Ok, this is definitely a Mai x Naru moment. I knew the directors are jealous of Masako and refuse to let her in for any part of this last arc. Why? Why? I want my Masako like now, now and now.
This arc is the file of the haunted house, and even though the build up is not as scary as the previous arc, it does open up to some really disturbing scenes. I am going to probably start panicking in the later stages of this arc and refuse to blog on it until my fear has subsided.
Note: I made use of honeysempai’s proposed names that are probably close to the actual names. Thanks to her!
Episode summary
Akufumi, the requestor, brought his niece to the SPR, as she had neck bruises and bruises that spelled out the word for people who were going to hell. The words, as explained by Bou-san, was “a message that the girl will be going down to hell soon” and Bou-san said that it was done by someone very malicious. The host of the family, Taizo and his wife, Hiroe greeted the Ghost Hunters and told them about the history of their lineage. Thirty two years ago when their great grandfather died, eight family members died while when their grandfather died, their grandmother and five other siblings of their grandparents died subsequently very soon. Then, when the host’s father died, Hazuki started having the mark on her back.
Mai started to remember the family members and found that everyone was quiet. Suddenly, Ejiro, the husband of the oldest daughter, screamed out and asked why they brought the ghost hunters in. He added that the host should have clarified and that it was not only the eight people that died. Hiroe then explained that three other guests died as well and they had spiritual power. He would not blame them if they left right now. The Ghost Hunters went to their rest room as Akufumi apologized for the behavior of Ejiro and said he was usually quite jovial. It seemed that after Taizo’s father died, everyone was having a short fuse and losing their temper after the burial. Akufumi’s three dogs also died, and they were found at the shore within three days of the burial. and the kids were the strangest.
The two other kids (Tazuki and Takako) in the house were inseparable suddenly and often whispered and mumbled things between each other. When asked when they were discussing, they simply glared and left. Mai was setting up the camera in a room and walked in the dark hallway. A young voice started calling her but she saw no one. A hand suddenly reached out, scaring Mai until she realized it was the two kids. The two kids asked Mai about how many people were here and Mai answered five. The two kids started mumbling toward each other and Mai asked why they questioned about the people count. The two kids told her not to worry as they walked away, with Mai realizing that Akufumi’s strange description of behavior was apparent and even though she could not pinpoint out the strange behavior, it just felt wrong.
A scream then rang out, as everyone rushed over to see the family members trying to hold Ejiro, who had bloodshot eyes and was holding a knife manically. Lin came forward and struck the man down. Naru asked about why Ejiro was feeling awful but they said that he was feeling good until very recently, and there was no particular reason. Naru continued to question the ghost hunters on who could try exorcising as he said it would be better to wait for John. Still, he asked Ayako whether she had confidence, and Ayako asked if Bou-san could do it. Bou-san said he had no confidence and the last time he tried on an urn, he was able to exorcise the spirit but the urn also broke. He added that one of the logics was that spiritual energy should never enter a living body. Lin was unable to do anything to exorcise the spirit if he did not know the true identity of the particular spirit. Naru asked Ayako to try it out, as Ayako said she could not promise what would happen.
Ayako started her ritual against the tied up Heijiro and it seemed that it was not working. Suddenly, a purple fox-like spirit emerged from the body and flew right pass her and through Naru’s body, as it escaped into the wall. Naru immediately slumped down, and Heijiro seemed to go back to normal. When they went back to HQ, none of the equipment captured the scenes as Lin said that the spirit had interfered and stopped all transmission. Naru clearly looked uncomfortable, and Ayako brought him back to his room for a rest. Mai regretted the chance to be close to Naru. As the two left the room, Bou-san questioned the authencity of Ayako’s powers as a Miko and wondered if she had ever successfully exorcised anything.
It was clear that she had some training before but the attempt to exorcise was a complete failure. Bou-san wondered if the miko name was self-styled. As they viewed on screen, it seemed that Ayako and Naru were hugging but Bou-san suddenly realized something was amiss as Naru was in fact strangling Ayako. Lin rushed out and struck Naru unconscious. Naru was possessed by the purple fox-like spirit rather than the spirit escaping. Lin told Ayako that she was lucky because the spirit had not known how to fully control Naru. If the spirit could control Naru properly, Ayako would have died earlier on. Lin told them that Naru was now a very dangerous character, completely out of expectations. Bou-san asked if Lin was good at fighting and whether he could beat Naru. In terms of resilience, Lin said Naru was possibly better.
