Ai continues to tantalize audiences with her personal tale, but still fails to deliver.

plot summary

Hajime Shibata and his daughter, Tsugumi, have become obsessed with finding Hell Girl, and will go to any lengths to travel to the places she’s been sighted. Tsugumi has an uncanny ability to see what Ai Enma, Hell Girl, sees and can then tell her father where Ai will strike next.

Father and daughter journey to a tiny island, one which Tsugumi saw in her visions, in order to stop another unholy bargaining of souls. The duo next travel to a circus and a mental ward, but are unable to catch up to Ai and her henchmen.

With the copious amount of souls being bartered away, will Hell have room for them all?

review

Hell Girl, the anime, must have realized it was boring me to tears with its repetitious, disconnected episodes, since it started making more comprehensive ones in this volume. The stories have swung back from ludicrous and laughable to scary and pitiable. I prefer the latter over the former, but the series still remains about individual stories rather than the whole of Ai Enma, her role as Hell Girl, her henchmen and how those same henchmen came to serve Ai.

Character Development

Ai is beginning to appear more human with each new episode. There’s emotion starting to show in the cracks of her cool visage. She also appears to know about her connection with Tsugumi, either because she herself is the one responsible or because she’s aware of the connection but unconcerned over it, even welcoming it. In one of the episodes, Ai actually extends her protection to Tsugumi and her father; two people who are determined to put an end to Ai and her work.

Aside from a bit more humanity coming from Hell Girl, there’s no other development. The three henchmen, Ren, Onna, and WanyÅ«dō while interesting as tools of damnation, are just that: tools. Apparently tools need no fleshing out or explanation, they just are, end of discussion.

Conclusion

While the lack of forward momentum in this series is frustrating, this volume at least was entertaining. The stories in this volume made more sense than in previous volumes, and I agreed wholeheartedly with most of the candidates up for damnation. I would have even pulled the string on a few of the nominees. Yet, I still consider the lack of pacing and focus to be a distraction. How will Hell Girl end? When will it start picking up loose ends and tie them up in some fashion?

If one were to grade the series thus far on its merits as a quasi-random horror series, similar to the Twilight Zone, it would be given high marks. But if it were graded as a comprehensive series, one that’s filled with progressive story, pacing and a definitive point, then it receives a failing grade. Thankfully, Hell Girl has two more semesters, I mean volumes, to straighten up and do better.

Rating

Hell Girl, Volume Four gets 2.5 outta 4 Hammies!

Retail Info

• Publisher: Funimation
• Release Date:February 26, 2008
• Retail Price: $26.99
• Number of discs:1
• Episodes:15-18
• Run Time: 100 minutes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Language: English, Japanese
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Format: Animated, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen

Volume Three of Hellgirl, continues to punish “evildoers”, but now the definition of “evil” is put to the test as Ai and her group accept almost all petitioners to Hell Link. Who’s evil now? The victim or the antagonist?

Plot Summary

It looks like things aren’t as black and white as they first were for Ai and her friends. The people logging onto Hell Link don’t always have righteous retribution in mind when they click on the website. Sometimes, the petitioners are as bad as the “antagonists” in terms of right and wrong.

Things have gotten even more complicated for Ai, as Hajime Shibata and his daughter, Tsugumi, are still hot on Ai’s trail, trying to put an end to her work. Hajime goes out of his way, risking his life and soul, to find the next petitioners of Ai’s. He then tries to dissuade them in their unholy quest.

Ai’s friends, Ren, Onna, and WanyÅ«dō have caught wind of Hajime’s meddling, and in turn watch him as he tries to track the quartet down. For now, they leave Hajime to his own devices, confident in their abilities to handle him if and when that time comes.

But Hajime and his daughter are getting pulled deeper and deeper into Ai’s world. The journalist now faces the horrific truth behind Hellgirl and must confront those in his life who have dealings with her.

review

I would say that this volume was as boring as the first two, but that’d be unfair. It is fair, however, to say this volume is more infuriating, annoying, and nonsensical than the previous volumes.

