FUNimation Catches Ghost Hunt
25-Episode Anime Based on Fuyumi Ono's series, Coming Fall of 2008
FUNimation announced that they have acquired the 25-episode anime Ghost Hunt, based on Fuyumi Ono's novel series. Anime will be released in the Fall of 2008.
FUNimation announced that it has acquired the North American distribution rights to the 25-episode J.C. Staff anime Ghost Hunt. The anime originally premiered on TV Tokyo on October 3, 2006 and lasted until March 27, 2007.
Ghost Hunt was originally based on Fuyumi Ono's Akuryou series of novels, that followed a group of teenagers from the Shibuya Psychic Research Center. The group, headed by 17-year-old Kazuya Shibuya and his 13-year-old foil Mai Taniyama, find themselves investigating paranormal activity, exorcising ghosts and generally fighting evil.
A complicating factor is Mai's initial distaste for Kazuya (she nicknames him "Naru," for his seemingly narcissistic behaviour), which naturally evolves into serious attraction.
Fuyumi Ono began writing the books back in 1989, and ended the series in 1994. In 1997, the Akuryou series was adapted for a radio drama. A year later, mangaka Shiho Inada adapted the books into an ongoing series for manga publisher Kodansha.
Will There Be New Ghost Hunt Episodes?
Ghost Hunt ended after its 25-episode run, although fans have since clamoured for new episodes. The Kodansha manga is still ongoing after 11 volumes, which means there is no shortage of new material to adapt, should J.C. Staff and Ghost Hunt director Rei Mano decide to produce a second season of the series
For her part, original author Fuyumi Ono announced that she is currently revising a girls' horror story that she originally wrote many years ago, and has no plans to revisit Ghost Hunt.
Del Rey recently acquired the Ghost Hunt manga, and has already started releasing the first volumes in North America.
FUNimation has tentatively scheduled the Ghost Hunt DVD for a Fall 2008 release.
Fun Facts: Despite the popularity of ghosts and apparitions in popular culture, skeptics have yet to find an independently documented ghost sighting. They believe that changes in air pressure causing noises, or lights from passing cars, could lead people to think they had seen a ghost.
Pareidolia, an innate tendency in humans to recognize patterns from random perceptions, is a tendency that can cause people to believe they have seen ghosts.
Professional skeptic Joe Nickell claimed that many ghost sightings are a result of a person's peripheral vision playing tricks on him. "Peripheral vision is very sensitive and can easily mislead, especially late at night, when the brain is tired and more likely to misinterpret sights and sounds," he says.
British scientists Richard Lord and Richard Wiseman have also observed that humans, who ordinarily cannot hear anything below 20 Hertz, can 'pick up' on the frequency. These tones, called infrasounds, can cause humans to feel a "presence" in the room, unexplained feelings of anxiety, or dread
Carbon monoxide, a feature in the air of many old houses, can also be blamed for many "haunted house" myths. Powerful auditory and visual hallucinations, plus a generalized dread, are known symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning.
