Customer Reviews

Ghost Stories, Vol. 1: Freshman Frights

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
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A bit before Ghost Stories vol 1 first hit store shelf, ADV caused an angry explosion among snotty anime purists. They revealed that they were taking this D-List title that no one had ever heard of before and had skipped on producing a faithful English adaptation. Instead, they produced a biting and very funny parody dub while leaving an accurate subtitled version intact for those fans who just have to watch it in Japanese. Thank goodness for that! In its original form, Ghost Stories is an utterly mediocre series that culls its plot-lines from well-known urban legends, ghost stories, and even horror movies. It focuses on horror elements, but by trying to remain a family-friendly show, never manages to be scary. It's faux-horror, sort of like Scooby-Doo. It's not unwatchable, but its just so average why would you want to?
This hilarious parody dub is the real selling point. Pithy, biting, self-aware, and extremely funny, the basic story-line of the original is intact, but features completely different dialogue and played for laughs. Motherless Satsuki and her mentally challenged brother Keichiiro move to a new town with their widower father. On the grounds of their new school is an old haunted school building. When they and their new friends, Leo, Momoko, and Hajime venture inside looking for Satsuki's cat, they accidentally release the vengeful ghosts previously sealed away by Satsuki's dead mother. ...And their cat gets possessed by the sarcastic demon Amanojaku. The rest of the series follows their trials and tribulations as they try to reseal these troublesome spirits.
I thought I wouldn't care to much for Ghost Stories because the first episode its not very funny. It's the episodes that follow that strike comedy gold. Episodes dealing with haunted toilets, piano ghosts, and a very bad school play, give the script writters and actors a lot of funny material to work with. As I have rewatched this disk multiple times and still find it enjoyable, I can honestly say that this comedy has shelf-life. It won't go stale after the first viewing.
Handling script writting is direction duty is Steven Foster, the person who also handled the parody dub of the Super Milk-chan Show. If you liked the humor in that series, you will like this. Maybe even more so because the humor in Super Milk was long winded. But good writting is nothing without good delivery. Ghost Stories has that in spades as the acting credits is practically a who's-who list of the very best of ADV's in-house talent.
ADV made the right choice in creating this alternative version. They took a series that no one would have cared about other wise and made it a stand-out title as well as outstanding.

Ghost Stories caught me off guard. I was expecting an anime aimed at children with a few morals sprinkled in between the moments that bring easy chills (graphically drawn monsters, characters in paril). Yet it really had nothing to do with either of the above. Firstly, it's obviously not meant for scares. Secondly, I wouldn't let any child below the teenage years watch this, as the children in this anime curse (not graphic), talk about lesbianism, and have a few religiously based jokes.

What do I mean by it's not meant for scares? Well, that's easy. This anime is hilarious. It has plenty of funny one-liners (it has a Family Guy quote) and an odd collection of characters. The two main characters lost their mother and now have to put up with an over-protective father, and they just so happen to have a possessed cat. There's the everyday playboy with his nerdy ghost-expert friend. And finally, and probably the most hilarious of all the characters, there's the born-again Christian who constantly spouts her faith, especially when it really isn't needed.

Though I haven't gotten too deep into the story itself, it seems that most of the trouble surrounds an old school house where, on their first day of school, the two main characters end up getting lost in while looking for their cat. A lot of the creatures/ghosts, whatever, that show up are obviously exaggerations on some of the Japanese myths, and none of them actually have a scary look to them. They just add to the spontaneous hilarity of the jokes.

It's difficult to categorize this anime. I highly recommend it for anyone who enjoys slapstick comedy such as what is found in Slayers and Sorcerer Hunters. I would also recommend it for its simple uniqueness. I've yet to find an anime that has caught my attention like Ghost Stories has.

I'm new to anime. Though like most people, I've seen CN's offerings (ie., Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon, etc.). Really just the anime popular enough to cross over to an American audience. It wasn't until I finally sat down and watched the Anime Network's On-Demand programming that I really got hooked (Fumoffu!, Gantz, Demon Lord Dante, what's not to love?).

