Anime Grab Bag: Spooky Halloween!

A mix of ghost hunters, zombies, brooding vampires, and fun sexy vampires!

Hisashiburi, ne? (Long time, no see!)

Welcome to a special Halloween edition of Anime Grab Bag! We’ve missed doing the regular Grab Bag series, and wanted to bring it back for this special occasion.

For newcomers, here’s how AGB works: two seasoned otaku dive into the depths of specific anime subgenres and hunt, perhaps futilely, for hidden gems. Old friends Leah, an author and columnist in Tokyo, and Bridget, a fashion designer in L.A., spin a custom roulette wheel filled with qualifying anime in the chosen genre and watch three random pilot episodes. This month’s wheel can be found here, if you’d like to give it a spin!

The wheels vary, but the rules don’t. The hosts can only discuss series that fit the following guidelines:

1. Each show must be an anime that at least one host has never seen and/or heard of.
2. The show must be available to stream somewhere, so that readers can join in if they want to.
3. The hosts are forbidden to do any real research on the show before viewing it, although a simple image search before watching and some Wikipedia-ing during and after are fair game.

Bridget and I react to the selections and share thoughts on where these fit into the subgenre and speculative fiction as a whole, comment on elements ranging from character design to fan service, make comparisons to other series, and finally ask the most important question: Would we watch more of this?

Feel free to play along by spinning the wheel to meet your fate or sharing your expertise below!

L: Bridget! Tell us about the contents of this curated wheel.

B: Well, it’s Spoooookkky Halloweeen. Essentially, long ago I made a horror wheel because that was a no-brainer. And I combined it with Ye Olde Vampire wheeland a couple others and I have thrown them together to create this Halloween Wheel. Shall we roll?

L: Yes. Would you like to do the honors?

First Spin: Tokyo Majin (AIC Studios/BeStack, 2007)

L: 2007.Wow, this looks really mediocre! Let’s do it!

B: Look at his character design. His face. It is so… wide.

Right away, we’re dropped into chaos. Men in kimono wield swords on a fiery battlefield. A crying baby watches someone get stabbed, but no worries, because the guy smiles as he dies. Magical pink lightning strikes and arcane symbols appear and—

It’s 17 years later. We’re in Tokyo. There are zombies in Shinjuku. The orchestra is going nuts and a girl is running from said zombies. A boy in a hoodie munches a snack on a bridge near a crime scene. Some detectives in trenchcoats approach the camera menacingly and three criminals load weapons in a basement. Two pretty girls beat a man to death in an alley. We glimpse some background graffiti that reads “Fuck”. 

We are two minutes into the pilot.

Then the girl is caught by the zombies and we realize the crime scene is actually where her body will be found. Now, why this is all presented as a big, non-linear cascade of snapshots is anyone’s guess. Bridget notes, “Everything is happening so fast.” 

I am trying to give it the benefit of the doubt: “The worldbuilding is okay, I think. They’re setting up a familiar but more dangerous Tokyo.”

Next: grizzled men smoke in an autopsy room adorned with protective talismans, and we learn that our dead girl is the fifth corpse so far. She has somehow become mummified. She turns to purple goo when they touch her.

“I sure hope she doesn’t wake up and attack them.”

And now we’re in a classroom. Our protagonists are obvious based on hairstyle alone. I say, “I don’t know if kids really need to go to school if there are zombies around outside…” There are delinquents in the courtyard looking for a fight, so the hot homeroom teacher sends our heroes outside to fight them. 

Looking for things to appreciate, the easiest is probably the character design. Even background characters have distinctive features. Tokyo Majin doesn’t look awful, in general. The color palette is deliberately gray, the world is grimy, and the sky is muted purple. Several scenes are depicted through the lens of surveillance video.

“A lot is happening,” Bridget says, “but also nothing is happening.”

The show moves at double-pace in some doomed attempt to feel more interesting. It’s not fair to compare some random anime to David Lynch, but I do: I think back to the slow, steady dread that builds during the Twin Peaks pilot. Finding a girl dead by a shore should make an impact. If this damn anime could pause for a second to dwell on a moment, maybe we could care. But the show never breathes. The convolution continues.

