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Ghost Stories (Gakkō no Kaidan) (TV).




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nobahn
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Joined: 14 Dec 2006
Posts: 5120
PostPosted: Sun Jan 17, 2016 8:47 pm Reply with quote


Ghost Stories / Gakkō no Kaidan

Genres: comedy, horror & supernatural
Themes: demons, ghosts & spirits

Plot Summary: Kids and ghosts. When young Satsuki finds an old book of spells from her passed away mother, she gains the power to fight ghosts that are haunting her new school. With the help of her friends, and of a really wicked devil cat, she must protect everyone around her or be haunted for evermore.
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Touma wrote:
I just realized that I have never seen a serious discussion about Ghost Stories. People talk about the dub but never about the show itself.
There is no discussion thread for it in the Anime forum, and I do not remember seeing any posts about it in the general discussion threads, such as "What are you watching right now?"

Now that Crunchyroll is streaming it maybe some of the people who like the show, and not just for the dub, will be inspired to give it some attention here.
As I said in a previous post I have tried watching the show subtitled, without much success. But I would be willing to try it again if anybody did start a serious discussion.

Well here you are Touma; have at it!
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louis6578



Joined: 31 Jul 2013
Posts: 1861
PostPosted: Sun Jan 17, 2016 10:13 pm Reply with quote
So, while it's a mediocre show, I don't think it's as terrible/bad/unwatchable as a lot of people claim. The sub is just "sorta average" and the dub isn't always that funny. IMO, it tries too hard to the point that it sometimes just feels like a bunch of drunk friends on bad movie night. I think the dub can be really funny, but more often than not, it just feels too mean-spirited.

Any other thoughts? I think it's a good kid's show in the Japanese dub if you guys wanna get your young ones into anime. Of course, this depends on how willing they are to read subtitles.
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Gatherum



Joined: 14 Feb 2012
Posts: 773
Location: Aurora CO
PostPosted: Mon Jan 18, 2016 1:51 am Reply with quote
The dub was amusing, but made the mistake of employing the pop culture references of the day, which means that by now, it's totally outdated, kinda like Duke Nukem Forever. At this point, it's really more of a novelty.

I wouldn't mind seeing more like it, albeit more future-proof.
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louis6578



Joined: 31 Jul 2013
Posts: 1861
PostPosted: Mon Jan 18, 2016 1:02 pm Reply with quote
My problem with this dub? Aside from making too many dated references (as you said), everyone is a joke. That works with Crayon Shin-chan, where the show was already a gag show in the Japanese dub, but here, you should still take the material somewhat seriously at times. I believe a reviewer pointed out that the one genuinely good episode of the sub was wasted on the dub because they didn't just lay off the meanspirited humor for a second.

By contrast, Sgt. Frog's dub still maintained seriousness and emotion when needed. Despite knowing that it wasn't the finale, I remember my eyes getting watery when it looked like the Keronian characters had to leave the humans (or... Pekoponians if you will). Sure, there were jokes, but the actors portrayed the characters as feeling depressed and afraid at the reality of the situation. In Ghost Stories, it feels too much like South Park, except even that had a few good tearjerkers.
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Guile



Joined: 18 Jun 2013
Posts: 595
PostPosted: Mon Jan 18, 2016 11:25 pm Reply with quote
I remember seeing that show a long time ago, it was kind of interesting though it bit short. What initially caught my eye was that the theme song was performed by Hysteric Blue, who also did the theme song for Vampiyan Kids. They were one of my favorite bands back in the day.

I think the show is a good introduction to Japanese ghosts and mythology for younger viewers, it might be too scary and violent for Western parents to show their kids though. Parents might also have problems with the fan service.
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louis6578



Joined: 31 Jul 2013
Posts: 1861
PostPosted: Mon Jan 18, 2016 11:26 pm Reply with quote
I say "to hell with conflicting values." No gore, it's clearly intended for kids. I watched Dragonball as a kid, uncut with the Master Roshi scenes in tact. I'm now a perfectly well-adjusted adult.
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4082
PostPosted: Tue Jan 19, 2016 11:08 am Reply with quote
The original show was pretty bad. The biggest problem wasn't the fact it wasn't scary... even for a kid's show; In America, we had the Real Ghostbusters and that one had some actual scares it in before S + P got a hold of it... but that it took itself too serious in the process. And it did that even if the audience not only had to buy the idea that no one thought to tear down the old school but that our intrepid ghostbusters would willingly enter it to put to rest by doing what the heroine's mother figured out years ago somehow.

So... why isn't the show about her? Suspense, mystery and scares all undone by, as the dub would say, "Just look in the book already!" "Oh yeah, I forgot I had that". Still, the opener is pretty good and that ending... really should be for a show not about grade schoolers.

As for the dub, I have the DVD for the dubbed rabbit episode, which is not only funnier than most anime comedy episodes, it's funnier than most anime comedy series. Karbowski's performance alone could fill any series but here, she manages to fit in a whole range of "acting" in 20 minutes with one messed up character.

And I don't buy the "dated references are useless and so is the dub" argument; If that was true, Looney Toons would have been finished years ago. "I don't know who that is or why they're pointing them out but the rest is funny" holds true and that's how period comedy works. I think it's the same with ZAZ movies{Zucker, Abrahams, Zucker} or MST3k {movie riffing}. Yeah, there are dated jokes here and there but they all work on the "quantity over quality" notion. Oh right, it's called "rapid fire comedy".

Why isn't that a thing anymore? Excel Saga didn't only run on it, it ran it into the ground.
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Beltane70



Joined: 07 May 2007
Posts: 3883
PostPosted: Tue Jan 19, 2016 1:40 pm Reply with quote
Well, now I know where Touma's avatar comes from!
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nobahn
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Joined: 14 Dec 2006
Posts: 5120
PostPosted: Tue Jan 19, 2016 2:03 pm Reply with quote
^
Yes, that was my reaction as well.
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