Hell Girl / Jigoku Shōjo

AN Shows
102

Episode 24 –

With the disappearance of Naito in front of witnesses, the “Devil’s Child” is blamed once again. Detective Meshiai is urged to cover up the incident but can’t because Hotaru is also still missing. Mr. Maruyama, the other witness to Naito’s disappearance, is the next to be sent to hell. More residents of Lovely Hills are talking about the disappearances and of Hell Link. Some think that Takuma is behind it, while others still think it’s only an urban legend. Hotaru arrives at Ai’s house, meets Ai’s grandmother and runs from the house in fear.
*
Atsuko sends her inattentive husband to hell and blames Takuma for his disappearance. Atsuko is then sent to hell by an acquaintance that hates her and who also blames Takuma. More requests are made to Ai and I wonder how she can keep up with them all. In the other realm, no matter where Hotaru goes, she always ends up back at Ai’s house. Detective Meshiai is still trying to put all the pieces together and keeps coming back to Hell Link. People keep getting “erased” and Takuma keeps getting blamed, while the Chief Detective maintains that there is no case, before he himself disappears. I have to wonder why Ai is accepting all these petty requests when she has had the option to refuse others in the past. Or perhaps it’s as Wanyuudou said and she’s just using them to fulfill a quota and be freed from her duties.
*
Detective Meshiai does some more research, this time at the library and finds a book by Hajime Shibata. Hotaru ends up at Ai’s house again, but this time, Kikuri is waiting for her and pulls her inside, informing her that the house belongs to Hell Girl. Kikuri tells Hotaru that “it’s coming soon” and yanks her into Grandmother’s room. As Detective Meshiai reads the book that describes Hell Girl and the process of sending someone to hell, Kikuri makes Hotaru witness it first hand.
*
The detective sees a picture of the hell mark and remembers seeing the same mark on Sayaka’s corpse. He has to know that all of this is real now and not just an urban legend. As he tries to contact Hajime directly, he discovers that Hajime paid to get his book published himself. Hajime’s daughter, Tsugumi, appears to Meshiai and asks him to believe in her father before running away and meeting Kikuri, who “summoned” her to play, but she runs from her as well, saying “some other time”.
*
Hotaru is shown all the candles that contain the names of people that sent others to hell. Detective Meshiai ends up back at Takuma’s house again to see if Takuma has a hell mark, but he doesn’t. Hotaru can’t find a candle with Takuma’s name on it either and they both realize that Takuma is completely innocent and never was a “Devil’s Child” – just a convenient scapegoat for the townspeople. But when Detective Meshiai tries to tell Takuma’s watchers this, he’s accused of working with Takuma in sending people to hell himself and is attacked and beaten by the true guilty parties. Takuma is afraid to help him and hides in his house.
*
Hotaru returns to Ai’s house again and meets Hell Girl herself. Instead of fearing her, Hotaru berates her for Takuma’s situation and tells her to stop, but Ai says that it isn’t her decision to make and returns Hotaru to the human world. The last scene is interesting with Ai observing the crying Takuma in his house. I wonder if she will put a stop to all of this now.

