Let’s say this at the very beginning: I was never a fan of pure visual novels, nor I usually found them scary. Static images and background are not the best friends while creating a horror game, even more to animate believable monsters. Spirit Hunter NG changed my ideas, since not only is a visual novel able to scare using only images and sounds (including quite effective jump scares), but it is also able to tell a really mature and horror story integrating really interesting and innovative ghosts. The plot is focused on solving mysterious and cryptic Japanese urban legends, since this is the only way to avoid a horrible death. This is due to the protagonist being trapped in a deadly game with a childish haunted doll, who wants to play with him forever. Each of her games is focused on solving the mystery behind an urban legend, to then exorcise the ghost responsible of it.
Every single spirit in this game has a really mature and sad story, and it is portrayed with an innovative, creepy and disturbing design. If the art-style of the game is in general always of really high level, the ghosts are especially incredible, from the concept to the level of details. The design is really original for the genre, also totally integrated in the background of each ghost, and connected to the reason behind its death. Each chapter feature a specific ghost, related to a fictional but believable urban legend. At the end of every chapter, the player will face the ghost in a complex and deadly battle of wits. Only by using the correct items in a series of difficult sequences, the player will be able to Destroy or to Purify the ghost.
In the following analysis I will focus only on the ghosts, especially on their design and their background. There will be of course SPOILERS regarding the personal story of each ghost, but I will not say how to defeat it. So, if you want to play the game after checking what creepy creatures are lurking in Spirit Hunter NG, you will have to understand on your own how to defeat them. If you want to know just the story of each ghost, without spoiling the main plot of the game, just avoid reading the last ghost entry: Kakuya.
General Overview:
The ghosts were all women when alive, with the exception of Demon Tsukuyomi, which was conceived as an agglomerate of burned people. This is quite peculiar, because sometime it could be easy to use a male ghost, especially for creating a big and huge entity such as Kubitarou. I think that the developers wanted to create a sense of empathy toward the ghosts, which maybe could be easily achieved by using female characters. Because at the very end of each chapter, the player will always end up to empathize for the ghost, due to her tragic story. Almost every ghost can be watched not only as a monster, but also as a victim of a brutal society. No matter how scary and creepy the ghost is, after understanding her story, the player will feel sad and pity for her. In some cases they are victims of a male-chauvinism, while in other cases of an archaic society with no respect for people who are different. The ghosts are scary opponents, but also victims, even more innocent than the main characters, which at least are still alive. This dichotomy between fear and sadness is a key element of Spirit Hunter NG.
Another interesting feature common to the majority of the ghosts is their connection with the four elements. The Urashima Woman embodies the Water in every aspect, from how she was killed, where she is manifesting, and the way she kills. Kubitarou is instead related to Earth, especially for how big and slow her body is, but also for how she is connected to trees and nature, especially in the way she died. The Screaming Author is associated to the Wind element, since she is thin and small, and practically constantly flying lifted by wires. Her main weapon is also consisting in sound waves, which propagates in the air itself. Regarding the last element, Demon Tsukuyoki is the direct embodiment of Fire, from his grotesque summoning, to its main appearance as a mass of burned flesh.
In the following section there will be more details regarding each ghost.
Ghosts Analysis:
- The Urashima Woman
– Urban Legend: Throwing a rock into a Urashima Lake at night will awake the Uraskima Woman. The victim will be found the next day, drown and half devoured by turtles.
– Appearance: A scary looking and tall pregnant woman, with her face covered by long hair. She is connected to the water, so of course her first murder weapon is to drown her victims. The Urashima Woman is also able to stalk a victim by following waterways, including the sewers. The bathroom is her favorite spot to surprise the victims in their houses. Also while at their houses, the Urashima Woman can still drown her targets by creating muddy water in their lungs. Mud is also a signal of Urashima Woman’s presence, especially if muddy body shapes are discovered in a house. The Urashima Woman will reveal her most scary secret only when fighting for her life. After removing her hair from the face, she will show her true identity. The face is missing any trait, with the exception of a huge circular mouth full of teeth, similar to the one of a lamprey.
