Shinreigari

Many anime strive for a horror element and settle for the gore. Others try for the psychological approach and get lost in the relationships. This, however, is a shining star among them all.

Ghost Hound foregoes all the gore and heads straight for the downright creepy. The animation style, though soft and fairly unassuming, only enhances this creepy-factor once the ball starts rolling. Each episode title is taken straight from psychology texts, and exploits the given theme with finesse and underhanded tact.

Nothing is overdone. Everything is like a current flowing underground, or a train rumbling by only a mile away. You can't see it, but you can feel the presence. The atmosphere is set with an amazing score which seems to taunt all those soft and unassuming characters with the terror to come.

Only it isn't obvious.

Many anime try to shove "the horror of it all" down your throat, leading to some nausea and perhaps a little surprise. This, however, slips beteen the cracks and tugs at your primal half, makes you start to wonder whether or not you really are safe in your own head. The imagery shifts like flashbacks from a memory only half-recalled (they address that topic, actually) and the atmospheric music only sucks you in deeper.

The characters, too, are well-rounded and fascinating, from Makoto and is utterly horrifying grandma, to Masayuki and his social eccentricities, to Tarou and that FREAKY "lucid dream" he keeps having. ("Lucid Dream" is episode 1)

Overall:

If you love shows and movies that just crawl inside and start to make you think really hard about things you once thought were absolutes, then this is the show to see.

Perhaps one downside is the lack of dialogue, but in a horror, images and sounds carry so much more meaning, and these images and sounds are guaranteed to make tingles rund down your backbone. The other downside--a trifle, really--is that the first episode takes a few minutes to really take off, but once it does, the anime never slows down.

It is an anime for the true psychological horror fan, and Production I.G. was brilliant for making this their 20th anniversary release.

Plus, those little astrally projected bodies? Man, even if the show's creepy-factor doesn't appeal to you, those little things are just too cool for words.

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I must say that Ghost Hound is the most complex and technical anime ever made. It's the kind of anime which make you go on the wiki and search for the terminology. As is expected from the staff of Serial Experiment Lain, you have to pay attention to detail or re-watch it to understand what the story is about and the relationship and explanation of it. Ghost Hound, whose idea has gone through 8 years of planning, is indeed a masterpiece. A must see for any hardcore sci-fi fan.

I decided to watch the series, because the scriptwriter of Ghost Hound also wrote Serial Experiments: Lain, Texhnolyze and Hellsing, all of which I am quite drawn to (especially SEL). I must say, that this anime is a great job, perfect for a 20th anniversary release.

~ s t o r y ~ 8 / 10 ~
If some of you think: 'Those cute characters and a psychological plot? No way!' I am glad to tell you, that you are wrong. At first, when I saw, that GH is of 22 episodes, I was sure, that it will be verbose and / or tedious (i'm used to 13-episode psychological animes), but I'm glad I tried watching it despite that thoughts. Of course, the plot needs a half of the first episode to take off, but once it does, it doesn't stop (actually, it's going faster and faster to the climax). The anime is a specific type of an illustrated encyclopedia: trauma, mental disorders, possession, out-of-body experiences, mind, brain, afterlife and more - every one of these is shown in a few different points of view, either scientific or spiritual. I gave it an 8, because I just expected something more. The plot is not confusing at all, I mean, there is the puzzle-mode on, but once explained, it becomes perfectly clear. At least some of the aspects...

~ a r t ~ 9 / 10 ~
I love the idea of different angles and showing the action from the characters point of wiew. The landscapes and character projects are quite nice. Some of the ghosts, retrospections or halucinations are drawn really CREEPY. And by creepy I mean, that at night when going to the bathroom you wish not to find anything like that in your room when you come back. They're so random, they give goosebumps. The thing I dislike, is what they did to OBE - but, oh well, it's just an anime, not a science book.

~ s o u n d ~ 9 / 10 ~
Not much of music, but when it's finally playing in the background, it has a feel of GITS's soundtrack. Old japanese music, just without the vocals.
IMO the opening was the worst: it really didn't suit the anime.

~ c h a r a c t e r ~ 1 0 / 1 0 ~
Characters are the metier of Ghost Hound. Nicely designed, with vivid personalities. Everyone will find a bit of himself in some of them.

~ O V E R A L L ~ 9 / 10 ~
Great series with an enjoyable plot, nice art and sound and wonderful, mysterious characters. However, I recommend this anime only for people who like psychological series - others may think of Ghost Hound as a waste of time.

