Gakkou no Kaidan

Years ago, all of the ghosts in a haunted schoolhouse were banished by a certain student. Now, they're back—and they want revenge...

Satsuki and Keiichirou Miyanoshita are two siblings recovering from the tragic loss of their mother. After moving to their mother's hometown, they learn that the local school they have transferred to is an old building—one said to be haunted. Despite initially brushing it off as a silly rumor, the two soon discover that ghosts are indeed real and that they're after them! Gakkou no Kaidan is the creepy tale of the lives of these siblings and their newfound friends as they try to survive the school's ghosts—with a little help from their pet cat along the way.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Amanojaku Main

Nakao, Ryusei Japanese

Koigakubo, Momoko Main

Sakuma, Kumi Japanese

Miyanoshita, Keiichirou Main

Mamiya, Kurumi Japanese

Aoyama, Hajime Main

Honda, Takako Japanese

Miyanoshita, Satsuki Main

Kawakami, Tomoko Japanese

Kakinoki, Reo Main

Tsumura, Makoto Japanese

Imai, Mio Supporting

Nakayama, Sara Japanese

Okabe Supporting

Saiga, Mitsuki Japanese

Sakata Supporting

Aoyama, Yutaka Japanese

Datto Supporting

Uechi, Aki Japanese

Katsumata, Hideo Producer

Hagino, Ken Producer

Abe, Noriyuki Director, Sound Director

Kosaka, Harume Episode Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Dec 10, 2015

Cebix

Recommended

The thing about this anime is that it is actually REALLY really bad. It bombed in Japan and it is easy to see why, the time this was released, there were so many good anime out that blew it out of the water and this anime doesn't do anything special. It tries to be Scooby Doo and also the cliche's and bland characters really hurts this show.

However......


Aniplex was handed the English dub of the show, knowing it was a failure in Japan and probably would be a failure here, it SEEMS they didn't take the dub too seriously. So what do we get? The best ... dub that has ever been done ever.
Let me try to explain; the show has so many logical fallacies and strange lip flaps, the voice actors decided to add really adult and funny jokes, often breaking the forth wall and mocking the show itself. It's like a fandub with comedians or an Abridged series, but full episodes.

The animation is poor, the story is thin and a more like villain of the week episodic series and the environments and sound designs are really really bland, what saves this show is the English Dub ONLY via Aniplex.


My advice to you is to watch the Dub, if we were basing this show on its sub in this review I would tell you to send this show to the closest pit of fire and exorcise the demons out of your house, but the English Aniplex Dub is a MUST see. Bare in mind the adult humor may be offputting to younger audiences.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Dec 11, 2023

literaturenerd

Mixed Feelings

Overview:

Ghost Stories is the amazing tale of a failed anime that became a cult classic through the absurd dubbing of the now defunct ADV films. The original is quite forgettable and not worth your time, but the infamous dub is DEFINITELY worth watching.

Background:

So who the hell was ADV? Back in the 1990s and early 2000s, the Texas dub studio ADV was the main rival of Funimation. Due to a series of terrible business decisions and an industry bubble burst, they went bankrupt and their best talent was poached by their surviving rival. They are basically the WCW to Funimation's WWE or the Sega to Funimation's ... Nintendo. ADV was best known for licensing, distributing, and dubbing Evangelion, Full Metal Panic, Elfen Lied, Robotech, and Welcome to the NHK. Unfortunately they also dubbed a LOT of shit titles and chose some real stinkers for their cable Anime Network and Comcast On-Demand selection.

ADV believed that they should only show the first couple episodes of good shows and show all episodes of their worst shows. That way fans would have to buy the DVDs for the good series and might watch episodes of the shows they would never buy on DVD. This strategy has a HUGE flaw. If your network is mostly filled with horrendous titles like Ikki Tousen, Moonphase, Magical Shopping District, and fucking Jungle de Ikou, then viewers are going to turn the TV off and never come back. When a Japanese studio forces Funimation to dub some series that flopped in Japan in order to recoup their domestic losses, Funi will quickly banish those series to cheap DVD without ceremony and pray that nobody finds them. ADV on the other hand would hold up those abortions for all the world to see! ADV basically said, "you bastards want to watch some free anime? We'll make sure you regret every second of it!" Consider that ADV wasn't even forced by the Japanese to license their worst show Jungle de Ikou. ADV voluntarily bought the rights from Media Blasters because their flagship network simply NEEDED a show that can melt eyeballs with its wretchedness!

