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Oh boy, was I excited when Ghost Hunt Collection One landed on my desk last week. I’d seen this particular anime kicking about the scene last year. Expectations were high, after all, who doesn’t like a good scary ghost story? The first let down was the rating. A PG rating really doesn’t inspire much confidence of a good scary anime. But I’m open minded, I can overlook the underwhelming rating. Its has to be better than Hell Girl, which has an MA rating, but lacks any lasting appeal. If you’re the type to judge an anime on its opening episode then you’re going to be disappointed. Ghost Hunt takes a couple of episodes to show its true colours. The characters are all insultingly one dimensional most of the time, and the main character, Mai Taniyama, is just another cookie cutter school girl character caught up in something sinister. I’ll  overlook the Australian catholic priest character who literally introduced himself by saying, “G’day mate. I’m from the outback.” I am Australian and I’ve never said anything remotely like that in my life!

I’m around seven episodes in and what really holds this anime together is the ghost stories themselves. They’re all quite interesting and compelling in their own ways, which in turn helps the characters maintain some interest factor. They discuss the science of ghost hunting and whatnot, which is fascinating in its own right, which is why I’ve kept going with Ghost Hunt. I am hoping to see the story pickup though. Not a whole lot has happened beyond a few unhappy poltergeists thus far.

[Watch Episode One via Madman]