Ghost Hunt (anime TV series), via Hulu

Synopsis:

Sixteen-year-old Mai loves telling and listening to ghost stories. When Shibuya Kazuya (or Kazuya Shibuya, if you want to go with a Western name order) comes to investigate reports of ghosts and mysterious accidents in an abandoned building near her school, Mai ends up becoming one of his assistants. This would be a 100% awesome thing if Kazuya weren't so coldly arrogant and narcissistic (to the point that Mai nicknames him "Naru," which is what I'll refer to him as from this point on). However, the work is interesting and Naru grows on her, so, when she's offered a longer-term job with Shibuya Psychic Research (of which Naru is the manager), Mai accepts.

Although technically Shibuya Psychic Research is composed of Naru, Lin (Naru's mysterious assistant, who seems to take an instant dislike to Mai), and Mai, the group is almost always joined by several others: Hosho, a handsome Buddhist monk who develops a brotherly affection for Mai; Ayako, a Shinto priestess who seems almost useless during most of the 25-episode series; John Brown (I know he's the only one whose last name I'm giving, but his name is just so bland I have to include the whole thing), a cute Australian Catholic priest; and Masako, a 16-year-old spirit medium who has her own TV show and who, to Mai's annoyance, is obviously attracted to Naru. The group is later joined by Yasuhara Osamu ("Yasuhara," from this point on).

The group investigates supposed hauntings. The series is composed of several arcs, each of which deals with a single case. In the first arc, Naru, Mai, and the others investigate the possible haunting of the building by Mai's school. The second arc deals with a possessed doll. The third arc deals with a school that seems to be having a large number of supernatural problems, which may be due to an ostracized spoon-bending girl's curse. Then there's a one-shot in which couples who walk through a particular park together are mysteriously dowsed in water. The fourth arc deals with the spirit of a child who was left at an orphanage (or whatever it's called - the children who are left there aren't always without family). The fifth arc deals with a very strict school that's being overwhelmed by spirits apparently drawn in by widespread student Ouji boarding. The sixth arc deals with a strange, labyrinthine house. The seventh and final arc deals with something that is causing the members of a particular family to die and/or kill.

Commentary:

This series wasn't originally on my radar at all. FUNimation has these ugly S.A.V.E. editions that were on sale, and, to top my order off, I was debating between a couple different series. Tokyo Majin seemed pretty and had some snappy one-liners, but, after watching the first episode, I decided that the plot looked like a mess. Various reviews agreed with me. Jyu Oh Sei had potential, but then I looked at how long it was and started wondering how such a complex-looking series could fit into such a small number of episodes. After reading a few reviews, I concluded that the answer is, "It can't." Ghost Hunt was decently reviewed by several people, but I couldn't pinpoint why. Everything I read made it sound just like a bunch of other shows.

I decided to put off buying the show, at least until after I'd seen the whole thing on Hulu. FUNimation was going through a Hulu video yanking spree, but I still had about a week to go before Ghost Hunt was going to go away. I ended up finishing the whole 25-episode series with several days to spare.