“Re-Kan” (or “Rekan”, if you like or “Sixth Sense” if you need it in English) is a rather strange ghost story. Or maybe it’s closer aligned to supernaturalism than mere poltergeistian activities. It is not handled in the usual sense of “G-g-g-g-ghosts!!!!!” that we have come to encounter, although we do have at least one character of that type. That ‘new idea’ gives it a rather refreshing take on things, more or less.

We start off with Hibiki Amami (far left) who has this ‘special ability’ and can (and does) interact with ghosts and supernatural beings as well as talking with cats and other animals. She transfers to a new school, but none of her peers share that ability. Class representative Narumi Inoue (grumpy blonde) despises anything related to the occult but eventually becomes friends with Amami due to the latter’s character. The story follows their everyday antics. Oh, the rest of the cast.

Although you cannot see them in this shot very well, Kana Uehara (middle) and Kyōko Esumi (long amber hair towards the right) both sport a caliber of the Veronica Lake look, except we can see their hidden eye. Now, whereas Inoue flees in terror at any mention of ghosts, these two embrace it, with Kana taking some Class-A photos of the spirits and loading it up to her Spook Blog. The last one seen is Makoto Ogawa, who has no trouble with ghosts, as she has a severe zombie fixation, so a dead specter is a snap. Not shown in the lone boy of the group, Kenta Yamada, who is a bit of a dork and gets clobbered roundly by Kyoko for being a bit of a dork.

The interesting aspect of the show is that the ghosts are not dangerous, but souls trapped here for some reason. A few of their ‘spirited’ friends include Roll-Call Samurai (as he called in for Amami once when she fell asleep in class), Kogal Spirit, a girl who passed away young and has a running rivalry with the samurai and Ero-neko, a completely perverted cat who is ALWAYS trying to see the girls’ panties.

What we see is how Amami interacts with these spirits and help them find some degree of closure, although she seems completely unable to help them move on to the next plane. It’s nice that she interacts with them to make them feel less lonely in regards to their situation, but wouldn’t it be better if they could move away from the spot or circumstance they are tethered to?

The two sticking points for me were Amami’s naiveté and Inoue’s denial. Amami doesn’t questions any of this, as she never seems to encounter a bad or evil spirit. Inoue gets too angry, too upset, too flustered with Amami and her abilities. Meanwhile, the rest of her friends go with the flow and take it as a marvelous opportunity that you don’t normally get in high school. How often to lost souls show up for the Cultural Festival? This show does have a tender heart to it that can really withstand a lot that works against it, and there are two very touching episodes, handled quite well, regarding loss and support.

Yes, we cannot forget the loony core of the show and that Inoue is the foil or the butt or the source of that comedy almost every time (except when we are not beating the snot out of Kenta), and it appears that she will never accept the spirit world, but at least she understands it better. A second season? I can’t see why not.
On a scale of 1 to 10:

Artwork 7 (It’s those hair styles)
Plot 8 (A nice take on the ‘acceptance’ idea)
Pacing 8 (Works quite well)
Effectiveness 7 (Does get a bit sappy)
Conclusion 5 (It reaches a ‘coupler point’, but hasn’t ended)
Fan Service 0 (A similar show would be “Honey and Clover”)

Overall 8 (A nice ghost story tale)

And remember, it’s first run until you’ve seen it. Would you like something to eat?