The first yokai movie, 100 Monsters, didn't have enough monsters for my liking, and the second film, The Great Yokai War, featured a pair of irritating kids and was aimed at a much younger audience. The final film, Yokai Monsters: Along with Ghosts, doesn't feature many monsters AND it features a cute little kid, but I actually found it to be the best in the trilogy, with a much stronger story, better fight scenes and a creepier atmosphere.
When members of the Higuruma crime syndicate ambush men carrying an incriminating document, they also kill Jinbei (Bokuzen Hidari), the elderly guardian of the Onizuka shrine, ignoring his warning that they will be cursed for spilling blood on sacred ground. Witness to the murders is seven year old Miyo (Masami Furukido), granddaughter of Jinbei, who runs into the woods with the document, pursued by the killers. With his dying breath, Jinbei tells Miyo to go to Yui to find her father. Meanwhile, ronin Hyakutaro (Kôjirô Hongô) is out to avenge his master's murder by the Higuruma thugs.
Most of the film revolves around Miyo trying to avoid capture, her search for her father, and Hyakutaro's vendetta, with very little time dedicated to silly spook shenanigans, and to be honest, the film is all the better for it: there's no puerile comedy and the monsters, when they do appear, are far more menacing than before. I still wouldn't go so far as to say that this is an unmissable classic of Japanese cinema, but it is a far more satisfying film than the others in the trilogy, delivering excitement, danger, pathos and a cute child character that isn't annoying.
