Gakkou no Kaidan

Overview:

Ghost Stories is the amazing tale of a failed anime that became a cult classic through the absurd dubbing of the now defunct ADV films. The original is quite forgettable and not worth your time, but the infamous dub is DEFINITELY worth watching.

Background:

So who the hell was ADV? Back in the 1990s and early 2000s, the Texas dub studio ADV was the main rival of Funimation. Due to a series of terrible business decisions and an industry bubble burst, they went bankrupt and their best talent was poached by their surviving rival. They are basically the WCW to Funimation's WWE or the Sega to Funimation's ... Nintendo. ADV was best known for licensing, distributing, and dubbing Evangelion, Full Metal Panic, Elfen Lied, Robotech, and Welcome to the NHK. Unfortunately they also dubbed a LOT of shit titles and chose some real stinkers for their cable Anime Network and Comcast On-Demand selection.

ADV believed that they should only show the first couple episodes of good shows and show all episodes of their worst shows. That way fans would have to buy the DVDs for the good series and might watch episodes of the shows they would never buy on DVD. This strategy has a HUGE flaw. If your network is mostly filled with horrendous titles like Ikki Tousen, Moonphase, Magical Shopping District, and fucking Jungle de Ikou, then viewers are going to turn the TV off and never come back. When a Japanese studio forces Funimation to dub some series that flopped in Japan in order to recoup their domestic losses, Funi will quickly banish those series to cheap DVD without ceremony and pray that nobody finds them. ADV on the other hand would hold up those abortions for all the world to see! ADV basically said, "you bastards want to watch some free anime? We'll make sure you regret every second of it!" Consider that ADV wasn't even forced by the Japanese to license their worst show Jungle de Ikou. ADV voluntarily bought the rights from Media Blasters because their flagship network simply NEEDED a show that can melt eyeballs with its wretchedness!

The final thing you need to know about ADV is their...unique approach to dubbing. ADV really didn't believe in following the original Japanese text and was often quite liberal with their translations. This could help with comedy series where the original Japanese joke might not translate well, but it often screwed up their dramas. Every Eva fanboy can tell you that ADV's Evangelion translation omitted vital plot points, explained some things poorly compared to the Japanese text, and fundamentally misunderstood other points. Their translation of Elfen Lied also suffers from these problems. One of the key culprits of this attitude towards translation was Steven Foster. Attitudes online tend to be quite negative towards Mr. Foster, but he was very talented at spoofing terrible series with joke dubs whenever ADV gave him the freedom to do so.

Plot:

Ghost Stories is a highly formulaic series about grade schoolers that fight a new ghost in each episode that is based off a Japanese urban legend or myth. The series was intended to be frightening fun for small children that introduces them to classic scary stories. The problem is that it isn't remotely scary or creepy, is WAY too repetitive, and none of the characters are likeable or memorable. The characters spend the first 1/3 of every episode denying that something clearly supernatural is supernatural. When they finally decide they are facing a ghost, the main character Satsuki gets out her dead mother's ghost journal and looks up how to defeat the ghost. They defeat the ghost and everything ends happily. That is the summary of EVERY SINGLE EPISODE! The original series is also notable for completely unnecessary and unwanted fanservice. These are supposed to be kids in elementary school and yet the anime has panty flashes every 5 seconds and a closing theme song called "Sexy Sexy". That's just fucked up!

Steven Foster of ADV decided to change the characters and actually give them traits that differentiate them. One is a Jewish nerd, one is a self righteous evangelical, one is absurdly perverted, etc. The Foster dub is filled with ridiculous pop culture references and constant insults directed at the show Lost, the band Creed, Toby Keith, and Christian Slater's acting.

Be warned that the Foster dub is also wildly offensive and irreverent with frequent gay jokes and casual racist jokes. This was 2005 and this series serves as a kind of bizarre time capsule of that period and what was acceptable then. America was a lot less angry and bitterly divided. As a result, people weren't as sensitive and there wasn't the same pressure to be "PC". We all casually hated the douche in the White House in 2005, but he was an establishment dick not so different from our previous 4 asshole presidents. The hate against Obama after 2008 was completely unique and so strong that the backlash transformed the far right from a shadow of a joke into a serious political power. Now Hollywood is cracking down hard on hurtful jokes and trying to avoid association with the new Right. Pulling a Foster and constantly using the words "retard", "faggot", and "nigga" with reckless abandon was highly frowned upon then too, but today that shit simply wouldn't fly. NO ONE would greenlight such a show with a PG rating when even South Park usually bleeps or avoids those words in 2016. It isn't the most clever dub, but it is so outlandish and shockingly tasteless that you kind of have to laugh.

Art:

The art is by Studio Dean and as you would expect it is at least passable. It isn't the prettiest series ever and doesn't have breathtaking visuals, but this thing clearly had a decent budget behind it. I'm sure the net loss in Japan was significant after this shit bombed!

Sound:

The soundtrack is Kaoru Wada pretty much rehashing his work from the Inuyasha soundtrack. While I really love his work in that setting, it feels completely out of place in this spooky children's series. The same soundtrack can be good for 1 anime and a complete miss if given to another. This feels as out of place as pairing Pokemon with the band Disturbed. I already mentioned the wildly inappropriate use of "Sexy Sexy" and the opening theme while less pedophilic is still completely out of place.

Overall:

This is not a good anime. This isn't the most clever writing for a dub. This absolutely IS something that you should see though. This shit is absolutely hilarious and provides a window into the state of dubbing during the anime boom years in the US. This was when studios could buy terrible anime and treat the dub like a complete joke because they were so flush with money. They were simply that confident in people buying anime in huge amounts. I miss those days sometimes. I really do.

