List of Hell Girl episodes
Hell Girl is an anime that has been produced in three seasons between 2005 and 2009 by Studio Deen. The plot of the episodes follows a girl named Ai Enma, also known as the Jigoku Shōjo or Hell Girl, and her group of followers as they carry out her duty of striking contracts that involve ferrying hated souls to Hell.
The first season, titled Hell Girl (地獄少女 Jigoku Shōjo), was directed by Takahiro Ōmori and written by Hiroshi Watanabe and revolves around the investigations of Hajime Shibata and Tsugumi Shibata into Ai Enma's secrets. It premiered across Japan on Animax on October 4, 2005, and episode 26 aired on April 4, 2006. The second season, titled Hell Girl: The Two Mirrors (地獄少女 二籠 Jigoku Shōjo Futakomori), was also directed by Takahiro Ōmori and written by Hiroshi Watanabe and details the past of each of Ai's followers and then the story of a boy named Takuma Kurebayashi. It aired across Japan from October 7, 2006 to April 7, 2007 on Animax spanning 26 episodes. The third season, titled Jigoku Shōjo Mitsuganae (地獄少女 三鼎?, lit. Hell Girl: Three Vessels) , was directed by Hiroshi Watanabe and written by Ken'ichi Kanemaki and revolves around Ai's possession of a middle school student named Yuzuki Mikage and that girl's past. It aired across Japan from October 10, 2008 to April 4, 2009 on Tokyo MX spanning 26 episodes.[1]
Animax also later translated and dubbed the first season 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 licensed for North American distribution by Funimation Entertainment. The series began broadcasting on the United States cable/satellite channel IFC in July 2008. The next 52 episodes has been licensed by Sentai Filmworks under the title Hell Girl: Series 2.[2]
Episode list
Hell Girl
- Opening theme - Sakasama no Chō (逆さまの蝶, lit. The Inversed Butterfly)
- Lyrics - SNoW, Hideaki Yamano
- Composition - SNoW, Asanjō Shindō
- Arrangement - Asanjō Shindō, Ken'ichi Fujita
- Performance - SNoW
- Ending theme - Karinui (かりぬい, lit. Basting)
- Lyrics - Hitomi Mieno
- Composition - Masara Nishida
- Arrangement - Masara Nishida
- Performance - Mamiko Noto
| # | Title[3] | Original air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "From Beyond the Twilight" "Yūyami no Kanata Yori" (夕闇の彼方より) | October 4, 2005 |
| Mayumi Hashimoto, a junior high school student, is bullied by classmate Yoshimi Kuroda: the latter framing the former for embezzling class money, coerces her into immoral behavior and then blackmails her with photographs of the activity. At her wits' end, Mayumi overhears of a website that can send the object of one's grudge to hell. Visiting the website at the appointed time, Mayumi learns that the price of sending her enemy to hell is the cost of her own soul. Mayumi hesitates, but her situation gets worse. In desperation, Mayumi sends Yoshimi to Hell. Free of her enemy, her life becomes peaceful again; yet she now must live the remainder of her life knowing that she is bound for hell, bearing the mark on her chest. | ||
| 2 | "The Possessed Girl" "Miirareta Shōjo" (魅入られた少女) | October 11, 2005 |
| Ryōko Takamura is being tormented by a seemingly unstoppable stalker, and her life is becoming a living hell. She and her family seek the aid of investigator Kōichirō Kisaragi, unaware that he is in fact the stalker. In desperation, Ryōko accesses the Hell Link, and receives a doll with a string around its neck; she is required to remove the string to complete the contract and send her enemy to hell. She hesitates, but when she is kidnapped by Detective Kisaragi, who has murdered his partner, Ryōko sends him to Hell in self defense. | ||
| 3 | "The Tarnished Mound" "Yogoreta Maundo" (汚れたマウンド) | October 18, 2005 |
| High school baseball player Daisuke Iwashita's friend and teammate Shinichi Muroi is being bullied by their team's ace pitcher, Mamoru Hanagasa. After Shinichi dies from injuries inflicted by Mamoru, Daisuke is framed for the murder and the town turns against him. In desperation, Daisuke accesses the Hell Link, then sends Mamoru to Hell. His grudge and Shinichi's death avenged, Daisuke moves to another town to start over, knowing that his soul belongs to Hell starting from when he dies. | ||
| 4 | "Silent Cries" "Kikoenu Sakebigoe" (聞こえぬ叫び声) | October 25, 2005 |
| Junko Kanno takes her sick dog to veterinarian Yoshiyuki Honjō for treatment, but her dog dies anyway. She later on finds out through the veterinarian's assistant, Masami Sekimoto, that Honjō had not bothered to treat her dog at all, and while looking for evidence, finds that he does not care at all about treating the animals. For both her dog's sake and the other animals, she sends him to Hell. | ||
| 5 | "The Woman in the High Tower" "Takai Tō no Onna" (高い塔の女) | November 1, 2005 |
| Riho Kaifu, the CEO of a computer company (but ironically computer illiterate), coerces a junior high school student and computer expert named Misato Tamura into working for her as a hacker, even going as far as to order Tamura to hack the Hell Correspondence website. However, Misato is unable to take much more of Riho's abuse and ends up using Hell Correspondence for her own means. | ||
| 6 | "Early Afternoon Window" "Hirusagari no Mado" (昼下がりの窓) | November 8, 2005 |
| Keiko Yasuda witnesses her neighbor, Namiko Todaka, committing adultery while walking past Todaka's house one afternoon. Knowing this, Namiko constantly harasses Keiko so that the latter would keep what she saw to herself. Namiko also encourages her daughter, Yuria, to bully Haruka, Keiko's daughter, at school. Haruka seeks revenge against Namiko after watching her mother constantly suffer and after having suffered under Yuria's bullying as well. | ||
| 7 | "Cracked Mask" "Hibiwareta Kamen" (ひびわれた仮面) | November 15, 2005 |
| Ayaka Kurenai, a rising theater actress, schemes against fellow actress Kaoruko Kurushima after the latter outshines her in their theater company. After having thugs force Kaoruko to drink a tonic that ruins her voice, Midori Kurenai, Ayaka's adopted mother and the owner of their theatrical company, cancels the show. Outraged by Midori's bias toward Kaoruko, Ayaka attempts to send Midori to Hell, only to find that the straw doll given to her had changed (it was not the doll that Wanyudo turns into, but rather, just an ordinary straw doll) because Kaoruko already requested that she (Ayaka) be sent to Hell. | ||
| 8 | "Silent Acquaintances" "Seijaku no Majiwari" (静寂の交わり) | November 22, 2005 |
| Chiaki Tanuma seeks revenge against Gorō Ishizu after she witnesses the latter shove her best friend (Ishizu's girlfriend) off a building, injuring her. This episode marks the debut of Tsugumi and Hajime, the Shibatas. | ||
| 9 | "Sweet Trap" "Amai Wana" (甘い罠) | November 29, 2005 |
| Yuka Kasuga and her sister, Hiromi fulfill their dream of opening a bakeshop, and allow their father's friend, famous baker Shinya Morizaki, to taste one of their father's unique creations. After Morizaki then steals their recipe and claims it as his own on national television, the reputation of the Kasugas' bakeshop suffers greatly, and they go bankrupt. Yuka eventually uses the Hell Correspondence to send Morizaki to Hell. | ||
| 10 | "Friends" "Tomodachi" (トモダチ) | December 6, 2005 |
| Minami Shibuya is obsessed with her friend Shiori Akasaka, and after Shiori seems to abandon her, Minami accesses the Hell Link to send her former friend to Hell. The two eventually become friends again after Shiori is outcast from her new clique, and Minami abandons her plan to banish Shiori. Shiori, discovering the straw doll but not fully understanding its purpose, tries to use it against the girls who outcast her by making Minami pull the string, thus banishing both her enemies and Minami to Hell... the selfish Shiori is now sent to Hell, and Minami is strangely comforted by the fact that they will both be reunited in Hell eventually. | ||
| 11 | "Broken Threads" "Chigireta Ito" (千切れた糸) | December 13, 2005 |
| Masaya Kataoka seeks revenge against crooked journalist Tadashi Inagaki, who framed him and his late father for criminal misdeeds. Hajime Shibata, now aware of the Hell Correspondence and its hellish price, tries to stop Masaya from using the straw doll by searching for evidence to use against Inagaki and clear the Kataoka's name. Will Masaya be satisfied with the justice of Man? | ||
| 12 | "Spilled Bits" "Koboreta Kakeratachi" (零れたカケラ達) | December 20, 2005 |
| Akane Sawai becomes a hikikomori and stops going to school due to emotional problems; holed up in her room, she only interacts with her textmate, whom she met on the internet. Her concerned teacher, Yoshiki Fukasawa, constantly visits her to check on her and tries to convince her to return to school. Akane gets irritated by this, and is convinced by her textmate to send Fukasawa to Hell. Akane (who goes by the screen name "Anemone" when online) eventually finds out that her textmate ("Cheppo") is Fukasawa. They are both tired of life, and looking for an end, and as they finally come to an understanding, Fukasawa convinces Akane to send him to Hell. Fukusawa does not realize that Akane will also go to Hell when her life ends; Akane, who has started going to school again, seems strangely at peace with the idea of going to Hell, almost eager. Ai, while taking Fukasawa to Hell, tells him that the price for sending him to Hell is that Akane will be sent there as well when her life ends; realizing this, Fukasawa feels some regret. | ||
| 13 | "Purgatory Girl" "Rengoku Shōjo" (煉獄少女) | December 27, 2005 |
| Hell Correspondence isn't just a recent phenomenon, but has been occurring for hundreds of years. This episode reveals how the Hell Correspondence was accessed through the classified ads in print newspapers before the war. A man named Fukumoto sent a man named Okochi to hell using the method, and Hajime Shibata hears his story; Fukumoto has also become infatuated with the visage of Ai Enma, and Hajime senses that Fukumoto is looking forward to seeing her one last time. We see a rare moment of empathy between Ai and Fukumoto, but what could this emotion mean for Hell Girl? | ||
