26. Ghost Hunt by Shibo Inada and Fuyumi Ono

Ghost Hunt by Shibo Inada and Fuyumi Ono
ISBN: 0345486242
Del Ray, New York, 2005
111 pages
Alternate Format: Manga

Teaser: Like other girls in her class, Mai enjoys telling creepy ghost stories with the lights off. The abandoned old school building is a favorite subject for these stories, but what if there was some truth to them?

Summary: A student tradition at Mai's school is to tell ghost stories in a darkened classroom. Each person has a flashlight they turn off after they take their turn. Once all flashlights have been turned off, you count the number of people in the room, each calling out a number. Supposedly, you will end up with one extra person, a ghost. Mai and her friends are scared silly for a moment when an extra voice actually does call out, but it turns out to simply be a passing boy. The boy, Shibuya, is actually a professional ghost hunter, who has been hired by the school to determine the reason for the strange occurrences in the old school building. Mai sneaks in and accidentally breaks a very expensive camera that Shibuya had set up as part of his investigation, which leads to her working as an assistant in order to pay for the camera. Mai is impressed by the technology and science Shibuya uses to determine the actual cause of the strange occurrences, which end up being a combination of unstable ground and a budding psychic who had unconsciously been causing some things to happen. Mai expects the job to end after Shibuya finishes the case, but to her surprise, not only does he pay her for her time (even though she had been working to pay for the broken camera), he offers her a part time job as well. Mai accepts, and the volume ends.

Evaluation: This was a delightfully creepy book. While the illustrations were not particularly grotesque, the story was still spooky and suspenseful. Part of the actions turned out to have a mundane explanation, but the presence of the supernatural, in this case a psychic unconsciously causing ghost like events, is still supported, indicating that the absence of ghosts isn't going to be a permanent condition. This was a nice, not too scary, intro to the series.

Several cultural notes are included in the book, in two places. In the front the publisher has included a translation note to let readers know that the original Japanese honorific suffixes have been left un-translated, as some of the nuances cannot be accurately translated. A brief explanation of the honorifics is given, including the often overlooked absence of an honorific, which is either a sign that two people are very close friends, or a sign that the speaker is being incredibly rude. At the end of the book is a series of cultural references and translation notes. These include things like explanations of the first usages or unusual usages of some of the honorifics, cultural references that Americans may not get, and explanations for some of the ceremonial and religious aspects present. These notes can really help a reader unfamiliar with manga get a handle on some of the trickier subtleties present due to the cultural differences between Japan and America.

Challenge issues and age recommendation: Ghosts, psychics, religion, and the creepy aspects of horror stories are all major parts in this story. Despite this, nothing is terribly graphic, just a few hazy images in windows and the occasional "drops of blood" accents added as decoration to some frames to up the creepy factor. This story was fairly tame, but I'm going to agree with the helpful rating on the back of the book and okay this for teens 13 and up.