Ghost Hunt Info

About:

Ghost Hunt -- is a manga series based on a light novel series called the Akuryou Series (Evil Spirit Series) created by Fuyumi Ono. A radio drama for Akuryou Series was made in 1997. It was then converted by mangaka Shiho Inada to a shoujo manga series.

Characters:

(Japanese always say last names first.)

Taniyama Mai -- a 16-year old high school student/orphan who got tangled up in the 'scary' but 'exciting' adventures of her boss, Naru. She has a crush on him. She's clumsy and ghosts seem to love attacking her, almost as if she has a sign in her forehead saying, "Please come and get me!!" . But Naru and the rest of SPR seem to always get to save her just in time. She's the only one (aside from Naru's teacher) he calls by first name.

Shibuya 'Naru' Kazuya -- the arrogant, narcissistic 17-year old head of SPR (in Japan). He's handsome and smart and clearly very aware of it. He's rude and always appear cold and unfeeling to others but it's all a mask. He can use PK-ST and PK-MT. And his body is supposed to be like a natural reservoir of 'chi' (sort of like 'aura').

Lin Koujo -- Naru's 25-year old assistant/guardian. He's Chinese and hates Japanese because of the history between their people. He's a very powerful onmyouji and he has four 'shikis' with him. (Shikis, also known as familiars, are demons/ghosts/spirits that are held captive and can be used to do their masters bidding.)

Takigawa Houshou -- 25-year old 'retired' monk from Mt. Kouya (not sure if the mountain's name is right. I'm basing everything here from my memory.) According to him, being a monk who exorcises evil spirits is only his part-time job... He's actually a full-time bassist in a band. He's like Mai's older brother, very protective. He loves teasing Ayako about her age. (His basic chant, I remember it goes like this: Nau maku san man da bazara dan kan.)

Matsuzaki Ayako -- a 23-year olf 'self-proclaimed' Miko. (shrine maiden/priestess) She comes from a rich family of doctors and she found out about her powers when she was young. There was a sacred tree near their house and it told her secrets, like the deaths of their hospital's patients. She can call out to tree spirits and borrow their power to purify an evil spirit. (Her 'kuji' Nine character chant for protection/purification, as far as I can remember goes something like this: Rin, pyou, tou, sha, kai, jin, retsu, zai, zhen!)

John Brown -- a 19-year old Australian priest, an exorcist. He's accent is the same with people who live in the Kansai region and they laughed at him when they first met him because of it. He is nice and kind and very reliable for exorcisms. His means of exorcism is using holy water and reciting the first passage of John in the New Testament of the Bible.

Hara Masako -- a 16-year old celebrity known for her spiritual powers as a medium. She's a little snobby and rude. She also likes Naru and always competes with Mai for his attention. She hates the fact that Mai is the only one Naru calls by first name. She can hear the cries/voices of souls and can see them too and can determine what type of spirits they are.

Minor Characters:

Yasuhara -- the 18-year old high school student from Ryuukouryuu. His school had been plagued by a cursed done by a first year who committed suicide right after. Ever since then, he became sort of like part of SPR because he's really good with research and stuff.

Mori Madoka -- Naru's ghost hunting teacher. She seems to be the only one who can shut Naru up and put him in his place (aside from his mother, of course.) She's bubbly and appears to be sweet... but actually very bossy and demanding.

Other Information:

Manga -- the literal translation of the Kanji means, 'whimsical pictures'. It's a Japanese comic that dates from, shortly after World War II. But it actually has a long, complex pre-history in earlier Japanese arts.

Anime -- an abbreviated pronunciation in Japanese of 'animation'. It started about the year 1917.