Apparently, as shown in Volume One, Ai can pick and choose which applicants to accept. If this is the case, I have a hard time understanding her motivations for taking undeserving souls. The second episode, “Spilled Bits” is a shallow glossing over of a girl with emotional problems who gets her hands on Hell Link. The victim isn’t a victim and the perpetrator isn’t a bad person in the least. This is one the dumbest episodes to date; this and “Beyond the Dead End“, that sucked hard too.

Character Development

I’m banging my head against the computer screen going, “Why, why, why is there zero character development that counts?” This series has such potential to be good! What the hell is wrong with the studio, mangaka, or whoever dreamed up the pacing for this story? There’s been nothing to indicate who Ai is or who she was, except for the episode “Purgatory Girl”. Even then all we get is a glance back in time about seventy years. But nothing in this brief glance explains anything!

For all we know, Ai is some demon emissary from Hell, bent on world domination. Her buddies are window dressing in the series but they’re tantalizing window dressing. They all fulfill interesting roles in Ai’s work, yet they get the shaft when it comes to explanations or development. Is everyone on Ai’s team a demon emissary from Hell bent on world domination? Your guess is as good as mine…

The Shibatas are intriguing and a good storytelling device. Even they’re not given any fleshing out, though. Hajime is a lowlife journalist who blackmails famous people with naughty pictures (man, anime gives journalists a bad name!) but that’s it. Development’s done. That’s unfair.

It’s unfair to make a viewer invest time and money in a series and not have the anime work to fill out the important bits. A good anime does this in pieces, all at once, or in its own time, but does it well nonetheless. A bad anime assumes the viewer doesn’t need things like “pacing” or “development”. Pffft. Who needs that when you got purty pictures?

And that’s what cheeses me off about Hell Girl; it wouldn’t need to work hard to be a good anime. It’s being counterproductive by slouching by with the development and pacing. Either that or the studio plans on a big “reveal” the next season, which would also blow. For shame if that’s the case!

I don’t like it when a potentially good anime gets lazy. I paid money and time and expect an anime to live up to my expectations of it as a series or movie. I expected Hell Girl to be excellent, but thus far, it’s been mediocre. Far worse than that, however, is how it refuses to progress. I keep threatening to toss this series on the “crap” pile of anime, but I have some hope (a tiny sliver) Hell Girl can be redeemed. For now, though, I consign this volume to Hell.

Rating

Hell Girl, Volume Three gets 1.5 outta 4 Hammies!

Retail Info

• Publisher: Funimation
• Release Date: January 15, 2008
• Retail Price: $26.99
• Number of discs: 1
• Episodes: 11-14
• Run Time: 100 minutes
• Rating: TV MA
• Language: English, Japanese
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Format: Animated, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen

In Volume Two of Hellgirl, Ai continues to dole out retribution to any who access her site, but someone is catching onto Ai and her cohorts.

review

Ai has been plenty busy of late, as more and more people click on Hell Link looking for revenge. A few of Ai’s petitioners are sincere in their need for vengeance, while others are petty creatures bent on inflicting spiteful pain.

Ai has been researching each new case, but even if each case is unworthy, she still takes up the “victim’s” cry for retribution. However, someone’s been researching Ai and her group.

Hajime Shibata is a freelance journalist who has taken an interest in the city’s latest internet craze, Hell Link. He’s turned his attention on Hell Girl, but can’t seem to get any real leads on the story. That is until his daughter Tsugumi sees Ai one day and begins to have visions of the victim’s and antagonist’s vengeance and punishment.

Tsugumi and her father hunt Ai down in order to stop victims from selling their souls. People, though, don’t seem to mind the hefty price, and Hajime is stymied in his quest. Hell Girl roams unrestrained for now, and Hell is beginning to slowly fill with damner and damned.

review

Volume Two of Hell Girl didn’t stretch itself far in terms of developing the anime. The stories were pretty much the same, if not with a few more twists. I wasn’t wowed by anything new, like I felt I should have been, and this series hasn’t captured much of my interest or attention. The second volume of any anime should be the hook which lands the viewer into committing to the entire series, if it hasn’t already done so in Volume One. Volume Two didn’t land my interest and bored me in many instances.

