Thoughts about the similiarities between "Shishou Series" and "Phenomeno" and the kind of horror they represent that I love.

(Originally posted on Twitter)

I spoke of Phenomeno before, because they're quite similar:

✅Protagonist is college student from the sticks who likes occult things and likes to visit occult forum

✅Protagonist attends offline meetings of said forum

✅Protagonist meets a person with higher knowledge of occult who are close to "the other side"

✅There are scenes of going to haunted places

✅Contains horror, occult, urban legends, haunted places

✅"If you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back at you" (Shishou went further with this quote)

And I'd say the atmosphere is somewhat similar as well somehow. They're both unconventional horror stories, at least in my eyes. Being unique, some people might not find it scary or entertaining.

And sure enough, seeing Goodreads review of Shishou Series (vol 1 at least), not many were impressed.

As I've stated long ago, it's quite hard to pinpoint why I like Shishou Series...and Phenomeno. What is the charm that attracted me to them? Even now, it's still quite hard to put into words, but I'll try my best. Recently re-reading Shishou Series manga made me realize and think, "Ah, this is perhaps why I like it".

I've always loved Japanese horror stories ever since I was young even though I'm scared. I frequented a blog containing translated horror stories and rituals from Japan. It's "Saya's Blog" or something iirc. Sometimes they came from 2ch, like Kisaragi Station.

I remember fondly one day when I was in middle school, after school, I read the blog again after a long time, but with some of my friends. We chatted about it. It was fun. And then we go home, forgetting what we talked about, all the scary things in that blog.

And, at other times, talking about horror stories of our school. Scary things that happened on boys' bathroom, a teacher's doppelganger being seen, etc.

Tbh I'm sure there's a lot of other things I'm not aware of. I've never been spiritually aware, I'm dense as fuck, and a hermit on top of that, so not many rumors reach me. But what I know is enough.

Shishou Series especially, I feel, really embodies that real experience of hearing and talking about horror stories, then going about your own lives like it's nothing. You never know exactly where these stories come from. No truth, no resolution, no conclusion. They end as abruptly as they begin, like mysteries nobody have a real solution to, like a passing freezing breeze.

And that is the charm. You know something, yet you know nothing of it.

Fear comes from knowing that you know nothing. That scary thing is unknown. I think what makes real-life horror stories so interesting despite having no conclusion is that they enable our fear of the unknown. Perhaps it's a primordial fear rooted inside us.

Why are horror stories so popular? Because we (at least some people) like to get scared lmao. Perhaps it's only natural that we seek these stories and even take delight in them, sometimes to satisfy our curiosity, or just plain masochism lol. Knowing full well we'd get scared and we might regret it, yet we keep pushing it.

The protagonists of both Shishou Series and Phenomeno also embodies this - they're just like us, ordinary humans who are curious, thus seek and consume horror stories and the occult, yet are scared of the "other side".

They can't bring themselves to cross the border, just like us. We simply take delight in watching. Sometimes we get tangled up in the real thing (like the protagonists do), but at the end, we'd still be interested in the occult, mostly still as watchers.

You can say horror isn't realistic, yet I'd say horror stories like Shishou Series and Phenomeno are quite "realistic". There are many parts where they reflect reality the circumstances we actually experience, the everyday mundane life...and that strikes me very strongly.

In short, you can say it's relatable, in a way lmao. But it's done very well, packaged in such a way that not many people realize this. Or well, I think many people are just too used to the usual over-the-top horror, or simply seek more thrill that this doesn't satisfy them.

Whatever the case, these stories resound strongly with me and I love and enjoy them very much. And perhaps this is one of the reasons why I like them. Also, they can be strangely calm (especially Shishou Series) while still being disturbing. Somehow an effective combo.

Shishou Series is/was quite popular in Japan for it to receive comic adaptation, some books, voice drama (cancelled anime) when it started as a series of posts in 2ch, and I'm sure Phenomeno is quite amazing too as it got visual novel adaptation by Nitro+ and the light novel is illustrated by Yoshitoshi ABe (okay this might just be my bias lmao), so I'm sure there's something Japanese people see in them to love them. And that may or may not be the same or similar as what I think and stated here.

Then again, perhaps they're never meant to be horror stories in the first place. Scary, yes, but not "horror" exactly. At the very least, Shishou Series is described simply as "occult" in Japanese sites, which is very broad, but also very fitting for the series.