Review of Ghost Hound

Disclaimer: Although I don’t think I include any spoilers that would ruin the experience, I do talk about the aspects of the show that usually confuse viewers the most, by describing several of it plot points in perhaps more details than a first time watcher would want. For a short opinion, it is not the easiest watch and it has a lot of issues particularly near the end, but it is a worth watching show as long as you are in the proper mood for it.

Shinreigari: Ghost Hound is one of the most ambitious anime I have watched in my life, not for being very hard to understand or follow, it certainly isn’t, but for covering and tying multiple plot points, topics, themes and several character arcs together. That’s also what makes it one of the hardest anime to review I have come across so far.

The first two things to clarify about it is that although you will see the horror and psychological tags in it, and even though it appears on every recommended horror anime list or video, it is not a scary show. It has ghosts as the title implies, and sometimes they appear out of nowhere, as well as an intense atmosphere, but if you go into it expecting the level of craziness from Mononoke, the jumpscares and creepy visuals from the first season of Yami Shibai, or the dark visuals and creepiness that sometimes anime like Boogiepop Phantom and even Serial Experiments Lain have, you won’t find them here.

And also, although it is not a complicated anime to follow in its structure, theme exploration, narrative or dialogues, it is still quite complex in scope, plotlines and presentation, this is not a series you just go into casually expecting to have a good time as soon as you begin watching it, you don’t just sit and watch this show, it requires you to pay attention to all of its different elements, topics and characters, with sometimes heavy exposition of different things and terms, while it also reveals certain details and character dynamics slowly and through its visuals instead of its dialogues, it shows instead of telling crucial plot points at times. This is why some have a hard time with it or don’t like it much in the end, while they also think that several plot points were left uncovered, forgotten or without answers. That’s why I think it might have been quite the challenging watch when it was airing weekly and why it’s better to watch it now that it’s fully complete and you can dedicate all your time to watch it from beginning to end, without watching much or anything else at the same time.

That is also why it stands between a niche and cult classic status for an acquired taste, it is not deep nor complicated nor thought provoking enough for the hardest to please most critical elitists, nor entertaining nor digestible nor easy enough to watch for the more casual viewers, even more so with the current era of anime, way different from the one when this title came out.

Which is a shame because, at least partially, thematically it is a series that would caught more attention nowadays because it deals with mental health, something that is very relevant right now, and what makes this show stands out the most. It is a very rare topic to cover within the medium, and that is also what makes it a bit of a valuable title. But presentation wise, if Ghost Hound were to air nowadays, it would go mostly unnoticed for its slow pace and mostly serious tone. Also, since it is a show aired from 2007 to 2008, I would imagine that part of the real life information and investigations it uses might be outdated in the way it is presented.

Anyways, the show follows three main characters, the polite and rather shy and quiet protagonist Tarou Komori (it’s always this type of protagonists in this type of anime for some reason), the also quiet but hot tempered and rude Makoto Oogami, a distant relative of the former, as far as I understood, and the also rude but seemingly more relaxed, extrovert and more noisy Masayuki Nakajima. These three have initially a rather weird relationship, as the first two are distant and indifferent towards each other, but the third one ends up getting them closer by annoying them by questioning them about a certain tragic and mysterious incident from eleven years before the series begins, and almost forcing them to go with him to the place directly responsible of or linked to their biggest traumas. This, is what ended up making them friends, soon after one of them threatens to kill another.

The three of them had experienced a direct link with death, either as a witness and almost victim of it, or as an indirect (or direct, depending on how you look at it) responsible for it, which is what left said big traumas on them and what would be the reason why they develop out of body experiences and later on gain super powers within the Spirit Realm, an element within the show. Despite this aspect being something close to beliefs and spiritualism, the series also incorporates real experiments, treatments, studies, terms and explanations from psychology, psychiatry and neurology both within the episodes and in the post ending song teasers of the following episodes, as appendixes, despite being a television show, to explain how those incidents had a direct impact on their mental health.

Heck, as the show goes on and moves more from one element to the other, and incorporates more topics and scientific fields, those appendixes even incorporate physics and physical and chemical reactions, so the series ends up expanding to more scientific branches as well.

