Movie: One of the hot topics in anime for decades has been the constant battle between those who believe in an absolutely literal translation of the original vocal tracks of shows and those that prefer English language dubs. I've been on both sides of the equation and heard the marketing spiel for both, even from a few now-well placed individuals in the field (hint: ADV Films is located in Houston, TX; my home town and general base of operations). The slavering fanboys seem to lean towards as close a representation of the original vocals in the subtitles and would ban dubs more often than not. The casual fans seem to think dubbing makes the shows far more accessible and often won't even consider the unsubbed release (although there are few of those these days unless you buy in other regions). I'm somewhere in the middle of the argument; accepting that a well done dub is better than a poorly translated original but also cognizant of the fact that many of the jokes a foreign release has simply don't translate well into English (and vice versa). How a company handles such matters tend to earn them jeers or cheers from the masses of Otaku as well as the more mainstream audience that really doesn't want to read lengthy cliff notes in order to enjoy a show. Well, taking something of a daring step into the unknown, ADV Films tried something different not long ago with Ghost Stories 1. They completely re-wrote the episodes using a lot of adlib material that at first listen made me think the cast had no script to work with. I wasn't fond of the show but decided it would only be fair to take a look at the second volume of the series; Ghost Stories 2: Sophomore Scares, especially after the press release said this:
"ADV Films, the number one producer-distributor of anime in North America, is proud to present the second volume of Ghost Stories, the series that has sparked fierce debate on the Internet – and lots of laughs among those lucky enough to have seen it!
Just to be clear, ADV's English dub of Ghost Stories follows the plot of the original exactly. But in place of a written script, Foster simply blocked out scenes and let the actors go. It's the anime equivalent of Curb Your Enthusiasm, in that the actors have freedom to riff of one another instead of simply following a prewritten script. The result is a fresh, lively, funny dub with a spontaneous energy that stands apart."
Well, I like the so-called Home Team as much as anyone and as most of the principles of ADV Films are Houston natives (or got here as fast as they could), I'd be lying if I said I'm not their biggest cheerleader when they do something right. The flip side of this equation is that I'm one of their biggest pains in the neck when they mess up. I can live with the consequences of my principled stands since as a DVD Talk reviewer, my duty is to report the truth, not sound like yet another company shill (I dare any of you to look to other anime review websites or publications and tell me that the same can be said of most others). In the simplest of terms, ADV Films does a great job overall and they are probably the largest "producer-distributor of anime in North America". As far as the quality of this series goes, "fresh, lively, funny dub with a spontaneous energy" is probably among the most wishful thinking I've seen in a long time. The good news is that the second volume was a bit better. To introduce the characters once more:
"…the show started off with Satsuki (Hilary Haag) and her younger brother Keiichirou (Christine Auten) moving to a new school. Their mother passed away and dad appeared to be chasing work so that sets up the initial premise of the show. The catch was that dad met mom in this area, having gone to school together years ago. Their maternal grandmother was the principle of the school too so it a sense it's almost as if they're returning to a home they never knew. Upon moving into the new house, they play around and Satsuki falls, revealing her panties to neighbor (and fellow student) Hajime (Chris Patton), setting off the usual dynamic between two kids of the same age. The cast rounds out with Momoko (Monica Rial), Leo (Greg Ayres), and a demon named Amanojaku (Rob Mungle) but I'm getting ahead of myself.
On the first day of school, Keiichirou brings his pet cat, Kaya, to school and he gets loose in the old school house that is marked "no trespassing". They enter the place and along with the rest of the leads who follow, are soon confronted by a ghost, Amanojaku, who grows off their fear when he doesn't get treated nicely by them. The run around inside and find out Satsuki's grandmother dealt with various ghosts while working at the old school via a series of coincidences. They banish the ghost to a tree only to find that the tree has been cut down by developers building condominiums. That forces the ghost into Kaya (aren't all cats possessed anyway, making it hard to tell?) and the series finds the cast trying to rid Kaya of the ghost. The problem is that grandmother banished a lot of other ghosts who are now free to roam about and cause problems thanks to those mean old developers. Each episode of the show has the children fighting off a ghost and dealing with Amanojaku in order to save the day."
The premise is the same as when I wrote those words months ago and the general idea is to combine a "grade school ghost buster, her crybaby brother, a conceited jock, the class nerd, a born again beauty, and a demon possessed cat" into a coherent show where they all face the multitude of ghosts freed from a mishap occurring in the first volume. Here's what the back cover said about the second volume:
"After her brother gets beat up again, Satsuki and her friends decide the little crybaby needs to butch it up and join the relay team. (Hope he can outrun the ghost who likes to chop off runners' feet.)
