Prayer Beads Review

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: An anthology TV show featuring bizarre tales you know could only come from Japan.

Review: I don't know a lot about this series beyond that it was a short-lived TV show consisting of only 9, thirty minute episodes. Not sure why it was cancelled, if it was cancelled, or what was the overall game plan for the series. But it's a shame, because there was certainly the potential to explore more tales beyond 9 measly episodes. In theory, there are 108 prayer beads in Buddhist tradition so they could have kept this series going up to that point. The other aspect to consider is that the show is meant to present tales of karmic justice combined with the notion that there are sins associated with each bead. Eh...I don't know how successful they were with those concepts, but the tales have a uniquely Japanese flavor to them that's for sure. Okay, let's take a look at what we're working with here, shall we?

Prayer Beads: Well, what better way to kick off the series than with an episode also named after the series itself; though, I'm not sure how the title fits into anything. In this tale we have a depressed woman whose husband appears to have run out on her. The woman's pregnant friend tries to pull her out of this depression, but the woman is reminded of her miscarriages each time she sees the pregnant friend. Well, as you may guess, much of this is a smokescreen. In reality, the friend was cheating on her own husband with the main girl's husband; in fact, the baby is from this affair. The main girl discovered this truth, killed her husband, and intends to get revenge against her friend with the apparent help of her ghostly miscarriage kids. This also leads to the unborn baby dying it would seem. Deciding to end things in the most nonsensical way possible, the friend's husband gets a strange call and sees Kayako or something--I don't know. Believe it or not, this wasn't too bad of an episode with all things considered. If the ending weren't so dumb, this would have set the tone well for the series since it goes over that whole karma angle they were striving to showcase.

Vending Machine Woman: This is probably the best episode of the bunch to me. It's not that it's a naturally great episode or anything, but it's one of the most unusual stories I could possibly imagine. Like...this is up there with the "Hagane" segment from "Unholy Women" in weirdness. Anyway, a young couple is staying at a cabin in the woods for whatever reason. The girl is pretty cute, but her character is a raging bitch--she ain't worth it, son! After discovering that the water isn't working, and growing thirsty with no supplies (yeah, who does that), the bitch makes her loverboy go out to get something. Warned not to go out at night, loverboy stumbles across a strange vending machine that appears to work like normal. I must say, the atmosphere during this early part of the episode is fantastic; too bad it was not maintained. Bringing the mysterious beverage back, loverboy and the bitch drink up only to find themselves uncontrollably horny. The next day, a repairman comes to fix the water and they somehow get food from him off screen. When eating meat, the two are once more overwhelmed with horniness (why is this not a real word?) as well as the desire to eat the meat raw. Going apeshit for more of that mystery drink, the couple goes to the vending machine only to realize there was only one left before becoming sold out. Then a zombie-like guy comes out of the vending machine as we learn the vending machine is seemingly a living creature. It pulls the bitch in as she is the next to be attached to the vending machine. Apparently you are drained of your blood and it is turned into the drink somehow. Yeah, 'cause that makes perfect sense. Before completely closing up on the bitch, and loverboy running away, we see the head of a woman emerging beneath the vending machine. Dude, I have no idea what's happening. I just know...I've seen things you people would not believe...and a killer vending machine ranks pretty high up there.

It's Me: Iiizzzz me! Taking things in a completely different direction than the last two, this episode tries to go for a more touching tone. Two criminals have concocted a scheme to swindle money from old people by pretending to be their grandson in danger. The story is presented out of chronological order so as not to spoil the twist. Eventually the one criminal visits an old lady to get her money, but he becomes too entranced by her hospitality to ever get to the point. At the same time, the guy thinks he sees a Kayako-clone lurking about. After spending all day and night with the old lady, the guy thinks he sees two Kayako-clones and runs away like a little bitch. We come to realize that the criminal really was this particular grandma's grandson and that he's a ghost. The Kayako-clones were the criminal's mom and sister which he couldn't perceive for whatever reason; he doesn't know he's a ghost so I guess he's tripping out. As for the episode's time issues, it's so as not to reveal that the criminals were killed years ago by a crime lord annoyed that they came into his territory. Surprisingly, this is a sentimental tale with a cool twist.

Real: This was the first of the shitty episodes, but it did possess potential to be good. There is something about a surgeon having an accident or whatever, but I could hardly tell what was happening. In essence, the story is presented like a bad LSD trip. The surgeon is trying to cure his problem by seeking assistance from an herbalist...I think. The medicine actually shows you reality whereby aliens or demons or whatever are everywhere. The surgeon's friend kills himself and then the surgeon goes off the rails. He even attempts to kill his milfy wife, named Rika. Huh...Rika, you say? I don't know about that. There's something else about humans having regular blood and the aliens or whatever with green blood. The surgeon goes back to the herbalist guy who blows his own brains out followed by the surgeon screaming like a whiny bitch as he bleeds green blood. Yeah...okaaaay. If they had focused more on this pulling back the curtain concept, rather than the mindless bullshit, this could have been interesting. Instead, we get shenanigans through and through.

