These are the final words a damned soul will hear alive before they succumb to Ai Enma and her deadly fragrant flowers that fall from her kimono. This unfortunate human has been the target of supernatural vengeance. They committed some unspeakable acts of cruelty to someone who was able to summon Hell Girl because vengeance burns in their heart. Someone was willing to sell their soul to Hell for "...the revenge one cannot exact alone". The Demon, Hell Girl, will ferry the soul of your tormenter straight into the depths of Hell if you enter her covenant and promise her your soul also when you die..
This series is one of the best I have seen but it has many things going against it, Some of these may make this series unwatchable if you like lots of action or aren't captivated by the characters and concepts. Repetitive and predictable plots, reuse of Hell Girl's dialog over and over, gratuitous amounts of violence and inhumanity. It also employs some of the most overused character types in the genre; the super grownup child with special powers who communicates with Ai. Her irresponsible father is also widowed. Her father is also a corrupt but good-hearted journalist who wants to stop Hell Girl and her revenge for hire service.
The way the entire production works is such a pleasure to watch that nothing detracts from it. I don't normally like this type of story and it took a few episodes to grow on me. The animation is top notch. The creepy way Hell Girl looks in a black school girl's uniform unsettles me. The beautiful backgrounds are works of art. The musical score is perfectly matched to the mood of the scenes and defines the characters like operatic motifs. The opening and closing animation sequences and the accompanying songs I watched for all 26 episodes I enjoyed them that much.
The stories follow a formula much of the series. Single self contained shows that show someone being wronged so badly by someone they summon Hell Girl who gives them a way to get the ultimate revenge, sending that person straight into Hell. Mixed into the episodes are subplots such as the reporter and his daughter and the reason behind Hell Girl's interest in them. Another sheds light on why Hell Girl does what she does. There are numerous other threads woven in the episodes.
Miss Ai lives in a ephemeral place with her shinigami assistants and her kindly grandmother. The English voice actor for Hell Girl does an excellent job, delivering her lines without emotion, perfectly in character.
The last three episodes are combined to form a final story that wraps up the subplots, adds closure and also promises of more to come from this series.
I don't know if another season is coming, it would be difficult to top this. Hell Girl reminds me of Witchblade or Speed Grapher for story quality and content. It combines Western and Japanese elements in a very unique way and should be enjoyable to non-anime fans who like scary stories with lots of psychological intensity.
Not much nudity, less than one scene per episode, but many scenes per episode of violence and cruelty. Not much swearing outside of the use of the word "Hell". And there are some scary scenes with Hell and its evil minions. And the series overall is grossly violent and depicts nastiness of every type which is difficult to watch at times.
Some reasons for using Hell Girl's "Instant Karma" method are questionable at best. Mistakes are made and even redemption and salvation are possible but few black straw dolls are returned unused to Hell Girl. Most pull the scarlet thread for some reason plus their desire for vengeance.
I rarely write reviews of anime because everyone has their own tastes and I doubt I like what most anime fans like. I feel a need to promote it because I enjoyed each episode so much. This is really good adult anime that has all the elements for greatness. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
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Reviews with images
Interesting anime - but NOT the cover pictured
UPDATE: Dec 2012 - Correct cover image now pictured.On the set:Relying on the cover image shown here for the past year, I thought I would be getting a pretty red set that might have multiple cases. Silly me -- usually the S.A.V.E. sets look little better than bootleg sets (though they are much better quality, the physical set and the video quality). So just be aware, what you will get ordering new from Amazon will be a single clear-hardshell case (with decent artwork), with 4 pretty discs arranged nicely within (it is good, solid packaging). I've uploaded a customer picture so you can see what that will look like. For a S.A.V.E. set, at a killer price, the set is great, but it is not what Amazon pictures (I have given my complaints several times and it's still wrong...).On the anime:Basically, it's all about revenge. Teens (or anyone accessing the website) can request Hell Girl to terrify whomever has wronged them, and send them to Hell, but in return they allow their own souls to be ferried to Hell. Yes, a little creepy. Yes, a little dramatic.I might actually give the anime 4 stars, I'm not sure yet. I've seen the first 10 episodes or so, over the course of about 3 years. So, point -1, it's not something that will really capture you and pull you back. You won't dream about it then rush to finish it in one sitting to end the nightmares (uh, I hope).+1 The artwork is pretty. I picked up an inexpensive poster of Jigoku Shoujo at an anime convention (and I only own 3 anime posters).+1 The Japanese cast is good. I haven't tried English.+1 for the Japanese cultural aspect, you can learn interesting mythology bits from this anime.+1 It's a good anime to learn some Japanese, because of course it's mostly about school kids. You can watch (or re-watch) episodes without the subtitles and still get what is going on.Which brings me to another -1: Hell Girl is the only real character, and she's not much of a character. She's mysterious, maybe a bit tragic, but you don't get a lot of her personality (so far?).+1 You do care for the characters in the various episodes, but -- owing to the nature of the story -- they end up in Hell. It didn't take long for me to get a little tired of these people giving up their lives for revenge, although their situations were helpless enough you could believe they might resort to that.Having sampled more than 200 anime series, I would recommend you to give this series a try. Ippen, mitemiru?