| 14 | "Beyond the Dead Alley" "Fukurokōji no Mukō" (袋小路の向こう) | January 3, 2006 |
| Saki Kirino seeks revenge for the death of her father, a Japanese politician who was earnestly trying to do good; Mayor Ryuzo Kusunoki seems to have nefarious yakuza ties that assassinated her father and put him into power. Hajime Shibata managed to convince Kusunoki to apologize to Saki, but she refuses to forgive him and sends Kusunoki to Hell. | ||
| 15 | "Island Woman" "Shima no Onna" (島の女) | January 17, 2006 |
| Fujie Minato is a domineering and paranoid woman who refuses to let her niece Mina Minato live life away from their tiny island; in reality Fujie's psyche was broken after a traumatizing event on the mainland. Mina's boyfriend, a marine biologist named Yuji Numata, was also assaulted by Fujie for trying to escape with her to the mainland; Mina accesses the Hell Correspondence to win her freedom. After finding out that Fujie had killed her mother just to prevent her from moving away, and in danger of being the next to die, Mina sends her aunt to Hell. Hajime Shibata makes another appearance in this episode, seeking more clues about the Hell Link and Ai Enma on the island. | ||
| 16 | "A Night Among Traveling Entertainers" "Tabigeinin no Yoru" (旅芸人の夜) | January 24, 2006 |
| Yuki and Yumi, two twin sisters, both work as circus performers. Even though she is a worse performer than Yumi, Yuki is favored over Yumi. While the former (Yuki) is pampered, the latter (Yumi) is constantly and heinously abused verbally and physically by the ringmaster (the twins' father). Despite Hajime Shibata's efforts to intervene, Yumi sends her twin to Hell. | ||
| 17 | "Glass Scenery" "Garasu no Fūkei" (硝子ノ風景) | January 31, 2006 |
| A fog descends on the highway and the Shibatas find themselves stranded at an eerie sanitarium in the company of a mysterious girl calling herself Nina. | ||
| 18 | "Bound Girl" "Shibarareta Shōjo" (縛られた少女) | February 7, 2006 |
| Miki Kawakami finds herself and her two Welsh Corgies enslaved by an evil, reclusive and paranoid rich woman named Megohime Shimono; because Miki's dogs bit her, Shimono now holds the dogs hostage and forces Miki to be her slave. Miki calls for Ai Enma's help when Shimono kills one of her dogs, hoping to save the other. Miki hesitates at first, but pulls the string after Shimono (who had been arrested moments before) kills her other dog, and even the dog's newborn puppies. It is revealed Shimono killed her own parents to inherit their fortune, and even killed her own child so she wouldn't have to share it with anyone. | ||
| 19 | "The Puppet Bride" "Hanayome Ningyō" (花嫁人形) | February 14, 2006 |
| An orphan named Inori was picked by her orphanage's main benefactress; a doll-maker named Kyogetsu, to be her son's bride...but with the condition that she literally act like a doll: Inori is to do nothing, not even serve her husband's breakfast, except sit still, eat very little and remain beautiful. For the sake of the other children in the orphanage, Inori puts up with the mistreatment for as long as she can, but is pushed to her limit and sends Kyogetsu to Hell. | ||
| 20 | "Hell Girl vs. Hell Boy" "Jigoku Shōjo tai Jigoku Shōnen" (地獄少女 対 地獄少年) | February 21, 2006 |
| TV psychic Gilles de L'Enfer seeks to prove his powers against Hell Girl. Ai and her servants seem overmatched, but Hiroshi "Esper" Watanabe, the phony whom Gilles had humiliated and manipulated to get to them, wants revenge. | ||
| 21 | "Kind Neighbor" "Yasashii Rinjin" (優しい隣人) | February 28, 2006 |
| Yūko Murai and her father move to a farm to take a break from urban life. Ryōsuke Sekine, their neighbor, eagerly helps them out with the work on the farm... perhaps too eagerly. The Murai's crops are eventually overrun by pests, the farm fails and Yūko's broken father eventually dies because of alcoholism. Yūko eventually finds out that Sekine had sabotaged their crops in order to settle an old grudge against her family. Yūko wants to send him to Hell, but is convinced otherwise by Hajime Shibata, to the annoyance of Hell. As Tsugumi tells Yūko that she still has the family farm to remember her father by, the neighbor shows up with title to the land that her father had used to borrow money to pay for the "bug poison". He gives Yūko a week to get out so he can sell the farm. As Yūko's new foster family shows her around, her gaze fixes on the computer in her new room. As they move on, Ai is standing in the hall and states "the choice is yours." | ||
| 22 | "Rain of Regret" "Kaikon no Ame" (悔恨の雨) | March 7, 2006 |
| Goro Suetsugu, a heartbroken husband who is being cheated on by his wife Nobuko Hayashi, calls on Ai for help and sends his wife to Hell. Hajime Shibata attempts to stop him but fails, and ends up telling Goro about a similar experience that he had with his wife, Ayumi. | ||
| 23 | "The Light of a Ward" "Byōtō no Hikari" (病棟の光) | March 14, 2006 |
| Tsugumi's visions point to nurse Kanako Sakuragi as Ai's next objective. She appears to be a kind person, beloved by her patients and co-workers, but will that matter when the question is one of vengeance? Hajime Shibata once again attempts to intervene, but the nurse is then sent to Hell by an unknown drug addict who dies afterwards. Hajime is shaken by the blind vengeance wrought by the Hell Correspondence. | ||
| 24 | "The Twilight Village" "Yūgure no Sato" (夕暮れの里) | March 21, 2006 |
| Realizing that their fates are somehow linked to Hell Girl, the Shibatas look for the reasons in a remote spot in the mountains. There they learn that they are bound to her more deeply than they had ever imagined. At the mountain with a cherry blossom tree, Ai appears and attacks Tsugumi and Hajime because she stated that she was going to kill her again. Her companions tried to stop her but failed. If Ai takes vengeance, then she will go to hell. | ||
| 25 | "Hell Girl" "Jigoku Shōjo" (地獄少女) | March 28, 2006 |
| This episode reveals the sad story of Ai's past. Doomed to be a harvest sacrifice, Ai is abandoned in the mountains to die of exposure; her older cousin and only friend, Sentaro Shibata, tries to save her life by smuggling her food and water, but they are discovered. The villagers then bury Ai alive, and coerce Sentaro into helping; Ai's grudge is born of this betrayal. | ||
| 26 | "Basting" "Karinui" (かりぬい) | April 4, 2006 |
| Ai Enma encourages Tsugumi Shibata to send her father Hajime to Hell, using her late mother Ayumi to provoke her. But Hajime admits his part in her mother's accidental death, revealing the entire story, and he is forgiven by Tsugumi. Ai recovers her composure, but is all really well? | ||
Hell Girl: Two Mirrors
- Opening theme - NightmaRe
- Lyrics - Hideaki Yamano
- Composition - SNoW, Asanjō Shindō
- Performance - SNoW
- Ending theme - Aizome (あいぞめ, lit. Indigo Dye)
- Lyrics - Aa (savage genius)
- Composition - Takumi (savage genius)
- Arrangement - Masara Nishida
- Performance - Mamiko Noto
| # | Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The Girl in the Dark" "Yami no Naka no Shōjo" (闇の中の少女) | October 7, 2006 |
| Maki Onda is being bullied in class, but she doesn't know who is bullying her. She spends every night typing her classmates' names into the Hotline to Hell engine, but always erases it. Her science teacher Eiko Kamishiro tries to help her, but Onda always refuses. Eventually, she finds out through one of her classmates, Nakase, that Kamishiro is the one who has been bullying her and sends her to Hell. | ||
| 2 | "Bubbles" "Utakata" (うたかた) | October 14, 2006 |
| Yayoi Kurayoshi's sister, Sumire, is missing. Yayoi is constantly hearing the sound of bubbles from underwater. After a while begins to realize her sister is dead, but because she doesn't know the identity of the killer, she can't get onto the website to get her sister's revenge. She blames herself for Sumire's death because Sumire vanished on a day Yayoi argued with her, and so, they did not walk home together. Yayoi falls into a fountain and has a vision of what happened to her sister. Sumire was kidnapped, raped, killed, the body stuffed in a suitcase and dumped in a lake, which explains the bubbles. Yayoi confronts the killer, who turns out to be a monstrous entity in disguise, and sends him to Hell for Sumire. | ||
| 3 | "Beloved Kei" "Itoshi no Kei-chan" (愛しのけいちゃん) | October 21, 2006 |
| A girl named Tae Sakairi is obsessively protective of her neighbor and childhood friend, Kei. She refuses to admit her love for Kei because she thinks their relationship would change and then they would drift apart. She knows his girlfriend, Yumie, is a two-timer, but refuses to tell him because she's "protecting" him. Kei enters her room through her window, admits he knows his girlfriend is cheating on him, and then sleeps with Tae when she comforts him. She becomes afraid that their relationship is now in danger of changing and refuses to open her window when Kei says he loves her. She opens her window to see if he's still there, causing him to lose his balance (because he was trying to slip into her room again) and fall to his death. The next day, Tae sends his ex-girlfriend to Hell for causing Kei to be distraught enough to alter his relationship with Tae and for calling him pathetic. Tae moves to a new area and her new window neighbor looks almost exactly like Kei... | ||
| 4 | "Secret" "Himitsu" (秘密) | October 28, 2006 |
| Shuichi Yagisawa's wife, Chinami, is in the hospital, fighting an illness. He'll do anything for money to help her. He enters the site to get revenge on Hhouki, whom he committed a crime with and at whose urging he killed the third member of their group in order to get his money. Hhouki wanders into the hospital and tells Chinami that her husband killed a man, causing her to go into a coma due to her distress. Yagisawa sends Hhouki to Hell. When he returns to the hospital to tell his wife that everything is okay, she no longer remembers him. Kikuri is seen wandering around the hospital drinking juice and somehow making Chinami believe she is her daughter. In this episode, she leaves the mortal world with Ai and officially becomes part of the group. | ||
