Ghost Stories (2000)

**PictureGuy** · 09-23-2019 08:50 PM

Satsuki and her little brother Keiichirou are the new kids in town, going to a school where their late mother was once principle. Actually they are going to the new school, next door to the old haunted school. Mom had put all the ghosts to sleep in a woods behind the school, but now that the woods are being torn down for development, the ghosts have awakened. One actually has taken possession of Satsuki’s pet cat. And so Ghost Stories begins.

Sounds familiar, right? It’s an old premise, and Ghost Stories does not improve on it much. Satsuki has the help of her new friends, Momoko, Hijami, and Reo. The stories do have an element of danger and lives are put in jeopardy. But initially, this seems to be aimed at kids. The Japanese do have different standards.

It did not take long in watching the English dub for me to realize something was not right. There were some lame jokes towards defunct American TV shows, and a few lamer jokes about drugs. Then Reo in the English dub is Leo, and a Jewish kid. Momoko is a Jesus freak. Something did not seem quite right. And it wasn’t.

I continued watching in English, but also with the sub-titles intended for the Japanese dub. Assuming that the sub-titles were accurate, sure enough the lame jokes, and references to Keo/Leo’s and Momoko’s religion are not there. It seems the English version also added mild profanity to secure a TV-PG rating.

The animation is barely average. I really don’t believe the producers intended to make some sort of classic, and they didn’t. There is not much to see in Ghost Stories.