Product Details

• Format: Animated, Box set, Color, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 4
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Funimation Prod
• DVD Release Date: September 15, 2009
• Run Time: 590 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B002FOQXUK
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #130,442 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

The dead have something to say....

The appeal of the unknown is undeniable and freshman Mai Taniyama is hooked. This fact, coupled with her burgeoning psychic powers, leads Mai to join the ranks of the Shibuya Psychic Research team. Led by enigmatic Kazuya “Naru” Shibuya, she works alongside a spirit medium and a shrine maiden, an exorcist and a monk to uncover the darkest mysteries of the unseen. Using state-of-the-art technology and their respective spiritual gifts, evil is confronted and vanquished time and again.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Creepy, Mysterious, Fun, August 31, 2009

By 

ONENEO (Buffalo, NY) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Ghost Hunt: The Complete Series Box Set (DVD)

I'll be the first to admit that in the grander scope of things, I've never really been enthralled with paranormal-themed entertainment. Sure I enjoyed The Sixth Sense well enough when it was new and I may have even reviewed some anime titles in the past that bordered on supernatural, but I consider myself the type of guy who enjoys science fiction over mysticism and action over horror: In other words Star Trek over X-Files. That said, it's tough to argue with what an intriguing property Ghosthunt really is. But before we get ahead of ourselves here, let's take a look at the hard facts.

Originally released in individual season sets by Funimation, this set represents the first time the company is getting a Complete Series release out to the public. Coming in at a total runtime of 600 minutes, Ghosthunt The Complete Series spans 4 discs and comes packaged as a pair of thin packs within a cardboard slipcase.

The show wears an appropriate TV MA (14+) rating, which is due to some disturbing imagery and horror-themes over bad language or nudity.

Language options are typical sub & dub meaning the option of original Japanese dialog trackor an English dub (either of which is in stereo) and English subtitles available under either language choice.

Extras are quite thorough and include scans of the original manga pages, character case files, ghost sightings, textless opening, and of course, a nice host of Funimation trailers.

To explain the show to someone who has never seen it would go something like this: Take the mystery solving elements of say, Case Closed only center them on supernatural occurrences (ranging from ghost possession to legions of zombies).

Some of the scenarios are more realistic than others but each maintains a sort of creepiness throughout that is hard to dispute. The viewer follows the exploits of Naru, the founder of Shibuya Psychic Research, while he attempts to tackle such mysteries with John, Ayako, Houshou, Lin, Masako, and Mai.

Yes the names are a mouthful, but not to worry, they are easy to keep separate thanks to some unique and well assembled character development.

The cast is well rounded and plays well off each other (part of the show's charm): Naru represents levelheaded-ness and business aspects of running a Psychic Research operation. Ayoko is the intelligent and quick-witted shrine maiden (priestess). Housho gets the distinctive honor of being both a monk and a bassist for a rock band. John Brown (no, not the Sheriff) is an Australian priest straight out of the seminary (with Australian accent to boot), and a kimono-sporting psychic-hotline ghost buster Masako rounds out the crew. In other words, you'll have no trouble telling this motley crew from one another.

The source material was adapted from a manga that was itself based on an original novel series by Fuyumi Ono and pays homage to the material from which it was spawned surprisingly well (don't take my word for it, the manga pages are included here in this collection for your viewing pleasure).

Pacing is pretty slick as, and unlike most anime serials, Ghosthunt is actually a collection of several (two-part) self-contained mysteries. Once the individual case in question is solved, it's on to the next one. This formula works out thanks to the fact that the mysteries are pretty unique, save for the fact that they all involve the supernatural of course.

Voice work is a pretty even toss up between the languages. The Japanese version succeeds in terms of its dynamic flow while American counterpart introduces some interesting accents and ethnic touches.

In all, Ghosthunt is sure to appeal to fans of horror-mysteries and the paranormal alike. While a bit of the priest versus entity stuff comes off as a little too, um, cliché Americanized occult horror (over the generally more intriguing Asian thought-provoking stuff), on the whole the show meets some pretty lofty goals. It's especially nice to note that Funimation is bundling together the entire collection for the same price each of the two individual seasons has been selling for until now- An extra star for that!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully Terrifying, Haunting, January 28, 2010

By 

Masha (Miami, Florida) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ghost Hunt: The Complete Series Box Set (DVD)

Written by my teenaged son, approved by me:

I can't put this into words. This series is great! Not to mention that unlike other "supernatural" shows (some of which I could mention), it's extremely funny - sort of like the twisted brainchild of "Psych" and "Supernatural" converted into anime form. But enough banter, let's start the review!

Story: 9/10 - A paranormal entheusiast, Mai Taniyama, becomes indebted to the narcissistic Kazuya Shibuya ("Naru" for short) after breaking one of his expensive cameras. Sort of basic, but the separate cases each offer enough twists and turns to satisfy most anime fans.

Depth: 10/10 - The story starts off simply, but continues to grow in depth and, to an extent, emotion. How you get to learn about each character like you learn about people in real life - one step at a time - scores extra points, at least in my opinion. After all, big blow-out reveals are always long-winded.

Characters: 10/10 - Like I said, the characters don't show much depth at the beginning, but in time you get to know everything about them. Plus, unlike some other anime, the reveals aren't completely generic, either (Ayako's parents, doctors? Who would have thought?). The interactions between the characters also make for some great comic moments.

Entertainment: 10/10 - This anime is one of the most entertaining series that I've seen in a long time. It ranges from funny to serious to downright horrifying, and the changes are fluid enough that the audience is going to be glued to the edge of their seats throughout a whole file.

Overall: 39/40 - Almost perfect... but not quite. My only major gripe is that they never finished serializing the rest of the manga. After all, they completely forgot Volumes 10 and 11! Maybe they just didn't get released in time. Who knows? Either way, it's a good watch for anyone who's interested in the supernatural.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Nice Series For Any Fan Of The Supernatural Or Folklore Stories, September 23, 2009

By 

Rich "xman" (CA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ghost Hunt: The Complete Series Box Set (DVD)

The series has a nice twist of having both a touch of the scientific and the mystical as a group of psychic researchers take on cases that involve the spiritual or the unusual, the seven(And later eight) all have qualifications and abilities that help them along their cases from a catholic priest to a spiritual medium. The team tries to solve the cases in order to discern if they're truly hauntings, psychical phenomenon, or just hoaxes concocted by thrill seekers. The series is a nice mix of the storylines of psychical research into the spiritual world and the need to believe in the unusual with only faith, the episodes are mostly stories that come in multi-parts meaning that a story of a school haunting will last about three to four episodes instead of just ending with one episode which is very good since some of these stories need more than just one episode to explain whats going on with the case. The video quality and audio of the series is wide-screen and clear and sharp no distortions or blurriness to complain about and as with most of the anime coming from Funimation the voice cast for both the English/Japanese actors/actresses were great for their character roles, the extras are decent but not much to really shout about but for the price very forgivable. The set as with some of the other Funimation box set comes in two thin dvd cases that hold two dvds each and than put into a laminated thin paper sleeve, so if you're a fan of ghost or spiritual anime series, shows about ghost hunting, or just looking for a great series here's a good choice for anyone's anime home library...