103

Episode 25 –

Ai has returned Hotaru to the outskirts of town and she races back, full of concern for Takuma. Meanwhile, Tsuyuki dumps the unconscious Detective Meshiai in a storage shed. People are looking for Takuma, but Hotaru finds him first and tries to get him to safety and Kikuri is watching their every move. Hotaru takes Takuma to her home and tells him that she now believes in Hell Link because she’s met Ai and has seen things with her own eyes.
*
Hotaru tries to call her brother, but can’t reach him. Then she sees Hajime’s book and realizes her brother knows the truth of Hell Girl as well. Takuma finally tells her that the detective was beaten up and taken away. They are found by Tsuyuki’s group, but they manage to escape and take refuge at a shrine. Takuma breaks down and Hotaru comforts him, but even he’s starting to believe that he really is the “Devil’s Child”. Hotaru tries to convince him otherwise and tells him that her brother will save them.
*
Tsuyuki and his group have lost Takuma and Tsuyuki decides to send Takuma to hell and perhaps the detective as well. Hotaru reads some of Hajime’s book and sees that what happened to Ai and what is now happening to Takuma is very similar. But she also says that Hell Link should not exist and promises to protect Takuma. It’s interesting that Ai tells her grandmother that she’s tired, but I wonder if she’s tired because the town is keeping her so busy or if she’s just tired of her job.
*
Takuma and Hotaru doze off and Takuma wakes to find it snowing. When he looks out the window to see it, he instead sees that they have been found. Tsuyuki and his group are there and Kikuri is just leaving the area. That brat told them where Takuma was hiding and when Ai confronts her, Kikuri tells her that “this is how it should be!” before running off.
*
Both Hotaru and Takuma are taken by the group and bound before being led to a small dock and thrown into a boat. Hasue is directed to tie rocks to their feet, but he protests killing the kids and the others tell him that there’s no other choice if they want their lives to return to normal. A watching Ai walks away as Hasue hammers a hole into the bottom of the boat and sets it adrift. Detective Meshiai arrives on the scene and holds the group off with his gun; he fires it into the air and they all run away. Detective Meshiai rows out to the sinking boat and is able to save both kids. Hotaru is very happy to see her brother and breaks into tears.
*
Later, Detective Meshiai is driving them all out of town, promising to help Takuma clear his name when he suddenly disappears. Hasue has sent him to hell, again at the urging of the others, and the car crashes, knocking the two kids out. Takuma and Hotaru come to and begin walking along the road, putting further distance between themselves and the town.
*
I wonder if Hotaru will blame Takuma for her brother getting sent to hell and if she will change her attitude towards him now. It seems so as she activates her brother’s laptop and apologizes to Takuma as she connects to the Hell Link and enters his name, telling him that she has no choice. I wonder if the mob mentality has finally gotten to her as well. This is just so tragic!