“There are also so many characters and I don’t care about them.”

Another slew of cutaways reveals that our trio of kids belong to an underground society that hunts down supernatural junk in the city’s underbelly. Our main guy has so far done very little, but tropes dictate it’s only a matter of time before he reveals his great powers.

“Do you think he’s going to be like… a half-vampire or wizard?”

“He’s probably a wizard.”

There are some more scenes featuring alley fights with monsters and a discussion in an old building where our leads talk to an old guy who Bridget rightly dubs “the Giles”. Eventually the dead girl (she did in fact rise as a zombie) heads back to high school with a gang of monster friends and our leads fight them off using unexplained magical abilities.

B: Okay, wait. She has superpowers too?

L: Everybody does. 

B: But are we sure this isn’t the second season? We have zero backstory!

L: Bridget, we do! Remember? When our protagonist was a baby, a man got stabbed and smiled at him during a thunderstorm.

B: Was that him? It looked like it was samurai times!

L: I am hereby decreeing this a hot mess.

Anyhow, more stuff happens. There are motorcycles and explosions until finally, our main guy unveils his devastating powers and defeats the enemy. The next day, he mopes beside the dead girl’s waterside memorial. 

L: I see in this what later shounen series sort of perfected. Like, regardless of how badly Jujutsu Kaisen went wrong, it had that superb pilot that balanced supernatural elements and character introductions and worldbuilding with style.

B: I’m someone who loves overly edgy anime from this era. I love Darker than Black. But that show has such a strong opening. In this one I don’t really know or care what’s going on. Or… what’s that show you really like where they’re hunting down spirits, or yokai? 

L: Ha. Which one? 

B: The main character is a god or something?

L: Oh. Oh. Noragami? Are you saying… wait. Do you not love Noragami?! Because Noragami is the best thing ever!

B: I watched a couple episodes but it didn’t catch me.

L: …I am in shock. Please watch it again. That show, especially by the second season, is brilliant. And it’s Bones (Studio). 

B: Well. My point is that Noragami lets you know immediately what it’s all about. It has the main characters and world figured out.

L: Yeah, it lays its groundwork in familiar folklore and builds on it. It doesn’t just throw random, incoherent supernatural shit at you.

B: But honestly, I’m not as into supernatural stuff as you are. I prefer a sci fi sort of situation to a paranormal one.

L: Regardless, this (Tokyo Majin) is not how you do the genre.It proves that even mediocre shows take great skill to pull off. 

B: Look, for me, if you’re gonna do a supernatural shonen that I like, I hate to say it but it’s gotta be a little Catholic.

L: (laughing) That’s wild… but I know what you’re saying. We both like Blue Exorcist. And… what else? Chrono Trigger?

B: I do like Chrono Trigger. Trinity Blood. They literally have the Pope in it.

L: This is your specific poison.

B: Yeah. I like cosmic horrors from beyond… and weird Catholicism.

L: And I like Shinto lore and forgotten gods.

Would we watch more?

Because the supernatural elements are fumbled and there is nary a Pope in sight, neither of us will watch more Tokyo Majin.

Second Spin: Vampire Knight (Studio Deen, 2008)

B: Yayyyyyyyy!

L: You’re happy. But I have seen it, too, so it’s disqualified.

B: …can I talk about Vampire Knight anyways?

L: I will allow a short monologue.

B:Vampire Knight was serialized in Shojo Beat and as a young girl I was obsessed. One of my first cosplays—which was also my Halloween costume—was going as the main girl. I made the costume. Here’s what I will say about the anime: it does go the incest route at the end.

L: That is such a thing with vampires. Because if you’re already a bloodsucker, what other taboos don’t matter, you know?

Third Spin: Ghost Hunt (J.C. Staff, 2006)

L:Ghost Hunt. I haven’t seen either, but I always confuse this with Ghost Hound. One of those two is supposed to be great.

B: I have heard of both.

L: But we’re getting older shows today—by “older,” I mean a couple decades ago. Early aughts were full of spooky. 

B: It’s sorta nostalgic. Back in the day, the way I would watch anime was to go to Megaupload and just scroll from A to Z and pick a name that sounded cool. Can’t really do that anymore.

L: Well, that’s why the wheel is fun, right? It’s the closest we can get to that.

If Tokyo Majin was a lesson in how not to start a series, thankfully, Ghost Hunt, an adaptation of an early ‘90s shoujo manga, might be the opposite. 

Here’s the premise: A teenager named Mai and her friends are hanging out after school, telling ghost stories about the abandoned, supposedly cursed building on campus. From nowhere, a handsome young man in a black turtleneck appears in the doorway and interrupts Mai’s story. He’s not in a school uniform, so what’s he doing on campus? 

B: Is he the ghost?

L: No, no. He’s gonna be the ghost hunter. Possibly a transfer student.

B: What if he’s both? What if he’s Danny Phantom?

L: It’s the Zak Bagans anime!

Mai wanders into the cursed building, but rather than confronting a ghost, she does the clumsy heroine thing and knocks over a shoe rack, wrecking Mystery Boy’s camera equipment and injuring his assistant. Naturally, Mystery Boy asks her to be his assistant to make up for it. 

B: It’s just like Ouran!

L: Yes, the classic blackmail romance gimmick.

The characters are appealing enough. Mystery Boy—his name is Shibuya, which must be a headache for someone working in Tokyo—is just quirky enough, and Mai is convincing as a high schooler. Even if this is inevitably a romance, it’s not a bad start. Ghost Hunt is not afraid to take its time laying things out. Nothing here is original, but nothing here is bad. But Bridget is a little distracted.

B: Oh, I figured out! That voice actress is from AKB48! Also, the main girl’s VA voiced Eureka (Eureka Seven) and also Nanalee from Code Geass.

Shibuya works for a psychic research organization. Turns out the school principal hired him to investigate the derelict building. Every year since it fell into disuse, one or two people have died inside. Demolition was halted after five workers were injured and a teacher died by suicide.

L: This building attracts disasters like clumsy girls attract mysterious rich boys!

Mai begrudgingly helps Shibuya set up an observation base in the old building. Shibuya is a bit of a jerk. He tells Mai that he has a mind very different from hers, and agrees that he is very handsome. She nicknames him Naru, for “narcissist.” It might be fun to get to know them both.

The show looks great, too. It came out just before Tokyo Majin but dodged the grey fog affliction. Scenes within the old school building are suffused with a rich sunset glow. 

B: The color balance is so good. Green in the foreground, red in the back.

One of Mai’s classmates, a weird bespectacled girl, claims that she can sense ghosts, but whether she’s attention-seeking or a ghost herself is as of yet unconfirmed. We note that the school building has been vacant for 18 years, and weird girl is likely 18 years old.

The next day, a monk and a miko show up to help with the investigation. Oh, and another guy—John Brown from Australia, who speaks Japanese with a Kansai accent and announces that he is a trained exorcist. 

L: Catholic, Bridget! He was a Catholic priest!

B: I love John Brown from Australia. 

L: That principal sure knows who to call, I tell you what.

But if we wanna solve the mystery of the old building, we’ll have to watch more Ghost Hunt. The episode closes on the weird girl claiming she was attacked by a spirit, and the gang watching the surveillance camera footage in their base. 

L: This is classic storytelling. I haven’t totally figured out the mystery. 

B: Absolutely. This was a fun one.

L: I liked the soundtrack, too. It looks like the director also directed Legend of the Galactic Heroes.

B: He also worked on some episodes of Mushishi and Trigun.

L: No wonder it felt confident. 

Would we watch more?

B: I would watch more of that, especially back in the day. It had the right vibes.

L: I might. I wanna know what’s up with the glasses girl, because I don’t believe it’s as simple as her lying for attention. 

Fourth Spin: Marvel Anime: Blade (Madhouse, 2011)

B: Oh my god I am so excited that we’re watching Blade. Marvel made this huge push to make anime adaptations and collaborated with Madhouse in the 2010s.

L: Wasn’t there also an anime specifically produced by Stan Lee? Heroman.

B: Yes. It was not good but it was Bones… so it looked beautiful.