The retributions and punishments were once again unbalanced if not downright dumb: Who would send their soul to Hell because their mom doesn’t have the gumption to stand up to her slutty neighbor? One episode was really, really creepy, however, and did catch my attention. It reminded me that certain people shouldn’t have access to dangerous weapons, and Hell Link is far worse than any weapon. It also reminded me that stalkers come in all shapes and sizes.

Character Development

There’s still no development of Ai beyond the sense that she’s lonely and might not like what she’s doing. When Tsugumi sees Ai, Ai sees her as well, and tells her grandmother she made a new “friend”. That was sad and insightful, and I wanted to see more of what made Ai who she is. I’m also still wanting to see the back story behind her henchmen, but there’s no hint that’ll happen anytime soon.

Tsugumi and her dad were elements of interest, and I bet through them is how we’ll learn about Ai and Hell Link. Leave it to a journalist to uncover truths when they shouldn’t be uncovered.

Yet, the series is still wasting its time with the vengeances and such. The scenes where Ai tells the victims the terms of the agreement are still overlong and the punishments aren’t nearly as ironic as they should be. The one exception was the punishment involving the actress; that was dead on.

I’m not sure I want to invest anymore time in Hell Girl since it doesn’t seem keen on investing time in development and actual story. The anime is eking out development like its a precious commodity instead of a common factor which is integral to good anime. Hell Girl is still far too intent on each episode and not on the series as a whole. Volume Three has a heavy burden to carry in the way of developing the series. If Volume Three doesn’t further the story, I won’t stick around for Volume Four.

Rating

Hell Girl, Volume Two gets 2.5 outta 4 Hammies

Retail Info

• Publisher: Funimation
• Release Date:December 4, 2007
• Retail Price: $29.98
• Number of discs: 1
• Episodes: 6-10
• Run Time: 125 minutes
• Rating: Unrated
• Language: English, Japanese
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Format: Animated, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen

Hellgirl is a for-hire avatar of vengeance and ambassador of Hell, who trucks in “a dish best served cold” in exchange for souls. But what offense can possibly be horrible enough to damn a soul to eternal damnation?

plot summary

At midnight, online, if a link is clicked right as the hour strikes twelve, a website will appear which will hear your grievance and mete out punishment to the perpetrators. The website is Jigoku Tsūshin- Hell Link- and the web-mistress cum executioner is Ai Enma, aka, Jigoku Shoujo- Hellgirl.

This slight, dark-haired child with red eyes, has the power to command Hell in order for retribution to be made to an injured party by way of damning the injurer to Hell forever. However, if vengeance is agreed upon, the person who signs the execution order must in turn be damned to Hell upon their own death.

Hellgirl tirelessly reads the many messages she receives on her wesbite and journeys to the mortal realm to explain the terms of Damnation to would be Damn-ers. The person seeking retribution is then given a straw doll and told to untie the red string if they agree to the contract. After the pact has been made, Ai doles out the appropriate punishment.

Hellgirl is not alone on her missions of vengeance: Ichimoku Ren, a young man in casual clothes, WanyÅ«dō, an older man in dated clothing, and Hone Onna, a woman who dresses like a prostitute, also assist Ai in the retributions. Together, these four create punishments which fit the antagonists crimes. The one who has wronged another is then given a chance to acknowledge their guilt before they’re dragged down into eternal damnation.

Who can be so desperate as to consign their own soul to Hell in order to do so to another?

review

On the surface, the concept for Hellgirl is intriguing: Creepy young girl with monotone voice condemns souls to Hell for victims in exchange for said person’s soul. The first episode, “From Beyond the Twilight“, was appropriately depressing and introduces the audience to the hellish conditions which would be the deciding factor in paying the ultimate price for peace of mind and retribution.

