Haunted Junction |
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What do you get when you cross the
son of a minister, a Buddhist monk, and a Shinto
priestess? OK, I know this could be the setup for a very
bad joke. But fortunately for us, the punch line comes in
a very nice two-DVD set. The series, of course, is
Haunted Junction. First off, I would like to say, "Thank you Bandai!" Bandai pulls through again with another bargain priced, complete collection DVD set. Originally available on tapes with two episodes apiece, Haunted Junction was sort of a "limited appeal" series. Because of this, I'm sad to say that there is no dub. Although, after watching this series over and over, I feel a dub would not do justice to the near insanity of this series. Anyhow, the series is finally available in glorious DVD, so let's get on with the review! Haunted Junction is the story of an especially possessed school (heck, the pool has seven spirits alone) and the "Holy Student Council" that inhabits it. Haruto Hokujo is the reluctant member who would have nothing do to with the school or the crazy spirts, Kazumi Ryudo has a thing for toilet spirits and Mutsuki Asahina has a thing for little boys eleven and under. Let's just say that this series would never make it on American television. The other members of the show are the seven main spirits. They include the crazy, occult-collecting principal, an over-sexed toilet ghost, a dashing masked man, a giant (who is so big all we see is his legs), a super-smart stone boy statue, a little mirror girl and probably the two most useless spirits, who inhabit anatomical models and excel at Cossack dancing (and not much else). The Holy Student Council's job is to investigate any disturbances and to keep the ghosts happy. I hadn't really heard nor seen any of this series prior to picking it up, but I'm glad I did. The most refreshing thing about the series is that since it's only twelve episodes, the pace moves along rather quickly. After being burned out by the fifty-plus long episode battles of Dragon Ball Z, this was a breath of fresh air. The humor of the series, although some of it is deeply rooted in Japanese culture, is great. In fact, after nearly choking to death, I made it a rule: no eating/drinking during Haunted Junction. Some of the funniest episodes include when Ryudo gets possessed by a girl ghost, whose only wish is to spend one night with her former lover (keep in mind Ryudo is a guy), the competition between the toilet spirits, and Haruto's constant struggle to live a normal life. Atsuko Nakajima did the character designs for this show, and they really stand out. She's famous for Ranma ½, but her style here is a tad different. The characters here are very sharp looking, although at times their legs seem a *wee* bit too long. I really enjoyed the animation, and felt this was a really solid looking show. The soundtrack is very good as well. I was thinking of picking it up, but I can only find it for thirty-five dollars. Yikes. Anyway, fans of J-Pop can rejoice. Haunted Junction has a really great opening and ending tune sung by Asahina herself, Yukie Nakama. The soundtrack is varied, although not so much as Cowboy Bebop. There are some really great orchestral, keyboard, and guitar pieces. Although most of it is traditional anime music, I like it. Bandai once again makes me their biggest fan with another excellent transfer. The show is only three years old, but I have seen more high profile and expensive titles coming out looking like garbage. Colors are solid, and bleeding is very rare. Needless to say, I was very impressed. The sound is not going to blow the windows out of your house or make your neighbors run for the nearest bomb shelter, but it's still solid. There's only one soundtrack, Japanese, so I feel there was little room for Bandai to mess up on. I detected a little bit of directionality, but not much. Heck, it's just a comedy. As far as presentation, there's not much here in the menu department. Just some nice looking art and music to get you prepped for watching the series. The cover is very well done, with some nice manga-esque portraits of the characters. It's bound to attract some attention on the store shelves. The only extra (besides the previews) is character profiles, featuring information you would know by watching the first episode. Something I wish Bandai would do, along with a whole lot of other anime companies, is include liner notes with their DVDs. Some of the plot aspects, jokes and characters of Haunted Junction are so deeply rooted in Japanese culture/language, hardly anyone watching this set would understand them. I had to do a little searching myself to find out the backgrounds of some of the spirits and other aspects about the show. Animeigo is the best company when it comes to liner notes, and ADV is starting to catch on by putting them on the DVD. Come on, Bandai, don't get left behind. Haunted Junction isn't going to win any awards, but it's a really funny, character-driven show that'll have you in stitches for all of its twelve episodes. When it's all over, you'll be wishing there was more. Isn't that what makes an anime series great? - Bob Mackey |
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