– Story: The Urashima Woman was killed by her midwife, who was a kidnapper of children. After murdering her, the midwife placed the body, as well as any evidence and rocks, in a suitcase and dropped it in the lake. This mischievous crime was done with the purpose of kidnapping her child, and now the Urashima Woman is constantly looking for her missing son. The midwife was also using the lake to get rid of stillborn fetuses. Their ghosts took the shape of turtles with the face of a baby on the shell. The maternal instinct of the Urashima Woman was so strong that, even as a ghost, she was taking care of these ghost-turtles.
- Kubitarou of Kintoki
– Urban Legend: Leaving a food offering at night in a shrine where once there was a sacred tree, it is not a good idea. After Kubitarou is summoned, every night, she will hunt for a head, especially targeting lonely people out for a walk with the dog.
– Appearance: A gigantic and obese woman, disturbing and terrifying. Her body is unnaturally fat, like a mass of mud or glue. Also the face and the arms are without any defined shape, more similar to snail than human anatomy. The face is especially creepy, with a sort of huge and creepy smile, and even more anatomical features similar to the one of a snail. She is wielding a huge and deadly axe, which she happily use to behead animals, objects, and even humans. Even if she relies on brutal force, she is not fast or deadly as other spirits, such as Killer Peach (see below for more details). However, she can sometime use the darkness for a brief teleport, trying to surprise the prey. Luckily, Kubitarou has a very specific weak point. Every form of light, no matter if natural or electrical, will damage her body, eventually forcing her to retreat.
– Story: Once upon a time there were trees considered sacred. People had the habit to “behead” to ask for miracles. But Kubitarou was different. Her mind was the one of a child, while her body was the one of a giant. She lost her teddy bear, that was like a brother for her. So she asked for a miracle to the trees, but misunderstanding the ritual. Instead of “beheading” to the trees, she started to “behead” things, including animals. But her toy was never repaired. Blinded by the rage, Kubitarou destroyed one of the trees. That was a too serious crime for such a rural and archaic society. But the punishment was unbelievable in its brutality. Kubitarou was roped to the other tree, and abandoned to starve to death.
- The Screaming Author
– Urban Legend: There was a silent house where a writer was living. Often a screaming came out in the middle of the night. A neighbor got cursed after throwing an object in the second floor window, because she was complaining for the terrible noise. After having nightmares full only of terrible screams, the neighbor committed suicide.
– Appearance: The main ghost is not related to the author living in the house, but to one of his victims. The body of a young ballerina got horrible mutilated and disfigured. The slim figure is now the grotesque nightmare of her former self. The inflicted mutilations were supposed to transform her in a crane. Instead of arms, now there is a mass of metal wires, while her legs are a metal parody of crane legs. The face is also difficult to watch, for how disfigured it is, more similar to a bird than to a human. But no matter how grotesque and disturbing her appearance is, the Screaming Author emanate a dense aura of sadness and pity, symbolized by the ballerina dress that she is still wearing. She was an innocent girl, which endured terrible and brutal torments, so the player can only empathize with her. But the ghost is still anyway a deadly foe. The main weapon of this ghost is her deadly scream, able to actually kill people if exposed for enough time. The Screaming Author can also reach her targets using the telephone lines. Because even by simply hearing her scream through the phone, a target can still be killed. While directly faced, the ghost can also use the net of wires, composing her “wings”, to trap and lift the opponents, immobilizing them before using her deadly scream.
– Story: Tsubasa was a dancer who was going to perform in a ballet, when she got abducted. Her body was supposed to become a doll to be part of an ancient ritual. She was dismembered, and her body was disfigured and fused with metal pieces to become a “crane”. Even in death, she is ashamed of her grotesque appearance, crying and hiding hoping to never been watched again.