Mushroom Hunting: Hmm...I think I will have to declare this episode to be the worst with all things considered. I mean, it's just so stupid if you think about it. Three kids become "friends" through a chatroom and meet up for the first time when going on a trip to hunt mushrooms. Uh, really? See ya, mom, I'm going 'shroom hunting with two assholes I just met on the internet. "Have fun, hunny!" Well, anyway, the three kids climb a mountain and meet an old man who--what else--warns them not to do what they're about to do. It would seem there is an idiotic legend about a guy who found a witch in the forest. Yeah, yeah, okay. The kids, of course, stumble upon this witch who feeds them mushroom soup or something--sounds gross enough. The dorky friend is immune to the poison the witch fed them, and she chases him around a bit after cutting off his feet. It would appear the witch's brilliant scheme is to turn people into mushroom mulch with the help of her granddaughter, who was the friend that organized the trip. Then the witch sells the mushrooms to stores--don't worry about where the packaging comes from or how she gets the shit to stores in general. Ugh.

Eddie: They really should have reconsidered the order in which they aired these episodes. Three terrible episodes in a row was not the best direction. In one corner we have the tale of a multiplying seal-looking creature that has caught the attention of local news outlets. In the other corner we have a bratty kid and his angry grandfather dealing with the fact that everyone thinks the kid is a weirdo. The two stories cross paths as the creatures try to eat everyone just as the grandfather realizes the kid has psychic powers. After killing a bunch of morons, the kid uses his powers to destroy the creatures, but he is killed as a result. The episode ends with predictable twist that there are more eggs of the creatures. If they dropped the shit with the kid, and focused on the creatures in a b-movie fashion, this may have been salvageable.

Echoes: Clearly not learning their lesson with the last episode, we get another story about psychic powers. Although this is more bland than bad, it does fit the theme of the show better than a lot of the other episodes. Some dude picks up chicks to harvest organs from, but he made the mistake of getting with a girl whose family are powerful psychics. Finding a lone hand, the grandparents of the girl use this connection to track down an associate of the killer. After ripping off the associate's arm, the grandparents make him blab as to what is going on. The girl's twin sister decides to fuck the killer in order to gain his trust. Interesting approach to say the least, but how did this killer not realize he was getting played? Yeah, because the twin sister of someone you kill will just gladly fall into your lap. For whatever ridiculous reason, the twin sister strands the killer in the middle of the city where the grandparents make him telekinetically explode. The episode ends with the twin and grandpa just walking along. Yeah, okay. The main problem for me is that the characters don't really fit the story. Powerful psychics would have made for a better adventure than an average revenge tale.

Cat's Paw: Putting things back on track, we have a tale that mixes "The Monkey's Paw" with cutesy anime tropes. After being bullied, abused by his parents, and having a generally shitty life, a boy gets a weird email claiming to grant 3 wishes. When the boy clicks the link he is magically pulled into an anime world where a cat creature helps the boy out in cornball ways. However, in reality, the people that the boy hates are brutally killed. This leads to the boy inadvertently killing the entire town all the while this little cat creature is making things appear fun. When the boy finally wishes for everything to be undone, the anime version is all happy and sentimental. In the real world, all the dead people come back as zombies. This was easily the second best episode, if not the best, as it successfully presented an updated telling of a classic story. Always remember, be careful what you wish for.

Apartment: For the finale we get the pleasant surprise of a great episode. I do wish this weren't the end, but, as it is, this was a satisfying conclusion that pulls everything together. Although you can easily sense something is off, we are shown a family at the mercy of an abusive husband/father. Everyone is on edge and in fear of what the man will do next, and he was certainly a huge asshole. With the abuse spiraling out of control, the family attempts to kill the man before he is suddenly shot in the head. In actuality, the man was a crazed psycho who had kidnapped and killed many people all the while crazily pretending they were his family. Japan's equivalent to SWAT showed up and sniped the guy when they had the opportunity. Shortly after this, we see a collage of characters from the previous episodes all bearing witness to the chaotic scene. Now this is how you properly pull off the fun aspect to an anthology show! But instead of ending it when they should have, we see cops in a helicopter hallucinating or some shit as they crash into the apartment building. However, they throw in a quick save and cut to the crazy man coming back to life in an ambulance.

It really was unfortunate this show didn't last or was only given a few episodes. However, on one hand, I can understand why this show was unable to become a success. While the episodes are mostly fun, none are particularly great and a few are blatantly stupid. With time, perhaps the true vision of the show could have been realized but oh well. This show may be difficult to track down, so I'd advise caution before paying too much as it's probably not worth it. I'd also recommend breaking up the viewing into 3 sets of 3 episodes to give it that cinematic experience. Overall, a decent little excursion into Japanese television.

Notable Moment: During the "Apartment" episode when we see a lot of the stories come full circle.

Final Rating: 6/10