Hell Girl

Hell Girl
The cover of eighth Japanese DVD compilation of the second season released by Aniplex on August 22, 2007
地獄少女 (Jigoku Shōjo)
Genre	Horror, Mystery, Supernatural
TV anime
Directed by	Takahiro Ōmori
Written by	Ken'ichi Kanemaki
Studio	Studio Deen
Licensed by	Madman Entertainment Funimation Revelation films
Network	Animax, MBS, Tokyo MX, Kids Station
English network	IFC Animax Asia Okto
Original run	October 4, 2005 – April 4, 2006
Episodes	26 (List of episodes)
Manga
Written by	Miyuki Etō
Published by	Kodansha
English publisher	Del Rey Manga
Demographic	Shōjo
Magazine	Nakayoshi
Original run	October 2005 – 2008
Volumes	9
TV anime
Hell Girl: Two Mirrors (Jigoku Shōjo: Futakomori)
Directed by	Takahiro Ōmori
Written by	Ken'ichi Kanemaki
Studio	Studio Deen
Licensed by	Sentai Filmworks
Network	Animax, MBS, Tokyo MX, Kids Station
English network	Animax Asia
Original run	October 7, 2006 – April 6, 2007
Episodes	26 (List of episodes)
TV drama
Directed by	Makoto Naganuma
Studio	Izumi TV Production
Network	Nippon Television
Original run	November 4, 2006 – January 27, 2007
Episodes	12
Game
Jigoku Shōjo Akekazura
Developer	Compile Heart
Rating	CERO: B (Ages 12 and up)
Platform	Nintendo DS, PS2
Released	September 27, 2007 (DS), September 19, 2009 (PS2)
TV anime
Hell Girl: Three Vessels (Jigoku Shōjo: Mitsuganae)
Directed by	Hiroshi Watanabe
Written by	Ken'ichi Kanemaki
Studio	Studio Deen
Licensed by	Sentai Filmworks
Network	Animax, MBS, Tokyo MX
Original run	October 4, 2008 – April 4, 2009
Episodes	26 (List of episodes)
Anime and Manga Portal

Hell Girl (地獄少女, Jigoku Shōjo^?), also known as Jigoku Shōjo: Girl from Hell is an anime series, produced by Aniplex and Studio Deen. It focuses on the existence of a supernatural system that allows people to take revenge by having other people sent to Hell via the services of the mysterious titular character and her assistants who implement this system. Revenge, injustice, hatred, and the nature of human emotions are common themes throughout the series.

It premiered across Japan on numerous television stations, including Animax, Tokyo MX, MBS and others, between October 4, 2005 and April 4, 2006. Following the success of the first season, the series was followed soon after into a second, Jigoku Shōjo Futakomori (地獄少女 二籠^?), which premiered October 7, 2006 across Japan on Animax. A live-action television series adaptation started airing in Japan on Nippon Television from November 4, 2006. A third season of the anime, further continuing the series, was first announced on the mobile version of the series' official website Jigoku Tsūshin.^[1] The official title of the third season was announced to be Jigoku Shōjo Mitsuganae (地獄少女 三鼎^?).^[2] and began airing on Japanese TV October 4, 2008.^[3]

Story

Most episodes are self-contained short stories in which the series narrates the suffering of a different individual caused by one or more antagonists. In general during each arc, the protagonists' dramas are explained in detail from the start of their grudges, through the escalation of their torment until it becomes unbearable and they resort to accessing the Hell Correspondence website. Although in general, the client gives the antagonist a chance, he or she usually ends up pulling the string on his or her doll and sending the antagonist to hell. Once they have pulled the string, before taking the antagonist to hell, Ai Enma punishes the person for his or her sins with the help of her companions.

In the first season, the story soon follows a journalist named Shibata Hajime, a former blackmailer, and his daughter Tsugumi who shares a strange connection with the Hell Girl as they investigate the truth behind the Hell Girl. In the second season, a mysterious young girl from Hell, named Kikuri who is able to travel freely between Earth and the Twilight realm where Ai resides, is introduced. Later, the plot centers around Takuma Kurebayashi, a boy who is blamed by his townsfolk for causing disappearances around the town that are in reality caused by the townsfolk using the Hell Correspondence. In the third season, some time after Ai's death, Kikuri returns to recruit Ai's assistants along with a yōkai named Yamawaro, who accepts an old offer from Ai to become her fourth assistant. The story follows Ai's mysterious revival from death and subsequent inhabitation of the body of a young schoolgirl, Yuzuki Mikage.

Hell Correspondence

The medium through which a client contacts Ai Enma has changed over the centuries. Initially clients would write the names of whom they hated on an ema, which later changed to sending a letter to the address appearing in a three-column newspaper advertisement only visible to those with enough hatred. Once the internet became available, people could access the Hell Correspondence website, otherwise known as the "Hotline to Hell". Soon after, the site was adapted into a mobile version that could be accessed from cell phones.^[4]

Each medium can only be used at midnight by one who harbors a desire for revenge against their object of hatred. Should someone submit the name of someone against whom they bear a grudge or immense hatred, and their request is accepted, Ai Enma will take them to a realm of perpetual twilight where she offers them a straw doll, one of her companions, with a red string wound around its neck and describe to the client the details of their contract; should the client pull the string tied around the doll's neck, she will ferry the target of the revenge straightaway to Hell. However, once the client's life has ended, he or she, too, will go to Hell, and a black crest-shaped mark appears on the client's chest to serve as a permanent reminder of this and their decision to send someone to Hell. However, this mark is no guarantee that the person themselves won't be sent to hell by another client.

