I decided to check out Hundred Stories because I watch very few horror anime, and somebody suggested this was quite similar to Jigoku Shoujo. While there are some thematic similarities, however, this is not even close to the same league as Hell Girl – and I didn’t even like Hell Girl all that much.
Hundred Stories follows a young writer compiling supernatural tales for a book that will truly make his name. On his travels to research supernatural phenomena, he keeps bumping into a strange little man called Mataichi, who with his two equally bizarre cohorts always seems to appear wherever strange events are happening and ends up punishing those who have wronged others. These stories tend to involve grisly murders, and the young writer again and again finds himself in danger, becoming fascinated by the strange world he can glimpse but never be a part of.
It’s all very juvenile. With the possible exception of D.Gray-Man, Tokyo Movie Shinsha’s anime tend to look dated, be it intentionally (The Snow Queen) or because they’re churning out kids’ shows on the cheap (Bakugan), and even though it aired in 2003, Hundred Stories looks and feels like something from the 80s, replete with over-the-top gore, weird and ugly character designs and scenes that are supposed to be sexy but come over as juvenile and awkward. They go for an edgy look with bold black lines and lots of shadows and deep colours, but it’s never very nice to look at and often gets confusing as to who is who. None of the episodes are what I would call memorable, and while there is nothing to dislike about them, I never particularly cared about any of the sympathetic characters.
The sooner this sort of thing stops representing the idea of anime in the general Western mindset, the better. At least things like the original Vampire Hunter D had a certain naïve charm. Things have moved on, thank goodness.
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