Issue #23
“The Yōkai Issue”

Welcome to another installment of our annual Yōkai issue! 

In last year's Yōkai issue, Kelsee put together a beautiful piece on the beings of Asian folklore. From that, I learned that the Yokai are supernatural beings that have had a huge influence on modern horror. Some have been characterized as harborers of grief and sorrow, some monstrous. Yet many exist in the space between the two, which, in part, makes them so compelling. The Yōkai carry the weight of cultural memory, and like many other creatures of global folklore, they remain at the center of cautionary tales and remembrance.

 May is Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month, and we built this issue around the voices in horror media who have shaped the genre. Anime, infamous video game franchises, and visual art that are showcased in this issue pull from the same deep well of folkloric storytelling. What you find at the bottom is for you to uncover.

We are thrilled to showcase a textile artist, Juliette, whose work carries that dark aesthetic into fiber art, Kelsee’s dive into anime with thoughtful, witty reviews, and my own piece on the Japanese studios behind survival horror and the franchises that changed the genre. Above all, this is an issue about the tales that have built and changed the trajectory of horror as we know it!

 See you in the depths of the well, creepies!