grandma from earlier pops back up, but the driver simply goes along with it believing it's a coincidence. When the sexy girl with the red coat appears, the driver doesn't care as much, he's just happy to get another chance to flirt. After mulling over the idea of getting half the money again, the screaming man appears again and the two scream together for a bit which was funny. At the hospital again, the grandma appears once more, but now she looks ghostly with bloody teeth and says there's no escape. I liked the grainy look and record skipping sound which added to the atmosphere. It was kind of funny, and they did balance a bit of horror into the mix as well.

Copy Machine: When two girls are hanging out after class, they wonder where their third friend is at. Looking at some photos, the girls notice that every picture their friend was in has a weird blur covering her face. Believing the problem to be with the copy machine, the two girls go to print out new photos, but they come out the same as before. Then the copy machine begins to print photos that show their friend walking down the street and being beaten to death by some guy dressed up as Chef Boyardee. I really liked the animation effect, and it was reminiscent of "Ju-on: The Grudge 2" in a way. The girls then see, what appears to be, the ghost of the girl coming out of her own body before disappearing in the photos. The last thing that happens is the dead girl's spirit emerges from behind the copy machine unseen by the girls. This was decent, and I liked the idea, I just don't get what was with Chef Boyardee killing the girl for no reason.

Greetings: For some reason Ai is interviewing an old man about various life experiences including encounters with different forest spirits. Eventually the two walk past another old man, played by Isao Yatsu, who is a very recognizable actor from a ton of J-horror movies and TV. When Ai and the old man pass Mr. Yatsu, they notice him appearing once more in the distance. This cycle repeats a few times with the two old men having the same conversation with each passing. Ai questions what the hell is happening, and the old man explains that this may be some kind of trick from a fox spirit and it's best to play along. The two old men finally turn to each other and clap--which I'm assuming has something to do with stopping these godforsaken spirits. The two old men discuss how they thought the other was a fox spirit, but are interrupted by the laugh of a tengu (yet another pain in the ass kind of spirit). Ai is scared as she looks at the old men creepily staring at her. The segment ends with the old men coming at her as, I'm assuming, she dies once more. I think this would make more sense to me if I had more contextual knowledge, but I think I can understand it enough.

Animal Odor: Ai is up to her old tricks visiting some other relative who is pregnant. Ai notices many air fresheners scattered about and the relative explains there is some phantom odor. When the relative's suspicious-looking husband comes home, Ai is immediately overwhelmed by the pungent stench coming from the man. As the husband goes about his every day activities, Ai has visions of the man, when he was a child, killing various animals and the enjoyment it gave him. These visions cause Ai to momentarily pass out and she then confronts the husband regarding this while the relative is preoccupied. Ai tells the guy he will be haunted by the smell for eternity, and the guy simply says not to tell his wife. And that's the end. What the hell? We needed a level of closure I think.

The Last Train: After partying with her friend all night, a girl comes home late to an angry mother. Trying to explain herself, the girl expresses the notion that it's not that late as they traveled by the last train. Realizing something is off, the girl notices the morning paper and looks outside to find it's suddenly daytime. While sitting outside, the girl receives a call from her friend who appears to be in the same situation and wondering how it's daytime already. When the girl goes back inside her home, the interior has changed to a worn out and abandoned look and the mom is nowhere to be found. Hearing voices coming from the door, the girl opens the door to find pitch blackness. When the girl wanders into the darkness we see the door slam shut behind her. Hmm, missing time and shenanigans...I'm going to call aliens on this one; or maybe a dimensional rift or something beyond imagination.

Noose Snap: A tutor notices that one of his students is frequently distracted and questions what is going on with the kid at the end of class. Instead of answering, the kid simply looks at the same place he had when distracted, except the tutor sees a man hanging from a noose. After investigating the sight, the tutor only finds the noose but no man hanging. The next night at class, the tutor further questions the kid, thinking it was some kind of joke, but the kid asks whether the tutor can see the ghost. The following night, the kid is absent but this time a girl claims to see something too; another girl explains that someone committed suicide in the building. The tutor sees the hanging man again, but this time when he investigates the spirit gives him a creepy smile. On the final night, we see the kids gathering around as the school has been closed, and the boy from earlier now sees the tutor hanging alongside the first man. Hanging alongside the asshole that killed me for eternity isn't exactly the kind of fate I would like to have.

Mai's Voice: The presentation of this segment is a bit odd since we see a pop-up bubble of a man telling the story and voicing the characters while the action plays out. A husband and wife are in mourning after the death of their young daughter and we get a disturbing shot of the dad bathing with the daughter. As the parents try to move forward, they hear the daughter speaking to them and encouraging them. At one point the husband visits the wife at the bar she works at and sees her dressed up like a schoolgirl (not bad, not bad). Apparently they are having a costume party and this depresses the husband, for whatever reason, and also angers the daughter's spirit. By chance, the husband then runs into an ex-girlfriend, who looks like ten times better than his wife, and the two semi-hook up. I don't know, the girl is in the shower, but he is fully clothed still so who knows. After seeing the daughter's ghost, the guy leaves the ex-girlfriend hanging and heads home to the wife. The wife says that her friends from the party ended up being killed and she thinks the daughter was responsible. Then they hear the daughter say one more thing before apparently never being heard from again. Uh, I don't know about this one. What were they going for with this?

