Ghost hound is a 22 episode psychological, supernatural mystery horror anime. Less emphasis on the horror, it has a significant amount of supernatural elements and actual science, particularly psychology and neurology. It may be off-putting to younger viewers, but only because of the sophisticated and slowish-paced plot. There’s a lot less actual action than other ‘horror’ anime. I’m still surprised at how educational this anime was capable of being, not necessarily on purpose. For people who like mind-f**k anime and confusing anime (like myself), this might be right up their alley. I didn’t find much to be scared about which is a tad disappointing, but the initially crazy plot was capable of making me doze off. That seems to be characteristic of such anime, especially when watched very late at night. I’m kind of grateful for this anime helping me get to sleep, though I had to rewatch the parts I was unconscious for. I can say with certainty that this is an interesting and unique anime, that won’t appeal to all audiences, but it one that is unique and serious enough that it's still suitable for people who don't like anime or who don't watch many.
Animation
The quality was a bit hit and miss for a 2007 anime. I watched it in 720p on a large 1080p screen and it seemed somewhat blurry, grainy at times, though that could be due to the large screen size and non-native resolution. Yet the actual character models themselves were mostly perfect, only at medium to long distances did they look a tad fuzzy. The 3D CGI looks iffy at times, but thankfully it doesn’t appear too much. This may have a lot to do with the slightly inventive animation style.
They went for a simplistic approach, the characters are single colours, with not much in the way of shading. Not very difficult to actually do, imagine using just the fill tool to colour in on an image editor program. Not a bad thing since it actually goes a long way and the stylised approach juxtaposes with the occasional supernatural elements which appear to be more detailed. The actual character models (i.e. the faces) themselves seem to be typical, but when one looks closer, the important characters don’t seem familiar and are distinctive of this anime. This anime also contains some potentially gruesome and disturbing imagery, not gore exactly, but off-putting nonetheless.
Sound
The intro music is an interesting jazzy soundtrack and the outro music is a bit better, a bit more peaceful but with the slightly eerie feel one gets when such music plays in a ‘horror’ anime. But I am still a bit confused as to the choice of intro music, it seems a bit too positive and not even in the creepy way. It reminded me of the upbeat jazzy intro to Baccano. The background soundtrack for the anime was much better utilised. In addition to well-placed musical cues, there’s also static sounds and strange radio chatter that help to unnerve the viewer. Sound design in the anime itself is good. But it’s not enough to add atmosphere to keep the viewer on edge. Perhaps that is intentional, but we’ll never know.
Ghost Hound is available in both English and Japanese, I watched it English. There were a few moments here and there where I thought the voice actor’s pronunciation of a Japanese name was close to authentic. There’s also quite a lot of names of actual people involved with psychology and neurology (I googled on and was surprised to see it was a real person), which makes me wonder how well the Japanese version pronounce these Western names.
Tarou is voiced by Clint Bickham, also the voice of Yuuya Mochizuki in Another and Renji Asou in Ef - a Tale of Memories (once again, happens to be the last anime I watched/reviewed). Josh Grelle voices Makoto Oogami, voicing such roles as Tomohiko Kazami in Another, Akihisa Yoshii in Baka to Test, Kenichi in History’s Strongest Disciple Kenichi and Ren Kannagi in Kaze no Stigma. Miyako’s voice was instantly recognised as Brittney Karbowski who was Yuri in Angel Beats, Yukari Sakuragi in Another, Ryou Fujibayashi in Clannad, Kiko Kayanuma in Darker than Black, Kei Shindou in Ef - a tale of memories (…), Ayu Tsukimiya in Kanon (2006) and Black Star in Soul Eater (worst casting, just sounded wrong). Masayuki Nakajima is voiced by Corey Hartzog, an unfamiliar name to me but he voiced Ooyama in Angel Beats and Yuu in Clannad: After Story. I also recognised Chris Ayres as Takahito Komasu, who voiced Kei Kurono in Gantz among other roles.
Characters
The most central of the main characters here is Tarou Komori (pronounced ta-row). This 14 year old middle school boy had a traumatic experience 11 years ago, where both he and his older sister were victims of a kidnapping. His sister, who was an elementary schooler at the time, died during the event. Since he was so young when it happened, it left a somewhat lasting impression on him and he relives the events in his dreams. He never saw the face of the kidnapper, who instead appears as some ghostly giant and most of all, he cannot remember what his sister said that day. At school, he has fortnightly sessions with a psychological counsellor, Atsushi Hirata. His family owns a brewery and he’s somewhat expected to inherit it, even though he doesn’t like Sake. Tarou seems to have some sort of affinity towards Miyako and Masayuki ribs him on this.