| 5 | "Barreling Towards Hell" "Jigoku e no Bōsō" (地獄への暴走) | November 4, 2006 |
| Leon Yamada, is constantly bullying Oi-chan, a stereotypical geek. So Oi-chan sought a contract with Ai but he changed his mind after learning about the consequences. Leon, in turn, is in love with a high schoolgirl named Izumi Miyahara. He plans to confess his love for her and leave the gang he is in. However, Leon's gang leader, Rikiya Hashitsume, refuses to let him leave the gang. After Leon overhears Oi-chan talking about the Hell Girl, he makes Oi-chan show him the Hotline to Hell, wherein he submits the gang leader's name, not caring about the personal consequences. Rikiya tries to kidnap Izumi to stop Leon from confessing to her and, therefore, abandoning the gang. However, as he kidnaps Izumi, Leon sends him to hell. After continuing to bully Oi-chan, Leon steals his wallet and plans to finally confess to Izumi. While he's speeding down the street, however, he crashes around a bend against an oncoming truck and dies, immediately going to Hell. As a result, the flame on the candle with his name is put out. | ||
| 6 | "Where the Sun Shines" "Hi no Ataru Basho" (陽のあたる場所) | November 11, 2006 |
| Souta Hosono is a hikikomori, a very withdrawn boy who always spends his school time in the infirmary. Because of this, his classmates make fun of him. He falls in love with a classmate, Kiwako Nitta, because she was the only one who did not make fun of him. He dislikes her current boyfriend, Hirohisa Sugita. Souta attempts to access the Hotline to Hell, but Ai rejects him because his rage is not strong enough. While Souta is stalking Kiwako at a bowling alley, he overhears her boyfriend suggesting to his friend, Sawazaki, that he will "lend" Kiwako to him so that Sawazaki can finally lose his virginity by raping Kiwako. Ai appears to Souta that night, but while he begs her to save Kiwako, he refuses to sell his soul in exchange for revenge; in turn, Ai tells him that her service cannot be accessed on the grounds of seeking justice. Kiwako later tells Souta that she accessed the Hotline to Hell and has sent Sugita to Hell. Souta is shocked that she would agree to go to Hell for that and eventually turns down Ai's help, and decides to kill Sawazaki. Ironically, Souta condemned himself to hell by taking vengeance into his own hands, thus it was best that Ai Enma had no part in it. | ||
| 7 | "Bonds" "Kizuna" (絆) | November 18, 2006 |
| Emi Ougi's family has changed ever since her brother, Tatsuya Ougi, died in a motorcycle accident on a sharp, poorly-lit turn. Her mother is ignoring the family, and is trying to get the city to take responsibility for her son's death. Tatsuya was everything for his mother and Emi tries to help her mother get over it, but her mother continues to be unconcerned for the well-being of her daughter -- as a matter of fact, even when Tatsuya was alive, she never cared about Emi at all. Emi learns that her brother had one of Ai's dolls (Wanyuudo) but has not used it yet; now, it belongs to Emi. After her family starts to become dysfunctional, Emi is unable to bear her increasingly insane mother's burden any longer, and she sends her mother to hell. After that, she realizes that she's better off without her mother, just as Tatsuya himself believed (he wanted to send his mother to hell because he could not stand her excessive pampering to him). | ||
| 8 | "The Fake Hell Link" "Nise Jigoku Tsūshin" (偽地獄通信) | November 25, 2006 |
| Shouko Baba is a teacher everyone dislikes because she frequently scolds students and is very strict. A fake Hotline to Hell is created is circulated among students who were just scolded by Baba-sensei. Tracing was carried out and they concluded that a student named Waka Ikami created and circulated the fake Hotline to Hell. However, Ikami claims that she did not do it. On the same night, another teacher named Mami Kuriyama calls Ikami and tells her that it was Baba who made the fake Hotline to Hell and blamed her for it, and that Ikami should come to the school to plot revenge. Mami-sensei waits in the computer lab for Ikami and tries to convince Ikami to access the real Hotline to Hell to send Baba to hell. To her surprise, the one who turned up is Ai, not Ikami. Mami and Ai already knew each other from their pasts (she had contacted the Hotline nine years prior, back when she was in junior high herself) to send the same Baba-sensei to Hell). The truth is Mami (real surname Manaka) was the one who created the fake Hotline to Hell and blamed the students for it. It was all because Baba scolded Mami when she was young and she blames Baba for all her problems; however, she is too afraid to enter hell after banishing Baba, and is instead trying to lure students into completing her request. Overhearing Mami's rant, Baba comes and types in Mami's name into the real Hotline to Hell, as a punishment for an attempt to use her students as sacrifices. Baba agrees to go to Hell as she blames herself for creating a teacher like Mami, while letting her true colors show to Ai, and a new teacher who also used to be her student, but holds no grudge of Baba. | ||
| 9 | "Elder Brother, Younger Sister" "Ani Imōto" (あにいもうと) | December 2, 2006 |
| Despite the fact that they are close, Maho Suzaki hates her brother, Mikio Suzaki, for chasing away her boyfriends. Maho discovers that Mikio has been dressing up as a woman, "Miki", and stealing her boyfriends from her. She believes it's because he feels he is prettier than she is, but he later confesses that he does it to prevent Maho from seeing other men and ultimately leaving him because he is in love with her. When Maho can no longer take the pressure, she ends up sending him to Hell, even though she knows that, along with her hatred, she also loved him, later realizing it may not be just in the fraternal sense of the word. | ||
| 10 | "Anna Sone's Intimate Holiday" "Sone Anna no Nureta Kyūjitsu" (曽根アンナの濡れた休日) | December 9, 2006 |
| Hone Onna meets a director named Tetsuro Megoro. He wants Hone Onna to be the protagonist (Sone Anna) in his film. He is obsessed about writing screen plays. He has a wife and two lovers but seems uninterested in all of them. Eventually Tetsuro’s wife, Kumiko (one of his lovers) and Hone Onna become good friends. After a series of mishaps in Tetsuro's life (in which he gambled away the money he would use to fund his film), he returns home and they decided to go to a hot springs resort. But being clumsy and foolish, Tetsuro bumps into a stranger's car and a few hours later, spills coffee on the same man. The man, Hachiroku Gyouta, eventually sends Tetsuro to Hell for the scratch on his car. In the end, Hone Onna erases herself from Kumiko and Tetsuro's wife's memories. This episode mainly consists of flash-backs in Hone Onna's memory. | ||
| 11 | "The Distant Room Next Door" "Tōi Rinshitsu" (遠い隣室) | December 16, 2006 |
| Shizuko Amagi adopts a stray cat and names it Muru. She just moved in and has not introduced herself to her neighbors yet. Whenever she tries to no one is at home. Ren often comes to visit her. A few days after adopting the cat, she begins to receive mysterious prank calls. Items that she did not order were delivered to her house. She also receives threatening letters, warning her to throw out the cat. Amagi does not know what to do as she does not have enough money to move out yet. She hires a private investigation agency and they discovers that it is her neighbor named Kyoko Tachibana making prank calls and sending threats. She sends a letter to Tachibana apologizing about the cat and told her that she will move out with the cat as soon as possible. That being done, she hears bangs and crashes from next door. The next day, she gets home and discovers that her apartment door is wide open and Muru is gone. She frantically attempts to search for the cat and found a plastic bag filled with meat outside. Thinking that it is Muru, she pulls the string on Ai's doll to send Tachibana to hell. Later in the episode, it is revealed that the cat belonged to Tachibana and she was upset that Amagi adopted the cat, but never even thought of actually telling Amagi so. Amagi hears distant cat meows and discovers Muru thus the bag of meat was nothing but another prank. | ||
| 12 | "Black Rut" "Kuro no Wadachi" (黒の轍) | December 23, 2006 |
| A new road needs to be built to stop the traffic accidents in the area but it is blocked by a house. The house is occupied by an old man who refuses to move. The brother of one of the victims of the road, a truck driver named Michiro Ito, wants vengeance and picks up Wanyuudou on the side of the road. They discuss the incident. The driver then makes Wanyuudou get out of the vehicle to take a taxi and plans to send the old man to Hell. After Wanyuudou gets out and the brother drives away, Ai and Wanyuudou show up in the truck. Just before the brother can pull the string, Ren appears and says that his request was canceled as the homeowner just died. He doesn't believe them and speeds up to ram his truck into the man's house. However, he nearly gets into the same accident as his brother, after veering to avoid hitting Kikuri, who was standing in the middle of the road - it takes Wanyuudou's strength to stop the truck. All four enter the house and see Hone Onna with Kikuri and the dead house owner. Hone Onna hands the driver the house owner's will. The old man had left the plot of land to Michiro's brother's family to do as they wish with it. During this episode, Wanyuudou's past is explained. | ||
| 13 | "Tragedy of the V" "V no Sangeki" (Vの惨劇) | January 6, 2007 |
