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Somewhere in the vast sea of the Internet, there's a website that can only be accessed at the stroke of midnight. Known as the Jigoku Tsushin, rumor has it that if you post a grudge there, the Jigoku Shoujo will appear and drag whoever torments you into the inferno. Very little is known about the girl - all we know for sure is that she lives with her equally enigmatic grandmother, that three magical straw dolls accompany and serve her, and that whenever a posting on the Jigoku Tsushin moves her, she becomes the Jigoku Shoujo.

Eyecandy:



Currently subbed by:
Ayu
Shinsen-Subs

Characters:

Little can be said about Enma Ai and her attendants since they didn�??t get much airtime in the first episode other than dispensing some advice and doing some �??transportation�?� service. However, a lot of effort has been put into the other characters that are the main drivers of the story. Their personalities are really pushed to the limit and you can actually feel yourself hating or sympathizing with them.

Story:

What I love the most about Jigoku Shoujo would be premise of the story. We have ordinary people living ordinary lives until one single unfortunate event that pushes our sanity to the brink of sealing their own fates. This is a story about desperation, fear, humiliation, anger, hopelessness and possibly more negative emotions that drives people to the point of selling their soul to the devil (an analogy here). What amazes me is that the story somehow reflects upon the emotions of the Japanese themselves (and possibly ours too). We often hear Japanese committing suicide or murder due to lost employment, peer pressures, exams, family troubles, financial worries, jealousy, etc and this is repackaged into the theme of Jigoku Shoujo. Requesting for someone�??s demise and trading our hopes for salvation when death arrives are akin to murder and suicide in my opinion.

While Enma Ai and her three �??attendants�?� are the main characters in the story, the vehicle for the plot are focused on the victims. This is a really unique angle taken by Studio Deen here. The only downside that I foresee would be a lack of character development for Enma Ai.

Reflecting on past animes that I have watched, I can say the Jigoku Shoujo is somewhat a hybrid of Vampire Princess Miyu and Kousetsu Hyaku Monogatari (a.k.a. Hundred Stories) mixed in with a healthy dose of realism.

Animation:

Umm�?�.cute? However that applies only to Enma Ai herself. If I were to describe the animation style and quality for this anime, I might say that it is slightly similar to Otogizoushi and Serial Experiments Lain (I haven�??t watched SEL for two years now, so I might be wrong here).

I can�??t say the animation quality is top notch as compared to other animes like Bleach or Mai-Otome. Colours seem a bit too smooth (possibly due to the encodes?) and animation slightly �??gaussian blurred�?� (a common practice in anime production, I heard to give that slightly dreamy feel) but still, it�??s at acceptable standards.

Music:

The opening song is not played in the first episode, so I will have to wait for episode 2 to hear it before commenting. As for the ED, Karinui (�?�??ぬ�?) by Mamiko Noto who also happens to be the seiyuu for Enma Ai, I can say I love the song a lot. Song is slightly slow paced and vocals breathy but picks up a bit to add in strength around the climax of the song.

BGM uses a mix of modern as well as traditional sounds for various scenes. There�??s the Chinese harp and drums for Enma Ai�??s presence while others tend to use more electronic created sounds.

Verdict:

While it sounds like the anime is going to be episodic in nature (something like Miyu�??s), I don�??t think I will have any hesitation in following this anime. Firstly it�??s just to watch Enma�??s cuteness and secondly, to reflect upon the attitudes and behavior of people living in our world today. However, only one episode has been released todate and as such, it�??s still too early to know if the anime will continue its episodic runs till the end or later switch to a more continuous plot style of story-telling (like Hundred Stories).

Recommended? I guess if only that person is able to appreciate Jigoku Shoujo�??s brand of human psychology as well as not too concerned about the lack of a continuous story plot at present. Patience to sit out all 26 episodes of this series might be a plus.

Very interesting series so far. And Ayu is a great group.
Nice review man.