Tarou’s father is normal and likes listening to old music on records. His mother on the other hand, has mental health issues due to the event 11 years ago, simply mentioning it in front of her is a no-no. The master brewer is a young freckled woman, Kei Yakushi, who learned the ropes from the previous master brewer, her grandfather.
Makoto Oogami (pronounced ‘oh-gah-mi’) is a moody boy in the same year as Tarou at school. He is a delinquent of sorts as he often doesn’t attend school, he enjoys rocking out and playing his guitar in his room. He lives alone with his grandmother Himeko. He hates his grandmother and the Oogami sect and his mother, especially since nobody will tell him exactly how why his father died 11 years ago, which he had the misfortune of being the first to discover the body. He was dropped by his mother as a baby, which required an operation. As such he claims he has mental issues and can’t think straight, in particular he claims to have no remorse if he were to kill a person. His grandmother wants him to inherit the long standing cult-like Oogami sect ‘religion,’ which he wants nothing to do with of course. He gets roped into making friends by Masayuki
Makoto’s father, original heir to the Oogami sect, was found dead 11 years ago, shortly after the Komori kidnapping and it was thought he committed suicide due to alleged involvement in the kidnapping. Makoto’s mother Sanae Oogami, left the Oogami household after his father’s death, effectively abandoning him. She moved to the neighbouring town of Kumada. She is a gentle, quiet woman, who always has a melancholic look on her face and is capable of giving off a creepy ambiance. Makoto’s sickly grandmother on the other hand, seems to be hiding a lot and appears to be some crazy cult leader mastermind. What’s more uncanny is her follower Noriko Kabata, who lives with them. This strange woman seems harmless, but I couldn’t help feeling there’s something about her.
Masayuki Nakajima is an outgoing transfer student in Makoto’s class. He is the sole son of a rich, successful scientist and moved to Suiten due to his father’s job at Dai-Nippon Bio. He also experienced trauma, a kid he was involved in bullying committed suicide by jumping off the school roof after manically scribbling that he curses his bullies on the class blackboard. As a result, Masayuki is scared of heights and feels as if he’s a murderer, rethinking his thoughts about bullying. Being the son of a rich man, he has a lot of cool stuff, like a computer, games consoles and even a VR headset (HMD) which he uses for therapy to treat his fear of heights as well as to play games on. He rarely communicates with his parents and has no clue as to what his father’s job involves. He’s curious about occult stuff and about the events 11 years ago, concerning both Tarou and Makoto and makes friends with them. He takes an interest in Michio Hoshino, a kid in his class who is bullied but also helps provide him with info about the events and such in Suiten.
Masayuki’s father Yasuhiro Nakajima works at Dai-Nippon Bio, a research facility in the mountains near Suiten. A successful man, who seems to have everything, he takes more interest in his work, rather than his family. He is seen rarely talking to his son and even less to his wife, Chika Nakajima. Chika, Masayuki’s young and still somewhat attractive mother seems to have some form of depression or psychological problem, she’s rarely seen interacting with her family, mostly just playing games (looks like Tetris) and drinking a lot of alcohol with a deadpan look on her face, similar to how Makoto’s mother looks. Masayuki’s father takes an interest in his colleague, the big breasted Reika Otori whose work at Dai-Nippon Bio, appears to hold some ulterior motive. She is also an expert in neuroscience and psychology.
The fourth main character and the female lead is the 11 year old elementary school girl Miyako Komagasu. She lives with her single father at a shrine on top of a hill, where she is also the shrine maiden. Tarou takes an interest in her, both because she was born shortly after the kidnapping 11 years ago, but also because she reminds him of his dead sister. While Miyako seems an odd girl, her school life is actually much better than the boys, she seems to be a normal kid who has friends. She gets in a bad mood when her father drinks alcohol or when he is talking to certain women. She hates her mother even more though, which is why she chose to live with her father after their divorce. Miyako seems in tune with the supernatural, being able to sometimes see the boys when they go soul-travelling and also being some sort of medium, due to no control of her own she is capable of being possessed by spirits. Other than that, she is a well-behaved child, even if she’s a bit cynical with it sometimes, acting a bit more mature than her age. Often accusing the older boys of acting like kids and playing around, doing things they shouldn’t do.
Takahito Komagasu, Miyako’s father, is a priest at the Suiten shrine and used to be a professor at a University in Tokyo, where he was married to Ayu Iwami. Their flawed marriage only lasted a measly four years, during which they had Miyako as their only child. After the divorce, Ayu took little interest in her daughter, instead focusing on her busy city job. Takahito is well versed in Japanese folklore, especially that which is relevant. He’s fairly outgoing and likes to drink, much to his daughter’s disgust. Despite all that, he is still a concerned father, struggling to raise his daughter on his own and feeling that she grows more distant from him as time goes on. It also turns out that he was friends with Makoto’s parents and the mayor. The four spent quite a lot of time together during their high-school days and even visited the abandoned hospital.
Atsushi Hirata is the psychiatrist who gives Tarou therapy. He commutes from his home and main place of work, Tokyo just for these sessions so there must be more to it. He’s a researcher/professor in neuroscience/psychology and divulges much info on how supernatural elements are related to actual science, or how they can be explained by them. I.e. by stimulating certain parts of the brain, one can induce an experience meeting aliens and such.
Other characters include the aforementioned mayor friend of Makoto’s parents and Takahito, Motoi Yazaki. This fat-cat politician supported various projects in Suiten over the last few decades, including Dai-Nippon Bio.
Story
11 years ago in the town of Suiten, two children were kidnapped. 3 year old Tarou and his elementary school sister Mizuka were found at the ruins of an abandoned hospital, the sole standing building of a ghost town, downstream of a dam, thus being often flooded. Only Tarou lived and shortly after the police tracked a suspect for the kidnaping to a Pachinko parlour. The suspect ran out and got hit by a truck, thus the truth couldn’t be obtained. Around about the same time, a man called Hideo Oogami commited suicide by slashing out his eyeballs and throat. His 3 year old son found the body. Thus, he was also suspected to be involved with the kidnapping as his suicide occurred after the children were rescued. Now in modern day Suiten, the truth might finally be uncovered? In recent years a research plant called Dai-Nippon Bio was built on the mountains nearby and the aged leader of the Oogami sect (religious cult) is sick with age. That is the background, something laid out in the first episode.
If you wanted a horror story, expect to be disappointed. Earlier episodes seem to be creepy, but this anime is more of a mystery, to solve what really happened all those years ago and what might happen now. And it’s a good one at that. There are a good many clues and a tad of fore-shadowing to reinforce the story. Initiaklly the plot seems a bit crazy and psychedelic at times, but this wears off over time. There’s a lot of supernatural and scientific subjects explored, often linking the two together. The science is actually real science, the outros seem to quote and reference real life people. There’s a lot to do with spirits, soul travelling, ghosts and hallucinations/visions. Quite the creepy stuff, though the whole soul travelling thing alone departs this anime from being realistic, which it initially seemed to be. The story does rely heavily on the characters, a good thing. Being a mystery, the story doesn’t come too close predictable, I honestly never saw the climax and end coming. Speaking of which, the conclusion is satisfactory, nothing annoying about it.
There’s a lot of powerful themes depicted here, including the kidnapping and killing, there’s also the value of life, scientific ethics, experimentation, depression and a few other things that either can’t be easily put into words or easily be mentioned without spoilers. Not bad.
Conclusion
So it isn’t the horror story one would expect and it has a ton of science and Japanese history/folklore to the point where folks might feel this aimer is teaching them something. Not everybody is going to like that, I was also a tad upset at the lack of scare beyond a few slightly creepy images and moments. As interesting as the plot was though, it didn’t blow me away as being so very amazing. It does have funny moments and heart-warming moments. But these aren’t the focus. Despite the potential to upset people with the disturbing themes, I’d recommend this anime to almost everyone. Especially those who don’t watch much anime, this is something a bit unique and shows the potential of this media. It’s far from generic, even the number of episodes breaks the mould. Maybe younger viewers of fans of less serious, more light-hearted anime could dislike this. But give it a try and see what you think.
Family-friendliness Rating: 4/5 Contains scenes of a disturbing nature (lower is better)
Overall Rating: 8/10 (higher is better)
Screenshots
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