Dec 27, 2015
Alright, my first review...
Let's do this thing. (Make sure to keep in mind that this is a review of the English dub ONLY. I cannot speak on behalf of the sub, as I have not seen it. I don't plan on it, either.)
STORY: 5 (Mediocre)
The story in and of itself isn't that great, to be honest. Pretty bad, if I'm being perfectly blunt. It centers around five children that live in a town (and world, for that matter) that is, for some inexplicable reason, just FILLED TO THE BRINK with ghosts. Because of this, a young girl by
...
the name of Satsuki must follow her dead mother's diary on how to put these ghosts to "spiritual sleep."
ART/ ANIMATION: 3.78 (Poor-decent)
I'm sorry, but the art in this show just bothered me. Even for its time, it just really bothers me... Even the way the hands were drawn occasionally bothered me. This does, however, tend to be extremely subjective, so take what I say about it with a grain of salt. The only good thing about animation for me was the smooth integration of 3-D elements. Pretty decently done for its time, especially taking into account its budget.
SOUND: 4 (Decent)
The only song I even sort of like from the soundtrack is the song at the very beginning of episode eleven, and I couldn't even find it on the OST. Again, very biased here. What? I am a music box connoisseur, what can I say? However, the orchestral tracks that made up a good 90% of the OST complimented the scenarios fine. The opening, however, felt incredibly out of place in a show such as this one. It would have fit much better in a more laid-back, slice-of-life style show in my humble opinion.
CHARACTERS: 9 (Great)
Now here's where the real fun begins. The characters are quite entertaining. I especially enjoyed Satsuki's mother, Hajime, and Amanojaku. But first, I must start with the main character herself: Satsuki. And let me tell you... She takes shit from NOBODY. She is full of sass yet somehow seems to lose all that snark when it comes to taking care of ghosts. She always seems to need some sort of plot convenience to "whip out that damn ghost book." Anyone that's watched the dub will get that reference.) In fact, the dub actually pokes fun at things like that. It even breaks the fourth wall a number of times, which I found found to be particularly amusing. Hajime, on the other hand, and is mostly composed of being a perverted smartass, which I fucking LOVED. He was entertaining. Then, of course, there are the two religious kids: one a nerdy Jewish kid and one a "Jesus freak." I do believe Arkada summed the latter up the best way possible. Then there's the Keiichirou, Satsuki's retarded little brother. And, of course, there's Amanojaku. I don't even want to spoil his character for you; he's just amazing. I really grew attached to the characters despite their overwhelming lack of development.
ENJOYMENT: 10 (Outstanding)
I thoroughly enjoyed this series and all it had to offer. However, if you're looking for a scary show I suggest you look elsewhere. The only episode the was even sort of scary (to me, at least) was the piano one. That one was actually sort of creepy, to be honest.
OVERALL: 10 (Outstanding)
Taking in all of the negative I had to say about this show, I suppose I should have given it a much lower score. Any other show would've gotten a lower score, but my enjoyment really just trumped it all. I highly recommend this show to anyone looking for a good black comedy to pass the time. Just don't watch it all in one day. That was what I did, and I sorely regret it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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