Final Thoughts on Ghost Hunt

I wasn’t expecting much coming into Ghost Hunt; I even stopped watching the series after episodes 4 and 18 for a while (though when I went back and continued watching I was much more often grateful than not). However, I was surprised that the series wasn’t as typical as I’d expect from something in this vein (like simple, predictable cases with cheap scares and inconclusive resolutions).

On the contrary, the different cases that were dealt with by the team were all original, intriguing mysteries that had me guessing till the end. Everytime I thought I had it sussed out, a new culprit or variable was thrown in that was unexpected but made perfect sense. You could tell that each aspect of the “Files” was well-written and thought out, so that most of the time all the elements came together to make a engaging, gripping arc.

All the technical elements were great too. The music, though slightly cheesy at times (some tracks seemed tailor-made for making exposition suspenseful, but just didn’t work) was always suited the scene and the art and animation was the same, sometimes bright and cheery during the comedic scenes and otherwise dark and suprisingly visceral (such as “The Bloodstained Labyrinth arc”). There was also a good balance within the show; the comedy, the drama/suspense and the horror all tied to each other but never detracted from each other either. Each element had its own boundary so that things were never confused or inconsistent and as such you could become really engrossed in the show at times. The directing could be a little too dramatic, though, with lots of COLOUR INVERSION when things were SURPRISING as well as SEGMENTING THE SCREEN TO SHOW HOW SUPRISED EVERYONE IS.

What also helped keep the series interesting was the numerous faiths, religions, traditions and of course spirits athat were demonstrated throughout. The show was rich in cultural references and always had something new to throw into the mix to keep the viewer interested.

However, there was one big flaw that kept Ghost Hunt from being a “great” (i.e 9+) series for me: the characters. Sure, what they did was occasionally amusing, but beyond that they were stereotypical and boring. Even in an episodic show you have to have characters that grow in some way or who are deeper beyond “Naru is really secretive” or “Mai likes Naru but she hates him too!”. It’s a bad sign that when the characters weren’t being funny, they were being irritating or uninteresting.

I found Ghost Hunt to be an invigorating thriller that blended mystical paranormal elements in such a way that always kept me thinking and second-guessing myself and I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to play detective ghost hunter. Which I know is at least half the number of people reading this.