I'm a sucker for a good haunted house story. I went in blind on my marathon viewing of the 2006 anime series Ghost Hunt and my one regret is that there is only one 25 episode season. (Fear not, dear readers; a second season is scheduled to arrive December 2014). Mai is a first year high school student who accidentally gets pulled into Shibuya Psychic Research, a company run by Kazuya, a 17 year old tech expert, and his stoic assistant Lin. Kazuya introduces Mai to a cadre of spiritualists consisting of a famous teenage TV medium, a self-proclaimed priestess, a monk turned rock star, and a teenage fully ordained exorcist. The team uses the combined skills of science, Buddhism, Shintoism, Catholicism, Taoism, psychic abilities, and intuition to identify and eradicate paranormal menaces all over Japan.
The first thing to know about Ghost Hunt is that it is meticulously researched. I was incredibly impressed by the depth of knowledge the show packed into each 22 minute episode. From standard ghost hunting equipment (temperature gauges, thermal imagery, night vision cameras) to actual explanations for why the high tech stuff (and televised investigations) so often fail, Ghost Hunt would be noteworthy just for the quality of information on the show.
It goes further than that. Each of the major arcs of the story is inspired by a famous haunting from around the world. One arc focuses on the skepticism still present in Japan from the rash of young girls who claimed to develop the ability to bend spoons and move objects with their minds in the 60s; you know, the same history that inspired The Ring series? Another arc acknowledges the similarities to the Winchester Mystery House, aka that creepy mansion that the Winchester Rifles heir had construction continue on until she died to ward away the ghosts of victims of her father's firearms. That would be the same source material as Stephen King's Rose Madder. To be frank, most of these stories are best represented by Ghost Hunt. That includes that crazy story about the Annabelle, the killer doll, that The Conjuring butchered so.
There's more. The experts all exhibit actual skills and techniques practiced under their disciplines. The Buddhist monk actually uses Buddhist chants and rituals in his investigations. The Catholic priest dons the robes and follows the official exorcism guide. Later on, Mai begins to develop her latent psychic abilities and has experiences of astral projections and lucid dreams that fit in with accepted research and expanded folklore surrounding the practices.
All the accuracy in the world is a great thing. It doesn't do a show any good if it's not entertaining.
Fortunately, Ghost Hunt succeeds there, too. It is, without a doubt, the scariest animated series I've ever encountered. The slow build of techniques, recurring elements, and higher stakes investigations makes the last three story arcs almost unbearable to watch. The animators have a lot of fun creating the hauntings from multiple perspectives--flashbacks, in camera footage, eye witness testimony, dreams, visions, and group experiences. Then the story drills those events into the ground over and over until there is a logical explanation or the characters have one more task on their checklist of exorcisms and cleansing to complete.
Horror fans will not walk away disappointed by Ghost Hunt. It honestly features some of the best haunted house story writing and scare sequences I've encountered. As a reminder, that's my favorite second favorite horror genre, right behind religious horror (which, technically, this is).
You can stream the entire series on Netflix and probably get through it in a weekend. I highly recommend it.