First off let me say that I am a fan of Ghost Hunt which is in many ways very similar to Ghost Stories. However after having seen both series I have to say that Ghost Hunt is clearly the better of the two. Having said that Ghost Stories is a slightly underrated series that probably does deserve a bit more recognition.

Story:

Unlike Ghost Hunt, Ghost Stories is completely episodic and all but the first and last episodes can be watched in any order and still work. There is not anything really wrong with the story but it is predictable and prone to cliche use. There are ... hardly any twists and near the end it almost seemed like the writers were running out of ideas. However the stories are fairly enjoyable and some of them are genuinely creepy (I personally liked the Piano ghost episode). All in all, the story doesn't do anything more than it needs to. It doesn't leave any large plot holes and explains most things at some point or another. It does have one thing over Ghost Hunt in that Ghost Stories actually has a relatively satisfying ending.

Art:

This anime was made around the turn of the century so the art is a little old but its still fun to look at and most of the character designs are well done (particularly the female ones). The ghosts are also animated pretty well and some of them get really creative (like the broadcast ghost that is actually covered in tv static). The backgrounds were kind of bland and empty for the most part but I wont fault the series much for that since it does a good job of focusing the audience's attention where it needs to be.

Sound:

The opening and closing themes were forgettable, some of the sound effects seemed delayed or out of place (I swear at one point they use a star wars laser blast sound effect when a ghost is coming out of a TV). Mind you neither the music or the sound effects are actually bad, they just aren't good either. Voice acting is a mixed bag though all of the voice actors and actresses do at least a decent job. Of particular note is Nakao Ryusei who voices the demon/cat who is a reoccurring character, his voice is instantly recognizable to anyone who watches the japanese version of Bleach as he uses the Kurotsuchi Mayuri voice for this character as well. Nakao is easily the best voice actor in this show but the main character also does a fine job and really helps make Satsuki believable.

Character:

I have to give Ghost Stories credit, most of the main characters are reasonably believable. Its important to point out that they are all Elementary School kids (most in the 5th or 6th year). The characters are designed well and the main character, Satsuki is probably one of the most believable anime characters I have seen in a long time. She is moody but likable and doesn't act overly brave but isn't a coward either. She is a normal kid and the writing for her character does a good job presenting her that way. Unfortunately most of the characters are extremely shallow. We do get some decent backstory for Satsuki that works its way into the plot at various points, but we hardly learn anything about any of the other characters. I know the other characters are not really vital but without a backstory they come off kind shallow and at some times their behavior is inconsistent (the comic relief character switches from brave to cowardly in different episodes). The character of Momoko (while wonderful eyecandy) is also kind of bland.

Enjoyment:

When I started watching this show I thought it was for kids but now having finished it I am not sure. The blood and violence are a bit toned down but there is still a fair amount of blood and death (then again Japanese children are more advanced apparently). There is also a running gag where Hajime keeps seeing Satsuki's underwear but this is done more as a kid trying to tease a girl rather than with a sense of perversion (the gag also kind of disappears later on). I have to say that overall I did enjoy watching Ghost Stories. The series did manage to hold my interest all the way through which is more than can be said for other animes.

Overall:

If you like Ghost Hunt then I would recommend seeing this, its not nearly as good as Ghost Hunt but its not bad either. If you havn't seen Ghost Hunt then you need to watch it or I am calling Jigoku Shojo. Seriously though, Ghost Stories is a slightly underrated anime that at least deserves a look.

6 out of 10

This is one of those shows that is really hard to talk about, especially when I talk about the dub. I normally like when the dub is at least close to the original storyline and anyone who has heard of this show would know that it isn’t the case here. There are three different versions as I have heard about this show; the Sub of course, and then two different dubs even if I have only been able to see one. The dub that I’m going to be talking about is the ADV version and not the rumored Animax version. Most of the character personalities ... and such will be from the dub as well.

So starting out with the characters, there is really only One way to explain them, archetypes (Well, and stereotypical but I use that word way to often so trying to stop using it for the most part). We start out with are rather basic main character Satsuki who had just moved into a new town with her father and little brother Keiichirou. The town is special as her parents had met and grew up in that town before. On her and her brother’s first day, their cat runs into the old abandoned school and they run in after, meeting a couple other people along the way. When they do, she finds her mother’s old Ghost Journal and their adventure begins. I have no idea why the creators of this show thought it would be a good idea to make Satsuki wear short dresses for pretty much all of the shows as it never fails that her panties will be seen. You got to remember, these are young elementary students, not even high schoolers and yet they still pull perverted cracks about what color her panties are. Again, overall she is pretty basic.

Her brother Keiichirou is a little bit of a crybaby but I don’t really blame him. He is pretty much the baby of the group as he is just a first grader. He is the typical little boy who is shy and pretty new. In the dub they make it so that he is a bit special as there are times where you can only hear this incomprehensible babble coming from his mouth. Again, there really isn’t much to say on him.

The next character we should talk about it Hajime Aoyama and he is more over a perverted kid about the same age as Satsuki. He lives next door to Satsuki and the first thing we ever see him talk about is her panties after she by accident flashes him without knowing it. I actually do think he and her would make a cute couple if this was more of a slice of life instead of a supernatural show as the two just seem to work really well together.

Reo… or Leo as they pronounce it in the dub is a really big believer in the paranormal. He is always talking about he is a respected Paranormal researcher and yet you can tell he is just full of himself. A running gag in the dub is that he is Jewish which I can understand why they decided to make him that for a crazy dub as this. He has rather large glasses and the odd lips that seem to be over exaggerated.

