Ghost Tale

Ghost Tale

Original Release Date: October 31st, 2023

We interrupt the meandering conclusion to an old cartoon show for a special holiday event! Yes, friends, it's Halloween season, the spookiest, happiest time of the year! I try and dig up something thematic, on my favorite of all holidays, to write about on my humble little Sonic the Hedgehog blog. It's not always easy though, as I've discussed most of the official altogether ooky "Sonic" content over the years. Luckily, last Halloween, we got a new spooky treat for us hedgehog fans to commemorate the season with. Unfortunately, last Halloweens, I was locked in the Labyrinth of Leviathan, having my flesh infinitely explored by the Order of the Gash, beyond the limits of human experience, where pain and pleasure become indistinguishable from each other. Accordingly, I was only able to post a review of an at least somewhat spooky "Sonic Boom" episode. Time to make up for missing out and take a look at "Ghost Tale."

That would be a 15 years later sequel to "Sonic: Night of the Werehog," dropping back into the haunted home of adorable ghost girl, Lah, and her two roommates/buddies/spouses(?), the rotund and bowtie sporting Su and the lanky and bandanaed Uh. While surrounded by a litter of ghostly babies, the two male spirits entertain their partner by levitating some plates. Impressed, Lah decides to give this telekinetic display a shot herself. She attempts to levitate a grand piano but has problems lifting it. After a short struggle, the piano does float into the air... Because her two boyfriends are raising it – with quite a lot of effort – behind their back. Awwww, ain't that cute?

"Ghost Tale" was a pleasant surprise last Halloween, dropped onto the internet with little teasing or prior announcement. "Night of the Werehog" might have been a one-off animated short released a decade and a half ago but, since "Sonic" fans never forget a character, its cast has maintained a cult following. Or, at least, Lah the Ghost Girl has. Which is hardly surprising, considering she's a cutesy anime character and, technically, part of that somewhat disreputable but widely beloved trope known as Monster Girls. Her more generic co-stars, Su and Uh, aren't seen nearly as much in fan art and the such. Like always, Sega has been reluctant to capitalize on the popularity of an obscure "Sonic" supporting cast member. Lah and the gang are the creation of Marza Animation Planet, a CGI animation studio. Now, Marza is owned by Sega, leading one to assume that Sonic's parent companies also own Lah and her hanger-ons. Perhaps there might still be some contractual red tape – or professional courtesy – preventing these guys from becoming regular members of the "Sonic" supporting cast. Outside of brief appearances on non-canon comic book covers or blink-and-miss-it cameos in the game, this cartoon marks only their second official appearance. 

It's also entirely possible that Sega considers Lah and company incidental characters made for a minor promotional cartoon for a video game that came out a decade and a half ago, with no need to promote them further. This would put them in the same limbo as Sally and the Freedom Fighters or Scratch and Grounder, much more significant characters that Sega technically owns but can't be arsed to include in anything as they are connected to long since deceased corners of the franchise. However, I do suspect there might be some, at the very least, legal separation between the rest of the "Sonic" cast and the "Night of the Werehog" gang. I say this because... Sonic doesn't actually appear in this short. It stars Lah, Su, and Uh alone. The Werehog has a cameo, of sorts, in a classic monster movie style poster glimpsed in the background. It looks different enough from Sonic that this could be considered legally distinct from the blue hedgehog, qualifying as more of a homage than a deliberate appearance. My point is: "Ghost Tale" is not that connected to the "Sonic" brand and could, possibly, be considered a mostly unrelated piece of media. I'm still fairly confident that Sega could use these guys if they want to but, with this review, I am straying slightly into "Lara-Su Chronicles" territory of "Sonic" material that is debatably not truly "Sonic" material. 

This may be like DiC producing a stand-alone short starring the kid from "Sonic Christmas Blast" in 2011 but, whatever, I'm writing about it. So let us actually discuss "Ghost Tale": It's cute! There's not too much to talk about with it. The character design of Lah remains adorable and lovable. Simply by looking at her dimpled face, you want to see her be happy. This means you are invested in her being satisfied with lifting that piano. The exact details of her relationship with the other ghosts may be ambiguous. Nevertheless, it's adorable that the guys want to make the cutie-pie smile without causing her to doubt her own ability. Also, it's funny because it causes men to suffer and who doesn't love to see that? Lah, Su, and Uh are not horribly deep characters. They are akin to Tom and Jerry and other classic cartoon figures, defined entirely by static characteristics. Lah will always want something special and shiny to amuse her. Su and Uh will always be competing with each other and any other vaguely male presences to impress her. Seemingly lacking the ability to speak in any thing but sighs, shouts, and other non-word vocalizations also limits the stories you can tell with this gang. That's okay though, as simplicity is the mode they are designed to work in. Hearing Lah do that breathy little Japanese girl yelp over and over again is a little annoying but, otherwise, this is cute. 