Have fun ^^.

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Ghost Hound is a Supernatural, Psychological, Horror, Mystery, Drama series, produced by the critically acclaimed “Production I.G.” studio. Unlike most horror series that feature plenty of shocking, gory moments and psychological dramas that show the absurd, extremes of the human psyche; Ghost Hounds goes for a more technical approach. Sadly this leads to a great series with an incredibly complex story.

It is about four different kids who have suffered from different traumatic events; in their past and now have the ability to traverse this “unseen world”. That’s just the initial plot of the series and as the story begins, you will see a bunch of stuff and have no idea what on earth is going on. Slowly but surely, little bits of this mysterious and uncanny story are revealed and during this process you’ll be force fed a lot of psychological terminology. Yet it still takes some time for the story to become somewhat interesting. Then you’ll be able to enjoy the series, as it develops into a sensational experience, whilst learning a fair bit of neurology, psychology and Japanese folklore. At the same time it is easy to consider dropping the series, for those who are unable to get into it.

The animation quality of this anime was superb, having an extraordinary amount of detail put into the little-less things and with interesting, surreal surroundings when expressing the unseen world. The characters were well designed and moved fluidly but the pale colour tones did make some look unappealing. At least the rich environments and scenery made up for the short comings.

It was pretty tricky to judge this anime on the quality of the sound, because there wasn’t much there. During the weird apparitions and flashbacks there was a great deal of weird SFX used, to which is perfect for setting the creepy mood. However with barely any music at all, in the end, it just sounded pretty bland.

Overall this is a mildly interesting anime showing the parallels of the psychological and the supernatural however other than the technical aspects of this anime (e.g. animation), this series can be a pretty dull and lifeless experience. With so much terminology to take in, anyone can feel like dropping this at any moment and going for a much easier show to understand. But the series does become fairly interesting to watch later on, when things become clearer and the story finally start to move forward. So before watching this series you’ll have to think to yourself, “Is this the type of series I would enjoy?”

^_^

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REVIEW CONTAIN CONCLUSIVE SPOILER

For the first half of the show, Ghost Hound have got everything right, from the creepy soundtrack that formed its designated atmosphere to the countryside setting that we're so fond of in horror anime. The series gave off the same kind of atmosphere that Higurashi and Shiki gave me, which shows how great it was directed. The unique camera angle amplifying the creepy tone of the series to a level where "horror" would be one of the appropriate genre for the series while the colorful and unique representation of the "hidden world" surely did its job to allow the viewers to see the story in a more frightening way, making them more prone to the dark assumptions that viewers can't help but to make in a series like this.

The pacing was perfect in almost every way, just enough room to maintain a balanced space, captivating the viewers with various thrilling experiences and allowing them to make assumption about what will happen next, whether its the horrifying secrets that the three main characters would find out about their past or the problems that forms around their morbid town. The show does maintain a large cast near the end of the series but all of them were thoroughly developed, what also support this is the three main characters as they were interesting to a certain point where seeing their interaction as they help each other uncover the secret to their past is one of the main focus, for both the series and its viewers.

While the series does maintain a great sense of atmosphere and characters development, its ending fall short to what most viewer would have assumed for it to played out. Near the end of the series, the original plot (Solve Taro's past trauma, who did what and the various morbid discoveries that each character would discover as they delve deeper into the past and the "hidden world"), was left behind to be replaced with two new ones, which unfortunately ruin the ending for me, as these two new plot line have almost nothing to be relevant with the original purpose of the story, sure there were some connection here and there but it was far too fragile to be in truthful relation with the original story, it just felt like the show tried to expand its storytelling limit and failed pretty bad, resulting in the undesirable answer to the whole affair about Taro's kidnapping incident as the viewers only received a happy and simple resolution to the the scary kidnapping that was so well presented that it should have made most viewers expecting something a little bit more shudder worthy.

Overall Ghost Hound was a very well played out series from beginning... to the middle, for the way that the ending was told results in a total lost of the original plot. But don't get me wrong, if you're really into thrillers and the like, this series must be on your "plan to watch" or "completed" list because, ending aside, the series did a great job of presenting itself as a psychological thriller in many ways.

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1st Impression:
oh god, ghost or supernatural cr*p again? Nothing is better than Ghost H*nt.