The final thing you need to know about ADV is their...unique approach to dubbing. ADV really didn't believe in following the original Japanese text and was often quite liberal with their translations. This could help with comedy series where the original Japanese joke might not translate well, but it often screwed up their dramas. Every Eva fanboy can tell you that ADV's Evangelion translation omitted vital plot points, explained some things poorly compared to the Japanese text, and fundamentally misunderstood other points. Their translation of Elfen Lied also suffers from these problems. One of the key culprits of this attitude towards translation was Steven Foster. Attitudes online tend to be quite negative towards Mr. Foster, but he was very talented at spoofing terrible series with joke dubs whenever ADV gave him the freedom to do so.

Plot:

Ghost Stories is a highly formulaic series about grade schoolers that fight a new ghost in each episode that is based off a Japanese urban legend or myth. The series was intended to be frightening fun for small children that introduces them to classic scary stories. The problem is that it isn't remotely scary or creepy, is WAY too repetitive, and none of the characters are likeable or memorable. The characters spend the first 1/3 of every episode denying that something clearly supernatural is supernatural. When they finally decide they are facing a ghost, the main character Satsuki gets out her dead mother's ghost journal and looks up how to defeat the ghost. They defeat the ghost and everything ends happily. That is the summary of EVERY SINGLE EPISODE! The original series is also notable for completely unnecessary and unwanted fanservice. These are supposed to be kids in elementary school and yet the anime has panty flashes every 5 seconds and a closing theme song called "Sexy Sexy". That's just fucked up!

Steven Foster of ADV decided to change the characters and actually give them traits that differentiate them. One is a Jewish nerd, one is a self righteous evangelical, one is absurdly perverted, etc. The Foster dub is filled with ridiculous pop culture references and constant insults directed at the show Lost, the band Creed, Toby Keith, and Christian Slater's acting.

Be warned that the Foster dub is also wildly offensive and irreverent with frequent gay jokes and casual racist jokes. This was 2005 and this series serves as a kind of bizarre time capsule of that period and what was acceptable then. America was a lot less angry and bitterly divided. As a result, people weren't as sensitive and there wasn't the same pressure to be "PC". We all casually hated the douche in the White House in 2005, but he was an establishment dick not so different from our previous 4 asshole presidents. The hate against Obama after 2008 was completely unique and so strong that the backlash transformed the far right from a shadow of a joke into a serious political power. Now Hollywood is cracking down hard on hurtful jokes and trying to avoid association with the new Right. Pulling a Foster and constantly using the words "retard", "faggot", and "nigga" with reckless abandon was highly frowned upon then too, but today that shit simply wouldn't fly. NO ONE would greenlight such a show with a PG rating when even South Park usually bleeps or avoids those words in 2016. It isn't the most clever dub, but it is so outlandish and shockingly tasteless that you kind of have to laugh.

Art:

The art is by Studio Dean and as you would expect it is at least passable. It isn't the prettiest series ever and doesn't have breathtaking visuals, but this thing clearly had a decent budget behind it. I'm sure the net loss in Japan was significant after this shit bombed!

Sound:

The soundtrack is Kaoru Wada pretty much rehashing his work from the Inuyasha soundtrack. While I really love his work in that setting, it feels completely out of place in this spooky children's series. The same soundtrack can be good for 1 anime and a complete miss if given to another. This feels as out of place as pairing Pokemon with the band Disturbed. I already mentioned the wildly inappropriate use of "Sexy Sexy" and the opening theme while less pedophilic is still completely out of place.

Overall:

This is not a good anime. This isn't the most clever writing for a dub. This absolutely IS something that you should see though. This shit is absolutely hilarious and provides a window into the state of dubbing during the anime boom years in the US. This was when studios could buy terrible anime and treat the dub like a complete joke because they were so flush with money. They were simply that confident in people buying anime in huge amounts. I miss those days sometimes. I really do.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Dec 3, 2015

cjdstruction

Not Recommended

“Scooby-Dooby-Doo”

“Where are you?”

“We got some work to do now”

“Scooby-Dooby-Doo”

“Where are you?”

... “We need some help from you now!”

FFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-

Ho-ly ZEUS, man! As I was shimmering through my anime collection on what to review next and this is what I picked at random.