Shinreigari doesn’t stop there, as it also showcases the family drama each of the three main characters have, from having lost members, whose deaths also left more relatives traumatized, to dysfunctional familial relationships, to divorces, affairs, to labor and economical struggles, what they want to do or not in the future, even with one of them rejecting being the successor head of an influential religious cult. And it’s not that these elements are shown just to flesh out the main cast, they are all related to the main mystery of the plot, and they also end up integrating more side characters, making those more relevant and interconnected than they initially seemed to be. Choosing a rather small town as the main setting was a real good move in terms of writing, otherwise all these connections and relations would come off as a bit too convenient.

Anyways all these different connections, relationships, personal drama and tragic backstories is what definitely make the main trio of characters to be memorable and fleshed out, making up for their rather simple personalities and not very strong developments and catharsis. They open up, they face their biggest fears, they gain abilities, they find out more about their tragic pasts and all the deaths in them, they grow more confident and end up confronting more people, they achieve something at the end, it’s just that it doesn’t feel very impactful for them nor properly presented in series. I will come back to this later.

Other relevant characters worth mentioning include Taro’s counselor and therapist Atsushi Hirata and neurologist and part-time doctor Reika Outori, who also works at Bio-Tech with Masayuki’s father. As plot devices, they function as mouth pieces for the heaviest information, but also have objectives on their own. He initially rejects all the supernatural events happening in the show as different kinds of mental stress, but as they begin to take over and be noticeable to everyone, ends up having his own spiritual occurrences and professional and personal views challenged. She wants to find out what they are really doing at Bio-Tech, but not much else can be said about her because everything about this woman is a spoiler.

Then there is Takahito Komagusu, a lecturer at an university and head of a shrine, used to be close to Makoto’s parents and knows stuff about the Spirit Realm. He also has some interesting things to say about global warming, though his views would feel outdated watching the anime now. Honestly this dude doesn’t have much to add to the show besides information, so more important than him, is his daughter Miyako, a rather serious and mature girl who has the ability to see ghosts and practices exorcisms along with her father, and is also possessed by spirits from time to time. That’s what leads other people to be afraid of her or see her as the dead people that possess her, which is why a big part of her character is she reaffirming that she is her, not anyone else. At some point she is possessed by a certain God being mentioned in classic Japanese literature, from what I gathered, so that’s another field integrated in the plot through it.

There are more side characters with their own problems and objectives, but otherwise don’t have much of a character arc to offer to the show, they are plot devices more than anything else. I could talk about what they do but that would make me spoil a lot of things.

But how does everything and everyone comes together within the plot? It’s hard to explain without spoiling the whole show, I’ll try my best off my memory, I apologize beforehand for any details I might remember wrongly.

Several characters are behind or partially responsible for the kidnapping eleven years before the beginning of the series and the deaths, traumas and more consequences it led to. This ends up allowing a certain religious cult with important political connections to grow in influence and power under the radar, and it also leads to a dam project being cancelled. In present time, Bio-Tech is in charge of a project/program to create artificial bodies of sorts with no actual lives, but because of a sabotage and the strong spirits present in this town and the spiritual energy of its different cultists and priestesses, they do end up being alive, and their spirits, being initially rejected by natural spirits, almost cause a natural disaster by the end of the show. The dude sabotaging the project to sell the information to competitors (I think), throws the bodies to the dam, which is what contaminates the fields, and that’s why Tarou’s family struggles to produce sake. A fake writer who works for the government is investigating everything.

See? Everything comes together.

As for the visuals, being produced by Production I.G, initially the series looks quite good, though that there are some quality drops here and there, and the backgrounds and special effects are really good. The character designs by Mariko Oka are reminiscent of Jigoku Shoujo but not to the point of feeling rehashed, plus there is a lot of variety in body types, faces, even heights, something which ends up playing part of the plot near its end. Unfortunately, being the kind of show it is, there isn’t much to talk about the motions, and as the show goes on, everything starts to feel a bit sloppier than in the beginning, quality drops are more obvious, characters go off model, some of the spirits look quite ridiculous and not serious for the type of show this is, stuff like that. A very good example are the spiritual forms of the main characters, which look and sound like babies made of bubbles with huge heads and visible baby butts, and their evolved forms aren’t much better either. At least the directing is pretty good, using first person perspectives during the out of body experiences, or aligning the movements and sound effects during certain scenes, like a clock clicking just as someone moves a finger, or as the eyes of a character keep opening and closing, stuff like that.

