Ghost Hunt doesn’t start scary, but it ramps up quickly. The first arc is, indeed, as some critics have noted, very reminiscent of “Scooby-Doo”, but later stories are genuinely creepy, more akin to The Shining, Higurashi, Friday the 13th. Can I also confess — I love Ghost Hunt because it seems like a tabletop RPG campaign put on screen. At one point late in the series, one of the characters has an Exalted-style anima banner.

The series features Mai Taniyama and Kazuya Shibuya, who Mai consistently calls “Naru” (short for “Narcissist”), along with his assistant Lin, a shrine maiden of questionable abilities, a medium, a priest, and a Buddhist monk, and, eventually, another student. Ghost Hunt is divided strictly into independent “files” or story arcs that are about three or four episodes each. There’s a continuity from one file to the next — Mai’s increasingly understanding of the paranormal and increasing ghost hunting skill is a major theme — but skipping an arc will not seriously impair your ability to understand what’s going on.

Ghost Hunt is at it’s best when it’s not trying to be funny. The bad news is that there’s a filler comedic episode halfway through that’s absolutely terrible. The good news is that the writers wizened up after that and Ghost Hunt ends on a fairly serious, dare I say “awesome”, tone. If there’s any soundtrack to Ghost Hunt other than the opening and closing themes, I don’t remember it, but I did enjoy the solidly crisp art and animation. While not “must-see” by a long shot, I have no problem calling this addictive series a great anime.

Information on other sites:
Buy Ghost Hunt at Amazon.com
Watch now (Hulu)

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