Selling point(s):
Top notch sound effect, interesting facts on researches, dark and mysterious atmosphere

Reason(s) of liking the anime:

Well to start with, I am one of those horror fans. 1st episodes already caught my attention with their top notch story pace and astonishing sound effects, which really stirs up the eery atmosphere. In my honest opinion, this anime is like a marriage of Serial experimental Lain and Ghost Hunt( if you haven watch them, go watch em!). I am also interested of their homework done on the facts and researches regarding unexplained / truth of supernatural events. With all this combination of greatness, even though i am at only 10th episodes, it certainly my must-watch , till the end of the series.

Advice(s):
1) For all ages, definitely a must watch for those who likes horror , supernatural genre, not for the weak hearted.

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I just finished watching this anime and it wasn't good. It leaves the audience feeling incomplete as there are a lot of questions left unanswered, and also with a heavy sense of disappointment. When the last episode ended the first thing that came to my mind was, "...ok...so...is that it?". I'd only recommend this anime to people who don't really want to be drawn and hooked to an anime, but those who are just wanting something to pass the time with and have absolutely nothing better to do. (I hate being this harsh, but it really wasn't good)

Story: 4
Let me just start off by saying that the concept of the story was promising and deeply intriguing. However, despite this there was bad linkage, poor pace, and a very poorly thought out conclusion. Let me explain. The anime is about 3 boys who become friends and start to experience soul traveling through a series of events. The beginning is quite promising as the main protagonists all have interesting dark backgrounds, and the authors also utilize very dark themes such as suicide, and the occult. However, despite all these amazing ingredients they didn't seem to do a lot with it. Yes, they create very good and fascinating concepts, but they failed to develop it any further or add any more depth to it. All it turned out to be was a good idea and nothing else. Every time something interesting would happen, they would just drop it and leap onto another concept. Additionally, the pace of the anime was very dragged out. And each episode just created a feeling a heaviness and not excitement. If you're looking for a fast paced engaging psychological horror/thriller this is not it. In all, the story, just didn't hit the mark, but simply fell flat on it's face.

Art: 7
The art work was very good in my opinion.(but I'm not a very "artsy" person so don't quote me on this) The drawing of the characters, and the background/scenery were all quite beautifully done.

Sound: 8
I really liked the sound which was utilized in the anime. I thought it was superb. The eerie like sounds they would use, and also the kind of disconnected far off sounds which were heard when the characters would be soul traveling was very interesting and set the mood. However, unfortunately, since the story within the anime was slow paced and un-engaging, the sound effects did little to increase the enjoyability of it...well it did do a little, but not all that much.

Character: 5
As I said before, the main characters all had dark backgrounds which made them interesting at first but then as the anime continued, the development was very poorly done. The only character which was very interesting, and whose pieces fell all together at the end was Makoto. He was the character who really pushed me into watching the anime through to the end, as he was the only one which sort of made it interesting/engaging for me.

Enjoyment: 3 and Overalll Score: 3
In all, I didn't enjoy this anime. It was dragged out, there were a lot of unanswered questions and the conclusion was just rushed. The plot failed to really go anywhere interesting, and most of the characters were not very intriguing nor had good character development.
Watch it if you have nothing better to do, but honestly, I wouldn't recommend it.

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Let me preface this "8" by saying I thought the storyline for this anime was really terrific! A definite 10/10. It is complex without being too over-the-top (for the genre it is under, that is) and unfolds gradually, but not too slowly either. Each character, minor or protagonist, has an ever expanding role and someone you may think you will only see once or in the background often has a greater story to tell.

Another wonderful aspect of this anime is that rarely is someone as they appear to be and where certain situations could have played out in a typical fashion took a very different role instead. My favourite example of this was Taro's therapist/counselor, Dr. Hirata, but there are a number of others that follow.

And while some of the plotlines intersect, the one's that do not, still believeably flow within the plot and are usually very interesting. It isn't often I have come across subplots that while separate,continue to be relevant and intriguing.

The OP song is fun and different, not completely makign sense to the anime itself right away, but then it grows on you and feels as though it actually fits rather well. I still couldn't get into the ending theme song or the scratchy static noises the anime sometimes used as suspenseful "Oh no! What will happen in the next episode!!" sound bites or for re-capping an episode, however that is my own preference and I suspect others would disagree.

The art style was also interesting to me, not just for the art itself but the direction it took. One of the best examples of this is the landscape, which is as much a character itself as it is a background. It is at times, such an important element of the plot, you forget the it is setting and not an actor, because it isn't just land as a setting, but it has its own history and plotline which is explored.