Bou-san said that it left no choice but to try exorcising the spirit somehow, and try to identity the spirit so that Lin could do something. Lin said he would live his five spirits to guard and protect Naru, but that would leave him with zero. Bou-san asked Mai and Ayako about their plans, as there was no Naru to direct them. He told them that either to trust fate in their plans or to escape with Naru. Mai said they could not leave everyone this way and Ayako said no matter the bickering they had, they could not leave their compatriot behind. Mai was suddenly seen to be running in a “dream” and we see Naru with a stained knife and a fallen body. Naru had killed the person. Naru said that Mai had betrayed him, as only Mai would know about him meeting at this place. Mai said that there was a switch in the letters and she waited at a different place. Naru replied that he had to surrender since he killed someone but he would also be lynched if he surrendered. Mai told him that if they were to die, she would die together with Naru.
Naru brought Mai along to run, as they ran toward a shrine with the Yoshimi family giving chase. Mai wondered why they did not run toward the beach and everyone was there. The whole ghost hunter group was there as they had no place of escape. They were surrounded by the Yoshimi family as the swords came down. Mai woke up, only to see ghost lights around. It seemed that it was a dream within a dream, and she saw Dream Naru waving to her to come down. Mai asked if Dream Naru made the dream, but Dream Naru said that he simply guided Mai to it. Mai said she never noticed of such a path as they walked down into the cave and found the gathering of spirits and an altar that was slanted. Dream Naru told her that this place had gathered spirits who died in this place. Even though there was nothing malicious as yet, it was not a good place as it could be considered a spirit burial ground. Mai asked what Dream Naru meant when he said that he was guiding the dream but Dream Naru simply smiled as the lights faded off.
Thoughts
I apologize ahead for not going to say anything trivial at the start because I have a pressing concern. My first qualm about this episode is the dream within the dream. I do wonder what the significance of the dream, as most of you will have wondered right now. It definitely is not a dream about an experience like the past, compared to what has happened in the arc. It seems to be some form of foreboding, guided by Dream Naru. However, there are some points in the dream that does not make logical sense.
Something in the dream does not correspond to me in which I do not see John in the picture. If he is going to be around, the dream should have him around in my opinion. The fact that Naru will kill someone makes no sense to me too, since Naru is calm enough to think of such things before anything happen. The letter that he sends to Mai only is an interesting thing nevertheless, and I am curious what this symbolism actually means for the future. What exactly is supposed to be true in the dream within the dream, if the dream was a direction pointed out by Dream Naru for Mai.
If you are confused, it’s ok. I am too.
To add on, the fact that everyone is acting queerly and the altar seems to be related. Here comes my speculation time! I know it sounds obvious but I speculate that it must be the job of the spirit that resides in the house. I remember watching and reading Japanese folklore that believes that every house has a spirit living in it. In general, such spirits are benevolent, as long as suitable offerings are given (think a bit of food). I believe that somewhere down the line, the grand great father might have caused something that might be extremely offensive to the spirit in the altar.
When spirits are displeased, they can probably land a curse on the house that they reside in and turn their back against the very people living in it. When the spirit has lived for a long time and consumed the other spirits that have gathered in the vicinity, it will result in the curse being totally awful. This logic will actually work with the fact that Dream Naru said the place itself around the altar isn’t evil, yet isn’t good. The spirit itself is not evil in that sense, but it does lay a curse on the family residing in it.
The two kids does disturb me since their eyes looked totally vacant when they talked to Mai. The purple fox spirit seems to be powerful enough to possess even Naru, one who has probably at least some form of resistance. I cannot remember where I said this in the summary, but Bou-san did say that the more spiritual a person is, it will be harder to get the spirit out from the body. This will spell a lot of trouble, since Naru will become exceptionally dangerous. Ejiro is but a common man, yet has so much power that a few men had to tie him down. Imagine what happens when you have someone as resilient as Naru and martial arts not exactly too inferior to Lin possessed by this spirit. It’s like total carnage and I wonder what happens when Naru awakens.
The Dream Naru and Naru relationship really puzzles me, and I am slanting toward the twin speculation, since Naru is no longer under his own control, which means his sub-conscious is unlikely to have strength to pass the message to Mai, and extend his message. Ayako also disappointed me and I agree with Bou-san’s statements that she is probably trained before in some exorcism arts but definitely not a real miko by any sense.
And yes, to end off. WHERE’S MY MASAKO?
p/s: Rdrake is having his birthday! His birthday thread is here.
106 Comments
@Shrae: Well, I think when they ask how many people there are in the group, it’s more like them measuring up how many people they actually have to handle. Rather than the figure matching up, it seems to me that it’s the spirits in the house quietly confident of eliminating the five ghost hunters that are in the house currently.
It’s more like a survey and I hate to know what the kids have planned in their murmurings….
@DJ: Hmm, if you are saying it that way, it does make sense for Lin to stop him. Detrimental to his own health huh? Good idea actually.
@Catherine: We do not entertain that question here. Please email the blog or do a google search
–> Someone mentioned that they were curious to see what happened when Madoka and Yasuhara showed up. You’ve forgotten that in the last episode, Madoka said she was returning to wherever she came from. I don’t expect her to turn up.
–> There is evidence throughout the series that exorcism does not destroy the spirit. Exorcism merely drives the spirit out of its current container.
1) When John exorcised the spirit from the doll Minni, he told the others that the spirit has not been destroyed, merely driven out. He advised them that they should burn the doll to keep the spirit from possessing it a second time.
2) When John exorcised the children possessed by Kenji, Kenji’s spirit was never destroyed, merely driven out.
3) In the Forbidden Game arc (the one just before Urado), it was stated that exorcism just causes the spirit to move on. It does not destroy the spirit. (Exorcism is what forced the fire-causing spirit in the locker room to move into the video room.) Once everyone realized that exorcism was simply forcing the spirits to move and was not actually destroying the spirits, Naru ordered the exorcisms to stop if you recall.
There is a way to actually destroy the spirit as someone noted. Masako mentions it during in the doll house arc. She thinks that this method is what Naru is going to use to destroy the mother’s spirit. However, Naru doesn’t use that method as we know. The method of destroying the spirit has never been used in the series so far.
“Oh Jen-chan and laboosh, forget the other theory and embrace the bright side of Dream Naru = Real Naru. It’s the one and absolute truth”. (to me)
lol. i dn’t thnk so um not ready yet.
“Hmm, Lin has always seemed unhappy about Naru using his powers. I’m really starting to believe that its because his use of them is detrimental to Naru’s health”.
yeah i thnk tht too, remember the arc wn mai said tht naru could bend spoons, hw lin was angry at naru, it was as if he was really concerned bout somthin.
@ catherine: u can log on to http://www.baka-updates.com
thn u choose (releases) u write ghost hunt in the search and all the eps. will come infront of u ^^
@LKK, ack that was me, sorry I forgot. Maybe its because I would like to see more of Yasuhara and Madoka. They are cute together and have similar personalities.
You also raise some very good points. Hmm I wonder if the reason we haven’t seen this method yet is because it would be very draining on our beloved Naru and therefore very dangerous to him?
@laboosh, yes, he did seem very upset about that. At the time I agreed with everyone that it was most likely because Naru wasn’t supposed to show he had any powers. Now like I said I wonder if its something to do with what using his powers might do to Naru.
~DJ~ (happily hugs the new Lin-plushi in Sunako-chan style) Arigatou! ^^
“he’s been visiting Mai all this time and putting himself under strain”
That line made me think of something else.
Mai x Naru pairing will beat the crap out of Masako x Naru pairing. Ha! And I really didn’t want to do this but because Impz committed a crime of the highest order, which shocked me because I’ve always thought a gentelman would never retaliate to a lady no matter how much she provokes him, popiahs are now on the menu for the Mai x Naru love-love pairing supporters exclusively.
~Lkk~ “When John exorcised the spirit from the doll Minni, he told the others that the spirit has not been destroyed, merely driven out. He advised them that they should burn the doll to keep the spirit from possessing it a second time.”
Oh, I completely forgot about that one too. ^^
~Lys & Impz~ In regards to the two kids, I don’t think Mai is the type of person whose judgement can easily be influenced, and her abilites as a sensitive hasn’t failed her yet. She has proven it in the After-school Spell Caster arc when everyone else accused Kasai as the culprit, Mai was the one who stuck to the beleif that she is innocent triggered by her psychic abiliy.
Akufumi’s warning has nothing to do with Mai’s gut feeling about the two creepy kids.
In my point of view as well, no matter how strange the happenings are in a home, kids wouldn’t ask strangers how many people came with them. Usually, they’d ask the name or the business those strangers have in coming to their home. For the two kids to just ask Mai how many people were with her is really strange to me.
Impz: *Minerva siiiide kickkkk!!!* don’t mess with Lin sama he is just sooo handsome and cool u can’t do that to him ;_;
don’t take it out on Lin, masako will be back soon Impz *patpat*
13sugars: i am not quite sure about all this exorcism business. I am more familiar with John’s doctrine, you’ve got to pass lots of tests and stuff by the church to be certified for such things. Now, I think they now also get you to take psychological tests before determining it could be a posession. On the shinto side i don’t know anything so i can’t tell how is that ayako’s power works, cause i do think she has her talents but the past cases haven’t helped her to shine.
Final note… Lin sama is just so superbbbb!!! now the last thing would be is that he is an awesome chef. *_*
LKK: i heard masako and yasuhara will be in the new arc but i am just dying to see them back. The wait is just a killer.
On my thoughts for the episode, i watched it again and honestly it’s just weird howcome they didn’t consider the fox spirit going into his body as a first option tsk tsk. It would also be interesting seeing if their is any Naru- fox spirit fight in naru’s subconcious level
Well, I’ve always thought that exorcism involves chasing the spirit out of the possessed body and sending it back to where it comes from or sending it along its way to heaven (or to hell) or destroying it. That comes from watching too much B grade movies.
And D Gray Man for that matter. heh.
Anyway, I thought that exorcism fails is because the exorcist is usually not strong enough or that the spirit still has unfinished business. As in the case of Kenji. And in the case of Ayako, she may not be a powerful exorcist, but she still manages to chase the spirit out. I think we should give her credit for being able to do some exorcism. I wonder if it were John who did the exorcism, would it also not have been a total success?
Now the question is why is Naru so hell-bent on doing the exorcism immediately? Why can’t he wait for John to come. Is he simply asking for trouble asking Ayako to do the exorcism? What is he thinking? This clearly shows that he is not as clear-headed as he has always been, and is letting his emotions guide him rather than his head.
@LKK: I think the word ‘destroyed’ is too strong a word to be used. The exorcism simply sends the spirit on its way. The spirits in the doll house are tied to the house and could not leave, they have to find the root cause. The spirit of Kenji has unfinished business, so exorcising the way JOhn does does not solve the problem. The spirits in the Forbidden Game arc are not able to leave the school because there was a spiritual barrier around the whole school, so the most they could do is move from one place to another.
Therefore in the case of Ayako and fox spirit, Naru should be investigating it further instead of simply wanting to drive it out, and if he’s only driving it out, he should really wait for someone better at it. So … why, Naru? He doesn’t even care what it was that was causing the possession, does he? He just wants to finish this case and go home?
~Lys~ “Naru should be investigating it further instead of simply wanting to drive it out, and if he’s only driving it out, he should really wait for someone better at it. So … why, Naru? He doesn’t even care what it was that was causing the possession, does he? He just wants to finish this case and go home?”
I think it’d be probably very hard to make an investigation of the case in a place where possessed-Eijiro would be rampaging and trying to murder someone/anyone within his reach. Naru probably thought that the best solution is to drive the spirit out of Eijiro’s body, though he wasn’t sure how long they can keep the spirit out of anyone, it could’ve probably given them at least some time to make a more effective move. Ayako seems to be the next ‘best’ person to do the job at the currect situation.
And yes, I also agree that Naru just wants to finish the case and go home, but I think that in order to do that, he needs to know the whos, whats, whys, hows and whens of the case. ^^
@ lys:”Now the question is why is Naru so hell-bent on doing the exorcism immediately? Why can’t he wait for John to come. Is he simply asking for trouble asking Ayako to do the exorcism? What is he thinking? This clearly shows that he is not as clear-headed as he has always been, and is letting his emotions guide him rather than his head.”
i completely disagree with you, it’s not tht naru was lead by his emotions it was just tht he saw tht this z a dangerous situation and there’s no time to wait for john who might take 2 days to come, besides it was ayako fault, he asked her if she could do it, and wt she did?! she asked bou-san if he was capable of doin it.
i mean if some one z not confident enough in doin smthin then why doin it????!!
and i thnk tht she’s old enough to know ths fact.
and lin-san is sooooooooooo cute, love him love him, but still naru z my fav ^^
@ MinervaArnauld : “LKK: i heard masako and yasuhara will be in the new arc but i am just dying to see them back.”
I never said that I thought Masako and Yasuhara wouldn’t be in the new arc. Are you confusing them with what I said about Madoka not being in this arc? If you heard that Madoka is in this arc, where did you hear it?
@ThirteenSugars, yes it was rather mean but I’m glad you like the plushie! ^-^ Yay Sunako-chan, I totally love her character especially when she’s all beating on someone! I watch Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge too. ^-^
Back to the topic at hand…
“I think it’d be probably very hard to make an investigation of the case in a place where possessed-Eijiro would be rampaging and trying to murder someone/anyone within his reach. Naru probably thought that the best solution is to drive the spirit out of Eijiro’s body, though he wasn’t sure how long they can keep the spirit out of anyone, it could’ve probably given them at least some time to make a more effective move. Ayako seems to be the next ‘best’ person to do the job at the currect situation.”
Hmm I think ThirteenSugars has hit on why Naru took the fox spirit into himself.
I think he probably knew Ayako wouldn’t be able to exorcice the spirit completely, but at least hoped it was possible.
