Kaidan Restaurant: A thorough review of the fusion of horror and deliciousness

Kaidan Restaurant - Kaidan Restaurant - Comprehensive review and recommendation

■ Public Media

TV anime series

■ Original Media

Light novel

■ Broadcast period

October 13, 2009 - June 8, 2010 TV Asahi series October 13, 2009 - June 8, 2010 (Episodes 1-23) Every Tuesday 19:30-19:54

■Broadcasting station

EX

■Frequencies

half an hour

■ Number of Episodes

Episode 23

■Original Story

Miyoko Matsutani (original team of "Kaidan Restaurant" illustrations/Yoshikazu Takai, Kumiko Kato "Kaidan Restaurant" (published by Doshinsha))

■ Director

・Series Director: Yoko Ikeda

■ Production

・Production cooperation: Toei ・Production: tv asahi, Toei Animation

■Works

©Miyoko Matsutani, Kaidan Restaurant TEAM/TV Asahi, Dentsu, Toei Animation

■ Story

On the outskirts of Tokyo, Yamazakura City is a town where the wave of development has subsided and old housing complexes and new buildings coexist.
A beautiful boy transfers to Ako Ozora's class at a small elementary school there. His name is Shou Komoto. He is a returnee and has collected scary stories from all over the world.
Various mysterious phenomena swirl around Ako and her friends in places like a school, an old Western-style mansion, and in the forest. Sho immediately invites them to go to an abandoned building on the outskirts of town, commonly known as the "Ghost Story Restaurant." What kind of menu will be served there?
We have collected a large number of scary ghost stories from all over the world and from different eras - stories that don't involve magic or monsters, but which could actually happen close to you.
It's up to you to get the shivers along with Ako and the others.

■Explanation

It makes me shiver involuntarily!
A scary but fun school horror story

"Kaidan Restaurant" is a school horror anime that brings you an omnibus of horror stories that are "scary but fun!"
The original ghost story series for elementary and junior high school students was first published by Doshinsha in 1996, and by 2007 had reached 50 volumes. Edited by picture book author Miyoko Matsutani, the series includes Japanese folk tales, school lore, and ghost stories from around the world in an omnibus format, and is hugely popular in libraries and classroom collections! The series has now sold over 7 million copies in total.
Up until now, many different types of horror anime have been produced, but "Kaidan Restaurant" is a collection of truly scary stories that will send chills down your spine after you've finished watching it - a work unlike any you've ever seen before!
Although there are no flashy magic spells or monsters, the show features fears that could befall anyone, as well as ghost stories from different worlds and eras, slowly drawing viewers into the world of horror...! There's no doubt that it will captivate not only children, but adults too!
On the other hand, the ghost characters who guide the program's opening and closing credits are very cute, so even those who don't like scary stories should be able to enjoy watching it...!
In keeping with the title "Restaurant," three ghost stories will be presented each time, with the first one being the "appetizer," the second the "main course," and the third the "dessert."
The first and second films introduce a variety of ghost stories, including strange occurrences encountered by the main character, Ozora Ako, and other ordinary elementary school students, as well as ghost stories from around the world collected by Ako's classmate, Shou.
The third film will be a short anime in the style of "Hyaku Monogatari" in which Ako and her friends tell short ghost stories.

■Cast

・Ako Ozora/Ryoko Shiraishi ・Sho Komoto/Hiroyuki Yuki ・Reiko Sakuma/Masumi Asano ・Ghost Garcon/Hiroaki Hirata

