Aphrael (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
silverthunder) wrote2008-10-11 08:08 am
silverthunder) wrote2008-10-11 08:08 am
Entry tags:
Ghost Hunt
I just got the first DVD box set of Ghost Hunt. I have to say, I'm impressed with this new idea of Funimation's. It seems that they will be releasing their series in 13-episode box sets from now on. This means I don't have to wait forever to collect them, because - let's face it - I'm not ever going to be doing the individual DVD thing. I did it with FMA, but I totally regret that decision. As long as whoever is releasing the series makes a box set for it, I'm happy.
Anyway, Ghost Hunt (and Ouran High School Host Club) appear to be split into two box sets. The sets are extremely small (almost the size of an individual DVD) and they include two thinpak DVDs each. They are perfect for storing. I hate large box sets for smaller series. I only have to put Peach Girl and Escaflowne beside each other to realize how much I hate this. Peach Girl's box is an inch wide. Escaflowne's is three or four inches. They have the same number of episodes, damnit!
But, anyway.
I had determined earlier on that Uninhabited Planet Survive was my favorite series, but I don't watch that series much any more. I'd still buy it if they ever released it over here, but still. I love the memory of it to bits, but I don't watch it much now.
I watch Ghost Hunt. A lot. Over and over. I love the creepiness. I love the smoothly tossed-in supernatural trivia. I love the mystery. And most of all, I love the characters.
I think what kept me from declaring Ghost Hunt my favorite was the plot (or lack thereof). As wonderful and rewatchable and delicious as it was, Ghost Hunt didn't seem to be progressing anywhere. It was a series of mysterious ghost hunting cases. The characters formed relationships and grew up some, easing in bits of nicely-given development, but the story didn't move. It wasn't really a story. So, I dismissed it.
And then I found out it was based on a book series, and read this nice little blurb on what actually ended up happening in the book series.
Oh, my...
I really hope they end up animating this. It would make a nice little OVA or 13-episode sequel series. And it ties everything together so perfectly! The series has plot! I do agree with the person who wrote that blurb that the author probably intended to complete the series at the end of the Evil Spirits books, because that seems like the natural place to end it, and really gives the series a beautiful, perfect conclusion. I think the anime should conclude at that same place, and leave the rest to fanfiction.
But yeah, after reading this, I think it would be safe to say that Ghost Hunt is currently my favorite anime series. I just look at it as an unfinished series, because the rest of it hasn't been animated yet. Perhaps it'll stay unfinished (I hope not). But that won't change anything for me.
Essentially, Ghost Hunt is Mai's story - hers and Naru's. It's about a girl and her first love, and how it eventually turns out. The problem is that her first love isn't who or what she expected.
I may be completely off the mark with this, but I think what the author was going for is an examination of the typical female who falls in love with her dreams of the man she's currently into, while failing to get to know the reality. The Naru who Mai knows in real life is actually a different person from the Naru in Mai's dreams - this is true literally in Ghost Hunt, because the Naru in Mai's dreams is actually Gene. Mai's feelings are unclear because she is confusing her dreams with reality. Naru is sharp enough to realize that the person she loves is not him, but the person she thought *was* him - in other words, Gene. Her conclusion at the end that she never got to know the real Naru seems to fit right into the theme. Mai fell in love with a dream, not the reality.
Whether or not Naru has feelings for Mai is left unexplained, but one would have to assume that if he did, he might even be unsurprised that she loves his brother rather than him. Gene seems to be more the sort of person who'd star in a young girl's fantasies: handsome, kind, and patient. Naru is not always the most pleasant person to be around. One wonders if their opposite personalities are the result of some kind of inferiority complex on Naru's part, but the story doesn't go into that. I don't think it needs to, either. We're shown the brothers through Mai's eyes; the audience really just has to speculate on their relationship.
With all this talk about Mai and Naru, it's going to seem kind of random, but... my favorite character has always been Bou-san (yes, I know he has a name that isn't just 'Monk', but that's how they call him in the series, and I've gotten attached to it). I don't know what it is I love about him, but he's just one of the characters I couldn't help but be drawn to.
Either way, Ghost Hunt is the current favorite. I love it.
Anyway, Ghost Hunt (and Ouran High School Host Club) appear to be split into two box sets. The sets are extremely small (almost the size of an individual DVD) and they include two thinpak DVDs each. They are perfect for storing. I hate large box sets for smaller series. I only have to put Peach Girl and Escaflowne beside each other to realize how much I hate this. Peach Girl's box is an inch wide. Escaflowne's is three or four inches. They have the same number of episodes, damnit!
But, anyway.
I had determined earlier on that Uninhabited Planet Survive was my favorite series, but I don't watch that series much any more. I'd still buy it if they ever released it over here, but still. I love the memory of it to bits, but I don't watch it much now.
I watch Ghost Hunt. A lot. Over and over. I love the creepiness. I love the smoothly tossed-in supernatural trivia. I love the mystery. And most of all, I love the characters.
I think what kept me from declaring Ghost Hunt my favorite was the plot (or lack thereof). As wonderful and rewatchable and delicious as it was, Ghost Hunt didn't seem to be progressing anywhere. It was a series of mysterious ghost hunting cases. The characters formed relationships and grew up some, easing in bits of nicely-given development, but the story didn't move. It wasn't really a story. So, I dismissed it.
And then I found out it was based on a book series, and read this nice little blurb on what actually ended up happening in the book series.
Oh, my...
I really hope they end up animating this. It would make a nice little OVA or 13-episode sequel series. And it ties everything together so perfectly! The series has plot! I do agree with the person who wrote that blurb that the author probably intended to complete the series at the end of the Evil Spirits books, because that seems like the natural place to end it, and really gives the series a beautiful, perfect conclusion. I think the anime should conclude at that same place, and leave the rest to fanfiction.
But yeah, after reading this, I think it would be safe to say that Ghost Hunt is currently my favorite anime series. I just look at it as an unfinished series, because the rest of it hasn't been animated yet. Perhaps it'll stay unfinished (I hope not). But that won't change anything for me.
Essentially, Ghost Hunt is Mai's story - hers and Naru's. It's about a girl and her first love, and how it eventually turns out. The problem is that her first love isn't who or what she expected.
I may be completely off the mark with this, but I think what the author was going for is an examination of the typical female who falls in love with her dreams of the man she's currently into, while failing to get to know the reality. The Naru who Mai knows in real life is actually a different person from the Naru in Mai's dreams - this is true literally in Ghost Hunt, because the Naru in Mai's dreams is actually Gene. Mai's feelings are unclear because she is confusing her dreams with reality. Naru is sharp enough to realize that the person she loves is not him, but the person she thought *was* him - in other words, Gene. Her conclusion at the end that she never got to know the real Naru seems to fit right into the theme. Mai fell in love with a dream, not the reality.
Whether or not Naru has feelings for Mai is left unexplained, but one would have to assume that if he did, he might even be unsurprised that she loves his brother rather than him. Gene seems to be more the sort of person who'd star in a young girl's fantasies: handsome, kind, and patient. Naru is not always the most pleasant person to be around. One wonders if their opposite personalities are the result of some kind of inferiority complex on Naru's part, but the story doesn't go into that. I don't think it needs to, either. We're shown the brothers through Mai's eyes; the audience really just has to speculate on their relationship.
With all this talk about Mai and Naru, it's going to seem kind of random, but... my favorite character has always been Bou-san (yes, I know he has a name that isn't just 'Monk', but that's how they call him in the series, and I've gotten attached to it). I don't know what it is I love about him, but he's just one of the characters I couldn't help but be drawn to.
Either way, Ghost Hunt is the current favorite. I love it.