Ghost Hound Ep. 1 - First Impressions

From Production I.G. and Shirow Masamune, the renowned creator of the Ghost in the Shell series (the anime show on which The Matrix movie was based), Ghost Hound (Shinreigari) is one of the more interesting animes this season.
The main characters are 14-year-old school boys who each had traumatic experiences during their childhood. It's not known whether it is because of their traumatic past that these boys are able to have out-of-body experiences but the story focuses on how the Unseen World (where the boys go to when they have OBEs) starts to spill unto the real world.

Focus01: Lucid Dream

The opening theme is "Poltergeist" [Sample @ Mediafire], a jazzy number composed and performed by Mayumi Kojima.
We open with a scene in a strange room. It seems we are looking at the scene from the eyes of the characters. There's a girl lying motionless on the bed. A fly lands on her mouth but she does not move to swap it away. Next, we are hovering above a forest. There's a girl walking up the steps to a shrine. She looks up and looks directly at us, and it is at this point that one of the main characters, Komori Tarou wakes up. He picks up a tape recorder beside his pillow and proceeds to relate the recurring dream.

Later that day, Taro gets into conversation with a neighbor, Kei, who is bringing sake to a friend. At the Komori household, the family is having a subdued dinner. There is some conversation but it's somewhat stunted like the members are being careful not to step on the wrong line.

We find out that Taro's father runs a sake brewery business. As father and son talk about the business, Taro unintentionally mentions his sister. The conversation comes to an abrupt stop right then and Taro's mother is particularly upset (her eyes twitch). Asking to be excused, Taro hurries upstairs. On his way to his room, he drops by his sister's room and finds that everything is exactly the way it was 11 years ago.

That night Taro is half-consciously playing around with a radio transmitter when he notices the time. He then hurries off to bed.

In school the next morning, Taro notices transfer student Nakajima Masayuki making friends with a fellow student. Masayuki sees him but before they could get into conversation Taro quickly enters his classroom where Taro's friends comment about his tired appearance. However, their attention is swiftly diverted by the appearance of Oogami Makoto who is coming to school for the first time in two weeks.

The teacher soon arrives and class starts. During lecture, Taro starts to drift off to sleep. He finds himself floating above the same forest in an earlier dream. The scene then whites out and the next thing Taro sees is a gigantic shadowy form towering over him.

The giant shadow looks like it's closing a trapdoor leading to an underground room and Taro is looking at him from inside that room. Taro panics as he realizes that it's that dream again. Sure enough, he finds himself in that very same room from the beginning of the show. His sister's body is on the bed and beside it lies another bed with a boy, a young Taro from 11 years ago. Taro forces himself to wake up from the dream.

After class, Taro goes to see the principal. On his way out, he sees Makoto. The two of them looked at each other for a moment but don't speak. At the principal's office, Taro is introduced to his new counselor. The counselor talks to Taro about his narcolepsy and asks if he could have Taro's records of his dreams. Taro hesitates.

We find out that 11 years ago, Taro and his older sister were victims of a kidnapping incident. The kidnapper asked for a ransom but for some reason the arrangement was botched up. Only Taro returned, his sister died. The Komori family never quite recovered from the incident.

Taro asks the counselor if he knows hypnotherapy. He wants the counselor to hypnotise him so he can remember what really happened 11 years ago.

After class, Masayuki moves in on Makoto. At first, Makoto just ignores his attempts at making friends. Perhaps in an effort to get a reaction from Makoto, Masayuki mentions Taro and asks about the incident 11 years ago, in which Makoto's father was apparently involved. Makoto nearly punches Masayuki but lets him go at the last instant. He warns Masayuki not to speak of his father.


Meanwhile, a little girl -- the same one that Taro saw at the shrine -- stares at a ghostly apparition in the middle of the street. Taro arrives on his bike and intending to strike a conversation with the girl, he stops, but does not see the ghost. He starts to ask the girl if she were the girl from his dream but she ignores him and instead takes another path into the forest.
Taro drives on but he stops to look at the spot where the girl had been staring at, wondering about what she had seen.

The closing theme is "Call My Name ~Kazenari no Oka~" by Yucca [Sample @ 4shared]. It's a haunting ballad with sad undertones.

COMMENTS:

First, Denno Coil. And now, Ghost Hound. Another parallel-world-disrupting-reality concept. What is it about this premise that draws me in? I am confounded. I must admit though that I was attracted to the anime mainly because of the high production quality of the art design and animation. But there are points where the character designs seem spare, especially when set against such a detailed background as that.

But while Denno Coil focuses on the cyber world, Ghost Hound deals with the paranormal. The latter is also darkly psychological (the main characters obviously have issues that are probably going to be played beautifully in a paranormal setting) and utterly serious. Sort of like Serial Experiments Lain but without the god issue. I love it already.

I like "Poltergeist" as an OP song. It's one of the more unique anime songs that I've heard this season. I suppose it also helps that it's a jazz number. I'm not familiar with Mayumi Kojima's other works. I'll have to keep an eye out for this artist from now on. The ED theme is a typical ballad. It sounds nice and complements the theme of the anime perfectly. It's just not very memorable though.

I also find the opening sequence intriguing. What's up with the lab rat with the robotic brain? And who is that girl in the river? We see ghosts. It's interesting to note that right after those insect-like ghostly apparitions, we are also shown images of live insects.

If expectations are met in the next episodes, I'd put this on my watch and blogging list.

More Screencaps from Ghost Hound Episode 01
Watch "Ghost Hound" Trailer
Preorder Ghost Hound DVD @ Yes Asia
Official Site
Wikipedia Article