Madpenguin
"One of the more worthless entries into the anime genre."
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One of the more worthless entries into the anime genre.
-
Sep 14, 2011
- by Madpenguin
- posted in ASIANatomy
Rating:
Misaki Saiki is a young woman who works solving cases involving apparitions as a spiritual medium together with her associate Souichiro. She can channel the spirits and allow them to speak through her, and has also been able to see them for as long as she can remember. Her ghost hunting adventures land her into unsolved murder and suicide cases. Her second job is at an S&M club working as a dominatrix to help pay her bills.-summary
-3
This is another one of those titles that had so much potential, but was marred by very poor direction by a hack director. A complete fool who should have been sitting down and re-watching Satoshi Kon anime films (if he's ever watched them), to learn what it takes to make an outstanding anime that deals with such dark content. The moron in question happens to be Osamu Sekita. Ghost Talker's Daydream is among the worst anime OVA's that I came across years ago, and has been since collecting lots of dust on my shelf.
Ghost Talker's Daydream is a supernatural anime with horror elements, that contains a vast amount of comedy. Among its problems happens to be that the comedy clashes very badly with the horror, in an almost Elfen Lied type of way. In addition, many of the story elements seem really unnecessary, and this also goes for the secondary characters, who over stay their welcomes very quickly. When you have a show that an entire secondary cast can be slightly used to not used at all, as well as a piece of the story that can be completely omitted, and the overall story can still carry on with a full head of steam, then something is very wrong. You would have to search kind of hard for poor direction like this.
I have seen some bad directing in anime through out the years, and this title is definitely among the worst to use the short episode OVA format I have ever seen. The story development is very poor. There was no real reason for the main character to parade around in a dominatrix outfit, other than to bombard the viewer with constant fan service. Her occupation as a dominatrix was barely covered and it played no factor at all in the overall story or even in the plot. It was tacked on there just because, and there are several other useless elements like these.
The supporting characters are completely disposable for the most part. The first side character to make an appearance is a girl named Ai, who is in her own bad predicament. Once her two stories were tied up, there was very little reason to keep her around. The same goes for the character Souichiro. He's the typical bumbling idiot who plays the role of the comedy relief, and does a very bad job at it. Misaki herself is almost as bad. She has the ability to battle spirits by unleashing a whip from her lower region, and during the first episode, she appears to be going through some type of ecstasy while using this attack, but it's never explained why this occurs. Instead, it's dropped and she never goes through it again.
The first two stories are stand alone, while the third and fourth are two parters. The stories have some very interesting premises dealing with the demise of certain people, and one even involves an unsolved child murder. Sadly, these stories are badly paced with non plot related elements being introduced. The spooky atmosphere is dealt a blow by the repeated comedy, making it very hard to take this serious. There was so much room for character and plot development but they take the backseat for more fanservice, more comedy, and screen time for worthless characters. Misaki's background concerning her childhood is somewhat examined, but her character development is overall weak. The writers instead decide to focus on her fascination on growing pubic hairs because she happens to be naturally bald. Personally, I don't see the humor in this.
Although good for an OVA, the animation is not very fluid and there is a slight amount of jumpiness. The artwork has some good character designs and I'm sure some guys will get a kick out of the nudity. The camera work places a vast amount of attention on cheek and panty shots. In the music department, nothing really stood out to me but the sound effects has standout moments, like Misaki slapping her private part with handfuls of water. The BGM never gripped me in its attempt at being creepy because I couldn't take the story serious at any point. The ending theme was so forgettable to me, that I don't remember any traces of it.
The anime was put into the hands of a childish director and was seriously held back due to that decision. I don't recall ever coming across any of Sekita's work before or after this, but based upon this weak effort. I will go on and say that he cannot carry a story that the serious viewer would actually care about.
I have to warn those who are not familiar with this title. Do not for any reason take serious the claims you will hear about this being for a mature audience, in regards to intelligence or its artistic brilliance. There's nothing artistic or brilliant about it. This is your standard mindless anime, packed with childish sexual humor, a near rape scene, and fan service. If I were to mention any other positives about this series, it would have to be the short length, and even at 100 minutes it felt too long. I couldn't possibly imagine sitting through 26 episodes of this. I only recommend this to the very easily pleased, and only as a rental to the very curious.
Pros: Traces of talent here and there
Cons: Hack job for the most part, not funny, disposable characters, mindless fan service
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FM_ALEX
September 24, 2011
Great review man, I actually don't think i have seen this one either.
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RabidChihuahua
September 16, 2011
As someone who has a good amount of interest in BDSM and the occult/supernatural, this would have sounded very interesting, had it not been for your review confirming that it's yet another anime that has to stick with all the childish cliches and tonal whiplash that plague the genre. I hope this anime gets lost in the sands of time, and I'll stick with my Doomed Megalopolis and Perfect Blue DVDs.
Madpenguin
September 17, 2011
This was just another poor excuse to dish out retarded fan service and very lame comedy. It's shit like this that has been driving me away from the genre lately.
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woopak_the_thrill
September 15, 2011
Hey, Frank, I am trying to catch up with your reviews, sorry I am a little late. Seems like I caught a bug yesterday and I don't feel too well. That said, seems like this had some real potential but then it stooped to unnecessary devices. Thanks for this one.
Madpenguin
September 15, 2011
It's no big deal man and get well too. This is one that... well... It's just. I don't know what more to say.
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Madpenguin
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Ghost Talker's Daydream, known in Japan as Vulgar Ghost Daydream (低俗霊DAYDREAM, Teizokurei Daydream?), is a shōnen manga written by Saki Okuse and illustrated by Sankichi Meguro, set in modern Japan. There are 10 volumes in total, and the series was also adapted as a four episode OVA. The English version released by Geneon changed the title to Ghost Talker's Daydream, which is not a direct translation of the formal manga title.
The protagonist is the virgin albino woman Saiki Misaki holding down two jobs, neither of which she finds herself particularly happy with, one as a dominatrix in a BDSM club and writer of a column for a porno magazine and the other as a civil servant in the employ of The Livelihood Preservation Group as a necromancer able to perceive and to communicate with ghosts, sometimes allowing them to speak through her with the living. Her government job usually entails exorcism. Misaki considers her shamanic civil service position even more tawdry and less respectable than her sex work.
Subplots, often of one or two chapters in length, include such as introduce important characters, and others to help develop motivations of leading characters.
There are three major characters, at least one of whom appears in every chapter with the exception of chapter 16 "Dead Man's Hand". In order of introduction they are: Saiki Misaki, Mitsuru and Souichirou. Various recurring and often important characters also populate the series.
Fan service, nudity ...
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The protagonist is the virgin albino woman Saiki Misaki holding down two jobs, neither of which she finds herself particularly happy with, one as a dominatrix in a BDSM club and writer of a column for a porno magazine and the other as a civil servant in the employ of The Livelihood Preservation Group as a necromancer able to perceive and to communicate with ghosts, sometimes allowing them to speak through her with the living. Her government job usually entails exorcism. Misaki considers her shamanic civil service position even more tawdry and less respectable than her sex work.
Subplots, often of one or two chapters in length, include such as introduce important characters, and others to help develop motivations of leading characters.
There are three major characters, at least one of whom appears in every chapter with the exception of chapter 16 "Dead Man's Hand". In order of introduction they are: Saiki Misaki, Mitsuru and Souichirou. Various recurring and often important characters also populate the series.
Fan service, nudity ...
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