Then there is Momoko, who is pretty much a strange mix. I tried really hard to love her character in how she isn’t normally scared by even the most dangerous of situations but I really can’t. Just something about the dub in the fact they made her a devout Christian gets on my nerves. It’s not me being sensitive to the stereotype they put for her, It’s just me being really annoyed. I grew up Lutheran in a Christian town but I’m Wiccan now. I normally wear a Pentagram around my neck and have never taken it off since I first got it about 2 years ago but because of this, there have been times I have been called a satanic being that needs to be saved or just in general called out because of it. There was even a time in which I was working as a cashier and a lady ran out of the store yelling ‘NOPE! EVIL!’ when I was trying to check her out. I am not making this up, it’s really true so when they have a character in a show who’s whole purpose in it is to be a girl that sort of forces the religion down your throat, I tend to want to punch the screen.

The Animation is pretty sub par. I do like how the 3D blends in so much with the drawn aspect but that’s the only thing that really stands out. It’s kind of cute when it wants to be, but then can go down hill pretty fast, especially during the movement. I can say that the ghosts look haunting though, and I think most of them were created based on the Japanese ghost stories most grew up with. I can see a couple of them from other games and anime that are based in the supernatural so I know the designs are not really that creative. In fact the characters are not really all that creative too.

The voices of the dub actually are very close to the Japanese voices even if the script is no where near the actual translation. There are a lot of great voice actors on this project like Monica Rial, Chris Patton, and Greg Ayres to name a few and they do a amazing job in doing the characters. You can tell how much fun they were having with the show. When I did this review before, I hated that they changed the story so much but now that I am older and better at reviewing, I can understand why they did so and it doesn’t bother me all that much anymore. I still do want to see a ‘normal’ dub of this show at some point though. There were times within this dub that made me laugh but then the rest seemed like they were trying to cram as much comedy in as they could no matter where it was going to go. Monica Rial did do an amazing job of Momoko even if I don’t like the religious talk.

The series was also translated into English by Animax and I hear that it stay’s true to the original story. It was sent out under the name Ghosts at School. If anyone has any idea where I can see this version, please let me know.

To be fair to this show, it’s not as bad as what I thought it was and the comedy may not be for everyone but it can be a little enjoyable if this is your comedy. Big warning that if you do watch this, it has a lot of swear words, sexual jokes, racist remarks, and the like.

First things first, Ghost Stories is completely unwatchable in its Japanese version. Its like a bad rip off of Scooby-Doo. It came as no surprise that ADV decided to dub the show as a parody and not a straight dub, since I doubt they would’ve had any sales if they decided to do a serious dub. They knew the show was crap and just went with it.

The results seem to be hit or miss. The VA’s for the most part are up to the task and have decent comedic timing. I would say that Chris Patton and Greg Ayers do the best job at bringing ... the laughs. That said, the script is either hilarious or awkwardly unfunny. If you stick to the end of the show, the jokes start picking up and the laughs are more common. Probably midway thru the series is when I felt they had really hit their stride in the writing department.

One thing I didn’t understand is why they chose to censor foul language in the beginning of the series, and then stopped about half way thru. The censoring annoyed me; if you’re going to do a parody, and an adult one at that, why would you censor it? It seems pointless. Luckily the “bleeps” go away after a while.

Overall I would recommend this to anime fans that have a good awareness of modern – and not so modern – pop culture, because the cultural references abound in this dub.

This review is based on the English dub, which is infamous for adding a lot of child-inappropriate humor to the kid's series. It does increase the enjoyment, but it doesn't transform this into a masterpiece.

The story is fully episodic, with a new ghost each episode. Each episode mostly follows the same pattern of: random background characters encounter ghost and scream; scene cuts away and presumably something bad happened to them; the main characters either seek out the ghost, or the ghost endangers one of the characters, and the rest come to their aid; the heroes look up how to deal with the ghost in mom's ... diary, which conveniently has solutions for most of the ghosts. Occasionally, cat steps in to help. Ghost is sealed away just as soon as one or more characters are about to be doomed. The nature of each ghost is different and adds some variety to the story.

The main criticism I have is that the solutions for most episodes mostly comes down to the same thing, reciting some words from the book. The anime Mononoke had a way more interesting solution.

The five kids all share the protagonist role, with characters switching off the role of damsel in distress in each episode.

The anime does include some fan-service, despite the story being written for children. I guess this is just Japan being Japan.

The art and sound are not bad considering the age, but they are definitely very dated and not as smooth as anything modern. There is a lot of running sequences where it cycles through 2 or 3 frames, but that's kind of par for a TV program. The OT and ET are catchy despite not sounding that good.

I have seen a few clips of the dub online and read a few things about this anime and I feel like it was over hyped. Ya the dubbed has funny voice lines and stuff but aside from that the "horror" aspect of it if pretty dull and is lacking, As soon as the characters get into trouble with a ghost/spirit they instantly solve it and then that seems to keep repeating though the entire episodes.

Overall it's pretty funny but dull, there was potential but I feel as if it was lost from how quickly the case gets solved though the episodes.