Another example of the art talent lies in this anime's direction. There are some very interesting perspectives and angles the directors and artists chose to take for it, some of which pertain to the aforementioned land uses, while others are due to a particular characters perspective or to create a creepy atmosphere or tell the story better.

While I wouldn't swear by it or recommend it to everyone I know, I would recommend it generally, because overall, I found this show to be slower, creepy and intense, but also original, subtle and engaging. The best description I have read for this anime came from the review by Cyh when 's/he' states: "Nothing is overdone. Everything is like a current flowing underground, or a train rumbling by only a mile away." Which sounds rather abstract on paper (or in this case, the screen), but after having seen the full breadth of the show makes a great deal of sense to me. Like a river it seems to meander, but unlike many anime by the end has come to a place where it has expanded fully and reached an entertaining crescendo.

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Story 8/10

Only on the penultimate episode did I discover that the original suppose for this series was penned by Masamune Shirow. It doesn't really show, although as that was in 1987 it isn't so surprising. Why it took 20 years to make such a great anime is anyone's guess.

Anyway, the story is very good. A dark and moody tale at heart, this anime mulls through the lives of its protagonists and a semi-real world of astral projection and spirits. It does so in a way immediately attributable to Nakamura Ryuutarou's (Serial Experiments Lain) direction. I enjoyed SEL's rasping static sensory deprivation, and I love it here too. The bassy atmosphere death rattles the viewer through several inter-connected disturbing backstories, and drapes the lead characters in harsh, heavy shadows.

The dark story involves the "unseen world" of disconnected spirits, and is played out as part mystery, part science. The exposition and investigation is mainly from the perspective of juniour high school students, connected by those dark backstories; and this is perhaps one of the small blemishes on the series. While the "difficult past and large responsibilty on young shoulders" plot element is powerful despite its regular use in anime, I think the children retained a little too much of their childish appearance during the progression of this series. Indeed it was not Shirow's intention to have such young protagonists.


Animation 8.5/10

Simulteneously beautiful and slightly wrong.

The quality is very high, as you would expect from Production I.G. But perhaps the tones and designs of the children, again, bring the show down slightly. The atmosphere created by the backdrops, creatures and settings throughout was exceptional, but the flat-coloured characters distracted slightly from that and just felt a little out of place. A few bad choices were also made during astral projection. The initial "baby" characters look a little too silly, as do some of the later apparitions.

Overall, though, the designs and smoothness need some applause for their left-of-mainstream quality. Very well put together; sometimes even creepy.


Sound 8/10

Like SEL, one of the things that brings the atmosphere and animation and script together is the sound used to bind them. The fuzz, the buzz, the scrapes, the dinks - all work fantastically with the mood and direction. Although you could argue that the general impression is almost too similar to SEL, it works very well regardless. OP is also well suited. Japanese VAs are good, and mild-mannered enough to pull off the roles very professionally and convincingly.


Characters 8.5/10

The very believable story behind what is something of a fantastical show is exposed beautifully through the main cast. Common personality types crop up but remain under-done to perfection, easily escaping the horrible tendency in asian media to ham-up emotions. The leads are well defined and maturely designed. There could be a little more conflict in there, and some things perhaps shouldn't go quite as smoothly as they tend to do for those characters, but I was very satisfied with the way things turned out. All but one or two characters are important in their own way, and most hold themselves together well and deserve their screen time.


Overall 8.9/10

With such good all round scores it's tempting to go even higher with the overall mark, but all I'll do is recommend this to anyone who enjoys a mature anime. Though the series runs for 22 episodes there were no points when I felt cheated because of that. There's no filler in here. The fascinating story unfolds generously, without recourse to distraction. Although I felt a couple of things could have been explained a little more, the ending was a satisfactory finish for what is literally a one-in-a-thousand anime.

Now to hunt out the next classic hidden within swathes of soggy cardboard and freaky pillows.

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The show starts out with a really creepy opening of something flying around and only getting glimpses of what’s happening from his eyes. We find out that it was all a damn dream from our main character. Taro Komori seems like a rather normal boring guy who lives with a family of brewers. And yet they bring up strange things about his past that seem to be bothering him. I can’t lie, even with knowing the description of the anime; this all was a bit confusing in the beginning. They jump around a lot and the only thing I really got was that Taro was able to astro project and has dreams of the past. As the show goes on, it does get slightly better and there are times that they kept me on the edge of my seat but it is extremely logical and have a mountain of dialogue before something gets done.

