It’s Spooky Season! – Day 7: The Girl From the Other Side

We human beings consider ourselves to be intellectually and culturally advanced. We’ve conquered the world and wield technology and innovation the likes of which would be unimaginable to our cave-dwelling ancestors. But in reality I believe we’re not really as divorced from our ancient selves as we like to think we are. Many of us have visceral reactions to strange noises, or being alone in the dark when it’s a little too quiet. There are reasons why elements of body horror in a piece of media are so effective.

The Girl From the Other Side takes place in a world that has been divided in two. “Outside” exist cursed creatures with twisted forms; if one of these creatures touches a human, that human too becomes cursed. A young girl named Shiva is abandoned by her auntie in the woods. She believes the auntie will come back for her, but the abandonment was on purpose. A cursed creature finds Shiva, but his temperament is much kinder than most of the cursed creatures. Shiva calls the him “Teacher” and he travels with her to find other humans for her to live with.

The plot of this three episode ONA (edited from a film version) is extremely bare-bones, barely more than a framework for the purpose of cultivating the haunting atmosphere that sets it apart. Teacher and Shiva’s journey, both to know each-other better and to seek out a new village for Shiva, brings them in close proximity to things that are truly unsettling.

For me, the most memorable scene occurs in the second episode, when Teacher and Shiva discover an empty village encircled by jagged old trees. It isn’t long before they learn what happened to the residents – having been followed by an afflicted soldier, Shiva watches in horror as he painfully transforms into a black leafless tree. Suddenly the trees encircling the town, hung with torn ghostly rags, makes horrifying sense.

The Girl From the Other Side feels like glimpses of a story, and not all of it fits neatly into a sensible narrative. This has never been a problem for me personally, but I know it’s not for everyone. However, much of it touches on something very visceral – fear of the darkness, of body horror, of the unknown. But also our tendency toward community and kindness. It reaches down into the depths of something ancient in our lizard brains.

The Girl From the Other Side is available to watch on Crunchyroll.