Tag: Ghosts

Pinkie does Random Stuff on the Internet: Random Question Generator Part 4

Hear Ye Hear Ye, Princess Pinkie is back with a Geeky Lifestyle post

Salutations Loyal Subjects and Sweet Island Guests, as many of you know I prefer the lifestyle of randomness and I like this random element in my every day! I try to include this so much that I for a while now have been even making a lot of my blogging content random!  Every so often I google for a Random Question Generator and then roll a few questions for myself which I then promptly answer!  Here is yet another Edition! I did not choose these questions! They got randomly generated

Random Question 1: What could you do with two million dollar to impact the most people.

First of all , that doesn’t feel like great english! So I am already dreading what else this thing might spit out of me! Secondly I would not use two million dollar to impact the most people. I’d look out for me! I’d turn myself into a V-Tuber including some expensive vocal coaching so I can talk better again and win over as many souls as I can that way and live my dream career for a bit.  But that is not the question, even though I lack plenty of resources to be the V-Tuber I want.. I HAVE to spend the two million dollar to impact the most people that I could. 

The obvious answer would be to give 200.000.000 people one single cent from my stash. Yet I doubt I could find 200.000.000 people that would be impressed by me giving them a cent. I could also get a big speech out to the public in which I talk about acceptance and belonging, however without leverage like a celebrity, that will not go far. Gilbert Gottfried might do that thing where he records messages for money now…but that might not be enough! Though I would love him to say Visit Pinkie’s Paradise blog…either way in any scenario so some money is going towards that. If we look at the question though… we do not have to do good! We just have to affect as many as possible! In that case Altruism might be to expensive! At least for good deeds to make a true impact. Honestly if I would have to impact people.. without context just as a way of a high score thing or something, I’d probably try to impact people in a negative way.  As the question is, I would have to answer what I think I could do with my money to have the largest influence on peoples live… and  that would be through evil.

Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I’d by a bunch of knives and gank random people.. even though that will be a big influence on many people’s life I would not be able to do that. Yet instead I would spend the money on posters. A picture  or a little clip of me pouring a bottle of crystal down the drain while laughing. Text shows up…saying something like “You work hard every day… yet somehow I got two million to piss off a bunch of people! HAHAHAHAHA “    People would share how horrible of a person I am EVERYWHERE! I’d be cancelled and never find a job again.. but everyone knows I am that girl that randomly got two million and spent it on some petty stuff.  That would truly be the way to reach the most people. I’d hate it very much.. but in the modern world negativity travels further than positivity.. and strictly for the purpose of this question this would be my answer.

Would I do that?!  No.. would I spend the money to help others? Yes! Just never would I go out to help “the most amount “.  I’d treat my friends and my mother to all kinds of things and as  a VTuber I would spread positivity around, but I will reach who I will reach! I would never spend my money to “help” as much people as possible because I truly believe that the watered down happiness of the many do not outweigh a pure moment of happiness for a smaller group (Mind you.. group! Not individual). I believe that if I can make someone (that is not me) genuine laugh and have a memory they cherish for a lifetime, it would be worth way more than to give an entire army some breath mints or something.  I would never actively make people unhappier to get my or my friends happiness.. unless of course it is needed to answer a question.

Random Question 2 What do you strongly suspect but have no proof of. 

The Hat Man | Myths and Lore | Sinister Coffee and Creamery

So many things! Pretty sure there are alien among us! True vampires might exist and friendship may indeed be magic! However these are not the thing I most strongly suspect! I have written about this topic before. I am a firm believer in ghosts and there might even be something stronger than a ghost in my life right now! I am not even sure if it is good! I sometimes feel stalked at night.. by something ominous, something powerful. I have no idea what it wants from me, but I am not sure if it is out to harm me. I do know it is there!  It rarely enters my bedroom but stands in the door opening when I leave the door open, even though it doesn’t seem to use doors.  I am not sure on the how and the what but I have a general idea of its size and shape.    It is quite tall and husky.. if it  stands in my doorframe it  barely fits.. it has pointy ears and I associate it with “black and orange.. a dirty variant.. almost rust/earth like” Not that it has colours.. but they pop to mind!

I do not know what it is, it might be just a manifestation of my social anxieties, maybe it is the panic of my own mortality, but I know it isn’t bound to my house!  It sometimes follows me on walks as well. It seems to prey on me the moments I find peace and rest.  Like when I am watching ducks in my local pond I suddenly hear all sorts of twigs snap behind me and that sensation of someone standing behind me pops up. If I go for a stroll through town it is as if it is whispering my name, and at night it is kinda like a stalker giving me feelings of dread. I have not really pissed off any romani old ladies, or solved mysterious puzzle boxes, yet it kinda feels personal. 

Fear GIFs - Get the best GIF on GIPHY

I do not know if it is a real “demon” or if it is a manifestation of my insecurities and anxieties.. but whatever it is.. it is present. I kind of feel it might be hate a person has towards me, that manifested. Maybe it is the entire world’s negativity towards me manifested in one. I do not know, but I do know that for now it can’t really hurt me! It can bother me.. but it can’t hurt me! Just like those looks on the streets when I walk by in something pink and lolitaish or if I geek it up. They world can stare at me menacingly but they can’t hurt me.. and whatever the thing in the night is, it acts in a very similar way. However at times it feels much more present.. like it is disrupting my aura or chakra, as if my body works less efficiently if it stares at me.. and it triggers some.. primal instinct.


Random Question 3 If you were in charge of Renaming things so that their name would be more accurate, what names would you come up with?

Alrighty! I like this question!  So let’s use a few words that are important for my VTuber/Blogging Career. Let’s start with the word blog! Being derived from the world Weblog it seems pretty perfect right?  Yet most of us do not really log anything. A blog now almost applies to any form of online written content… if we write a review .. it’s a blog post.. if Kotaku or IGN write a review, it is not?! What’s up with that?! Some blogs are even just pictures! So most blogs are more a form of Written Online Content. Or Wrontent if you want to make it a portmanteau.  Which is opposed to Vontent, which is video online content. Speech based online content would be Sontent. Though most Vlogs are actually logs so those can stay I guess.

Luigi is a BETA SIMP!!! - YouTube


Next word I would replace is the word simp. I still want one but it is very non descriptive and the definition of the world is less than set in stone.  A simp could be someone who is a fan who likes anyone you do (it is preferable that you present as female for this to occur)  or someone who idolises you so much they send you their money, treat you like a friend and potential mate and act according to that romantic availability while you have no interest in them at all.  The latter is kind of closer to the true definition of the word but loser-fanboy might be too negative , even though it pretty much covers the meaning.  Loser not persé in the life sense but in the fact that he will never win you. Since the name Karen has taken on a meaning of it’s own I have come up with a perfect name to cover the meaning of simp. The name of Luigi. Luigi always blindly supports Mario and even more so Princess Peach. While Mario gets a slice of cake and a kiss, Luigi often gets jack diddley yet when the princess calls for help.. Luigi is there. He is not even mentioned in the title of the game most of the time. He only gets mildly acknowledged.. so I think a Luigi is a perfect replacement word for a Simp

The final word I would like to replace is the word VTuber itself.  Virtual YouTubers for the most part DO NOT ACTUALLY STREAM on Youtube. Most of them are on Twitch, half of those are more active on twitter.  Vtubers are also often so much more than  just streamers. They are beloved characters and people seperate from their operator and creators. In a way Korone and Gura are more “real” than whomever is sitting behind their webcams. They mean so much to so many people! They might be closer to their truest selves as well. So I like the word Veople and Verson better for them. Virtual People and Virtual Person. The virtual person has their own life and can be an extension of the person but they can also co-exist.  Just because you are interested in Gura the Verson doesn’t give you the right to know what the person behind the model does.   This could also lead to Versons being able to just act out a persona on actual camera rather than requiring a model/avatar.  It could also encompass a person you like to be. 

Arty By PokeyPokums! But It Totally shows VTubers being Veople!

Final Random Question : If you were forced to create a new Dance move what would it be and what would it be called?

I kind of would get why someone would give me two million to try to make people as miserable as possible, that would qualify as a social experiment .. but why would anyone ever force me to create a dance move?! Maybe Gloria Estefan is actually evil and the rhythm IS gonna get me but I find that unlikely!  As well as me being targeted for the creation of a new dance move. I have no style , I have no grace, if you include me it takes THREE to tango..possibly four. I have zero dancing skill!  Most times I have danced I have fallen off something, concussed myself (true story)  or nearly killed some other people on a stage with me (exaggeration.. but still mostly true). I am so wooden that gym teachers excused me from certain gym events because there was such a large risk I would hurt myself. When I considered going to my school gala/prom, teachers asked me “REALLY?!”  So I should not create a dance.

However with whatever psychopath out there that would force me to dance, there is only one option available to me.  That would be falling down.  When I dance it is an inevitability that it happens  so I would create a limbo like move where I fall back first . Then when you get up, you do so in the most convoluted way possible to a beat! Think of it as a combination of break dancing and playing twister on the music beat.  Left Arm Red, Right arm Green… Boom-Boom-Boom- Push up… Left Leg Red, Leg Blue! Boom-boom-boom-Push up! Slide… get up– boom boom boom! Stand! Now I would not be able to pull if off with grace nor is that my intention. I simply wish to achieve that as soon as I fall again people will think I did it on purpose.

As for a name.. maybe the Bruiser?! The Slip?!  Or maybe the Topside Twister. Yes that last one seems like a good one! You play Twister.. to get topside! Maybe I try to tie in some fake hawaiian lore  and call it the Ah-Hau just so when I fall and cry out in pain it seems like part of the dance as well. I am not afraid that people who force me to make a new move will see trough the fact that I am bluffing up some Haiwan lore.. after all they really did not do their homework in selecting me to come up with a move , so I doubt they will know anything about hawaiian culture. Bluffing is all this move is about anyway! It’s all the dancing skills I got! So let’s do the Topside Twister.. on the island known as the Ah-Hau and let’s try to stay out of the hospital! Or at least let’s try to break as few bones as possible

What would you do when presented with these questions?! Any new words for us to use? Maybe you have a dance move I can pull off?! Or maybe you just want to ramble here about your daughter taking pictures of her cat with a new Iphone..before sending me to an extra Proxies domain?! No matter who you are I’d love to talk! Stay Random!


Revenge of the Ghost Pokémon Trainers Part 2

Sometimes you start a post and you can just ramble on because you really like the subject matter! That is what happened to me in my previous post! So here I will continue it. For Halloween I have been doing the ghost Pokémon trainer of canon a solid and I have been readjusting their team to fit their style! Yesterday we looked at Agatha, Morty and Phoebe and we established some rules. Today for all your basic info I refer you to the first post and we dive straight in as we re-evaluate Fantina, Shauntal, Accerolla and Allister.

Fantina

Fantina is all about style! She is one of the most classic Oujasamas/Himedere in Pokémon. A Hime-dere is a bratty spoiled princess archetype. In Pokémon Diamond and Pearl she is a very scary gym trainer because with an ace at level 36, she has a fully evolved team of ghosts pokémon! That is pretty scary. However, while her hair is someone who looks like a Drifblim, I just don’t see a fashion queen using this pokémon. She has a gengar.. which is all about shadows and darkness so is about as far away from what she is about as you can think and she has a Mismagius..which is the evolution of a very femine pokemon but turns into a witch.. which again would not be the image Fantina wants! Luckily I am here to rescue her!

Low Tier 1: Misdreavus

Let’s take her Ace away and turn it into its pre-evolved. This Pokémon is like it’s evolution based on a Banshee but is much more in the style of a pretty woman that wears some elegant jewelry. This jewelry that Misdreavus wears is super important in her lore as it is what keeps her alive. It stores the energy that Misdreavus uses as sustenance. A Pokémon that withers without looking it’s prettiest seems to go very well with the whole Diva vibe Fantina has going. It would also balance her out a bit, Mismagius and Gengar are very good sweepers and have a better special attack than most pokémon you can encounter before facing her. So stick with this one Fantina it suits you a lot better than it’s evolved form! Which we will pass on to another trainer on this list.