104

Episode 26 –

Hotaru tells Takuma she has no choice in sending him to hell, but promises to follow him. She apologizes again as she hits the send key on the laptop and both she and Takuma are transported to Ai’s realm. Ai is there by the tree with her companions and looks at Takuma, asking Hotaru if she’s sure. Hotaru says that things won’t end until Takuma is gone and she ends up telling Ai that everything is Takuma’s fault after all. Ai remembers her own past and reluctantly gives Hotaru the straw doll. Hotaru tells Takuma that she’ll be right behind him and immediately unties the thread. As Ai ferries the crying Takuma to hell, Kikuri is also in the boat and tries to offer him some candy. Ai tells her to stop and Kikuri taunts them both. Takuma begs Ai for help and she once again remembers her past and stops rowing the boat.
*
Back in the human world, it has begun to snow and Hotaru is about to drown herself as Ai’s companions watch. Suddenly, Kikuri appears and tells them that Ai wasn’t able to go through with banishing Takuma to hell and turned the boat around. Takuma wakes up in the real world and finds an injured Ai near him. She points in a direction and tells him to hurry. He does and discovers an unconscious, or perhaps dead, Hotaru. Ai’s companions question Kikuri about what happened to Ai and Kikuri faints, but wakes immediately and suddenly has a third eye. She rises into the air and a spider’s web appears behind her. Wanyuudou calls her “Mr. Boss Man of Hell” and asks again what happened to Ai.
*
When Kikuri speaks, two voices are heard – her own and a deeper man’s voice. The voices tell the companions that Ai brought Takuma back to the world of the living and by doing so, has broken the law. They say that “Ai’s soul and the souls of her loved ones will wander aimlessly in darkness for all eternity”. Ai’s companions defend her and beg for Ai to be released. The voices say that Ai’s job is done and that she’s been made human again. Wanyuudou is upset to hear this because it means that Ai “will be subjected to 400 years of time all at once”. Just before Hell’s Boss disappears, the voices tell the companions to watch over Ai. A few seconds later, Kikuri’s body is seen underneath a nearby tree and the spider is dangling from one of the branches.
*
Tsuyuki’s group arrives at the site of Detective Meshiai’s crashed car, but they don’t see the bodies of Takuma or Hotaru and say that they couldn’t have gotten far on foot. The group begins to search for them and Wanyuudou realizes that things aren’t over yet. Takuma cries over Hotaru and seems to come to a decision. As he walks away, Ai tells him not to do it, but Takuma says that he’s held back long enough before running off. Ai tries to follow him, but just doesn’t have the strength and collapses. Tsuyuki’s group discovers Takuma returning to town and follow him.
*
It was so sad to see such a determined, but weak Ai struggling to make her way along the road, barefoot and in the falling snow. Her companions find her, but she tells them to leave her alone and Wanyuudou says that Ai doesn’t recognize them anymore; now that she’s human, their “ties have been severed” and this will be their own personal hell. They can only watch her now and never be together again; the spider watches them from a tree again.
*
Takuma throws gasoline on Tsuyuki’s house, but is caught by the group and Takuma soaks them with the gasoline as well, before igniting a lighter and saying that he will send all of them to hell, including himself. They try to subdue Takuma, but in the process, he drops the lighter and Tsuyuki’s house goes up in flames. The group converges on Takuma and is about to kill him, when Ai finally catches up and tells them to stop. They all recognize her as Hell Girl and wonder why she’s there, thinking that someone has summoned her. Ai tells them not to kill Takuma and her companions watch this scene from a rooftop, as Ai leads Takuma from the group.
*
However, a now bold and maddened Hasue attacks Ai from behind by hitting her over the head with a shovel – the same exact way she was attacked 400 years earlier. Hasue says that he doesn’t want to go to hell and Takuma tries to help Ai, but the rest of the group pushes him out of the way as they also attack Ai and her companions can only look on helplessly as Ai is beaten. Kikuri is back and is also observing the scene from the top of a nearby radio tower.
*
A crying Takuma yells at the frenzied group to stop beating Ai and they finally hear him. Takuma kneels next to Ai, takes her hand and begs her to get up. Ai opens her eyes and whispers “with this it will end” before closing her tear-filled eyes a final time and turning into cherry blossom petals that swirl away into the night. Even Kikuri cries at this as it begins to snow again.
*
Kikuri is sitting in the boat to hell and it looks as if the souls of Ai’s loved ones have been released and sent to hell as well. Kikuri watches this and then speaks to a cherry in the boat, saying “so this was the answer that you chose, huh, Ai?" Kikuri touches the cherry and says “you did good” as the boat passes under the gate to hell.
*
Back in the human world, Detective Meshiai’s investigation is released and Takuma is finally proven innocent. Tsuyuki’s group ran away from the town and disappeared. Of course, the existence of a Hell Link can’t be taken seriously, so the incident in Lovely Hills was attributed to a case of mass hysteria. But it looks as if things haven’t improved much in the town and it still won’t be a very nice place to live. Wanyuudou, Hone and Ren end up at Ai’s house, but doubt she’ll be returning. The grandmother continues her spinning in the other room, but her wheel suddenly stops as she tells the three that Ai thanked them. The companions appear in the real world and comment that it isn’t like Ai to thank them, before splitting up and going their separate ways.
*
The story ends in the spring with Takuma running to meet his father in the park, and the petals are raining down from all the cherry trees. Takuma’s father has been released from the hospital, but they go back inside to visit Hotaru, who now lays in a coma. Takuma takes her hand and tells her to “get well soon”. As they leave, they pass a girl in the hallway carrying flowers. She stops to answer her cell phone and when she flips it open, there is a text from Hell Girl, saying that her message was received. That just gave me chills after getting so emotional over the rest of the episode. What a wonderful ending to this fantastic second season!

105

Interesting series. Wish I had seen the first series (can’t seem to find it anywhere - any help would be appreciated). Anyone know how it compares to this series?

I liked the self-contained episodes better than the Takuma plot. [The Takuma plot was still a good story & explored several moral issues in an interesting way. Because the viewer has a history with Takuma, the moral issues had to relate to his experiences. This made for fewer twists & turns. For example, contrast these stories with “The Distant Room Next Door”. In the latter, you got the idea that the entire story wasn’t disclosed. In the end, Amagi Shizuko realizes (via a neat paradigm shift) the awful truth.]

