is a comedy
anime
is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
and
manga
Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
series created by
Nemu Mukudori. The manga was
serialized in the monthly manga magazine
Dengeki Comic Gao!
, also known as ''Dengeki Gao!'' was a Japanese shōnen manga magazine that primarily contained manga and information about series featuring bishōjo characters. It was published from December 1992 to February 2008 by MediaWorks (publisher), Medi ...
by
MediaWorks from 1996 to 2001. The anime, produced by
Bandai Visual
was a Japanese anime, film production, and distribution enterprise, established by Bandai and a subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings. They focused mainly in international distribution of anime properties in North America.
Most of the anime and ...
and
Studio Deen
is a Japanese animation studio founded in 1975 by Sunrise producer Hiroshi Hasegawa and ex-Sunrise animators. The studio owns three subsidiaries: Danny Donghua (丹尼動画), a Chinese sub-contracting studio; Megumi (め組), a digital work sub-c ...
, aired between 2 April 1997 and 25 June 1997.
Themes
This series explores some themes of
folk religion
In religious studies and folkloristics, folk religion, popular religion, traditional religion or vernacular religion comprises various forms and expressions of religion that are distinct from the official doctrines and practices of organized re ...
such as
possession
Possession may refer to:
Law
* Dependent territory, an area of land over which another country exercises sovereignty, but which does not have the full right of participation in that country's governance
* Drug possession, a crime
* Ownership
* ...
,
exorcism
Exorcism () is the religious or spiritual practice of evicting demons, jinns, or other malevolent spiritual entities from a person, or an area, that is believed to be possessed. Depending on the spiritual beliefs of the exorcist, this may be ...
,
shamanism
Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a Spirit world (Spiritualism), spirit world through Altered state of consciousness, altered states of consciousness, such as tranc ...
,
yurei, and
yokai. In the final episode, some more existential themes are explored.
Characters
Main cast
;
*
: The son of a Christian minister and president of Saitō High School's Holy Student Council. He has curly blonde hair and as the series progresses, he grows it long and keeps it in a ponytail. Though he has no spiritual powers aside of seeing ghosts, Haruto is entrusted with the seven badges of the school spirits and summons them as necessary. He hates his job and dealing with ghosts, but his attempts to resign or transfer schools are constantly sabotaged by the Chairman. His dream is to spend one day attending classes, though his fellow student council members enjoy slacking off. With the exception of Episode 6, every episode ends with him saying "Oh my God!"
: In the manga, while Haruto still thinks he doesn't really fit in the Council in his own words, he's noticeably more mature, reliable and level-headed than his anime incarnation, and gets along somewhat better with the spirits.
;
*
: The son (grandson in the manga) of a Buddhist monk. His body is seen as ideal for ghosts and he is constantly possessed by the ghosts of people, animals, and demons; his friend and fellow Council member Mutsuki has to exorcise him several times a day. He is incredibly amorous of females, particularly the Toilet Hanako of the school and all the other Toilet Hanakos. In the manga, this obsession is a family trait shared by his grandfather Taro Ryudo, owner of the shrine where Kazumi lives.
;
*
: The tomboyish, strongwilled daughter of the proprietors of a Shinto shrine, and a
miko
A , or shrine maiden,Groemer, 28. is a young priestess who works at a Shinto shrine. were once likely seen as shamans,Picken, 140. but are understood in modern Japanese culture to be an institutionalized role in daily life, trained to perform ...
(shrine priestess) in her own right. Redhaired, pretty, and rather curvy, she is a master of exorcism. She has an aggressive
shotacon
, abbreviated from , is, in Japanese contexts, the attraction to young (or young-looking) boy characters, or media centered around this attraction. The term refers to a genre of manga and anime wherein prepubescent or pubescent male character ...
tendence, an attraction to young boys, and Nino is often a target of this. Although Mutsuki is not the main character or the de facto leader of the Holy Student Council, she is more confident than Haruto and frequently takes charge of situations. She can use her prayer stick as a weapon, and frequently expels spirits out of Kazumi using her "Asahina Special" exorcism attack.
Shingo Oumi (Manga-Only)
: Shingo makes his first appearance in Volume 2 of the manga series during the introduction of the Blue Hanten, but he soon becomes a recurring main character as of Volume 3. Shingo is a much more easy-going, laid back, fellow of the group that usually lightens the mood with a more friendly style of teasing. While he does attend a different High School, he has become good friends with Haruto and the other members of the Holy student council through an adventure dealing with his younger brother and a Teke Teke imposter. As such, he is often found helping out and tagging along on all of the adventures and mysteries that follow soon after. Shingo uses
Tarot cards
The tarot (, first known as '' trionfi'' and later as ''tarocchi'' or ''tarocks'') is a pack of playing cards, used from at least the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play card games such as Tarocchini. From their Italian roots ...
to predict the future and uses a large knowledge of folklore and other background information to help the others.