| Mysterious deaths have been happening all over a town in Yamaoka. Men with no apparent connections to one another have been found dead, stabbed with a bamboo skewer, with their hands in the "peace" symbol. Eventually, Kihachi Kusumi, the owner of a restaurant, is discovered by Ichimoku Ren to be the culprit. His wife and son were killed and his daughter, Tsubaki, put into a coma when a drunk driver crashed into their house five years prior. As news crews filmed the report of the incident, drunken men danced in the background with their hands in the "peace" sign. Offended, the owner had only recently decided to kill them, as he learns he has terminal lung cancer and will most likely not live to see his daughter awaken. Too weak to kill the last one, Tatsuhiko Makimura, who has already seen his face and filed a police report, he uses the Hotline to Hell. Ai reveals that the penalty of sending someone to Hell does not cover other sins, such as murder. Kihachi is willingly taken to the hospital by the police. However in a twist, Kikuri has awakened Tsubaki at the same time. The price he must pay for the murders is that he will spend the rest of his life in jail, unable to be with his daughter and because of this, he breaks down. | ||
| 14 | "The Peaceful Lakeshore" "Shizuka na Kohan" (静かな湖畔) | January 13, 2007 |
| A washed-up writer named Kakinuma decides to take revenge on a producer friend of his who became famous. During his attempted revenge, the producer's wife is killed and their son, Takuma Kurebayashi, is framed. Takuma contacts Hell Girl but decides not to go through with it. Shortly after this the producer is assaulted by Kakinuma. But before he can kill Takuma, his ex-lover sends him to hell because he kicked her down the stairs and killed their unborn child. Because of Kakinuma's disappearance Takuma is accused assaulting his father. | ||
| 15 | "For the Sake of This Country" "Kono Kuni no Tame ni" (この国のために) | January 20, 2007 |
| A young woman and her father have devoted themselves to the cause of a political candidate running for office. While they complain about how the current government is making everyone poorer and Japan worse, the mother works herself sick running their factory. While the daughter goes to see her and misses an important rally, her drunken, angry father causes a scene. Insisting it was her fault, the local campaign manager and her father hire two men to attack her in an alley where the current government said they would improve but failed to. Wanyuudo saves her from the attack. Returning to the headquarters, she discovers her father's plan and tries to send him to Hell. It turns out her mother (who had been putting up with years of abuse) already has a contract on him and finally pulls the string on her doll. | ||
| 16 | "Aspiring Femme Fatale" "Akujo Shigan" (悪女志願) | January 27, 2007 |
| A girl named Ran tries to send a man who betrayed her boss to Hell, but meets a geisha who said she had a better plan. Ran disguised herself and seduced the man and the two women steal all of his money. The man kills himself. Disturbed, Ran tries to back out and is fatally injured by the geisha. Ran's dying act is to send the geisha to Hell. | ||
| 17 | "Silent Gaze" "Chinmoku no Manazashi" (沈黙のまなざし) | February 3, 2007 |
| A girl named Nene contacted the Hell Girl to send her mother to Hell because she and her paternal grandmother think her mother, Honami, killed her father. The truth is, Honami sent her husband to Hell eleven years ago because he was abusive. Honami then finds out that Nene is trying to send her to Hell, so she jumps off a bridge to save her daughter's soul. Ren's past is revealed in this episode. | ||
| 18 | "That Person's Memory" "Ano Hito no Kioku" (あのひとの記憶) | February 10, 2007 |
| A girl comes home from work one day to find her mother, who left the family when she was a little girl, has returned an invalid. Not only that, but her father wants her to have to pamper her mother every day, causing problems for the girl. She tries to use the Hotline to Hell to get rid of her mother, but finds that she cannot, because her father has already contacted Ai for the same request. She rushes over to where her father is taking her mother for a walk, but finds that her father has already sent her mother to Hell. He father tells her the truth: she is not the daughter of the woman she thought was her mother. After discovering she was infertile, the wife encouraged the husband to have a child with another woman. Even though this was her idea, it caused his wife to get angry and leave, and eventually attempt suicide by throwing herself in front of a car. The girl then remembers that her mother did accept her once, but knows it is too late. | ||
| 19 | "Hell Amidst the Steam, Lodging for Travelers" "Yukemuri Jigoku, Tabi no Yado" (湯けむり地獄、旅の宿) | February 17, 2007 |
| The story of how Wannyuudo came to join up with Ai is told as a family whose ancestors were clients of Ai's 400 years ago once again employs her services. | ||
| 20 | "A Maiden's Album" "Otome no Arubamu" (乙女のアルバム) | February 24, 2007 |
| A girl named Mari is in an abusive relationship with her former friend, Juri. Juri contacted the Hotline to Hell because she and Mari had a close relationship that was ruined in her eyes when Mari briefly considered having an upperclassman as her tennis double instead of Juri. Juri has been blackmailing Mari to do exactly what she says with Ai's straw doll. Ichimoku Ren becomes involved when trying to get more background on Mari and figuring out why Juri hasn't pulled the string yet. Juri gives Mari an album of pictures of them together. After going to get Juri's lunch, Mari runs into Ren and hugs him when he comforts her. Juri, having followed Mari in order to tell her she's decided to forgive her, is angry that Mari could be close to anyone else and runs off to pull the string. Mari tells her they will always be together, but at that moment Juri is hit by a car and fatally injured. Mari pulls the string on the doll so that they'll be together in Hell. Shortly after she's taken, Juri dies on her hospital bed. | ||
| 21 | "Paper Balloon Wafting" "Kamifūsen Fuwari" (紙風船ふわり) | March 3, 2007 |
| A young woman is trying to get back together with her ex-boyfriend for the sake of the child she's carrying. She has the straw doll in case he refuses, but she is obsessively pursuing a reunion. Her story is intersected with Hone Onna's story. Originally, Hone Onna was a young woman named Tsuyu who was sold into prostitution to cover the debts of her lover. After a few years, Tsuyu is joined by a younger prostitute named Kiyo. Kiyo feels inferior to Tsuyu and ultimately betrays her when they tried to run away from their brothel, resulting in Tsuyu's violent death. Tsuyu is transformed into Hone Onna when she is infused with the spirits of other betrayed women. Back in the present day, the young lady sends her ex to Hell, then attempts to jump off a bridge. Hone Onna realizes that the spirit of Kiyo, who was wounded by her lover after she revealed her pregnancy and then jumped off a bridge, has been possessing women and forcing them to kill themselves by jumping off bridges. Kiyo tells Hone Onna it was nice to see her again, then vanishes, still on her path of vengeance. Hone Onna asked Ai to please pick Kiyo up someday, as Ai saved her from an eternity of sorrow and anger. | ||
| 22 | "Longing" "Dōkei" (憧憬) | March 10, 2007 |
| The story is focused back on Takuma again, first introduced in Episode 14. After the recent tragedies that have occurred in his family, Takuma is suspected of having murdered his mother and gravely wounded his father, but has not been arrested due to the lack of evidence. The townspeople continue to suspect him, and call him the "devil's child". As Takuma tries to piece his life back together, he meets a young girl, Seri, who happened to live near him before her house was torn down to make way for a train station that never materialized. Having been emotionally attached to the house, she intends to have her revenge against at least one of the persons who had ordered her house's destruction in the first place, then leaving the town. After selecting her target, Mr. Hasue, she deliberately gets into a relationship with him and blackmails him after he realizes that she is a minor. Seri intends to extort a large sum of cash from him, but his wife sends her to hell before she is able to leave town with the money. | ||
| 23 | "Distrust" "Fushin" (不信) | March 17, 2007 |
| Mr. Kimiko insults Mr. Narito's singing during a community choir practice. Mr. Narito becomes so enraged by this petty insult that he uses the Hotline to Hell to send Mr. Kimiko to hell, and blames Takuma for Mr. Kimiko's disappearance. To keep up the ruse, Mr. Narito sets up a vigil outside Takuma's house with other neighbors. The detective investigating this case, named Seiichi Meshiai, is approached by Ms. Yoshizaki, the woman who sent her lover, Kakinuma, to hell in Episode 14 - Kakinuma's disappearance resulted in Takuma becoming accused of attacking his father. Ms. Yoshizaki tells Meshiai that Takuma had nothing to do with Kakinuma's disappearance, but lies that she knows nothing about the Hotline to Hell. On the way home, Ms. Yoshizaki dies in a car crash. After her body is recovered, Detective Meshiai sees the Hell brand on her chest. In the meantime, the detective's sister, Hotaru, believes that Takuma is innocent and tries to investigate the matter on her own. She goes to Takuma's house and tells him that she doesn't believe in Hell Link. Kikuri appears and tells Hotaru that the Hotline to Hell is real, and sends Hotaru to the realm where Enma Ai lives. When Hotaru goes missing, Detective Meshiai, Mr. Narito, and Mr. Mariyama enter Takuma's house to find her. While Mr. Narito is shaking and shouting at Takuma, he disappears - Mrs. Kimiko has started a terrible cycle of revenge. | ||
| 24 | "Chain Reaction" "Rensa" (連鎖) | March 24, 2007 |