In the case she couldn’t completely dispel the spirit his plan was for her to at least get the spirit out of Eijiro and take it into himself. Since he more than likely figured with his mental strength (I think this is probably what Lin was referring to when he said Naru would be better than himself) he would be able to suppress the spirit until maybe John or Masako would arrive to help them dispel the spirit.
Lin was maybe unaware of this plan right up until it happened which is why he shouted out at the last minute. I imagine even if Naru is sick that something like this would be very dangerous to the host and very draining.
Of course I agree, one wonders why it took everyone so long to realize that Naru had been possessed or even that he was planning to let it enter him. Since it looked pretty obvious from his posture that he was planning to do it. I mean he never once tried to move out of the way. Of course since it seemed that Lin realized what Naru was planning, he may have just thought that Naru had it under control.
Oh the other hand, I still think that he was going to flatten/hit the spirit with his psychic power instead of taking it into him. This is because of the way he reacted.
When the purple spirit fox first appeared and rushed towards Naru, Naru narrowed his eyes and braced himself as if about to do something. This is the part where he just stood there and made no attempt to move. I took that to mean that he didn’t think he needed to move, because he is about to do something that will put down the purple fox. At that moment, Lin cried out “Stop”. Naru reacted in surprise, un-narrowed his eyes with a bit of shock. By then it’s too late, because the spirit has hit him and entered him.
At least, that’s the interpretation I have when watching it.
If Naru was preparing to let the spirit enter him, why does he react in surprise when Lin yelled? Why does he look as if he has stopped at the verge of doing something important? Because if he did intend to let the spirit enter him, he doesn’t really have to do anything except stand there, and shouldn’t have reacted that strongly to Lin’s yell.
@Briar: I agree with Briar that Naru is supposedly trying to flatten the spirit somehow with psychic powers rather than absorbing it. Instead of opening up, he was like resolute to put down the spirit or something until Lin distracted him, forcing him to stop.
However, that was just the moment, as Briar said, that caused the spirit to go within. I actually have a rather interesting concept. I believe in a way that the suspicious people are in fact all possessed by spirits with a malevolent heart, and the fox spirit is just one out of many spirits that has invaded.
Now to think back about my logic about this altar, I feel that it might be a vengeful spirit of the elderly member of the family, returning to haunt the family that has moved away from its life or something.
That will add a good twist where the altar is actually an ancestor that curses the family forever.
~Briar & Briar~ “If Naru was preparing to let the spirit enter him, why does he react in surprise when Lin yelled? Why does he look as if he has stopped at the verge of doing something important? Because if he did intend to let the spirit enter him, he doesn’t really have to do anything except stand there, and shouldn’t have reacted that strongly to Lin’s yell.
Correction–> ~Briar and Impz~ (lol)
k, i don’t understand the “twin naru” stuff, but in my mind (lol), mai has dreams, and then she walks around like a spirit. so when she’s spirit walking, would that mean that everyone she talks to (in that state) would be pplz spirits too? so maybe the reason y “dream naru” and “human naru” aren’t the same is because naru doesn’t act like his true self, he just hides it. so he really does care about mai and isn’t all “stone cold”……wow that probably made NO sense whatsoever…o well
Argh. There was this great comment the last time I looked in here, but I guess it disappeared with the old server. Nonetheless, this poster says something regarding how s/he will not want to see Dream Naru as a twin, but rather see Dream Naru and Real Naru as the same entity. And of course, I wholeheartedly agree. I also agree with his/her comment regarding how it will just feel weird if Dream Naru really turned out to be a twin.
Ah. I can’t remember much, except thinking that it said a lot of things that I wanted to say but was not articulated enough to say. x_x
arghhh, YA, it probably got left with the previous server, darn it! I apologize to that person who had left that excellent comment, whatever it is. Sigh…
At least for now, the blog will be more or less stable. Give it a day or two, and it will be wonderfully fast, much better than previously. ^^
I agree , we need plenty of Masako… a Masako spin-off… a couple of Masako OVAs … It’s so funny how she grew on me over time… Mai , I instantly like..still do… but Masako was off putting at first…. but she’s really more normal and likable now… we must have the whole gang together for the last case or it wouldn’t feel right.
I have to agree, I have liked her more the last few episodes. Because as Mai put it, she is a normal girl after all. ^-^
Of course I still cheer for Mai x Naru all the way.
And YAY Hubby-sama got me volume 1 of the manga!!!! So now he’s started getting that for me I have something to look forward to when the anime ends. ^-^
@Voodoomage: I love PLENTY OF MASAKO. More masako with tons of spin offs would definitely win any crap Mai x Naru coupling and all that jazz. Masako can be in any ova and i definitely will support Masako!
