Here at Yurei, we have brought the search for Saki Sanobashi to our audience’s attention many times. Unfortunately, until now, it hasn’t been productive at all. We have discussed how the urban legend started and how some supposed leads don’t lead anywhere, but we have never been even close to the real deal… Until now.
After years of research, hours of watching obscure anime, and practically stalking some Japanese bloggers deep into the 80s OVA scene, we found it! Yes, we watched Saki Sanobashi. Well, not the actual OVA that was originally described on 4chan, but we found the sequel and confirmed that the mysterious anime existed! Ladies, gentlemen, and others, we present to you 1988’s Chimamire no Gakuen!
First of all, how did we find out about Chimamire no Gakuen?
As mentioned previously, we have been researching the Saki Sanobashi mystery for years. While we initially thought it might be a hoax, we continued our search, looking for a similar title that could have inspired the original post. This led our team to delve deeper into primary sources, contacting Japanese sellers and bloggers who specialize in collecting obscure 80s and 90s anime VHS tapes.
Initially, it wasn’t an easy task. The Saki Sanobashi mystery isn’t widely known in the Japanese anime community, so we had to explain all the lore to them. Of course, some didn’t have the time or patience to listen to us. Luckily, Google Translate was an excellent tool for trying to explain ourselves in a way that sounds natural for natives. Eventually, a certain blogger we’ll call “Niseimono” (cool name, isn’t it?) replied and was willing to listen.
Niseimono linked us to many unknown titles for us to watch and check if it was Saki. Days became weeks and weeks became years, and after hours of footage, we still didn’t find anything even remotely close to the girls locked in the bathroom plot. However, just a few days ago, we had our first breakthrough with a little OVA named Chimamire Gakuen. It featured boys instead of girls, but the references they made were too familiar to ignore. They talked about the “Saki-chan incident” and how she and her friends also ended up in a similar situation. This caught our attention so we contacted Niseimono again, who kindly confirmed our suspicions. This OVA is connected to Saki!
What ‘s Chimamire no Gakuen about?
As mentioned before, the premise is quite similar. A group of 9 boys wake up and find themselves locked in their school bathroom. At first they joke about their other classmates wanting to prank them but when they notice the locks in the windows, door and even toilet seats, they start to freak out. They mention about not going crazy as the “Saki-chan incident”. They talk about a supposed incident that happened in that very same bathroom where a bunch of girls accidentally locked themselves in and went insane thinking they were kidnapped.
Eventually, they started to kill each other out of desperation until Saki was the only one survivor. However, when the teachers found her and explained that there was no kidnapping and that they just didn’t know they were there, Saki went crazy and killed herself.
That’s why for most of the OVA, the boys, especially the one wearing the headband, try to keep things light. They joke and try to sleep until the next morning when the teachers find them. Unfortunately, morning arrives and no one comes to their rescue. They are hungry, and underlying conflicts start to bubble up to the surface. As you would expect, the conclusion will honor the OVA’s title: it’s going to be a bloody school.
So, Chimamire is actually a Saki Sanobashi’s sequel?
It seems so. Niseimono didn’t reply further after our last interaction, but it appears that the director of Chimamire worked at some other defunct studio where he produced a similar gory OVA. He probably created Saki there, and when the studio closed, he created Chimamire as some sort of sequel in the same universe. Honestly, the way the characters talk about the “Saki-chan incident” is a clear indication of how this is the real deal. They describe everything said in the original 4chan post to a tee, so that’s proof enough about its veracity. We might not have found Saki Sanobashi, but we proved its existence, and that’s enough for us… for now.
Wanna watch Chimamire no Gakuen? Here’s the link to it. Have a great time. Niseimono would be proud!
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Hi everyone! I am Javi from the distant land of Santiago, Chile. I grew up watching horror movies on VHS tapes and cable reruns thanks to my cousins. While they kinda moved on from the genre, I am here writing about it almost daily. When I am not doing that, I enjoy reading, drawing, and collecting cute plushies (you have to balance things out. Right?)