I actually first spotted "Ghost Stories" while watching Dvd Dojo, and I was immediately interested in the premise for the series ... Old Japanese folklore mixed with an off the wall sense of humor. I then spent the next two weeks trying to track down a copy, which I finally found at a local Best Buy a few days ago.

Basically, a group of kids (and their cat) find themselves exploring an old, abandoned, school house (repeatedly ;)which happens to be right next door to the the school they actually attend.

I don't want to ruin any episodes for anyone, so I will only say, that this show is hillarious! And, as an added bonus, it even manages to be a bit creepy at times.

"Ghost Stories" has officially become my favorite anime in the comedy genre, ranking right up there with my other favorite "Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu".

If you like comedy in your anime, give this one a try ... I seriously doubt you'll regret it.

Intentionally altering dialogue, changing not just the language but what the characters are actually saying for added humor, (including adding more profanity,) has been done before, at least to a much lesser degree, in shows like BURN-UP W, THOSE WHO HUNT ELVES and even PUNI PUNI POEMY. But not like it's done here.

The basic story is still the same: Satsuke (who, with her pigtailed red hair, looks alot like an elementary school version of female Ranma,) must exorcise the old abandoned school house of it's many ghosts with the help of her younger brother and three neighborhood friends, and her mother's diary. However, many other things have changed, including character's personalities. (You probably know what I mean if you've read the other reviews.)

If you don't like the type of humor here, you can still always watch the Japanese-with-subtitles version. But I watched the dub and laughed till my sides hurt. Also, if you are hearing impaired or have a friend who is, there is a third language track where it's the dub and the subtitles read what the American voice actors are saying, so everyone can enjoy it. I now own the first two disks in the series and am going to buy the third when it comes out.

I got the opportunity to see this anime in the anime club I sponser. It is about a girl who moves to with her dad and brother to the town where her parents met. In this town is an old schoolhouse which is supposed to be "haunted".
On her first day of school, her cat runs into the haunted school house. The main character (I forgot her name) enters the school house. Some boys from her class try to scare her but they all end up locked in the spooky old school. When it seems things can't get any worse, the kids find out the school is really haunted when a ghost chases after them. When things can't possibly can't any worse when....well you will just have to see for yourself. I highly reccommend this anime.

Hi, I'm your wierd, typical obbsessive anime fan (what else is new?) and at first, like many I'm sure, was skeptical to give Ghost stories a shot. Because lets face it, although I really love anime and as much as I enjoy watching it most of it really does kind of stink. However what anime is good is really really good, and Ghost Stories is one of the few series that I think manages to fall into the really really excellent catagory of anime. It's strange, I know, all of you who haven't seen the series yet probably think i'm crazy, but trust me this is top notch stuff. This does not apply to the subtitled version however. Let me explain. Basically GS in it's original Japanese format is pretty much a little kid's show, not that it's really bad or anything like that, it's just a little well, to be nice, uninteresting. Luckily though the people at ADV films caught on to this, and so when the series was dubbed the script was changed completely, to what I think is one of best anime releases of the year. However the Humor is not what you would normally expect. You see when I say the script was altered form the original I'm only talking about what the characters have to say, as far as the story in each episode is concerned, nothing is changed. So therefore Ghost Sories does not reley on Physical Humor, but on just plain verbal humor to move it along, and belive me most of it is really funny. Heres an Exmaple of what I'm talking about as far as the script change is concerned:

(This line is said at the begining of the first episode when one of the main characters, Hajime, sees a girl named Momoko)

Japanese line: "Wow she's beautiful."

English Line: "Gigidy, Gigidy."

Most of you I'm sure will recoginze that from Family Guy. Thats another thing, the humor presented here is nothing like that of Excel Saga, or pretty much any other anime comedy out there. Since the dubbed script is changed form the original the humor is solely for american audiences only. Meaning that 90% of the show's comedy is derived from American pop-culture, which is why the show is so darn funny. Anyone who is over the age of twelve who lives in America should have absolutely no problem understanding the humor conatined within Ghost Stories. There are I think maybe two or three anime related jokes in the whole first disc. Another thing about his show thats so ingeniously funny is the main characters. All four of them are around maybe 10, 11, or maybe 12 years old and almost everything that they say you would not expect a kid that age to say. Heres another example:

(This line is quoted from Episode four. It is said by the main character Satsuki while she is washing dishes)

Satsuki: "Don't worry I'm sure I'll live a long miserable life of Heartbreak and Alcoholism before a ghost takes me out."