At first, I did wonder and ask myself why did I put this anime at the far dark corner shelf of my collection. When I pulled the DVD out, the room I was in gotten cold. -er.

You must think I am joking. Well no, I am dead serious. The room went very cold when I picked this up. Could be the changing season but who knows.

Anyway, I watched or re-watched the whole thing, now I remembered why I put this anime on the far dark side corner of my shelves.

Here’s my take on ‘Ghost Stories’.

(ugh, should have done this on October/Halloween)

______________________

**STORY**

You got your elementary school meddling kids, two others who just moved in and a pet cat named Scooby-Do. (Not really, duh.) These kids go around town, solving mysteries and putting away Ghosts or Demons back to the Underworld with the help of the late Principal’s diary.

There’s nothing much about the story on this anime.

The story is a generic, cliché, monster-of-the-week type anime. Pretty much like Scooby-Doo or Archie’s Weird Mysteries.

Not very much original about it. There’s no, ahem, ‘TWEEST’ or any kind of tensions like “A Demon King or Queen Succubus, monster, thing, is going to take over the world and these kids are our only hope to stop him …or her …or ….it!” anything particular. Pretty bland and boring.

Every time when a supernatural accurse, the only thing they have to do is whip out the old principal’s diary on how to stop it and there you have it.

Hmm, kind of reminds me of one particular show (Gravity Falls?).

This anime tries to add some panty shot jokes in there but never really worked. I wonder, What was this anime for?

1/10

______________________

**ART/ANIMATION**

This anime is old. Like, Early 2000 year old and pretty dated. I have seen better animations around that year. Like, Digimon, Fruit Basket, Maybe that one anime where the main character cooks different type of dishes where they come alive and fight. (I forgot what that anime title is. If someone knows what I am talking about, hit me message on my profile.) and many others.

The one positive thing I have to say is how this anime used 3D here. Of course, it’s not much for recent animes of today but it’s well integrated where no other anime shows has never done at that time.

2/10

______________________

**SOUND**

The chosen music/songs for the Opening and Ending credits are…….. Crap.

Utterly crap.


I am not saying the Opening and Ending songs are really bad but very poorly chosen for anime that’s filled with ghosts and haunting.

The Opening song, IMO, I can dig listening while I am in the car but for an anime such as this? It’s going to make people think “oh this is nice upbeat song and this anime must be a happy, feel good, slice-of-life type I can show to my kids.” However, it’s not, for an anime that is dark as this.

The Ending song, however, gives a bad taste in my mouth. “sexy sexy”? REALLY!? Showing Elementary schoolgirl’s panty shots is SEXY?! I am not a person whose into lolicon/shotacon but if anyone gets off from that, good for you! That’s your playground, not mine.

The soundtrack is also crap. So far in this anime has been using that overly used, cliché one-string note from ‘PSYCHO’ just for the “scary moments” on this anime.

Not good anime, not good.

2/10

____________________

**CHARACTERS**

Generic, boring, and bland. There is no or very little character development between these characters. As much as I like Japanese original dub content, however I have to say it’s also….. Crap.

However, the saving grace though, is the English Dub. The English dub is pretty darn good and far out better than the Japanese.

What the English has done here pretty darn normal all the way to point of “I don’t care as long as we much the character’s mouth flapping”.

It’s like making a parody, or abridged series (except they’re not abridging anything). I believe this is where Team Four Stars get there idea.

Y’know, I pretty darn like it. Gave me good lols.

3/10

________________

**ENJOYMENT**

If I have to think this anime’s goal of ‘enjoyment’ is having me to slamming my brain to a wall or facedesk multiple times in almost each episode then it has succeeded. My head bleeds. With Blisters. Y’know how I get these scars?

The only thing I find redeemable from this anime is the English Dub. That’s the only enjoyment I get from this crap.

2/10


________________

**VERDICT**

What can I say? It’s bad. Pretty darn bad. Actually, this anime hits that list of “It’s SO BAD that it’s ACTUALLY GOOD!” type of bad. My recommendation is RENT because this anime is not worth your time or need a place for your collection. However, You can buy it, and call in some friends to have a good time to watch how bad this anime is if you like, but that’s on you.

Well, that’s my time and thanks for reading my review.

CASE CLOSED!

RECCOMENDATION: RENT

VERDICT: 3/10 - Should have called in GHOSTBUSTERS!

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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