| People are disappearing one after the other in the town of Lovely Hills - Mr. Mariyama is sent to hell by his daughter who hates him for scolding her. A woman named Akiko sends her husband to hell because she regrets marrying him. Then Akiko's friend sends her to hell, because she's always hated Akiko, and so forth. All of the disappearances are blamed on Takuma. While the disappearances are happening, Detective Meshiai goes to the library and finds the book written by Shibata Hajime about Hell Girl. After learning about Hell Girl from the book, he goes to Takuma's house and sees that Takuma doesn't have the Hell brand on his chest, and confirms that Takuma is innocent. Mr. Tsuyuki, one of the neighbors who has been keeping a vigil outside Takuma's house, attacks and kidnaps Detective Meshiai for discovering the truth. Before collapsing, Detective Meshiai sees the Hell brand on Mr. Tsuyuki's chest. Meanwhile, Hotaru is at Enma Ai's house. After Enma Ai tells Hotaru that it's not up to her to decide who to send to hell, Enma Ai brings Hotaru back to the mortal world. | ||
| 25 | "Adrift" "Hōkō" (彷徨) | March 31, 2007 |
| Mr. Tsuyuki and Mr. and Mrs. Hasue from Episode 22, among others, have formed a mob. Mr. Tsuyuki convinces the others that they must kill Takuma. Hotaru looks for her brother, who is nowhere to be found. But she finds the book about Hell Girl, and runs away with Takuma. Takuma and Hotaru are hiding together, but Kikuri helps the mob find them. The mob tries to drown them, but Detective Meshiai escapes captivity and rescues them. While the three are driving away from the town, Detective Meshiai disappears - sent to hell by Mr. Hasue. Their car crashes, but Takuma and Hotaru are uninjured. Hotaru uses Detective Meshiai's laptop computer to access Hell Link and types in Takuma's name. | ||
| 26 | "Dyeing Indigo" "Aizome" (あいぞめ) | April 7, 2007 |
| After the death of her brother, a grief-stricken Hotaru sends Takuma to Hell, promising to follow him so he won't be alone. She insists to Ai that everything will stop when Takuma dies. Ai begins to ferry Takuma to Hell, but stops when he asks her to take him back. They both return to the mortal world, with Ai reverting to her human self. Kikuri reveals herself to be a host body for the Lord of Hell, who is punishing Ai for failing to perform her duty. Ai is now mortal, has no memory of her time as Hell Girl and doesn't remember her assistants anymore. Takuma finds Hotaru's body washed up on the shore of a lake. He tells Ai that he no longer has any patience and tries to burn down one of the mob member's house. He is confronted by the mob as he does so and is almost killed until Ai intervenes, temporarily calming the mob. Mr. Hasue snaps and begins beating Ai, saying that he doesn't want to go to Hell. The rest of the mob join in. Takuma tells the mob to stop hurting Ai and she dies holding his hand saying "It's over." Her body turns into sakura petals and floats away. The Lord of Hell releases the souls of her parents. A narration reveals that Takuma's pursuers have fled Lovely Hills and that the town itself has become dilapidated. All charges against Takuma have been dropped, Takuma's father is shown to have woken up, and his friend, Hotaru Meshiai, is miraculously alive and in the hospital. At the end of the episode, a young girl is seen receiving a text message from Hell Girl saying that her request has been accepted. | ||
Hell Girl: Three Vessels
- Opening theme - Tsukihana (月華, lit. Moon Flower)
- Lyrics - Nana Kitade
- Composition - Velvet Romica
- Performance - Nana Kitade
- Ending theme - Ichinuke (いちぬけ, lit. once through)
- Lyrics - Hitomi Mieno
- Composition - Asami Kousei
- Arrangement - Yasutaka Mizushima
- Performance - Mamiko Noto
- Release Date - December 17, 2008
| # | Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The Girl Who Found Herself Robbed" "Ubawareta Shōjo" (奪われた少女) | October 4, 2008 |
| Ai makes her first appearance as a blue butterfly after having seemingly died and visits her companions in the form of a glowing blue butterfly unknown to them. Since her apparent death, they went on their own separate ways, working as ordinary people: Ren is scrubbing the floor of a small shop; Wanyūdō is working at a construction site; and Hone Onna is a bartender. Ai's new companion, Yamawaro, is first introduced when meeting Ren. Kikuri returns by possessing a doll and announces Ai's return. Once all of Ai's companions gather together, they enter a high school as staff and faculty where a girl with slightly rebellious tendencies named Itsuko Hiraishi is upset with her teacher Tange not only because he is strict but because he records every fault and mischief act he finds in a small black notebook. She attempts to get her friend, Akie Takasugi, to ask her father to fire him, but to no avail. That night, Ai visits a girl named Yuzuki Mikage, Itsuko's friend, where they kiss, allowing Ai to inhabit her body. As her dislike for Tange increases, Itsuko decides to frame him but her plan backfires. She decides to type his name into the Hell Correspondence website, receiving Yamawaro as a doll. After he confiscates her mp3 player, Itsuko leaves the classroom. At the end of the school day, Itsuko tries to find her MP3 player, and asks Mr. Tange where he put it, but is told that he threw it away. Hesitating after learning of the price involved, she finally snaps after another argument with him, pulls the string, and sends him to Hell, only to later regret her decision upon learning that he was not actually a cruel teacher. It turns out her mp3 player had been given to a friend to return to Itsuko, and the notebook that she thought Mr. Tange wrote in, was actually blank. Itsuko transfers the following day. | ||
| 2 | "A Bird in a Cage" "Kago no Tori" (籠ノ鳥) | October 11, 2008 |
| Yuzuki continues to be troubled by the experience involving Ai, Tange, and Itsuko's recent transfer to a new school. On her way home, Yuzuki passes by Akira Kitayama, a middle schooler, who is rushing to an electronic appliance store in order to see the shopkeeper, a middle-aged woman named Mitsuko, for whom is in love with unbeknown to her. Their short conversation is cut short when her husband appears in the doorway, furious. Akira later sees him beating Mitsuko and wrongly accusing her of romantic involvement with Akira. That night and the next, Yuzuki receives a vision of Akira accessing the Hell Correspondence website twice, a second time due to not having known the husband's first name, Seiji. He later consults Yuzuki about Seiji's abusive actions towards Mitsuko for advice who suggests that he tell Mitsuko to cut her connections with Seiji. As Akira to do as such, Seiji appears and once more begins to abuse her. Akira sends him to hell. Despite Mitsuko promising to see Akira tomorrow at the store, the next day, Akira finds the shop abandoned and notices a photo of one of the couple's happy memories together. | ||
| 3 | "Rotten Fruit" "Kusatta Kajitsu" (腐った果実) | October 18, 2008 |
| Yuzuki and Akie meet an idol named Jun Moriyama during the filming of a show. After rescuing Jun from a stalker who was harassing her, Yuzuki and Akie are rewarded by Jun and her talent agency with an invitation to dinner. Before entering the restaurant, the two of them meet a woman named Masako Momota who asks them to pass an envelope to Jun containing photos of Jun Moriyama in outrageous costumes of the time when she was a cruel person. Previously, the two attended the same talent agency as aspiring singers. Jun bullied Masako until she could take no more and left, sacrificing her dream of becoming a singer. When the two meet, Masako makes Jun kneel and apologize, and demands that Jun, a rising star, support her own debut in Jun's agency. Jun refuses, stating her abilities as a singer are insufficient. Enraged, Masako seeks by accessing the Hell Correspondence website, receiving Hone Onna as doll. The next day, at her concert, Jun attempts to make a public apology, which however falls short of her expectations, causing Masako to pull the string and sends Jun to Hell. | ||
| 4 | "Big Brother" "Aniki" (兄貴) | October 25, 2008 |
| Yukawa is constantly bullied by a group of three classmates until one day, he is saved by a stranger named Nishida Shin who knows Kendo. Nishida begins teaching him Kendo, causing him to become more active, outgoing, happy, and cool, and to no longer be bullied. However, one day when they board a bus, a man begins threatening another man for staring at him, going to the extent of cutting the other man's hair and dragging him off to bus. Yukawa's image of his hero is shattered when Nishida fails to intervene, supposedly afraid of putting Yukawa in harm's way. He accesses the Hell Correspondence website, receiving Ren as a doll, and sends Nishida to Hell. Feeling that the world cannot change even if he himself changes, Yukawa quits Kendo and reverts back to his former timid self. | ||
| 5 | "This Mundane World" "Utsusemi" (うつせみ) | November 1, 2008 |
| Yuzuki accidentally bumps into a first-year student, Katase Ririka, causing her to break a beaker. The two of them report the damage to science teacher, Mio Niiyama, who lets the two off without punishment. Later that night, Mio receives a silent call from an unknown person. The next day, Ririka's grandmother shows up at school and accuses Mio of picking on Ririka despite Yuzuki being at fault and continues to verbally attack her over the phone that night. The situation intensifies as Ririka's grandmother hands out leaflets that defame Mio and announces that she will be keeping Ririka at home until Mio resigns. Mio visits to get Ririka to promise to vouch for her and clear her name, however when Ririka's grandmother returns, Ririka goes against her word and delibrately slanders Mio's intentions, labeling them as harassment. Ririka earnestly explains that because Mio is a teacher and an adult, Mio is able to deal with it herself. Mio types Ririka's name into the Hell Correspondence website, receiving Yamawaro as a doll, and pulls the string sending her to Hell. | ||
| 6 | "My Teacher" "Watashi no Sensei" (わたしのセンセイ) | November 8, 2008 |
