Ghost Stories originally aired in Japan in the year 2000 as Gakkō no Kaidan, meaning, “School Ghost Stories.” The 20-episode anime series follows a group of five children through the supernatural world of Japanese myth and lore. The main character, Satsuki, moves to a new town with her family and finds the old school house is haunted. In each episode, a different sort of ghost or spirit confronts them and with the help of her mother’s journal, Satsuki puts each one to “spiritual sleep.” In 2005, ADV Films acquired a contract with the animation studio Pierrot and Aniplex for Fuji Television and released the cartoon on DVD in America, with one major difference: ADV scriptwriter Steven Foster threw out the original script and allowed the voice cast to give their input on the script. He Americanized the show, much to the pleasure of anime enthusiasts.
Characters
- Satsuki Miyanoshita: She is the main character and moved to the town with her father, Reiichirou, her little brother Keiichirou, and the family cat Kaya after the death of her mother, Kayako. She learns that her grandmother was principal of the old, haunted school and that her mother regularly confronted various ghosts and spirits and put them to “spiritual sleep” by trapping their essences in certain objects, such as trees, states and the like.
- Keiichirou Miyanoshita: Keiichirou is Satsuki’s younger brother who often breaks down when confronted with stressful situations. Over time, he forms a special friendship with the entity, Amanojaku, who possessed his cat in the first episode.
- Amanojaku: In the first episode of the series, Satsuki unwittingly puts this malicious entity to “spiritual sleep,” trapping him in their house cat, Kaya. In Japan, his name means “heavenly evil spirit,” and he enjoys provoking people’s darkest desires and causing them to perform wicked deeds. This being also appears in Buddhist philosophy as the opponent to Buddhist teachings, associating him with Satan of Judeo-Christian beliefs.
- Hajime Aoyama: Hajime is Satsuki’s neighbor and comes to her rescue many times, perhaps because of his overwhelming sexual attraction to her . . . or any other woman for that matter.
- Momoko Koigakubo: Momoko is a brave sixth-grader who befriends Satsuki. In the Japanese version, she is a psychic. However, in the American release, she is a fundamentalist Christian who often condemns Jews, Muslims, homosexuals, etc.
- Reo Kakinoki: Reo, or Leo in the American version, went from paranormal investigator in the Japanese version to a Jewish boy. He is Hajime’s best friend and is the brains of the outfit.
Episodes
1. Tonight the Spirits Will Be Resurrected! Amanojaku
The premiere episode features the malicious Amanojaku. In Japan, his name means “heavenly evil spirit,” and he enjoys provoking people’s darkest desires and causing them to perform wicked deeds. This being also appears in Buddhist philosophy as the opponent to Buddhist teachings, associating him with Satan of Judeo-Christian beliefs.
2. A Hand Reaches out of The Toilet...Akagami Aogami (Red Paper, Blue Paper)
This episode features Hanako-san, the ghost of a little girl who haunts the girl’s restroom of the old schoolhouse. It also features a toilet ghost who reaches out and grabs people.
3. Raise the Curtains! The Cursed School Arts Festival! Kutabe
In this episode, Leo becomes the lead character of the school play and is taken over by the power of Kutabe, who will destroy all ghosts and spirits if the play is completed (at which time Leo dies). In Japanese folklore, Kutabe appeared one day to announce that a plague would sweep the countryside for a few years. He prescribed wearing his own image as an amulet against the disease. He shares many traits with the Chinese creature Bia Ze, who was encountered by Huang Di, the Yellow Emperor while he was on patrol in the east. The creature told the Emperor the habits of 11,520 types of supernatural creatures and how to banish each one of them, which he wrote down in a book called Bai Ze Tu; this book no longer exists.
4. Requiem of the Dead: Fur Elise
A piano-playing ghost hunts Satsuki, and if she hears the last note, she will die. Fur Elise is German, in America, it means, “for Elise,” and was a solo piano act written by Ludwig van Beethoven.
5. The Bloody Sports Festival: Datto!
At the school’s sports festival, little Keiichirou is in danger of having his feet cut off while running by a bull-headed specter.
6. The Demon's Hand Splits the Door: A Night of Tragedy
A witches ghost with a scythe attacks children who are home alone, but only if they are truly afraid.
7. The Soul Stealing Mirror! Utsushimi
The Utsushimi, or mirror ghosts, are replacing anyone who looks into a mirror, and it’s up to ghost buster Satsuki to send them all back into the mirror world and return normal people.
8. The Circuit Connects to Hell: Demon of the Underworld
Leo is intent on finding the ghost Internet, but finds a monster there he wished he hadn’t met.
9. The Corpse That Roams in the Night: Shirotabi
When Satsuki is picked co-animal keeper of the school, she finds out her associate used a fetish to return the spirit of a dead rabbit. The rabbit breaks loose under the light of the moon and attacks people.
10. The Tunnel With No Exit
A phantom taxi cab driver drops the gang off in an abandoned tunnel where so many people lost their lives. The lost souls suck energy from the living as they are forced to watch the ghost’s lives play out before them.
11. The Talking Mary Doll! Shadows of Death
This “trashy Anna Nichole Smith” doll is really alive, and really upset! She possesses the other toys in a sanctuary and goes after Satsuki, whom she’s been phone stalking.
12. The Nurse Who Tells Your Death: Mother's Feelings
This “floating Florence Nightingale” is the spirit of a nurse who leaves letters to the deceased’s loved ones. In this episode, you learn about the death of Satsuki’s mother (and that Momoko was a strung out Jezebel).
13. The Picture That Swallows People: Da Vinci
Satsuki accidentally releases the ghost of Leonardo Da Vinci when she unwittingly paints a similar picture of the old schoolhouse, just as her mother had done when she was in school. Opening a time warp, Momoko is taken captive and is in danger of being sucked into a painting for all eternity.
14. The Life-Taking Psychotic Photo
When Leo takes a picture of Momoko at a haunted train crossing, Momoko’s life force beings to drain away. The only way to save her is to communicate with the ghost of a deceased girl who looks a lot like Samara from The Ring.
15. The Devil's Spell: Rites of Darkness
A ghost possesses a girl who gets a group of young girls to practice witchcraft. While similar to the movie The Craft, Satsuki is in danger of practicing the “Rites of Darkness,” which is the only way she can escape her nightly terrors. One bad thing about this rite: it completely erases your existence.
16. The Apartment That Eats People: Nest of Evil Spirits
The gang is drawn to a dilapidated low-income housing development with bad Feng Shui that causes people to vanish.
17. Terror at Bloodstain Lake
The gang decides to take a vacation together to a sky resort. But, you guessed it, they run into some trouble. Ever since a little girl drown in the lake, the waters turn blood red, ruining bathing suits and killing people.
18. Akane-San of the Broadcasting Room: Voice of the Dead
Akane, a girl with scoliosis and a dead ringer of Samara from The Ring, was the radio broadcaster at the old schoolhouse when she died of sudden heart attack while on air. Now, whoever hears her voice, which is of course the group of young paranormal investigators, will die.
19. The Headless Horseman!
A gay Hells Angel’s biker is out looking for head . . . to replace the one he lost in a motorcycle accident long ago. Whoever isn’t wearing a scarf is in danger.
20. Farewell, Amanojaku
As the episode title says, Amanojaku dies in the final episode to protect the children. Happily, he is reincarnated into a tree because of his good deeds.
Unaired Episodes
During the first season, a story about the ghost called Kuchisake-onna was supposed to air. In Japanese mythology, the name means “slit-mouth woman,” and is the ghost of a woman mutilated by a jealous husband. Critics worried that the ghost’s mouth resembled a cleft palate too much, and refused to let the episode air.
