Girl From Nowhere, Thailand's Bloody Awesome Horror Anthology Ser

“Hello, My name is Nanno. Nice to meet you”

Nanno played by Kitty Chicha Amatayakul/ *Episode 204 of GIRL FROM NOWHERE Cr. YUPANAKORN BOONPREM/NETFLIX © 2021*

A simple introduction given by a new student in front of her new classmates. The words are uttered not from a simple girl but more from a being capable of boundless horror. And her name is Nanno.

In Netflix’s Girl From Nowhere horror anthology series, karmic retribution is delivered in the most twisted and viscerally satisfying way through this mysterious new student.

Karma is a state of being that has been generalized as the result from the efforts put behind actions. Good actions results in good karma and awards will follow. Break the rules, and that same karma will swing the other way and punishment will rain hard. In the western world, we often hear the words, “karma is a bitch.” In this Netflix series, karma is indeed a bitch and she revels in making sure you know it.

The series is centers around various high schools in Thailand. In Thailand, Theravada Buddhism is the main religion. Theravada Buddhism have simple mantras to guide a person closer to enlightenment such as don’t steal your neighbors wife, respect your parents, and don’t kill anyone. Simple to follow, simple to stray away.

Once they do and it’s beyond of the no return, then Nanno will bring in the chainsaws, the bats, the bathubs, coming back from the dead, and all other sorts of scary ways to achieve rightful vengeance.

*Minnie Pi as Jenny X/ Episode 207 of GIRL FROM NOWHERE Cr. YUPANAKORN BOONPREM/NETFLIX © 2021*

Girl From Nowhere is classified as a thriller anthology show produced by Sour Bangkok. Each of the episodes are loosely based off of true news stories but delivered in a heap of drama, supernatural flair, and blood. Lots of blood.

Most of the stories start innocently enough, just a normal high school on the surface. Sure there are strict teachers, pressures from school, or slights from the popular kids. Just a bit of a scratch from Nanno and the she revels in the festering darkness that these people hide.

High schools are universally seen as their micro version of society beyond the gates. These are the years that are most crucial in developing a young persons personality and how they will handle the world. If these students are already burying bodies at this point in their life, it’s going take the dramatic actions of Nanno to right themselves back into any hope of being a decent human.

*Episode 204 of GIRL FROM NOWHERE Cr. YUPANAKORN BOONPREM/NETFLIX © 2021*

Episodes have dealt with a diverse range of unsettling topics such as rape and murder to absurd like a male student giving birth. Through conversations and observations, Nanno is able to pinpoint those who are most guilty of causing these crimes and begins to hatch a plan of action. With some manipulation and creative means, Nanno is able to bring down vengeance upon them. And these are not…clean. It’s sweet, bloody justice.

It is all delivered in a unique storytelling aesthetic or style along with a steady delivery of blood. Although it is not the blood that makes it a horror thriller anthology, it’s the realization that these are based off of true events. Since the U.S. does not receive many of the news from Thailand, it’s a guessing game on which element is true. Some websites such as The S Media have offered some insight into the stories that inspired the show as seen here.

Patricia Tanchanok Good as Minnie/ Episode 203 of GIRL FROM NOWHERE Cr. YUPANAKORN BOONPREM/NETFLIX © 2021

Much of the blood in the show are from slash wounds but the show is not entirely focused on the act of slashing itself. Many of the characters will run away with blood stains or may slip in a pile of blood. The blood quantity is high but the depiction of the actual violence is low.

As of now, there are two seasons available on Netflix. During the first season, we follow Nanno as she appears at each school. The most memorable of the episodes from Season 1 dealt less with karmic retribution and more with humanity during times of heightened states of fear and the driving need for survival. For those in the U.S., this may be a highly triggering and disturbing episode as it deals with a killing spree at a school.

In episode 9, “Trap,” a group of students, their teacher, and Nanno barricade themselves inside a classroom as they run away from a convict who is killing students. We never see the killer as the whole episode in inside the classroom. With each other, the control frays and fear begins to unhinge them all one by one.E xcept for Nanno, who sits calmly in a chair and offers occasional tips. This is one of the few episodes where Nanno barely has to lift a finger . The others screw themselves into their own horror. It was an overall gripping episode that provided a fascinating “what would you do” scenario.

*Episode 206 of GIRL FROM NOWHERE Cr. YUPANAKORN BOONPREM/NETFLIX © 2021*

We have no idea who Nanno, where she came from, or even if she’s human. She’s able to be at multiple places at once, have an unsettling way of seeing deep inside the psyche, and can survive the most brutal of deaths. Whether she has been stabbed or buried alive. she returns with a lopsided smirk and the soul grating cackle.

The justice that she dispenses is very ambiguous and questionable. Is she creating these scenarios for people to understand the consequences of their ways? Would her methods be enough to encourage people to trek back to the temple and relearn lessons and stories from the monk? Or have these people created such a huge pile of horrible around them, that they’re beyond contemplation and meditation? Do these people deserve the psychological horror that wrings them through? What power does she have to make such a judgement?

It’s this question of where the weight of judgment swings that is threaded throughout the second season. A thread as bright and shocking as the red ribbon tied around the hair of another mysterious girl named Yuri. Yuri is deeply connected to Nanno and has manifested as a secondary karmic being onto Earth. Unlike Nanno, Yuri has no patience to toy with the mental state of these scum. She much prefers the fastest method to utter chaos ending in a blood bath. It is Yuri’s rash method that creates a growing friction between the two beings.

The second season of Girl from Nowhere delves into abstract and visual story telling. The aesthetics of the episode from bizarre giant puffy sleeves to manipulating time and space creates a growing buffer on what is real and what is art.

With each episode, Nanno and Yuri orbit one another as they both help and hamper one another in their methods to bring punishment to the wrong-doers. As their methods fork in diverging intensity with each story, Nanno stands in a greater contrast in character opposite Yuri. Where Nanno would have gleefully enjoyed the bloodbath that Yuri instigates in the previous season, Nanno has found herself taking the role of elder and begins to adminish Yuri’s sloppy ways. It’s possible that from conferring her murderous ideologies to Yuri out loud, Nanno is taking a deeper look over everything she has done.

Could it be a signal that Nanno is now weighted by doubt from her actions? Can there be room on Earth for both?Is this Nanno subconsciously separating herself from the humans? Is this intentional or has she been forced.

It’s just absolutely refreshing to find streaming content from Thailand on Netflix that is not a BL (“Boy Love”) romance drama. It is wonderful that BL romance is experiencing in upsurge in popularity but for a while it was the only kind of Thai content available that wasn’t a B-grade level horror movie from decades ag

Season 2 ends with a grand question and we all wait with bated breath until Girl From Nowhere returns. Until then, it wouldn’t hurt to do some mediation and reflect upon oneself. Or else Nanno will come to you, and you definitely, definitely don’t want that.

Girl from Nowhere Season 1 & Season 2 are available on Netflix.