Good and Evil in J horror

This weeks reading was far different than anything I've ever really indulged in before. While reading Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things, I kept coming to conclusions that weren't the typical Western endings I've come so accustomed to. Often in Western stories there are solid endings, where some sort of evil entity is defeated and/or a good force will overcome a negative battle. But in J horror it is less centered around good and evil, and more focused on the acts of karma (to my understanding). J horror seems to have a focus on an individual and how that individual responds to their environment. There is a sense of balance between the good and evil like two sides of a coin, there isn’t one without the other.

The reference of the term ‘spirits’ is high, but does not ensue a distinction of evil like in western culture. In J horror’s case, the spirits don't have evil intent, they are more just supernatural, as to where their understanding (the spirits) is just too unnatural (or beyond the natural) for us to understand. I believe that this also helps the writing to leave you wanting a little more. The use of the supernatural in J horror’s case tends to leave a lot of ambiguity in the stories endings.

There is never really one solid emotion at the end of the story, like in western culture. Western stories, novels and films usually end with a bang, the hero wins, ect… Something i found very refreshing was the wanting more from the J horror. It left a lot more to the imagination, where i could kind of craft my own story from the information given, and would have to think about the end even after I had finished the story. Very few western novels or movies give you that satisfaction.