Review of Ghost Stories

At first, I wasn't going to review this. Almost everything has been touched on in other reviews, but I thought I might share my experience as it seems to be a little different than most. I remember when this first came out so many years ago. There was no dub yet, just bootleg fan subs. And frankly, it sucked. Poorly done, even for a kiddie show. I thought it was probably much too scary for little kids. The art is sloppy and the animation is mostly less than average. The characters and episodes were poorly written. There's no overarching plot, just Scooby-Doo Ghost ofthe Week shit. The Japanese VA work seemed blah. There was nothing to keep me watching, and I dropped it after 2 or 3 episodes. I could see why it tanked in Japan. I wouldn't have graded the original better than 40/100 for an E- on the edge of an F.

Then, over the years, I kept hearing about how funny this was. "Where TF are they getting their sinsemilla from?" I wondered. It was many years before I got the picture. People were talking about the official English dub. It took a few more years, but I finally got around to checking it out.

The art and animation still sucked. The episodic nature was still lame. But the new take on the characters and dialog was simply off the chain. This version is as brutal and vulgar as Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt. Maybe even moreso. It certainly helped that ADV got the best dub talent avaialble at the time. And the VAs completely crush the delivery. Monica Rial and Chris Patton are especially noteworth MCs. I was LMAO through the vast majority of episodes.

But after a while, it all started to wear on me. It became downright offensive. There was nothing or no one in American culture or society that didn't get skewered in the most obnoxious way. Poor Christian Slater! The first 12 episodes were A- material all day long. But I think I can only go as far as giving the dub an 80/100 for a B- as a complete project.

Don't let that spook you, though. The dub is definitely worth at least a try. But the sub is Dead On Arrival. For the final overall grade, I'll split the difference and call this 60/100 for a D-. I'd avoid it if you are at all woke or sensitive, but if you like bawdy, and to roll around in the gutter with your humor, you want to check this out.