@DJ: ^+^ no, what about Mai x Naru? No way ^^
I am talking to 13sugars now and she is giggling like a mad Lin-sama fangirl and she is now calling me evil because I am typing this comment now happily. Guess what, I am smiling very happily while being evil.
“Hmmm, write more evil stuff” Quoted 13sugars.
Ho ho ho ^_^
hey guys um back, wow many comments while i was in the hospital,(waaaaah) i did a simple operation in my back bt everything z ok nw, thank god, anyways sugar um so sorry, bt i hv to agree with briar ths time, i believe tht naru was really preparing himself to attack the fox spirit,and if lin didnt stop him he would defenitly used his psychic abilities.
and impz how hard masako tries to be cute she cant reach the cuteness of mai. (period) end of story
I was hooked on Mai from the beginning , but Masako being jealous and insecure if just about as cute as Mai telling Narue he takes all the good parts… In short I want them both… anything less is not enough…heh
hey laboosh, hope your back’s ok =) i couldn’t get to the website until now =(
anyways! i think naru let ayako do it cos he probably wants to find out the identity of the spirit. i think she was capable of at least driving it out, although, i admit, she sucks at exorcism.
plus, he was also desperate. eijiro-san’s pretty dangerous at that stage and bou-san and lin-san aren’t suitable for that job.
and lin has a good reason to stop naru from doing whatever psychic cool move he was about to do. (assuming that was what the “yamenasai” was for) because if naru used his power and was unable to subdue the spirit, the spirit would know of naru’s power. if it successfully possessed naru then, everyone would be in deeeeeper doo cos it knows what naru’s capable of and would use it to its advantage.
of course, assuming naru isn’t the normal, non-receptive sort. i’m 100000000000% sure he has some powers of his own.
http://hashihime.blogspot.com/2007/03/current-anime-tv-ratings-in-japan.html
this is quite interesting …Ghosthunt has a 1.8 ratting…. not primetime numbers but could be worse…my poor sumomomomomo is at the bottom with a 1.0
@Impzy, I have to agree with 13Sugars, that comment is just pure evil.
I must banish it. “naumaku sanmanda bazara dan kan,naumaku sanmanda bazara dan kan, naumaku sanmanda bazara dan kan… rin pyou tou sha kai jin retsu zai zen”
LOL mad Lin-sama fangirl eh? Well you can’t blame the girl he is yummy, you go 13sugars! Oh btw my friend subjected me to Gakuen Heaven, Ken Narita turns up in that too, playing a silver haired bishie of all things!
@Laboosh, I hope your back heals quickly you poor thing.
I just watched 23, Naru-chan looks even more yummy just laying there.
@Laboosh I hope your back is okay.
LOL I not sure about Naru just lying that being yummy… Well, he probably is, but much of his attraction is his intellect AND his good looks.
A combo package.
PS: Yay I get to log in.
@Laboosh, hope you are doing fine now!
@Briar, true enough. A relationship cannot survive on looks alone. Thank god for intelligent men ^-^ and thankfully Naru has both looks and intelligence you’re right.
For that matter so does Lin-sama and Bou-san really impressed me in 23, taking charge like he did (hopefully me saying that isn’t a big spoiler or anything. If it is you can take my pocky away, wait… on second thoughts I can’t hand that over, I love it too much.
@Briar, I’m afraid I’m starting to waver once again as to the whole Dream Naru being Real Naru thing.
I’m edging back towards Dream Naru possibly being his twin brother or something.
Since Mai is spirit travelling, logically those she meets on her travels would be spirits right? So then if she sees Naru in her dreams that should mean she’s seeing a spirit. Since we know Naru isn’t dead, then the only other logical argument is that its his twin.
Now I know we could all say wait a minute, Mai managed to meet Masako whilst spirit travelling. Yes this is true, but Masako acted entirely like herself, she was very real, and very solid looking.
The Naru Mai meets in her dreams defintely does NOT act like Real Naru. And I notice when you see him, he doesn’t seem very solid, he’s not transparent, but he just appears kind of soft. Does that make any sense at all to anyone?
@DJ, I’d associate it with Masako’s ability to see spirits, therefore the Masako that Mai meets on her spirit travel is substantial and real. That would also explain how she’s able to see DN, maybe, but if that’s the case, why neither of them have encountered DN outside of Mai’s “dream” when he’s supposedly wandering around remains a question.
