Ghost Stories Anime: Subbed or Dubbed Version

Ghost Stories is a Japanese Horror anime made in 2000. One season of 20 episodes tells the short story of a group of kids trying to solve the supernatural events around them. It's similar to Stranger Things with horrific creatures and many elements of ghost hunting, except the ghosts are just haunting the school and its students.

When an anime is categorized as dubbed, it means it's been translated into pEnglish, and the dubbed version of Ghost Stories not only drives attention away from the real plot but also makes it darker. Western anime fans argue over whether the subbed or dubbed version is better, and some mostly want to watch the English version to avoid the trouble of reading the subtitles. Ghost Stories Dubbed doesn't serve that purpose.

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Ghost Stories

Ghost Stories is a genuinely good horror anime, or at least the subbed version tells a good story. More specifically, it's about spirits whose resting places were disturbed and terrorizing the students of a nearby school. The young ghost hunters help expel these unwanted demons from their school and away from their schoolmates before more chaos happens.

The misfit yet most responsible group of little ghost hunters includes the protagonist Satsuki, her little brother Keiichirou, the beautiful classmate Momoko, Satsuki's neighbor Hajime, Leo, and a cat.

Ghost Stories was created by animation studio Pierrot and Aniplex for Fuji TV, specifically from October 22nd, 2000, to March 25th, 2001, loosely based on Toru Tsunemitsu's Ghost Stories for Kids. A studio in North America obtained the rights to the show in 2005.

That's why the subbed version wasn't as well-known as the dubbed version that came out later. American Producer and Voice Director Steven Foster was the one who turned it into a comedy by completely changing the script. He added adult humor, offensive material, and references to Western ghost stories.

After being tainted by their dubbed reputation, to the point where any time you search Ghost Stories nowadays, there is significant difficulty in finding the subbed version. The internet mostly gives you results for the dubbed because of its popularity.

To make it easier for fans wanting to watch the show for the plot and dialogue, search for the Japanese title, "Gakko No Kaidan" which translates to "School Ghost Stories", but be warned as there are other series and works with the same title.

The Dubbed Version

The dubbed version of Ghost Stories tells a completely different story. When the series was localized, its infamous dialogue made episodes offensively mature. Director Steven Foster decided to make the series a comedy and added adult humor. The dubbed version of Ghost Stories on Crunchyroll is now categorized as supernatural and a comedy when it was originally horror and mystery before the changes.

The English dub over Ghost Stories was so surprising and added little context to what was happening on screen. Viewers believed the voice actors were told to improvise their lines for the comedy to work. Some fans speculate that the dubbing company, ADV Films, bought the rights to the show when it was considered small, because the producers didn't expect it to be popular. At least, that is what many fans get the impression of. It was turned into an adult cartoon.

It doesn't seem that way in the first episode, everything sounds normal, and the kids mostly sound more upfront with their words. That is until later episodes where mostly the main cast of kids will start saying vulgar things.

Momoko will weirdly preach and have a rom-com moment with a demon while Satsuki verbally bullies her baby brother. Leo will flirt with all older women, the kids will curse and make political references, and so on. Most American fans were at first surprised, before treating it as another adult cartoon.

The Subbed Version

When an anime is categorized as subbed, the subtitles are read in a different language while speaking Japanese. Research for the subbed version of Ghost Stories is unfortunately just as difficult to find as subbed episodes unless you type in the Japanese title. Some sites kept the subbed versions of Ghost Stories for the few fans who prefer watching the real plot. Some sites have all 20 episodes of undisturbed animation, with all the Japanese voice actors.

The real episodes have normal plots such as actual Ghost Stories of Japan, bad omens that happen when a child isn't careful with his wish, and the kids being normal. Realistically, the children don't even think of the strange occurrences as ghost activity for the first 5 episodes. It's only in the 6th episode that the ghostly activities are noticed, after other students at their school are heard to have gotten ill, from horrific experiences, and that's when the ghost hunting begins.

Conclusion

Anime shows of all types have so much beauty and detail in each scene that most fans don't want to miss any of it, so they look for dubbed versions. The English dub of Ghost Stories doesn't serve that purpose, but the lines garner more attention than the kids' actions. The unhinged adult humor of the English lines is so far off from what the characters are supposed to say that it erases the plot. It's a beautiful example of audio worthy of an adult cartoon.

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This article was originally written by Ashley Yin.