[Categories: Anime Reviews]
Ghost Hound 7-9: it’s good for you
It is often said that we know more about the surface of the Moon than we do about the bottom of our planet’s oceans; the same could be said about the inside of our heads. I mean no disrespect to neurologists and psychologists but, moreso than any other area of medicine (and many other areas of science too), the precise workings of the human mind are largely unmapped territory. While it makes for a lot of science that’s composed of speculation, it also gives plenty of source material for speculative fiction to get its teeth into an play around with the possibilities. In my previous review of Ghost Hound I was a little sceptical of the show’s scientific credentials; I suspected that if the technobabble wasn’t present in Shirow’s original scenario, Nakamura and Konaka drew it from the source material they’d held onto after earlier projects. Whatever its origins, I was hoping it would bring some hard science into the piece that served to achieve more than merely sound clever. As of episode #7, it really does seem to go out of its way to prove that it knows what it’s talking about.
Head trip!
Actually, #7 is the most dialogue-heavy one so far, although it does feature a head trip in what appears to be a very literal sense. It crucially makes an effort to tie the jargon into what’s going on, which has really allayed me fears about where the story might be heading. One detail, referring to a condition in which the sufferer is unable to differentiate between people they know and complete strangers, seemed to draw attention to Masayuki’s home life. This may be an irrelevant point but I was getting a nagging feeling that his family relations are not what they seem; either that or I was getting some Lain vibes again from the way in which they interact (or not). Either way, there’s a delightful collision of science and supernatural going on; as with Lain, which alluded to real-life events and ideas such as conspiracy theories, I darsay I could google many of the names and concepts, and end up finding genuine historical research in the results. The background to the themes and ideas is so solid and convincing - ‘solid’ is the best I can do in describing a piece of work such as this - that I honestly believe the writers really have done their homework with this one.
Ghost Hound is proving to be an enjoyable show to watch but something of a toughie to blog. The problem for me is that the details I might think are significant are in fact insignificant, or what’s worse, even incorrect. I have one or two theories about a number of things but I haven’t seen enough to feel confident about posting them here; it saves embarrassment this way but doesn’t help in writing a post. One thing that is obvious is that the ghosts are beginning to have a real impact on the human plane of existence - after the incident in which a kid has to be exorcised, it’s all gone beyond the spirits, or whatever they are, being merely visible to the naked eye of a select few. They are able to be seen by more and more people, and can exert an effect on their mental states - I can see a possibility that they could have Mushishi-style problems on their hands (a scenario that’s just occured to me since my volume #2 DVD was delivered this morning, before you ask).
I know this is a serious and suspensful scene, but for whatever reason this particular screenie makes it look so darned funny
For some reason I was really interested in what’s going on with Masayuki - especially the point where he began to show obvious guilt at seeing schoolroom bullying going unpunished. The scene where he finally intervenes, and gets a few bruises for his troubles, speaks volumes about his character and how it’s developing. The scene in which he succeeds in destroying the ghost in mid-air was not just fun to watch - it showed what their OBE selves are capable of but also how he can apply the skills he’s learnt with computer games to other situations. The way in which Taro’s OBE homunculus form changes is also interesting - almost as if it’s tapping into repressed emotions perhaps.
With my noticing all this stuff about Masayuki, I almost forgot how Taro was supposed(?) to be the main character; for some reason he doesn’t come across as being quite as interesting as Masayuki or Makoto. I’m not saying he’s bland or dull, but he certainly lacks the unpredictability of the other two. Fortunately the blanks are beginning to be filled in regarding Makoto so there’s a decent picture of the three of them emerging. Masayuki’s the remorseful ex-bully, Makoto’s the kid from the troubled home who’s trying to learn the truth behind his father’s death…and Taro is the former kidnap victim suffering from PTSD. Except it’s so obvious that he’s a former kidnap victim suffering from PTSD that I’m more willing to bet on his background being stranger still - maybe I’m just expecting the show to throw a curveball in there, with him being the protagonist and his emotional baggage, as it were, being outlined so early on.
Could this be another instance in which “everyone is connected”?
In terms of sound and vision, this is still one of the best I’ve seen in recent months. The soundtrack in particular is fantastic: the pre-opening sequence recaps are played out all distorted as if the footage is being fast-forwarded or rewound (if I could find an effects pedal that did that, I’d buy it) and in certain scenes the dialogue and background noise drops out completely to leave the background music alone in the mix. It’s the only show I can think of right now that does this; it adds a level of weirdness and detachment to what is already a highly unusual show. Now that the plot is moving apace I’m even more confident that it’s going to be a success.
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