All the Right Notes: Ghost Hunt Review

Whenever people see what shows I watch, they usually instantly make assumptions about the genres I like.  Often, this assumption is anime.  That I, in general, am an anime fan.  Often this is a dismissive assumption.  It is not only dismissive, however; it is incorrect.  (I insist on stating that I watch good shows, no matter the genre or style; I may delve more into this topic in another post.)  Now I'll admit that I do have a soft spot for anime styles; my personal tastes find them appealing.  That is no reason to assume, however, that I completely disregard my critical eye when I watch anime.  In fact, because of my "weakness" per se, I am even more suspicious of anime than perhaps any other genre, as it is far to easy too slip into watching mediocre shows of any favored genre without even realizing it.

It might come as a surprise to you that even up to early last year, I was still somewhat staunchly an outspoken disliker of anime.  As a child, I grew up watching normal kid shows on Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network, but I also grew up on Toonami--Cardcaptors, Sailor Moon, Dragonball Z, Gundam Wing.  This was before I was even aware of what anime was.  Eventually, probably around the time I entered late middle school, I "grew up."  I became more aware of what I watched, completely threw out what I had indulged in as a child, and turned against anime completely.  (Except Pokemon.  I was always a loyal Pokemon fan, even when I stopped watching the show.)

Up through high school, the only anime that I watched and admitted was actually an excellent show was Trigun.

That, however, was only the beginning of my conversion back into actually accepting shows as I see them instead of foolishly disregarding an entire style.

Right now, we're going to look at one of the "conversion" animes that I was introduced to a little over a year ago by a friend.  There are other animes I could list as well, but of the ones I watched that finally forced me to accept that good and excellent anime do exist, this is one of the lesser-known and underrated ones.

 The main cast of Ghost Hunt, from left to right: Masako, Ayako, Yasu, Naru, Monk, Mai, John (missing: Lin)

Check out the review after the break!

Before I delve into Ghost Hunt, however, I would like to establish that this is not a particularly deep or heartbreaking show (like Trigun or Angel Beats!), although it does have its touching moments.  And it certainly has its problems as well.  But that does not stand in the way of my recommending it to people to watch.  Why is this?  Well, let's take a look.

The premise of Ghost Hunt is basic, yet intriguing at the same time.  Through a series of events, high school freshman Mai becomes involved with Naru, a teenager a few years older than herself who is the head of a company called Shibuya Psychic Research with his older business partner and guardian, Lin.  As the name implies, Shibuya Psychic Research investigates mysterious and ghostly phenomena, confronting ghosts and other spectors in order to drive them out.  The team is joined by quite a menagerie of a cast: Masako is a TV star, famous for her work as a medium; Ayako is a self-proclaimed Shinto priestess; Yasu is a senior in high school with a knack for research and deception; Monk is a Buddhist monk who left his monastary to pursue the rockstar life; John Brown is a Catholic priest and exorcist.

With this vast array of characters--all but one introduced in the very first episode!--it can be overwhelming at first.  One of the strong points of Ghost Hunt, however, is its efficient and clear characterization.  Even if you have trouble remembering the exact names initially, you are always clear on the identity of a character.  Part of this does, admittedly, have to do with the characters being somewhat archetypal.  This is not to say, however, that they are not enjoyable; when put together, their personalities and practices mesh excellently.  The bonds the group forms are believable and touching, particularly from Mai's perspective (which the show is seen from).

"This is clearly the work of an earth spirit!"... oh Ayako, you cougar, you're so fantastic.

Speaking of techniques, another aspect that I like about Ghost Hunt is its clear respect for the different religions it handles.  The jobs of Masako, Ayako, Monk, and John are all treated professionally and fairly accurately, which is quite a breath of fresh air.  Each character has their moment to shine, and it's always exciting to watch.

