Ask John: What is Gakkou no Kaiden?

Question:
What is Gakkou no Kaidan all about, and where can I find it to buy it?

Answer:
Although not particularly well known among western fans, the Gakkou no Kaidan (or Gakkou no Kwaidan, as may be more appropriate) is one of Japan’s favorite contemporary horror series. The Romanized word “kwaidan” means “ghost story” or “weird tale” and, as a formal title, dates back to at least Lafcadio Hearn’s 1904 book “Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things.” Hearn’s book was a collection of traditional Japanese folk tales and ghost stories published in English for the first time. More westerners may be familiar with the title through Masaki Kobayashi’s award winning 1964 film “Kwaidan,” now considered one of the greatest Japanese motion pictures ever made.

So while ghost stories have been prominent in Japanese myth and fiction for centuries, it was the first of Tsunemitsu Tooru’s Gakkou no Kwaidan (literally, “School Ghost Stories”) novels, published in November 1990, that popularized the idea of children trapped in a school building populated with Japanese ghosts. The novel series, which I believe eventually numbered up to 19 books, spawned a long series of live action adaptations and an anime TV series produced by Studio Pierrot. Again, if I’m not mistaken, the four theatrical movies are feature length, spooky children’s films about youngsters that get locked in a haunted school building for a night. The live action TV series and TV movies are made up of shorter vignettes all with supernatural horror themes. The anime TV series takes a slightly different approach by maintaining a single cast and an ongoing single storyline about five young friends and their ongoing effort to rid their school of its ghostly residents. Based on what few episodes of the anime TV series I’ve seen, and my vague recollections of the two live action movies I watched years ago, the anime TV series seems to be a bit darker and more dramatic than the live action movies, but the popularity of the live action movies in Japan is far greater than that of the anime TV series. However, in Studio Pierrot’s poll of favorite productions in the studio’s 25 year history, Japanese fans ranked Gakkou no Kwaidan 7th, above other Studio Pierrot anime series including GTO, Naruto, Urusei Yatsura, Fushigi Yuugi, and Flame of Recca.

The anime TV series is not officially available on home video outside of Japan, but it is available on 7 VHS tapes or DVDs in Japan. The first volume contains episodes 1 & 2. The remaining 6 volumes have 3 epsiodes each. Neither format includes any English language translation.

After a bit of research, I was able to compile this chronology, which I believe is complete and accurate:

Gakkou no Kwaidan TV series (6 episodes beginning March 25, 1994)

Gakkou no Kwaidan theatrical movie (July 8, 1995)

Gakkou no Kwaidan 2 theatrical movie (July 20, 1996)

Gakkou no Kwaidan R TV movie (July 20, 1996)

Gakkou no Kwaidan 3 theatrical movie (July 19, 1997)

Gakkou no Kwaidan F TV movie (July 20, 1997)

Gakkou no Kwaidan G TV movie (October 8, 1998)

Gakkou no Kwaidan: Haru no Tatari TV movie (March 30, 1999)

Gakkou no Kwaidan 4 theatrical movie (July 10, 1999)

Gakkou no Kwaidan: Haru no Noroi TV movie (March 28, 2000)

Gakkou no Kwaidan anime TV series (20 episodes aired from October 22, 2000 to March 25, 2001)

Gakkou no Kwaidan: Haru no Mononoke TV movie (March 27, 2001)