History Franchise / GakkouNoKaidan

To fully understand why ''Gakkō no Kaidan'' gained the traction it did, one has to look at the state of horror in 1990. In 1988 and 1989, Tsutomu Miyazaki, the {{Otaku}} Killer, murdered four young girls and the media emphasized Miyazaki's collection of anime and horror videotapes among the factors behind his atrocities. This caused a moral outcry that pushed harmful content that had earlier been readily accessible out of the average store's offering. Horror wasn't targeted so much as it was violence that had to go, but because those two were closely tied there wasn't a whole lot of horror left at the turn of the decade. ''Gakkō no Kaidan'' is a collection of ghost stories by children for children that in the 1990s also hit a nostalgic note with adults because several of the urban legends included were already around when they were young. It's not devoid of violence, but the violence is familiar. Therefore, ''Gakkō no Kaidan'' uniquely could revive the societal enthusiasm for horror.

Most of the franchise is an example of NoExportForYou. Only three entries have been released in English: the first and fifth movies and the 2000 anime ''Anime/GhostStories'' (yep, that one with the offensive GagDub). To complicate matters further, each entry has a different localized title and it's easy to miss they're related.

''Gakkō no Kaidan'' (''School Ghost Stories'')[[note]][[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaidan The Other Wiki has an article on the context of "kaidan".]][[/note]] is a loose franchise launched in 1990 that has gone on to be of major influence on the Japanese {{horror}} landscape. The book that started it all was written by Toru Tsunemitsu, a longterm a folklore enthusiast and a collector of ghost stories. In 1985, he was a middle school teacher and he realized that he could ask his students if they knew of any ghost stories. He received 160 stories in the first ten days alone. Surprised and intrigued, Tsunemitsu shifted and narrowed his research to UrbanLegends, eventually writing a selection of them down in a book aimed at children. Publication occured by Kodansha in 1990 under the title ''Gakkō no Kaidan'' and with illustrations by Kihachi Nara.

[[/index]]

The book was a bestseller and got turned into a LongRunningBookSeries of which the current last entry came about in 2015. The first adaptation was a TV drama in 1994 and the second a movie, ''Film/GakkouNoKaidan'', in 1995. The movie in particular increased the audience for school-related ghost stories and they've steadily seen more and more use in fiction since. Essentially, what ''Manga/GeGeGeNoKitaro'' is to folklore, ''Gakkō no Kaidan'' is to urban legends. Examples of these legends include the OldSchoolBuilding being haunted, [[ToiletHorror Toilet Hanako]], the [[EerieAnatomyModel moving anatomy model]], [[LivingDrawing Beethoven leaving his portrait]] to play a haunting tune on the piano, [[LivingStatue Ninomiya Kinjiro's statue]] running around, a [[MirrorMonster haunted mirror]], the number of steps of a set of stairs changing or the [[FourIsDeath fourth step]] being a gate to the realm of the dead, the teke-teke hunting for legs, the kuchisake-onna waiting in alleyways, and so on. Many legends also have extensive variations of how any of these modern {{youkai}} go about their business, such as what exactly the kuchisake-onna wants to hear when she asks if she's pretty.

* ''Film/GakkouNoKaidan'' (1995)

''Gakkō no Kaidan'' (''School Ghost Stories'')[[note]][[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaidan The Other Wiki has an article on the context of "kaidan".]][[/note]] is a loose franchise launched in 1990 that has gone on to be of major influence on Japanese {{horror}}. The book that kicked things off was written by Toru Tsunemitsu, who in 1985 was a middle school teacher and occasional co-editor in Tokyo. Due to his interest in folklore, he was collecting ghost stories and figured that he could ask his students for any they knew. To his surprise, he received 160 stories in the first 10 days alone. Intrigued, Tsunemitsu re-focussed his research to school-related UrbanLegends, eventually writing a selection of them down in a book aimed at children. Publication occured by Kodansha in 1990 under the title ''Gakkō no Kaidan''. It was illustrated by Kihachi Nara.

The book was a bestseller and got turned into a LongRunningBookSeries of which, for now, the last entry came about in 2015. The first adaptation was a TV drama in 1994 and the second a movie, ''Film/GakkouNoKaidan'', in 1995. The movie in particular increased the audience for (school) ghost stories and they've steadily seen more and more use in fiction since. Essentially, what ''Manga/GeGeGeNoKitaro'' is to folklore, ''Gakkō no Kaidan'' is to urban legends. Examples include the OldSchoolBuilding being haunted, [[ToiletHorror Toilet Hanako]], the moving anatomy model, [[SpookyPainting Beethoven leaving his portrait]] to play a haunting tune on the piano, [[LivingStatue Ninomiya Kinjiro's statue]] running around, a [[MirrorMonster haunted mirror]], the number of steps of a stairs changing or the [[FourIsDeath fourth step]] being a gate to the realm of the dead, the teke-teke hunting for legs, the kuchisake-onna waiting in alleyways, and so on, not to mention the many variations of how any of these modern {{youkai}} go about their business.

Most of the franchise is an example of NoExportForYou. Only three entries have been released in English: the first and fifth movies and the 2000 anime ''Anime/GhostStories'' (yep, that one with the offensive GagDub). To complicate matters further, each has a different localized title.

''Gakkou no Kaidan'' (''School Ghost Stories'')[[note]][[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaidan The Other Wiki has an article on the context of "kaidan".]][[/note]] is a loose franchise launched in 1990 that has gone on to be of major influence on Japanese {{horror}}. The book that kicked things off was written by Toru Tsunemitsu, who in 1985 was a middle school teacher and occasional co-editor in Tokyo. Due to his interest in folklore, he was collecting ghost stories and figured that he could ask his students for any they knew. To his surprise, he received 160 stories in the first 10 days alone. Intrigued, Tsunemitsu re-focussed his research to school-related UrbanLegends, eventually writing a selection of them down in a book aimed at children. Publication occured by Kodansha in 1990 under the title ''Gakkou no Kaidan''. It was illustrated by Kihachi Nara.

The book was a bestseller and got turned into a LongRunningBookSeries of which, for now, the last entry came about in 2015. The first adaptation was a TV drama in 1994 and the second a movie, ''Film/GakkouNoKaidan'', in 1995. The movie in particular increased the audience for (school) ghost stories and they've steadily seen more and more use in fiction since. Essentially, what ''Manga/GeGeGeNoKitaro'' is to folklore, ''Gakkou no Kaidan'' is to urban legends. Examples include the OldSchoolBuilding being haunted, [[ToiletHorror Toilet Hanako]], the moving anatomy model, [[SpookyPainting Beethoven leaving his portrait]] to play a haunting tune on the piano, [[LivingStatue Ninomiya Kinjiro's statue]] running around, a [[MirrorMonster haunted mirror]], the number of steps of a stairs changing or the [[FourIsDeath fourth step]] being a gate to the realm of the dead, the teke-teke hunting for legs, the kuchisake-onna waiting in alleyways, and so on, not to mention the many variations of how any of these modern {{youkai}} go about their business.

* ''Gakkou No Kaidan 2'' (1996)
* ''Gakkou No Kaidan 3'' (1997)
* ''Gakkou No Kaidan 4'' (1999)

* ''Gakkou no Kaidan'' (1990)

* ''Gakkou no Kaidan'' (1994)
* ''Gakkou no Kaidan'' (2012)

* ''Gakkou no Kaidan'' (1995, UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn)

The book was a bestseller and got turned into a LongRunningBookSeries of which, for now, the last entry came about in 2015. The first adaptation was a TV drama in 1994 and the second a movie, ''Film/GakkouNoKaidan'', in 1995. The movie in particular increased the audience for (school) ghost stories and they've steadily seen more and more use in fiction since. Examples include the OldSchoolBuilding being haunted, [[ToiletHorror Toilet Hanako]], the moving anatomy model, [[SpookyPainting Beethoven leaving his portrait]] to play a haunting tune on the piano, [[LivingStatue Ninomiya Kinjiro's statue]] running around, a [[MirrorMonster haunted mirror]], the number of steps of a stairs changing or the [[FourIsDeath fourth step]] being a gate to the realm of the dead, the teke-teke hunting for legs, the kuchisake-onna waiting in alleyways, and so on, not to mention the many variations of how any of these modern {{youkai}} go about their business.