■ Main staff

・Planning: Noboru Sugiyama (tv asahi), Hiromi Seki (Toei Animation)
Producers: Tomomi Imagawa (TV Asahi), Tomoharu Matsuhisa (TV Asahi), Ten Washio (Toei Animation), Yosuke Asama (Toei Animation)
Original story: Miyoko Matsutani (original story team of "Kaidan Restaurant"; illustrations: Yoshikazu Takai and Kumiko Kato, "Kaidan Restaurant" (published by Doshinsha)
・Series Composition: Shoji Yonemura ・Music: Hiroshi Takagi ・Production: Yasuhiko Nukaga, Kazumitsu Matsuzaka ・Character Design: Akira Takahashi ・Art Design: Yoshito Watanabe ・Color Design: Kunio Tsujita ・Editing: Kenta Katase ・Sound: Yasuo Tachibana ・Sound Assistant: Satoru Matsuda ・Music Selection: Makiko Kayahara ・Sound Effects: Yuji Furuya (Swara Pro), Kiyotaka Kawada (Swara Pro)
・Recording/Minori Kajimoto ・Programming/Tomoharu Matsuhisa (tv asahi), Satoshi Kokubo (tv asahi), Yoshiaki Nikaido (tv asahi)
・Advertisement/Keiko Shimo (tv asahi), Nozomi Okawa (tv asahi)
・Music cooperation: TV Asahi Music, Toei Animation Music Publishing ・Cooperation: NTT Media Cross ・Recording studio: Tabak Online ・Editing: TOVIC
Series Director: Yoko Ikeda Production Cooperation: Toei Production: tv asahi, Toei Animation

■ Main Characters

Ako Ozora is a sixth grader at Yamazakura Elementary School. Her nickname is "Anko". She loves daydreaming and dreams of becoming an adventure novelist. She doesn't like scary stories, but she is very curious and can't help but find out the truth.
A beautiful boy who returned from overseas and transferred to Shoko Komoto's class. He likes being alone and doesn't have many friends. He loves scary stories and collects ghost stories from all over the world.
Reiko Sakuma is a class representative. She is intelligent and a realist who doesn't believe anything that doesn't have scientific evidence. For some reason, she often picks fights with Ako.

■Subtitle

Episode 1/Appetizer: "Ghost Story Restaurant"/Main: "Kikimora Doll"/Dessert: "The Girl Who Disappeared" (2009/10/13)
Episode 2/Appetizer: "Going to Cat School"/Main: "Path along the Pond's Edge"/Dessert: "Become a Flatfish" (2009/10/20)
Episode 3/Appetizer: "Bye"/Main: "Midnight Princess"/Dessert: "Guest on a Rainy Night" (2009/10/27)
Episode 4/Appetizer: "God's Hidden Dish"/Main: "The Old Lady at the Bottom of the Well"/Dessert: "The White Scarf" (2009/11/10)
Episode 5/Appetizer: "The Wolf's Shining Eyes"/Main: "Death Killer"/Dessert: "You're Next" (2009/11/17)
Episode 6/Appetizer: "Scary School"/Main: "The Scary House"/Dessert: "Princess Tsubo" (2009/11/24)
Episode 7/Appetizer: Auntie Carr/Main: Taa-chan/Dessert: The sound of bells from the other world (2009/12/01)
Episode 8/Appetizer: Room 31/Main: Don't Look Back/Dessert: The Copy Machine Creaks (2009/12/08)
Episode 9/Appetizer: "I Saw My Own Funeral"/Main: "The Water Fairy's Gift"/Dessert: "The New Bride Who Disappeared in Morocco" (2010/01/19)
Episode 10/Appetizer: "The House of Blue Flames"/Main: "The Girl in the White House"/Dessert: "Ringtone from the Other World" (2010/01/26)
Episode 11/Appetizer: Whose Coat Is It?/Main Dish: Haunted House/Dessert: Handprints on the Back (2010/02/02)
Episode 12/Appetizer: "The Baby That Was Replaced"/Main: "Let's Go Together"/Dessert: "The Kotatsu in the Dining Room" (2010/02/16)
Episode 13/Appetizer: "The Path of the Dead"/Main: "A Mirror Floating in the Sea"/Dessert: "Midnight Visit" (2010/02/23)
・Episode 14/Main "Give me back!"/Dessert "Replay" (2010/03/02)
Episode 15/Appetizer: "It's You"/Main: "I Can't Dance Alone"/Dessert: "Empty Seat" (2010/03/09)
・Episode 16/Appetizer: "The hair of the person I like..."/Main: "Ghost Tunnel"/Dessert: "School Warashi" (2010/04/13)
・Episode 17/Appetizer "Gut Test"/Main Dish "Welcome Back, You!"/Dessert "Amazing Palm Reading" (2010/04/20)
Episode 18/Appetizer: Possession/Main: Reincarnation/Dessert: Parenting Ghost (2010/04/27)
Episode 19/Appetizer: "Guide to the Otherworld"/Main: "Devil's Window"/Dessert: "Crying Bell" (May 4, 2010)
・Episode 20/Appetizer "The Mystery of the Predictive TV"/Main "The Continuation of the Nightmare" (2010/05/11)
・Episode 21/Appetizer "Arm"/Main "Stormy Night" (2010/05/25)
・Episode 22/Appetizer "Another Teacher"/Main "Cursed Goods at the Convenience Store" (2010/06/01)
・Episode 23/Main: "The First Customer at the Ghost Story Restaurant" (2010/06/08)