This is a 'scooby-doo' type story, quite bland and nothing out of the ordinary. And yet, I really enjoyed this anime. This is of the few animes I watched in DUB (There is no point in watching this if you do not watch in dub btw) Whether it's how unhinged, crazy or the questionable jokes and humour, I very much watched the whole series, happily. Although, I understand that I most likely will not get the humour of a culture I dont belong to, sometimes all the PERVERTED jokes in Japanese shows (mainly talking about anime) is just too much- I actually surprisingly really ... liked the western humour and it was a good break from the perverted jokes. There are some perverted jokes in this anime (as you would expect) but some are quite humorous! Maybe I should watch DUB more? Ik that this is one of it's kind DUB. I which more dubs like this would be made. Though, doubt the show would actually be allowed. Honestly, us new generations are too sensitive, like it's just satire..


It's a short show and is a good break from all the INTENSEEE shounen which is sometimes too much for me to handle 😅 Ultimately this is a great light-hearted show and I'd recommend it just for the fun of it.
For some, this won't be their type of humour, but I really related to some of the jokes. Yes, in some parts the story can get boring but for I personally found it worth it!

If anyone is wondering, I heard another unhinged anime DUB is Urusei Yatsura. Dubbed by BBC, haven't really heard many Brits DUB any anime. Also, I think the mangaka is the same as Inuyasha. Any Inuyasha fans....No, just me?

I APOLOGISE FOR ANY GRAMMATICAL ERRORS AND WHATNOT! This is my first review and I would reread it, but I accidentally closed my tab and had to write this all over again, I'm tired 😫 .

THANK YOU FOR READING <3

Don't watch the sub, don't even bother, it's not worth it. Sub is 2/10. It has 0 redeeming qualities. Mediocre art, mediocre writing, mediocre sound design, mediocre everything.

However, the dub is a different story. This dub is a masterpiece. I didn't know it was possible for a bit of script changing to make a boring intolerable anime into something I'm willing to watch if just for the jokes alone.

Though, that's about it really. The jokes are really good. The dub changes the characters by giving them outright ridiculous character traits, which I respect since it does make everything more interesting, but the story still doesn't ... change, so with that said, if you want an anime to laugh at, this will probably make you laugh, but if you're looking for anything else, this isn't for you.

Satsuki Miyanoshita has just moved with her father and little brother to a new town in order to deal with the death of her beloved mother. She’s a very strong little girl who has taken over many of her mother’s chores and provides endless emotional support for her much more frail little brother, Keiichiro. On her first day at her new school, she catches Keiichiro trying to sneak their cat into class with him. Little Kaya bolts from them, leading them all the way to the campus’s abandoned old school house, where they, two of her classmates, and an older girl looking ... for her hat get locked in together.

In their struggle to escape the haunted halls of this eerie Elementary School, they’re attacked by several spirits, including an angry rampaging demon named Omanujaku. But before he’s able to lay a satanic smackdown on them, Satsuki finds an old notebook that was written by her deceased mother, and it tells him how to bind Omanujaku’s spirit for good... Inside of their cat! Thus their new school life begins with a possessed talking cat, a menagerie of monsters who’ve just had their resting place disturbed, and a notebook that mysteriously ties their late mother to the recently released spirits that are now haunting the town. Can Satsuki, Keiichiro and their new friends finish what her mother started... Or will they be joining her sooner than they think?

I’ve already spoken in detail about Studio Pierrot back in my Twelve Kingdoms review, so I won’t bore you with those details again... I did mention that they’ve done some impressive looking work, but sadly, Ghost Stories is not one of them. It’s not the most poorly animated show I’ve ever seen, but it’s by far one of the cheapest. This is more evident in the characters than it is in the often impressive backgrounds, but the date it came out is showcased in painfully blatant ways. The dawn of the new millennium was an awkward time for a lot of animation studios, and Pierrot is no exception.

Movement in this series is minimal, and what movement it does feature is often stiff and jumpy. That’s not to say it never impresses, because there are several moments that clearly had more money poured into them than others, and a lot of those moments involve the ghosts and demons that keep coming back for each episode. But it’s biggest enemy by far is the pause button. The characters aren’t very well drawn, and there are far too many moments that a single freeze-frame will result in an image that’s far below what you might call professional standards. It’s not as noticeable when they’re moving, but the derpy faces, weird outlines, constant still frames, and awkward jerky movements make Ghost Stories look less like an actual anime and more like a cheap bootleg of said anime.

The music is better, to be sure, but it’s still about average fair for this kind of series. It does it’s job well, hitting whatever notes it needs to between standard slice of life whimsy, creepy strings underlying tension and suspense, and big dramatic stings for the bigger payoffs. It’s pretty good in general, but there’s nothing about it that’s really standout or memorable. Which is kind of the point, anyway. The opening is a lot more fun, and while I wouldn’t insist upon watching it all the way through every time, as it’s plagued by the show’s animation woes, Grow Up is still a pretty damn catchy song by Hysteric Blue, and the video at least manages to keep pace with it. The ending theme, on the other hand... Well, it’s not bad, and it fits the show tonally, I still find it really odd that a song called Sexy Sexy would be attached to a show who’s cast is dominated by elementary school children.

So, when this show was airing in Japan, it was released to an underwhelming, mediocre reception. In short, it was a huge flop, to the point that they weren’t even able to go 26 episodes... They had to cut off early, officially ending the series with episode 20. They lost so much money on it than when ADV Films showed an interest in dubbing it for the states... Because, let’s face it, ADV in it’s prime would dub pretty much anything... Aniplex gave them a simple mandate; Do whatever the hell you want with it. They gave ADV complete creative control, with the only limits being that they couldn’t change the character’s names too much and the ghost’s backstories(Most of which were tied directly to Japanese mythology) had to remain intact. They had already given up on making a profit off of this series, and wanted nothing more than to minimize the damage it had caused to them, and they had hopes that a popular American release could help to recoup their losses.

