First Date: Ghost Hound
- Title: Ghost Hound
- Studio: Production I.G
- Genre: Supernatural/Mystery
Ratings (out of 5):
- Story: ♥♥♥
- Animation: ♥♥♥♥
- Characters: ♥♥♥
- OP/ED Themes: ♥♥♥♥
- Overall: ♥♥♥½ (Err…sorry I was so late…hope you weren’t waiting long…etc.)
Thoughts:
Let’s see, eleven years ago something rather bad happened to Tarou Komori which resulted in the death of his older sister. Now he has repetitive lucid dreams about the event, which he records after the fact onto an audio cassette. He also suffers from some amount of narcolepsy.
Komori is the son of a sake brewer in a small town. The brewery was supposed to go to his older sister when his parents got too old, but after her death it was all sort of up in the air. The town is growing a bit because of a big plant opening nearby, so there are new students at the school, including the rather obnoxious Masayuki. He kind of reminds me of Koizumi from Suzumiya Haruhi, except more of a slacker. But definitely has that somewhat sleazy feel.
I’m really kind of torn on the show. The animation is fantastic, but the art style is a little odd for me– why do Masayuki and Oogami look like actual teenagers while Tarou looks super-young? And why are so many eyes shaped like perfect circles? And then there’s the plot. I’m intrigued by the mystery, but I found the pacing of individual scenes– particularly dialogue –very lethargic. And I’m always troubled by the information flow in a mystery. On the one hand, I don’t want everything just spelled out for me, of course– but on the other hand, I hate it when I feel like the writers are withholding information for the sake of keeping me interested, if that makes sense.
So, there you have it: ambivalence. I’ve got ep2 in my long list of things to watch, so we’ll see if I change my mind.
Tags: fall-2007, first-dates, ghost-hound
November 4th, 2007 at 1:03 am
Very true about the pacing… are they trying to build mystery, or suspense, or just trying to fill their time slot? Some of those scenes just wouldn’t end!
I’ll keep watching, just on the opinion that it does have potential. I’ve been disappointed before though!
November 12th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
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