The paper theater got an upgrade. Yami Shibai 2 is Yami Shibai with better art, simple as that. It's perhaps an inconsequential point given that both are intentionally done in the paper cutout style reminiscent of the old kami shibai theaters, and now the art appears closer to regular anime than before, but the flavor and feel of the show hasn’t changed a bit. Once again the narrator comes on to announce the story to the waiting audience. Once again the introduction comes, and we are off. Once again we leave either feeling let down by the reveal at the end or scared, anywhere from a bit on edge to jumping out of our seats.
I will say that more of the stories from the first season stuck with me than this time around, as there are fewer new ideas at play, there is more of a reliance on jump scares than before, and some of the monsters feel out of place in their own story. On the flipside, a few of the stories are played more as a mystery than before, leaving us to decide what implicit terror the characters are left with. When they keep the face of the monster under wraps, the art does wonders for giving us a more detailed and sinister experience. They also used the mask of the storyteller as a more prominent image than before, coming into the closing credits in force. Maybe the man who can come up with this constant stream of terrors is the real monster after all.