ADV handed this project to Steven Foster, who’s recently become notorious for his awful writing and complete lack of respect for a lot of the material he’s been given. In particular, the rampant backlash that emerged from his nigh-unlistenable Clannad dub has followed him like an angry spirit all the way to his sour grape flavored exit from the dub directing business. While he’s always had a penchant for writing characters unfaithfully and making them as hateful and offensive as possible, with no understanding whatsoever about how real humans talk to each other, and that certainly sounds like a description of the Ghost stories dub... You really can’t blame him for this one. He may have laid down a few guidelines, but for the most part, he told the actors in his cast to ad-lib their lines and make it as funny and offensive as possible. How’d they do?

Well, as this is intended to be a comedic dub, I guess I should judge it from that perspective. There are generally three categories that the humor in this show falls into. The first category is called Pop Culture References. There are tons of them in this dub, and the names they drop range from high profile Hollywood celebrities to political figures to... Well, even the voice actors themselves, in some cases. Unfortunately, very few of these references are actually funny, and they’re pretty much thrown out at random without any regard for whether or not it’s called for or makes any sense. It’s kind of like watching a version of Family Guy, except that instead of using the references to set up cut-away gags, the references just sort of linger there, leaving the viewer to wonder what the point of them was. They can also be incredibly dated, as they throw out several references to Christian Slater’s career being dead, and they even make a joke about Supermarket Sweep at one point... Which was a dated reference even then!

The second category is the offensive humor, and no, nothing is sacred here. Every race is insulted in some way throughout the twenty episode run, and every religion takes just as hard a shot. Racial stereotypes are the norm here, and to make matters worse, they’re the same tired stereotypes you’ve heard before. Black people are violent rapists, Latinos are lazy, Asian people all look the same... It’s like they all took a class called “Intro to racism” before going to work. And yeah, it’s oddly nonsensical for this cast of Asian characters to insult the Asian race, but you could say it was done for the sake of irony... If it wasn’t for the fact that an anti-Asian joke also appeared in High school of the Dead, and also for the fact that white people are troublingly untouched in this series, celebrity references aside. Homosexuality is also viciously mocked, and while the racism and homophobia wouldn’t be as much of a problem if it was funny... It’s not, it just sounds forced.

The final category is bit more difficult to define, but it’s basically all of the plot and character relevant material, and thank God, this part of the show is much more funny than the other two categories. Most of the characters were rewritten for this dub, and the interactions between them and their retooled personalities are where the most effective humor is truly derived. The strong and supportive Satuski has been turned into a spunky, manipulative girl who’s obsessed with her physical appearance and constantly mocks her younger brother, who’s been transformed into a mentally challenged mush-mouth. Hajime has been transformed into a smart-ass ladies man, his best friend Leo has been turned into a penny-pinching Jewish boy with an inferiority complex, and Momoko... The psychic of the group who was only there to look pretty and occasionally channel the soul of Satsuki’s mother... Has been transformed into a bible-thumping extremist christian. The dynamic that these characters have, and the jokes that flow between them, are what really makes this dub as hilarious as it’s been hyped up to be.

So if the humor in this show is only funny about a third of the time, then why am I recommending it over the sub? Because the acting is fan-freaking-tastic. You can say whatever you want about Steven Foster’s writing abilities... And you totally should, because he deserves every word of criticism he gets... But when it comes to casting, the man was a genius. He’s always had a talented pool of actors working under him, and even in his most poorly written projects, you could always count on the dub being, at the very least, well acted. The voice actors attached to this show were clearly refreshed and inspired by the rare opportunity to go nuts and make up their own dialogue, because the energy and enthusiasm that went into their performances is astounding.

The main cast is great, but of course they are... When you have a cast consisting of Hilary Haag, Monica Rial, Greg Ayres, Chris Patton, and Christine Auten, OF COURSE you’re going to have a great sounding dub. Throw in professional comedian Rob Mungle, and it becomes painfully obvious how Aniplex was able to make their money back. All six of these people, on their own, are used to being the stars of their dubs, and they’re all together here. And it’s not just them, every single supporting actor that shows up, no matter, how much screen time they get, is just as good... With the exception of Blake Shepherd, of course, but his role is so blissfully ironic that it’s more than excusable.

Even in a dub that’s universally well-acted, I still have to give special props to possible human Mimic Brittney Karbowski, who brings a quiet animal-loving girl from Satsuki’s class and turns her into a creepy weirdo with bizarre, terrifying mood swings. I’ve raved about her before, and it’s easy to see why she’s currently one of the most in-demand voice actresses. Oh, and before move on, one more note about the dub... It’s really weird about it’s use of foul language. In the first few volumes, there was barely any F-bombs or S-bombs, and they relied on silly phrases like “fizzity-uck” instead. Then they spent a few volumes bleep-swearing, before finally moving on to actual cursing in the final volume. I mean, the change-over literally took place in the space of a single episode, which contained a censored shit and an uncensored fuck. Which is really weird. Either way, fizzity-uck is now one of my favorite words.

Now, you may be wondering... Why did I spend so much time talking about the dub? Well, it’s because the dub is really the only interesting thing about this series. And I’m not exaggerating, either. There’s a good reason this show was such a huge disappointment for the company that put it out, and if it wasn’t for the English dub, it probably would have been forgotten by everyone within a year of it’s final episode. I’ve seen plenty of ‘monster/ghost of the week’ type anime, and with the dub turned off, this is by far the most generic, uninspired one I’ve come across yet. The characters have little to no personality and absolutely no development, aside from the abrupt development that Omanujaku goes through towards the end. Every episode follows the same pacing and structure, even in the case of the episodes that DON’T involve the old school house.