Masayuki seems much more like the person we should be following. He is the outsider who is gathering information on what goes on around the other two. He seems to have more of an understanding that things are happening then Taro and Makoto. It’s that or Taro and Masayuki’s stories should switch a bit. Miyako is pretty silent but is also one that I wished we could get more info on right up front. She seems to have even more understanding as to what is going on about the spiritual world.

I like how they show the outer body experience like being in water to where you can’t really hear anything around you. What I don’t like is that they seem to have only one goal throughout the whole show and that’s to find out what went on a long time ago. It just makes the characters sound like broken records at times. Now I’m not saying it’s no good. I did like it but I wish that they had more episodic ghost show with the overall plot mixed in with it.

A lot of this show talks about the mind and how philology plays a big part in what happens when you have trauma at a young age. Unfortunately, it seems that they try to base it all on ghosts and astro projections. Sometimes it feels like they are just trying to make up excuses to what’s going on with the kids. At some point, they even talk about the destruction of nature though I really don’t see what it has to do with all of the supernatural ideas or the children turning into strange beings.

The animation lacks just a little, making it look a little like Sayonara Zetsubo-Sensei with a little bit of CG mixed into it. Sometimes it looks a bit on the plain side, not really standing out from any other anime or even lacking from others. Still, I have to give it props for trying to be different then the others. The close ups give a very creepy look to the show. Unfortunately, some of the characters look like they have large heads even when not in a spiritual form.

The music is really hunting and creepy in the opening, but set the mood well. What doesn’t set the mood is the basic clips from the show. It just seems like a lack of love was given to the opening in this aspect. The scripting is a bit odd; sometimes the characters seem to talk to someone even if they haven’t said anything at all. There are also some strange passes in the way sentences are said and sometimes the volume isn’t right. Even with the strange script, I still like how the voices are. They have voices I would imagine them to have.

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Discover the new different reality of world and boundaries of spirit world.. at first i think it will only become the straight storyline and basic concept of anime..

progressively it become mysterious and become a gripping story that you can't past over

very touching and brain-minded. it's a film that make you feel what is the different perception of reality...

Good Art from I.G Studios combined with remarkable storyline makes this film get two thumbs..


Awesome Work

When an anime has to include cliff hangers every episode in order to make the viewer keep watching, then it's not worth watching. I can't even begin to describe how many things the anime does wrong, since there are 22 episodes worth of things. The goofy ghosts and exceptionally weak main character aren't helping.

Please, for the love of god, don't get trapped like I did. I saw a 7.63 but a few 10 and 9 reviews and thought, hey maybe it's not that bad (I had just seen the awesome Shinsekai Yori and Ghost Hound was recommended as like that).

The only reason I watched this was because of the cliff hangers. My brain compelled me to keep watching it despite how bad it was due to the constant cliffhangers which would make me think "oh next episode there will be a great illuminating explanation for this".

The ending is horrible. Please do not watch this until you've watched every other thing, and done everything you want to do in life, and are on your deathbed, and even then, don't watch this.

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Where do I begin?... The premise is nice. The execution was fair.

Taro (our whiney main-main character), Makoto (rebel extraordinaire) and Masayuki (professional milf hunter) are our three almost immediate MC's for this evening. They all have dramatic pasts that lead them to spend the rest of their days with regret not far from their minds. Masayuki is the bridge that connects Tarou and Makoto with his intrusive personality. Miyako is later introduced as main character 4? yeah... I guess we just hand out MC like it's no big deal around here. Don't question it. Read the synopsis if you want more, but it's really hard not to spoil anything, so I have to be vague.

Flaws: I would like to mention the flaws before I mention what makes this anime stand out. This show... tries to touch on the subject spirituality as well as science of the brain. Cool, right? Meh, sorta. The problem is that they later try to mix in religion as well as try to have some sort of crush between two MC's. It's here where the animu starts to derail a bit. It tried to add a fourth boy, Michio to the mix who can instantly do this thing that the other boys learned to do (while keeping a human form) called soul traveling. A sort of out of body experience. The problem here is that the other boys had a reason to soul travel. To solve traumas. He just does it without having any. No explanation is given either. The crush thing goes no where, so there was really no reason to have it. They also only touch on religion briefly before just going for a cult approach. Oh yeah... Character development? Nope, everyone that needed it just 180's near the end of the anime. What little dialogue we get starts to get choppy near the end.

