Ghost Hunt

I thought this looked as if it might be worth watching when I saw that Funimation had it on their YouTube channel. While it wasn't the best anime series I've seen it was still entertaining and I'm glad I gave it a go. The series was made up of eight individual stories which varied in length from one to four episodes.

The main character is Mai Taniyama, a sixteen year old orphan who ends up helping Kazuya Shibuya, who she calls Naru because of his narcissism, with his paranormal research. This typically involves being called in to a haunted site and discovering what is the cause of the problems them exorcising any malevolent spirits. They are assisted by a catholic priest, a TV spiritualist, a Buddhist monk and a Shinto shrine maiden, these people aren't officially part of the team but are either called in for help or just volunteer their help.

While I didn't find the stories particularly scary they were entertaining and one of them managed to be quite sad... in a good way. I liked the characters who each brought something to the story, the animation looked good and the voices sounded good to me although I admit not understanding Japanese but having to read the subtitles.

I had been looking for a good, scary anime with a well-rated English dub and was suggested to give this a watch. I love Mai and Naru's English voice actors from previous work, and decided this was my pick. Despite being easy to scare and hating most horror movies and haunted houses, I love ghost hunting and thought this would be a fun ride with that in mind. I have come to learn during my recently developed love and exploration of anime that not all writing is going to be stellar, and that is the case with Ghost Hunt. There were a handful of times where I was face-palming due to the lack of logic or seeming forgetfulness of what had already been established in the show's lore, yet I still enjoyed myself thoroughly. It had some great scares (in particular, the episodes involving a certain doll gave me the creeps, and the Winchester Mystery House-like saga was horrifying) and lovely nods to mythology and magic that gave it a nice edge over what I was expecting to be a scary slice-of-life anime. Mai and Naru both had a tendency to drive me up the wall, but I still found myself entertained by the antics in the show and wishing it ran longer so I could have more time with the whole cast of characters. I also appreciated the break from swearing and not-so- subtle fan service that is so common in "grown up" animes. How clean it was actually made me joy it more, it stood out because of it. Sometimes we need a break from cussing and boob shots, and this was a fully entertaining anime that offered that break.

I gave this anime a 7 since the individual adventures (or rather, 'Files', as they are called in the show) that stretch over a few episodes each are quite good. It doesn't deserve higher since it's not finished. The show would've ended perfectly where it does with just one extra episode or a couple of scenes to wrap some stuff up. But as it is, at least one major element is left unexplained (but is very easily researched as this is based of a manga)and a main character doesn't feel like he's developed that much at all by the end.

Despite not finishing the manga's arc, missing it's own as well, it's quite enjoyable as the individual cases that the 'gang' work on throughout the show all have their own interesting arcs and it's always a game of cat and mouse with guesses and information as the tools of progressing the story. This is one of my favorite animes despite being cut short. Perfect for anyone who likes ghost shows with investigative properties.

If you are into the paranormal or anime then this series is worth checking out. Up to 25 episodes, the show revolves around cases that are submitted by different characters. There are 8 cases in total with each one being better than the last "In my opinion"

The show offers a suspenseful atmosphere that makes you question what is going to happen next and being how it's on Netflix you can almost promise yourself that binge watching might occur.

Note: For a better experience I watched it when it was late at night with the lights off while wearing a headset that was turned up all the way with a bass boost...Makes the experience so much better.

I have been a big manga\anime fan since childhood and I recommend this anime to someone who wants to watch something in horror genre. You can't compare this to Death Note but yes, this can be added along with High School of the dead and Ghost stories. This show has 2-3 mind bending episodes or cases I should say, where you ultimately end saying "f dude". So, thumbs up from me.