L: We all tried to like it.

B: I will say, of these, there’s an X-Men one (Marvel Anime: X-Men) I thought was interesting. It had one of my favorite X-man, Armor, in it, and Emma Frost. There was way too much going on, but it was better than you’d think. I heard that the Avengers anime was dogshit. I haven’t heard much about this Blade adaptation.

L: Well, Bridget. Now is the time. Now is the time to watch the Blade anime from 16 years ago.

B: All that I hope for is that there is some cyber-electronica playing at some point.

L: Yeah. You gotta have a vampire rave.

Anyone who knows anything about Blade won’t be surprised by this first episode. We open on a Blade that lacks Wesley Snipes’ badass gravitas, brooding in a warehouse. He’s Eric Brooks, the daywalkin’ straight-moping half-vampire. We flash back to his mom’s brutal death and learn about the vampirism that infected his baby blood. Gotta get the basics out of the way, I guess, but it feels as impactful as checking items off a to-do list.

The show’s aesthetic is disappointing, too. Like many of the Marvel Anime adaptations, it’s torn between anime trappings and some corporate attempt at appealing to the comics audience. But Madhouse is/was a solid studio, and Bridget likes the jazz soundtrack. 

B: I’m just sad he doesn’t have Wesley Snipes’ sick-ass fade. 

L: Yeah, head tattoos just aren’t the same. He looks like Howie Mandel. 

We cut to a shot of Eric on a field trip to Yokohama, crouched on a shipyard rooftop. The moon is red. A blood moon! Another flashback to his mom’s violent death reveals that her killer—his sire—had not two, but four fangs. 

Blade quotes the basic-bro “the abyss gazes also” thing and then proves he is heroic by saving some lady who is being attacked by vampires between the shipping containers. 

B: What’s he doing in Yokohama?

L: What’s anyone doing in Yokohama? Business, daiyo. Revenge. The Cup Noodle Museum.

Everything feels like an uninspired paint-by-numbers. Hero introduction. Origin story. Show off abilities. Get revenge. We are bored, but fortunately, all paths do lead to a vampire rave. And something cool almost happens.

We meet Makoto, an undercover vampire hunter who slays bloodsuckers with her silver knuckles. She starts kicking ass, and pretty soon the nightclub is on fire. She will definitely be Blade’s sidekick before long.

And then we learn that her father is also at the vampire rave, and Bridget declares he will die, and I agree. Even now, we are more invested in the loss of Blade’s cool fade than any aspect of the story. 

L: I am all about creative license but he should look like a badass, right?

B: I play a lot of Marvel Rivals and Blade is in that game and looks very, very cool, so it can definitely be done better.

Blade jumps into the fray and decapitates a werewolf guy with samurai flair. Makoto’s father is killed, the baddie gets away, and Blade vanishes into the night.

L: That did nothing for me. I love vampires and I like Blade as a character. But this was the definition of mediocre.

B: There’s a very, very good version of Blade that exists, who needs this one?

Would we watch more?

L: No. I’ll watch the movie or read the comics.

B: I’ll stick to Marvel Rivals.

B: Man, that was disappointing. 

L: Yeah, two duds out of three.

B: Can we please roll again?

L: Do it.

Bonus Spin: Mayonaka Punch (PA Works, 2024)

B: Ooh, Mayonaka Punch. Someone in our comments recommended that. And it’s PA Works. 

L: Man, we really are incapable of ever getting through a grab bag without mentioning how much we love PA Works. Bu it’s yet another vampire anime? 

B: Yeah, but it’s lesbians. And it’s actually almost recent—2024.

L: Wow. Look at that art!

B: Oh my gosh. They are really cute.

This was the medicinal Halloween treat we needed. Mayonaka Punch is beautiful to look at and relevant to the modern age. 

And Mayonaka Punch features that rare, fantastic gift: two imperfect, believable heroines. First, there’s Masaki Sonoue. Once an acclaimed Newtuber, Masaki is down in the dumps because her former best friends, the Harakiri girls, have ousted her from their shared channel. Masaki has been a controversial figure online, thanks in part to her temper. She’s been damaging their brand, so she gets the boot.