- Killer Peach
– Urban Legend: Working overnight in a huge company can be dangerous, especially if a ghost wielding a katana will behead the employees.
– Appearance: Killer Peach has probably the most interesting and creepy design among all the ghosts, at least for my personal taste. The body is twisted and broken, destroyed by the wounds received. For this reason she moves erratically, often shaking. The most creepy detail is the head, now composed of three different animal faces, each pointing to a different direction. The main head is the one of a creepy baboon, while a pheasant and a dog are on the sides. Since she was beheaded, her real head is hanging by the hair from the monkey’s mouth, swinging in the middle of the air with a deranged expression. Not only she is crazily creepy, but she is also one of the most aggressive ghosts in the game, hunting her victims using a bloody katana. Killer Peach is incredibly fast, moving almost by teleportation. One swing of her katana brings to an instant death, and it is enough to slash a human in half. Luckily for her victims, her eyes are weak, and she rely on the smell to hunt. Since she was the victim of a male-chauvinist crime, her favorite targets are only men.
– Story: Okayama’s husband and son died in a fire caused by an arsonist in a shopping mall. She believed that the arson was protected by a powerful company, so she started to investigate for the truth. When she finally confronted the company responsible for the arson, the president and other employees brutally killed her with a katana, to cover the truth that she discovered.
- Demon Tsukuyomi
– Urban Legend: The Demon Tsukuyomi was part of a ritual/game supposed to grant any wish. To summon the demon, a person would need chains, something to burn, and two mirrors. The more the value of the burned offering, the more the power granted to the wish.
– Appearance: A huge mass of burned flesh made up with 25 corpses that died in a fire. Several eyes and mouths appear through the flesh, in a grotesque conglomerate of body parts. The abominations is also a concentrate of the wishes and the never granted dreams of the people inside of it, using their voices to express their feelings. Nothing is more disturbing than an eldritch abomination speaking with the voice of a child who wanted a Christmas present. The creature is surrounded by chains, and this is exactly its main weapon. It will throw the chains like spears, trying to pierce directly the hearts of the target.
– Story: A deranged psychopath tried to summon Demon Tsukuyomi in a department store, by sacrificing 24 people as his offering. His wish was to have his mother back to life, for that he thought on sacrificing human lives in exchange for that. But the wishes of the victims, that wanted only to survive, were stronger. The psychopath died in the fire as well, probably creating this obscene abomination. For this reason, the ghost is probably only a fake Demon Tsukuyomi.
- Kakuya
– Urban Legend: If somebody receives a black card with a riddle on it, by solving the riddle he will become part of Kakuya’s Game. Since that moment, each player will experience a different game, according to his personality, created by a doll-entity called Kakuya. Even if the game is always different, it will go on forever. The only way to exit from the game is by losing it. But of course this often means death, or a mystical coma for the lucky ones.
– Appearance: A beautiful and delicate doll dressed with Japanese traditional clothes. Behind the beauty, her appearance is cold and distant, even if a bit childish. Her powers are really strong, and usually normal humans are even unable to simply move in her presence. Kakuya true body lives in a parallel universe that exists behind the mirrors, but she is still able to travel and affect the real world. She likes to play and to be entertained, so her main purpose is to find playmates. At the end of the game, she will try to act as a grownup, also threatening the hero to play with him “like adults play”. After that, her body will mutate in a distorted abomination, like if the gorgeous doll and a monster fused together, with colorful butterflies coming out from her skin.
– Story: Kakuya is a powerful and mysterious entity, created long ago and imprisoned in a dimension behind mirrors. Lonely and always searching for playmates, she will gain access to the human world each 10 years, if not properly stopped. Only the descendants of a unconventional family have the inborn powers to stop Kakuya, and only by performing an ancient ritual. During the ritual, a doll infused with power is offered to Kakuya as a new friend, and she will happily play with her for the next decade. But something went wrong in the last ritual, and now Kakuya is free and bored, searching for friends to participate in her dangerous games.
Surreal and Creepy 