Ghost Stories, also known as Ghosts at School, is a 20-episode anime series created in 2000 by Pierrot and Aniplex for Fuji Television, based on a book series by Tōru Tsunemitsu. The series was licensed for the North American market by ADV Films whose English dub replaced the original script with a comedic one. It was also aired in Latin America by Cartoon Network, which had broadcast the entire series unedited on October 1, 2005. The series was also picked up by the animetelevision network, Animax, who broadcast the series with a different English dub unedited and uncensored under the title Ghosts at School within its respective networks across the world in Southeast Asia, South Asia, and other regions.
Plot
Ghost Stories tells the tale of Satsuki Miyanoshita, who moves with her family to the hometown of her deceased mother. On her first day of school, Satsuki, her brother Keiichirou - a first-grader, Hajime Aoyama - their neighbor, Momoko Koigakubo - an older schoolmate, and Leo Kakinoki - a classmate and friend of Hajime's with a penchant for the paranormal visit the abandoned school building adjacent the current school complex and discover that the building is haunted. It is soon after revealed that Satsuki's mother was responsible for sealing several ghosts who haunted not only the school but also the town, and now they are released due to the urbanization taking place in the surrounding area. Satsuki's mother left behind a book detailing how to exorcise the ghosts once and for all. In her first confrontation, Satsuki faces a demon called Amanojaku, but in the process Amanojaku is sealed within Satsuki's pet cat, Kaya. Although Amanojaku does not want to help Satsuki at first, the danger soon threatens to envelop the town and it is left up to Satsuki, her friends and Amanojaku to stop the ghosts. At last, with the help of Amanojaku, the friends finally are able to exorcise the ghosts.
On the weekend of August 19, 2005, at the 2005 Otakonanime convention, ADV Films announced an October 2005 release of Ghost Stories on DVD for North American distribution. The original Japanese audio and literal subtitle translation are also included on the DVD. Volume one of Ghost Stories went on sale on October 22, 2005. On August 28, 2013 Discotek Media announced that they licensed the series and would release it in 2014 with the ADV dub and the Japanese audio with English subtitles. The entire series was released on a three-disc set on March 25, 2014. The dub deviated significantly from the original script in favour of less serious, comedically written dialog while retaining the basic plot structure and storyline. Jokes include topical pop culture references, politically incorrect jokes about religion and sexuality; as well as jokes about the original show's poor animation quality. Although the dub wasn't very well received when it was first released, it has established a cult following over time. The English script was written by ADV screenwriterSteven Foster, but the majority of the dialog was ad-libbed by the English voice actors.