What little kid says that? And thats only one example, heres another one:

(This line is quoted from epsode two when Hajime is about to be sucked into a circling void of Ghostly badness, or something to that effect anyway, remember these kids are around eleven years old)


Hajime: "No, I'm too young to die, the only person iv'e had sex with is my babysitter."

Once again how many times do you hear that come out of the mouth of an eleven year old. The humor in that sense I guess is very much like South Park, in a way. But thats why the show is so freakin funny. But just a fair warning, if you are easily offended by things then I suggest you steer clear of Ghost Stories, or at least the dub anyway. Because believe me, this show pretty much rips on everyone. So, just a warning.

I cannot stress how great this series is. If you are an anime fan tired of the same old thing over and over again then I suggest you give Ghost Stories a shot, you won't regret it.

Before I watched the first episode of GHOST STORIES, I was hoping that this film would be different.

I don't know how many times I have watched a Japanese drama or anime where young school students go against the demons and monsters that are haunting their school.

When I started watching GHOST STORIES, I learned quickly that the anime dialogue is no way connected to the original Japanese series.

As the characters started talking about Rev. Al Sharpton and Tom Cruise and Satsuki ribbing on her brother and calling him retarded because of his lack of speaking well when excited. I was definitely surprised.
What essentially happened was ADR director Steve Fosterrewrote the dialogue for this anime and did an improvisational adaption for it.

Foster brought in the best voice talent in anime (Chris Patton, Christine Auten, Greg Ayres, Hilary Haag, Illich Guardiola, Monica Rial and Rob Mungle) and took an anime that could have been uber-crappy and made it into a hillarious comedy.

The main storyline of GHOST STORIES features the adventures of new student Satsuki and her crybaby brother.

The two children, pet cat and their father move to the city of where their mother and father first met.

Through unfortunate circumstances, the two end up going inside a closed, haunted school as they try to find their cat.

Fortunately, they have the help of their neighbor Hajime and his nerdy Jewish friend and also the help from girl who is a hardcore born again Christian.

The kids learn that Satsuki's mother was a principal at the school and left a book on how to seal the monsters.

Thus the kids become somewhat of a Team Ghostbusters and as for that missing cat, it appears they accidentally sealed the demon in their pet cat.
The voice acting in this anime is top notch and to hear them improvise and come up with hilarious dialogue is just impressive.

A lot of the improvisation that we have seen in the past were usually featured on the DVD special features ala outtakes.

So, it's an understatement at the last, when actual episodes feature this improv acting. It's so surreal.

Sure, the animation may not be all that great and I was told that the original Japanese dialogue was not all that exciiting. So, for ADV to really do something this different is awesome and absolutely hillarious!

As for the DVD, the final release (October 25) will feature 4 episodes (100 minutes) with special features such as a "ghost profiles" with background on Japanese folktales, clean opening and closing animation and more.

I'm not sure if this will start a trend for comedic improv acting for voice dubs in anime series but if it does happen, I'm definitely buying it! I highly recommend checking GHOST STORIES out.

Funniest thing I've seen in ages! Don't watch it if easily offended, but if you can laugh at people making stabs at race, politics, religion, etc., then definitly buy. If you can't laugh at it, go to a proctologist. You got a stick up your [...]

Good anime with a lot of witty reparte. This anime series makes fun of a lot of different types of people and religions. If you have a sense of humor you will enjoy this series.

This is an excellent ghost story anime. It takes some of the ghosts stories often heard in japan schools and makes a funny spin-off on it. The viewer can watch the episode and understand what the ghost does, while enjoying the side-splitting jokes along the way. There is also a menu in the extras with a bio for each ghost in that disc.