Rumor has it that somewhere on the Internet there is a website accessible only at midnight -- the Hotline to Hell -- where people can ask the Hell Girl to take revenge on people who have wronged them. However, when one person is cursed, two graves are dug, for if the Hell Girl fulfils your request, you too will be consigned to the pit of Hell when you die. Would you untie the red ribbon and sell your soul to the Hell Girl for vengeance?
Description: shinsengumi
Story & Characters
As of this writing, Jigoku Shoujo is still being aired in Japan, and therefore this review is based off of the first
eleven episodes of this twenty six-episode series.
Rumor has it that somewhere on the Internet there is a website accessible only at midnight -- the Hotline to Hell --
where people can ask the Hell Girl to take revenge on people who have wronged them. However, when one person is cursed,
two graves are dug, for if the Hell Girl fulfils a request and ferries an antagonist through the gates of Hell, when the
one desiring vengeance dies, he too will fall into the pit of Hell to be tormented for all eternity.
Jigoku Shoujo makes use of its highly original concept by showcasing the lives of very different people whose lives have
taken a turn for the worse, usually due to the machinations of a single person. When they're at their wits end,
the access the Hotline to Hell after having heard a rumor of its existance and are then brought before Enma Ai, the Hell
Girl, who hands them a straw doll with a red string tied around it, telling them that if they untie the string,
vengeance will be taken at the cost of eternal damnation. When the string gets untied, the tables turn, the antagonist
is spirited off to Hell and those who have sold their souls to the Hell Girl remain to face the consequence of their
pact.
Individual episodes of the series invariably follow this formula, and while the different characters are often very
compelling and different circumstances do help spice things up, after a few episodes the story does start to become a
bit stale. It isn't until partway through the series that a cohesive plotline starts to develop when the rumor of
the Hell Girl piques the interest of a freelance journalist who starts to investigate mysterious incidents that may have
to do with the Hell Girl over the backdrop of the usual individual plot structure. It will be interesting to see where
this plot goes, but unless a major twist or wrinkle appears in the plot, the unique concept of the series alone will not
be able to salvage the story and make it interesting enough to continue following.
Character development is also fairly weak, at least in the first dozen episodes, because there is little time to develop
the casts of individual stories before they are discarded at the end of their respective episodes. The Hell Girl
herself is an utterly emotionless and static character whose motivations and background are never disclosed, and the
three members of her little entourage are little different. Furthermore, while some of the antagonists have motivations
that are gradually revealed over the course of an episode, others seem to be nothing more than cookie-cutter evildoers
who simply torment others for the hell of it. The only characters that have any measure of depth seem to be the
journalist and his young daughter, of whom we are starting to learn more as the series progresses.
All in all, at this point in time, the series, while off to something of a slow start, still has a lot of potential that
it could capitalize upon in its second half. At the same time, if the rest of the series is nothing other than more of
the same, then for all of its conceptual originality, this series will easily become just another metaphorical face in
the crowd.
Rating: 6
Art
Character design is certainly a strength of this series, as exemplified by the designs for Enma Ai, the Hell Girl.
Whether dressed in a schoolgirl outfit or in a traditional black kimono with drifting (literally) flowers, she cuts a
graceful and elegant figure. At the same time, she has a certain unnerving mystery surrounding her, a quality lent her
in the unblinking gaze of her large red eyes. All of the other characters, recurring or otherwise, all have very
distinct, if far less-striking, appearances as well, drawn in reasonably good detail in the same general style as
characters in contemporary series.
In the animation category, Jigoku Shoujo does not fare quite as well. The animation quality is not poor, but the
recycling of footage, especially the sequence when the Hell Girl responds to a summons to exact vengeance, becomes
routine as the series progresses. It would be nice to be able to see those sequences, which invariably occur at certain
points in every episode, from different perspectives or different settings just to make things more interesting. On the
other hand, the sequences leading up to individual antagonists being dragged, kicking and screaming, to the gates of
Hell are substantially different from episode to episode based upon the particular sins of the respective antagonists
and are both very well-designed and reasonably well-animated.
Rating: 7
Sound
As far as background music goes, the soundtrack to Jigoku Shoujo is actually quite good in setting up the requisite mood
for individual scenes. As is the case with many such soundtracks, many of the tracks are not particularly well-suited
for listening on their own, but while that may deter some from purchasing the soundtrack, that fact does not detract
from the quality of the soundtrack as a soundtrack in the most fundamental sense. Furthermore, the opening theme,
Hakasama no Chou, is perhaps one of the best anime opening themes of the season. Performed by SNoW, a 20-year old
singer from Tokyo who is just starting to enter into the J-music scene, it is one of those laid-back themes that makes
good use of an acoustic guitar harmonic line to complement a catchy melodic line.
In the voice acting department there is little to say (which for anime series is not a bad thing). Enma Ai does have a
very soft and somewhat airy voice that, while I typically do not prefer, seems to fit her character particularly well.
Besides, the softness in her voice, when combined with her penetrating stare, only serves to make the moment each
episode when she asks a doomed antagonist, "would you like to see what death is like," all the more chilling.
Rating: 8
Presentation
As mentioned previously, Jigoku Shoujo has a very clever and original premise that it relies heavily upon.
Unfortunately, overuse of this single concept makes the series tend towards what is essentially repetition, one of the
two major complaints with the series. While this may be intentional, to add an added philosophical or religious aspect
to the series, the consistent plot formula (albeit with occasional wrinkles tossed in) and recycled clips do eventually
wear away at the great potential of the series. With the gradual inclusion of a unifying storyline, the plot is
beginning to pick up and thus this weakness is starting to be alleviated, and therefore it is likely that in the
remaining episodes the series will pick up and fully capitalize on its potential.
However, the second complaint still stands. To put it bluntly, for an anime about vengeance and eternal damnation, it
simply isn't scary. While the horror sequences that lead up to an antagonist being dragged, often kicking and
screaming, are well-executed in design and animation, oftentimes they simply do not evoke the sheer terror that the
damned antagonists should be feeling. In place of the dread and fright that should be the stuff of nightmares, the
series instead often coaxes little more than vague queasy feelings. On the other hand, this may be a good thing, as
this reviewer does not handle gore and horror very well, but this shortcoming still stands as a fundamental weakness of
the series.
Overall, do these two flaws ultimately doom this series? While the question is a personal one that certainly depends on
the tastes and preferences of individual viewers, know that even in light of the aforementioned weaknesses, there is
still something about how everything comes together in this anime that makes this reviewer come back again and again for
more whenever a new episode becomes available.
Rating: 6
Final Verdict
6.5000 (above average)
Reviewed by shinsengumi, Feb 24, 2006