Does that mean it was awful? No... At least, I don’t think so. It’s coherent, consistent, and it’s not the worst waste of time if you like the genre. But even then, it really doesn’t do anything that more successful titles haven’t done a lot better. you’d have to be really patient with it in order to not consider it boring, which would be fine if it was deep or profound enough to deserve that patience. Sadly, it isn’t. And it doesn’t even really make a good children’s show, what with the occasional blood and frequent panty shots that it features... At least not for American children.

Ghost Stories was originally available from ADV Films, who were releasing it on individual four-episode DVDs, but following it’s crash a few years ago, the title was picked up by Discotek media, who released it on a much cheaper thin-pack format. You can find it on their website for 34.95, or on amazon.com for just 29.99. You can also watch the entire series for free on youtube, but then again, there’s no telling when a sudden copyright claim will result in it being taken down. The original novels by Toru Tsunemitsu are not available stateside.

Ghost Stories has a really strange production history, which is mostly due to some very unique circumstances that have never happened before and will probably never happen again. An all-around underachiever in it’s original context, the only really interesting thing about it is it’s English dub, which is the only reason that it still retains any hint of relevancy in today’s market. Unfortunately, that dub is remarkably immature, sporting the lowest of the lowbrow, and while it may be worth a few good chuckles now and then, it can only truly win the hearts of that lowest-common-denominator fanbase that’s been keeping Family Guy alive since it’s season 4 revival. Yes, I know it was almost entirely ad-libbed, and there’s a certain novelty to hearing our favorite voice actors cut loose and leave it all on the table, but the end result is hit-or-miss at best. I don’t usually take the English dub into account when deciding on a final score for a review, but in this case, I don’t think I really have a choice in the matter. I give Ghost Stories a 5/10.

NOTE: This is a review of the dub (which is an important distinction to make)

Overall - 5:
The dub of ghost stories is an officially licensed abridge series, and as far as abridge series go it's honestly not that great.

A particular episode might be great, and another might not be. Also because it's officially licensed you won't have some of the things seen in other abridged series (like adding in pictures or big plot changes).

Story - 6:
I'm counting the humor to be part of this, otherwise this would be a lot lower.

The Story is simple and episodic, and very predictable. It honestly sucks. The humor on ... the other hand is the draw of the anime. Not all the jokes are great, they name drop far too many celebrities, but some of the jokes really nail it. I'm particularly fond of the rabbit episode.

Art - 2:
The art and effects are bad and look very aged, but that doesn't matter a whole lot when it come to the enjoyment of it.

Sound - 2:
The OST sucks and the quality of the sound effects and some of the characters is pretty bad (not sure I saw it in the highest quality possible). This doesn't take away from the enjoyment too much because you can hear what people are saying and the sound effects get the point across.

Character - 7:
The cat was annoying, and it was frustration how almost every episode had the characters forgetting about some obvious solution to their problems (the book).

The way the characters were handled worked quite well. It brought some interesting dynamics to the humor.

Enjoyment - 7:
Some parts had me laughing, even in the worst episodes there was always a line or two that worked. Like I said before it's not the best, but I did enjoy it enough to warrant a 7.

Ghost Stories is set up on a formula it proudly steals from Scooby-Doo where a group of children are brought together by their passion for solving paranormal mysteries but this isn't the only show it steals from as the main female protagonist is clearly a rip off of Sabrina the Teenage Witch and as it has probably become apparent this show lives or dies on its ability to steal from the shows that came before. In fact, the only character that doesn't feel like a rip off is the character that is a Born Again Christian (Momoko) who provides the single point of stability for ... the blatant plagiarism that is the other characters and is usually the most level headed of the group contributing the most to solving these paranormal mysteries.

The main antagonist of the show the cat (yes, you heard me right, the cat) is another blatant rip off of Sebastian from (again) Sabrina the Teenage Witch who is a blatant homosexual stereotype that's outdated and distasteful even for its time.

By the fourth episode it became apparent to me there was an unusual amount of panty shots of the lead female protagonist which makes me question what bloody perverts animated this show, already the bar has been set pretty low and this wasn't even the worst of it to come.

On the other end of the spectrum, the male protagonist is a misogynistic and disgusting representation of males that consistently sexualises the female cast and isn't scared of abusing them either.

It's a shame that this Anime is filled with such vile themes since the animation and sound design is exceptional that it puts most modern animation to shame and it makes me wonder why so much talent was wasted on this.

The show somewhat redeems itself since all the mysteries are solved through Christian methods such as drawing a cross on the floor of a cursed room or putting holy water into a jar that's been blessed by God, thankful the show has a character that can perform such rituals and proudly display Christianity in a positive light in Anime for once (of course with very little help from the Jewish character who appears useless).

I'd like to point out that despite the seemingly innocent (or deceptive) opening the ending song is called "Sexy Sexy" which is a celebration of objectifying women, I repeat, a celebration of objectifying women... Disgusting...

The show continues to rip off the Japanese film Ringu (The Ring) which it even blatantly points out several times as the main cast literally say "How many times have we done this movie" almost bragging that it could get away with it!

Ultimately this show is amazing and I don't think I'd be capable of living if the show didn't present me with its themes, the Christianity presented possibly saved me from abusing drugs and absolving me from my sex addiction and if not for Momoko I may have completely lost myself.

