Ghost Stories
While Ghost Stories was originally a show adapting Japanese folklore into a format for young teens, the English dub allowed wild ad-libbing from the cast. It was the early 2000s, and South Park’s dark and politically incorrect humor was generating a cultural wave. It’s fair to assume South Park is largely what inspired the voice actors of Ghost Stories. The dialogue of Ghost Stories becomes a steady stream of unpredictable verbal chaos. The characters randomly bring up Western politicians and celebrities, and every episode includes crude humor that would never be allowed in a show aimed at a younger audience, but none of this is to the degree of early South Park. This anime is famous for the ad-libbing done by the cast. It isn’t far into the first episode before it becomes apparent that something is odd, but that instance alone does not prepare the audience for the insanity that is to come. It’s crude and dark, too crude and dark to quote. Most of all, it’s amusing. No summary could do justice for this show. If any of this sounds interesting, I recommend watching the first episode, or, at the very least, watching a YouTube video of highlights from the show.
—Gage Wilson, Anime Editor