What it does well: This animu brings up a lot about different diseases and conditions with the brain. It also effectively brings up the spiritual side of the coin in a kind of speculative point of view. Miyako is probably the show's best character in terms of character development she goes from not understanding her place in the world (it's implied so you have to pay attention) to finally accepting her dad as an understanding individual. The show also has that small but big feeling in the sense that you actually feel like there is a world beyond what you are seeing by referencing newspaper articles and places in the world. I like that.

Overall I thought this anime did what it needed to and an itty bit more. It's an anime to get you thinking and really nothing beyond that. Sure there are feels here and there but without knowing what the other characters think other than Taro it just falls flat. I enjoyed it, almost couldn't stop watching, it's good for it's time. If only they polished up the last few episodes a bit.

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In short, this is one of the best anime series I have seen so far. In one word it’s profound, and it’s a must-see, regardless of the genre you prefer. The only thing that made me falter in giving it a ten was the art which I did not enjoy at all. It’s too simplistic and disproportional. But it actually manages to compensate in a way I thought it impossible.
The story starts off innocently. There's a boy named Taro who has had a very traumatic experience with which he tries to deal with. However, the feel of the story is ominous from the beginning. Even though it seems normal enough, you cant's help but wait in anticipation for something bad to happen. Soon, strange things do start to happen, and slowly we are drawn into the Unseen world, full of both beautiful and disturbing things.
The story has a beautiful flow, and it really develops perfectly. Nothing is rushed or muddled, and even though it deals with ghosts and the paranormal, it’s surprisingly plausible, mostly because it questions the established notions of science (neurology, psychology, physics) and it offers an alternative view on things that we think are perfectly explained by the science. This scientific trait of the story gives it an extra eerie twist, because it questions reality explained by reason and logic. What is reality and what is the dream world? In which do we reside?
Every single character has a personality not made according to your standard anime-character-mould. And this personality develops with the story, which makes this series exceptionally enjoyable. You have to stick with them in order to see who they really are. Every character seems to be more then it meets the eye. It’s just a feel of the character, not some mysterious past tragedy, or something conventional like that. The fact that the main cast is made out of high school boys makes this anime even spookier. They are all very troubled, the way you don’t want a fifteen-year-old to be troubled. The adults don’t offer any consolation, and although most try to understand, they are simply at a lost as to what to do in these peculiar circumstances.
I saved the best for the last. The sound in Ghost Hound is the most amazing, extraordinary thing I’ve so far encountered in any anime. It plays with your brain in a way you don’t even realize until you turn off the lights and go to sleep. After watching the first four episodes, I was not scared, however I had one of the worst nightmares ever that night, and it was all sound. The sounds that prevail in this anime are something I call night sounds. When everyone and everything is asleep, you can hear the furniture moaning, you can hear the wind stroking the walls outside your room. There’s also a lot of noise in Ghost Hound which gives it a perfect feel, and some jazz which is maybe the best genre for this anime, with its unpredictability.
And I have to stress that there is no horror tricks with sudden loud sounds combined with a scary scene. It’s all atmosphere, the combination of sound, story and characters that makes this anime amazing. Ghost Hound is eerie, disturbing, it will make you uncomfortable, but it won’t use some cheap tricks to make you jump in your seat..

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This is not a synopsis.

Ghost Hound is an anime that I stumbled across a year and a half ago while looking for more fuel for a horror genre anime craze that I managed to suffer. Upon watching the first episode and nearly quitting halfway through, I dropped the series... until three weeks ago. I started watching it again, I decided I was going to drill my mind right through it. So I did. I found that the, boring, static plot was unfolding very slowly. There were no lovable or badass characters as far as I'm concerned, nothing interesting, nothing thought provocative at all for the first few episodes - probably just a background setup. But suddenly, though I dare not unveil what happens, my mind is blown. I managed to spend the rest of the series waiting for the episode where it is revealed that all the characters were on shrooms, but it never happened.

Story: Mind blowing. There are few known variables. The story is where the variables emerge from. I would definitely say there is no filler, that's a plus. Some characters are digging for events of the past (lost memory, truth), some are striving for the present (trying to rid themselves of fear, or family related problems). All in all, the story is OK, I'd give it a 8 if it weren't for the pacing issues at the beginning.

Art: Art is good. Doesn't really stand out, but it conveys its intended purpose just fine. There are plenty of psychedelic scenes that are done well enough. 8/10.

Sound: This is where this series shines. It manages to converge audio and video in one big mind trip. The sounds are very unique. I don't even recall anything besides the OP and ending that could be called "music" by the general term, but it is indeed fantastic. 10 points.