Characters

Main characters

Ai Enma (閻魔 あい, Enma Ai^?)

Voiced by: Mamiko Noto (Japanese), Brina Palencia (English)

The main protagonist of the series, who is arguably an anti-heroine as well. With long, straight black layered hair with a fringe, ruby-red eyes and pale skin, she is a spiritual entity with a tragic past, who lives in a place frozen in time as it basks in eternal sunset, along with her grandmother. There are 4 dolls visible near the computer, which are her companions. With an old computer inside their house, Ai is able to receive the names of the clients who have used the website, and delivers their revenge. She normally wears a black sailor uniform, but always wears a black kimono with floral designs when delivering the vengeance of a client. Whenever a contract is fulfilled, after the targeted person suffers the hellish hallucinations which exploit their flaws and crimes, she appears to the condemned and recites the following rite, before rowing them to eternal damnation:

Yami ni madoishi awarena kage yo (闇に惑いし哀れ な影よ^?, "Oh,pitiful shadow cloaked in darkness")

Hito o kizutsuke otoshimete (人を傷つけ貶め て^?, "Thy actions cause men pain and suffering")

Tsumi ni oboreshi gō no tama (罪に溺れし業の 魂^?, " Thy soul drowns in thy sins")

Ippen... shindemiru? (一遍... 死んで見る？^?, "How would you like to see what death is like?")

Ai started her career as the Hell Girl by her own act of vengeance on the villagers who sentenced her to a sacrificial death as part of their village's tradition. Her eyes, once a deep brown, turned red arguably at the point where Sentarou (her childhood friend and cousin who gave in under the villagers' pressure to bury her alive) gave the first shovel of soil onto her face. She broke out of her grave after a while, and took revenge on the entire village with her wrath, burning it to the ground. Her task of fulfilling other people's vengeance and ferrying people to Hell is her punishment, a task which she had performed for 400 years after that incident. A Spider, later revealed to be the god of Hell, gave her life again and made a pact; in exchange for her immortal form, she cannot enter Hell and must remain on its shores, acting as the deliverer of people's hatred and vengeance. In order to serve these tasks, the god of Hell demanded that Ai forget her own hatred, numbing herself to the sufferings of others and becoming a mere observer of any happenings. If not, the souls of her beloved would have to wander Hell forever. Having no choice, Ai agreed and became Hell Girl.

Although this task is presented as atonement, it is unknown whether she will ever be freed of it. Wanyūdō noted she still had feelings, although she did not express them strongly, and it was later revealed that Ai had been ordered to close her heart by the Spider. But the experiences she has with the Shibatas made Ai express anger towards them. When enraged, Ai demonstrates the ability to hurl great blasts of black energy, as well as the power to create elaborate illusions and teleport. She also has the ability to show someone the future of a grudge, as she showed Yuzuki in the third season. Though, this ability may be limited to some degree, as Ai was unable to predict her confrontation with the Hell Boy, Gill du Ronfell. It is strongly implied that these powers and abilities are obtained as the result of becoming Hell Girl, as it is shown at the end of the second season that Ai loses all of her powers when she becomes human again and at the end of the third season that Yuzuki, who becomes the next Hell Girl, also receives the same powers.

In the second season, Ai becomes more expressive and shows more emotions, being more willing to interact with her "clients" and victims. She even puts up a "V for Victory" sign in front of her target by way of mocking him as he is dragged to his doom. She had also been seen reading from a fashion magazine while her compatriots watch over their client, and had showed concern towards a mother who willingly ended her life so that her daughter doesn't have to send her to Hell. As she witnesses Takuma Kurebayashi's disheartening persecution, Ai recollects her emotions pertaining to her own wrongful persecution and she defies her 'employer', the God of Hell, and becomes restored to human life, and killed shortly thereafter, when saving Takuma from his tormentors. After Ai's self-sacrifice, her body dissolves into sakura petals and drifts into the sky.

In the beginning of the third season, Ai transports another girl, Yuzuki Mikage, to a strange illusion and a vision, where Ai possessed her. Eventually, her body is later released during The Six-script Lantern ceremony in her town in which the gate to Hell is temporarily open allowing Ai to be released from her body. Ai eventually reveals to Yuzuki that she is destined to become her successor. Ai disappears without a word after Yuzuki becomes Hell Girl. Eventually she returns to take the role of Hell Girl once again in order to spare Yuzuki from being sent to Hell.

Wanyūdō (輪入道^?)

Voiced by: Takayuki Sugo (Japanese), R. Bruce Elliott (English)

Wanyūdō is the first of Ai's three companions. He generally appears as an old man whose eyes remains shut, wearing a traditional yukata with a long-sleeved haori, and a red scarf around his neck. When needed by Ai, he takes the form of the black straw doll that Ai hands to her clients in the series. He also frequently takes the form of Ai's coach with burning wheels when she goes to the human world to claim a soul. The coach bears the same black flame-crest that appears on the chest of those people who contract with the Hell Girl. Despite appearing quite mild-mannered, frail and weak with age at most times, Wanyūdō possesses considerable skills in martial arts and is capable of hurling fireballs and performing feats of inhuman strength. Wanyūdō's name is derived from the yōkai of the same name and means "A wheel entering the road". In episode 12 of Futakomori, it is revealed that he was the driver of a princess' entourage carriage, which fell off a cliff. The coach caught fire and all aboard were killed. As a result, he became a yōkai terrorizing people in the form of a flaming wheel with his own enlarged, infuriated face as a hubcap, until he met Ai and she invited him to join her as her first companion. Wanyūdō revealed to Ai his ability to shapeshift. Wanyūdō lives out his life in peace as a human after Ai dies at the end of the second season, but is soon recruited by Kikuri to become Ai's assistant again. At the end of the third season he comes to the aid of the newest Hell Girl, Yuzuki, but returns as Ai's assistant after she becomes Hell Girl again.

