Ranked #2647

Teizokurei Daydream

Going into this, I wasn't sure what to expect. The series was always going to be one of two types: a supernatural thriller that delves into the dark side of human nature, using S&M as a way of highlighting the depraved minds of humans, or a silly ghost story that attempts to be dark but isn't able to do so thanks to an endless stream of perverse jokes and fan service. Disappointingly, Ghost Talker's Daydream turned out to be a series that matches up with the latter.

Right at the start you're greeted with the sight of Misaki, the main character and spiritual medium of the story, sitting naked in a bathhouse. The 'camera' moves around the room, showing another woman's breast, and the scene then finally ends. In the next scene, another main character is introduced, a male government worker (even after only just watching, I don't remember his name) who has to beg Misaki to help his organization solve crimes relating to spirits. But, of course, with this series seemingly needing to have more fan service and silliness than is good, it isn't long before the annoying government person slips, pulling down Misaki's dress in public. The two then have a very brief conversation about who the annoying government person works for and they go off to investigate a crime.

The 'plot' doesn't improve beyond that. Misaki helps the government, working at a S&M place to earn extra money, and she has to deal with the annoying government guy whenever there's work that needs doing - that's it. It's simplistic and won't hold the interest of anyone who goes into it expecting it to be deep, thrilling and/or scary.

As for character development, Misaki's past isn't really gone into at all. All you learn about her is that she saw started seeing ghosts when she was very young and had problems making friends at school as a result. There's no character development at all, and she even seems to enjoy her work since there are no tears over how she earns her money. It's a shame that the S&M side seemed to only be there as an excuse to get Misaki into kinky leather outfits... A good (and fairly unique) story could've been made out of a character earning the money to survive by entering into the (sometimes) disturbing world of sexual pleasure.

The rest of the cast are equally weak. A school girl called Ai is introduced in the first episode, showing her about to be raped (with the 'camera' focused on her panties and arse for a long time), and she then sticks around for the rest of the series once her story is resolved, the weak reason given being that she started to see spirits after the events of the first episode. The annoying government guy was there only to accidentally see panties/get involved in perverted comedy sequences and inform Misaki about unnatural crimes. And I have no idea what the forth and final main character, Mitsuru, was supposed to be doing - all he, a high school student, did for the entire series was follow around Misaki (he calls her 'Queen Misaki') with a camera, sometimes taking perverted photos...for no apparent reason.

So, the 'plot' is best described as paper-thin, the character development is non-existent and the series is generally just unimpressive where it matters. But the problems don't end there since an explanation wasn't provided for some fairly important elements, such as Misaki being able to use a supernatural whip-like weapon, which happens to come from between her legs and makes her blush and moan. Like with the reasoning behind Mitsuru stalking 'Queen Misaki' with a camera, maybe that's best just left unexplained?

The other aspects of the series - art, animation and sound - were also disappointing. The animation looked more like the average for a 26 episode TV series that came out in 2004 and not OVA quality, complete with all the usual panning/zooming and very little in the way of flashy animation. The art wasn't exactly awe inspiring, either - it looked good but, for example, not even the nipples of the huge breasted females were that well drawn. And as for the music, well...it sounded almost like the sort of poor soundtrack I expect to hear when playing low-budget PS1-PS2 RPGs and, rather than pulling me in, it simply distracted me.

Ghost Talker's Daydream is summed up by the last few minutes of the final episode. Instead of ending on a meaningful note, it ended with Misaki receiving a text from a female police officer she'd spoken to for only a few minutes (naked, with the 'camera' zooming in on both of their breasts), the text informing Misaki that the police officer had shaven her 'jungle' following their discussion. For those interested how this all came about, Misaki had gone vacation in order to grow a 'jungle' of her own in episode 3, praying at an altar and washing herself down there at a spring famous for hair regeneration.

I'm probably being a bit too generous but, since it was only 4 episodes long and it was least watchable, I'll give it 6/10. If the series had been longer then it's safe to say my score would've been far, far harsher.

Rating: 6/10 read more

let me get straight to the point (any plot summary will serve you well on this one, trust me): the problem with this anime is that it's not a smart idea to choose an episodic narrative structure for an 4 episode OVA. there was simply no time to develop the characters, or any meta-plot.
the basic idea of having a spiritual medium working part time as a dominatrix does seem pretty nice to me, but not even the amount of fan service will make up for the fact that it doesn't satisfy in the end.
i'm actually quite anxious to read the manga after this, but the anime isn't worth your time. even if you're intent on watching this because one of the main characters is a dominatrix, you'll be disappointed.
it's funny at times, the animation is quite okay, but in the end it feels completely unfinished and underdeveloped. i'm quite sure that it could have done well as a full series, but 4 episodes just isn't enough. read more