Ghost Talker's Daydream

let me get straight to the point (any plot summary will serve you well on this one, trust me): the problem with this anime is that it's not a smart idea to choose an episodic narrative structure for an 4 episode OVA. there was simply no time to develop the characters, or any meta-plot. the basic idea of having a spiritual medium working part time as a dominatrix does seem pretty nice to me, but not even the amount of fan service will make up for the fact that it doesn't satisfy in the end. i'm actually quite anxious to read the manga after this, butthe anime isn't worth your time. even if you're intent on watching this because one of the main characters is a dominatrix, you'll be disappointed. it's funny at times, the animation is quite okay, but in the end it feels completely unfinished and underdeveloped. i'm quite sure that it could have done well as a full series, but 4 episodes just isn't enough.

Misaki Saiki is a young woman who works solving cases involving apparitions as a spiritual medium together with her associate Souichiro. She can channel the spirits and allow them to speak through her, and has also been able to see them for as long as she can remember. Her ghost hunting adventures land her into unsolved murder and suicide cases. Her second job is at an S&M club working as a dominatrix to help pay her bills.-summary This is another one of those titles that had so much potential, but was marred by very poor direction by a hack director; a complete fool who shouldhave been sitting down and re-watching Satoshi Kon anime films (if he's ever watched them), to learn what it takes to make an outstanding anime that deals with such dark content. The moron in question happens to be Osamu Sekita. Ghost Talker's Daydream is among the worst anime OVA's that I came across years ago, and has been since collecting lots of dust on my shelf. Ghost Talker's Daydream is a supernatural anime with horror elements that contains a vast amount of comedy. Among its problems happens to be that the comedy clashes very badly with the horror in an almost Elfen Lied type of way. In addition, many of the story elements seem really unnecessary, and this also goes for the secondary characters who over stay their welcomes very quickly. When you have a show that an entire secondary cast can be slightly used to not used at all, as well as a piece of the story that can be completely omitted, and the overall story can still carry on with a full head of steam, then something is very wrong. You would have to search kind of hard for poor direction like this. I have seen some bad directing in anime through out the years, and this title is definitely among the worst to use the short episode OVA format I have ever seen. The story development is very poor. There was no real reason for the main character to parade around in a dominatrix outfit, other than to bombard the viewer with constant fan service. Her occupation as a dominatrix was barely covered and it played no factor at all in the overall story or even in the plot. It was tacked on there just because, and there are several other useless elements like these. The supporting characters are completely disposable for the most part. The first side character to make an appearance is a girl named Ai whom is in her own bad predicament. Once her two stories were tied up, there was very little reason to keep her around. The same goes for the character Souichiro. He's the typical bumbling idiot who plays the role of the comedy relief, and does a very bad job at it. Misaki herself is almost as bad. She has the ability to battle spirits by unleashing a whip from her lower region, and during the first episode, she appears to be going through some type of ecstasy while using this attack but it's never explained why this occurs. Instead, it's dropped and she never goes through it again. The first two stories are stand alone, while the third and fourth are two parters. The stories have some very interesting premises dealing with the demise of certain people and one even involves an unsolved child murder. Sadly, these stories are badly paced with non plot related elements being introduced. The spooky atmosphere is dealt a blow by the repeated comedy making it very hard to take this serious. There was so much room for character and plot development but they take the backseat for more fanservice, more comedy, and screen time for worthless characters. Misaki's background concerning her childhood is somewhat examined, but her character development is overall weak. The writers instead decide to focus on her fascination on growing pubic hairs because she happens to be naturally bald. Personally, I don't see the humor in this. Although good for an OVA, the animation is not very fluid and there is a slight amount of jumpiness. The artwork has some good character designs and I'm sure some guys will get a kick out of the nudity. The camera work places a vast amount of attention on cheek and panty shots. In the music department, nothing really stood out to me but the sound effects has standout moments, like Misaki slapping her private part with handfuls of water. The BGM never gripped me in its attempt at being creepy because I couldn't take the story serious at any point. The ending theme was so forgettable to me that I don't remember any traces of it. The anime was put into the hands of a childish director and was seriously held back due to that decision. I don't recall ever coming across any of Sekita's work before or after this; but based upon this weak effort I will go on and say that he cannot carry a story that the serious viewer would actually care about. I have to warn those whom are not familiar with this title. Do not for any reason take serious the claims you will hear about this being for a mature audience in regards to intelligence or its artistic brilliance. There's nothing artistic or brilliant about it. This is your standard mindless anime, packed with childish sexual humor, a near rape scene, and fan service. If I were to mention any other positives about this series it would have to be the short length, and even at 100 minutes it felt too long. I couldn't possibly imagine sitting through 26 episodes of this. I only recommend this to the very easily pleased anime fan who thinks all anime is great, and that it's just the people who don't like anything. Highs: Traces of decent ideas here and there Lows: Hack job for the most part, not funny, disposable characters, mindless fan service

I liked the animation and the characters are interesting. There are plenty of ecchi scenes. Aside from the ecchi and slight comedy there are serious moments dealing with death. There is rape and killing behind these stories of ghosts. I actually didn't think I was getting into such a serious show but this show was a good one. The last 2 episodes were my favorite because the story it contained. The first 2 episodes deal with different stories and the last 2 deal with 1 story. I see some low ratings for this OVA but it really is a good one and I enjoyedit. Some of the stories are pretty sad.

Bad OVA that can't blame it's poor quality entirely on it's inability to fully flesh out its story within its duration. It's not even all that interesting in concept; dominatrix by day, exorcist/medium by night, our protagonist lacks any depth beyond her occupation and the occasional gag. Misaki (The protagonist) doesn't seem to have any actual motivation, we are never shown her employer, or even given a rational reason as to why she works as a medium [she doesn't seem to like it]. The sexual humor isn't funny and clashes with the otherwise serious tone of the show, in a very unpleasant way. The animationwhile not bad, standard for OVAs of the time actually, feels especially mediocre here. One thing I did enjoy about this was OVA was Misaki's character design, it was what drew me to this anime in the first place. That is as far as compliments go because Misaki's character feels like bullshit, the extent of her spiritual power's isn't even explained. This definitely felt like a poorly executed hodge-podge of ideas. 3/10 maybe 4.