Ren Ichimoku (一目 連, Ichimoku Ren^?)

Voiced by: Masaya Matsukaze (Japanese), Todd Haberkorn (English)

Ren is Ai's second companion, and usually takes the form of a handsome young man in a green cardigan and a black shirt. His hair covers the left side of his face and that part of his face is usually seen. He has the ability to see the inside of a building through projecting the eye on the walls and ceilings. The large eye can also be used as a weapon through projecting intense flashes of light. When required, Ren becomes a blue straw doll. Ren's name means "one glance company". He is sometimes referred to as "Moku" or "Ishimoto Ren". His powers in human form is a reference to Daidarabotchi, a type of mythological giant that is enshrouded in shadow. It is later revealed that Ren is a tsukumogami, a type of spirit that originates from an artifact which has gained sentence after a long period of existence. In Ren's case, he was once a katana, forced to be aware and watch whatever was done with him. He was given his current form(s) by Ai, who collected him after he was abandoned on a large rock after a battle, during which his most recent owner was slain. Ai thinks that he is looking for something and asks him to accompany her. He agrees saying that the rock he was abandoned on was getting pretty boring. Since that time, Ren has apparently grown quite fond of his human form, displaying considerable vanity from time to time. Ai claims she invited him to join her because there is something that Ren is looking for, a fact perhaps manifested in Ren's occasional puzzlement and inability to understand the things humans do. Alternatively, some of Ren's comments indicate that what he was looking for was companionship, something to fill the emptiness of his existence as a sword used for endless killing. Ren has apparently developed feelings for his colleagues, seeing them as family. Ren lives his life in peace as a human between the events of the second and third seasons. This proves to be short lived after he is recruited by Kikuri to become Ai's assistant again. Ren serves as a science teacher at Yuzuki's school several times while investigating clients that attend the school. At the end of the third season when Yuzuki becomes Hell Girl, he and Hone Onna investigate why Tsugumi is moving out of town. They suspect it was because of Hajime and because Tsugumi was unable to save Yuzuki. Ren becomes Ai's assistant once again after she replaces Yuzuki as Hell Girl.

Hone Onna (骨女^?, Bone Woman)

Voiced by: Takako Honda (Japanese), Jennifer Seman (English)

Hone Onna is Ai's third companion, and she often takes the form of a sultry woman in a kimono with its obi tied in front. She dislikes being called "old lady". She becomes the red straw doll when necessary by tossing her red obi jime over her shoulder. Hone Onna and Ren investigate the people who make a contract and the ones they have a grudge against. She usually infiltrates human society in casual clothing to investigate cases, on these occasions she tends to use the pseudonym "Sone Anna". She has used throwing knives as weapons in the first season of the show, and has shown considerable skill with these weapons. Hone Onna also seems to have some skill as a contortionist, which allows her to squeeze into very small places. The name Hone Onna comes from the legendary creature of the same name, literally meaning "bone woman", which reflects her ability to expose the bones in her body to scare the victims of the revenge Ai delivers. It is revealed that she had been a geisha named Tsuyu who was betrayed by a man whom she had fallen in love with after he sold her to a brothel to be able to pay off his own debts. Tsuyu was betrayed again when she attempted to arrange the escape of a fellow geisha named Kiyo with a man who had come to truly love Tsuyu. Tsuyu and the man were later murdered by a Yakuza, and that same Yakuza cast Tsuyu into a river afterward. Spirits rising from human bones thrown into the river before merged with Tsuyu's restless spirit, transforming Tsuyu into the yōkai Hone Onna, in which form she later met Ai. Hone lives out her life as a human after Ai dies at the end of the second season. This proves to be short lived as Kikuri comes to recruit her several years later to become Ai's assistant again. After Yuzuki becomes Hell Girl, she and Ren investigate why Tsugumi is moving out of town. The two suspect it is because of Hajime and because Tsugumi was unable to save Yuzuki. Hone Onna becomes Ai's assistant again when she replaces Yuzuki as Hell Girl.

Ai's Grandmother (あいの祖母, Ai no Sobo^?)

Voiced by: Eriko Matsushima (Japanese), Juli Erickson (English)

She is never actually seen in the series, other than as a shadowy silhouette behind a paper screen that is always spinning thread in her room. She occasionally notifies Ai when a new client beeps on the computer and advises her, occasionally commenting on the cases she takes up. She doesn't talk to anyone except Ai, although in an episode in season one, she made the exception of talking to Shibata Hajime. A single human eyewitness in Futakomori who had observed Ai's grandmother ran in terror, implying that her appearance may be other than human. During the final episode of Futakomori she stops spinning threads for the first time and thanks Ai's three assistants for everything they have done. Ai's Grandmother doesn't appear in the third season until episode 14. That is due to the fact that neither of Ai's companions reside in the realm of Eternal Twilight anymore, and until that episode, instead of the usual ritualistic bathing and the grandma preparing Ai's nagajuban, Ai simply took over Yuzuki's body and appeared already dressed.

The Spider (人面蜘蛛, Jinmen Gumo^?)