Characters: Characters are good. One that is constantly angry, withdrawn, and rather burdened by his family's past. In my opinion, he is the best character in the series. The next best is the main heroine - also withdrawn, unwilling to associate with the males of the story at first, she eventually warms up partially. The primary character of the series is one which is concerned at first with his own fear, but he eventually shifts his concerns to everyone else. The last character that is listed as a main character is just trying to erase the results of bad deeds of a time that predates the story. Characters are overall so-so. 7/10.

Enjoyment: I won't say I didn't like this series - I certainly did. It just lacked the hooking factor of some other anime I have seen. The characters and story did not support the enjoyment factor as much as the sound and audio mix. 7/10.

Overall: Average of everything! 8/10.

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I have been watching this anime now for only 2 episode's so i can't really say much about it, but its very intressting am at episode 2 and the story get a bit deep alrighty so i think the story is very much deep and understandable and its also a little bit dark. The story as i am now at is about that kid taro witch has been in a very dramatic and shocking event in the past witch his big sister died and he try's realy hard to find out who the kiddnaper is or was. he's having nightmarres and out of body expirens... thats the story so far to be really really short about it, for people who like a bit darkish story and a deep characteres who has much to tell, but if you see episode one and two you really want to pursue the story and thats why am actualy watching it, the dark story thing is not really for me but i really want to know what happens and what not.

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When I first encountered this Anime, I was really excited because it was advertised as a dark, edgy show that was well produced; qualities that are very difficult to find in most shows. The setting is in a small town that gives off such unsettling vibes that it sometimes gives the feeling that it could have been picked up by the silent hill franchise. The characters are introduced well, and begin to get fleshed out with a plot that deviates completely from the classic Anime stereotypes. In short, this Anime looks and sounds beautiful.

But all of this sounds good, why the low score? Unfortunately the Anime lacks the central drive of a plot to keep the show moving for the entire 26 episodes. Sometime around the 17th episode mark, the plot does a COMPLETE 180, and the entire ambiance of the Anime is lost along the way. The show goes from unsettling and dark to Shounen and 'we can do it' in 60 seconds; I can still feel the whiplash in my neck from trying to keep up with the abrupt change.

All in all, the show is beautifully glossy and has a very original concept, but the director missed a great opportunity to make something great and instead succumbed into making something distinctly on the wrong side of mediocre.

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I kind of have mixed feelings towards Ghost Hound. Being into MindF$#k type animes like Lain and Higurashi the plot immediately intrigued me. The eerie opening with the song Poltergeist was one of the few selective openings I didn't skip over after a few episodes(it set the mood). Now on the topic of the story, I really enjoyed the complex plot. The art is dark and well-done which definitely adds to the creepy element(which hardly lets off until the latter episodes). The sound in this anime is definitely it's strong point. It could be called brilliant in terms of building up suspense(I constantly had shivers sent down my spine throughout). In addition to that, the ending is pretty well done. The character development is also good especially with the three main characters. Each episode kept me wanting more which is surprising due to the slower pacing of the story. I remember finding myself at episode six wondering how are they going to fill 22 episodes. That might be just because I lack imagination. But anyways, the only obvious letdown of the story to me would be the ending. Which I felt was abrupt and left me with a few unanswered questions. In that sense, Ghost Hound left me a little empty(But hey, it could of been worse). All in all, nothing short of an enjoyable series(enough to write a review on it).

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Wow, this was a great thriller title. Ghost Hound implemented use of psychological and philosophical elements to look into the developments surrounding the central characters of the series and piecing together the mysterious occurrences within the small town of Suiten. Like Serial Experiments Lain, Ghost Hound retains a subdued, mundane mood throughout its run during the show's normal mode and bumps up its suspense during moments when the boys experience out-of-body experiences in the spirit realm and dream of memories from their tragic pasts. The series does rather well at fleshing out the tragic pasts of Taro, Masayuki and Makoto where the series gets into the heads of the boys as they perceive and/ or try to recall the events that occurred during their earlier years. In addition, we get to see the growth of their characters as they come to terms with their past tragedies as they come to understand their situations better.

In terms of plot developments, Ghost Hound takes its time in unveiling pieces to the various paranormal occurrences taking place in the town. Strange creatures have been spotted at random points within the town and hints are dropped over a string of crimes having occurred around the time that Taro's abduction took place. In addition, the series does bring up seemingly unconnected situations which involve a fanatic local cult, a biotech plant and the young daughter of a shrine priest that Taro takes interest in. But as the series presses on, these situations clash together where their linearity makes enough sense at resolving any lingering plot developments to Ghost Hound once the character developments with the three boys get resolved.