~Voodoomage~ “we must have the whole gang together for the last case or it wouldn’t feel right.
waaahhh! ep 23 is out already! real fast! and im dying to know the storyline. T_T
I know.. 7 days is a long time to wait on subs… comedy anime I can handle raw… ghosthunt is too far above my head to get raw
we need speed subbers on ghosthunt…2 days tops…heh
about Ayako’s ability, i’ve actually said that her latent is beyond we can imagine.It’s inconsistent with the her earlier performance. Though Ayako said that the circumstances effected her exertion, i think it’s a excuse. Ayako’s ability having been referred at the end of file 8 seems to be too late, anyway, i can’t understand the author’s intention. Maybe [Ghost Hunt] would have season 2~~~~~ps:Naru the twin brother does not exist, just i think~~~~~
DJ says: “Since Mai is spirit travelling, logically those she meets on her travels would be spirits right? So then if she sees Naru in her dreams that should mean she’s seeing a spirit. Since we know Naru isn’t dead, then the only other logical argument is that its his twin.”
Let me attempt to waver you back.
Firstly, Mai herself is spirit travelling. And she isn’t dead either. Hence it does not mean that all she meet/see in the dreams are dead.
I’m not sure about Dream Naru appearing hazy or not solid. To me, he looks as solid as Mai. Mai herself does air floating (like a spirit), for example when she jumped down how-many-storeys from her balcony to meet Dream Naru. As for him behaving not at all like Masako, again, I have to retierate my stand that Dream Naru is the SUBCONSCIOUS manifestation of Real Naru. As Freud will say, the subconscious isn’t exactly like the conscious. My belief is that Dream Naru is the part of Real Naru that he suppressed; ie the kindness, the smile, the psychic power.
13sugars says: “That’s right! I knew you’ll come back to the brighter side. ”
Ehm. Excuse me. That is the DARK side, a la Darth Vader.
Dream Naru = Real Naru is the bright, Jedi-istic, forces of good side. 
Hmmm… I logged in but my name isn’t hyperlinked? Woe is combination of technology and me!
@Briar, sorry!!!! But yes I suppose DN being a subconcious manifestation is still possible. I guess what I mean about him not being solid, is he is always softly lit if that makes any sense. To me it gives me a sense of him not being quite real in the sense that Masako was when Mai encountered her.
@13sugars, “(cough-cough) I recently met a guy who seems to have both as well. And he even speaks the language Lin-sama probably speaks. ^+^” So he’s not a trap? (sorry I couldn’t resist) YAY! For 13sugars, could you possibly have found your Lin-sama? I hope so!
@Runesque, thats a very good explanation in regards to Masako.
@tetsu, I’m starting to wonder if maybe Ayako was holding back. Considering Bou-san didn’t want to do the exorcism for fear of hurting the host. Maybe she felt the same?
~DJ~ Oh no, that’s not what I meant. My LIn-sama is definitely too perfect to be real. All I’m saying is that there is a guy out there who has both looks and intellect like Naru does only he is a little bit friendlier. ^^
As for your comment of Ayako holding back her powers when exorcising the fox-spirit out of Eijiro’s body, that could be a possibility. ^^
@13sugars, Ah sorry I got the wrong end of the stick, but its nice to know guys like that exist. ^-^
@D.J, I also think the fear is one of the reasons to effected Ayako’s ability. But I don’t agree with you that Bou-san feared to hunt the ghost, cause hunting is rescue~
And naru, what you said seemed to be very reasonable. But i deem the Dream Naru is Naru’s another ability. Have you remembered the comb?? Maybe it’s the intermedium.I believe his spirit travels when he touches the intermedium, such as the masako’s comb.So he could stayed with masako~
In the file 3, Naru had ever said that “…the spirit power can effected each other…”So mai’s ability would be more and more stronger, and Dream Naru’s
appearance is mai’s expectation.Of couse, it’s joking~~~
The author often ignore the details, even he would write something incompatible.So I shouldn’t be concerned with the inessential!
hey i watched ep.23, i didn’t understood anything o_O
impz HELP, there was a lot of talking and i felt dizzy from trayin to understand what they were talkin bout ^^’
and i don’t like naru being sleepin all the time, oh God dnt tell me tht he’s gonna stay like this the whole arc hmmmm, it’s gonna be annoying.
and guys, the end z near, does tht mean were not gonna talk like this after 2 weeks, noooooo(waaaaaaaaaa)
i wanna keep readin ur comments and knowing hw r u doin’>
~Laboosh~ I know how you feel about not understanding a single thing, but it was tolerable if only to see/hear Lin-sama. Kyaaa!!!
And you’re right, it’d be pretty sad if we don’t get to read one another’s comments
. I do hope Impz gets to blog an anime we will all follow for the next season…But so far, it seems SaiMono 2 is the obvious choice everyone here will watch. I guess that’s a good thing but it’d be nice if there is another one. ^^
~Briar~ “Ehm. Excuse me. That is the DARK side, a la Darth Vader. Dream Naru = Real Naru is the bright, Jedi-istic, forces of good side. ”
I beg to differ!