Voiced by: Hidekatsu Shibata (Japanese), John Swasey (English)

An oddly-coloured spider with three eyes upon its abdomen, which appears in the sunset world where Ai and her assistants reside between assignments. It speaks with the voice of a man and is apparently Ai's superior, having been the one to pronounce sentence on her after she killed the people of her village. It appears to be holding the souls of Ai's loved ones (her parents) as hostage. If Ai does not do the task she has been given, The Spider has threatened that her parents would wander in darkness for eternity. The Spider demonstrates an ability to pilot the ferryboat to Hell and tries to restrain Ai, having decided to take her to Hell after her feelings of rage reawakened and she violently attacked the Shibatas. Ai turned out to be too strong for it to hold her without her consent. The Spider is neither liked nor trusted by Ai's assistants, with whom it in turn does not speak. In the last episode of Futakomori, Wanyūdō identifies The Spider as the God of Hell. It can be inferred that The God of Hell deliberately exposed Ai to a situation reminiscent of her own death in order to test whether she would obey its will or act on her impulse to interfere with Takuma's plight. The God of Hell returns in season 3 to punish the newest Hell Girl, Yuzuki, after she breaks the rules and tries to send a grudge of her own to Hell. Ai then returns to save Yuzuki from being sent to Hell by The God of Hell, and she offers to replace Yuzuki as Hell Girl. The God of Hell accepts and restores Ai's position as Hell Girl.

Kikuri (きくり^?)

Voiced by: Kanako Sakai

An enigmatic girl introduced in Futakomori. Some people said she is similar to Nemesis (mythology) in Greek as goddess of vengeance. Little is known about her except the fact she is not human. She can wander freely between the mortal plane and Ai's house in the sunset world, sometimes interfering with her and her companions' job; in one instance, she brought a human into the sunset world out of mischief. In stark contrast to Ai, Kikuri has completely purple eyes and her personality is far more childish than Ai's. She has stated that she likes Ai, and some of her actions and use of powers seem to be causing the greatest amount of suffering and fear possible. She seems to take delight in acts of low-level destructiveness, such as chopping off flowers or destroying anything that Ai cares for. She has shown incredible skills with her loincloth, using it to catch or hit objects with considerable accuracy and skill. Despite the fact that she wreaks havoc freely, she has only taken orders from Ai alone. This is seen when Kikuri touches Ai's grandmother's spinning wheels despite the woman's protests, ceasing only when Ai tells her to. In the last episode of the second season, it is revealed that Kikuri is a host for the will of The God of Hell, which can take over her body as it pleases. Hence, it becomes questionable how many of her malicious acts were of her own will and which were instigated by her master. Some of her acts could have been to ensure that Ai's clients would pull the string and send their tormentor to Hell. Nevertheless, she is still compassionate, showing a brief bout of grief immediately after Ai's death. After Ai's death and the release of her beloved ones to wander as lost souls, Kikuri rides on the boat and says "It's over... that was Ai's answer... Well done". As she says those words, she pokes a cherry the color of Ai's eyes in her former childish way. In the third season, Kikuri possesses a wind-up doll that often needs to be rewound by Yamawaro. She also expresses a desire to become Hell Girl several times. She is possessed by The God of Hell again at the end of the third season, but reverts back to Kikuri after Ai becomes Hell Girl again. She is apparently unaware of the fact that she is a host of The God of Hell, as she merely expresses a sensation of feeling sick before being possessed.

Yamawaro (山童^?)

Voiced by: Hekiru Shiina

A hellish creature commanded by the new Hell Girl in season 3, who takes on the look of a young boy, though he can also become a yellow straw doll. In human form, he calls himself by the name of Huang (黄). Often quiet and having a gentle demeanor, not much is known about him as of yet. He follows Kikuri on their assignments in the real world, referring to her as princess. His name is derived from the same name given to a legendary mountain-dwelling creature in Kyūshū from Gazu Hyakki Yakō, an illustrated book on Japanese folklore demons. In episode 6 of Mitsuganae it is hinted that Yamawaro has the power to manipulate objects. In Episode 17 of "Mitsuganae", it is revealed that his name basis holds some truth. He was a ghostly boy who roamed a mountain but whenever he was seen by humans, he looked like a walking pile of mushrooms. It seems in his time before joining Hell Girl, he looked upon a family by the name of Ashiya. Their son Hikaru had gone missing many years ago. The father of the household was a scientist trying to obtain eternal life. Yamawaro stepped in as their son. Ms. Ashiya accepted him with no worry. Mr. Ashiya, knowing that Yamawaro was obviously not human, used Yamawaro for his "Caterpillar fungus" experiments which still manifests in him till this day. He stated it was "to extend his wife's life". After learning of this, Ms. Ashiya shooed Yamawaro away, hoping to spare him from the parasitic experiments at the cost of her own life. She contacted Hell Correspondence to gain revenge on her husband calling it "Hikaru's vengeance". Despite Yamawaro's begging, she pulled the string. Yamawaro watched as the Ashiya mansion swirled away into a cloud of dust. Ms. Ashiya along with it, clutching what seems to be a young boy. This was a key experience to Yamawaro. After Yuzuki becomes Hell Girl, he and Kikuri simply walk away. He is not seen again until The God of Hell possesses Kikuri. After this happens, he returns and helps save Yuzuki from the grasp of The God of Hell by using a powerful supernatural blast. He comes to the aid of Ai again at the end of the third season.

Recurring characters

Hajime Shibata (柴田 一, Shibata Hajime^?)

Voiced by: Yuji Ueda (Japanese), John Burgmeier (English)

A former journalist who earns money by blackmailing celebrities with evidence of their scandals. He began to investigate rumors about the Hell Correspondence website merely out of curiosity, but becomes more heavily involved once he realizes that it is more than just a rumor and people are actually being dragged into the pits of Hell. His daughter Tsugumi seems to have a mysterious connection with Ai Enma, which allows her to see anything significant that Ai sees. Using this ability, Hajime and Tsugumi track down Ai's clients in an attempt to stop them from damning one another. His motivation for doing this is that he believes revenge to be wrong and that it only causes more pain. He raises Tsugumi as a single parent due to the fact that his wife died when Tsugumi was very young. Near the end of the first season, Hajime and Tsugumi are shown Ai's past, which reveals both of them to be descendants of Sentarou, a former close friend and cousin of Ai who had betrayed her. This motivates Ai to tempt Tsugumi into sending Hajime to Hell. In the end, much to Hajime's relief, Tsugumi refuses the grudge after she realizes the importance of her present life over the past she never knew after seeing him weep in remorse over the guilt he felt.

In the second season Futakomori, Hajime is shown to be Ai's biographer. He appears to have visually aged slightly since his last appearance although his face was not shown. A Detective in Futakomori, named Detective Meshiai, attempts to track him down for questioning, but ultimately fails in locating him; revealing Hajime to have disappeared mysteriously between the events of the first and second season.

In the third season Mitsuganae, Tsugumi does not have contact with Hajime. She explains that after a while of trying to save people, Hajime had become exhausted and had finally given up in trying to stop people from sending one another to Hell. He had realized that even the process of trying to stop them was also part of the system itself. Sometime after that, he had written Ai's biography and disappeared without a trace. Ai's assistants appear to be unaware of what happened to Hajime, implying Hajime was not sent to Hell by Hell Correspondence, otherwise they would have known. What has happened to him remains unknown.

Tsugumi Shibata (柴田 つぐみ, Shibata Tsugumi^?)

Voiced by: Nana Mizuki (Japanese), Luci Christian (English)

Hajime's seven-year-old daughter who often refers to him by name (Hajime-chan in the original dub), rather than "father" or "dad". She sees Ai one day while waiting to cross a train track and has a mysterious connection with her ever since. At first, she reports everything she sees through Ai to Hajime, but as the series progresses, she becomes more reluctant to do so as she begins to disagree with her father on whether they should try to stop Ai or not. However, after an innocent nurse is sent to Hell by a drug addict, she begins to realize revenge is wrong. As her mother Ayumi died while she was at a very young age, she grew up without a mother, only knowing her through pictures and her grandparents, the parents of Ayumi. She keeps her deceased mother's earrings with her as a remembrance. At the end of season one, Ai shows Tsugumi visions of how her father and mother argued just before her mother's death, which leads her mother into leaving the house and dying in an accident, in an attempt to blame Hajime for her mother's death so she would send him to Hell. Tsugumi nearly goes over the edge from seeing the visions and Ai's provocation, but Hajime arrives just in time to interfere with Ai's taunting. Ai then shows them both the vision of Tsugumi's mother lying dead inside the wrecked car after the accident, expecting that Hajime would again, like in the past, deny his guilt which would lead to Tsugumi pulling the string. Tsugumi however, refuses to do so after seeing her father weeping in remorse, confirming his guilt over the past and instead forgives him, after remembering their happy life together and realizing that she would ruin her life if she continued as Ai had wanted. She reproaches her father for even suggesting that she pull the string so that he could atone for what he had done and reminds him of the happy life he now shares with her. She then hands the doll back to Ai, stating that she no longer needs it.

In the second season Futakomori, she is briefly shown as a source of information for an investigator. She tells Detective Meshiai that Hajime had written Ai's biography for someone, maybe him. She tells him to trust her father and runs away to confront Kikuri, implying that she has a similar relationship with Kikuri in Futakomori that she had with Ai in the first season. Tsugumi is shown to have slightly grown up, now bearing the appearance of a girl attending junior high school, implying that the events of the second season happened a few years after the conclusion of the first season.

In the third season Mitsuganae, several years had passed since the events of the second season and she is now shown as a young adult working as a nurse at Yuzuki's school. Tsugumi now wears her mother earrings and resembles her slightly. In the middle of the series, during the Six-script Lantern ceremony she first appears to Yuzuki to warn her not to go beyond the torii gate in the river, which is actually a gate to Hell that opens during the ceremony, and then she disappears in the fog mysteriously when Yuzuki looks away. She appears to have gained uncanny knowledge of the supernatural, having known that Yuzuki wouldn't be able to come back if she went beyond the gate because it is a gate to Hell. This knowledge may be due to her spiritual connection with Ai and Kikuri and through seeing some of her visions. Later on, Tsugumi, along with Ai and Yuzuki, are simultaneously lured into a mansion. Upon reaching the mansion, Ai and Tsugumi greet each other, showing to Yuzuki that that they have known each other for quite some time. The mansion that they entered is owned by a man named Shōgo Mizorogi, who is holding an artificial grudge against Tsugumi. Just as Shōgo begins pulling the red string off the straw doll, he is sent to Hell by one of his assistants who held a grudge against him; thus sparing Tsugumi from being sent to Hell. Upon leaving Mizorogi's mansion, she is confronted by Yuzuki, who questions her how she avoided becoming Hell Girl, as she thought Tsugumi was fated to be. Tsugumi responds with saying she believes it is fundamentally impossible to avoid fate, hinting that she knows something behind Yuzuki's situation. Tsugumi expresses how lonely she is several times, confirming that she no longer has contact with her father Hajime. Near the end of the series, signs of Yuzuki's existence begins to disappear until only Tsugumi and the members of Hell Correspondence know her. Tsugumi comes to Yuzuki's aid after she breaks down in school. Yuzuki is then told that she was wrong about something: Tsugumi was not fated to become Hell Girl, like Yuzuki thought due to both of them similarly seeing visions of people who accessed Hell Correspondence, because she was also seeing a different kind of vision, visions about people like Yuzuki, who had also suffered similar situations. She explains that whoever shows them these visions probably did so in order to discourage them. Tsugumi tells Yuzuki that like her father, she too had become exhausted in trying to stop people from sending their tormentors to Hell, and had given up just as Hajime did. Tsugumi suggests Yuzuki should just accept her current situation because she feels it would be better for Yuzuki that way. Those people in Tsugumi's other visions are the girls who were fated to become the next Hell Girl but were unable to accept their fate and as a result, wandered in an interim existence in between this world and the other world. After telling Yuzuki to accept any truth no matter how painful or horrible it is, Tsugumi then reveals to her the terrible truth that Yuzuki no longer exists as a person in the real world and that all this time, Yuzuki's life after childhood up to now was all just an illusion. Her revelation implies that she had encountered others like Yuzuki before due to those visions and helps explain the reason why she is there working in Yuzuki's school: she wanted to save Yuzuki from becoming the next Hell Girl. At the end of the third season, she leaves her apartment and moves out of town. Before she leaves, she is confronted by Ren and Hone Onna, who suspect Tsugumi is moving out of town because she was unable to save Yuzuki.

