Pupa
Directed by Tomomi Mochizuki
Voice cast: Ibuki Kido, Nobunaga Shimazaki, Koji Yusa, Kyoko Narumi, Kenjiro Tsuda, Mamiko Noto, Mariya Ise, Shiori Mikami, Yurika Kurosawa
Studio DEEN, Earth Star Entertainment
Air dates: Streaming Thursdays at 2:30 PM CST on Crunchyroll

Japanese horror is a unique genre that touches on themes of possession, haunting, and psychological terror. Another recent phenomenon I’ve seen, particularly in the ONA, or Original Net Animation genre, is the under-five-minute format. The best series that are in this format have the ability to tell a compelling story in less time than it takes for the first act of a 24-minute show.

The series Pupa, now streaming on Crunchyroll as part of its new winter lineup, takes the horror/gore genre and combines it with the under-five-minute format, creating one hell of a mash-up.

Oneechan ga Kita
Produced by C2C
Directed by Yoshihide Yuuzumi
Cast: Aimi Terakawa, Juri Nagatsuma, Fumi Morisawa, Ibuki Kido, Kenji Hamada, Kouji Takahashi, Marina Inoue, Misuzu Togashi, Omi Minami, Yu Kobayashi.
Streaming on Crunchyroll

Oneechan ga Kita, or My Big Sister Arrived, is a light-hearted slice-of-life anime about the stresses of adolescence, parental re-marriage, and what can be the sometimes awkward relationship between newly-introduced step-siblings.

Based on the 4-panel manga created by Riko Anzai, Oneechan ga Kita is told mainly from the viewpoint of 13-year-old protagonist Tomoya Mizuhara. The series begins with Tomoya’s father getting remarried, and his new stepsister, 17-year-old Ichika, is madly in love with him. The usual array of madcap hi-jinx and fast-paced tropes follow in rapid succession, including Ichika’s insistence that she’s going to move into Tomoya’s room permanently and her otaku-like obsessions with her new stepbrother, which include plastering the walls of her room with photos of him and even having large stuffed toy versions of him lying around.