Out of Season Review : Ghost Stories

Imagine that you study in a haunted school that have so many supernatural beings that want you dead or something like that. And the only thing that could save you is... a very hilarious impromptu dubbed anime. Gakkou no Kaidan or more known as Ghost Stories is an anime praised not by the story, the art style, or even the soundtracks but for its impromptu hilarious dub. This anime is a very proof that being a creative person is above everything.

The story of Ghost Stories is mediocre at its best with repeating the same formula over and over again until 19 episodes. First, the episode opened with a brief introduction of what the ghost of the day and what it did to its victim. Then we continue with everyday life of the gang that leads to meeting the ghost. After that, they read the mother's journal or book or whatever is that just to find it is so hard to read. Being chased or something like that and ended with some purification ritual that depends on what ghost is it. Somehow reminded me of Scooby-Doo but with real ghosts. It seemed the Japanese knew that this is a very crappy anime and said "This is a crappy anime. Just do whatever to sell this. I don't care anymore." to the Americans and somehow the Americans knew well how to make this anime very interesting : making the dub as stupid as ever.

Yes, Ghost Stories is infamous for their hilarious dub and may have the stupidest yet funnest dub in the very history of dub. The constant fourth breaking, funny dialogues, and somehow altering all of the casts background except their name. The dub does really went overboard with changing all of the casts background. There's the pervert guy, the Jewish guy, the girl who claimed being born again as a Evangelical Christian, the girl with some mood issues, and her half-retarded brother. The dub loves to referencing pop cultures and it would be great for you guys who loves this references jokes. But because the jokes that being thrown are downright very (I mean very) vulgar and borderline harsh, I know that this dub is not for anyone who easily get triggered and don't say I haven't warned you, salty bastards.

What we have to wonder is why an anime that tells a story about ghosts and their curses have an opening that is very cheerful and makes me think that this anime is a very normal slice of life anime. And don't get me start on the ending song. Why does an anime about primary school students getting chased by ghosts have an ending song that literally called "Sexy, Sexy"? Are the creators of this anime is already predicted the dub version before they even started to record the dub? Whatever the reason, it just makes the dub more hilarious than ever.

Overall, this anime's dub is a very proof that creativity could change a bad thing into a very memorable thing that still being talked until now. This anime is a pure joy of hilariousness while joking around ghosts that supposed to be scary.

(This review was previously written in MAL : https://myanimelist.net/reviews.php?id=293067)