Hobonichi No Kaidan is based on a series of ghost stories published by Shigesato Itoi on his website at www.1101.com. The stories are collected from site visitors throughout the year and serialized during the summer. This has been going on every year since 2004. In the midst of COVID panic in year 2020, Shochiku Films adapted some of the stories for TV.
There are 12 episodes with each episode lasting anywhere from 11 to 14 minutes. There is no gore, as the proponent of each episode have survived to tell the tale on Itoi's website. The horror part is in the atmosphere buildup rather than the actual ghosts. Almost every episode has a pretty lady as the main character so it is easy on the eye.
A sample of the stories:
- A woman checks into a hotel room. She is spooked by some disturbances from the next room.
- A woman sees a ghostly appearance of a guy in the mirror.
- A girl moves in with her sister. She is unable to sleep because by a woman's loud laughter from the empty apartment next to them.
- A government employee does a wellness check on an old woman. There is an old rotary dial telephone in her house. It rings even though it is not connected to a telephone line. Nobody else can hear it ring.
