Yamishibai: Japanese Ghost Stories Anime Gets 9th Season in July (Updated)

Update: To commemorate the new television anime season, an original "vertical" streaming anime will also debut this summer as a "special edition" companion to the main anime. Anime Beans and other services have previously streamed "vertical" anime projects which are designed to be viewed on mobile device screens in portrait ("vertical") mode.

TV Tokyo announced on Friday that the Yamishibai: Japanese Ghost Stories television anime will get a ninth season that will premiere in July 2021.

Kanji Tsuda reprises his role as the Storyteller. Other cast members include: Toshimasa Niiro, Taiiichirō Matsumura, Masaki Sawai, Tsubasa Kizu, Shoichiro Oomi, Ryō Shinoda, Miho Okasaki, Eimi Naruse, MoeMi, Ayaka Ōta, Aozora Sorano, Rirunede, Hinaka Hoshina, Nene Naninu, Mikoto Hase, and Yukino Akaba.

ILCA is again producing the anime, with production cooperation by TIA DRAWIZ. Scriptwriters include: Hiromu Kumamoto, Mitsuhi Sasagi, Kanako Ishigami, and Megumi Yokoyama. imai will perform the ending theme song "Twilight feat. Pecori."

The original Yamishibai: Japanese Ghost Stories series of anime shorts featured six-minute horror stories based on urban legends in a modern day setting. The shorts draw inspiration from Shōwa-era illustrated paper theater (kamishibai) productions.

The anime's first season premiered in July 2013, and the eighth and most recent season premiered on January 10. The project inspired a previous spinoff, The World Yamizukan, in spring 2017. Crunchyroll streamed all eight seasons and The World Yamizukan as they aired. The anime also inspired the Ninja Collection spinoff anime. The anime premiered in July 2020. Crunchyroll streamed the anime as it aired in Japan.

A live-action series adaptation of the anime premiered in Japan in September 2020. Crunchyroll streamed the series. The production does not use regular video footage, but instead composites still photos of landscape paintings with photos of the cast, in the style of the original anime. The live-action episodes feature both remakes of popular stories from the anime, and its own original stories. The cast includes idols and actors from "2.5D stage plays."