GHOST HUNT (SERIES COLLECTION)
December 19th 2011 22:08
Based on Ghost Hunt by Fuyumi Ono & Shiho Inada
Director: Akira Mano
Producers: Mamoru Ohi & Shinji Horikiri
Starring: Cherami Leigh (Mai Taniyama), Todd Haberkorn (Kazuya Shibuya), J Michael Tatum (Lin Kojo), Travis Wallingham (Hosho Takigawa), Colleen Clinkenbeard (Ayako Matsuzaki), Jason Liebrecht (John Brown), Jad Saxton (Masako Hara), Monica Rial (Madoka Mori) & Eric Vale (Osamu Yasuhara)
Produced by: Ghost Hunt Project
English Language Version by: FUNimation Entertainment
Released by: Madman Entertainment
Running Time: 625 minutes Rating: M
This particular series I picked up at the library of my local technical college, it seemed rather interesting from the blurb on the back of the box so I thought myself what the heck, I’ll borrow it. I’m glad that I did, it was a decidedly different style of anime than what I’ve been used to over the last few months so it was somewhat refreshing as well as having a perfect vibe for its subject material. Ghost Hunt Project the makers of this particular series which initially aired on TV Tokyo in Japan obviously knew their stuff, they have managed to create a taut, tense yet not too tense, atmospheric show that is a thrill to watch. As the name of the series implies much of the drama revolves around ghosts, spirits, haunting and a host of other paranormal phenomena.
On the surface it would be easy to say that the protagonist in this show is Mai Taniyama, a young teenage girl who is a high school student and avid ghost story teller. In the first episode of the series we see her along with two friends holding torches and sitting in a darkened class room telling ghost stories. Mai seems to have something of a knack for telling such stories as she creeps her friends out. For my opinion Mai is more of the narrator style character, it is through her that we are privy to the events that occur within the series – she does not in and of herself prompt the events to occur as would be normal for a primary protagonist. So instead of having a primary protagonist I would argue that Ghost Hunt is very much an ensemble style show.
Mai becomes involved with the somewhat introverted and narcissistic Kazuya Shibuya when he is requested by the principal to investigate an old building on the school premises. According to students as well as construction workers who attempted to demolish the building twice before the location is haunted and there are evil spirits hiding within its confines. Naturally as a psychic researcher Kazuya has no intention of dismissing such things, but by the same token he’s not averse to fining whether or not some perfectly natural phenomena is responsible for events. When you have eliminated everything whatever remains, regardless of how impossible it may seem is likely to be the answer…
Consisting of a Buddhist monk, a Shinto shrine maiden, a Catholic priest from Outback Australia (hilarious accent by the way), a Japanese celebrity medium along with Mai, Kazuya and Kazuya’s assistant the enigmatic Lin Kojo the team of SPR tackle a variety of cases ranging from the unusual to the heart rending to the downright creepy. Actually there is two particular themes that do run throughout the entire series, all of the stories revolve around a particular location and every now and then there is mention of this eminent English psychic researcher known as Oliver Davis who has phenomenal abilities. In one case said individual makes an actual appearance although he is revealed to be a fake, an impersonator used to give an unscrupulous spiritualist some credibility.
But the locations serve to provide the impetus for the case, whilst Oliver Davis is simply an interesting side element neither of these two recurring themes drive the series like say the Elric brothers quest for the Philosopher’s Stone or Naruto’s efforts to bring back Sasuke to the Leaf Village. Instead they serve as elements of the particular case being investigated with Davis serving as an example of just what a seasoned and trained spiritualist can do. Frankly in this series there is something for everyone and considering that the silly season is well and truly upon is there is even a Christmas story, one that is rather heart rending and somewhat macabre, but I found that the story hit the right vibe taking the Christmas angle and the ghost angle and combining them in a story that wasn’t tacky and would bring a tear to the eye.
As far as frightening goes and there is a fair element of spookiness to most of the cases investigated within the series but the scariest in my opinion is the Blood Stained Labyrinth which combines the paranormal investigation with some historical elements as well as classical Victorian era literature and a nice locked room style murder mystery all into one neat story. Like I say though watching it was a bit spine tingling, glad I didn’t watch it during the hours of darkness or who knows what would have happened… If you want a wee bit of ghost and paranormal action to satisfy you over the Christmas break then you can’t go past Ghost Hunt, well worth the effort of tracking down, watching and enjoying…but best do it after eating Christmas Dinner…you have been warned…
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