I must admit, this series underscores why I like anime – American TV just want’s ratings and gets that via specific formulas. The exploration of moral issues intertwined in a way to make you feel empathy towards someone like Enma Ai is quite refreshing.

Hope AN continues to post anime like this!

106

You can now find the first season for less than 20 bucks pretty much on every anime store.

I bought it a while ago and intend to marathon through it during the Holidays. It’ll be perfect since S2 is finishing (I just have the last episode left to see) and S3 will (hopefully) be on the January or February VOD line-up.

The original Takuma episode didn’t impressed me all that much but nevertheless, I find the Takuma storyline to be awesome. The earlier and middle episodes have been very good, especially the backstories of the secondary characters, but I like it better when a series has a continuing, developping storyline rather than having self-contained episodes.

The “Demon Child” storyline, combined with the usual great cast (especially Kikuri…what a creepy little brat) made Hell Girl into a Grade-A, 1st Class series for me. Let’s hope for more of the same with Season 3!

107

Thanks! Just bought season one. Now I can’t wait for it to show up!

I agree with your assessment on Kikuri - she’s definitely a brat. I wish they would have explained her more. Near as I can tell, since she only listens to Ai, there is a link between the two. Not sure what it is!

I too am waiting with anticipation for season 3!!

109

Set two is now shipping from rightstuf and the Online Player date is set for 12/23/10 . Also added the set 2 covers.

110

Currently on the Anime Network Online Player and Coming to VOD 1/20/11.

111

Episode 1 –

I love how this show gets better with each season. The bath scene where Ai possesses Yuzuki was beautiful in a creepy kind of way. And the later transformation scene was amazing. Yuzuki doesn’t seem to know what’s going on and only gets glimpses of things that are happening through Ai. And I wonder why Ai chose her.
*
I felt bad for the teacher though. He wasn’t bad nor did he deserve to be sent to hell. Tange was only using the memo book as a device to keep his students in line. Itsuko seemed properly horrified by what she did once she saw only doodles in the memo book. A shame she will end up in hell for this mistake.
*
And it’s funny that Kikuri possessed a toy and has to be wound up! There is also a new character that has joined the hell team. I wonder what Yamawaro’s story is. He seems like a rather quiet boy and calls Kikuri “princess” – but only because she told him to. It was a great opening episode and I look forward to the rest of the season.

112

[quote=LadyOfWicca]
Episode 1 –

I love how this show gets better with each season. The bath scene where Ai possesses Yuzuki was beautiful in a creepy kind of way. And the later transformation scene was amazing. Yuzuki doesn’t seem to know what’s going on and only gets glimpses of things that are happening through Ai. And I wonder why Ai chose her.
*
I felt bad for the teacher though. He wasn’t bad nor did he deserve to be sent to hell. Tange was only using the memo book as a device to keep his students in line. Itsuko seemed properly horrified by what she did once she saw only doodles in the memo book. A shame she will end up in hell for this mistake.
*
And it’s funny that Kikuri possessed a toy and has to be wound up! There is also a new character that has joined the hell team. I wonder what Yamawaro’s story is. He seems like a rather quiet boy and calls Kikuri “princess” – but only because she told him to. It was a great opening episode and I look forward to the rest of the season.[/quote]

Figured the book would be blank. What a shame a teacher went to hell for a misunderstanding. Also wonder what is up with the new boy.

