Jigoku Shoujo, Onwards to Hell, Part 2

[wrex]

I hope the mods don't mind me starting a new thread; the old one had 233 posts on it. It contains discussions up to episode 10.

For those that don't know, Jigoku Shoujo is about people (usually youths) who feel so much hatred, anger, or fear against someone that they make a contract with Enma Ai, the Jigoku Shoujo (Hell Girl), to send (kill) the person to hell (after a bit of torment/punishment); however, the person making the contract will also go to hell after he/she dies normally. The "victim" must access Jigoku Shoujo's website at midnight, enter the name or description of the person they want to send to hell, gets contacted by Enma Ai, who gives the contractee a "hell-doll." The hell-doll has a red string which when pulled, binds the contract and Ai and her helpers send the target to hell.

Ai is helped by three assistants, Ichimoku Ren (One-eyed Ren), who usually carefully observes the sins of the "target," Hone-Onna (Bone Woman), who often portrays sexy women to gather data, and Wanyuudo ("Wheel Path to Righteousness" ... this is a very liberal translation on my part), who is usually the hell-doll and Ai's chariot when she goes to send the person to hell. In addition, Ai has a "grandma," who you can only see as a silhouette of an old lady using a loom (reminds you of the supernatural being, "Fate") or as a spider. The grandma tells Ai of any requests from her website or to tell her that her hell kimono is ready.

There are also two other recurring characters, Hajime, a freelance reporter/photographer, and his daughter Tsugumi. Tsugumi and Ai seem to have some kind of connection or bond. Tsugumi can sometimes see what Ai is seeing. When Ai saw her for the first time, she told her grandma that she felt kind of "nostalgic." Hajime is actively interested in finding out more about Ai.

Click here for the official website

[Lego]

It looks like episode 11 has aired. The 2chan thread isn't much help, as it just has a couple images.

[wrex]

Episode title is "Chigireta Ito" (The Broken String).

The contractee in this episode is Kataoka, a son of a politician in the midst of a scandal. In addition, he was falsely reported in a tabloid that he was using drugs, further discrediting his family. He wants vengence against Inagaki, who also happens to be owner/editor for the tabloid that Hajime is freelancing for. What's interesting this episode is that Hajime finds out about this contract early on and tries to talk Kataoka out of using Jigoku Shoujo's services. At one point, he yells out, "Jigoku Shoujo's methods are wrong!" (he must have been possessed by the spirit of Bemani [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]).

Further details: <span style='color:#dddddd;background:#dddddd'>Kataoka is abandoned by his friends in an alley after he tried to borrow some money from them. He soon contacts the Jigoku Shoujo website and gets the hell doll, contract details, and standard warning.

Hajime visits the grave of his dead wife; it seems his daughter Tsugumi had been there earlier, as evidenced by the kids snacks left as an offering on her gravestone. Hajime gets an annoying phone call.

Hajime is talking to a tabloid owner who gives him his next assignment. The tabloid owner, Inagaki, tells Hajime to make up stuff if he can't find any dirt. Hajime said he won't resort to falsehood and leaves. Ichimoku Ren was observing the conversation (eye on the wall). He comments to Hone Onna outside that Hajime will never get promoted. Hone Onna says they should concentrate on the target, and not Hajime.

Outside, a security guard is trying to subdue an angry Kataoka who wants to speak to Inagaki. He tries to punch the security guard but is stopped by Hajime. Hajime takes him to a park area where he tries to hear about his grudge. There Kataoka slowly talks about how Inagaki made up stories of him taking drugs; that plus his father's scandal has ripped his family apart. Hajime tells him to use his energy to do something positive instead of trying to get vengence on someone. Kataoka says Hajime knows nothing and runs off.

At Hajime's house, Tsugumi is cooking dinner, assisted by a bartender or restaurant owner friend. Suddenly, Tsugumi has a vision.

Hajime is spying on Inagaki, who is coming out of a hostess club. Tsugumi contacts him on his phone about her vision. Hajime realizes that he's in the spot that she's describing and he runs. In an alley where Inagaki is walking through with hostess girls on his arms, he is confronted by Kataoka, who tries to attack him with a broken bottle. However, Inagaki beats the crap out of him. (Pathetic.) Hajime arrives on the scene and asks if Kataoka is okay. He tells him that Inagaki was a karate champion. He then says, you've contacted the Jigoku Shoujo, haven't you? "That guy..." says, Ichimoku Ren. "Is being an interferring pest" says Hone Onna.