School girls are some of the most spiteful, evil creatures ever spawned and can drive an innocent to tears with their constant bullying and back-handed trickery. In the first case, it’s easy to understand the motivation for invoking Hellgirl. However, the punishment for the antagonist wasn’t nearly ironic enough, or severe enough, for the high price of a soul. It seemed like the protagonist of that episode got short-shrifted.

The following episodes were a mixed lot of varying degrees of suffering on the part of the victims. Some cases that Ai picked up were trivial and didn’t seem to warrant the punishment due to either the victim or the perpetrator. One which really stood out as imbalanced was the episode, “Silent Cries“. Granted I love my pet very, very much, but I wouldn’t condemn either myself or another to Hell forever if something bad were to happen to her. Ironically, the ironic punishment meted out in that episode was absolutely the best and most apropos for the entire volume.

Each episode has what I call a “Charge-up Sequence“. A Charge-up Sequence, CS for short, is when a character or characters charge-up their mechs or themselves before a battle sequence, or a magical-girl transforms into her powerful alter-ego, or is any repeated scene which routinely builds up to a finale or fight scene. In this case, it’s Ai bathing in the river, dressing in her kimono, and riding in a flaming palanquin to the mortal realm. After the punishment is administered by her assistants, Ai says a phrase damning the particular soul to Hell. Hellgirl then consigns the soul to Hell by delivering it there on a boat which she ferries.

It’s the same scenes every episode, give or take a few details. These charge-up scenes eat into time which could be better spent developing Ai or her assistants’ backgrounds or better spent developing more creative and suitable punishments.

Character Development

As of yet, there’s no character development for Ai or her companions. It feels as though character development will unfold later in the series. The victims in the individual cases are, for the most part, sympathetic. I could connect with two out of the five protagonists and felt actual loathing and disgust for the same number of antagonists. The other three episodes were, although not shallow, still not as profound as the other two cases.

Character Design

Hellgirl, the anime, has some beautiful character designs and color usage. The everyday world of the human realm is just that; everyday, yet still sparkles with its own beauty. However, the twilight world which Ai calls home is stunning in its shadowy glory. The beautiful landscapes and shimmery ambiance is creepy in the unchanging evening light; an appropriate home for a debt collector for Hell.

Actual character designs are one-up from average anime in the way the eyes and clothes are designed. Hellgirl’s expressionless red eyes look dead, while the eyes of the victims are filled with pain and emotion. The clothing is also exceptional: Ai’s ceremonial kimono is simply gorgeous with its rich black background and colorful, condemning poppies- symbolism anyone?

Animation

Studio Deen animated Hellgirl and did a superb job of it. The characters movements are smooth: hair flows naturally, clothes drape realistically, and eyes fill with tears convincingly. Many details in the episodes also increase the beauty of the series. It all adds up to a gorgeous anime.

Music

The OP, NightmaRe, is decent but would have been good without the one or two English lines interjected randomly into the song. Aizome, the ED, is haunting and sad. The beautiful animation which accompanies it is a perfect match and is just as emotive as the song. The soundtrack for the episodes is well written and matches the themes for each scene.

Voice Acting

Both the English and Japanese voice casts are fairly strong. The Japanese voice cast, however, was more appropriate for the subject matter.

Production

The DVD for Volume One is as beautiful as the animation: Gold detailing and rich colors make the DVD jacket a work of art in itself. Details aren’t limited to the outside of the DVD, however. Inside the DVD jacket is illustrated as well as the DVD itself. Included with the volume are two sumptuous, frame-worthy postcards featuring Ai.

Hellgirl, Volume One explores who’s willing to pay the ultimate price for satisfaction in the here and now. It also speaks about where people place their priorities; which can be eye-opening and sad at the same time. However, I would like to see more time spent on the development of Ai and her companions and less time being wasted on Ai’s Charge-up Scenes. If Hellgirl devotes more time on the Girl and less on the Hell, Jigoku Shoujo will be damned good.

Rating

Hellgirl, Volume One gets 2.5 outta 4 Hammies!