I'm going to have to give this one a 6/10 maybe a close 7 since this show is a useful tool to re-evaluate one's life and save themselves through the light that is Christianity. I hope everybody who reads this review can accept their past and continue to find faith in God and accept Jesus as their saviour.

The dub is the only good thing about this anime and it´s just a f***ckin masterpiece. I really enjoyed what they did with the dub, the original is meh.
the characters are bland, the stories as well. It´s just overall average and I believe it had potential, hence the score is not lower.

I only recommend watching the dub, but just saying the dub is not PG. SO be aware of that if you are sensitive to dark, dirty humor with religious jokes, it might not be for you.

10/10 would watch again

again, only the dub is good
everything else is meh.

Yeah, you know the deal, it's infamous, everyone's talked about how much of an anomaly this is in English dubbing, everyone knows the original sucked and everyone knows that the English dub was just a piss take. With that being said, I felt conflicting feelings watching this; obviously, the original story is barely intact, which doesn't matter because it's entirely uninteresting in the first place, so there isn't much to say in that field. What people really come to this for is the seemingly improvised comedy performed by the English voice actors upon being given as much liberty as possible with the script. It's the ... only reason anyone remembers it and surely the only reason I'm writing this review. But what I think about the context of the comedy and what the comedy actually is are two pretty different things, I guess. There's a chance that most people have only seen the 'Ghost Stories' dub in the form of some highlight reel on YouTube, and through watching those, the rather repetitive running gags become extremely apparent. That one kid is Jewish and that one girl is extremely Christian, that one kid babbles like a baby all the time, et cetera. For me, the appeal of the dub isn't the countless edgy jokes they insert into the script -- those all too often overdo it, in my opinion. What I really liked was the more "subtle" experience of watching everything in between. Nobody cares about what they're doing and that often leads to some tiny moments in the awkward going-through-the-motions that really make it for me. The way "Come on, jump! ... I SAID JUMP" is delivered will always be funnier than "Think of a big black man chasing you!" or the loads of fairly annoying fourth-wall breaking they rely on a large chunk of the time. Those juicy little moments that arise, that actually feel somewhat improvised and straddle the line between trying to be funny and just having fun/not caring, are really what I like about it. I guess it just depends on which jokes feel forced or not, but there are plenty of things I found funny about it while I was watching through the whole thing, and the fact that it even happened was a spectacle. The pacing is really what makes it for me. It excels when it eschews ordinary pacing. The good parts are almost surreal at times; I enjoy the parts that feel really disjointed and nonsensical much more than the parts that feel more like they're trying to pull off an edgy joke. Those parts really show its age and weigh it down, and I'd rather do away with the repetitive gags and attempts at reference-based commentary and go with what actually feels like an intentionally half-assed and silly dub. Like I said, it's funnier to say "The 'V' on my sweater stands for 'Very Big Deal', but that's beside the point!" than to break the fourth wall for the nth time or say something about Republicans. Regardless, I'm glad it exists.

I liked Ghost Stories more than I thought I would. The humor is good (despite some jokes that were in bad taste about being mentally handicapped or gay) and some scenes are legitimately spoopy. That being said, I lost interest roughly halfway through. I got tired of the show’s episodic nature. A ghost shows up and is defeated in every episode with nothing ever changing. This made it feel predictable and formulaic. A show having a monster-of-the-week format isn’t inherently a bad thing, but it has to offer an interesting premise, likeable characters, etc. to keep the audience invested that Ghost Stories didn’t have. The ... show isn’t bad, it’s actually very good, but I felt like I had seen all it had to offer.

What can I say about this series, specifically the dub, that folks haven’t already repeated ad nauseum? Well from watching the full series and not watching clips, I did sort of realize a few things which was the comedy mostly still holds up in context of the series but instead of the full blown laughter out of context snippets might illicit, it’s a lot more slight chuckles and consistent character work. There is a consistency to the tone the dub has that feels more like a horror comedy than a parody. The animation for the series is actually also fairly good for the time as ... well. Major issues might just be that this thing is incredibly dated in terms of culture and characters and the comedy is still so much funnier when isolated outside the larger narrative of the series. Still maybe worth a watch but by no means mandatory viewing, especially for those familiar with compilations on YouTube.

Ghost Stories is a run-of-the-mill anime series by YuYu Hakusho/Bleach director Noriyuki Abe. Based on a popular novel series, it follows a quintet of school friends who discover their school, and hometown, are a focal point for a variety of ghosts, demons and other spirits. Satuski, who recently moved to town with her younger brother and widower father, discovers that her deceased mother was a spiritualist who devoted much of her life to sealing away spirits. Along with her next door neighbor Hajime, nerdy Leo and psychic classmate Momoko, they try to protect the town from these various spirits, sometimes helped and sometimes hindered by ... a demonic spirit that has been "sealed" inside their beloved family cat.

Despite its reputation as a terrible show, the original Ghost Stories (at least based on the random selection of episodes I sampled) really isn't that bad. Its major sins are those common to children's entertainment: one-note characters, formulaic plots, unimaginative writing. The high points are some clever animation and interesting creature/spirit ideas which make the show watchable enough in its original form. The original novels heavily influenced the development of modern J-Horror, which is easier to appreciate the more familiar you are with the genre. That said, while some episodes revolve around Japan-specific legends like the Hanako (the toilet ghost) or Datsueba (a spirit-ferrying demon) which are presented in kid-friendly form, others are recognizable enough horror archetypes (of course there's a killer doll episode with all the expected tropes) that require no cultural context. The show rarely hits any deep themes or genuinely poignant notes, but neither is it terrible; I imagine viewers in the target audience would find it entertaining enough, in the way that American kids of my generation enjoyed Goosebumps and Are You Afraid of the Dark? despite (or because of) their predictability.

