Awwwwww the Eraserhead baby is all grown up! Very cute!

All four short stories have something extremely unique and creative going on, but Crawling Bugs is by far the standout. I want to rate this higher based on how much I love the final story, but I just can’t.

Mar’s Canal, while extremely interesting and a really cool use of editing, is just too short to fully compare to the others. Mirror Hell then bogs things down with a mediocre story that overstays its welcome.

Caterpillar, the third story, is a step in the right direction. It’s gross and uncomfortable, but in a good way. It’s the kind of thing you don’t want to see, yet can’t stop looking at, if you know what I mean.

Rampo Noir closes with Crawling Bugs, an extremely interesting and unsettling story. The visuals and score are my favorites of the four, and that ending scene is brutal. If this stood alone, I’d probably be around an 8/10 or 9/10. Sadly, I just can’t justify that with how slow this thing moves overall.

Awwwwww the Eraserhead baby is all grown up! Very cute!

All four short stories have something extremely unique and creative going on, but Crawling Bugs is by far the standout. I want to rate this higher based on how much I love the final story, but I just can’t.

Mar’s Canal, while extremely interesting and a really cool use of editing, is just too short to fully compare to the others. Mirror Hell then bogs things down with a mediocre story that overstays its welcome.

Caterpillar, the third story, is a step in the right direction. It’s gross and uncomfortable, but in a good way. It’s the kind of thing you don’t want to see, yet can’t stop looking at, if you know what I mean.

Rampo Noir closes with Crawling Bugs, an extremely interesting and unsettling story. The visuals and score are my favorites of the four, and that ending scene is brutal. If this stood alone, I’d probably be around an 8/10 or 9/10. Sadly, I just can’t justify that with how slow this thing moves overall.

“Mirror Hell” is so fucking lame that it got me to accept that this whole thing would just suck, then the other two major stories were fucking awesome and so now I’m just confused. That ending??? What the fuck??? Idk I might even like mirror hell after seeing the rest idk how to feel anymore I gotta go to bed

“Mirror Hell” is so fucking lame that it got me to accept that this whole thing would just suck, then the other two major stories were fucking awesome and so now I’m just confused. That ending??? What the fuck??? Idk I might even like mirror hell after seeing the rest idk how to feel anymore I gotta go to bed

Directors- Sato Hisayasu, Jissoji Akio, Kaneko Atsushi and Takeuchi Suguru.The film is an anthology and has four stories. Thus, each story has no connection to the others. This is my first introduction to the works of Ranpo Edogawa beyond his Bungou Stray Dogs persona. It was inspired by his detective novels said to be Japanese Sherlock Holmes, and thus I knew these stories would be different, and they were.Mars Canal- This story follows the protagonist as he wanders naked along a desolate landscape while reminiscing about his past lover. It is made experimentally and acts as a good hook for the audience. Mirror hell- This story follows the protagonist, a detective, as he tries to unravel the mystery of several deaths occurring. The symbolic meaning of mirrors, as we see in the film, is to act as a mirror for another world, specifically the one of gods. The reveal of it being due to the mirror being made from a metal called saraziumite was great. It acts as a good subversion from the first story which had a more fantastical tone.The metal, when coming into direct contact with sunlight, heats up quickly like a microwave, causing the people viewing it to die due to microwave radiation.This story deals with our perception of beauty and how we keep on egoistically viewing ourselves in the mirror. Caterpillar- This story follows the protagonist who is married to a man who became a hero in the war but he also becomes a quadruple amputee. This story deals with Japanese nationalism and its harmful nature. It also deals with the psyche of people who aren't letting the person die even though he is facing such difficulties due to merely staying alive.I am unable to understand if the sensual scenes have any deeper meaning to them.The visuals of this story are psychedelic and mess with our perception of the events occurring.Crawling bugs- The story follows the protagonist as he tries to be with his love interest, a famous idol. He does so by kidnapping her and making her stay with him.This is my favorite of the stories, as it plays with the viewers' perception quite well and features a great use of an unreliable narrator. The story shows us several mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, hallucinations, etc. The ending part of the story has us finally seeing things as they are and learning that he actually kidnapped a morbidly obese girl and not the beautiful idol we thought he did. Overall, it is a great film that makes me want to explore more works of Ranpo Edogawa.

