Unveiling the Untold Saga: Exploring Anime’s Most Divisive Dub

Highlights

The Ghost Stories English dub is famous for its dark humor and script overhaul, but the idea that the original anime bombed in Japan is a myth.

ADR director Stephen Foster, famous for his skillful reinterpretations of anime, showcased his exceptional talent in crafting an extraordinary script and injecting humor into the English dub.

The speculation about the Ghost Stories dub rescuing a floundering series likely stemmed from Foster's misconstrued perception of the show's popularity in Japan.

Ghost Stories, an anime with a highly distinctive background, has a captivating story compared to others in the medium. Originally, Ghost Stories did not do well in its home market, which granted ADV Films the opportunity to introduce the title to a new audience through an English dub and an extensive revision of the script. This decision would later become legendary on the internet, as the English dub of Ghost Stories turned out to be drastically different from the serious tone of the original Japanese version.

Even today, the Ghost Stories dub is both admired and debated, primarily because of its dark comedy, which hasn't aged well in certain aspects. Numerous anecdotes have circulated about its creation, but what is the true narrative behind the English dub of Ghost Stories?

Plot and Background

Gakkou no Kaidan (Ghost Stories) originated as a collection of ghost stories and Japanese folklore written by Tōru Tsunemitsu for children. It was published by Kodansha and a four-part film series was released between 1995 and 1999. The story revolves around Satsuki Miyanoshita, who moves with her father and younger brother to her late mother's hometown. On her first day of school, Satsuki, her brother, a neighbor, and an upperclassman venture into the abandoned old school building next to the new one, discovering that it is haunted. Satsuki later learns that her mother had previously sealed away the apparitions that haunt the old school building and left behind a book with instructions on how to do it again if they were ever released.

The anime series, produced by Studio Pierrot and directed by Noriyuki Abe (known for Yu Yu Hakusho and BLEACH), aired on Fuji TV from October 2000 to March 2001, spanning 20 episodes. Some sources list it as 19 episodes due to the exclusion of episode 3, which touched upon the urban myth of Kuchisake Onna and received criticism from Japanese parents. Despite claims of the series being a failure domestically, it actually garnered enough success to be broadcasted in other countries. The notion that an anime series considered a failure would perform better in English seems illogical, as the associated production companies would likely prioritize more profitable titles over failures. The alleged failure of Ghost Stories may have been exaggerated to enhance the mythos surrounding its English dub, taking into account its popularity in its original form and the creation of various media adaptations based on it.

Not Bad

On the Japanese website anikore (comparable to MyAnimeList), Ghost Stories garners a respectable score of 67.3 out of 100 and a 3.7 out of 5 star rating, showcasing a decent level of enjoyment among Japanese fans. However, the belief that it was a failure in its home country remains ingrained in the folklore surrounding the production of its infamous English dub. Furthermore, it is worth noting that the English dub stands alone in terms of having a complete overhaul of the series' script, indicating that the original version was distributed in various countries, primarily through the Animax television channel in South-East Asia. In an in-depth investigation into the alleged origins of the Ghost Stories dub, writer Deshawn "Dela Doll" Thomas of /Film discovered that the widely accepted narrative is flawed, with significant gaps in the story's credibility. It appears that this story itself may have originated from the renowned ADR director, Stephen Foster.

Fosterization

Fuji TV, the company in charge of distributing the series in the western market, provided little guidance to the English dub production team. Their only instructions were to maintain the characters' names, the method of defeating the ghosts, and the fundamental message of each episode. The resulting dub incorporated elements such as pop-culture references, dark humor, breaking the fourth wall, and frequent self-critiques of its own quality. ADR director Stephen Foster, as mentioned in Thomas' article, was known for his creative adaptations of the titles he worked on, including the renowned comedy anime Cromartie High School. Even prior to the inception of the notorious Ghost Stories dub, he had already established a reputation for his liberal approach. For anime, the role of the ADR director entails translating the script into the target language while also localizing it to appeal to the specific audience by modifying cultural references.

It is for similar reasons that 4Kids Entertainment versions of anime would often feature completely different opening and ending themes, as well as controversial moments like the infamous jelly donut incident involving Pokémon character Brock. Foster gained a reputation for making eccentric changes to the tone, story, or dialogue of the shows he worked on, leading to the birth of the term "Fosterization" to describe the process of taking creative liberties with the localization, dubbing, and overall presentation of a story. The individual whom the term was coined after takes pride in becoming a "cult legend" for his unconventional approach to various anime, particularly for the successful dub that he believes revitalized a struggling show. However, it is worth noting that the notion that Ghost Stories was a failure in the first place originated from him. While it's possible that he may have misunderstood his objective, his reputation and pride in Ghost Stories imply something else.

Broken Telephone?

Stephen Foster and Lucan Duran penned the English script for Ghost Stories, granting voice actors the freedom to ad-lib. Foster received minimal guidelines from Griffin Vance, an attorney at ADV Films and producer of several anime titles, as the series was a colossal failure in Japan.

It is believed that Vance misunderstood Fuji TV's explanation about Ghost Stories' performance in Asia, which influenced the myth surrounding the series. Ghost Stories was actually created by Fuji TV to fill a time-slot after the G.T.O. anime ended, replacing another Kodansha product. This decision was made due to the declining ratings of the Rurouni Kenshin anime after changes were made to its studio and time-slot. Contrary to popular belief, the widely circulated story that the English dub of Ghost Stories saved the series in Japan is not true.

Sources:

Deshawn "Dela Doll" Thomas's article on /Film

MercuryFalcon's Video on YouTube

Ghost Stories Page on anikore