To put it simply, Ghost Hunt is an exciting show.  And it can be placed quite firmly in the "horror" genre, which it handles beautifully.  The first time I watched Ghost Hunt, I watched it in likely the best scenario possible: late at night, sitting in my bed, all the lights out, curled up with my laptop, all alone.  It was terrifying and wonderful.  What is most wonderful about Ghost Hunt, however, is the great balance it achieves.  When the show wants to get scary, it pumps up the atmosphere and tension, making you jump at the slightest camera shift.  It also stays away from cheap scares, focusing instead on atmosphere and just the sheer terror of the situations themselves.  The show is always smart, however, to balance tense moments with comical ones and breathers, allowing its audience to sit back for a few moments.

Quickly, I'm going to move on to the voice acting of Ghost Hunt.  Particularly as a horror genre, voice acting is crucial to establishing believable characters and situations.  And the dubbing is above average to excellent, though with one very notable exception: poor John Brown.  John Brown is a Catholic priest, but more than that, he is an Australian Catholic priest.  And apparently Funimation (who typically does good dubs) couldn't for the life of them find someone who could do a believable Australian accent.  Quite honestly, it is impossible to not watch John's introduction without laughing at the over-acted, ridiculously fake "down under" accent.

Unbelievably, however, the show manages to recover from the flop of John's voice by, once again, the attractiveness of the characters themselves.  For myself and my friends who have watched Ghost Hunt, nearly all of us agree that John is probably our favorite character--voice and all!

Oh John Brown, we love you... yes, even your horrendous accent.

Let's move on to the structure of the show, where we will also delve into some of the show's major fallback.  The show has only one season of 25 episodes; these episodes are broken into 8 "files,"  or cases the team works on, and each file ranges from two to four episodes in length (one of the files is a single comedic "breather" episode).  This structure is one of the great strengths of Ghost Hunt.  It allows cases to become fully fleshed out and explored, without ever feeling rushed; the pacing is nearly perfect.

However, now onto the main problem of Ghost Hunt, and that is what is not fleshed out.  Ghost Hunt was originally a light novel that was then made into a manga, which the show is based on.  The show, as interesting as it is, simply does not have the depth that is explored in the manga.  In fact, this is one aspect of the anime that is infuriating, because it plays at a middle ground for its viewers.  There is a lot of backstory with Naru that is never explored in the anime; it is, however, hinted at.  In my opinion, this is worse than leaving it out altogether.  If you are going to hint at something or bring up questions, you need to be prepared to answer them.  Ghost Hunt answers none of the questions it brings up about characters, leaving their backstories nearly unexplored.  I believe the show would have been almost stronger had it not even bothered with the frustrating hints, but simply taken the stories and characters at face value and concentrated on that, rather than introducing hints it had no intention of fleshing out. 

Now I have done research on the information that the anime does not explore, and it is actually incredibly interesting.  My final opinion is this: If you watch the anime and enjoy it, then by all means look up the background information the anime is missing, because it will give you a lot of insight!  Though it is sad the anime does not explore these plot threads, it is still nice to know that they do exist.

Bet you would never have guessed that this guy had some dark and tragic story.  Nope.

So at the end of the day, what was it about Ghost Hunt that I enjoyed?  Put simply, the show tells a good story and tells it well, without resorting to some of the ridiculous gags and conventions you often find in anime.  Storytelling is the most important factor I look for in any media--show, movie, book, or videogame.  Ghost Hunt sets up fascinating and tense situations and then places likable and incredibly competent (seriously) characters in the middle of these situations, creating conflict, mystery, and running the whole gambit of sad, heartwarming, and terrifying moments throughout.  It is only the lack of backstory--or the frustrating hints at the backstory that could be--that keeps this anime out of the "excellent" category.

If you enjoy ghost stories and being scared, you will like this show.  If you enjoy fun, interesting, and sometimes even silly characters and situations, you will also like this show--though you may want to watch with a few friends for the scary parts!  (And as always, in the only appropriate way to experience the horror genre--in the dark and late at night!)  Do not be silly as I was and just dismiss shows because you created a blanket opinion about the style as a whole.  This is a superb anime to watch if you are unsure of or new to anime, as it is very accessible and enjoyable.  With my own DVD copy of the show sitting only a few feet away from me, I'd clearly be a fool if I didn't highly recommend it to nearly all viewers!