The Ghost of Ohatsutenjin: While being tutored by Ai, some kid is getting really horny; it doesn't help that she's teaching English and talking about "I love you" versus "I rub you." Ai, Mei, Ms. Kurokawa, whatever you prefer, you can tutor me any day! Also, when Ai leaves, the kid conveniently notices a couple outside his window making out and groping one another. That night, when having a wet dream it would appear, a sexy ghost girl appears and starts fondling and kissing the kid. I'm dead serious here, they cutaway with the complete implication that this kid fucked the ghost! The next day, Ai's sixth sense kicks in and she warns the kid not to mess with ghosts or you could die. Trying to hide in his closet, the ghost comes to the kid once more and he of course goes along with it. The kid's father hears the commotion and catches the kid with the ghost--he knows the ghost's story since apparently the same thing happened to him as a kid; so dad was fucking the ghost too! In the end, the dad simply explains that it's okay for now until he grows up and encourages the kid to keep fucking. The story ends with the dad saying he envies the kid. This story is hilarious! Was it supposed to be serious though? Maybe it was meant to be some kind of allegory. Oh well, you have got to love the ridiculous and outlandish nature to this tale.

The Promise: One summer, when spending time with his grandma, a boy asks the grandma that if she should ever die that he would like her ghost to visit him. The grandma and the boy make a promise that if the boy sees the ghost he's not allowed to be scared or he loses; not sure what the stakes are but okay. Years later, when the grandma has died, her ghost does appear to the, now grown, guy and steals his blankets. The guy freaks out and only afterward remembers the promise the two had made together. Vowing not to be scared a second time, the guy waits for the final day he believes the grandma's spirit will remain in this realm and hopes she will return. After waiting all night in anticipation, the grandma's spirit does not return and the guy is somewhat disappointed. However, when he opens a door, the grandma appears and he tries to keep his shit together but loses it when many dead relatives appear as well. The guy laughs and admits defeat but vows to win on the anniversary of her death. This was both comedic and meant to be heartwarming, so I will cut it some slack for being corny.

Hair Pins: After moving into a new apartment, a guy notices a hair pin lying about and believes the previous tenant must have been a woman. After falling asleep watching TV, the guy finds two hair pins on top of the remote and begins to grow a bit troubled. When he wakes up the next morning the guy is sprinkled in hair pins and now he becomes worried. When cracking an egg to eat, and there's a hair pin inside, the guy becomes genuinely frightened. He then hears the sound of the hair pins hitting the floor and notices they create a trail that leads into the bathroom. When he enters, he sees the bathtub is full of large clumps of hair and the water is red with blood. The guy runs out of the apartment and gets a drink from a vending machine, but he ends up drinking a hair pin instead. Kind of creepy, but it would have been nice to see a ghost or something.

The Music Box: Okay, the first two volumes ended with a whimper and the third volume was only so-so...will this last volume take us out on a high note (pun intended)? Thankfully, yes, and this is actually one of the cooler stories to boot. I think it goes without saying, Ai makes one last appearance since she has traveled with us this entire volume. The premise is that Ai is visiting an old teacher when all hell breaks loose. And, oh man, do they set up a terrible innuendo when Ai says everything was going fine until "he pulled it out." Oh Ai--only you! Apparently when shopping at an antique store, the teacher was drawn to a mysterious music box that he bought. The music box has a hand crank and it plays "Moonlight Sonata" when wound which is a nice touch. The teacher says that if you listen closely while the music is playing you can hear the voice of a man coming from the music box. The more the teacher cranks, the louder the man's voice becomes until they hear footsteps coming from the second floor; when the teacher stops playing the footsteps stop. Ai tries to leave but the music box starts playing on its own and the footsteps resume, seemingly, getting closer. The teacher stops the music box and they sense that the footsteps stopped at the top of the stairwell. The music box tries to play on its own as the teacher fights to stop the crank from winding. With each note that slips through the teacher's fingers, they see the feet of a ghost able to walk that much closer to them. The teacher is unable to maintain his grip on the crank, and, with the playing of the music, the ghost is able to run at them--presumably Ai is killed for the final time. This was a great story and pretty scary--definitely made the whole volume feel better ending it with one of the best segments.

Overall, I have to say I'm impressed with this volume in particular, and the collection as a whole is great. The variety to the tales and the uniquely Japanese-feel is excellent. The production quality in this segment is the best of the four and didn't feel low budget at all especially when compared to the first two volumes. Considering how many stories you get for the price, I definitely recommend getting this series; and if you can only get one volume then this is the one you should choose. I'm just surprised they didn't continue making more of these when things were increasingly getting better. Oh well, I suppose all good things must come to an end.

Notable Moment: During "The Ghost of Ohatsutenjin" segment when the kid is screwing the ghost and the dad is okay with it. I mean, this story does not even come close to fitting the tone of the series and is disturbing in so many ways. Funny though.

Final Rating: 6.5/10

Ms. Kurokawa in a makeshift screenshot: