Ghost Stories: Complete Collection

So... that asterisk needs some explaining. The English dub is hilarious. The japanese? meh.This anime has an interesting story. not a storyline, I'm talking about a real-world story. As I understand it, once upon a time there was an incredibly popular manga series about a bunch of middle schoolers who defeat various japanese ghosts. It was so popular that, it was reasoned, an anime adaption would be a smash hit. Only it turned out the anime itself was as generic as generic can be. It was bland, unoriginal and, frankly, uninteresting. For some reason, it was decided it should get a stateside release anyway. why? Dunno. It isn't important. What is, is that the localization team was given a unprecedented freedom with how the dub was done and, one suspects, what they were allowed to smoke while doing it. In fact, the only thing they were not allowed to change was how the ghosts were defeated.As I said, I found the result hilarious. Whether or not you will depends primarily on whether you have a sense of humor and secondarily whether you're one of those people who is constantly on the lookout for the next thing to take offense at. You know, the kind of person that takes something fun and ruins it for everyone else. But then again, if that describes you, you'll probably STILL enjoy it- just not for the same reason.Regardless, if you're like me and have an anime collection taking up space on your shelves you might want to pick this one up just to have it, even if you never watch it. If you're on the fence, head on over to youtube for 15 minutes or so. Believe me, there are TONS of clips of the "did I really just hear what I thought I heard?!?!?" sort of thing this series is full of.Underneath it, though, there is actually a story arc. It isn't the focus of the anime but it is enough that the end events are both unexpected and satisfying- in terms of closure, not humor.Personally, I'd love to have a dozen more of this type series like this on my shelves. The closest I've ever seen to it, though, is the less-official Walking Tacos overdub of Ralph Bahski's Lord of the Rings. After that, its fan dubs on youtube.

I’m relatively new to anime which means I sometimes make a blind purchase. I had seen a blurb about Ghost Stories somewhere and when I saw it on Amazon, I thought I’d give it a try. Well, the blurb hadn’t mentioned anything about it being a spoof-type series. I originally hit play and only paid vague attention until about three minutes in when I heard grandpa mutter, “When this bitch kicks, I’m moving to Vegas.” By episode two, I was hitting the internet trying to figure out if this show was for real. Turns out it is but it isn’t. It’s a real show but with an English “script” that takes a tour through crazy town. And it’s fantastic. It’s a bit like Mystery Science Theater 3000 if they took over all the dialog of a movie.Don’t expect an award-winning dramatic anime. The plots are silly and the dub often pushes it into straight ridiculous. And if you’re easily offended, this series is not for you. But who says we can’t have a little mindless fun once in a while? Ghost Stories is great for a laugh and full of quotable lines. I was going to end with one of those quotes but all the ones I can think of are inappropriate! Enjoy!

Ok, this anime might be the funniest damn thing I've ever seen. Ghost Stories was made in 2000 by Aniplex and Pierrot,and licensed here in the states by ADVision.The story is about a girl,Satsuki, who has just moved to her deceased mothers hometown. There she meets a few kids from the town and they soon end up locked inside the towns old schoolhouse.While looking for Satsukis' pet cat, they run into a ghost that had been sealed away in the school by Satsukis' mother.They find a book her mother used to seal ghosts away when she was alive and accidently seal it away in her pet cat.Ok, so that might sound like the start of a ghost hunting anime adventure, and it is, but what really makes this series is the reversioning of the plot and storyline.Some things were asked to be kept in the series, like the traditional Japanese ghost story legends etc. But, other than that, ADV said...take it and do what you will!And, what they did was a hilarious,offensive and remarkable bit of anime gold.The voice actors, Hilary Haag, Monica Rial, Greg Ayres, Chris Patton and Christine Auten do an unbelievable job at making you laugh your butt off.Now,it can be offensive to some, as there are sex jokes,gay jokes,religious jokes etc. So a warning on that. However if you are into funny pop culture jokes and the like, you'll get many laughs outta this show.Overall, I gotta say what they did with it was great. Highly Recommended!