Sunday, June 21, 2020

Anime: Ghost Hunt by Fuyumi Ono

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A complete gem, Ghost Hunt is one of my favourite anime, the only one, in fact, that I own on DVD and only 25 episodes. This anime is a bit old, from '06, but it's really amazing and I wish there were more. The manga definitely has more, but unfortunately they never animated it into a season two. This story really takes place in Japan, where a young high school student named Taniyama Mai, somehow becomes indebted to a young CEO genius, Shibuya Kazuya. Some hilarity ensues along with some suspense and creepy creepy supernatural things with a wide cast of interesting characters!


(SPOILER WARNING! START)

The series starts with Mai, staying after school on a rainy day in April, in a dark classroom with her friends, telling ghost stories. Mai loves ghost stories and is the best storyteller in their group. They tell ghost stories and after each of them finish, they turn off their flashlights, already being in a dark room to begin with. After all the lights are out, they count one to whoever is the last number, in this case it's three, but if there is another voice after the last person, it is said that the voice is a ghost. 

Lo and behold, there is a voice that calls out, "four," but it only a human, our beloved Shibuya Kazuya, later known as Naru due to him being completely narcissistic. Mai's friends are immediately attracted to him while Mai is very wary of him, thinking something is very fishy about his being there. And she is right, due to her damaging some of his equipment by accident, also in turn injuring his assistant, Shibuya-san tells Mai that the amount of the camera she broke was too expensive for her to reimburse him, so she ends up on the case as his assistant. He explains to her his job and what she'll be doing to help him throughout. It is one this very first case that Mai comes up with the nickname, Naru, short for narcissist, due to his demeanor, and accidentally calls him that to his face!


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Fortunately, he isn't too mad about it and everyone openly calls him Naru from that point on. And by everyone I mean the rest of the cast of kooky and lovable characters that are introduced. You have John Brown, a 19-year-old exorcist; Matsuzaki Ayako, a Shinto priestess; Takigawa Houshou, a Buddhist monk that left the mountain, affectionately called Bou-san by most; Hara Masako, a famous TV star medium, someone who can talk to and see spirits, as well as have them possess her; Koujo Lin, Naru's original assistant, he's real mysterious, you'll find out more about him later in the series. While Lin as out of commission for the first case, he is a very prominent figure for the rest of the series, being Naru's "caretaker" and all. 


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They finish with the first case being a dud, but all the cases after that... well, I'll leave that up to you to figure out!


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(SPOILER WARNING! END)

This anime is often overlooked, due to the fact that it is a little outdated in comparison to the more popular anime that's being released nowadays, like My Hero Academia or Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. Each case is drawn out over two to three episodes and so the show has about eight cases overall it covers. 

I tried to just give a simple overall to the first episode without ruining the rest of the series. This is one of my absolute favourites, as I have said before, and I want to encourage others to actually watch it, which is why I cut myself off before rambling abut every episode. 

As the series progresses, more characters join the team as  permanent fixtures and are very helpful to the coming cases they encounter. Not a lot is revealed about the characters and their backgrounds, at least not the major stuff that is later revealed in the manga. 

Certain scenes do get a bit grotesque and scary, I've been watching this series for over ten years now so I'm unaffected, but my significant other does get scared from this show, so just a warning on that front. But I can say though, the scariest part is most likely the one you're thinking of, especially if you've seen the show before. 

Anyways, I do hope a season two will come out. The show leaves off in a bit of a cliffhanger and there is definitely more to the story than what is just in the anime. The manga even came out with a sequel in the last couple of years, and with the new revamps of old anime like Fruits Basket, Sailor Moon, and now it's been announced that Tokyo Mew Mew is being brought back! So here's to hoping that a season two will come out for Ghost Hunt! It's a bit of a stretch though... 

I highly recommend this series to anyone who likes a good mystery! That's not all it is though, there are some lighthearted, comedic moments that allow you to fall in love with the characters even more than you might already have. And that's all there is to it! If you haven't already watched this series, what are you waiting for? It is available to watch on Funimation, so there's no reason for you not to! Hope you guys enjoyed this review! Please comment down below with your thoughts! See you guys next week!~


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I hope everyone is still staying safe. I just heard word that Texas and Georgia are opening certain businesses back up, again it's still only April as I type this, and I find it a bit concerning. I also found out that New Jersey has almost 100,000 cases of COVID-19 in their state alone! Please everyone, if you are reading this and COVID is still problem, #stayhome. Thank you for reading this little PSA tidbit!

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