Ayumi Shibata (柴田 あゆみ, Shibata Ayumi^?)

Voiced by: Hitomi Nabatame (Japanese), Colleen Clinkenbeard (English)

Hajime's late wife and the mother of Tsugumi. Ayumi had been friends with Hajime since they were students. One day, Hajime, who was deeply in love with her, confessed to her in public and due to a misunderstanding, almost led him to believe Ayumi had rejected him. Hajime loved her but he devoted much more time to his work than to his family, even to the point of leaving Ayumi all alone during their wedding day to attend to his work, but with the intent to eventually make his wife happy through earning large amounts of money to improve their family's lifestyle. Ayumi suffered greatly from Hajime's neglect during his work frenzy as he would frequently come home much later than he promised and would never even call. She believed her life would get better once Tsugumi was born, but Hajime did not change even then. Contrary to what she believed, Hajime began to work even harder now that they have a child and sometimes did not return home for a few days while devoting himself to work. In her loneliness, Ayumi had an affair with a prominent politician that Hajime happened to be spying on in the course of his work. Just as Ayumi was exiting the hotel with the politician, Hajime lost control and attacked him right in front of her. Ironically, the woman who the politician was having an affair with was the wife of the man who was spying on him. It was one of those incidents that Hajime had already been away for several days. Because of that incident, he cast her out of the house and forbade her from ever seeing Tsugumi. A few moments later, Ayumi dies in a car accident. Tsugumi keeps her mother's butterfly earrings as a memento. Hajime still loves Ayumi very much, and deeply regrets not forgiving her because he believes she would not have died if he had. On the other hand, Ai tried using her death to tempt Tsugumi to send her own father to Hell. Her husband had realized his faults of severely neglecting Ayumi when she was lonely and needed companionship, attention and a little kindness, but it was already too late by then because Ayumi was long dead and their only child is now holding his fate in her hands. Fortunately for him, Tsugumi refused the grudge in the end.

Takuma Kurebayashi (紅林 拓真, Kurebayashi Takuma^?)

Voiced by: Ayumi Fujimura

Appearing in the second season of the anime, Takuma is a quiet boy who lives in the suburb of Lovely Hills. He is misunderstood and often bullied by his fellow townsfolk who believe he's the "Devil's Child", much like Ai was in her village. When he first made his appearance, his mother was killed by a friend of his father, who was also seriously injured in the incident. As the murderer was about to kill Takuma, he was sent to Hell; but at this moment the police arrive, and the townsfolk end up thinking that Takuma is the murderer. It does not help that a series of unfortunate events involving people in Lovely Hills sending each other to Hell makes it appear that anyone who makes contact with Takuma disappears, even an older girl named Seri who he becomes emotionally attached to after she befriends him despite the townsfolk shunning him. After that he begins to close himself off to the rest of society and shuts himself in his house as people begin to threaten him. Nearing the end of the season, this continues until another older girl with the name of Hotaru Meshiai who comes to know the truth about him and the events that happened in Lovely Hills reaches out to him and becomes his friend. They then try to escape from the town together to evade the wrath of the hostile townsfolk whose secrets Hotaru and her older brother knows. Their attempt fails when Kikuri shows the hostile mob where Takuma and Hotaru are hiding. Before they are lynched by the angry townsfolk, they are saved by the timely appearance of Hotaru's brother, who is a police detective and carries a gun. Just as when they were about to escape town in Detective Meshiai's car, he is sent to Hell by one of the remaining townsfolk who has not yet sent anyone to Hell. The resulting accident does not injure Takuma and Hotaru but the loss of her brother causes the despondent Hotaru to access Hell Correspondence and send Takuma to Hell, where she plans to follow him later by committing suicide after she sends him. As Ai was starting to ferry the sobbing, innocent Takuma to Hell, he asks her for help. Moved by Takuma's plight and reminded of her own tragic past, Ai turns the boat back in violation of her agreement with the Lord of Hell. As punishment for saving Takuma, Ai is stripped of her powers and becomes mortal again. Upon returning to the world of the living, Takuma discovers the hurt, mortal Ai, who tells him to go save his friend Hotaru, as it is found that her suicide attempt failed and she is now in danger of dying from the cold. He returns to the town to set fire to his house but in the process is confronted by the same hostile townsfolk that almost killed them. It is not known if he possesses spiritual powers like Ai, but he seems to have the ability of foresight and he has been observed by Ai for some time throughout the story. In the end, Ai saves him from the townsfolk, but ends up being killed herself by the townsfolk. At the end of the show it is revealed that his father has recovered almost completely and that his friend Hotaru will soon wake up from her cold induced coma, as Takuma hopes.

