ENGLISH DUBS
Within the first episode we already have cracks at the Republican Party and a reference to Family guy. The English dub is witty, taking into account the modern culture of America. This humor uses sometimes liberal and shocking comedy elements like you might find on FOX or a Stephen Colbert show. Similar to Science theatre, it will have you rolling. The trick is to watch it in English. It is surprising to find such a relatable and applicable comedy in the anime genera. I would recommend this to thousands of households in the U.S. It is an especially great treat to share with friends that say they are not “into anime”. They will find they cannot deny the hilariousness of this side splitter. WARNING: This type of humor is not for the easily offended, or conservative crowd, it requires a Simpson, Family Guy watching audience as even religion is not left out here.
ORIGINAL JAPANESE SCRIPT & SUBTITLES
If you are a frequent watcher of anime and you have to hear the original script and voices that option is still available on this film. BEWARE, you are in for a totally different experience, that you may not enjoy if you liked it in English. It is not often that an anime is better dubbed, but this may be a good stretch for the sticklers to try something new. I watched every episode both ways, and the plot is something to be desired with out the jokes. It plays out much like a badly written version of the crypt keeper and Goosebumps. Without suspense to build up the fear in our youngsters it’s hardly an acceptable ghost story. The entire idea comes from the urban legends of Japanese school ghosts. If you remember “bloody Mary, bloody Mary, bloody…” and that scared you, then this may be your flick. I would recommend the planed script for children of a young age who can still appreciate the realness of a monster lurking in the bathroom.
STORY
There are four episodes on this DVD. The general plot is extremely predictable. This has to do with the fact that this is based on the typical ghost stories of students in Japan. All the spirits that once terrorized the town have been resting for years. Now that construction has started they are being released from their prior holds in the mountain and at the old school house. The characters come into contact with some sort of spook or ghost and things predictable and tritely fall perfectly in place to tell an urban legend. The answers to everything are in the “ghost diary”, which conveniently opens to the correct page every time so our students are never in any real danger. For the young viewer that remembers those shows to be the scariest, the original Japanese may suit that age group, however the English version is for a more adult crowd.
PRESENTATION
The DVD doesn’t really come with any extra surprises. It is done in a typical if not older anime style, classic look of the eighties, which is appropriate for this film. There was nothing too amazing about any of the artwork, though it was well done, it levels at par.
EXTRAS
The extras include; Clean Opening (beginning song with out credits), Clean Closing (ending song without credits), Previews, and Ghost Profiles. These extras are typical but not very exciting until we get to the last option.
GHOST PROFILES
There are eight ghosts that appear and they are all listed in the extras under ghost Profiles. Here we can learn about each ghost and how it relates to its urban legend as well as to American urban legends. Here we find many parallels in both Japan and American Urban Legend, linking “Hanako of the Toilet” and “Moaning Myrtle.” This is actually quite interesting because it is a bit of Urban Legend history, and is complete with pictures of each ghost as well as possible other renderings.
OVERALL
A GOOD COMEDY, FULL OF LIBERAL JOKES
Overall: 6.0