The most infamous anime dub of all time
Discussing the infamous English dub of the anime Ghost Stories.
Perhaps the most infamous and unique anime dub of all time is the dub to the Ghost Stories (学校の怪談 Gakkō no Kaidan, lit. "School Ghost Stories") anime series released in the year 2000 which was based on a book series by Tōru Tsunemitsu and produced by animation studios Aniplex and Pierrot for Fuji Television.
The story focuses on a group of friends who attempt to exorcise the ghosts that had been sealed inside a tree by the deceased mother of two of the main characters Keiichirou and Satsuki, which had now been released and have begun to haunt their neighbourhood and the old school.
ADV Studios picked up the show for dubbing in the year 2005 and according to voice actor Greg Avres, ADV Studios was told to “do whatever it took to sell the show”, with the only condition being that basic story elements and the names of main characters and ghosts would remain unchanged. Director Steven Foster who co wrote the show’s script with Lucan Duran, reconfigured the show into a gag dub, completely unrecognisable to the original script of the show, which previously saw a dubbed version by Animax which must’ve underperformed or not made a huge splash audience wise. Voice actors seemed to helm a large amount of power in the dubbing process, with the power to set the tone of a scene and the ability to improvise and include off the cuff instances of pop culture and political references, dirty jokes, dark humour, self deprecating humour and fourth wall breaks, the likes you would never see in any officially released piece of entertainment. It is such an interesting case study for how a dubbing process for a piece of animation can completely change a particular show, for better or for worse.
Compilation videos of the dub on social media and video sharing platforms such as Youtube have raked in millions of views, and undoubtedly contributed to the dub’s infamous reputation. This is how I first came across the dub and first like many others assumed that it was a fandub or something else unofficial, a trend I wouldn’t be surprised it contributed towards. In a weird way, I value its existence and I am glad that such a unique and mind boggling dub for an anime was actually produced and officially released, as it is highly likely that dubs like the Ghost Stories dub will forever remain to be a product of their time. The unique circumstances that saw it emerge from the anime dubbing scene from the early 2000s, will never again be recreated, especially in modern times where anime has a much bigger international presence. So, give it a watch if you’ve never seen it, or revisited with this new information in mind and celebrate or curse, the 20th anniversary of the infamous Ghost Stories dub.
Here’s a compilation video, containing various examples of the uniqueness of this dub.
References
https://animecorner.me/the-weird-and-often-misunderstood-history-of-the-english-ghost-stories-dub/
https://dubbing.fandom.com/wiki/Ghost_Stories#Dubbing_History
https://gamerant.com/the-story-behind-one-of-animes-most-controversial-dubs/