Yuzuki Mikage (御景ゆずき, Mikage Yuzuki^?)

Voiced by: Satomi Sato

First appearing in the third season of the anime, Yuzuki is a 9th grader schoolgirl who currently studies at Saigawara 4th Junior High School. Although a normal everyday girl, she actually has deep relations to the Hell Correspondence website. While Yuzuki is in the bathtub one night, Ai appears before her, suddenly kissing her. After that event, Ai possesses her and uses her as a human vessel to carry out her duties as Hell Girl. When a person forms a contract with the Hell Correspondence, Yuzuki will become Ai to send the victim to Hell. Much like Tsugumi in the first season, she is able to see visions of those who have called upon Hell Girl; although it should be noted that many of the people are her acquaintances. About halfway through the series, Ai releases herself from Yuzuki during The Six-script Lantern ceremony in her town in which the gate to hell is temporarily open. After her best friend Akie is sent to Hell, Yuzuki's eyes were seen to flash red for a moment, foreshadowing future events. Following the loss of her best friend, she tries to keep Ai's clients from sending their tormentor to Hell. Despite the fact that the cycle of hatred is human nature and a part of life, she never stops trying to end it. Even after being shown visions by Ai proving that there's no way to stop revenge, she continues to try. Later, Ai reveals that she is destined to become the next Hell Girl. Near the end of the series, signs of Yuzuki's existence begin to fade away. She becomes unable to contact her mother and finds herself not being able to find some personal possessions of her own, such as a high school entrance examination ID card that disappeared into thin air. Furthermore, she overhears people saying that nobody lives in her apartment building anymore and that she soon finds that Tsugumi and the members of the Hell Correspondence are the only ones who can recognize her. She even sees Akie again even though she knows Akie has already been sent to Hell. Yuzuki breaks down after being overwhelmed by the seemingly inexplicable turn of events that challenge everything she knew in her life up to the present. Tsugumi comes to help her and gives her advice as they talk about Yuzuki's situation. Tsugumi suggests to Yuzuki that she should just accept her current situation, but again warns her against going beyond the gate in the river when she asks for advice on what to do. Yuzuki is told to accept the truth no matter how painful or horrible it is without fighting back. It is then revealed that all this time, the life Yuzuki had known ever since after childhood up to the present was all just an illusion, because she was already dead. Yuzuki cannot accept this and desperately runs back home to her apartment, which is now shown to be in terrible decaying condition. Upon entering her apartment room, she discovers the skeleton of a child hugging a large teddy bear. Ai appears with the members of Hell Correspondence, and confirms that this skeleton is indeed Yuzuki. Yuzuki did not believe the skeleton to be her, thinking she was merely being tricked into becoming the next Hell Girl until Ai showed her that Yuzuki had died alone as a young child a short while after her mother died of sickness as a result of her family falling apart when Yuzuki's father died after a deadly traffic accident that was blamed on him and by association, the entire Mikage family. After Ai shows Yuzuki her past, she remembers events from her childhood and she accepts the fact that it is destiny for her to become the next Hell Girl. Her clothes turn into a red kimono and her eyes turn red. Her first request is by Akie's father, who is begrudging Azusa, the girl who had sent Akie to Hell. However, Mr. Takasugi finds himself unable to pull the string after seeing what Azusa was doing inside her house. Yuzuki becomes angry and decides to take revenge upon Azusa herself, using her newly acquired powers. This revenge proves to be short lived after The Spider appears to stop Yuzuki, discharge her as Hell Girl, and send her to Hell as punishment for disobeying the rules by acting on her feelings. Yuzuki is saved from being sent to Hell by Ai who proposes to receive punishment in her stead and replace her as Hell Girl, and is accepted by The Spider as her replacement.

Akie Takasugi (高杉 秋恵, Takasugi Akie^?)

Voiced by: Kanae Oki

Yuzuki's best friend since childhood, also a 9th grader schoolgirl at Saigawara 4th Junior High School. Unlike Yuzuki, Akie possesses an outgoing and broad-minded personality. Her father is the chief of Saigawara Metropolitan Police. Akie employs a private teacher, Azusa, to help her with her studies. After Akie becomes emotionally close with Azusa, Azusa brings her home to show Akie her father, who had become paralyzed and bedridden due to a traffic accident, that was ordered not to be investigated further by Akie's father due to the culprit's powerful connections. Akie gets mad and moves out from her father, but then later Azusa reveals her true intention of taking revenge, by calling in a man to harm Akie with rape, and when that fails, to use the Hell Correspondence to send Akie to Hell in order to torment Akie's father as her revenge. Azusa finally decides to send Akie to Hell after the Six-script Lantern ceremony. Later in the series, Akie appears to have returned from Hell to come to the aid of the new Hell Girl, Yuzuki. At the end of the third season, it is revealed that Akie is indeed in Hell and did not return to come to Yuzuki's aid. The Akie that has supposedly come back from Hell to aid Yuzuki was an illusion created by The Spider to tempt Yuzuki into trying to send Azusa to Hell.