Directors- Sato Hisayasu, Jissoji Akio, Kaneko Atsushi and Takeuchi Suguru.The film is an anthology and has four stories. Thus, each story has no connection to the others. This is my first introduction to the works of Ranpo Edogawa beyond his Bungou Stray Dogs persona. It was inspired by his detective novels said to be Japanese Sherlock Holmes, and thus I knew these stories would be different, and they were.Mars Canal- This story follows the protagonist as he wanders naked along a desolate landscape while reminiscing about his past lover. It is made experimentally and acts as a good hook for the audience. Mirror hell- This story follows the protagonist, a detective, as he tries to unravel the mystery of several deaths occurring. The symbolic meaning of mirrors, as we see in the film, is to act as a mirror for another world, specifically the one of gods. The reveal of it being due to the mirror being made from a metal called saraziumite was great. It acts as a good subversion from the first story which had a more fantastical tone.The metal, when coming into direct contact with sunlight, heats up quickly like a microwave, causing the people viewing it to die due to microwave radiation.This story deals with our perception of beauty and how we keep on egoistically viewing ourselves in the mirror. Caterpillar- This story follows the protagonist who is married to a man who became a hero in the war but he also becomes a quadruple amputee. This story deals with Japanese nationalism and its harmful nature. It also deals with the psyche of people who aren't letting the person die even though he is facing such difficulties due to merely staying alive.I am unable to understand if the sensual scenes have any deeper meaning to them.The visuals of this story are psychedelic and mess with our perception of the events occurring.Crawling bugs- The story follows the protagonist as he tries to be with his love interest, a famous idol. He does so by kidnapping her and making her stay with him.This is my favorite of the stories, as it plays with the viewers' perception quite well and features a great use of an unreliable narrator. The story shows us several mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, hallucinations, etc. The ending part of the story has us finally seeing things as they are and learning that he actually kidnapped a morbidly obese girl and not the beautiful idol we thought he did. Overall, it is a great film that makes me want to explore more works of Ranpo Edogawa.

Directors- Sato Hisayasu, Jissoji Akio, Kaneko Atsushi and Takeuchi Suguru.The film is an anthology and has four stories. Thus, each story has no connection to the others. This is my first introduction to the works of Ranpo Edogawa beyond his Bungou Stray Dogs persona. It was inspired by his detective novels said to be Japanese Sherlock Holmes, and thus I knew these stories would be different, and they were.Mars Canal- This story follows the protagonist as he wanders naked along a desolate landscape while reminiscing about his past lover. It is made experimentally and acts as a good hook for the audience. Mirror hell- This story follows the protagonist, a detective, as he tries to unravel the mystery of several deaths occurring. The symbolic meaning of mirrors, as we see in the film, is to act as a mirror for another world, specifically the one of gods. The reveal of it being due to the mirror being made from a metal called saraziumite was great. It acts as a good subversion from the first story which had a more fantastical tone.The metal, when coming into direct contact with sunlight, heats up quickly like a microwave, causing the people viewing it to die due to microwave radiation.This story deals with our perception of beauty and how we keep on egoistically viewing ourselves in the mirror. Caterpillar- This story follows the protagonist who is married to a man who became a hero in the war but he also becomes a quadruple amputee. This story deals with Japanese nationalism and its harmful nature. It also deals with the psyche of people who aren't letting the person die even though he is facing such difficulties due to merely staying alive.I am unable to understand if the sensual scenes have any deeper meaning to them.The visuals of this story are psychedelic and mess with our perception of the events occurring.Crawling bugs- The story follows the protagonist as he tries to be with his love interest, a famous idol. He does so by kidnapping her and making her stay with him.This is my favorite of the stories, as it plays with the viewers' perception quite well and features a great use of an unreliable narrator. The story shows us several mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, hallucinations, etc. The ending part of the story has us finally seeing things as they are and learning that he actually kidnapped a morbidly obese girl and not the beautiful idol we thought he did. Overall, it is a great film that makes me want to explore more works of Ranpo Edogawa.

