Mini reviews of Television seasons old and new. No fuss. No spoilers. Occasional bunnies.

Monday, June 25, 2012

Ghost Hunt: Season One - Part One (2008)

With the popularity of paranormal investigating shows increasing over the past few years, it was inevitable that a similar anime would be produced.  Ghost Hunt, a series about the investigations of the Shibuya Psychic Research team, follows naive high school freshman Mai Taniyama, assistant Shibuya Kazuya and a cast of others who aid in investigating phenomena and exorcising spirits.

The show most resembles Paranormal State, an American reality program where a team of college investigators help families deal with a variety of problems including possession, hauntings, and demonic entities.  GH is similar as it focues more on aiding others rather than collecting evidence.  Because of this, the series has a more sentimental tone as opposed to being something particularly scary.

The investigations referred to as "Files" are usually contained in multiple episodes.  The first file "Evil Spirits All Over" introduces Mai to the arrogant Shibuya during his analysis of a supposedly haunted schoolhouse.  Other characters brought in to help include a monk, a shrine priestess, a catholic exorcist and a medium, all of whom are way too young for their respective roles.
This file struck me as visually uninteresting as most of the show does.  Despite lack of experience, the characters comprehend a vast knowledge which I found quite interesting and informative.  The writers obviously did their homework.

As in any show containing an adolescent female lead, love is in the air as young Mai secretly pines for the narcisstic yet handsome Shibuya.  This is where most of the comedy arises but it's mostly restricted to childish humor.  Ghost Hunt is meant for teenage anime fans with an interest in the paranormal, but with a lack of interesting visual and unconvincing characters, they would be better off watching truly creepy anime series such as Serial Experiments Lain, Boogiepop Phantom or even reality-based paranormal investigations instead.

13 episodes.  Approx 25 minutes each.

Buyers Guide:
Available as a 2 disc box.

2 young to be an exorcist out of 5

Nutted by Borderline

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