Gregory Horror Show

Gregory Horror Show
Anime
Directed by	Kazumi Minagawa
Studio	Milky Cartoon
Released	October 1999 – present

Gregory Horror Show is an anime series in 3D CGI created by Naomi Iwata and televised by the Asahi National Broadcasting Co.

Story

The first series is a set of 25 stories about a male businessman arriving at the hotel after taking a train home from work. He encounters the mysterious owner of the hotel, an old mouse known as Gregory, who suggests that he stay a while. Soon, the man becomes drawn into a bizarre series of events taking place within Gregory House as he tries desperately to escape from this bizarre purgatory.

The second series, "The Second Guest" is similarly set with 25 stories, except this time the main victim is a woman who has just taken a taxi home from her best friend's wedding ceremony.

The third series, "The Last Train" is set with 26 stories during a bizarre train ride that Gregory embarks upon.

The fourth series, "The Bloody Karte" (Presented as a side series on the DVDs) is a set of 12 stories about Catherine working in a mysterious hospital.

Characters

• Gregory (voiced by Chafūrin and by Dave Pettitt in the English version) is the Innkeeper of the hotel and also the narrator, a slightly creepy old mouse with a peculiar obsession for keeping guests at his hotel. He loves to mess with one's mind and has a habit of appearing out of nowhere. It is strongly implied that Gregory is in fact a manifestation of the hidden dreams and desires that people suppress, and his hotel the same. Although how several different people can manifest the exact same apparition is unknown, and it is highly probable that Gregory is in fact a spirit of dreams and desires, instead of a single person's manifestation. Gregory's aims seem unclear in both the game and the series. In the game, a player can overhear him monologuing about how s/he wouldn't be in any danger if they simply accepted the purgatory of Gregory House, but several times in both the series and the game, Gregory is seen to be an antagonistic force, putting his guests quite literally through hell.

• James (voiced by Erina Yamazaki) is Gregory's grandson, a mischievous mouse who loves to play pranks on anyone he can find. In the videogame, he is the one who allowed the guests to steal bottled souls from Gregory's Mama.

• Neko Zombie (voiced by Nao Nagasawa) is a zombie cat who once lived with a family that stayed in Gregory's Hotel. Once a glossy beautiful cat, it escaped from reality and ended up at the hotel where Gregory stitched up its eyes, mouth and ears as act of revenge (it is unclear, however, what Neko Zombie might have done to deserve this). He is the character who seems the most supportive of the protagonist in both the game and the series, as he is constantly giving them hints on how to battle their inner demons. He also attempts to kill Gregory and his mother during the Great Fire of Gregory House (during the series, this fire is caused by him).

• Catherine (voiced by Ayana Inoue and Minako Ichiki) is a pink lizard nurse with a giant syringe. She has the obsession to steal blood from guests. One suck of the syringe drives a guest to being drained almost entirely of blood. Although her reason to put a syringe into people is often because she easily falls in love with people with nice "veins", she also sucks blood for no reason other than personal pleasure. She has had relationships with many characters throughout the house, though all of them have ended unwell.

• Judgment Boy (voiced by Naochika Hayashida, Yoshiyuki Kōno, and Susumu Chiba) is a set of anthropomorphic scales balanced between love and money. He passes judgment on all troubled souls of the hotel and can see through anyone's lies, although people are skeptical whether or not he really can tell the truth or if he only swings his arms around. When he's not judging others, he usually sings to himself about himself ("Do you know who I am? They call me Judgement Boy!").

• Judgment Boy Gold - A solid gold Judgment boy and also the boss of all other judgment boys. In the game, he trains all the other judgment boys for the final judgment and is the last guest to visit the hotel.

• Hell's Chef (voiced by Ryūzaburō Ōtomo) is the chef of Gregory Hotel that looks very much like a dark-faced candle with glowing red eyes and a giant knife that is said to cleave elephant bones like butter. He often butchers/poisons the guests that don't eat or refuse his meals (even if they are just not hungry), and then serves them to other guests. He speaks with a dark, sinister, evil voice. He is apparently very particular and passionate about his food preparation, and refuses to eat anyone's cooking but his own. He hates smokers/smoking because "They are the enemy of cuisine!" (he hates that it eventually numbs the taste buds). The candle on his head is almost always seen burning because it somewhat acts as his life spark - if it's blown out, he stops moving and his eyes stop glowing, and when it is re-lit, he continues as if nothing had happened.

• Lost Doll (voiced by Naoko Matsui) is a poor girl looking forever for her doll with a pink face and a blue face. At first, she looks harmless but when approached or picked up, she becomes violent with her face turned blue. In fact she herself is the doll she is looking for. She has a good friendship with Cactus Gunman. Her name may have once been 'Katie'. Her only friend was a doll which was her constant companion, but one day, her parents decided to dispose of the doll. The girl searched endlessly for her lost doll, until she happened upon the place known as Gregory House, where she became a permanent resident.

• Mummy Papa (voiced by Hitoshi Takagi) is a father dog with bandaged body and a saber cleaved into his head which does not affect him at all apart from a headache. He is a proud hypochondriac with a loving son.

• Mummy Dog (voiced by Natsumi Sakuma) is Mummy Papa's son, a smaller dog in dungarees and bandages with an axe cleft into his head. He is also a proud hypochondriac like his father.

• Cactus Gunman (voiced by Yoshiyuki Kōno) is a cactus in bandit clothes and sombrero who loves to challenge guests into fights. He was once a leader of revolutionaries and is infamous for his terrible aim. He is also quite the macho man, playing though while any real danger would easily scare him away.

• Cactus Girl (voiced by Mikako Satō) is Cactus Gunman's younger sister. She is fiercer than her brother and uses a lasso to steal other's clothes, confident of their lack of fashion sense.

• Roulette Boy (voiced by Yōko Asada) is a small red-faced child with a roulette wheel on his head. He loves to play games and challenges guests to test their luck, usually ending in bad luck for the players.

• Death (voiced by Masashi Hirose) is the God of Death who visits guests in their dreams with his scythe. He seems to be manic-depressive, considering the fact that in the anime he speaks darkly with a grim voice, while in the game he has a funky and cheery presence.

• TV Fish is a skeletal floating fish able to swim in the air and through walls. It has a TV for a face and projects the memories of any guests nearby passively. However, because all guests at Gregory Hotel are uncertain of themselves, the TV shows distorted images.

• Clock Master (voiced by Jin Yamanoi) man with the face of a clock residing in the hotel. He has the ability to control time, although he has grown old and can't travel that far in time anymore. He usually drinks his problems away.

• My Son (voiced by Maiko Itō) is the Son of Clock Master, who is currently learning the arts of time control. He greatly admires his father.

• Dead Body is a skeleton character that resides under the cemetery in front of Gregory Hotel. "Drinks his cares away" until he can find a body to replace his own fragile form. He is weak to wind and water because his powdery bones can easily blow away or melt in the rain.

• Angel/Devil Dog (voiced by Rei Sakuma) is a canine with angelic appearance that invites you to be near her. She has somewhat of a split personality, however, and frequently changes into the Devil Dog and invites you to hell. She acts like a teenager, arguing with Gregory about how he is always cleaning when she wants to watch football.

Video game

Main article: Gregory Horror Show (video game)

The anime was adapted into a PS2 game by Capcom in 2003. The general premise of the game involves the player (who can choose to be male or female) trying to escape from Gregory House, a deranged hotel run by the old mouse Gregory. The game involves having to steal bottled souls from twelve guests, and returning them to Death before going to sleep.

In the game, Neko Zombie helped explain the gameplay and introduces the player to mental health. Mental health acts like a health gauge of the player's mental fortitude. The player must maintain a good level of mental health by sleeping, reading books, or using special 'herb' items reminiscent of the Resident Evil game series. If the player's mental health completely runs out, then the character goes insane, and becomes a permanent guest at Gregory House.

While the bizarre cube-esque graphics (which were a staple of the 'anime') give the game an unusual look for a survival horror game, there is still an element of tension and unease because the player must creep around the hotel, avoiding detection by the various guests. If the player gets caught by one of them, then the guest will attack them by forcing them to watch some 'Horror Shows', a bizarre vision of violence set in a traditional Japanese theatre.

The game features a goldmine of easter eggs and backstory which either reference or expand upon certain events of the series. For example, in the 'Bloody Karte' arc, Catherine develops an attraction for Hell's Chef; in the game, the player can find a signed trading card of him in the psychotic nurse's treatment room. Also, if a player takes the time to follow the guests around the building at various different points in the game, they will often divulge interesting tidbits about the hotel and each other. For example, if the player follows Gregory around quite early on in the game, a huge amount of how Neko Zombie came to be the way he is can be learned.

Manga

A manga adaptation of GHS called Gregory Horror Show: Another World by Suzuki Sanami started in the Nov. 01, 2007 issue of Weekly Morning magazine.

It follows Tooru Takenotsuka, a 22 year old freeter comes to the city to follow his dreams. Thanks to his status he is unable to find an apartment to live in until a seedy real estate agent introduces him to Gregory House.

External links

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