Low Tier 2: Sableye

Sableye is called the darkness pokémon and belongs to the Dark Ghost type. An Incredibly strong defensive typing with only one weakness. This weakness however only was given to it in the sixth generation. While of course for the nature of this list that weakness is still in effect, the Sinnoh region doesn’t have a lot of Fairy Types available.. not even of the ones that were given the typing later. Since we are taking Drifblim away Fantina needs a new defensive Pokémon and a ghost that is all about sparkling gems seems like a perfect fit for a Himedere. Gems Jewelry and elegance is the theme that goes with Fantina and this pokémon seems perfect for that. It will offer the trainer a nice obstacle to overcome in the form of a hard to counter typing. In the rematches this could even have it’s mega form so it is actually decent. Still since I semi-started my first Randomiser Nuzlocke and I got Scott the Sableye, I began to appreciate this pokemon a lot more and it is great for a mid game gym leader.

Mid Tier 1: Cursola

Pokémon fans like me really like to come up with the strangest theories. Are Agatha and Oak a couple, could everyone’s  dad have died in a big pokémon war?! Is Cubone a slide evolution of a Kangaskhan cub?! So how about this one! Did Fantina kill a Corsola to get some jewelry and end up with a Galarian (Ghost Type) Corosola? Did she just hoard for Coral and cause it to die out cause Galarian Corsola to appear in the Sinnoh region as well?! However you look at it coral makes for some great jewelry at a pretty big price.  Galarian Corsola is all about that and while we could give her another defensive type.. that strategy only really works if it holds an eviolite. Since gym trainers usually don’t use held items except for maybe a berry or so.. evolving it seems the most logical route for her team. Cursola isn’t as exceptional of an attacker as Fantina’s normal team either and while it is good still I think this is a much more balanced pick for a mid tier then Gengar.

Mid Tier 2: Oricorio Sensu

Fantina has style and flare, so having a ghostly dancer on her team makes more than enough sense to put this fan dancing bird on her team. With a lilac colouring scheme it isn’t even that far off from Fantina itself.. but that being said a lot of ghosts are purple and we actually took all of the most purple ones away! With Fantina’s team so far there is a lack of speed and  Sensu Style Oricorio would fix that a bit. It would also give Fantina a wider moveset to use since the Oricorio’s can learn a bit of a wider moveset. Since the others really struggle against normal types. Fantina seems like the person who comes prepared for that. She does not want to lose face and stand no chance… she would stack the deck in her favor.  The look of disdain on the Sensu Style Oricorio also fits Fantina quite nicely.

Ace : Froslass

Froslass is based on the Yuki-Onna Yokai and is a female only pokémon that is all about an elegant appearance but a cold personality. It is perfect for someone like Fantina. It works as a speedy revenge killer so if you are on your last Pokémon when Fantina sends out her Froslass you are going to have a bad time. The fact that this pokémon freezes it’s victims to death and then uses them as decoration might be a bit too evil for Fantina but the whole idea of using people as tools for yourself does fit in with the whole Himedere esthetic that woman has going. A hard hitting but fragile pokémon seems more fitting then her more defensive ghosts and with those witteling you down a bit it seems like this stone cold Killer ghost would truly be something that Fantina could use as a main.

Shauntal

By design Shauntal is probably my favourite Ghost Pokémon trainer, she reminds me a lot of Willow from Pokémon. An adorable slightly awkward geek that spends too much time in her books and as  result comes across rather strange. Her sprite animations have a level of clunk to them as if she is really klutzy.. which endears her to much even more! Yet her team has always been odd. Golurk looks adorable on her in the comic but there is a lot you can do with her here. However they did not treat her as wrong as most other ghost trainers. For one I think we can keep her ace on the team. 

Low Tier 1: Haunter

Now this one seems a bit of a weird one for Shauntal because in no way it fits her personality. Haunter is a bit of Poltergeist which has nothing to do with Shauntal’s intellectual plight and her studious nature. However Shauntal seems to be a Pokémon Trainer that isn’t always in control of her Pokémon. There is this sense that she is a bit of a submissive character and having a Pokémon by her side that constantly pranks her and tosses her books on the floor seems like something very “anime” to do with the character. She actually is a very good trainer, she is elite four after all.. but she can not seem to get rid of this thing. She probably has some sort of attachment to it, maybe even claiming it was the spirit of a lost relative or a friend who always bullied her. That is also why she can not evolve it since she doesn’t want to trade it away.

Low Tier 2: Lampent

Shauntal once again seems the least dominant personality of all the ghost trainers so it makes sense for her to have multiple guiding lights.  Her poor eyesight and love for dark poorly lit places does help. Lampent would be that  light that helps her down and up some ladders and function as her mobile light. While I would love for her to have a Litwick I can’t justify that on an Elite Four Member. She probably would have one as a pet.. that constantly drains her life force without knowing it but yes.. Shauntal would crawl up in dark corners and get her Lampent out so she can read more! 

Mid Tier 1: Runerigus

In the official game Shauntal has a Cofagrigus and while that still makes a bit of sense the evolution of its Galarian form makes a lot more sense. This pokémon is based around ancient and mysterious symbols and an ancient wall of text. It also offers Shauntal the amazing ground type to add to her lineup to replace her less fitting Golurk. It is much easier to see Shauntal discover an ancient wall of text and wanting to bring that home and being super stoked when she discovers a cursed pokémon lives inside the text so she actually CAN bring it home, rather than see her catch an ancient stories high Golem and it using it Jet powered lags to fly her back  home.. That latter looks super cute.. but she is a nerd! She probably would get sick or something! No stick to runes because knowledge is power.

Mid Tier 2: Mismagius

Mismagius is all about casting and chanting ancient spells and has that book knowledge vibe that Shauntal has as well. Mismagius also has a bit of a good nature but not always.. which seems to fit the Elite Four member quite well. She would usually be engaged with her own little activities like reading and not really caring about the world around her. However if she would stumble upon someone in need she seems like the type that tries to help but might make it worse. Mismagius can bless people but also can make them go insane or at least super fearful with their chanting.  Just like how a socially awkward person can unnerve an extraverted person as well. Jeesz she is weird.  Shauntal and Mismagius would make great friends.

Ace: Chandelure

I am at a toss up if Chandelure or Mismagius should have been her ace, but I feel Shauntal would spend more time with a Pokémon reading than she would do the whole chanting mystic stuff. Like I said I can easily imagine the girl with a litwick so perhaps when she was young she had one and kept staring at it feeding it her life energy until it evolved. Somehow this never killed her as she always kept struggling on wanting to finish her book and as it got more strength and evolved her Ace Chandelure would start to enjoy this odd woman’s company and her fascination with books.  Since Chandelure has a dual typing and a wider moveset then Mismagius it also seems the better choice for an ace then  the previous one on this list.  It gives Shauntal a bit more chance to show off her intelligence by choosing some advanced strategies and calculations so yes this seems a great pick.. at least until we get an E-Book Rotom!

Acerola

By far the easiest trainer to create a theme for would be Acerola. This Trial Captain and Elite Four Member however is a bit hard to scale her in how she relates to everyone. Alola never had a league before so her skill isn’t that established plus she is a kid. That kid route is however the main hook we will take for her team! She is an orphan girl as well so she would probably desperately be looking for friends! Well look no further.

Low Tier Number 1: Sandygast

Alola is a beach region so playing in the sand is something a kid would very likely do! Especially such a wandering person like Acerola. It is not hard to see her making a sandcastle and talking to it, with people thinking it is an imaginary friend of a lonely kid but then one day she takes a pokéball and catches it with everyone being surprised. Acerola has that weird “would talk to inanimate objects” trait. She is odd and mysterious and very much a loner despite seeming to enjoy the company of others. One can easily imagine her going to the beach and be among other people , pretending they care for her.

Low Tier Number 2: Drifloon

With the risk of underpowering Acerola here.. (of course it would be a Drifblim in her Elite Four team) I can easily see her wandering about being held in the arms with a balloon. Now this Balloon is infamous for trying to drag children away into the afterlife. It would be a great allegory for the struggles Acerola has been through as an orphan and wandering child. It would also very much fit in the plaything estetic for her team. It could even enforce the story of loneliness upon her.. how she is playing with some kids and her drifloon and some worried mothers take their children away from the killer balloon. 

Mid Tier 1:  Polteageist

Yes she has some overlap with Agatha but a girl holding a tea party is a perfect way of playing. However Agatha would own an Antique Polteageist while Acerola would have a Counterfeit one.. and yes those are two separate forms.  Acerola’s one also does not use stored power or such clever tactics it is there to giga drain and shadow ball. Even though it might not learn it officially I am deciding her one would have the move “Trick or Treat”.. which turns others into ghosts.. It seems like a tactic that Acerola would use in “join the fun”  Of course she would need a couple of dolls to host her haunted tea parties.. luckily for us I got that covered.

Mid Tier 2: Banette

Banette is the spirit of a discarded toy that came to live to get revenge on the kid who discarded it. Acerola  of  course would not be the victim of that power but it does make sense for her to pick up a toy like this when wandering about.  She is an orphan and from the looks of it she isn’t really in a home either.. at least not all the time so she would be short for money and short for childhood items. So it would make sense that she finds a discarded toy and claims it as her own.  Now Banette might be whispering to her to be a trial captain to deal with ten years old who are possibly one that can help Banette put a needle through the head of that kid that discarded it.. it could also be more innocent. Acerola found Banette still full of spite but she gave it a loving new home as her doll!   Having tea parties with new friends the Banette slowly found it’s way to it’s heart again! Either way this clearly is a great addition to Acerola’s team.  That later might even be able to go mega.

Ace: Mimikyu

Of course Mimikyu needs to be on here as well, it is from her region, it is her totem pokémon and it is a Pokémon Acerola uses as well.. it makes perfect sense for this to be her ace. Like her it doesn’t have anybody like a family to love her.. and much like the other Pokémon in her team it has this “toy” like quality. While it is in fact a costume it has enough plushie estetic to join her tea parties. Mimikyu is also a lot more affectionate and could keep her safe from the “less kind” spirits on her team if there are any. A personal bodyguard of sorts she can carry around like a ragdoll. The ragdoll look works great with a poor little strange orphan girl that talks to her dolls and Mimikyu is a physical attacker unlike the rest of her team offering her some new diversity. She can use it in so many different ways and really can work as the best friend that she very much needs! A great Ace or Acerola.

Allister

Allister is a bit of an odd one here. Why .. because he is a version exclusive gym leader. His design is a lot cooler but he does not get the same popularity as Bea due to her charming episode of Pokémon Twilight wings. Allister hasn’t been really given that much flavor other than him being mostly “that creepy guy” Luckily that does make it very easy to build a team for him.

Low Tier 1: Yamask

This is a dead give away.. Alilisters trade mark is that he wears a mask. So Yamask would be a great pick for him to have as his first team member. Now Alilisters mask makes him look ghostly while the ghost carries a mask of their former human form. So there immediately is a great duality in this. I am not talking about the Galarian variant of course as only the Unovan variant carries a mask but it would make a great lead for Alistair. While not great in battle I imagine it functioning in a way similar to Morty’s original team that relied heavily on curse. Yamask looks at their mask and cries knowing they have died so them spreading a curse on the living seems quite in line with the behaviour of the boy and the very nature of this pokémon.

Low Tier 2: Gourgeist

Allister’s theme seems to resolve most about fear, above all the other ghost type gym leaders. So him slotting into the Halloween Pumpkin pokémon would make perfect sense.  We do link that pumpkin lantern to fear so often and over time it has become an icon for scary stuff. Like Acerola this would give him access to  moves that allow him to turn your entire team into ghosts which then can hit super effectively and that is a frightening scenario.It’s lore also says it loves to trick people and creep them out with scary songs. Allister while not a singer surely puts on a creepy act as well. A nice pair.

Mid Tier 1: Drakloak

Drakloak’s Final evolution Dragpult is scary as hell! Yet with it only being available after level 60 this Semi-legendary might be a bit out of the league of young Alistair. He is still a kid entering those awkward teen years. Drakloak is in a similar phase in it’s ghostly life span and besides that it also has a bit similar body language than Allistair does. It is a pokémon indigenous to his region too and given his young age , he should not have been able to travel that much! Perhaps this was the pokémon that got him started with his collection. Not really his starter.. but the second one.. after which he decided he would be a ghost Pokémon trainer and all! Plus lizards are always scary right?!  His legendary of choice would without a doubt be Giratina so this is a mini version of it as well!

Mid tier 2: Gengar

One of the few doubles on this list but for good reason. Gengar is very much connected to the concept of fear, plus he is a prankster and shown to often be rather infantile. All these elements connect rather well with Alistair. I feel where Agatha would use the pokémon mostly for Shadowball and powerful special moves like Focus Blast, Allister would go a “creepier” route. He would focus on the poison element, teaching it toxic alongside Venoshock. That sense of an impending combo and a unescape poison seem in line with who he is.  He isn’t a hard hitter.. more the guy that unnerves you and borrowing from Gengar’s poison element really works for that.

Ace: Spiritomb

This Pokémon is something I find one of the most fearful looking ghost in the entire game and thus I think it is a great choice for the masked boy. Formed out of 108 souls bound to an odd Keystone it has something ominous.. this isn’t just one ghost.. This is over 100 ghosts! It was also mischievous! Most Gym Leaders in the region also seem to have a weakness against one another, with a few options that protect against their greatest weakness.  However until now we had not given Allister anything that can resist the dark type at all! This Pokémon is only weak to fairy and eats psychic Pokémon for breakfast.It displays the same otherworldly quality that Allister has to himself and I think it would be truly amazing to see Gigantamax or Mega Spirtomb!  I have no doubts these two can work well of each other.. or drive each other to utter madness. Whichever it is this is one scary pair!

And with that we conclude this series of giving famous type trainers a themed team! What team do you support?! What would you like to see in a team?! Would you like to see this for trainers of others types? Let me know and I hope I showed plenty of ghosts! Boo!

Stranger Short Stories the Ani-Meh: Yamishibai Season 2

Dear Mortals last week’s spooky anime was a collection of short stories called Yamishibai and I was seriously impressed with this series.  With the second season getting a new director that would stay for the ongoing season I was sure this one would be even more potent… yet me and the Crunchyroll Comment section had to reach a tragic conclusion. The second season is nowhere near as good as the first.

 Lost Direction

In the previous post I explained why the visuals of Yamishibai have meaning and how the format lended itself quite well for the short episode format. It kept things spooky.  In part due to the amazing direction of Tomoya Takashima with the writing of Hiromu Kumamoto. For this second season the series was helmed by Takashi Shimizu and Noboru Iguchi as directors and Shōichirō Masumoto  is responsible for the script this time. Like season 1 it is still an ILCA studio production that is available for free on Crunchyroll .This is a season that clearly got a lot less love in the comments though and that has mostly to do with the direction of this season. There almost seems to be a stylistic change. Even noticeable between the two directors. One clearly more capable than the other but both are bogged down by their choice in stories this time. Leaning heavily into the biggest gripe I had with last season. 

This season has a lot of implied messages. Where season 1 put a twist on folklore stories and retells them, season 2 implies their presence. What I mean by that is that Season 1 feels more like a Show and Tell format “Today I will tell you a scary story about a fabled curse”  while Season 2.. sets up for people to recognise a folklore story.. If Season 1 would be a Pokedex entry about folklore Season 2 is the Whose that Pokémon of Folklore. Which probably makes it a lot more interesting for Japanese viewers and those VERY well familiarised with japanese ghost stories.. and I mean VERY well. As a Gaijin though I oftenly missed what was going on this season. It still is fascinating in ways but it is strange and makes no sense rather than it being scary. The jump scares have been replaced a bit .. by a big clue to reveal the story in the end. As a fan of both western and asian horror this really missed a bit of the balance for me. 

That being said this season still has a few gems in between. The ratio if just off. The tales are still fascinating in a way as well, they just feed that horror itch less and are more an interesting thing to research. There is a bit less of variety in stories as well, with the majority being possession type stories. Season 1 offered a mix between survival scenarios , curses , monsters and possessions. Like last time let’s discuss all the episodes with a short summary (not spoilers but I do tell the story premise)  after which I give a bunch of microreviews. 

Barely Scared

No episode can match the top 5 episodes of season one but there where still a few stories that were quite good! Plus due to the easy format you can gloss over this season and pick the episodes you think might be interesting.  After all even if there was just one worthwhile episode in this format it is still worth watching as these people clearly did still put a lot of effort into these stories.

Episode 1:  Taro Chan

This is the story about a cop, trying to teach the kids about bike safety using a ventriloquist dummy named Taro-Chan. The act seems to go smoothly until Taro’s head suddenly jams, after working around it a bit , the cop discovers and removes a wooden seal from Taro’s neck and suddenly things get very strange.

This episode for me is the perfect summary of season 2. It shows everything that is wrong with the direction at its worst. The dialogue written for Taro-chan doesn’t produce any feelings of anxiety. The fear the cop experiences isn’t done as well as fear was depicted in the last season and the ending really doesn’t deliver. If you are a horror fan you have probably seen a better haunted ventriloquist dummy story than this one. It tells a story but it needed more than 4 minutes to be something special.. now it’s basically.. there once was a haunted ventriloquist dummy…it could talk by itself ..the end. It doesn’t help that the dummy still uses the cop voice, the events happening feel weird and uneventful. Probably the worst episode of season 2 straight away. 

Episode 2: Kitchen

A girl is visiting a friend who had just moved into a new place. As a housewarming of sorts the homeowner girl cooks for the protagonist girl. When the latter notices a voice coming out of the AC unit in the kitchen and some shadows appearing out of nowhere she isn’t sure if she is crazy or if it’s real.  She needs to decide if she wants to warn her friend and look stupid.. or hope that she beliefs her.

Directed by the “other one” you can see it is paced a lot better then the first episode. There even is a nice dramatic build up that could lead into some scares. The visuals are creepy and produce the right atmosphere. Unfortunately this episode is plagued a bit by its  writing.
This might be me not understanding Japanese culture very well.. but if you see a shadowy figure threatening your friend and you are going besides yourself with fear..would you really try to be polite and compliment her cooking?!  Would said friend really go so angry that she kicks you out of the house when you don’t compliment her noodles straight away.? If I saw something scary I would tell my friend..I rather think they are crazy than risk  her being eaten by a potential delusion! The art cues, visual design and pacing are great though. The last minute is a bit of a trainwreck in writing.. but just the build up makes this episode worth the watch. Kinda!

Episode 3:  Inside

A boy finds a Russian Nesting Doll and brings it home.  His mother is properly creeped out by the “toy”  and tells the boy she will get rid of it. Reluctantly the boy hands it over to his mother, but the next day he sees she still has it.. his mother’s behaviour slowly begins to grow more erratic as the boy decides to investigate.

One of the strongest episodes this season in terms of visuals and writing but that lacked the directional punchline to make it a perfect score on Pinkie’s Spook-o-meter. The episode has intrigue, cool visuals, a progressive sense of dread and it doesn’t require you to know a story by heart. By the way characters act, how visuals are presented it is perfectly clear what is happening here. It just misses that step beyond. You get the horror tale you expect when it’s about a nesting doll but it could have used a bit more subterfuge or a fake-out somewhere. A bit too straight forward but definitely a great story to tell around a campfire.

Episode 4: Wall Woman

A man has a crush on the woman living in the building next to him. He always stares at her during his studies wondering if she is single or not. Then one day he sees a creature enter her room. As he sees the woman walk onto the balcony again shortly after the two have eye contact for the first time when things get scary.

This episode reminded me a lot off the first episode of season 1. I deemed that episode mid-tier and for this episode I mostly feel the same. It has a bit more dramatic build up, but there is no real twist again. You know how the episode will end. This is more one of those slow burn episodes which can work great but you need a bit more time than four minutes to make it special. This director aims to end with the jump-scare on the final second.. every time where in season 1 the big event also usually ended in the final bit.. scenes sometimes lingered  allowing scares to take earlier than anticipated.. here you are more prepared. It has the dramatic build up from a coaster (often stronger than season 1)  but after that you only get that one expected drop. Not bad but nothing special either.

Episode 5: Locker

A girl is in love with a sporty guy and tries to ask him out.  While going home upset she did not talk to him she overheard a rumor about a magic locker in the underground passage of the school. If you leave a photo there in the locker that holds a weird statue you are able to have a happy future with that other person. The girl goes to try it out.. but hey that wishing doll looks kind of creepy.

Great episode! Yet again it is way too obvious but at least his one had some surprise elements still.  Even though you know where the plot will be headed you never know how or why until it is too late and it can still leave you in suspense. In that way this episode may provide you with the most Western like sense of horror where the tension lies in not if something ifs finite but how it will meet its end. With some gore and nice voicework as well as some proper  character building this episode does everything I want. It is not perfect but this one is up there with the better Season 1 episodes! Definitely top three! In fact this is the clear number 2. If you want to skip through the season this one is episode would be one of my recommended stops.

Episode 6: Nao-Chan

A family who sleeps with their son in their bed do not read him stories at bedtime but instead to sentai like shadow play. Late at night however the boy starts to begin talking to a spirit he calls Nao-Chan. As the parents try to figure out who that is.. every night Naeo-Chan comes closer to the family.

Great visuals , bad episode.This is one of the few episodes that doesn’t reach its climax at the end of the episode, instead this ending is supposed to show something subtle.. but it doesn’t connect.  Once more it feels like they needed an extra twist or a visual.. this time in the end. There are some cool things being implied here but the way the set-up scene cuts away too early and the ending scene implies anything through dialogue only it really feels like we are missing a piece of the puzzle here. Like with episode 2 a strange lack of communication makes the scene more awkward than it needs to be and for the twist line being said in the end there is a perfectly feasible explanation that takes the wind out of the sails of this episode entirely. It’s not unwatchable and for the visual you could watch it, but if horror is a punch to the face than this episode is a slap with a limp sardine.

Episode 7: Gachapon

On his way back from work a frustrated salaryman sees an old man playing desperately with a Gachapon machine. The old guy is completely fascinated by it and the man wonders why the old man would want all these toys.  The next day he walks buy and sees the Gachapon is not in use. The sign mentions a cost of 20 Y,. The box is blackened so he can not see what is inside. Curious the man pays 20 yen and gets a gachapon that holds the favourite eraser he lost as a child. How strange..but the scratch on makes him realise it is definitely his! As he wants to play more we are cued in that the price might be more than just 20 yen.

Amazing episode, number three spot for sure! This one is fascinating rather than scary but it is still kind of creepy to see unfold what actually happens. This episode uses irony to make the story so much stronger as well. Once more not ending on the “climax” but instead letting the  moment linger a bit.. making this pay off feel SO much more satisfying than almost anything else. Probably the best episode in overall quality but it lacks that spook factor that number one and two have. Still this episode is great to watch, the desire that fuels the protagonist is feasible and whatever supernatural forces are at work here can keep him from noticing certain things without it feeling forced. In this episode I did notice how this episode seems to try certain values to people. Don’t assume all rumors are true, don’t meddle into affairs, don’t get stuck in the past. It is a neat enough theme but once again a bit obvious.

Episode 8: Farewell Confession

A man is attending a strange type of funeral with long lost relatives. it is called a farewell confession. People sit with the dead and tell them a secret they want to ascent to heaven with them and liberate them.  Some of these are very innocent others go very far.. as in your daughter is actually MY daughter. When our protagonist offers his confession though the ritual goes Awry.

Horrible writing plagues this episode….unless of course the translation was off. If that first secret was not.. I was the one who made your wife pregnant not you…but instead half mumblings sounding like that.. I might be okay with this.. but as I had perceived it now.. and the line sounded pretty clear to me as well once more we delve into a very unlikely scenario and values. Strangely we only hear half the main character’s confession..but unless he did some REALLY depraved stuff with the confession target it doesn’t seem worse as .. your daughter is not your biological child…A second issue makes this episode a bit ridiculous .. which is the existence of a certain meme. I had a lot of fun with this episode reading the comments and everyone seemed to agree with how silly this was. This one is a bit so bad it’s a good variety..Alas for spook score that doesn’t count.

Episode 9: Ominie-san

A teacher from the big city transfers over to the school in a small rural town. When a strange lunch of purplish meat is served, it is named Omnie-san. Everyone digs into the meat like crazy devouring it as if they are mad-men. The teacher is off put by this and dumps her meat only to find people eating it in a restaurant as well. Losing her appetite she calls in sick. She and her worker now have to make sure she stays healthy..in this strange town.

This is another one of those strange episodes that clearly seems to be referencing something. Since the meat has an honorific.. was it a person they are eating? Do the kanji in the word Omnini-San mean anything? What is going on. It feels strange and macabre sure.. but there never is a real pay off. We see an effect happen near the end but what does that reveal? Maybe it is just that tasty that people pig out on it so much? Clearly there is something ominous implied about what we see in the end but I have NO clue what happened there. Once again due to the strange direction that doesn’t linger enough on some points and just adds cuts that help convey an emotion.. but not what is going on. I know I should feel uneasy.. the episode cues me in on that.. but it fails to cue me on on why. In the end I am working my brain to hard to be scared.

Episode 10: Bugged

A bitter man lives in a house and the only thing he does is work and then write about what issues he has about other people’s happiness. He tells he is bugged with women who let him in his eyes, he is bugged by a couple sharing an umbrella in the summer rain because it is too warm, he is bugged by everything. Then moths start appearing in his room, which he gasses and then burns. Because it bugs him there are bugs, when he writes about  what bugs him.

A strong albeit pedantic episode.  This one tells us about a bunch of metaphors becoming real all surrounding what plagues this man and how he responds to it. It leads into some of the coolest and most gruesome visuals in the series so far and I was really pleased and startled by that.  However this one again is so obvious that it just fizzles out by the end. One of those “count-down” episodes. I really support the message this episode is trying to send though but as Chandler Bing would say… could this episode BE anymore obvious?! It’s such a shame that this show both manages to dumb things down  and still keep some things so obscure. It’s two tones which clash and “Bugged” seems almost like a Polar opposite of Ominie-San. While I don’t think the episode is very flawed it does showcase an inconsistency in the show in general.. .all in all, the amazing visuals and relevant message keep this episode in the positive score range.

Episode 11: Picking Up

On his commute home a man finds a novel that was left behind in the train. He begins reading it and it is so good that he ends up in a station in the middle of nowhere just to read it in peace and quiet. While trying to search what station he is in, the man finds out about a writing competition which he enters with the novel he found. The organisation seems pleased and ask him if the novel is his and of course he says yes.

A solid enough episode that is a bit too morally preachy. I also saw another story than the comment section on Crunchyroll saw.  I saw a story about mistaken identity, while others saw a story of getting punished for a sin. The morale is the same though! Do not lie! In a way this episode reminded me a lot of the movie Drag Me to Hell and I really like that movie. It also reminded me of another horror story of mistaken identity.. It was a short story in a dutch book I once read.  And YET again that is this season shows that they lack the ability to let these episodes shine. It’s a solid story but not a single special thing is done about it. It isn’t that hard to add a little twist to make it a bit more special. In this case I can come up with four or five twiss just from the top of my head. It’s neat as it is .. but too neat.

Episode 12: Netsuke

A college student is helping her grandma cleaning up the store when she finds some heirlooms left by her grandpa. Grandma tells her that she can keep any stuff she wants but warns her that Grandpa never allowed her to even touch those Netsuke.  These are tiny japanese ornaments in this case shaped like two faces. The woman makes earrings out of them. Late at night when she heads home she notices two strange figures following her.

This is it! The number 1 episode! It feels so spooky, it has several scary moments, it has a twisted reveal and the morale of “don’t take what doesn’t belong to you”  is less hammered in here because  she was in fact gifted with these.. sort off. It isn’t pedantic this time around but more appealing to common sense.. slightly hidden away. Sometimes WE  do need to look a gifted horse in the mouth. This episode has such cool visuals, clearly ghostly figures, fear, music.. it has it all. In fact this episode might even come close to my top 3 of the season now that I have had some time to let it sink. This episode has some action and a strange but satisfying ending. If you watch just one episode of season 2.. make sure that this one is it.

Episode 13: Bringer Drums

A couple moves into a rural town that seems rather welcoming. On their way there they see the path is decorated with bringer drums. The village elder says that is a thing they do to bring good spirits and positive energy to new residents and that it will help them feel  and act like they were born and raised here.  Then late at night the drums begin to beat by themselves and the girl of the couple realised that whatever these drums might bring isn’t necessarily good!

This is one of those, you have to know the lore to get it kind of episodes as there is a myth of bringer drums out there that makes this story a lot more understandable and while you can go out and search for that it doesn’t make the episode that much more enjoyable because of the lame choice of a jump scare in the end. It just doesn’t work. I am pretty sure there are more myths about the bringer drums than the one I read as this also had another element that some others seem to recognise in the comments.  I knew neither.. So in the end all I saw was a vague myth that isn’t that much more scary then windchimes going off in a horror movie.  That is the entire scare and it makes it very one dimensional.  Had the drums been given a scary look.. or they wondered about the odd look at the very least .. but they just think it is cute.. untill these drums go off..very flat and the scare at the end made me laugh instead. I was drinking a coke so I regret that. Unfortunately I also regret watching this episode.

Ghost Costume

I rated quite a few episodes favourably still I would like to think but overall the quality did take a big dip down. The lows were lower than those in season 1 and only one high rivalled the highs of last season. I did kind of enjoy my time with this season but I can see why so many people really hated it and dropped the show from here on out. I’ll give the new directors one more season.. and if that is this quality instead of the first .. my last anime halloween review (if I have time)  will be something completely else., If it isn’t as good as this season I might even not do the review! The show really has potential but here the tone wasn’t right for horror, either to preachy and handholding or to obscure for the most of it. Mostly due to the direction and scene choice. Still it’s an interesting  series of tales but you can’t help but compare it to the first season.

Imagine being in one of those haunted theme parks for Halloween. The first one is a better than average and unique looking zombie that has a lot of gore and startling effects on it.. but it is also a very unique character in it’s narrative.. maybe a civil war guy.. that also pirated on the side. Or a slasher character that looks unique but as if he could have a tea party with Jason, Michael and Ghostface. It has some proper weapons to  chase you down with you running frightfully. This season.. is that guy that runs around with a blanket with two holes for eyes that has no cool stuff but just can yell Boo really loudly! He has some timing skills so he can catch you off guard and make you yelp once or twice.. but in the end it is still the soldier pirate zombie that haunts your dreams.. even if you saw him way before.

Now that we’ve seen enough Kami-Shibai theater for one week it is time to go pack some more stuff! If you want to help me with my move please consider donating to my Ko-Fi page! The funds will be used to decorate a small little writing space for myself! Or just comment something and be social! So I can relax read all the love with a smile after a day of packing and cleaning! Thank you and I hope you have a spooktastic October!

Scary Short Stories The Anime: Yami Shibai Season 1 Review

Anime is great! I love it! It has so many genres. Even when I compare them to western genres like action, sci-fi , romance and …… well…… there is one genre that I don’t think anime ever does “right”. With a few exceptions of course..but horror anime usually add additional genres like action or mystery and they tend to be heavy on that other genre and low on the horror. Which was weird to me! As anime has some amazing ghost stories! Luckily I found an anime for my Haloween month that I actually classify as Horror.. I even found it scary… I am just not sure it’s “anime”……….

The Devil is in the Details

Yami Shibai, whose official title is Yami Shibai: Japanese ghost stories is a fairly long running anime that actually still seems to be more or less ongoing. Currently having 7 seasons with  91 episodes in total. Each season being 13 episodes. It is produced by studio Ilca who almost exclusively produce horror content…. and the Love Live School Idol movie! However this year the same studio brought us Ninja Collection..which is a  summer anime but I am not sure if anyone is watching that. They also made a show about a fart solving problems like only a fart can do… but I am pretty sure I included that when I said they did horror. Each episode features a stand alone story but they are tied together by a masked Story teller voiced by Kanji Tsuda.. whom you might know from… Yami Shibai Season 1 through 7.. or as Kamen Rider Ryuki.   He did more things but none of it sounded familiar to me.. so he already is kind of like a ghost!

The concept of Yami Shibai is to mimic the Kamishibai theater storytelling. This is a traditional form of Japanese storytelling with picture boards being presented in a wooden cabinet. There is an old man telling ghost stories using a Kami-Shibai and his call for attention functions as the show’s intro with the stories being the actual episode. Each episode lasts for about 4 minutes. The show including the intro.. and a very creepy Hatsune Miku outro  lasts 5 minutes which means you can watch an entire season in about an hour if you skip out on the outro! The animation is very static, almost still as if an actual Kamishibai with only very minimal animation, think high budget Visual novels.. or the execution scenes in the Danganronpa games. But more on that later! Here we just factually describe the style!

Every episode is a classical ghost story, usually with a twist/bad or open ending.  For all intents and purposes I will exclusively be reviewing the first season giving episode summaries but not full on spoilers. Reviewing each unique episode in terms of how spooky they are.Micro-reviews! Yay!  I just might review other seasons throughout halloween month as well. So sorry for the spoiler.. but I did really enjoy this first season! The director changed and remained the same into the second season so I assume that is going to be even better.
Now join me as we enjoy some classical Japanese storytelling. Attention kids and adults alike come join us for story time this is Yami Shibai!

13 Ghosts

So before I talk about the entire show let’s talk about the episodes a bit first! And measure how spooky they are! The basic premises of an episode will be discussed here so if you think that is a spoiler …. which it is not… I would advise you to skip to the next section. 

Episode 1: The Talisman Woman

A man moves into a new apartment and finds a mysterious seal on his ceiling! When he removes it a mysterious woman stares at him from afar.  When he gets home the next day, there is yet another talisman on that same spot! Could it be there is something living in his house?

A great benchmark episode! It has some eerie vibes to it, some nice subversion and even a possible jump scare! Mind you that I do watch these after midnight with all the lights off to set a proper atmosphere when reviewing these.. but this one is a great standard. It is mid-tier for me which is a nice way to start this series off. It doesn’t peak nor does it disappoint. It makes you anxious enough to slowly raise your heartbeat!

Episode 2: Zanbai

A traveler/tourist gets himself hospitalised with a broken foot when mountain climbing. He has to stay overnight in a hospital. But some other patients in the hospital are whispering together..of making sure he does not escape?! Did he mishear, are they even talking about him? What is with that strange greeting they gave him?!

This one builds up tension but let’s it fizzle a bit..which weirdly kind of makes it work still. This one did make my blood a degree colder or so… but the ending is slightly too odd and very implied. Look up what Banzai’s true meaning is before looking at this one or things might go over your head a bit. Got uneasy but I never startled

Episode 3: The Family Rule

A man that married into an old family gets told that he has to perform  a ritual with his new family to keep an ancient demon at bay! However when his son wakes up to investigate the ritual  is put at risk!

Top 5 for certain! The build up was great, the visuals really worked wonders and  the resolution was both equally horrific as satisfying. This one cleverly uses fear to instill fear and to create an exciting incident that within four minutes worked very very well for me! You know exactly what happens, what people are thinking and what unfolds.. by minimal dialogue and simple but twisted expressions! Quite creepy!

Episode 4: Hair

A woman is working late trying to make copies for something that looks like a school newspaper or something. However when the machine is used black.. almost hair like streaks appear all over the paper.. and as the woman investigates the machine an incident of freaky events occurs. 

Great scares, great effects.. dumb woman! I mean I know work ethic is a bit stricter in Japan but if I saw something living inside the copy machine.. I sure as heck would not begin opening some drawers to reveal the creepy entity! I would dash out the room and come back  the next day. While I liked the story it is also the story that follows that western trope of stupidity the most which makes it less spooky..because well… serves them right for being this dense?!

Episode 5: The Next Floor

A man ditches his kid for his birthday!  Because he has work to do! When his wife gets angry at him for leaving his son on his birthday.. the man gets in an elevator, wanting to be left alone. Then suddenly goes below it’s lowest level.. and each floor the man encounters begins to be creepier and stranger.

This one is among my favourites as well potential top 3. It has a great sense of mystery, there is an ominous feeling from the get-go and there is a lot of cool stuff done with lighting and atmosphere in this one.  What is happening?! We are kept in the dark until the very end.
This one had a scare that actually startled me! So it is pretty spooky!

Episode 6: The Overhead Rack

On a subway ride home an overworked man hallucinates a fleshie mass staring at him from the overhead rack! He brushes this off as a figment of his imagination and long hours.. but when suddenly the subway hits a person and all electricity is cut off for the rescue workers to do their job..it is revealed he might not be hallucinating stuff after all.

A mediocre episode that uses the Kamishibai art brilliantly. But cutting a whole in a drawing they manage to project real human teeth on a drawn creature and it is unnerving as heck!  The static paper movement versus the more natural behaviour of the real teeth really convey a sense of confusion! Of being something from between two worlds. While not the most scary story due to the weird logic in some elements of the story it is definitely a noteworthy one.

Episode 7: Contradiction

A woman receives a disturbing phone call from her friend.. telling her boyfriend got possessed by something scary during a visit to a haunted hospital. She said her boyfriend changed and asked if she could sleep at her friend’s place that night. Yet she sounds strange. Then the boyfriend shows up at the woman’s house telling how his girlfriend got possessed by something scary during their visit to a haunted hospital. .both accounts are fully animated. Who can the woman trust.. only one of them is speaking the truth here clearly?! Right?!

A strong episode that had quite a bit of kick! Seeing both the male account as the female account offers a duality in choices that conveys an anxious decision at the likes of cutting the red or blue wire for defusing a bomb. We as the viewer are not cued in on the truth so we have to discover it along with the main character and it works very well. There are some uber creepy visuals here as well.. and because they only MIGHT be true.. it is even creepier for me! Where is the real monster? Definitely one of the  highlights in this season! 

Episode 8: The Umbrella Goddess

While visiting his friend during a sunny day a young boy sees a woman with an Umbrella in her mouth! This causes the friend’s boy’s father to seal the boy in a shed..giving him the key to unlock the door.. telling whatever he does he should not open the door.. and that what he has to do now has to do with the Umbrella lady! If the boy can hold out untill daylight he should be safe.

Another top 3 episode for me! While a classic story the four minutes short tosses everything in it’s arsenal at you to confuse you!  It had some amazing visuals, incredible sound design and the Umbrella Goddess is even in the siple drawstyle something that does genuinely seem creepy! The voice acting is great.. and  the cinematography is really amazing!  That final line the narrator tells at the end before saying “the end” might be my favourite line in the series.. no it’s stronger than that..it IS my favourite line in the series.

Episode 9: Cursed

A young girl is afflicted with terrible skin conditions. Someone else his hand is burned on her skin and she is filled with dark necrotic spots! So far no one has been able to help her but then her mother discovers a female priest that might be able to help! From there on out things do not go as one might have expected.

A very strong ending visual redeems this story from being “boring” but this one felt.. a bit cheap. It reminded me a bit of the movie Drag me to Hell but we never get the payoff.  It almost feels as if we have seen the wrong part of the story. I think this is because the workings of the curse are not clear enough, having a skin condition does not seem that harsh compared to what we’ve seen before. Visually strong but little spooks to be had from this episode.

Episode 10: The Moon

While at a baseball training camp some of the players reminisce about how they went to this camp when they were kids as well. Explaining how one of them fell in a pit toilet. (A hole in the ground but with a sort of bowl to pee and poop on)  all those years ago. The boy can not remember this and goes to the pit toilet to wash up and see if he can jog his memory… then he memorises.. he wasn’t the only presence in that hole all those years ago.

A strong story with some amazing scary visuals and some great atmosphere! It would be among my favourites if this basically was not a “poop-ghost” There is literally something evil living in a hole filled with crap!  It kills suspense for me.. a lot. I am  not exactly sure how pit toilets work and had I known I might have had a different visual in my head but for now.. this one is mid tier.

Episode 11: Video

While doing homework before the start of school after vacations three boys get bored and decide to watch a haunted tape completely covered in tape to seal it! It is said that a real ghost lives in that tape. The boys watch and see a fault in the movie..that might be a ghost..when one of the boys notices a statue seems to have moved. It might not be a statue at all upon closer inspection..his friends do not notice ..but no matter if he rewinds pauses or fast forwards through the video.. the boy begins to notice the ghostly presence is going closer.. and closer to the screen.

I expected the story of Ringu ..but instead I got something that had a much more immediate pay off. Seven days, my sitting-meat!  This is a potent video. Creepy visuals and vcr levels of details on the screen make you lean towards your screen to watch it more closely.. Something the episode uses to it’s advantage to make your heart skip a beat…or all of them!  A bit generic of a plot so a higher mid tier episode for my taste! Pretty sweet spooks.

Episode 12: Tomonari Kun

A girl exits school and sees a bunch of younger boys stare at a black shadow like mass, that is then named Tomanari Kun. They ask if the girl wants to play with them and she promises she will, but she has no time today! As time progresses the boys ..and according to them Tomonari Kun begin to grow more impatient and then one day they decide to play at her house instead. 

Another highlight! I had quite a few. but this episode might actually be in that top 3.. in fact it might be close to my favourite . The ending employs a technique I really love in horror , letting a part of the scary stuff happen far in the background.. it makes everything feel so much more inevitable ..  you as the viewer feel more powerless to stop it or will it away and then there is plenty of good stuff to fantasies about here in terms of what actually is happening there! We never get an answer but we do get a new mystery! How do we interpret the story ? It is left up to us to decide. The kids are pretty creepy and the voice acting is pretty nice here as well. Having some children of the corn vibes or Wicker man sensation through the story! (Not the Nick Cage one)  Great episode! 

Episode 13: Tormentor

Based on the ghost story about a dancing spirit whose moves you are doomed to repeat until you die from fatigue  this episode starts of with a Disturbia like scene of two boys playing with a pair of binoculars when they see a few blindfolded monks being up to something. A mysterious woman seems to be dancing behind them the boys try to take a peek when one of them starts dancing. The boy is retrieved by his parents but the binoculars are left with the other kid.. who goes to return them the next day… noticing everything is getting stranger by the moment.

This to me was the weakest story of the bunch! The dance used is very weird and almost just flailing your arms around. That is an effective way to kill someone.. but if you do not know the original story here.. like I did not .. you have no real idea what is going on it feels more unintendedly hilarious It tries to go for one final jumpscare in the end..but this one is blatantly obvious..It made me learn about some folklore though! Still not scary at all!

The Light in the Darkness

if you like this show will depend on three factors.  Firstly you have to like implied endings. Not a single one will tell you what really happened with maybe  Overhead Rack being the only exception and even then we aren’t exactly sure. You never find out the faith of a person and it is up to  you to assume if they got a good or a bad ending. Japanese ghost stories also have a bit of a different flow than western ones. Culturally they are a bit different and we will not know all of these things are based on actual ghost stories.  We will not know the subtlety in some shows as a western audience. The four minute format works mostly because these are urban legends people know.Not everything will resonate with us and you have to be ready for that. This show is vague and doesn’t hold your hand when it comes to narratives. I honestly hope you have enough depth to take a peek into another culture ..but if you just want a spooky Naruto clone.. this is not your show.

The second thing is the animation! It isn’t fluid! It isn’t fast and at times it looks cheap. On CrunchyRoll I saw a lot of people rip on the art style. Yes some drawings are “ugly” but that is the whole point. That water painted look is something that is reminiscent of an ancient art.. and they do great things with it. Making holes in the film to bring in certain creepy light effects or monster effects is all very unique and fitting. It disorients you as well. Because everything is basically slightly animated still shot jump scares hot so much harder. You can not see things approach.. not it is there when the creators want it it to be there! I adore this style! I love this style for this short show format. It has these extreme close ups that remind me of Ren and Stimpy suddenly showing something zoomed in to make it look extra horrible.  The music and the animation serve it’s exact purpose.. to unnerve you! Some of the creature design is really good as well but this is a show best watched in the dark after midnight!

Pinkie’s Scary Real Life Stories

Greetings Victims who dwell on my island!! This post should come to you at  the first of October. This month Pinkie’s Paradise will be transformed into Pinkie’s Spooky Scary Paradise, with lots of Halloween content to come! Such as spooky games, scary anime , horror movies and ghost stories! You will see the scariest shades of Pink and encounter creepy coconuts! To get this Halloween month started I will tell you about my close encounters with the strange of any kind.

The ghost at the Graveyard

Let’s begin with the story I told already during a few blog posts but in a bit greater detail. This happened about 8 years ago. I had moved in with a person who was very open to the supernatural. We decided to move into a bigger place in a quiet sleepy town. We found a lovely apartment that was next to a gas station and a graveyard. Besides for our 5 neighbours there wasn’t anyone around for a fair bit.  There were plenty of stairs but since the house was so old the stairs were very narrow and with a very small turn.. there was no way you could move anything up through those stairs.  So as a result we had to move stuff through the graveyard always.  Everyone on the upstairs floors did and there was this direct path to a big window that almost was like a door towards our actual floor.  From it you could overlook 80% of the graveyard with only two corners far in the back hidden behind some trees and shrubbery. I never really wandered across the Graveyard as it always made me feel a bit uneasy.  It felt like something private.

A few days after we moved in I was enjoying our super deluxe shower and arguably  I might have showered too long and too hot..but it felt super amazing! We had a radio in there and this deluxe massage nozzle and all sorts of luxuries. I got dressed and walked out of the room realising I forgot my phone.. When I switched on the light I saw a ginger haired main with a Khaki blouse and some sort of navy woolen vest around it.  His pants also had a sand like shade. He had a face that looks a bit like Escanor from the Seven Deadly Sins.. a bit of a inbetween of his smaller face and the bulkier one. If someone was more down on his luck and maybe a bit scruffier, but for an example think that guy. Just less anime. I nearly tripped over our dog, a brown labrador..so spammers good on you I had a Lab indeed. The dog stared at the spot where I just saw the man  and barked at it. I first assumed it was because I spooked him by nearly tripping over him but he held on the space for a while. When I looked he was gone again and I figured at first, I must have showered too long. That night I  told my then partner that I saw a man in the bathroom and I was told they saw something as well. The description they used was Irish looking male, about the age of my dad, maybe slightly younger. The wore some sort of military uniform but woar something like a coat over it. .. more like a “bodywarmer” And I realised that could be the same guy. 

Now my ex was good at staging these things. They had this Münchausen by Proxy like tendencies which resulted in them sometimes testing medicine on me to trigger a response they could call the doctor for. (Which I did not know what the time but I had my suspicion)
I never had allergic reactions before but once we were together, I had a lot of stuff happen to me. The suspicion made me put it away as some sort of trick for a bit. But then spring came and we would get some new furniture.. I believe it was a Matras for our bed couch, but I am not sure anymore. Due to a giant rainshower there was a huge puddle of mud on  our regular path to the graveyard so me and a friend helping me drag the item in decided to walk around. Into one of the corners of the graveyard and there I saw the grave of “Escanor” clear as day the same man was depicted in the photo on the graveyard. Clear as day. 

After I began to believe and open my mind a bit more I saw more and more people in our house. Escanor was there but I also remember a woman in a very old timey dress. She would be much closer in my aura and atmosphere “Escanor was” .. usually sneaking up to me when I was looking in the mirror or around corners. Always having a nasty expression on her face.  One time I remember my ex going to their parents and me staying behind due some responsibilities. I saw her again. She spooked me..so I called the dog to the bedroom! Wanting that he slept with me that night.. but the dog for some reason did not dare to pass the hallway where I just saw her.  He did not bark.. he just refused to set foot there. A few days later I decided to do a cleaning ceremony for the house and the dog dared to walk in the hallway again.  Soon after I was kicked out by my ex for refusing to fail a test to get myself branded as an Autistic person so we could get extra benefits. I stopped seeing ghosts.. but I never stopped “sensing” shifts around me.

The Demon in my legs

That same ex was always a very religious person, usually diving in the more cultist side of christianity.. you know with those miracle healing priests  and churches that you need to pay for to be a part of. I am not religious. I do not believe in a christian god, I do believe in the supernatural.. to an extent but I do not believe in the christian definition of god. I believe in order and chaos and karma and energies and memories but no man is in control. I hated … no I despised how every religious person she got in the house tried to convert me. I made it clear to them I did not want to convert. The first guy I politely asked to stop and he gave me an “easier” to read bible to see if I would change my mind. I gave it back to him and told him I was not interested. He said keep I have plenty, if you do not want to read it that is fine to each their own. The second guy.. was a guy from the salvation army.  He pushed harder and I said I was not interested. He told me that if I wanted a serious relationship I had to accept god. I told him that was untrue , my partner had a choice on who to accept and if their god would wish me to stay alone for not following his word I would not want to follow that god either way. I told him please do not convert me, I am not open to it. He gave me a real bible and commanded me to read some passages before he returned to my partner next week. Or that I would regret my life choices soon enough.

I did not take kindly to that, I told him I would not and he told me .. if I did not they would not allow my partner to do charity work. I either had to do what he said or my partner would suffer. So… I kicked him out of our place. I told him  I would stay clear from them as long as they were around and go walk the dog.. but I would never convert.. either he could tolerate that and let my partner do what they were passionate about or I would expose him for the shallow person he is. He accepted the.. let’s not meet deal. Eventually though he turned out to also be a huge racist and my partner ended up kicking him out as well.. but the rule that whenever they had christian friends over I would vanish would remain until the end of our relationship. One day in that new house a massive thunderstorm forced me to come home earlier. This new priest saw me.. and he told me “You have a demon inside of you”.

Of course the way to get rid of this devil was to pay to join their church so he could heal me! I said no and he said that it was the demon resisting. I asked him to drop it when he asked his friends to hold me.. as he took off my shoes.  He began blessing my feet.. touching them.. while the other guys pinned me to the couch! To weaken the demon! I panicked and cried a bit.It’s rather scary to be held by religious nuts trying to exorcise your personality. They stopped and told me if I wanted to be truly free of my demon for only so many euros a month I could be clean and one of god’s children again. I was super upset! I felt attacked..so I said to them that if God does make them do this kind of thing I was more fond of the demon. I walked out the house  and walked for about an hour in the thunderstorm.  Not wanting to see them again. My ex apologised for what happend but did wonder if I had an actual demon in my legs and feet. I had always been motorically awkward and my disease made that worse.. perhaps it was not a disease it was a demon.

This might have been slightly over dramatised..but still pretty close to how I felt!

Eight years later, I am both rid of the ex as any religious zealotry when A Jehova’s Witness knocks on my door. They told me evolution was a lie, and asked me if I had embraced god. I politely told them I was not interested but he told me to read a flyer about the hoax of evolution and told me he would come back next week. I told him please don’t bother me.. and he said I had interesting religious beliefs and he thought god could help.. he would be back next week.  I asked him once more not to do so or I would truly tell him what I felt and he said he would like it if I did that.  So I did my research on their scientist and found he had been discredited on several accounts. I printed it out as evidence, and basically wrote a 20 page essay on what was wrong with that flyer. Which was everything.  He came back and I warned him and said I came prepared and he would not like it and he best just move.. but he insisted thinking he could turn me into a believer. We had our discussion and I properly silenced him.. he thanked me for looking into it so much and thanked me for not only using science but also my beliefs. He told me god was in my heart even if I could not accept him as god….. then he took a pause.. and said… but there is something evil living in your legs.

Melanie

The final story I would like to share with you is a ghost-story about my current apartment My next door neighbour had recently commited suicide when I began to notice a sensation I had not felt for a while. I felt presences in my apartment. Some good, some very disturbing. At first I thought it was just another case of sleep Paralysis. Since I had a non grounded power outlet right where my bed was at I figured that it might even leak some electromagnetic energy causing my senses to go a bit haywire. Yet as time passed on I began to detect “trends”  in the energies I felt. The evil energy always stared at me from behind my modular cube cabinet that separates my bed from. Yet there was another presence that felt more.. positive. It would be on my bed, usually very close besides me.  Unlike in the old home I could not really “see”  a presence but I knew this energy felt  “feminine and fragile’ almost as afraid as I could be towards the more “evil” feeling energy. Close to the experience of sleep paralysis but I could move and it did not feel “as inevitably evil”


At times I had a sensation of movement, like as if they took my hand to hold it. So as a form of Ouja I decided to ask them questions while holding a pencil and asking them to do that again to make me write.  I asked them a few questions and asked them for horizontal lines for yes and vertical for no.. as i felt that was very possible.. but when I was done.. there were no lines.. I had written down the word Melanie (last name) .  I looked up the name and could not discover much at first but then it seemed to link to the family of a miner who lived here.
The surname of Melanie was “de geest’ which is dutch for The Ghost. So I thought I had a brainfart at first and subconsciously just wrote that. Yet after I found out a familie “De Geest” had actually lived in the area as miners things became more intriguing. I sensed Melanie’s energy around more and more. Yet it also began to feel ..creepier.  More in a stalkerish way.

Not the actual note!

I would ask her questions and I would experience an energy of sorts that would usually cue me into what here state would be. Then one day I asked her to leave me alone.. I did not want anyone in my aura, not even Melanie.  I felt Anger and got so uncomfy I ditched my nap and went to  the grocery store. Usually if I want away for a bit and come back the energies are gone. However when I came back two paintings had fallen off the wall.  One painting’s screw seems to have snapped out of nowhere. Well out of nowhere is a big word. Above me lives a druggy gamer who if he loses loves to toss around furniture and I feel my entire apartment vibrate so one could figure my upstairs neighbour broke it with all the rage over time.. yet the second one has one of those old timey rope things.. and the rope had became completely unhooked. This one had a picture of me on it.. along with some coworkers.. and the painting fell exactly so  that where I landed  at the edge of my bed. Leaving the slightest of cracks in the glass just at my face. 

A few nights later I had a dream of Melanie, telling me it was nice to finally meet me.  She told me she had fallen in love with me and wanted us to be together. I told her in the dream I kinda preferred an alive girl or the world would think I am even crazier. She said that if we would be together I should not be alive. She asked me to take my own life so we could be together. I woke up from the dream and the idea crossed my mind for a split second to actually harm myself and I felt all warm and fuzzy.  I then shook off the thought and said in the room I could not and I never spoke to the presence again. Every so often in my house I now  feel as if someone is cursing or yelling at me.. but no more paintings became undone but the place does feel a bit more evil now with those thoughts sporadically popping up in my dreams. I will not listen and soon I won’t even be here!.. However a funny thing occurred..since I started writing about Melanie.. in this apartment it feels as if the temperature next to me has dropped a few degrees.

And those are my strangest encounters, there are a few more but these are the most powerful ones. I do not claim these stories are real, in fact all stories can be explained …probably by  rational ideas. Such as taking to long of a hot shower, just being taking advantage of by a church or coping with some feelings down and somber and it manifesting as a third party as I really refuse to have these thoughts myself?! Making myself crazy with ghost fantasies maybe?! Who knows!  Maybe some things are real. All I know  is that these are definitely the moments that I crossed into the twilight zone if there is such a thing! Do you have any ghost stories?! Let me know in the comments! For Halloween we slightly new look check it out on the main page if you are reading this in reader!

Pokémon Top 5: My Favourite Ghost Types

Welcome again Island Guests!  We have discussed Pokémon 15 Types so far.  Three more to go!  The Ghost type is not super effective against the poison type I discussed last time..which had determined my order until now ! But it IS super effective against itself! One of the fan favourite types that is kind of frail. While definitely one of my favourites when it comes to Pokédex Entries this type is my absolute favourite. When it comes to actually favouring a type it’s actually quite mid tier for me!  I did this list once.. but my answers have changed a bit with how much I learned!

Rules and Honourable Mentions

As always to keep this list diverse I will not allow Pokémon that were on prior lists. I am not sure any ghosts made it on my lists normally due to how prominent the typing is. So there aren’t that many conflicting issues. However under the same rule I only add one entry per evolutionary line in! Since Gen VIII made evolution harder to cancel if I do not like a final evolution, I will mark down the previous forms. Even if it’s not a Gen VIII Pokémon it seems fairer that way. Pumpkaboo and Phantump are for me forms I really like, but both their final evolutions feel a bit meh! With Trevenant being okay but Gourgeist not feeling fully evolved for me. I can’t shake the “is this it?” feeling. It’s fine.. but it really feels like a mid evolution to me! So Pumkaboo takes this honourable mention. Had there been a form above Gourgeist it would have made the list.

Another rule is that ghost types have to feel like ghost types. Decidueye for example doesn’t feel like a ghost type to me and simply gets the type because it’s based on an extinct Owl. However I talked about him enough so he doesnt get the honourable mention on this rule. That goes to Dhelmise. While I very much get why it’s a ghost.. and it’s possessed seaweed around an anchor..and it fit’s the ghost ship theme.. I feel like it should be a Steel Grass type. Dhelmise gets the ability Metal Worker which effectively gives it a steel typing in the form of adding Same Type Attack bonus to his attacks but I feel that should have been swapped out for Possessed..which would give Ghost STAB as a result. In the end I do just see a seaweed covered anchor. I love it but it’s the ghost part that is implied rather than the steel bit. 

Temporary forms also do not count! So Mega’s do not count. This for me excludes Mega Banette. Which designwise is one of my favourite mega’s. I like Banette fine enough in it’s normal form but it’s mega is something I found really amazing. One of the best designed Megas and a Pokémon that could really use one.  Banette is somewhere like my seventeenth favourite ghost type or so but it’s mega might have made it a contender. Unfortunately..we judge pokémon for how they are for the majority of their journey, without any special items or so! So it falls short! The backstory about Banette being a discarded plushie swearing on revenge though! One of my all time favourites.

Ghost Type #5 Mimikyu

I thought Mimiky would be higher on this list. It is cute, has a great backstory, is fleshed out in the anime a lot and truly is a fan favourite! I love Mimikyu as well..but I do not like putting it on my team all that much! It’s design is top notch and I appreciate it a lot more than Pikachu itself..but it’s a physical ghost and fairy type. Which does make it rather unique but also a bit trickier to use.  To effectively use Mimikyu you have to sacrifice one moveslot to use Sword Dance. One for Shadow Claw and probably one for Play Rough ..because fairy types do not get a lot of physical moves either.  That means Mimikyu is one of the most rigid and less versatile ghost types with  three moves more or less being set. It managed to fight off Marshadow from the fifth place though, who is arguably the better physical ghost type due to its move Spectral Thief, by sheer love! There is so much fun stuff about Mimikyu including his Z-move! Let’s Snuggle Forever. The story of this Pokémon wanting love.. despite it cursing people to death if they see it’s true form.. is just heartwarming and wins me over every time.  Even though I do not always want to run it on my team.. I can not stop from helping to want to adopt one! It is high on my list of Pokémon Plushies I want to get and it’s song is one of my more played Pokémon tracks!

As for his Pokédex entries! I am so familiar with his lore that I do not even need to look these facts up anymore.  No one has ever seen Mimikyu’s true shape….well at least no one who did lived to tell the tale. However, looking at the true Mimikyu gets cursed ..which if you get a good view of the thing usually means you die. This made Mimikyu sad as he also wanted to be among people! So it created a disguise it could wear.  It noticed that humans really liked Pikachu so it based it’s design on that! So it could be loved as well.  For those of you unfamiliar. The Pikachu-like head is completely empty ..the actual eyes are on its body!  If it’s costume ever breaks Mimikyu gets extremely down and won’t stop working on repairing it’s costume, no matter how long it takes. It shall not rest until it’s costume is complete yet again. Mimikyu is a bit scared of sunlight, probably because it might think it’s costume doesn’t pass as much or who knows what is underneath that disguise it might be allergic to sunlight. Mimikyu can get jealous of Pikachu if it really gets lonely! Yet all in all it’s a crafty little who knows,  with a heart that wants to be loved and a disguise that wants to be hugged.

Like I said before, Mimikyu in battle is kind of boring to use. His Ability disguise  allows it to take one free hit per battle , without taking damage. (Excluding Hazards and status) Mimikyu’s strong ability however is countered with a lackluster stat pool. It’s physical attack is only 90, which is not bad but no where near the ballpark of others. Since it’s most targetable weakness is ghost it does really benefit from his high special defence and his decent speed. I ran Leech Life as a final move on mine since Gen VII really improved that move , giving it 80 base power instead of 20. With his high defences it can get a fair bit of recovery of types Leech Life is super effective against. It doesn’t offer much covery though as it overlaps a lot with both it’s fairy typing against dark and ghost typing against psychic. Woodhammer is an option to make it more diverse.. but that last slot really depends on what kind of teams you are facing.. you can not swap the other moves out at all so that one changes depending on what you face. I always give it it’s Z-crystal as a held item because I want to use Let’s Snuggle forever! Cause you know! It’s cute!

Ghost Type #4 Polteageist

My Polteageist Earl Grave was one of my favourite Pokémon during my Pokémon Sword and Shield run! I bet the nickname has been passed around a lot so it’s not very original but I did not want to go South African/Dutch with Dooibos  and it was a male and I felt Deadjeeling felt a bit more feminine.  Still I never thought tea would make such a good Pokémon. When I say good I mean that for a while it was amongst the top 10 most powerful Pokémon in Galar. I haven’t kept up with it so I am not sure if it got a bit nerfed but I know this Pokémon without any imposed limitations can kick ass and take names. It’s design like a pot of tea also is quite unique and I really prefer pure ghost types a lot!  With only two weaknesses, one that it always has covered, it just works for me!  Also it’s dead it loses some of those other aspects. I never got why Gengar got the poison type! This is just ghostly black tea haunting a cup! Sure you could add the water or grass type to it.. but it would only end up with more weaknesses.  So they did well with this one!

What many people did not know is that Polteageist comes in two forms and this has to do with a lore thing. Polteageists are formed if you leave a bit of black tea in a teapot and another ghost usually another polteageists comes to visit it in the night!  If it does it will move into the tea and possess it after it leaves the beverage a new ghost is formed.  Ever after they roam around. Usually they originate from fake chinaware but once every now and again it is an official antique teapot they possess. Which is also mentioned in the Pokédex. But this is actually a feature in the game! If you manage to tilt the camera below your Polteageist, you can see a blue stamp of a prime brand if you have the anique form. If there is nothing it is called the Phoney form. If you use a cracked pot evolution item to evolve it .. your Pokémon is a fake antique..however if you used a Chipped Pot.. it is the real deal!  There are no stat differences here.. and it’s just tea possessing tea but I love how much detail went in such a seemingly throw away pokedex line. When it trusts its trainer it allows them to sample some of their tea. However if it is angered it will shoot some bad tea in your mouth that will cause severe chills. No gruesome stories for this one it seems!

Polteageist has a Special Attack stat of 136. Which means it is more offensive than nearly all other pokémon I listed before. No more than 5 pokémon of the 75 I mentioned before are more powerful than this tea!  Yet that is not all! Polteageist gets the excellent combination of  Shell Smash, a move that changes all your stats .. dropping your defensive stats for offensive stats and speeds, as well as Stored Power.. a move that deals damage equal to the number of stat boosts you have gotten. It’s ability weak armor raises its speed when it’s hit by a physical attack and equipped with a white herb or a focus sash; this combination can wreck teams if they do not have a proper special wall.  (A wall is a pokémon whose main purpose is to take damage and shift momentum in your favour)  It also gets moves like Willow Whips to lower physical damage, it gets Shadow Ball the most powerful Ghost special move and it gets Giga Drain which with 136 special attack can offer you some very reliable recovery. This Pokémon needs to be taken out because with just two goes of Shell Smash it can nearly one-shot an entire team…as long as the opponent doesn’t have a dark type or priority moves. Truely a scary ghost!

Ghost Type # 3 Gengar

While I do not understand why it has the poison type, and that typing often is more a nuisance as a boon, I do love the original ghost pokémon.  That is right both in generation one and two there was only 1 ghost pokemon line for each. Gengar is a classic and for good reasons. His design is haunting, the idea of incorporating him with shadows pays off, and the way he reflects Clefable in a way has led to many interesting theories. He is still one of the better designed ghost Pokémon for me. Both his Giganta Max and Mega evolution are amazing in their own rights. I particularly like the Mega! Even if its forbidden to use because of how amazingly powerful it is! It fits in Gengars Pokedex lore! So love that one! There is something intimidating about Gengar. It seems the most insane and chaotic of the ghost pokémon and Haunter and Gengar are arguably the first pokémon that killed Ash. Haunter at least ripped out his soul long before Mewtwo and Mew ever turned him to stone! Gengar was also the first trade evolution I ever managed to obtain so he was something very special to me!  Later becoming one of my staples in Pokémon Stadium! I also had a Gengar toy which looks awesome and translucent!  So with this many memories he was sure to be on this list and I am fairly sure that no one really thinks this is a bad ghost type Pokémon!

Pokédexwise this pokémon used to be moderately innocent. His earliest entries seem to focus on that shiver you feel down your spine when you’re scared or anxious! They explain it is Gengar stealing heat from its surroundings. It can hide in your shadow or mimic to be your shadow and if  your shadow ever overtakes you on a full moon or when you are passing by streetlights it is actually the ghost running and having fun. As soon as early as Pokémon Silver though it already mentioned that it preys on lives to steal.  Hiding in the shadows to do so. It becomes quickly clear that this stealing of heat is more a stealing of life force. He also likes to curse you without reason.. just to have a laugh. Yet Gengar is at his darkest .. in Pokémon Sun and Moon. Sun’s ingame pokédex entry states: Should You ever feel yourself attacked by a sudden chill it’s the sign of an approaching Gengar. There is no escaping it. Just give up! Which… is quite dark!  Moon then explains that it was once a human himself and now he is looking for a traveling companion which he achieves by taking the lives of other humans hoping the dead turn into other Gengar. If you ever think .. well I will just not leave the house then.. Ultra Moon states.  Not even your house is safe… all Gengar needs is a Dark corner to wait for a chance to catch its prey!… Darn Game Freak.. that would have given Kid Pinkie sooo much nightmares!

Gengar got infamy in the competitive scene when Mega Gengar was released. In its Mega form it’s base special attack became 170. The most Powerful special attack ever. So promptly Mega Gengar was cast into the Ubers Categorie.. where it rests with all the overpowered legendaries. Since that is not possible in Gen VIII I will discuss his non mega evolving set from the Under-used tier! Here he works as a special sweeper with 130 special attacks.  Ev’s go into special attack and speed and it is equipped with Focus Blast, Shadow Ball , Sludge Wave and Substitute. The idea is to keep a substitute up and bombard your enemies from behind cover.  Since virtually all sound based moves, except for bug Buzz, which Gengar resists,  are normal type moves he works great behind a sub. These moves offer a wide variety and deal a lot of damage against fairly common archetypes. Myself I oftenly swap out Focus Blast for Thunderbolt since I oftenly lack proper covery against flying types and the paralysis chance is neat as well. The Focus blast slot once more is the most swappable slot.. though substitute can also be replaced if you face off against a trick room team!   Gengar has a few options and lots of types covered.  

Ghost Type Number # 2 Mismagius

Mismagius to me is mostly an improvement of Gengar.. but more femine. It has a bit more defence, for a bit less offensence, It lacks the pesky psychic type and ground type weaknesses the number three has and it has a hat! While Gengar feels more scary. Mismagius feels more ghostly! It also has a bit of a scholarly quality! A mage! …well duh! Oddly that mage like quality isn’t on to many pokemon. Alakazam is more a mentalist like Uri Geller, Gardevoir is more of a Bride or something. While we had plenty of warriors , there are not that many real mages. So as a D&D Player I am happy! It is also something I really would like to cosplay as a Gijninka version.. which is basically the pokémon interpreted as a human. I just love this design that much!  The colours are more vibrant than on Gengar, it has a  better shiny form then Gengar (it becomes greenish yellow, where Gengar slightly hue shifts to barely noticeable less saturated). I really like how it differs from the other ghosts as well. 

Most Ghosts have insanely dark Pokédex entries. Like people dying from looking at them, them praying on human lives just to have a playmate to stuff like “this ghost is a child that got lost in the woods and starved to death’  , this ghost carries its former human face with it and sometimes looks at it and cries tears of blood (yes that’s a  real in game thing). Mismagius though is a half and half. It is a chanting/spellcasting pokémon befitting its name.  While it certainly can cause trouble with it’s chants, such as intense migraines and visions of absolute terror , Mismagius can also induce Happiness in people with some of it’s chants. The Pokémon is feared for it’s wrath and the curses that it places but it on a whim also bestows positivity upon humans. For example , besides the happiness, Mismagius is known to be able to cast love spells. It can make two people fall deeply in love with another. This means some people desperately seek it’s aid. I like how it once again is a bit of a counterpart to Gengar’s doom and gloom.. and with him most of the other pokémon. It makes Mismagius much more of a balanced Pokémon, a creature you could actually see people use as a pokémon.

Mismagius is a Pokémon in the Never Used Tier. It’s offensive stat of 105 makes it an average  but solid sweeper. This rating is mostly based on how dominant Inciniroar was a presence in the Metagame though.  In Sword and Shield it would most likely be more successful due to a much lesser presence of Dark types. It is best on a team with Webs, Hazards and possibly Sleep. As it is dependent on Nasty Plot to get properly set up! It having Nasty Plot though means that IF you can set it up.. it gets powerful FAST. People really used to run it with Power Gem but that is a rather specific counter.  Due to how Dynamax fighting moves offer one of the best stat buffs, Dazzling Gleam might be a better shout. Protect and Taunt are good support moves to run on it and if you can run it on a team that keeps you in the driver’s seat when it comes to momentum this pokémon is great. As it doesn’t require a trade but just a Dusk-Stone to evolve this Pokémon is also a lot more viable to use on gameplay stuff. Let’s be honest if you are playing an older game who is going to reliably trade a Gengar to you?! You already need a friend with a game! So while it’s not the BETTER pokémon I think it is the better pick.

My Favourite Ghost Type: Chandelure

A lamp.. My favourite ghost type is a lamp! Back in the early days of my blog I bumped him down a little as recently I had used a Gengar again and to be safer with my audience! However since then it has climbed in my list again. Somehow this always climbs back to the top! I love purple flames! The whole dark fire thing is one of the tropes I like the most! I loved it in Underhero, I loved in Pokémon, I love anything that has a canonical purple black flame! It is my main in Pokken.. not that I play Pokken a lot but as far as it goes..it’s my main. I just want to own one and swing on its arms.  I also want to hug it ..as long as it doesn’t burn me!  The Pokémon also has a great Gijinka which I love very much.. but that might be a topic I cover on it’s own.  There is just so much to love! The  black frame.. the bluish intended glass, those endless yellow eyes and the dancing purple flames together create a stunningly designed pokémon. I absolutely adore the design and it is one of the very few Pokémon that uses a jet(ish) black in it’s design so well. Zekrom is a thing but other than that most pokémon are more a dark blue than a black.. yet here it works so incredibly well! This makes it more unique in my opinion. Of course Jynx used to be jet black but we like to forget about that one and even if we considered it.. it’s not much competition. This Pokémon perfectly fits it’s ghost fire typing for me and it works very well in my shadowy mansion with a big haunted library ..old tea pots and seemingly moving plushie collection!

While it’s  pokédex entry  is nowhere near as scary as both its earlier evolutionary stages.. which are a candle that mesmerises you by looking at it’s flame.. but also drains you off life force as you do.. or a smaller lamp that if it burns you , you will experience that pain forever from then on out. Chandelure still is a bit of a creeper. It is said to live in ancient dilapidated mansions. It hypnotises those who visit it with it’s swinging arms. Then it burns your soul from your body. Leaving around a soulless husk of a corpse. While a part of your spirit fades a part of it is doomed to wander this world forever, never finding rest. Being a generation V pokémon it has only seen pokédex entries in Unova, Kalos and Galar. Unfortunately missing out on those sweet sun and moon dex entries. However Shield does have a bit of a zinger as well!  It mentions that those who have their homes illuminated by Chandelure will not get light in abundance. In place of lights, there will be lots and lots of funerals. At least it hypnotises you before it kills you! So that is better as just giving into your fear like is the case with Gengar! I much rather be murdered by a Chandelure!  So of course it is higher on this list.

Chandelure is commonly used as a Under-Used Tier Stall breaker. That means this is the Pokémon you set in if your opponent is bunkering down. It gets the ability Infiltrator which allows it to negate substitutes which can come in handy against some Pokémon! Yet you normally do not even have to run it to be effective. Just by being one of it’s possible abilities means  they can not risk staying in against it if they are weak against its unique typing. Fire and Ghost is great against a great many Meta popular types so it should get the most powerful but reliable moves for those.  Shadowball and Flamethrower. Yes Fire Blast is more powerful but the general consensus in the gaming community is that due to its accuracy Flamethrower reliably deals more damage. However Fire Blast should be taken if the enemy has some very big special walls, such as Aggron! While it is super effective against it. Aggron also can use super effective moves against it.  This means Chandelure is a bit more versatile but also more tricky than say Gengar. Like most Chandelure is best if it can set up. It’s set up move of choice is Calm Mind. With it’s 145 base special attack it  can already pack a wallop but with just One Calm Mind already..it becomes a massive treat leaving you in control of the fight.

Chandelure is everything I want in a Pokémon. It is more versatile to use, it is a bit trickier to use due to how frail it is but it is also something that really can boost your team rather than just be a stand alone thing. It’s slightly more than just a cannon. Combine that with one of the best ghostly designs and its ability to literally leave it’s mark upon one’s soul and it is not hard to see why this one is my bright and shiny light on top of the Ghost Pokémon list.

So what is your favourite Ghost Type? Do you prefer any of the legendaries maybe? What is your favourite ghost pokédex entry?! Do you use the ghost types often? Let me know and let’s talk Pokémon! Next week..we shall cover our penultimate type! The Dragon-Type! Feel free to let me know your favourites on that one in advance! Now I still feel a bit under the weather so Pinkie is heading back to bed.. or next time she might actually be a ghost herself.

Top 5: Favorite Ghost Type Pokemon

Hello little subjects it is a fine day to be a princess/ I wish you could have experienced the same, but to let you bask in my radiance, it is time for another top five. Since it is the month of halloween, i figured it would be nice to do some spooky lists as well. So today I will list out my top five ghost pokémon for you.  Each Pokémon is allowed as long as their first or secondary typing is ghost. Only one pokémon per evolutionary line and for the future if a pokémon appears on this typing list as my favorite it will not feature on the favorite list of it’s secondary typing because that would get boring. Finally no fakemon or unreleased pokémon. So Polteageist .. unfortunately for you, you can’t make this list.

Ghost Type Number 5: Mismagius

This pokémon is known as the magical pokémon and it is nice to start this list of with a witch-like thing. Not only is it one of my all time favorites it fits the brief for this topic so well. It’s design is steller I can’t say anything bad about it, I just love it’s colouring, it’s little hat and the elegance to it’s design.  It really has this spectral quality that a lot of ghost types lack. If this list was purely on design this one might even have been on the top of the leaderboard save for one entry on this list. Yet even outside it’s design it has soooo many good things about it. Even now I feel like the number five spot is to low for it.. that’s much how I love it.  It is funny because I do not particularly am keen on Misdreavus. It’s cute but it never feels as much more than a “female” gastly. Mismagius just feels so much more connected and as its own thing. Like most ghost types most if it’s pokedex entries are misery and woe. It’s cries sound like it is chanting a spell. These chants are said to have the power to torment people with migraines and  hallucinations. However there is some cuteness in it’s lore as well. Because sometimes these chants can also create positive effects. Most notably it’s chants can make people fall in love. It means people actively seek it out at times. As I am almost a spinster and just lack a bunch of cats to complete that transformation , I think having a ghost pokémon that can bless people with love is kind of neat. It fits the witch theme again, oftenly they are bad but there can be some good ones too.  The last one I used I named Glynda, but it never gave me shoes. 

On a more technical level Mismagius has some more then solids stats allowing to to be a great speedy special sweeper and even a good special wall (defender) in the pokémon games.   It can hit like a truck.. but also take a truck to the face… well it can hit like Kamehameha and take one to the face would be more accurate. Having access to a lot of ghost, fairy and psychic moves gives it some great coverage as well plus it movesets is very in line with it’s theming which is always nice to see as well. It evolves from Misdreavus when a dusk-stone is applied to it, the item is not always THAT easy to get but this is definitely worth it. It’s cry is quite spooky.. sort off .. at least it has that ghostly quality too it.  The only thing I do like less about it is that it is a mono-ghost type. It could have real easily gotten either a psychic of fairy typing as well to convey that sense of magic it has, now it lacks STAB in it’s main offensive moves aside from ghost which is why it ended up in spot number five. While the additional typings would have potentially increased it weakness to dark, that type is predominantly physical anyway so it would take my little witch down anyway so I would have preferred it if it was just that tad more offensive. 

Ghost Type Number 4: Marshadow

Definitely the cutest ghost on this list is the fighting-ghost type Marshadow. It is so adorable to look at. You just want to hug it and never let go. Made of spooky grey shadows this little fellow lurks in hiding. It’s hair can flare up green when it enters it’s “zenith” mode which isn’t actually a mechanical thing it is just the name of his hair changing colour when it attacks.. most notable seen when it uses its gorgeous custom Z move, Soul Stealing Seven Star Strike. It is just such a cutie making it’s little punches like that.  It’s lore obviously is tied to shadows. Based on this name it’s hard to expect anything else. Marshadow has the ability to hide in your shadow where it mimics your or a pokémon’s movement until it learns it and eventually even becomes stronger than the pokémon it mimics. A little boxing shadows of sorts. The fact that they made it one of the few physical ghost types out there just reflects this so well. 

It’s fighting and ghost typing gives it coverage over so many typings it is hard to believe how strong this little fellow is. It is super effective against, dark, ghost, psychic, rock, ice ánd steel types.  This also means it is super effective against two of it’s four weaknesses giving it great weakness coverage as well, and that is just it’s Same Type Attack Bonus movepool. It’s general learnset includes coverage against ALL it’s weaknesses. Given how fast this little shadow is that is quite frightening. Marshadow even becomes borderline broken when we start to look at his signature attack. Spectral Thief,  is an attack that steals all your enemies buffs (like it removes them from your opponent) adds to its own (so all multiplier effects become Marshadows) BEFORE damage calculation. This means that Attack boostin is extremely dangerous and even kinda stupid against this little monster. It really is the strongest ghost type out there with a shot of being one of the strongest pokémon out there due to this attack. Of course since it has the mythical status it is near impossible to obtain unless you hack it in your game or get it through an even. This is what keeps it back on this list, I can’t have one!  Luckily it is playable on Pokémon Showdown and each time I get it in Random Battles I can’t help but to grin from ear to ear, which is not very princessy.

Ghost Type Number 3:  Chandelure

This one isn’t receiving much love in Pokémon community, it isn’t THAT good in battle because it dies so easily, it’s best moves require a bit of set up to make it work.. and it won’t live that set up, it has a LOT of weaknesses.  All true! Chandelure is weak to ghost, dark, ground, rock and water moves. Which means virtually anything in the online battling scene, except for maybe a Mega Venusaur or a a Klefki and other hazard setters. It doesn’t learn any moves by leveling up so you have to make sure you teach it all it’s moves on previous evolutions.  It’s move pool is fairly weak having only access to fire ghost and grass moves in terms of offence. This is not a great pokémon by any standards when it comes to battling. At least not in the mainline games. It actually is my favorite pokémon in Pokken Tournament, and even there it is deemed not very good because it is to slow and all. It was my favorite pokémon though during my first playthrough of pokémon Black, you like the ones you carry on your journey more because a bond forms. This shows the beauty of the game. Of course as the one that is factually right I just saw through these rough edges to see the true beauty beyond.

I adore this design, it’s one of the most beautiful pokémon ever. There is a trend to hate pokémon based on objects.. but  those people are wrong. If you want to see animals fight go to mexico or something. I like the diversity and sometimes objects work wonders for me to bring a sense of magic to the world. A ghostly chandelier that evolves from a simple candle is something I really like as a concept as well, especially when we consider it is basically a will o’wisp.   It’s cute as a candle and scary as chandelier it just works really well for me. Litwick is great, lampent is a nice in between and Chandelure is a great final evolution. There is a journey of kinds.. a literal evolution as it grows more ominous. I can actually imagine seeing a chandelier floating in front of you with its big yellow eyes being quite menacing. It’s shiny with normal orange flames might even be creepier.. it feels more hot and dangerous. It’s Gijinka is something I REALLY want to cosplay one day. I can’t put a hand on it why this is this pleasing to the eye for me but it is the atmosphere colour-use and the amount of contrast in this pokémon. It just hits the nail on the head.  The pokédex lore saying that it will burn away your spirit leaving behind an empty body just gives it that extra level of creepiness which makes this one of the actual ghost type pokémon I could see myself actually being afraid off.

Ghost Type Number 2: Mimikyu

I doubt this one is a surprise. I talked to Mimikyu a lot before and it’s lore makes it an easy pokémon to care for. It has gotten songs , it featured heavily into the anime it has some amazing lore and a sense of mystery to it.  Mimikyu again is one of the few physical attacking ghost types out there but is a lot more widely available then Marshadow, but not as powerful by far. It does has his own custom Z-move like Marshadow though so that is a thing.For more info about this Pokémon I will happily refer you to earlier post which you can find here. I talk about all the aspects of a pokémon I talk about here so it feels weird to redo it. So read all about it here.

Of course the Pokémon that actually wears a costume should be on this halloween list. It only lacks the move Trick-Or-Treat to be the ultimate halloween pokémon. Of course there is Pumpkaboo which is cute.. but that is the only thing that one has going for it. Mimikyu is a solid to use as a pokémon, features a nice cute but somewhat creepy design as well. It has this unnerving quality while also invoking empathy and this duality seems to fit the pokémon greatly. Something you can easily bond with and that will be more than just a soldier on your team.

Ghost Type Number 1: Gengar

Do you know that moment when you feel a chill down your spine for no apparent reason, that means  a gengar is close. A sudden temperature drop while the moon is out, that is most likely a Gengar. It pretends to be a shadow, or sometimes merges with a shadow to cast curses on those who travel through the mountains. Gengar unlike most other pokémon doesn’t go in for the kill quickly they, they like to toy with their victims and revel in their victims fears. Like most ghost pokémon they  feed on the life force of random living targets. Gengar is called the Shadow Pokémon, but in a way conceptually he is much more the “fear” pokemon. It encompasses so much fears. That shiver down your spine, eyes staring at you from the dark, evil shadows, and malicious laughter. All those types of spooks gengar is accountable for. In Pokémon Ultra Sun and Moon it is even told that it can invade your house and lurk in the shadows your furniture and there are rumors and tales about Gengar visiting naughty children at night. Thus gengar is quite literally the Boogeyman , the monster under your bed and is very much related to primal fear. Gengar is a pokémon who knows it was once human (even if the theories say it’s a clefairy that got consumed by shadows) and because it wants traveling companions it keeps killing other humans in the hope one of them will become a Gengar for it to travel with. So this means Gengar is a serial killer, who kills without remorse, to fill its own agenda, at least when not caught. This is a universally scary concept, and regardless of how brave you are or how faint of heart , you will know one of the basic fears Gengar represents. It’s design also appeals to those primal fears with that insane smile and those deep red eyes, it’s warping body. 

Mega-Gengar was banned from the competitive battling format because it was to powerful, and even regular gengar is no slouch when it comes to dealing a massive amount of damage. Mega Gengar has a special attack stat off 170, which is STRONGEr than regular Mewtwo and it also gains the ability Shadow Tag, which means it’s targets can no longer escape from battle.With a base stat in speed of 130 it is fast as well. It being a ghost and poison type means it has same type attack bonus on moves like Shadow Ball Sludge Bomb and Venoshock (which  with the proper set up can be a killer) but Gengar also learns the most powerful Fairy-type and Dark type Special Attacks. It can use electric moves with ease and even the strongest fighting special move Focus Blast is in it’s learnset. This means Gengar can wreak havoc on any Pokémon it encounters, and you’ll never know what it’s set actually is. You can never truly prepare for it, you can bring something faster.. but perhaps they equip it with a choice scarf, you can try to use your ace against it to one-shot it but perhaps it brings destiny bond. In battle gengar is an enigma but a puzzle you have to solve or it will certainly mean doom for you and your team. A ghost type that is THIS scary on and off the battlefield certainly deserves the top spot.

Question to my Readers:

What is you favorite ghost type Pokémon?

So these are the five factually best ghosts, because I Princess Pinkie have ordained so.  On this day let it be known we finally have our objective answer. I know people on the internet can be mean and say that I should die for having this opinion, but if you wish me to death.. I will become a ghost and will come haunt you! And I am a ghost you definitely do not want.

The Pinkest Poké Blogger is blasting off again
XO
Pinkie