Kataoka explains how the doll works. Hajime tells him not to pull the string. He said he'll find dirt on Inagaki and write an article so Kataoka should leave things to him and not do anything. Hajime runs off to the hostess bar but finds that Inagaki is gone. The girl says there was some hottie who told Inagaki to come to her club instead and he went off with her. Inagaki is with a girl on his arm and he tries to open a door... but the doorknob turns into a hand and pulls him in. Hajime runs to the scene but finds himself at a dead end. Hone Onna appears from a pillar after he leaves. Inagaki is tormented then sent to hell.

Hajime returns to the spot where Inagaki was and finds the red string on the ground. He asks Kataoka why he pulled the string. Kataoka said whatever he did now wouldn't change the damage done to his family; what's broken can't be fixed. He said Hajime has a family so he should understand. </span>

My comments: the persons making these contracts sure are weak... they really don't try hard enough. They really do deserve to go to hell.

Pics:
This week's contractee: Kataoka

Kataoka's vision of what'll happen when he goes to hell

Hajime and this week's target: tabloid owner/editor Inagaki

Ai keeps her eyes on Kataoka (seen on the right)

Tsugumi cooks dinner with the help of a family friend

but she gets a Jigoku Shoujo vision

Hajime and Kataoka talk about the Jigoku Shoujo contract

The start of Inagaki's journey to hell

Hone Onna plays "hide and seek" with Hajime

Inagaki finds himself in tabloid hell

It seems this week Ai has an extra fervor to her eyes as she sends someone to hell

[Lego]

This sounds more like a plot forwarding episdoe with Hajime rather then a bonified Jigoku Shoujo moment like in the first couple episodes. I like the fact that Hajime is getting closer and closer to finding out and possibly talking to Ai and her associates.

I also find it interesting that they're spying on him also. But I still want to know about Ai's background, which hopefully we'll get to see.

[wrex]

[ QUOTE ]
Lego said:
This sounds more like a plot forwarding episdoe with Hajime rather then a bonified Jigoku Shoujo moment like in the first couple episodes. I like the fact that Hajime is getting closer and closer to finding out and possibly talking to Ai and her associates.

I also find it interesting that they're spying on him also. But I still want to know about Ai's background, which hopefully we'll get to see.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm interested in what kind of bond Tsugumi has with Ai... that graveyard scene made me wonder if Ai has any kind of connection with Tsugumi's mom.

And actually, they only spied on Hajime by accident; he just happened to be in the same room with the target.

[Lego]

Hmm, that would be a interesting twist for them to be related some how. Although I don't think that they'd pull the ultimate twist of her being Tsugumi's mom. Maybe her mom was sent to hell by Ai, so they have a bond there. Not totally sure.

[Lego]

Well, episode 12 has aired, and we're closing in on the half way point of the series.

This episode looked good, but I won't try to explain it since Wrex can do so much better. It looked like it involved a <span style='color:#dddddd;background:#dddddd'>teacher and student </span> relationship. The preview for the next episode looks really interesting.

[wrex]

Episode Title: 零れ�カケラ� (Koboreta Kakeratachi: difficult to translate this one... Literal translation: Spilled people who talk to each other: Liberal translation: "Fallen Confidants")

As you said, Lego, this episode involves a teacher and a student... but it's not that kind of relationship. [img]/images/graemlins/happy.gif[/img]

Basically, there's a girl named Akane Sawai who has withdrawn into her room and won't go to school. Her young homeroom teacher, Yoshiki Fujisawa, comes to her house every day, banging on her door, pleading for her to come to school, but to no avail. Akane feels the only person that understands her is her email friend, who shares her feelings. She's sick of the persistency of Fujisawa, and with the agreement of her mail friend, enters his name into the Jigoku Shoujo site. <span style='color:#dddddd;background:#dddddd'>After Fujisawa is once more pressured by his superior, he goes to Akane's house and talks to her. He tries to convince her to come to school, saying that she may get to understand her feelings better if she interacts with others; and to this she blurts out that he can't understand her feelings, and asks if he isn't just doing this because if she doesn't go to school, he'll just look bad. It's touched off a nerve and he yells out, "If you know how I'm feeling, then don't ask! Don't think you're so special in your situation! But apologizes immediately after. After an awkward silence between the two, he says that she's right and that he was only thinking of himself. He gets ready to leave, but gently says that he'll come again, and she shouldn't worry her mom too much and should try to go to school. This moment of honesty seems to have touched Akane and she follows him out of the house and watches him leave.

