Video Backlog: “Ghost Hound”

Publisher: Sentai Filmworks (USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Subtitles
Length: 26 Episodes x 25 minutes
Production Date: 2007 - 2008
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

Eleven years ago in the rural town of Suiten, Taro Komori, now 14 years old was kidnapped with his sister Mizuka. Eventually the kidnapper was tracked down by run over by a truck before the police could capture him. The children were found inside the old hospital which is usually underneath water near the base of the recently built dam. Unfortunately it was too late for Mizuka and she died before she was rescued. Sake brewers by trade, the Komori family were devastated by this tragedy. Taro’s mother was particularly affected and Taro himself developed narcolepsy due the constant nightmares reliving the incident over and over again. The school has hired a new therapist for Taro, Atsushi Hirata, who attempts to delve deeper into his psyche by using new techniques on him which dredge up forgotten memories of the incident. Taro also has to contend with a new transfer student from Tokyo, Masayuki Nakajima, who is interested in Taro’s kidnapping and the details and mystery behind it. Masayuki soon discovers that a fellow student, the delinquent Makoto Ogami, has a link to the kidnappings. His father was rumoured to be linked to kidnappings and committed suicide not long after the case was solved.

Masayuki somehow ropes Taro and Makoto into going back to the scene of the crime, the old hospital, which due to a lack of water in the dam has been exposed again. There they experience what can only be described as supernatural as all three of the boy’s souls seemingly separate from their bodies which they dub soul traveling (in other words an “Out of Body Experience”). The boys soon grow accustomed to soul traveling and end up discovering what is dubbed the “hidden realm” which contains the spirits of various creatures, both human and animal. They also discover a large black sprit roaming the area where the suspected kidnapper was killed by a truck. Taro latter confronts this sprit. At the same time strange occurrences begin happen in the town. People start seeing spirits, including Taro’s psychologist Atsushi Hirata. Somehow part of this supernatural activity is linked with a young girl named Miyako Komagusu, daughter of the local priest, who worryingly to her father seems to be possessed from time to time by some sprit. Makoto’s grandmother, Himeko, a leader of a forgotten cult, has taken an interest in her and wants to become the cult’s new leader in a bid to revitalise it, which apparently has the backing of various top ranking politicians. Then there’s the Biotech research facility which seems to be doing some rather strange experimental work which is attracting not only sprits, but holy men from around the country. Whether it is coincidence or not, all of these elements are leading up to something very big.

This series was Production I.G’s 20th anniversary project and was devised by Masamune Shirow of all people. Taking into consideration the quality of staff who worked on the show, unsurprisingly they’ve turned out one hell of a series. The story itself is quite complex with many twists and turns, and quite a number of detours along the way that do feel like they’re part of a wider story and not “filler” (which, let’s face it, not many anime series do this successfully at all). The three leads in the show, Taro, Makoto and Masayuki all have dark pasts and a little traumatised by it, however they interact with the work normally. I like how the show treats their pasts in a realistic way. The boys have to deal with parents with mental illness, death, father’s cheating on their wives and other internal family conflict. It’s as you’d expect a person would react in the real world. Perhaps Makoto is the least stable of the three, but still he is depicted in a realistic manner. Well as realistic as you can get when people are soul travelling and there are spirits and ghouls everywhere. A nice addition to the trio is a boy who Masayuki befriends, Michio Hoshino. Though not as interesting as the other three, he does provide an avenue for Masayuki to redeem himself for past sins and he also lightens the mood of the show. The other cornerstone of the show is the mysterious younger girl Miyako Komagusu. Unlike the main three boys in the show, there is little back story provided about her. She does play a large role in the show, but I wish the writers had paid more attention to her and fleshed her out a bit more. But this is also a problem with many of the female characters in the show. A lot of them are interesting but certainly less time and attention is paid to them compared with the male characters. However this doesn’t affect story or the flow the show at all.

Production I.G has gone all out on this show. It certainly looks fantastic for the most part. There were more than a couple of moments which had me on the edge of my seat and a few even gave me a couple of scares (which you have to admit). But the element which makes this show work is the sound design. In fact the soundtrack (it’s more like a soundscape really), sound effects and ambient noises are transformed from normal sounding to a processed form; starched, slowed down, distorted, a heavy echo or phasing added etc. Elements like the sounds from Taro’s shortwave radio receiver in his bedroom are also given the same sonic treatment, creating otherworldly sounds which fit in with the theme of spirits practically overtaking a small country town. The overall effect is that the soundtrack and effects resemble experimental electronica or an ambient noise collage album. It barely resembles anything heard in the greater majority of anime series, and is certainly very effective in creating a surreal and creepy atmosphere.

Where the show falls down a bit is the explanations of what is happening. At times explanations can be quite dense and filled with unfamiliar psychological and pseudo-psychological terminology. Luckily most this is limited to the next episode previews. There also seems to be a slight attempt to include as much paranormal phenomena as possible which feels like the writers had a list of phenomena and were ticking it off as they depicted them in the show. There’s a bit of a disconnect between what Taro’s psychologist’s visions and how they relate to the bigger picture of the story for example. Why would he experience missing time and see a UFO when it really has no connection to the rest of the strange occurrences in town. Sure as he says in the series, you could chalk it down to various psychological conditions, but why would he have a different experience to everyone else? Luckily the show really doesn’t really try to explain away most of the phenomena. In the end this is an extremely well written and produced series. It mixes supernatural elements with a drama played straight, a good dose of humour and psychological elements. I think did lose a bit of steam towards the end, however overall it’s fantastic series 8.5 out of 10.

Remaining Backlog: 28 months (it's much easier this way than listing the number of discs).