"Ghost Tale" is all of two minutes long. There's only so much to say about it. However, reading far too much into "Sonic" and "Sonic"-adjacent media is kind of my thing, if you hadn't noticed. And "Ghost Tales" does raise an interesting question. Throughout the short, Lah is surrounded by smaller phantasms, who have curly little unibrows, a single tooth in their mouths, and babble in incoherent baby noises. All of this suggests that these critters are... Baby ghosts. The Sonic Wiki refers to them by that name, suggesting this is their official designation. How are we to interrupt their presence in the mansion or how they came to be? First off... Is a baby ghost the ghost of a baby or the off-spring of a ghost? The former suggestion is rather morbid, implying infanticide and crib death exists in the "Sonic" universe. The latter raises some other disturbing quandaries though. If ghosts can have babies... Do ghosts, ya know, make woopie? Dead or immaterial things, which ghosts usually are considered, can't traditionally procreate. In the "Sonic" world however, spectres do seem to exist as separate species all of their own that merely resemble the earthly conception of a spirit. I don't know, maybe they bud off totally asexually via a process like mitosis. If that pushes the image of Lah getting yammed out of your brain and helps you sleep at night, sure, go with it. 

I'm a pervert however, so let's run with the assumption that ghosts get down and goopy in a spooky way reproduce via sexual intercourse in the "Sonic"-verse. That presents another mystery: Who are the Baby Ghosts' parents? Are they ghostly foundlings that have arrived at the haunted mansion via unknown means and become the non-biological wards of Lah and the others? Are these the, I don't know, kids of Lah's ghost sister? Her ghost nieces and nephews or cousins or something? Is she merely ghost-babysitting? Lah certainly seems rather child-like herself, which doesn't mean much to the moë obsessed Japanese. She is, at the very least, mature enough to have a split-second crush on Sonic the Werehog. Su and Uh seem romantically interested in her, obviously. The Ghost Babies stay close to her throughout the entirety of "Ghost Tale," certainly presenting the assumptions that she is their ghost-mother. 

I think you know what I'm implying here: Did Lah do the monster mash with Su and Uh? Did bustin' make anyone feel good? Did they take turns with Lah or haunt her creepy music box at the same time? Did Su watch while Uh placed a casket in her grave? Both guy-ghosts still seem like they are trying to win the affection of their favored girl-ghosts however, probably excluding the existence of ghost-polygamy or ghost-cuckoldry. Maybe some other handsome furry besides Sonic fell into this mansion and was happy to take Lah up on her romantic advances, the unfaithful harlot. Assuming any of these scenarios are plausible, that causes one to ponder extensively on ghost biology. Maybe they do it like fish, Lah plopping out some ghost-eggs that then get ghost-fertilized by the ectoplasm of whatever Class 5 Full Roaming Vapor that happens to be nearby. I'm sure there's plenty of extremely detailed fan art out there illustrating some of these what-if scenarios. All of this is utterly unfounded speculation and I'm sure Marza, Sega, and everyone involved didn't think about it that much. But I did. And now you have too. 

All of that aside, "Ghost Tale" is charming and amusing enough for all of the two minutes it takes to watch. It would be nice if we see these spooks again. Maybe Marza will make another short fifteen years from now. That seems more likely than Sega sneaking them into another game or comic book. Since IDW made a Halloween special, you kind of have to assume Lah was at least considered for a role in that story, if they can use her. Maybe nobody wants to figure out how this trio fits into the current "Sonic" universe. They at least appear to be human-like and Sega can't make up its mind about what role fleshy humanoids play in this setting these days. 

All of that aside, Im glad this exists. It's nice. I like these characters and the haunted home they inhabit. It's good to know that there's a spooky corner of the "Sonic" world out there somewhere and that these three exists somewhere besides the fevered imagination of fans. "Ghost Tale" is short and sweet, a fun little treat for our collective Halloween buckets. It brought a little bit of Samhain cheer into my life. I hope it does for you too and that you have a wonderfully creepy October 31st and that my disturbingly vivid ideas didn't send too big a shiver down your spine. Then again, everyone deserves a little scare, or at least an uncomfortable thought about non-corporeal porking, on Halloween! [7/10]