...but the majority of it is so head-shakingly silly that I had a hard time enjoying all of it.
The concept isn't exactly original, and even this season there are shows that involve characters who can see ghosts (Kyoukai no Rinne, I'm looking at you), but Re-Kan! takes a much more lighthearted, easygoing, and realistic approach.
Well, as realistic as a show about ghosts can be.
Our story centers around routine interactions between Hibiki, our main character, and various spirits around town. Emphasis on "routine," because Hibiki greets and converses with these spirits in the same way that she would talk with her human friends, much to the chagrin of some characters...
Along the way, we inevitably learn of the backgrounds of many of the ghosts, and this is where the "surprisingly touching" part comes in. Even in this show, death is a somber topic, and as a result, Re-Kan! often ends its episodes with bitersweet realizations by living and dead characters who can accept the death of a loved one and move on with their lives. It made sitting through the rest of the episode worth it, usually.
By this, I am referring to the silliness that the rest of the show is dominated by. The show tends to fall back on running gags, and this inevitably leads to most of the jokes being rather predictable. A good amount of the characters (Yamada, Yamada's brother, the Ero-Neko) exist solely for the purpose of silly, nonsensical, or often perverted humor. As a result, they function as the subject of rage from the more violent characters, or ones who are simply fed up with their antics. And why wouldn't they be? Their lines are repetitive and their presence in the show gets stale pretty early on.
While some of the female characters suffer from the same issue, we at least get to see a more enjoyable relationship develop amongst them. Their bonds form primarily through, you guessed it, Hbiki's ability to see ghosts. Their progression as friends is so slow it's almost unseeable, but it's just another aspect of the show's slow, easygoing nature. Maybe I'm just simple-minded, but seeing those kinds of interactions is cute and enjoyable for me.
Particularly, the interactions between Hibiki and Inoue, our token tsundere, are pretty darn cute. Their biggest obstacle is that Inoue couldn't be a worse friend for Hibiki - she's terrified of ghosts! Despite her fear, she somehow gets dragged into all of Hibiki's ghost antics, and comes to accept Hibiki as she is... for the most part. Also, it's pretty obvious early on that Hibiki has a crush on Inoue, so for all you yuri fans out there (myself included), it's an added bonus.
Unfortunately, due to the show's short run time and episodic nature, the usual "characters-don't-get-enough-development-or-screentime" problem is prevalent here. As only one example, Inoue's relationship with Hibiki is cute, but she shows no hints of breaking out of her tsundere nature by the end of the show, which is rather disappointing considering how much she's changed her attitude towards her friends. Also, I would have expected her to at least try to act less terrified in the presence of ghosts, but I hardly got any of that. The rest of the human female cast got one episode of development, if they were lucky. I'm not sure if a 24-episode series would have dragged this show out or not, but again, 13 episodes certainly isn't enough for everyone.
Instead, what I got were situations where all I could think of was "Are they really going to spend ten minutes on this subject?" I don't think I needed Yamada's older brother to talk about how much he loves girls in swimsuits for ten minutes, or a spirit that jumps off of a cliff everyday for a silly reason, or a zombie-loving girl running all over town because she had a possessed zombie doll. I know it's supposed to be a comedy, but these are more cases where the comedy either fell flat for me or was so silly, all I could do was sigh.
The openings and endings are cute... however, there was an obvious drop in animation quality between the opening and the rest of the show. It's like 70% of the budget went into animating the opening, and the rest went into the actual content. Character and background designs, while cute and colorful, were average at best and disappointing in the context of the opening.
Openings and endings aside, the soundtrack is quite relaxing. I was particularly fond of the acoustic-centric inserts, and it emphasized the "slice-of-life" feel that I am so attracted to.
Re-Kan! has its moments, but the moments are too far in between the stale jokes and the eyebrow-raising scenarios. It's entertaining enough, and it's not the worst option if a break from the standard shounen/ecchi/harem fare is wanted. It's just not the best option, either.