Media

Anime

Part of a painting by Kawanabe Kyōsai, featured in the opening theme of Hell Girl

The Hell Girl anime series is produced by Aniplex and Studio Deen. It is directed by Takahiro Ōmori and written by Hiroshi Watanabe. The first season spanned 26 episodes and premiered across Japan on Animax between October 4, 2005, and April 4, 2006. The series' second season, premiered from October 7, 2006 across Japan on Animax. Animax also later translated and dubbed both the first and second seasons of the series into English for broadcast across its English language networks in Southeast Asia and South Asia, and also aired the series across its other networks worldwide in various other languages, including Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam, Europe and other regions. The first season of the series was also licensed for North American distribution by FUNimation. The U.S. cable/satellite channel IFC announced in September 2007^[5] that it acquired Hell Girl from Funimation, which then premiered on July 9, 2008.^[6] Section23 Films announced that Sentai Filmworks has licensed the second season of the series, with the first DVD set shipping on May 25, 2010, and the second set on July 27.^[7] On June 24, 2010, Section23 Films announced that Sentai has also the third season of Hell Girl, under the subtitle Three Vessels. The first set will be released on September 28, 2010.^[8]

CDs

Two original soundtrack albums were released for Hell Girl. The first album contains twenty-four tracks and was released on January 25, 2006 by Sony Music Entertainment under the catalog number SVWC-7331.^[9] The second album contains twenty-six tracks and was released on April 19, 2006 by Sony Music Entertainment under the catalog number SVWC-7348.^[10]

Two original soundtrack albums were released for Jigoku Shōjo Futakomori. The first album contains twenty-three tracks and was released on January 24, 2007 by Sony Music Entertainment under the catalog number SVWC-7440.^[11] The second album contains twenty-three tracks and was released on March 21, 2007 by Sony Music Entertainment under the catalog number SVWC-7454.^[12]

Two original soundtrack albums were released for Jigoku Shōjo: Mitsuganae. The first album contained twenty-eight tracks and was released on December 17, 2008 by Sony Music Entertainment under the catalog number SVWC-7597.^[13] The second album contained twenty-seven tracks and was released on March 4, 2009 by Sony Music Entertainment under the catalog number SVWC-7612.^[14]

Manga

The Hell Girl anime series was later adapted into a manga, which featured art by Miyuki Etō (永遠 幸, Etō Miyuki^?). It has been serialized in Kodansha's Nakayoshi shōjo manga magazine since October 2005. While the stories are mostly original, chapters 4 and 10 are adapted from their respective anime episodes (in the first season), while chapter 2 is adapted from anime episode 9. Chapter 17 is adapted from episode 8 of the second season.

Due to the difference in media, Ai's modus operandi in the manga is somewhat different from the anime. Ai has been seen attending the same schools as some of her student-clients. Also, the straw figurine with the string was not featured in the first few chapters. Subsequently, its appearance is no longer as ubiquitous as its anime counterpart. Ai's clients need only to accept the contract, and the victims' torture by Ai and her helpers would then begin. In some cases, the torture begins after she has rung her bracelet in front of her victim (and not before as seen in the anime). The appearance of the boat in which Ai uses to ferry her victims to Hell is reduced as well. Notably, although Sentaro Shibata is featured, Tsugumi and Hajime are not. Also, Kikuri has made appearances from volume 4 onwards.

The manga has recently been licensed by Del Rey Manga, and the first volume, titled Hell Girl, was released January 2008. The second volume was released in May 2008.

Live action

Hell Girl was adapted into a single live-action television drama series that premiered on Nippon Television from November 4, 2006 spanning 12 half-hour episodes. The series was directed by Makoto Naganuma. The theme song for the series is "Dream Catcher" by Olivia Lufkin.^[15]

Hisahiro Ogura, the actor who portrays Wanyūdō in the live-action adaptation is also the Japanese male narrator at the beginning of every episode of the anime series. Eriko Matsushima retains her role as Ai's grandmother in the live action series.

Cast

• Ai Enma: Sayuri Iwata
• Ren Ichimoku: Kazuki Kato
• Hone Onna: Aya Sugimoto
• Wanyūdō: Hisahiro Ogura
• Ai's Grandmother: Eriko Matsushima
• Hajime Shibata: Kazuhiko Nishimura
• Tsugumi Shibata: Saaya Irie

Episodes

Video game

Hell Girl has also been adapted into a video game for the Nintendo DS entitled Jigoku Shōjo Akekazura, which was developed by Compile Heart and released in Japan on September 27, 2007. Compile Heart made a PS2 version entitled "Jigoku Shōjo Mioyosuga" released on September 17, 2009.

Reception

Dominic Nguyen wrote "The 40-page vignettes don't have as much depth as 25 minutes of television, and if you finish the whole book in one sitting, you may get the feeling that you've read the same chapter five times with different characters. But if you give yourself some time to digest each story, you will understand the sinister beauty of Hell Girl."^[28]

References

External links

• Jigoku Shōjo official website (Japanese)
• Jigoku Shōjo @ Bandai Channel (Japanese)
• Hell Girl @ Bandai Channel (Japanese)
• Hell Girl: The Official Anime Website from FUNimation
• Hell Girl: Independent Film Channel
• Jigoku Shōjo: Futakomori @ Bandai Channel (Japanese)
• Jigoku Shōjo: Mitsuganae @ Bandai Channel (Japanese)
• Jigoku Shōjo: Mitsuganae @ Studio Deen (Japanese)
• Jigoku Shōjo: Mitsuganae @ Tokyo MX (Japanese)
• NTV's official website for Jigoku Shōjo Live Action (Japanese)
• Official Jigoku Shōjo Akekazura Nintendo DS website (Japanese)
• Jigoku Shōjo (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• Jigoku Shōjo Futakomori (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• Jigoku Shōjo Mitsuganae (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia