Basic Life

ANIME REVIEW

Title: GHOST HUNT
Episodes : 1 – 25
Rated: 7.5/10

Taniyama Mai, a young energetic 1st year student who has a passion for the supernatural and horror stories, accidentally injured a strange person while she was snooping around an old haunted school building. The person turned out to be the assistant of Shibuya Kazuya, head of the Shibuya Psyhic Research. Since he turned out to be such a narcisstic, arrogant and cold, he was thus nick named by Mai, ‘Narcisstic Naru-Chan’.

For some reason she was convinced to work in place of the injured (sprained ankle) assistant. They are joined by the following spiritual specialists.

Takigawa Houshou, a monk or more precisely hakaisou (a monk who left his, er, monkly duties?) from Mt.Kouya. Incidentally Mt.Kouya is a place in Japan that is considered to be scared and holy, with powerful spiritual essence. That’s why monks from there are revered and considered to be the real deal.

Matsuzaki Ayako, a miko (Shrine Maiden), and was immediately questioned by the rather arrogant Kazuya on her authenticity. I would too, because I’ve always thought shrine maidens are young pure innocent virgin girls. She looks a bit too saucy and ‘mature’ to be a genuine miko.

John Brown, an Australian priest specializing in exorcism. Why John Brown? If they added John Smith, it couldn’t be more typical example of a western name. John Brown… seriously although I liked this character more than the others. I don’t know why. Maybe I have a thing for priests? *sweat*

Hara Masako, a spirit channeler. This character is just about as narcisstic and arrogant as Naru-chan himself, so it’s not suprising when she shows signs of attraction towards Shibuya Kazuya himself.

Lin, (for those who understand chinese, plz don’t make fun of Lin’s name or else he’ll become tu lan lin) the capable assistant of Naru-chan. Later in the series you will see what his skills really are when it comes to the paranormal.

The concept is simple, they are like detectives and people hire them to solve unexplained mysteries and occurances.

Basically the whole series is a collection of ghostly or paranormal cases presented and solved by the Shibuya Psyhic Research. The overall quality of the animation is passable and not very original when it comes to character designs but this just sets the stage for the extraordinary storyline. The script is written well and leaves little room for further questioning as each story is revealed.

If you liked the ghost stories you use to hear about as a kid, I’m sure you’ll find that the Japanese animates your inner child well.

For further info here’s the wiki link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_Hunt_%28anime%29