/anime/2596/ghost-hound
"Ghost Hound" or "Shinreigari" follows three middle schoolers Tarou Komori, Makoto Ogami, and Masayuki Nakajima who are experiencing OBE (Out of Body Experience), or as they like to call it "Soul Travelling" which allows them to explore the 'Unseen World'. Each member utilizes this strange phenomenon to get over their anxieties and terrible pasts while also learning all the hidden secrets of the village of Suiten.
##### Meet the Ghost Hounds (from left to right)
##### "Tarou, Masayuki, Michio (late entry), and Makoto"
"Shinreigari" tackles a variety of topics, including mythology, occult practices, quantum theory, psychology, and even life after death. Considering that the series was created by
Masamune Shirow, the same person who created the "Ghost in the Shell" franchise and
Ryuutarou Nakamura, director of SEL, this shouldn't come as a surprise, that it really needs patience to watch. "Shinreigari" is part mystery/thriller, revealing the dark secrets of the town & its mysterious characters, part horror, the dread of something unknowable lurking around outside or sometimes even inside our characters, and part sci-fi/psychological, exploring the mental state of its many characters with a lot of (faux) science.
##### You'll get used to these images. The anime uses a variety of contrasts to illustrate its ideas, such as the above-mentioned nuanced distinction between souls and people. See how the formless bodies of the soul (above pic) contrast with the distorted depiction of man's senses by "Penfield" (below pic). There are more of these that I'm sure I occasionally missed, but one of these contrasts that I loved was the opening song with the remaining OST. The soundtrack is odd and plodding, gradually evoking a sense of mystery and suspense in opposition to the jazzy intro song. The tone has changed, yet the mystery is still present.
##### I like this shot.
The Art style and Sound direction in "Shinreigari" are two obvious standouts. The character designs, particularly the ghosts, are distinctive enough to set the art style apart while still seeming conventional enough to be called your typical anime from the 2000s. Their designs are more unsettling, from the black distorted giants, the insect-like beings in the unseen world, to the "snark,"
For the Snark was a Boojum, You See.
And the sound is strange, as I have mentioned. It is frequently detailed and includes recognizable sounds like pendulums, breathing noises, and heartbeats. The sound starts off slowly and quietly (nearly undetectable), but it gets louder enough to even interrupt the conversations occasionally. Every episode starts off with significantly distorted dialogue from earlier episodes, mostly for ambiance.
Shinreigari is a thematically rich show with a lot of scientific and occultic babble backed by a foggy atmosphere but it is narratively flawed. The show doesn't weave some of it's themes into a tight-knitted story. The characters will converse about things like "how a ghost possessed my daughter" and other things you wouldn't expect to hear two men discussing in broad daylight. Even more perplexing to me is how readily they accept one another's word while talking about matters that could put them, and people around them, in danger, like one character describes that "
those people might be watching us", and the same character reveals confidential info in broad daylight. Additionally, the last episodes don't make sense with everything that came before. The "Overcoming traumas" narrative never had a satisfying conclusion. The conflicts in earlier episodes of "What occurred in the past?" were heavily built up, yet they were never resolved. The character's abrupt personality change offers a hazy resolution, or the episode simply leaves it hanging. It is a little sudden when the show finishes on a coming-of-age note because there were no signs that the theme of the initial episodes was "Letting go of the past and/or Accepting the present and yourself."
I've been watching 2 or 3 episodes a day of Shinreigari at midnight for the past week, which helped me to go to sleep while not regretting it. In Japan, these kinds of anime are called Aniraji (a combination of 'Anime' and 'Rajio'(Radio)) shows that are used to air from 10 PM to 4 AM. Normally, these kinds of anime are very heavy in their plot or presentation (shows like Neon Genesis Evangelion, Berserk, Serial Experiments Lain) and are usually targeted toward adult audiences and often help the viewer to surpass their restless state to fall asleep.
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Conclusion
If you are a fan of dialogue-heavy Anime like "Ghost in the Shell" or "Serial Experiments Lain", I would recommend it. If not, skip it. This can cause you to fall asleep if you are disinterested or forced yourself to watch it. 