Briar, you’re becoming as delusional as Impz is about Masako x Naru = win. (lol j/k)
“Hmmm… I logged in but my name isn’t hyperlinked? Woe is combination of technology and me!”
I think that for your name to be hyperlinked, you need to update your profile and put a url of your site or something. ^^
Ah-hah! LOL seeing as how all I have is a ranting blog that I would rather not show to the public for fear of revealing all my utter inadequacies, I guess I’ll leave it as it is.
Thanks, 13sugars!
I will definitely miss the discussion/speculations we have here when Ghost Hunt ends. But there’s always something new to discuss!
@tetsu, ahh yes you’re right. I forgot about the comb, if he did indeed use that to spirit travel, then it does kind of point to DN being a power of Real Naru.
As for Bou-san its not that I think he’s he’s fearful of hunting the Ghosts. I think he’s worried about hurting the person in which the spirit resides.
Because he tells us the last time he had to perform such an exorcism, the spirit was in a jar, and the jar broke when he was finished.
So he’s worried that an exorcism performed on a host would hurt them and without giving too much away he is sort of proved right in 23. If doing it would break a jar, what would it do to a human being? That’s why I think maybe Ayako could have been holding back and maybe we didn’t get to see her full power.
But as for hunting the ghosts he’s all for that. I mean everyone is given the choice to leave or stay behind and although she was mad at getting strangled even Ayako said she would stay to help friends. ^-^
So the plan right now is to try and determine what spirit they are dealing with so that Lin-sama can work his magic. Because he can’t do anything if he doesn’t know the spirit.
You, Impz, must be punished! *Impz is bound and dragged to a cave.* The jury has proclaimed you guilty of blasphemy and destroying a Lin-sama plushie! *Impz looks at the jury and gulps. They are all female, wearing “cross me and I’ll curse you” shirts, NaruXMai4ever button, and clinging to their Lin-sama plushies.* Take him to the chamber! *Impz is then dragged to another cave, filled with Masako plushies, NaruXMasako banners, and images of Masako. At first Impz is happy, he’s in heaven with all this stuff, until he sees the BONFIRE!!! Before Impz’s horrified eyes(he is under a spell that renders him unable to move, hence forced to watch.) all the things in the room are burned!! Every Masako plushie, every NaruxMasako banner, all of it burns. Impz is then forced to watch NaruxMai videos on Youtube. Next time, Maybe he’ll think twice before tearing up a Lin-sama plushie and proclaiming that Naru and Masako belong together. Mai is Naru’s soul mate. Get over it Impz. Maybe you can have Masako for yourself?*
laboosh– I just watched 23 too! w/ chinese subs though, and I loved it
It’s probably true that they saved the best for last.
I agree it’d be sad if we don’t get to look forward to weekly discussions, but like ThirteenSugars said, maybe there’ll be a new show that we’d all watch, and of course, Impz is willing to blog. I personally didn’t like SaiMono at all though, so I really don’t think I’ll be following the second season.
so I’ll digress a bit from here:
I looked at the “dark horses” that Impz wrote about, and am looking forward to all of them except Koutetsu Sangokushi, in fact I don’t think I’ll even touch Koutetsu Sangokushi at all. I am very prejudiced against things related to Chinese novels and history, I guess it’s kinda like a pet peeve of mine…
There are other shows I’m looking forward to though, like Gegege no Kitaro, Seto no Hanayome, The Skullman, Tetsuko no Tabi, and, of course, Romeo x Juliet. Hopefully someone at THAT will blog some of them.
…kowai (is very glad to be a Lin-sama and MaixNaru fangirl)
oh, ohpive, you didn’t see my top 5 listing? The dark horse is really dark horses ~_~;;;
Anyway, for all, I am simply on my final check of the next episode’s entry, it will be out in 40-50 minutes time.
D.J, the last time I said the Dream Naru is Naru’s another ability.However, i question myself now. If Naru actually can anticipate the matter, why he didn’t tell everyone directly,but guide Mai by dream. So I guess he is a intermedium, too~~
“I am very prejudiced against things related to Chinese novels and history, I guess it’s kinda like a pet peeve of mine…”
LOL… I’m sorry, that makes me laugh, especially from my point of view, since I’m a Chinese Studies major.
On the other hand, that anime probably has as much to do with the original Chinese novel as, say, Saiyuki has to do with Journey to the West. Which is to say, nothing at all. (ok, maybe the names, but they are pronounced in Jap, so they don’t sound the same either)
Not that I have that much interest in that anime either.