Directors- Sato Hisayasu, Jissoji Akio, Kaneko Atsushi and Takeuchi Suguru.The film is an anthology and has four stories. Thus, each story has no connection to the others. This is my first introduction to the works of Ranpo Edogawa beyond his Bungou Stray Dogs persona. It was inspired by his detective novels said to be Japanese Sherlock Holmes, and thus I knew these stories would be different, and they were.Mars Canal- This story follows the protagonist as he wanders naked along a desolate landscape while reminiscing about his past lover. It is made experimentally and acts as a good hook for the audience. Mirror hell- This story follows the protagonist, a detective, as he tries to unravel the mystery of several deaths occurring. The symbolic meaning of mirrors, as we see in the film, is to act as a mirror for another world, specifically the one of gods. The reveal of it being due to the mirror being made from a metal called saraziumite was great. It acts as a good subversion from the first story which had a more fantastical tone.The metal, when coming into direct contact with sunlight, heats up quickly like a microwave, causing the people viewing it to die due to microwave radiation.This story deals with our perception of beauty and how we keep on egoistically viewing ourselves in the mirror. Caterpillar- This story follows the protagonist who is married to a man who became a hero in the war but he also becomes a quadruple amputee. This story deals with Japanese nationalism and its harmful nature. It also deals with the psyche of people who aren't letting the person die even though he is facing such difficulties due to merely staying alive.I am unable to understand if the sensual scenes have any deeper meaning to them.The visuals of this story are psychedelic and mess with our perception of the events occurring.Crawling bugs- The story follows the protagonist as he tries to be with his love interest, a famous idol. He does so by kidnapping her and making her stay with him.This is my favorite of the stories, as it plays with the viewers' perception quite well and features a great use of an unreliable narrator. The story shows us several mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, hallucinations, etc. The ending part of the story has us finally seeing things as they are and learning that he actually kidnapped a morbidly obese girl and not the beautiful idol we thought he did. Overall, it is a great film that makes me want to explore more works of Ranpo Edogawa.

one of the best anthology films I’ve seen, particularly as the quality of the segments is largely the same. In particular I loved the final segment by Kaneko, where the camera work and set designs were absolutely incredible with an amazing performance by Tadanobu Asano. Satō’s entry was unsurprisingly very good too, especially seeing him work with a much higher budget was great and his short was truly bleak and disturbing.

The other two segments were also pretty great in their own right, with Akio Jissoji‘s being shot beautifully with some really interesting ideas though I felt the ending wasn’t the greatest and it ran a little too long. the opening near silent 7 min short by Takeuchi was a really cool experimental piece and sets a great tone for the film.

overall, one that is for sure worth watching if you’re a fan of anyone involved and there is a lot you can take away from this. it has some pacing issues at times, but otherwise is a really solid film and interpretation’s of Edogawa Rampo stories.

one of the best anthology films I’ve seen, particularly as the quality of the segments is largely the same. In particular I loved the final segment by Kaneko, where the camera work and set designs were absolutely incredible with an amazing performance by Tadanobu Asano. Satō’s entry was unsurprisingly very good too, especially seeing him work with a much higher budget was great and his short was truly bleak and disturbing.

The other two segments were also pretty great in their own right, with Akio Jissoji‘s being shot beautifully with some really interesting ideas though I felt the ending wasn’t the greatest and it ran a little too long. the opening near silent 7 min short by Takeuchi was a really cool experimental piece and sets a great tone for the film.

overall, one that is for sure worth watching if you’re a fan of anyone involved and there is a lot you can take away from this. it has some pacing issues at times, but otherwise is a really solid film and interpretation’s of Edogawa Rampo stories.