| Yuuna Serizawa, a third-year student, holds a grudge on Ren, and tries sending him to Hell but was rejected by Ai; she is infatuated with Hone Onna and sees him as a rival. Yamawaro causes her to trip, to allow Hone Onna to correct her misunderstanding of their relationship, offering a band-aid for her injured knee. She shows up in school the next day with the same band-aid on her neck, flaunting it to her classmate who bears a similar affection for Hone Onna, Kira Moroboshi. Enraged, Moroboshi accesses the Hell Correspondence website typing in Serizawa name, receiving Wanyūdō as a doll. At school the next day, when Moroboshi finds her shoes thrown into an unsanitary bucket by Serizawa lying blatantly that she was acting under Hone Onna's instructions, she pulls the string and sends Serizawa's to Hell. Ironically, she announces that she is no longer after Hone Onna, but Wanyūdō. | ||
| 7 | "Liar" "Usotsuki" (うそつき) | November 15, 2008 |
| A new boy named Inuo Atsushi has transferred to Yuzuki's school and makes friends with another boy, Washizu. Although Inuo claims that he moved from Tokyo because his dad is constantly traveling and his mom is ill and needs to be away from the city, in truth, his dad left his mother and, ashamed of talk of their neighbors, the two left Tokyo. Due to the stress of lying and being scolded for his late returns to home in order to keep the pretense of the lie, Inuo frequently visits the Hell Correspondence website, never typing in a name. However, after he reveals the secret to Washizu and is subsequently beaten by his mother for doing so, realizing her suffering, he types in Washizu's name, receiving Hone Onna as a doll. Out of good faith, Washizu spreads news about Inuo's real situation and tries motivate him to seek help. However, for continually meddling with his family business Inuo takes out the straw doll and pulls the string, sending Washizu to Hell. The next day, he starts to speak about his father. | ||
| 8 | "Neighbour" "Tonari" (隣) | November 22, 2008 |
| When Yuzuki returns a lost dog named Momo to her owner, Mioi Hatsumi, a woman named Shintani descends from her apartment room to show off her newest bracelet that she brought at a high price. However, she quickly leaves in quiet rage once she notices the same exact bracelet being used by Momo as a collar. Shintani begins trying to get the apartment management to evict Momo by leaving false evidence of Hatsumi's inability to take care of Momo and finally feeding it something dogs should not eat. Finding out that Shintani poisoned Momo, she rushes to the vet and then types in Shintani's name into the Hell Correspondence website, receiving Ren as a doll. The next day, Hatsumi confronts Shintani in order to take back a package she stole that was delivered early that day containing Momo's training pads, but Shintani refuses and scatters them all over the roof. As she gathers them, Hatsumi accidentally pulls the string of the doll sending Shintani to Hell before falling off the building herself. She survives the fall and is admitted to a hospital, where she wonders whether Momo was missing her. | ||
| 9 | "Stray Inari Spirit" "Hagure Inari" (はぐれ稲荷) | November 29, 2008 |
| A low-profile girl named Inao Kaede claims to be a fortune-teller, telling fortunes by contacting Gon, a spirit by playing Spirit of the Coin, a fox spirit that she claims resides within her. As she begins to build her reputation with a continuous streak of correct predictions, more students begin to ask her to perform tasks, for example cursing the school counselor. Inao reluctantly accepted these requests due to fear of losing the never before gained attention. At the sign of her continued success, a female student named Nishino apologizes to Inao for previously making fun of her fortune telling and requests she kill a college student who she claims is stalking her every day. Eventually Inao reluctantly accepts the request. No matter what she tries over the next few days, the 'stalker' still lives. Threatened to be exposed as a fake, she finally resorts to using the Hell Correspondence website. She pulls the string by sending him to Hell, only to find out that she was cheated the next day that Nishino wanted him dead because he was disgusting. | ||
| 10 | "The Goldfish in the Mirror" "Kagami no Naka no Kingyo" (鏡の中の金魚) | December 6, 2008 |
| A boy named Ichimura Kazuya is a marathon runner. He does the morning rounds of newspaper in order to support his mother who loves to buy kimonos. His parents are constantly fighting, so his mother uses money that she believes they are from her husband to buy kimonos. Kazuya thinks that it is the salesman Saito Yukihiro's fault that his family is in this state, and Kazuya tries to tell his mother to stop letting Saito into the house. One night, Kazuya accesses the Hell Correspondence website and types in Saito's name. But his mother refuses to listen and continues to buys kimonos from the salesman. Kazuya sends Saito to Hell, but only to find another salesperson replacing him and pampering his mother with flattery. | ||
| 11 | "Blotted Paper" "Nijinda pēji" (滲んだ頁) | December 13, 2008 |
| Kamisaka Rokurou is a novelist whose mystery genre book, "The Skyscraper's Shadow", has received publicity because of real copycat murders resembling its plot. Because of the incidents, its popularity has skyrocketed over the internet, but outside of the internet, it is largely unknown. Kamisaka agrees to be interviewed by a reporter from the Editing Department, Asaba Sumi, but the editor-in-chief changes the final script so the magazine would sell more. Asaba feels it was her responsibility that Kamisaka is being blamed as the murderer's instigator, and goes to apologize. In the meantime the first victim's older sister, Michio Yui, meets with Kamisaka and the murderer, Chouchi Hiroto, to see which one of them is to blame. She intends to send one of them to Hell. Kamisaka, Asaba, and Michio meet together and decide to each send one person to Hell so they can get rid of three people all at once. Michio chooses Chouchi, Asaba chooses the Editor-in-Chief, and Kamisaka chooses his fair-weather friend. After the sending, Kamisaka suggests they all have a drink together, but as he grabs a drink he is sent to Hell by Chouchi Rika, the murderer's mother. | ||
| 12 | "The Midsummer Chart" "Manatsu no gurafu" (真夏のグラフ) | December 20, 2008 |
| Nomura Nobuo works part-time at a food store beside the pool. Every time someone agitates him, he draws stickers for them and puts their face up on his calendar chart. The person who reaches the top of the model in the calendar first will be sent to hell. There are two main candidates initially, the lady who lives near him and steals his bike-parking lot, and a random guy who impolitely takes the drinks from their counter without paying first. When he finds out his crush, Sasayama Kokoro, has a boyfriend, the boyfriend becomes another target to be sent to hell. In the meantime, his manga debuts in a monthly manga book, so although each of his victims in the calendar chart has reached "the point", he decides not to send them to hell since he is in a good mood. It is only when he sees Sasayama Kokoro trying to commit suicide because her boyfriend Ryuu, cheated on her, he decides to send him to hell. However, Nobuo is sent to hell by Kokoro, who believes that he will spread rumours about what she told him. | ||
| 13 | "Six Coin Lanterns" "Rokumondōrō" (六文燈籠) | December 28, 2008 |
| The Six-Coin Lantern Festival will take place soon. For the festival, during the Edo period, the shrine priest would write the sins of criminals who came for expiation and ferry that with a strand of the person's hair down the river; now it used as a means to forget things. A woman named Azusa Mayama feels that chief of investigation, Norihisa who is Akie's father, halted investigation on an automotive accident involving her father and a son of the prestigious Tsujinobashi family, reporting it as an accident and her father as the sole cause to prevent the truth from being known. In order to get revenge, she befriends Akie and causes Akie to move in with her by telling her father's tale. Yuzuki and Akie attend the festival together; Yuzuki writes Jigoku Shōjo on her boat, but Akie blows out her boat with father written in it, deciding not to send it and rushes off to return to Azusa's apartment. Alone, Yuzuki heads towards a light in the distance and sees a reflection of herself across a gate, the gate to Hell. Before she can approach it, Tsugumi warns her that she may not be able to return if she crosses the gate. Yuzuki then realizes that Akie is in trouble and rushes to contacts Norihisa. As Akie is taking a shower in the apartment, Azusa sends a man in to rape her, however Norihisa arrives in time to intervene. Yuzuki prevents Azusa from pulling the string off Yamawaro as a doll, but she escapes. Ai finally separates from her, receiving a whole body once more, and leaves her with the warning that it is up to her to decide from now on, returning to her companions. Yamawaro disappears from her hands. Yuzuki believes that she is finally relieved of torment. When she meets Akie later, Akie disappears before her very eyes as Azusa pulls the string. Yuzuki's eyes flicker red as she screams. The next day at the last part of the show, Yuzuki walk pass by a person and her senses can tell that she is the next client. | ||
| 14 | "The Street Corner of Bitterness" "Urami no machikado" (怨みの街角) | January 10, 2009 |
