Ghost Hound is an animetelevision series, created by Production I.G and Masamune Shirow, noted for being the creator of the Ghost in the Shell series. The original concept and design was first developed by Shirow in 1987. It is Production I.G's 20th anniversary project and was first announced at the 2007 Tokyo International Anime Fair. The series is staffed by director Ryūtarō Nakamura, scriptwriter Chiaki J. Konaka, character designer and chief animation director Mariko Oka, and art director Hiromasa Ogura. It premiered on Thursday, October 18, 2007 in Japan on WOWOW at 23:30 JST. A manga adaptation, featuring art by Kanata Asahi, has also been serialized in Comic Blade.
Storyline and setting
In the small town of Suiten, located in a remote mountain region on the island of Kyūshū, reality and the spirit realm collide. Ghosts and paranormal occurrences appear in the real world, spreading through the town. Three high school boys, Tarō, Makoto and Masayuki, who have all had traumatic experiences in their childhood, observe the strange occurrences happening at Suiten. Together, they investigate by entering the spirit realm, or the Unseen World, although no human is supposed to be able to do so. The three boys are granted entrance, only to realize the key to their childhood traumas lies within this Unseen World. The localShinto priest and his daughter, Miyako, also become involved in the occurrences.
Sentai Filmworks currently licenses the anime in North America and is localized & distributed by Section23 Films. The first half of the season was released on October 20, 2009. The second half was released on December 15, 2009. Sentai Filmworks re-released Ghost Hound with an English dub on DVD and Blu-ray on September 14, 2010. The Anime Network started showing the series October 29, 2009 and put the first episode . The anime's opening theme song is "Poltergeist" arranged byMayumi Kojima and Isao Tsukamoto with lyrics, composition and performance by Mayumi Kojima. The ending theme song is "Call My Name ~Kazenari no Oka~" performed by Yucca, composed by Ai Kamachi with arrangement by aikamichi and nagie, and lyrics by Kyoko Fujii.
Manga
The manga series Shinreigari: Another Side was written by Masamune Shirow with art by Kanata Asahi. The manga has two volumes and was published from Mar 30, 2007 in the monthly magazine Comic Blade.
Video games
A game based on Ghost Hound by 5pb. was released on July 31, 2008.