■ Related works

・Theatrical version of Kaidan Restaurant

■ Theme songs and music

・ED1
・Lost Boy
Lyrics: Naoki Takada
・Composition: Naoki Takada & Shintaro "Growth" Izutsu
・Arrangement/Shintaro "Growth" Izutsu
・Song: SEAMO

Kaidan Restaurant - Kaidan Restaurant - Comprehensive review and recommendation

"Kaidan Restaurant" is a school horror anime based on the original work by Matsutani Miyoko that aired on TV Asahi from 2009 to 2010. The original work was first published by Doshinsha in 1996, and was so popular that it reached its 50th volume by 2007. The series, which has sold over 7 million copies in total, features Japanese folk tales, school lore, and ghost stories from around the world in an omnibus format, and is loved by a wide range of people, from children to adults.

This anime is set in Yamazakura City, a suburb of Tokyo, and begins with the main characters Ako Ozora and transfer student Shou Komoto visiting an abandoned ghost story restaurant on the outskirts of town. Shou has a hobby of collecting scary stories from all over the world, and he and Ako and the others confront strange phenomena together. Each episode features three ghost stories, named "appetizer," "main dish," and "dessert," so viewers never get bored.

The appeal of "Kaidan Restaurant" is, above all, its realistic sense of fear. Rather than a flashy horror featuring magic and monsters, it succeeds in making the viewer feel a gentle sense of fear by depicting the fears that can occur in everyday life. In particular, the ghost stories collected by Shou from all over the world are refreshing in that they allow viewers to experience the horror of a different culture. In addition, the short animations in the "Hundred Tales" format that Ako and her friends tell give the viewer a taste of the atmosphere of a classic ghost story.

The characters are also charming, with Ako's curious personality and Shou's charm as a lonely, beautiful boy enhancing the story. Reiko Sakuma, the class representative, is a realist who values ​​scientific evidence and is a catalyst for Ako and her friends' adventure. The ghosts who guide the audience through the opening and ending are also cute, making the story enjoyable even for those who don't like scary stories.

The production staff is also impressive, with a wealth of experience including series director Yoko Ikeda, Hiromi Seki from Toei Animation, and Noboru Sugiyama from TV Asahi. The music is by Hiroshi Takagi, and the sound effects and background music that enhance the atmosphere of the ghost story are superb. The ending theme, "Lost Boy," is sung by SEAMO, and leaves a pleasant aftertaste while still leaving a lingering sense of fear.

Although "Kaidan Restaurant" is a short series of 23 episodes, each episode introduces a different ghost story, so viewers never tire of it. Particularly memorable episodes include "The Kikimora Doll" in episode 1, "The Grim Reaper Killer" in episode 5, and "The Mirror Floating in the Sea" in episode 13. These episodes are not only scary, but also depict human drama and friendship, and the deep story development is appealing.

A movie version has also been produced, offering a different kind of horror experience from the TV series. The movie version depicts a deeper world of ghost stories, making it a must-see for fans.

"Kaidan Restaurant" is not only a horror anime, but also has an educational aspect of conveying the charm of ghost stories to children. By adapting the original series, which is popular in schools and libraries, into an anime, it has succeeded in spreading the world of ghost stories to a wider audience. It is a work that allows viewers to feel fear, train their imagination, and learn the importance of friendship and courage.

The first reason to recommend this show is its realistic sense of horror. It evokes empathy from viewers by depicting horrors that can occur in everyday life. Another appeal is that viewers can experience horror in different cultures by introducing ghost stories from all over the world. In addition, the charm of the characters, the impressive staff, and the format of being able to enjoy a different ghost story each time are not to be missed.

"Kaidan Restaurant" is recommended not only for people who like horror anime, but also for people who are interested in ghost stories and folk tales, and for parents who want to convey the charm of ghost stories to their children. Please experience the world of fear and friendship through this work.