After, she contacts her mail friend, saying her feelings are mixed and now doesn't know what to do. Her mail friend shares similar feelings, by coincidence. The next day, Fujisawa is surprised to see her come to class. They talk to each other during a break. Someone calls him and he goes out for a moment. She takes the opportunity to send a message to her email friend and see's his keitai (cell phone) buzz. She sends another message and it buzzes again. She picks up his phone and sees the messages are from her. He returns and asks what she's doing. She in turn asks if he knew all along that she was "Anemone," but he says he didn't. Eventually, they sort things out; this was his only way he could talk about his feelings; she says that his words saved her. She says she's sorry, but she'd entered his name into the Jigoku Shoujo site. He seems excited and asks if she's seen the Hell Girl. She says "yes," and he asks what she was like. She says that Ai looked kind of forlorn. He asks if she could send him to hell; that he was tired of it all and wanted some relief. She seems to understand the pain he was going through, and though she thinks about herself going to hell, decides to pull the string.

Fujisawa finds himself lying on the boat to hell (no torments). He asks Ai if he's going to hell this way. Ai says, "do you know what you did?" She makes him look at an image of Akane sad in the upper world. She says that by sending him to hell, she'll also fall to hell, wandering for all eternity. She hears Akane saying, "I'll see you later in hell, my teacher."

Later, Hajime (he had been to that school as a guest speaker and had met Fujisawa) learns that the teacher was reported missing. As he's sitting in the car with Tsugumi, he says, "what a shame... he seemed like such a fine, upstanding, serious teacher." But Tsugumi goes into a trance again, and says, "is it okay like this, that hell becomes heaven?" In Ai's garden, the granma replies, "it's okay, if they regard it that way. You don't have to think any further than that." </span>

Thoughts: this episode was concentrated greatly on the main character and the target; there was no appearance of Ai's helpers. Ai seems to be disturbed by feelings of injustice and sadness, but her grandma doesn't want her to think about things like that... just do her job like a robot. The artwork on this episode was pretty good too; the scenery of their secret spot and the facial expressions, especially the eyes were well done, I thought.

Next week's episode does look interesting... Tsugumi has a vision, but it's not the present, it's about the past... something that happened 50 years ago.

Pics:
Akane Sawai is withdrawn into her own world

This week's target: homeroom teacher Fujisawa visits Akane at home to try to convince her to come to school

Akane can only talk to her mail friend; Akane's handle is "anemone"

A secret spot treasured by both Akane and her mail friend

Nobody pays attention to guest speaker Hajime

Akane discovers something shocking

Enma Ai reveals the sad truth

Tsugumi has a vision

Ai begins to wonder about the state of things

Next week: Hajime speaks to this old man

What is his connection with Ai?

[Lego]

Thanks for the summary Wrex. This episode looks to have been emotional, rather then playing the whole revenge thing. I liked it. It seems that Ai didn't choose her job. I'm starting to wonder if the lady behind the curtain is her real grandmother. Who knows, the guy looking at a picture of Ai could be her grandfather.

It seems like we'll finally get some background on Ai and how she got into the role. So if it's 50 years ago and we see Ai around the same age/height, then something must of happened to her.

The thing I like the most about Jigoku is that when someone finally gets sent to hell, it kind of makes you think "was that really worth sending someone to hell for?" or "to deal with the problem, the person resorted to sending them to hell?" To me, Ai and associates seem to be offering the easy way out, and she is dismayed that her job causes sadness as you mentioned.

[roastedpekingduck]

This show sounds very interesting and seems like the only psychological anime to have come out this year. I looked forward to a licensing of this show.