| Convenience store worker Tsuzuki Kinya offers to take care of Kashiwagi Hidemi (who Yuzuki briefly sees at the end of the last episode) after she misses the last train home. As they are walking together, someone takes a picture of them and posts it online. Because Tsuzuki looks like a delinquent the people around Kashiwagi become suspicious. Kashiwagi will send the person who uploaded the picture to Hell for giving her a bad reputation. Yuzuki can now sense people who are about to contact Ai, and seeks out Kashiwagi to try to persuade her to stop her revenge. Kashiwagi and Yuzuki try to locate Tsuzuki's store only to find that he has been arrested for assault. Kashiwagi types in Tsuzuki's name on the Hell Correspondence with her mobile phone instead since his assault charge may land in the newspapers. Tsuzuki breaks out of jail with a gun and takes Yuzuki hostage. Kashiwagi tells him to stop hoping he will recognize her, but he doesn't at first. Saddened, she pulls the string. The next day, Kashiwagi is seen afterwards with a changed appearance, wearing excessive jewelry, make up and tattoos. Yuzuki's resolve to stop vengeful people wavers as she senses many people about to contact the Hell Correspondence. | ||
| 15 | "The Rabbit and the Turtle" "Usagi to kame" (兎と亀) | January 17, 2009 |
| Although Yuzuki senses that a girl named Usagi has contacted the Ai, upon confronting her, Usagi claims to know nothing. Shinohara Usagi, nicknamed 'turtle', is a schoolgirl who is always being helped by her friends because she is too slow at making any kind of decision. One day, a boy named Endo asks her to date him inspiring glowers of jealously from her friends. However in jealousy, before anything can develop, Endo is forced to cheat on her by her brother Michito, and he breaks up with her, believing he has lost the right to be with her. When Usagi questions Michito, she reveals she has accessed the Hell Correspondence website by pulling out a straw doll (Yamawaro) intending to send her brother to hell. Shocked, he too reveals that he has done the same by revealing a similar straw doll (Hone Onna). The two have a heartfelt talk about their individual sufferings and subsequent hatred of one another. They walk to the nearby bridge and drop each of their dolls into the water, both vowing to try their best in the future. However when Michito leaves, Usagi secretly retrieves the doll from the river and pulls the string and sends her brother to hell, believing that even she can do her best despite being a 'tortoise'. | ||
| 16 | "The Trap of Temptation" "Yūwaku no wana" (誘惑の罠) | January 24, 2009 |
| In a daze, Yuzuki wanders through town, soon sensing a man on a bridge about to pull the string on one of Ai's straw dolls, Wanyūdō. As Yuzuki rushes to stop him, Ai suddenly appears and stops her, telling her that her attempts are futile. Ai shows her his future. Instead of meeting women along with his coworkers after working hours are over, Naowa has always instead played with a young girl names Kaya next door to the factory at which he works because he honestly enjoys it in spite of what his coworkers say. In Ai's future, he pulls the string to send his friend and fellow worker, Nakajima, to hell because of his suspicious and disturbing behavior towards Kaya. When he suddenly disappears, his girlfriend, Yuki, joins their company to investigate. Knowing that Naowa was good friends with him, she begins to form a relationship with him while keeping silent about her relationship with Nakajima. One night, when Yuki appears at Naowa's flat and offers to make dinner, he claims he has no right to be with her because, as he hesitantly admits to her, he sent Nakajima to hell. The next day, Yuki invites him to her house and there, she sends him to hell after he discovers that the two were a close couple. Despite seeing this future, Yuzuki still tries to save Naowa after Ai lets her through. | ||
| 17 | "Inside the Straw" "Wara no naka" (藁の中) | January 31, 2009 |
| Upon receiving a job from an elderly woman who writes her husband's name in the Hell Correspondence section in a newspaper, Yamawaro begs to be the doll. Yuzuki goes to the mansion asking to speak to the elderly woman she saw in her vision, but a much younger woman and her husband answer the door and claims that there is nobody there who is like that, and Yuzuki leaves seeming quite confused. The woman claims that Yamawaro, now in doll form, is their son. Yamawaro explains that in the past he watched them when they were younger and witnessed them lose their child named Hikaru who looked similar to himself. When the couple grew much older, he decided to appear before the dying who exclaimed in thanks that her son had returned. However the man used Yamawaro indiscriminately, due to his non-human origins, for the sake of researching a way to achieve eternal life. Yamawaro agrees, only wanting to be of use in save the woman's life. When the man feeds the resulting potion he names ambrosia to his wife it works incredibly well as she regains her youth. However in order to avoid further unethical experimentation, she urges Yamawaro to run. Now, several years later, unable to forgive her husband for his treatment of their 'son', she takes Yamawaro and pulls the string. She later commits suicide by crashing the mansion and buries herself as seen by Yamawaro, and she embraces the soul of her real son in the smoke. The flame on her candle is quenched. | ||
| 18 | "Special Radio" "Supesharuredeio" (スペシャルレディオ) | February 7, 2009 |
| While studying late at night Yuzuki listens to the radio, which features a popular show named "The Midnight Silence". It is revealed later that even Ai Enma and Kikuri are regular listeners of the show and compete against each other for their own letter to be read by the DJ host whom they admire, much to the annoyance of Hone Onna, who dislikes the host and considers him to be "cheesy". However, most of the mails read on the show are from a frequent sender calling herself "Chi-chan", who suggests an idea to create a corner called "Mini Hell Correspondence" where people can let others know of what annoys or angers them. Chi-chan, whose real name is Chiriko Hamano, has fallen in love with the DJ host Joutarou and his sweet-talking romantic ways over the radio. The next day after Hamano had submitted this idea for a corner she is approached by another girl asking her if she is indeed Chi-chan. She soon becomes the talk of the school and life seems to have taken a good turn for her. On her way home she is approached by a girl named Kaname who claims to be "Frog-princess", another well-known mail sender in "Midnight Silence" and who has had her mail read much more than Chi-chan has. The two quickly become friends, bonded by their love of the radio show and the DJ host, calling each other by their mail names Chi-chan and Frog-princess as well as admiring each others letters when they are read on air. Wanting to thank Joutarou for all his touching words, the two of them go down to the radio station to wait for him. The first person to arrive is a woman Yume who works as a radio scenario writer. Frog-princess jumps in to say that she wants to be a radio scenario writer too which surprises Chi-chan. Furthermore, she announces that she views Yume as her idol. Yume lets her have a script of the radio broadcast that was aired the day before, shocking Chi-chan and crushing her fantasy of the DJ Joutarou. She gains a hatred towards Frog-princess for crushing this fantasy and contracts with Ai to send her to hell. After this it is shown that Chi-chan returns to how it was before, without competition. Her mail is read almost always on air and she refuses to accept that Joutarou's words are scripted, returning to a fantasy. | ||
| 19 | "Snow, Moon and Cherry Blossoms" "Setsugekka" (雪月花) | February 14, 2009 |
| Yuzuki meets a woman named Kaori Nakiri (Cherry Blossoms) who recounts to Yuzuki her duty of having to succeed having succeed the Nakiri school of flower arrangement. Despising the predetermined future, she had run away from home after high school, but has now returned due to her father's death. Invited to tea, Yuzuki is surprised to find first three of Ai's companions working at the funeral despite being staff for her school. After learning that Yuzuki can see through her companions' magical disguise, Ai states that she must inform Yuzuki that she will awaken soon. The next day, a woman named Yukina Kurozaka (Snow), the result of the father's affair with another woman, demands that Kaori fulfill her late mother's desire of becoming part of the family by giving her the position of head of the Nakiri school. Tsukio (Moon), Kaori's childhood friend and love interest, discovers Yukina planning to poison Kaori so as to inherit the land and sell it for a fortune. When Kaori is served with a drink later, Tsukio quickly drinks the poisoned concoction in her place and collapses. As a result, Kaori accesses the Hell Correspondence website and receives Ren as a doll. After several family secrets are revealed to her, one of which is that Tsukio is her brother, she finds what she has been searching for, finally accepting her role as the head of the family, and then pulls the string off Ren, sending Yukina to hell. At his deathbed, Tsukio asks that Kaori use his body for her first project as heir. Later, Yuzuki visits a graveyard where Ai appears and tells her that she is destined to become the next Hell Girl. | ||
| 20 | "The Hell Professor vs. Hell Girl" "Jigoku Hakase tai Jigoku Shōjo" (地獄博士 対 地獄少女) | February 21, 2009 |
| After awaking in Tsugumi’s health office, Yuzuki asks her about Ai Enma but Tsugumi refuses to give her a clear answer. Later, Yamawaro and Kikuri approach a large mansion belonging to a client but are unable to enter due to an encircling barrier. At night, the owner of that mansion, Mizuragi Shōgo, accesses the Hell Correspondence website and types Tsugumi's name in. Each sensing the request, Yuzuki, Ai, and Tsugumi make their ways towards the mansion. Once they gather, he explains that he initially gained interest in Hell after his mother used Ai's services to send his father to Hell. After a great deal of research on Hell, he yearned to meet Ai. Learning that she had once more regained her body, he nurtured a grudge against Tsugumi through hypnosis in order to meet Ai. Ai agrees to give him Ren as a doll, however just before Shogo can completely pull off the string, he is instead sent to Hell by his assistant Kikyō using Yamawaro due to the grudge that the many children bore whom Shōgo treated cruelly for the sake of his research. | ||
