Streaming Service: Crunchyroll
Series Name/Year: Ghost Hunt (2006-2007)
Genre: Animation, drama, horror,
mystery, comedy
Average Episode Length:
24 min
(1 Season, 25 eps.)
Rating: TV-14
Directors: Fuyumi Ono, Akira Mano
Writers: Luci Christian, Jack
LaRouche, Andrew Rye, Sonny Strait, Shiho Inada, Fuyumi Ono
Actors:
Japanese Cast – Yuuki Tai, Kaori Nazuka,
Kenji Hamada, Rie Kugimiya, Nobuhiko Okamoto, Masami Suzuki, Ken Narita,
Kousuke Okano, Miyuki Sawashiro
English Cast - Todd Haberkorn, Cherami Leigh, Travis
Willingham, Jad Saxton, Jason Liebrecht, Colleen Clinkenbeard, J. Michael
Tatum, Eric Vale, Kent Williams, Caitlin Glass
CrunchyRoll Blurb: Mai’s fascination with
the unknown leads her to join the Shibuya Psychic Research team. Using her
growing psychic abilities, Mai will work with a spirit medium, a shrine maiden,
an exorcist, and a monk to uncover the darkest mysteries of the unseen.
Cat’s Point of View:
After the scorching summer we’ve just had, it’s such a
relief to finally be getting some weather that feels generally like fall. It’s
almost mid-October and the anticipation for the thrills and chills of the
season is only building by the day. I decided to shake things up a little in my
quest for some lesser-known spooky anime and took a meandering journey through
some of the titles that Crunchyroll obtained through their merger with Funimation.
One such anime title looked like it would be exactly what I was seeking – Ghost
Hunt.
Considering how long ago Ghost Hunt was released, I
was surprised that I hadn’t heard of it before – and, at the same time, not so
much. I’ve loved anime as a genre ever since I was first introduced to it back
in high school, but I know I haven’t even seen a 10th of the titles
out there. I digress…
One of the factors that encouraged me to watch this series
was my enjoyment of ghost-hunting and paranormal related shows. I’ve seen most
of what A&E, SYFY, Discovery, the Travel Channel, and a few others (I’ve
forgotten the acronyms) have to offer along the supernatural niche of reality
TV. I also find myself playing a lot of spooky ghost hunting games with my
friends via Steam and Discord. All of this only fueled my desire to give this
series a chance and had me crossing my fingers that it was as good as I hoped.
I thoroughly enjoyed Ghost Hunt. By the end of the 25th
episode, I was lamenting that there was only one season.
Lets get a little further into it, shall we?
In the very beginning I admit I had a few doubts, but once
things took off it was undeniable that I was hooked by this story. While the narrative
comes primarily from the perspective of Mai Taniyama, a high school student;
each character had their own time to shine along the way. I appreciated that the
young girl’s infatuation didn’t bog everything down as much as I thought it
might, once there were hints that there might be some romantic tension between
some of the characters. Ghost Hunt deftly skirted that topic without
feeling dismissive of it. I’ve since read that the manga’s creator had an idea
of how characters would end up in that regard but never addressed it because
she wasn’t trying to write a romance.
Ghost Hunt decidedly stays true to its titular
premise from beginning to end. I adored its use of technology – some still in
use today in real-world paranormal research - and the efforts made by the team
to debunk hauntings before declaring something supernatural was actually afoot.
The calculated skepticism as well as open-minded teamwork were refreshing.
At this point, once I’ve mentioned an anime has been adapted
from manga I need to give my usual disclosure. I haven’t read the manga for
this series, so I can’t personally attest to whether or not this adaptation stays
true to the page. I haven’t, however, run into any negative reviews through my
cursory research that would indicate otherwise. You’re welcome to check that
out for yourself. There is more to the manga, apparently, that wasn’t included
in the series – but likely not enough for a 2nd season to be
created. I did search around to see if there were any talks about a second
series and found nothing to support that idea anywhere, in spite of generally
glowing reviews for the anime and fans’ wishes for more. Given that Ghost
Hunt aired over 15 years ago, the chances are decidedly slim.
Back to the story!
The ambiance throughout Ghost Hunt was on point. Each
case gave the group new challenges and didn’t feel like a ‘rinse and repeat’ as
so many procedural-type shows fall prey to. The animation style was right in my
preferred comfort zone for aesthetics and everything flowed smoothly. I
snickered to myself that one of the characters reminded me of Sebastian from Black
Butler (2008-2011). I was surprised to learn that the same voice actor for
the English dubbed version also voiced the character in Ghost Hunt - J.
Michael Tatum (RWBY: Ice Queendom, Vinland Saga, My Hero Academia).
Funny enough, while the similarities in the characters may be purely coincidence,
the Ghost Hunt series actually came first!
On a more somber note, while this series is rated PG-13 or
TV-14, it would be best for parents to strongly consider before allowing young
viewers to watch this series. While there were no explicit scenes of a sexual
nature nor were there many depictions of graphic violence, there were many bloody
visuals and the discussion of characters having “unalived themselves,” as today’s
phrasing goes. There are spooky spirits and characters get hurt. Considering
this series is about a team of ghost hunters, there are many depictions and discussions
of death, as well. This is all on the more tame end of the spectrum, but
touches on the topics all the same.
If you have the opportunity and a couple days to run through
these 25 short episodes, I wouldn’t hesitate to encourage you to do so.
Rotten Tomatoes Critic
Score – None
Rotten Tomatoes Audience
Score – None
Metascore – None
Metacritic User Score – None
IMDB Score – 7.4/10
Trust the Dice: Cat’s
Rating – 5/5
Series Trailer:
