Not every anime can compete against the competition. A lame story or uninteresting characters can lead to hardly anyone watching the series. Ghost Stories, however, managed to save itself with a brilliant idea and is still being talked about today.
What kind of anime is this? Ghost Stories was released in 2000 and lasted for 20 episodes. It revolved around several children who get caught up in cases where ghosts are involved. With the help of a book that the protagonist received from his dead mother, they can track down and fight the ghosts.
Unfortunately, the anime was a complete flop on Japanese television. Therefore, Fuji TV, the rights holder of the series, came up with something special: The English studio ADV Films, responsible for the English dub, was allowed to do whatever they wanted with the series. There were just a few rules:
- The names of the characters and ghosts could not be changed
- The way the ghosts are exorcised could not be changed, as they are based on Japanese myths
- The basic story of an episode could not be altered
The voice actors had complete freedom in what they said during the episodes. And to this day, the anime is considered legendary because many of the scenes are laugh-out-loud funny.
The trailer doesn’t hint at what actually goes on in the episodes:
Voice actors can do whatever they want in the anime
What did the voice actors do? The voice actors touch upon every conceivable cliché. Movies, series, trends, real people are often the target of their jokes. Even the anime itself comes under fire, for example for its animations.
At times, even the backgrounds of the characters were changed. In the original, Satsuki’s best friend Momoko has supernatural powers, which allow her to communicate with ghosts. In the English dub, she is a born-again Christian who constantly has to make it clear that she is religious.
You can see some examples in the following video by YouTube user Bermm:
Another character that was changed is Hajime. He was turned into the typical anime protagonist with a slight tendency toward the perverse. In one scene, for example, he leans against a wall and tells Satsuki that she should leave him alone as he needs to strike his typical anime pose.
However, there are also many jokes that target the LGBTQ+ community, foreigners, and disabled people. Therefore, the anime could be critical for viewers. Thus, you should only watch the anime if you can overlook such humor.
Did it help the anime? The great success was also absent in the English dub. However, the curious voice acting ensured that the anime did not fall into oblivion and is still known today for its legendary quotes.
In contrast, German dubs have a bad reputation, even though they are actually at a good level. They are among the best and most elaborate in the world. Why this is the case is explained by MeinMMO demon Cortyn in a separate article: Why German dubs are so bad for anime