But that's just the beginning of the second semester of scares for this group. From a spirit who haunts children left alone, to an internet ghost who can't wait for you to go on-line, it looks like our elementary school spirit slayers have some rough new tests to take."
The four episodes this time were remarkably similar to those of the first volume with little need to develop the characters any further. They all play their roles as before, with the dub offering perhaps the better of the two audio versions of the show. The ghosts faced this time seemed more powerful and the story had opened up a bit more in terms of what the ghost possessing Kaya was planning but in general; it was more of the same stuff. The original language presentation was woefully lame (to me) as before and the English dub was once again on center stage as the sole reason to pick it up. That means a lot rested on the dub to convert a generic series into a likable affair but it almost seemed as though the cast seemed unable to achieve any real momentum once again.
I wasn't offended by terms like "Jew", "fag" or any of the other juvenile bits of humor that resulted from the unscripted material. Let's face it; lowest common denominator (LCD) comedy is always the easiest to employ, especially if you have the time pressure of a series to develop. However, unlike an impromptu "capping session" (where you and your friends make mean remarks about one another in a game of one-ups-manship), the stakes for something like a DVD release are far higher. Will it entertain the masses that aren't familiar with the regional (or even local) humor? Will it move beyond the most basic "attack" comedy that our culture is based on? In this case, it rarely does that and again falls short of the mark, albeit faring better in a couple of episodes.
I've been to plays, seen independent movies, and even listened to many a comedic act that wasn't scripted and the bottom line for me is that they are rarely as funny as those directly involved in them seem to think. This in no way detracts from the talent of the voice actors or director to handle their usual roles but taking on the role of script writer tends to separate the men from the boys (and girls I suppose), especially if they are trying to make something work quickly. If the crowds in the small theatre in the west side of Houston laughed at any of this, it was likely relating to the substances they imbibed in their cars before the showing (proximity to such screenings has its advantages). The over reliance on terms like "pervert" and very topical humor might've worked better in a second audio track but as a case in point, I suggest anyone who has listened to an audio commentary by these cast members tell me off the top of their head when the last time was the commentary made you consistently laugh. (I know that's hitting below the belt but even the ones I like are spotty in that regard.)
This time, the ghosts chase the cast around, try to banish them to various forms of hell, and end up losing far too readily to the inane antics of the protagonists but at least there were enough bright spots to enjoy making this effort worth a look to those interested in experimental theatre. Traditional anime fans, especially those who hate dubs to begin with, will have an all new volume of ammunition against dubs with this one but in the spirit of Christmas, I think a rating of Rent It makes more sense this time to see what the hype is all about. With so many quality releases by ADV Films of late, don't but it unless you like hearing people say "I told you so" as a taunt.
Picture: Ghost Stories 2: Sophomore Scares was presented in the usual 1.33:1 ratio full frame as it was originally produced in for release in Japan. The show was made five years ago and while that doesn't sound like a long time, it dated the look of the show considerably compared to many other contemporary releases on the market these days. The animation style was limited to relatively few frames of actual movement. The lines were clean and while there were some parts that seemed to have some minor pixelation and/or compression artifacts, the overall show was about average.
Sound: The audio was presented in 2.0 Dolby Digital stereo with a choice of the original Japanese track or the newly made English dub (both with optional English subtitles). The music and special effects had some minor separation to them but the vocals almost all seemed to come from the center speaker. The dub was not as solid as the original track (and I'm a fan of several of the English language voice acting cast) since it came off as forced far too often. I didn't like the many religious references in the show either and while I wouldn't mind a separate audio stream like this, a straightforward dub would've worked better for me.
Extras: The best extra from my point of view was the profiles of the ghosts in the episodes, giving some basis for their origin, names and other basic information. The usual clean opening & closing, and trailers comprised the rest of the extras.
Final Thoughts: Ghost Stories 2: Sophomore Scares admittedly brought out my soapbox once again with the kind of dub it provided. Producer Steve Foster and dub director David Del Rio had a great vocal cast to work with but like most experiments, it simply didn't work out very well (for me at least). Anime is already full of boring clichés and tired reruns trying to cash in on previous winning concepts so I applaud the fact that they all took some risks but it's time to cut the losses and rework the premise or at least write out some funnier material that isn't so tired. On the fly voice acting with a minimal script may work well in porn (actually, it rarely works and many of the same criticisms of your typical porn feature could be employed here to dissect the results if that's what you wanted) but you'll see why this one had limited replay value if you watch it one time. Just prepare yourself for a lot of wincing at the kind of LCD humor that came off as forced too often.
If you enjoy anime, take a look at some of the recommendations by DVDTalk's twisted cast of reviewers in their Best Of Anime 2003, Best Of Anime 2004, and Best of Anime 2005 articles or their regular column Anime Talk.
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