Jigoku Shoujo (Hell Girl), is about people and their issues. To put it simply…If you have a problem with someone, you place their name in a website and Jigoku Shoujo will grant you revenge. The revenge consists of taking that person to hell for you. Of course there’s a catch. If you enact this revenge, you will also go to hell at the time you die. The show is about people in difficult situations that really have no way out. The subject of your revenge is simply taken (usually in an elaborate fashion) and disappears from the world. The website only shows up at midnight and the user doesn’t know about the covenant until later on. The user meets Enma Ai (Jigoku Shoujo) and gets the details of what will happen. They receive a black straw doll with a red string tied around it. The user must simply pull the string and the revenge will be granted, and their own fate sealed in hell upon their death. At that point Ai puts on a nifty kimono and goes off with her three friends to enact the revenge.
This is a simple show that I didn’t think I would like. Truthfully I’m not a fan of the occult, and with practically every anime this fall being about vampires, I’ve been at a loss on what to watch. The reason I like this show is because the show is not really about Ai and her friends, it’s about the people and their difficult situations. Episode one is about a girl who is getting bullied by some more popular girls in school. Two is about a girl who is being stalked by a corrupt detective. And Three is about a boy who dies and the resulting blame that is placed on his best friend. The dead boy was killed by a team mate trying to get ahead in Japan’s baseball world.
The simplicity of it works, no complex plots here, just you go to hell and you die. So Jigoku Shoujo is good. At least she’s not a vampire.