B: Gasp! They’re filming an apology video. They are doing the ukulele apology video.

Masaki is filled with self-righteous rage. She declares that she will reach a million subscribers before her former friends can, but they don’t believe her for a second. Devastated but addicted to social media, she tries launching her solo channel. It does not go well. 

B: She’s a mess and I kind of love her for that.

L: And if she’s this messy to begin with, she has a lot of room to grow. We can watch a real redemption story.

B: Yeah. Gee, it’s almost like social media is terrible for your mental health or something.

Anyhow, now we open on Vampire Girl Manor, where Live, a pink-haired somehow simultaneously femme and tomboyish vampire girl, is dreaming of a hot brunette stranger. She wakes up with her hand burning because her vampire housemate, Ichiko, left the curtains open while cleaning. To be fair to Ichiko, Live’s been sleeping for twenty years. Mistakes are bound to happen if your roomie is zonked out for decades. 

Anyhow, Ichiko informs Live that their vampire estate is swamped in debt. She blows Live’s mind by showing her a smartphone. Soon enough, Live spots Masaki’s video and decides she is the girl from her dream: “I want to make a meal of her!” 

B: We all know where this is going, but I don’t mind. 

L: Right? She’s gonna get famous by collaborating with Vampire Girl, but also learn the real meaning of love along the way. And they’ll both have to make up for the shitty things they’ve done and become better people. 

B: Here’s the thing. Maybe this is me putting personal stuff on it, but sometimes when you’re going through stuff and you’re in an emotionally immature time in your life, the people you surround yourself with end up being the worst kind of people.

Bridget and I admire how seamlessly social commentary is worked into the show. The characters seeking online fame are convincing, the pernicious reality of living for an audience is portrayed with cutting nuance. It feels like the system is being criticized for devouring young women, rather than simply blaming the women for being part of it. Social pressure really is the grossest vampire of all. We feel real pangs watching Masaki’s struggle to reconcile her original friendships with the marketing nightmare those friendships have warped into.

Masaki gets sloshed and wanders into the night. In an attempt to recapture the magic of Harakiri’s original videos, she visits the abandoned hospital where they filmed one of their earliest vlogs. There she runs into Live, who’s searching for blood because she drained the household supply. Immediately, Live declares her love for Masaki and Masaki skedaddles to the rooftop. Masaki even considers jumping, saying, “No one needs me.” Immediately, staring right into her, Live says, “I need you.”

When Masaki slips, Live catches her and the audience is treated to an adorable flying sequence reminiscent of Superman and Lois. 

But the show is never too saccharine—it has teeth. Because Masaki was wasted, she throws up after they land back on the rooftop. But she has an idea: “Help me get to a million subscribers, and I’ll let you make a meal of me.”

We are smitten. 

Gorgeous animation, nuanced characters and mannerisms, vibrant colors. The show feels alive, hopeful and silly and relatable and, yes, spooky. 

B: PA WORKS! They don’t miss.

L: That was wonderful. I like how she (Live) is blunt about wanting Masaki both romantically and as a meal. We’ve come a long way since Yuri!!! on Ice. That was so openly, unabashedly queer.

B: It was perfect. Also, it was sapphic rather than male gaze-y. The characters were not great people, but you wanted to root for them even as they made mistakes.

L: You just know they’re going to learn some necessary lessons. 

Would we watch more?

So, it was a bit of a meandering journey, but we eventually found our way to some delectable, surprising Halloween candy in the end. and I always appreciate the comments and recommendations from you folks, so please share your thoughts and let us know: What are your go-to spooky anime?

• Tokyo Majin — Available on Amazon Prime.

• Ghost Hunt — Available on Amazon Prime, Roku.

• Marvel Anime: Blade — Available on Amazon Prime.

• Mayonaka Punch — Available on YouTube TV, Amazon Prime, and Crunchyroll.

Leah Thomas

Leah Thomas is the author of several YA novels, including the Morris Award finalist Because You’ll Never Meet Me and the Edgar Award finalist Wild and Crooked . She currently lives and works in Tottori, Japan, surrounded by cats, students, and youkai.
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