For such a short series, Haunted Junction really does seem to get
repetitive quickly. This isn’t intended as a criticism, or at least not a harsh one; it’s just
a musing on the self-limited parameters of the show – something annoys the school spirits,
Haruto wishes to God that he didn’t have to deal with spirits at all, and then things work
out (often hilariously) by the end. Since the show is so inherently lightweight, I rate it
as a good thing that it doesn’t try to tackle anything with any more ambition – it is happy
to be what it is, a goony comedy.
And this is a goony episode. The plot is hardly worth recounting, but that’s never stopped
me before. The spirits at Saito High are unable to sleep at night, which means that they
are at rest all day and don’t have an opportunity to bother anyone. While Kazumi and
Mutsuki both take this chance to run out on school, Haruto is ecstatic that he gets to
have a few days of even pretend normality.
Of course, this cannot last, and through a series of ridiculous complications involving a
popular radio show, a disgruntled student, and a dead raccoon-dog, Haruto finds the
perpetrator and uses the school spirits to beat the stuffing out of him. Nobody really
learns a lesson, and the new spirit stays around to lust after Nino.
This is an overwhelmingly average episode, made more entertaining by little touches, not
the least of which is Haruto’s father. I really wish there was more of him in this series.
Whoever does his voice (curse you, Bandai, for not supplying extensive credits in English)
has a wispy, dreamy quality that I find very amusing. He’s very funny in the very small
role he has in this episode, and I think using him in other parts of the show could have
been fruitful.
Overall, this is an unremarkable but enjoyable episode. It isn’t the sort of thing that
would convert the unfaithful to the show, but it is appropriately entertaining and
appropriately outrageous. In general, that’s true of most of the show: this series has
just enough ribaldness in content and weirdness in direction to keep it
“naughty” even when it still has enough heart and overall good nature in the
characters to make it likeable.
Rating :B