School spirits
;
*
: A boy spirit found in a statue of
Ninomiya Sontoku
, also known as Ninomiya Kinjirō (二宮 金次郎), was a Japanese agriculturalist. He lost his parents when he was a boy, but through hard work and diligence, he rebuilt his fallen family at the age of 20. Later, he rebuilt approximately 600 v ...
(a common statue seen at many Japanese schools). He is very intelligent and he (for example) takes rule books as comedy books. Mutsuki adores him and he is the frequent target of her
shotacon
, abbreviated from , is, in Japanese contexts, the attraction to young (or young-looking) boy characters, or media centered around this attraction. The term refers to a genre of manga and anime wherein prepubescent or pubescent male character ...
antics. His badge color is yellow.
;
*
: A male spirit who wears a red cape and a white eye mask. His charms are said to be irresistible to women, though he has no power over Asahina because she prefers younger boys. His visual similarities to ''
Sailor Moon
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. It was originally serialized in Kodansha's ''shōjo'' manga magazine ''Nakayoshi'' from 1991 to 1997; the 52 individual chapters were published in 18 volumes. The seri ...
s
Tuxedo Kamen is made more explicit in an episode mid-way through the series when he is enlisted to distract a trio of ghosts calling themselves the ''Sailors XO'' and is even briefly depicted wearing a top hat, which he complains about. He also has a sister named Blue Hanten. He wears a mask over his eyes because his beauty is so overwhelming that everyone regardless of gender or preference falls in love with him, causing headaches and fevers as the effects wear off. His badge color is red.
;
*
: A male giant spirit, seen almost exclusively from the knees down. He is known as the "Dancing Giant" and is the "master" of the school's gym. He wears olive trousers and brown dress shoes. His badge color is purple.
; and
* ''Voiced by:''
Hisayoshi Izaki (Suzuki) and Yutaka Shimaka (Haruo)
: These two spirits show up as a team, since they are the bones and the internal organs of an anatomical model of a human being. They are generally completely incompetent and make the situations they are summoned to help far worse. Their badge color is dark green, though in Episode 5, the duo state that the badge color is
iridescent
Iridescence (also known as goniochromism) is the phenomenon of certain surfaces that appear to gradually change color as the angle of view or the angle of illumination changes. Examples of iridescence include soap bubbles, feathers, butterfl ...
and can be seen as any color.
;
*
: A girl spirit of the mirror. She appears very rarely in the series, but is the quietest and most normal of the ghosts. Her badge color is orange. In the manga she has several mirror-related powers, using them to teleport people through different ones and showing others what's reflected in different glasses.
;
*
: A scantily-clad teenaged female spirit who dwells in a disused men's toilet in the high school. Toilet Hanako is one of the most popular school spirits having been voted No. 1 for 562 weeks on the spirit world's "School Spirits' Top Ten" voting program. Kazumi is obsessed with her. She once was the golden student of the school, not only beautiful but very athletic, smart and charismatic. Her badge color is pink. Her father, Hanasaku, was himself a popular school spirit as well.
;
*
: The chairman of the school, named Tatsugoro Saitō, is also a spirit, who can be summoned along with the others. He instructs the three members of the Holy Student Council to gather the badges for him, thus starting the series. He collects haunted artifacts from all over the world, thus continually increasing the number of ghosts that inhabit the halls. His badge color is dark blue.
(Manga-only)
: He's the ghost who takes care of the music room; he's a living portrait of
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...
who weeps tears of blood. He seems to have a good share of knowledge about ghosts themselves, though not rivaling the Chairman's. In the manga, he's the one who has the dark green badge and not Suzuki and Sato.
Video game
*''Haunted Junction: Seitokai Batch o Oe!'', a puzzle game developed by
C.P. Brain and published by
MediaWorks for the PlayStation, in 1997.
External links
The Haunted Junction Publication Catalogue*
{{Studio Deen
1997 anime television series debuts
1997 video games
Bandai Entertainment anime titles
Bandai Visual
Comedy anime and manga
Dengeki Comic Gao!
Kadokawa Dwango franchises
Exorcism in anime and manga
Japan-exclusive video games
PlayStation (console)-only games
Puzzle video games
School life in anime and manga
Shōnen manga
Supernatural anime and manga
Studio Deen
Video games based on anime and manga
Video games developed in Japan
PlayStation (console) games
Japanese high school television series