While internet lore claims otherwise, Ghost Stories was fairly popular in Japan (enough to run in syndication for years) and received a fairly wide international release. In the United States, it was licensed by ADV who turned it over to Stephen Foster, a dubbing director notorious for loose, jokey adaptations of various series. The result was a berserk gag dub which features a collection of familiar Texas voice actors (Hilary Haag, Monica Rial, Chris Patton, Greg Ayres, etc.) essentially riffing on whatever they felt like. Characters are wildly reimagined: Satsuki is a short-tempered bitch, Hajime is a horny creep, and Momoko becomes a born again Christian who enjoys needling other characters with wild insults. Episodes keep the basic plots but change details in berserk ways: a routine story about a lonely girl who revives her dead pet rabbit becomes the weird tale of an adolescent psychopath whose bunny fixation goes beyond petting. The humor ranges from mid-2000s pop culture jokes, slams on George Bush and the Republican Party, sexual and toilet humor and "ironically" bigoted shock humor targeting minority groups (Leo is Jewish in the dub and frequently insulted by Monoko). It's a truly weird experience; some jokes are side-splittingly funny, others are mind-blowingly offensive, and the viewer is amazed at how much craziness ADV got away with.

I suppose it's hard to recommend Ghost Stories in its original form because, while not awful, it's not good enough to seek out except as a curio or light kids filler. The dub on the other hand is a truly unique creation, for better or worse - but make sure your kids aren't in the room.

The dub, the reason why anyone pays attention to this show, is absolutely hilarious and has aged pretty well even if it is firmly grounded in mid-2000s Bush-era America. And the sense of humor is much less politically correct as jokes are slung among the main cast whose insult stereotypes are lesbian, pervert, jew, christian, and the intellectually disabled. Some fun quotes that come to mind, "Whatever, just fill the hole, hole-filler." and "I'm all alone, forgotten, like a black family in Bush America. *phone rings* And that must be FEMA, late of course." The funny quips and jabs at the quality of the show ... actually gave the main cast more character and personality. The rest of the show isn't totally awful, but very generic and doesn't progress much at all after the first few episodes in setting and the formula for the plot is the exact same for the run. so essentially if you're on the show's wavelength for the first episode, you can appreciate the rest of it, but know that the jokes are what make it, everything else is serviceable at best.

This is for the Dub. The Sub is not good at all.
The reason the Dub is good is because it is almost like an abridged version of the story.
The humor the team of the Dub brings is over the top, and it feels so out of place that school aged kids say the things they do in this series.
sexual innuendos and offensiv language is use a lot in the Dub. that's the reason the character and Enjoyment is so high.
The art isn't that good and the actual story isn't that good either.
So it is really only if you want to watch ... a comedy driven anime this will appeal to you.
The dub have 20 ep and it is especially the later half of them that are good and since the episodes doesn't really connect story wise you can just jump straight to them.

Quick take: I wanted to love this show. I really did. I liked the concept, I liked the characters right away, but as the show went on, the lack of development in almost every area became a sticking point.

Yes, a cult classic due to it's English dub. My original plan was to watch the English dub, have a few laughs and then once I had finished a few other series and forgotten the storyline, loop back around and watch the subbed version. However, I can see, even with the English dub, why this was not very popular. As a matter of fact, the show was ... so forgettable that I could've probably watched the sub right away and would have felt like I was watching a new show.

Even through the English dub, you get the sense that the story stalls time and time again and that plots and characters aren't properly fleshed out. Let's talk specifics. This is based on the English dub, but I believe they will carry over to the sub as well.

Let's talk about poor character development. We have a main character, whose story is a pivotal point in the series, appear so little, that we're treated to an ending completely devoid of emotion because of it. I believe that we're supposed to feel bad for him, even sad, but the lack of proper bond portrayed throughout the series between him and the other characters just makes it feel like we're watching a background character with a little too much detail. It's frustrating because at the beginning of the series, the character showed so much potential and over the first few episodes, seemed to be on the proper path to fully develop.

Yet, this sort of goes with the whole quality of the show. In the beginning I felt like there was serious effort. The concept was good, all of the characters seemed well on their way to development. After the first few episodes, I thought, " I don't see why this was unpopular." However as the show progressed, it seemed to become clear that the studio stopped caring. Plot holes are so quickly tied up that you're a little bit confused as to how they arrived at the conclusions. The show's episodes feel disjointed and they seem to ignore the overarching storyline much of the time.

You see, one of my biggest pet peeves is unrealized potential. I feel like Ghost Stories had the ability to be good, but never realized that. It was frustrating and upsetting because at the end of the day, I wanted to love this show, but just can't. The missed potential is just too much to overlook. Would recommend just to see what the English dub hype is about. The storyline is mediocre at best.

I'll be honest and say that I just watched for (and only for) the english dub, but in some points it was just bad (not good bad). Maybe because I'm not an US person and couldn't catch some references and cause sometimes I got invested in the story and the dub didn't just match the moment (specially the sad ones). Overall, I liked it very much, and even being really a short anime I guess I'll miss these characters a lot.
I recommend to watch at least once, but I'll put "mixed feelings" cause I KNOW some people would not like the jokes at all ... at the point they'll not just let pass.

(P.S I think I downloaded the eps in the wrong order cause I watched the special one before the final ep and didn't make sense at all. But even when I find that was just a special, still didn't make sense, so it's ok I guess LOL.)