#164: Kowabon (2015)

Director: Kazuma Taketani

Screenplay: Hiromu Kumamoto

Viewed in Japanese with English Subtitles

A micro-series, thirteen episodes that are three minutes long each, but rather than absurdist comedy as many I have seen are, this is a horror series, the likes of which are becoming as common too in Japanese animation as bite-sized length series. This one as well is very much an aesthetic experiment too with is rewarding. All the episodes are based upon a piece of technology,  be it a video call to mobile phones, being haunted by a female ghost with malicious intent, something which is very common in Japanese pop culture.

The entire series has episodes ending predictably, where eventually a wholesome start becomes creepier, until eventually no one ends their story well, including the guy in his online show stupid enough to go to the haunting site of the previous episode before him. Japan in its popular culture has been documenting how ghosts would haunt out technology for decades now, and it always feels natural from an outsider's perspective because a) the frequency to which such a modern country shows it yet is still connected to its past, meaning that the supernatural and folklore have not been alienated, and b) there is a flawlessness in how, if there ever was something cheesy about a premise, it would be for a joke unless you came across a bad work, whilst most of the time it is taken more seriously. Their ghosts and monsters are not as likely to be broad, if you are going off the biggest horror films in this area like Ringu (1998) or Pulse (2001), so nothing is out of place or gauche about the combination of the two due to cohabitation. As much of it is how matter-of-fact these stories are, that the ghosts were always there, and likewise here we never get the sensation of these episodes having to reintroduce the female ghost, but that this is always going to happen. Her existence is never even explained, and she is just a malicious figure hanging over the world.

The stories are really spooky scares, more broadly fun scary than the atmosphere of those films mentioned, but it is interesting the choices taken even for three minute narratives. A video call with parents new to the tech, where it is the caller haunted. The video camera at a front door, where another concern is people trying to sell you insurance. Selfies and online blogging of one's self, which evokes self esteem and that, even in the nineties long before a lot of this technology existed, Satoshi Kon's debut film Perfect Blue (1997) and the series Serial Experiments Lain (1998) have stayed relevant just for the fear of a doppelganger who claims to be you being online. A lot of why Kowabon works is that, whilst the show throws caution to the wind and embraces the jolts and evil looking ghosts of a haunted house ride, it still resonates with the fear that even when technology is against us, when it malfunctions or just briefly flickers, there is enough room to induce a dread.

Also, indirectly, the stories for all the ones that are pure scares, some have more to them to read between the lines. The woman at odds with her own online self, and a commenter who is likely ghost, who withers away, as much able to be held as a comment on depression and the dangers of online self image. A wannabe idol, filming a dance video in the park, who is literally corrupted by her own doubt and self-destructs. That video call with parents mutated into only one, a ghost, judging their son for not calling them before. Eerie icing on these cakes.

The other thing of note is that the series is animated with rotoscoping. Ending in the credits with behind-the-scenes footage, the production filmed live action performances at locations first and then animated over them. It has a really practical use here as, alongside not being as potentially time constraining to animate, it offers real necessary use as it means Kowabon does not have to rely on cheap looking digital effects. Instead, it can use the animation for the supernatural content with a stylistic flair. It manages, immensely so, to balance the clear reality of actors onscreen with the more fantastical images from the lack of the restrictions with animation fully.

So, as a result for me, this is as much an experimental series too which succeeded with this idea. Due to the slightness of the episodes, it is difficult to write in greater detail about work which does not have a lot of time in three minutes to work with. The aesthetics however make a huge part of the experience, a very multicoloured contrast to its fights which contrasts the horror with an intentionally cartoonish supernatural tone, especially when the end credits is set to a bouncy J-pop song and cute horror figures bouncing along. At times it even feels like a Superflat pop collage, if Takashi Murakami's work had gone for more spookiness with bouncing skulls, its plasticity against the real actors and locations animated over compelling. In another timeline, we could have easily had a sequel series with even longer episode, if only under fifteen minutes, and separate narratives. In this timeline, Kowabon works well by itself.