| 21 | "Right in Front Behind You" "Ushiro no shōmen" (うしろの正面) | February 28, 2009 |
| Yuzuki arrives at the conclusion that she could escape her fate of becoming the next Hell Girl as she believes Tsugumi had. She comes across a young boy named Kaito who then collapses. When Kaito first met his stepmother Nanami, she presented a hat to him that he treasures before announcing her intent to marry his father. However, ever since she became pregnant with a girl who she names Mao, Nanami begins to fawn over her daughter and unreasonably punish Kaito for the smallest of infractions. She eventually throws out Kaito's beloved hat, embarrassed by the laughter of neighbors due to its worn appearance and three years of use. In tears, Kaito retrieves his hat from the garbage, accesses the Hell Correspondence website, and types his unborn stepsister's name in, receiving Yamawaro as a doll. He explains to Yuzuki that he only desires to return to those earlier days of happiness when Nanami was a much kinder person. Promising to help, Yuzuki confronts his father. However, he refuses to acknowledge the domestic violence against his son in front of her as he is already well aware of it but unable to act. He confesses to Kaito over a game of Frisbee feeling that their family would not be happy should things remained the same and almost kills his son; he however stops when Kaito pulls the string of Yamawaro and sends Mao to Hell. Although Nanami expresses disappointment at losing Mao, she returns to her old, kind self. | ||
| 22 | "Flower and Moon" "Hana to tsuki" (華と月) | March 7, 2009 |
| Yuzuki, overwhelmed when she realizes she has no plans for her future, tries to contact her mother for support, but cannot reach her. Fainting, she wakes up in the school infirmary and asks Tsugumi for advice, but Tsugumi does nothing to help, explaining to Ai's companions that only Yuzuki can save herself. On her way home, Yuzuki meets Sumika, the reserved twin of the famous model and actress Yuika, who offers to help Yuzuki plan her future. Although her twin-sister Yuika wears the facade of being upbeat and peppy at work, in reality she is quite cruel. She always forced Sumika into doing all her own work, such as taking the college entry exam to Sumika's college, while still having all that Sumika desires - fame and a boyfriend named Masato. Only a birthmark on Sumika's side distinguishes the two. After a drunk Yuika fractures a bone in an accident, she orders Sumika to take her place in an important photo shoot. However during Yuika's convalescence, Sumika begins to thrive in the role, doing the job even better than her sister. She even proceeds into a relationship with Masato. However Yuika's arm heals and both sisters, now indistinguishable, begin arguing over who should continue the role of model and actress. That evening, an unspecified sister accessed the Hell Correspondence site and types in the name of the other sibling, receiving Hone Onna as a doll. They are next shown leaving their house in opposite directions, with one (again unspecified) sister confronting Masato on a break-up, following which she pulls the string on the doll. After the sequence of Ai Enma sending one of the sisters to hell, the scene changes to that of a press conference which the remaining sibling is attending. The camera pans to the area where the birthmark should (or shouldn't) be, but the woman's arm obscure's the viewer's sight. The final scene is that of the candle bearing the name of the sibling who had accessed the Hell Correspondence site, but a trickle of wax over a portion of the name (it reads Misono -ka) leaving the true identity of the doomed sibling vague. | ||
| 23 | "Twilight Hills" "Higure zaka" (日暮れ坂) | March 14, 2009 |
| A boy named Fumio Mizuhara is constantly bullied by Tomohide Matsuda because Fumio is born in a rich family while Tomohide is from the poor background. After Tomohide overhears that Fumio is going to high school, he feels unfortunate and continues to bully Fumio. Fumio access Hell Correspondence to get rid of Tomohide and receives Wanyūdō as a doll. Tomohide's younger sister has been asking what their father is like. The mark of Hell is seen on Tomohide's chest and it is suggested that he might have send his abusive father to Hell. When he physically assaults Fumio, Fumio pulls the string off the straw doll out of desperation and sends Tomohide to Hell. As he is ferried to hell, Tomohide apologises to his sister that he failed to return home. The next day during the final year exams, the teacher notices that Tomohide is missing. His friends break down into tears and blame Hell Girl for sending him to Hell. After the examination is over, Ai appears to Yuzuki once more. After sensing about more people being sent to Hell, Yuzuki confronts Ai. Ai then reveals Yuzuki's hidden desire to send Ai to hell using the Hell Correspondence website. Upon hearing this, Yuzuki runs home, unable to face the possibility that she too has been consumed by the feeling of hate and the desire for vengeance. | ||
| 24 | "Mayfly" "Kagerō" (蜉蝣) | March 21, 2009 |
| Yuzuki realizes that nobody at school or in her neighborhood knows who she is. Ultimately, it is only Tsugumi Shibata who still recognizes her. Tsugumi has given up her hope of stopping Hell Girl and the cycle of hatred. She concludes that Yuzuki is not a person of this world anymore after realizing that all this time, Yuzuki's life was an illusion. When Yuzuki returns home, she finds her apartment in abandoned state with a corpse of a girl lying next to a stuff animal. Ai Enma appears and tells Yuzuki that the latter had died a long time ago. | ||
| 25 | "Yuzuki" "Yuzuki" (ゆずき) | March 28, 2009 |
| Yuzuki thinks that the skeletal body lying in her room is just an illusion cast by Ai to coerce her into becoming the next Hell Girl and does not believe her words until she shows Yuzuki the world that she grew up in. In the distant past, Yuzuki lived happily with her parents, until her father, a bus driver, died in a bus crash due to faulty brakes. The family of the victims and later the whole town accused the Mikage family of murder and being irresponsible. Yuzuki's mother did her best to keep Yuzuki alive and happy, working at the Oikawa Store, but she was eventually forced to quit. Sick and without a means to support herself and Yuzuki, she decided to leave and does so with Yuzuki. It is implied that close to her death, Yuzuki's mother planned to kill Yuzuki so that she could be spared from suffering any longer, as she appears to be reaching for her neck as she rests in her arms. She stops, however, when a couple of girls show up at the shrine they were staying at. After her mother dies, Yuzuki buries her corpse beneath the full-bloomed cherry blossoms. Yuzuki's eyes turn deep red at that moment. As she walks away, her last moments as a child are seen, lying on the floor embracing the teddy bear her father gave her as an early birthday present. The now older Yuzuki picks up pictures from the floor next to the skeletal body. She now realises that the corpse is hers and accepts her fate as Hell Girl. As Ai disappears, Yuzuki is clothed in a red kimono similar to Ai's. Akie somehow returns and acts as Yuzuki's aid. At the end of the episode, a mail containing Azusa's name arrives onto Yuzuki's personal computer, signaling that someone is summoning her. Yuzuki prepares for her first mission as the new Hell Girl. | ||
| 26 | "The Path Left by a Soul" "Tamashii no kiseki" (魂の軌跡) | April 4, 2009 |
| Akie's father Takasugi was the one who summoned Yuzuki. He wants to send Azusa to hell because she took away Akie's life, the joy of his own life. Yuzuki was eagerly awaiting for Takasugi to pull the string, but Takasugi backed out, saying Azusa would go to hell after she dies anyway. Angered by this, Yuzuki pays no heed to Wanyudo's warning and decides to send Azusa to hell herself. Ai Enma appears to stop Yuzuki from violating the laws of underworld, but Yuzuki attacks her in a fit of rage by her new-found powers. The Lord of Hell then steps in taking the form of a spider. He decides to send Yuzuki to hell for breaking the rules, but Ai and her companions intervene just in time to save Yuzuki. When Yuzuki asks why Takasugi refused to pull the string, Ai shows her the truth: Takasugi saw Azusa taking care of her paralyzed father, who would have no one in the world to rely upon and die if he sent Azusa to hell. Seeing this, Yuzuki breaks down into tears as she realizes that Azusa's life mirrors that of her own, when no one offered any help and she alone had to look after her ill mother. The Lord of Hell reappears and says that in return for saving Yuzuki, Ai will have to be the Hell Girl forever. With Ai's second kiss she transfers her memories to Yuzuki, whose soul is finally freed. As the credits roll, Ai returns in her sailor uniform, sending people to hell again, showing that the cycle of hatred still has not been resolved. After the credits, Azusa meets Tsujinobashi's son at the airport and stabs him with a knife before she suddenly disappears. The people at the airport scream in horror and flee as they witness the murder of Tsujinobashi's son. It turns out that Takasugi's servant Haruko sent Azusa to Hell for Akie's sake. | ||
References
- ↑ "Broadcasting Change Notice" (in Japanese). Jigoku Shōjo Project. Retrieved 2009-04-14.
- ↑ "Sentai Adds Asu no Yoichi, Eyeshield 21, Hell Girl 2". Anime News Network. 2010-02-26. Retrieved 2010-02-26.
- ↑ "Episode Guide". IFC. Retrieved 2009-04-15.
External links
- Jigoku Shōjo (anime official website) - season 1 episode list (Japanese)
- Jigoku Shōjo: Futakomori at Tokyo MX - click Story to get to season 2 episode list (Japanese)
- Jigoku Shōjo: Mitsuganae at Tokyo MX - click Story to get to season 3 episode list (Japanese)