Its a cold dark and lonely night when you take the last train at the station heading home to your unappreciative wife and the empty nest that your collegebound children have long since vacated. As you sit by the window enjoying the silence as you read the paper not really absorbing any of the news printed upon it an old rat sits across from you. He inquires as to your destination and feeling wistful you tell him the short version of your story. Before he can offer his in exchange the train arrives at your destination. With a fond farewell to your new rodent acquaintance you depart and take the final few steps to... Your grave in the middle of the cemetery where your spirit has been riding the train every night for longer than you can remember. This story isnt about you friend. This story is about the rat. At least he was polite enough to let you believe that you were a significant part of it. Its October again and just like every other pretentious blowhard critic out there Im using this obvious gimmick of a month as an excuse to write a bunch of horror related reviews Ive been doing this since my blogging days but it was in my modern reviewing tenure that I decided to start reviewing the Gregory Horror Show series which is an old bizarre anime from around the late nineties. It was created by Naomi Iwata the man behind several blockylooking 3D anime throughout the nineties including some of Pingu and as far as I can tell Gregory Horror is the one title hes worked on that was explicitly not meant for children as it not only contains adult content like smoking drinking blood and cartoony gore but because it deals with very adult subject matter especially in relation to Japanese culture. I originally came across Gregory Horror Show in the massive FYE store that used to exist near me which had a huge used DVD section where you could find the strangest novelty DVDs if you looked hard enough. Much like Red Vs. Blue Key the Metal Idol and several others it was hard NOT to find Gregory Horror Show DVDs littering the shelves at that indoor landfill. I saw the first two seasons over a decade ago then I rewatched them for the sake of reviewing them last year and the year before and now that Im on the third year of my revitalized career I figured it was finally time to dig season three up... Even though I already know this review isnt going to do well. Yeah unless youre reviewing something current thats insanely popular the attention your reviews of a single series get is going to diminish by season. I know that from my Strike Witches reviews. Thats okay though I dont need this particular review to be a success I just have this itch to add it to the list so here we go The first thing youll notice about season three of the Gregory Horror Show is that it no longer takes place at Gregory House. This new season takes place aboard a spooky ghost train and the main character this time around isnt some nameless Japanese protagonist its Gregory himself. This means two things and theyre both very interesting First it means there really isnt any social commentary to speak of in this season. Where the first season was about Japanese workaholic culture and the second season dealtquite poorly and on a the more questionable side of the debate with Japanese womens rights this one leaves all references to Japanese social culture behind. Second because the protagonist isnt a POV character anymore and were watching Gregory deal with all of the weird creeps surrounding him instead of someone more vulnerable there really isnt anything remotely scary going on. Now thats not to say there was anything particularly scary in the first two seasons at least not from my perspective but I could totally see where someone more sensitive COULD be scared or at least somewhat spooked. Here it never feels like Gregorys in any danger so theres no reason to route for him. With one or two exceptions just about every spook he comes across is someone who previously showed up in seasons 1 and/or 2 so he already knows them even when the writing suggests that he doesnt. Rather than horror which has been rendered all but ineffective this season seems to just be leaning into the comedy which Im guessing could be the saving grace for a lot of people. Gregory Horror has always had a really dark twisted sense of humor so if you enjoyed that part of the first two seasons this ones probably going to be your favorite. As for me though I feel like I appreciate the humor more than I actually enjoy it. I dont know if this is because something was lost in translation between the Japanese and English language versions or what but to me it feels like the timing is off on a lot of these jokes. I get them I appreciate them I want to laugh at them but the delivery is just not connecting enough for me. One area where I can say this season has improved over the previous two is the visuals. Now to be clear the animation is the same quality as the previous two seasons at least in terms of budget and style. It still looks like a Nick Jr. cartoon on a bad acid trip. Whats improved is the direction. The framing is a lot more cinematic which I guess was kind of inevitable giving the switch from POV to a more traditional perspective but that change also removes any motion sickness effect the series previously had and it no longer feels as oppressive. On top of this Gregorys movements feel a lot less erratic and a lot more focused which makes it easier to follow him as a main character. As for my personal enjoyment of this season... Look Im willing to admit this is entirely my fault but I dont think Ive ever been able to make it through one of these without drifting off. Im starting to think youre supposed to watch these episode by episode instead of bingeing them all at once but even if that is the case it says something when a one hour long anime series wont stop putting me to sleep. I dont know how I feel about Gregory Horror. I dont love it but I also dont hate it. I dont like it or dislike it. Im starting to think the reason I keep coming back to these and why I keep recommending them to people isnt because theyre good or bad but because theyre such bizarre little curiosities. So at some point during this spooky season check out The Gregory Horror Show. Check into Gregory House and experience your POV avatars fight for survival and when youve seen both sides of that take a trip aboard Gragorys ghost train as he attempts to get some shuteye without being interrupted by all manner of strange encounters. I cant guarantee youll love or hate it but it is certainly one interesting Halloween experience. I give Gregory Horror Show 3 a 6/10