Speaking of that, legendary anime sound director Youta Tsuruoka is the real star from the production team behind this show, even though it’s filled with big names within the industry. Shinreigari has easily one of the best and most immersive atmospheres in the medium, and it’s thanks to its great sound effects, uses of distortion, what I can only describe as spooky ghost noises, sudden silences, among many other things. Too bad this has less presence in the final episodes, as the anime loses a bit of its creepy ambiance for a more lighthearted one. The music is also quite good but not on the same level, as it is not used much because the sound effects are, thankfully, prioritized. The opening is a pretty cool jazz song and the ending is a melancholic and beautiful ballad, sung from the perspective of Miyako, if I understood the lyrics correctly. As for the voice acting, the characters talk with a certain accent, and since I’m not Japanese I can’t tell how good or bad it is, to my ears, the voices sound fitting and the performances atypical, mature and well done, except for the voice you hear the most, and thus most important. Oh poor boy Tarou, to be voiced by a very green Kensho Ono, not once did this man deliver a single line with a convincing emotion that any scene required, unfortunately he brought everyone else down.

But even though Ghost Hound does a good job in connecting so many different plot points and characters, it still isn’t a remarkable series in terms of writing for several reasons.

-The pacing is slow, and I don’t mean that in the general sense, used for when something it’s unexciting and unengaging. Several episodes are dedicated to explain certain details or terms, while the plot doesn’t move much.

-The main trio gains super powers that allows to literally kill their problems, and as the show goes on, said abilities even start working or not however it conveniently suits the plot and/or characters at the moment. Plus, only one of them has a clear reason for why his powers are the way they are. With the other two, you’ll have to explain them yourself based on minor hints.

-There’s a ghost inside Tarou’s head helping him at crucial moments, and it’s never clearly answered nor explained who that was, at best you can make your own headcanon based on vague assumptions.

-Characters give away crucial information with extreme ease to either people that more likely don’t know the beginning of what they are talking about, or to clearly suspicious others.

-Besides Tarou’s dad, who’s completely absent from the plot and themes, and perhaps Miyako’s dad, every other parent just plains sucks or is poorly handled. Makoto’s dad? Quite the ambiguous character. His mom? Impossible to feel empathy towards her, she did everything wrong and even went through and back from amnesia in just one episode (ROFL), at most I felt good for the kid, but her? Just no, terrible character. Miyako’s mom? The absolute worst. Tarou’s mom? Her problem was resolved out of screen. Masayuki’s mom? Barely even a plot device, I don’t even remember hearing her voice. His dad? He never pays for everything he does or is responsible for throughout the show, the way he goes back to his family and they act like a happy family with no issues at the end was one of the most stupid things in it.

-There is a project/program to create life, and only two people are in charge of it? And they are not even properly monitored? One of them even betrays the lab at some point. Just, no.

-Resolutions are simple and easy, especially in the last episode, which was so unfittingly silly, happy and cheesy, on top of rushed and convenient, that it felt like the series was planned to go for a little longer but had to finish sooner than expected for some reason, thus it ended up leaving a bad taste and impression.

-Related to the previous point, the antagonists in this series are some of the worst ever and you don’t even see what happens with them in the final episode.

-There is supposed to be a catharsis for everyone, but it doesn’t feel that way, the way the characters reach a conclusion for what they wanted answers for or achieve their objectives just…feels incomplete, they just kind of go: “You know what? Forget it, it’s not that big of a deal”.

As a whole, Shinreigari: Ghost Hound is one of the most ambitious and interesting anime I have ever watched in my life, covering many different themes, topics, ideas, scientific fields and branches, beliefs, several plot points and character arcs together in a way that felt overall well done, with overall good visuals and some of the best sound designs and atmospheres ever in anime. Unfortunately it loses steam as it goes on, and the writing, resolutions and character arcs have a very bad conclusion, leaving some very poor final impressions and after taste, which is why it doesn’t have a very strong rewatch value for me. It was still a worthy watch, almost to the end.


6/10