Ghost Hound

Ghost Hound is a 2007 psychological/mystery anime made by a pretty skilled team of directors, scriptwriters and sound designers from what I can see. It is kind of surprising then that it went under the radar, and it generally isn't talked about much. I can only guess that might be because of the ending, which I will go into later at the end, and mark the spoilers since I want everyone to be able to read it.

Short summary of the plot:

The plot centers on the small town called Suiten where everyone is somehow connected, very typical (and accurate to real life tbh) for small town mysteries. The main characters are 3 middle schoolers, the protagonist being Taro, a boy who was kidnapped 10 years ago with his older sister who got killed. As he tries to remember his incomplete memories from the time of kidnapping weird shit begins to happen in the town, and the trio try to solve it with the help of adults around them!

Starting with the sound design, because that's the first thing that I noticed stood out in this anime. Straight up, I think this anime might have some of the best spooky/unnerving sound design I've ever witnessed. I wouldn't call this anime horror, but some of the scenes made me feel uneasy and scared mostly thanks to the incredible sound effects and the creepy music. It remains strong throughout most of the show, but then the quality kind of dips at the end, where I haven't noticed the same amount of spooky effects. Still, when it comes to sound design wise this anime will be in the top spot for me along with Boogiepop Phantom.

The animation was alright, although it doesn't stand out too much and that includes the character designs too. As I watched it I came to appreciate how ordinary the whole cast looks like but I think the art style makes people gloss over this anime - at least it did in my case when I first encountered it.

I found the plot to be great, and the way in which the mystery aspect was approached and solved was amazing. Probably one of the best set-ups for mysteries with fun unravellings. In my whole history of watching anime I haven't seen such a good blend of science and the supernatural. At the end of the day, this anime is about the supernatural but you get to see how people that do not believe in such things come to terms with it, explain it and make sense of it in a realistic way. Because of that it makes a pretty good case of supernatural stuff being real - even in our world! Kind of. Basically you don't have to suspend your disbelief to an insane degree, but you also kind of do, depending on where your personal beliefs lie. There was a lot, and I mean a LOT of terminology being thrown around but I think that makes perfect sense in this anime. Everything is explained well though, and most of the terms were very accurate from what I can tell. To name a few topics in psychiatry: psychiatrical methods, types of therapy, disorders, trauma - all portrayed well and accurately. Small town political conspiracies were also another aspect of this anime that I absolutely loved.

Next, the characters. I actually loved all the characters in this anime, more or less. Taro is a really good well-natured selfless protagonist with a truly gentle heart which, when I say it doesn't really make him stand out. I know anime doesn't lack these types of protagonists in any way but Taro's good boy shtick really seemed well done here. Maybe because it isn't hammed up too much, and he isn't obnoxiously selfless and infinitely kind - just a kid who is marked by a really traumatic event in his past. This can be said for most of the characters in this show, they're all pretty low key, regular humans, there's no autistic theatrics and hyper exaggarated emotions and facial expressions that anime tends to do. Most of the characters with "ulterior motives" are also actually portrayed in a very neutral, realistic manner, things aren't so black and white. I actually disliked the other two boys of the group at first, but I warmed up to them quickly, which was kind of the point of the story anyway. I like how the three started hanging out, and included a fourth guy to the group midway through the series which I think is kind of cute. I liked all of the adult characters as well, including the one and only mandatory big boobs character lmao. The way the kids interact with the adults, the way that adults actually do something and help the kids reach their goals, it was all well done imo. One thing I didn't like - and the plot failed to provide any answers to - was how ALL, no exceptions, ALL mothers in this town were crazy in some way. Traumatized, filled to the brim with guilt, catatonic, abandoning their kids etc. Not all female characters, but mothers specifically. I thought a point would be made regarding that - especially considering the theme of life/reproduction/afterlife and I think there could've been a great conclusion to that mystery, but it was never fully explained and it makes me think was that even done on purpose then? Did they just "accidentally" make all of the mothers crazy, forgot about it, and suddenly un-crazied them all at the end? If so then, that's just weird. Especially since one of the aforementioned bad moms said herself "this place doesn't agree with me". Maybe moms are more sensitive to the crazy supernatural shit going on - but it was never fully explained, and the show really made a point of explaining most of the stuff like that, which kind of sucks!! I also found it interesting that NOBODY online has noticed that!

Finally, the ending. Sadly, I think the ending was a bit rushed, at least it felt that way compared to the rest of the show. The overall message - humans should be careful when playing with creating life because we don't truly understand the world around us - got through just fine, but I think more could have been done there. The ending being just a rescue the princess operation was what kind of sucked and brought the whole up until that point well executed plot down. Some things remained relatively unanswered, and maybe I missed one part of the plot but I failed to understand who the guy with the piercings really was and where he went afterwards, he just kind of disappeared. Now, if you read my previous reviews you'd know I don't mind unfinished, vague endings with what feels like incomplete or lacking worldbuilding but this show was kind of a whodunnit mystery first and foremost so it kind of has a duty to explain things, and explain them well otherwise there's no catharsis at the end. Most of the things were answered though, just not in a super clear way. Sadly, the creepy factor went way down in the ending too, I feel like this was done in the favor of the plot wrapping up in a positive, almost comedic manner. Again, this show wasn't a horror show, but it still kind of sucks about that tone shift, when I think the show handled the tone amazingly up until that point.

My overall opinion of the show is overwhelmingly positive, and I'd recommend this anime to anyone that likes a good small town mystery with supernatural stuff thrown in. It's nothing groundbreaking, but I believe it was executed really well. The whole time I was having a lot of fun watching it, and if it weren't for my husband watching it with me I probably would have binged it really quickly. I also enjoyed the lack of coomer shit, boobie lady aside, but her body wasn't her main trait so she gets a pass, even though compared to everyone else she looks ridiculous - but we kind of find out why later! Which is nice I guess.