113

[quote=ShawnMerrow]

[quote=LadyOfWicca]
Episode 1 –

I love how this show gets better with each season. The bath scene where Ai possesses Yuzuki was beautiful in a creepy kind of way. And the later transformation scene was amazing. Yuzuki doesn’t seem to know what’s going on and only gets glimpses of things that are happening through Ai. And I wonder why Ai chose her.
*
I felt bad for the teacher though. He wasn’t bad nor did he deserve to be sent to hell. Tange was only using the memo book as a device to keep his students in line. Itsuko seemed properly horrified by what she did once she saw only doodles in the memo book. A shame she will end up in hell for this mistake.
*
And it’s funny that Kikuri possessed a toy and has to be wound up! There is also a new character that has joined the hell team. I wonder what Yamawaro’s story is. He seems like a rather quiet boy and calls Kikuri “princess” – but only because she told him to. It was a great opening episode and I look forward to the rest of the season.[/quote]

Figured the book would be blank. What a shame a teacher went to hell for a misunderstanding. Also wonder what is up with the new boy.

Actually, this starts out the same way Hell Girl: Two Mirrors did. A teacher is accused of something they did not do, are banished to Hell and then the truth is discovered. In Two mirrors, the teacher was a sadist and probably deserved to be banished, but this time he turned out to be a “paper tiger”-he kept the students in line with threats but never carried them through to completion. Definitely not worthy of banishment.

114

To all of my small group of friends, this is not an ending. I just seen HG3rdV, but I will not schedule continued watching because I hate it.

The police officer’s little sister died bad enough to have a whole new character with the trio, but they had to resurect Ai. This is just a brief critique of the first episode. I notice Ai has possess some living girl, which kinda of localizes her assignments a bit. Who is this little boy hanging around the Demon King(Shiriku)? The trio wasn’t enough, this is stupid (to me). You might like it, but heads up granny (long dead) wasn’t in the first episode.

115

Episode 3 –

It was creepy that when Yuzuki looked in the puddle she saw Ai staring back at her. It’s a wonder that this girl hasn’t gone insane yet.
*
I really liked the retro Hell Concert, but I was disappointed that Ai didn’t sing. That would have been something!

116

Episode 9 –

It was funny when cute little Kikuri says Ai’s famous words and then with a giggle, she says “I stole her lines!” before riding off.

117

Ep. 11

The first thought that came to mind when the three decided to all use Hell Ling was “Ai is going to need a bigger boat.” :lol:

118

Ep. 13

This was a dark one. Azusa using Akie to get revenge on her father and even trying to have her raped. The part at the end when she is sent to hell was sad. It looks like life is going to only get worse for Yuzuki Mikage.
*
At least Ai Enma is no longer subletting her body.

119

Episode 12 –

I really liked the hell sequence in this one for the manga artist. It was an interesting mix of animation and human.

Episode 13 –

Ai has finally left Yuzuki and is back in her own body and Yuzuki did not feel any pain with her parting. Even Kikuri doesn’t have to wind up anymore. It was so cruel when she lost Akie. Without Ai, she may think things are back to normal now, but she still has to deal with the loss of her friend and it seems she has a new power. She can sense people that will contact Ai and she hopes to stop them, but she is soon overwhelmed by it. This poor girl just can’t catch a break!
*
I really like the original ways people are getting sent to hell in the recent episodes. It never gets boring or old.

120

Episode 20 –

So this is what became of little Tsugumi. I hadn’t realized that so much time had passed. Tsugumi doesn’t seem very happy and I wonder what happened to Hajime.

121

Episode 21

After the first few minutes of the episode, my money was on the baby being the one banished to Hell, but I was wondering if the writers would go in that direction….and they did.
*
I would have liked a longer aftermath since banishing an unborn baby clearly ranks at the top of the worst/best banishments yet. Just about the most cold and cruel thing ever….and how do you explain what happened from a medical standpoint? A person is ready to give birth at any moment and then whoosh, uterus full of air.
*
It took me while to get used to Season 3 since it was more like “A Nightmare on Elm Street 2” than the usual Hell Girl formula. The next episodes are gonna be fun to see how the whole “New Hell Girl” storyline will unfold. Unfortunately, these will also be the last episodes since I don’t think there will be a season 4 anytime soon, if ever.

122

Finished up ep. 25

This series as whole (all seasons) is just way too repetive for me to enjoy 75+ episodes of.

However, there is episodes here and there throughout the series, that just really hit hard.

Such as the case with ep. 25.
Man was I bawling with this episode.