The major element to Ghost Hound that will make or break one's enjoyment of the series are the frequent mentions and debates of psychological and philosophical concepts. Psychological analysis is frequent as Dr. Hirata is around at a number of points to bring up mental disorders of the brain that effect patients that he helps, in particular Taro. The philosophical element comes in the form of a number of theories brought up on spiritual and existential concepts connected to the out of body experiences that the boys have in their travels to the spirit realm. I do believe that these elements are relevant within the series to keep the audience guessing over whether the experiences with the boys are the result of either a spiritual experience or something of scientific basis coming off the mental scars they had from their pasts.

The only major flaw I found within the series was its final episode where the series seemingly introduced some new concepts that it never had time to fully develop and having a bright mood which isn't consistent with Ghost Hound's earlier episodes.

In terms of presentation, Ghost Hound does well enough at delivering with visuals and music to fit in well with the blurring of moods that the show presents at various points. In terms of the normal world, the show makes use of bright colors and defined details in rendering its scenery and character designs to fit with its mundane mood. The out of body experiences and flashbacks from the boys are what lead to the title's visual highlights. Various abstract settings are shown to create a seemingly unique atmosphere for the spiritual realms that the boys visit such as the nerves that make up Taro's brain, a room full of various monitors and the real world rendered in limited color. Adding to this unique experience are occasional first-person shots from the eyes of the boys as they either go in and out of consciousness or experiencing flashbacks, such as Taro trying to catch up with his sister through an alley.

The soundtrack to the series is mostly low-key and minimal, with music only added in whenever necessary to enhance mood within tense scenes. The OP and ED are unique choices to help one get into Ghost Hound with the OP's quirky and upbeat tone plus the ED's subdued and gentle ballad.

Overall, Ghost Hound proved to be quite the interesting mind trip for me with its implementation of psychology and mysticism in exploring the tragic pasts of Taro and his friends plus the mysterious developments occurring within the town they live in. I strongly recommend this series to anyone hoping for an anime that is outside the norm of conventional titles and will keep you guessing over what direction it will lead.

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Shinreigari: Ghost Hound is a 22 episodes long Psychological/Mystery anime by Production IG that came out in 2007. After i finished it just recently, my first thought was: "Man, i can´t believe it took me so long until i finally watched this!"

However...this show centers around three high school boys with traumatic experiences in the past, who try to solve a mysterious puzzle in the small mountain village of Suiten.

I was mentally prepared for a brainf*** since Ghost Hound was created by the same guy who did Ghost in the Shell and a few important staff members also worked on Serial Experiments Lain. Nevertheless, despite being heavily influenced by psychoanalysis in the first half and a mix of mainly spirituality and a bit of theoretical physics in the second half, the story is actually not too hard to follow if you pay full attention.

It is a really fascinating story that completely drew me in right from the start with it´s somewhat dark and spooky appearance. The at first seemingly multiple plotlines come together to form one gigantic puzzle in a smart and sometimes unexpected way. Shinreigari also uses multiple "unpleasant" sound effects to add to the atmosphere and to get the viewer out of his cmfort zone even more.

The biggest strenght of Ghost Hound in my opinion are the many important supporting characters. Each of them are portrayed in such a way that they could possibly turn into a pro- or antagonist at any given point as it is unclear what their own interests and intentions are. The character development is simply brillant, especially that of our main girl Miyako.

The show also offers a few unusual but great "extras" as it calls the episodes not episodes but "focuses" and titles every focus after a scientific term. The preview of the next focus after the ending credits is always accompanied by a brief summary of an important moment in the history of science and/or psychoanalysis. What´s more, once you start this series you have a hard time to stop your session as Ghost Hound offers hands down some of the best cliffhangers i have ever come across.

The quality of animation is crystal clear for 2007 standards and shouldn´t really upset anyone who stumbles across the show eight years later like myself. The ending song is beautiful, the jazz-like opening is very different from most anime OPs but in my opinion does not fit the show at all.

Overall i, enjoyed Shinregari GHOST HOUND at lot. I marathoned it in just three sessions and i would definetly recommend marathoning this rather then watching it at a slow pace. So if you are in the mood for something darker, make sure you don´t miss this!

I give it a 9 out of 10.

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