Its awesome. Jigoku Shoujo kicks ass. It seriously reminds me of death note though XDD (before I watched the actual episode). I have to say its well worth the download. The character designs are interesting. But, one thing that worries me is: how will the series continue? Will it continue following the life of the girl (I can't remember her name, she's the one who got bullied), or will it continue with like, a completely different person each episode, with their own problems.

To be honest, I was disappointed by Jigoku Shoujo.
Why?
It appears to be a "low age group" anime for me, I used to watch similar stories when I was year 8 or 9, someone got bully, they sold their (soul/life/money/the most important things to them) to the (evil/vampire/witch/"whatever supernatural") in order to revenge that person(s) or thing that bullied them or change the horrible situation. (You never know what stories in shoujo manga.)
And now I am a uni student, I found those stories stupid. Maybe to those that haven't watch and/or read similar genre it's awesome. I find them boring & stupid, maybe you will say: It's because you watch too much of it, well maybe yes, I really did watch too much of that genre. Even though I am not into this genre, I still found jigoku shoujo stupid especially in eps 1
That girl (I forgot her name) have the money stolen, she throught she lost it, she borrow the money from her classmate because she don't want to get the teacher angry or the class disappointed. OK that's fine.
Then her classmate charge her interest. That's the problem, she didn't sign a contract or we haven't been shown, let's assume it's the first case, you can just say : "I don't know what you saying, do you have evidence that I borrow money for you?" or if it's the second case "When did you say I have to pay interest? Give me evidence" but the most stupid thing is she do what her classmate force her to. Are you are an idiot?!? I don't see why at that point she don't tell her teacher or mother, yes they will be angry disappointed but you have a pretty good record, you are a good student da da da you have a high chance being forgive. But she didn't, =___=|||| then her classmate bully her more da da da and she choose to die. Then the jigoku shoujo comes up and say "I can help you kill the person"...... WTF (excuse me for my language) Is this anime try to teach people to revenge others in any cost? Not forgive? Dose it trying to say you should commit suicide when you got into a horrible situaton then something will come and help you?

Unfortunately, these things do happen. Else why do we see so many people doing stupid things in real life?

she didn't sign a contract or we haven't been shown, let's assume it's the first case, you can just say : "I don't know what you saying, do you have evidence that I borrow money for you?"

Being a good student, would you really expect her to say such a blatant lie to her classmate's face? It's not easy denying the truth when you have your own principles (even if she was tricked to believe that she was actually borrowing).

I don't see why at that point she don't tell her teacher or mother, yes they will be angry disappointed but you have a pretty good record, you are a good student da da da you have a high chance being forgive.

It's because she has her own reputation to protect. If she actually reported to her teacher or parents, then her reputation would be gone forever. Yes, she will be forgiven by her parents or teachers but will others trust her with their stuff like lets say, class funds in the future? Heck...maybe the teacher would chose someone else from now on. And don't underestimate the power of gossip. The classmate who "borrowed" her the money could easily spread rumors so as to not let you live your school years in peace.

Is this anime try to teach people to revenge others in any cost? Not forgive? Dose it trying to say you should commit suicide when you got into a horrible situaton then something will come and help you?

Who knows? But watching anime should be taken with a grain of salt and not treated too seriously as a propaganda machine. It's a form of entertainment after all.

The anime look's very good , do you know where can i download the anime ?

thanks very much

You can download it from bittorrent@animesuki(http://www.animesuki.com/). the group shinshen-subs is preety fast for downloads, so you can use them or jelly caption team, AnimeSource, or Ayu are other groups doing this project too.

The anime is creepy but good. watch it.

I have watched it 2 weeks ago. It was great! I think it is interesting!! Enma Ai is really beautiful.= = Now it's doing 14 in Japan. I like this anime very much. But I think her eyes are terrible. =="

I like the dark theme of this anime~
The concepts are amazing.
Jigoku Shouko is unique, character designs and roles are good too~
The only thing I don't like about this is it becomes repetitive, same things over and over again~ BUT! I've only watched until ep.4 though ^^

Jigoku Shoujo is a great Anime!I have see 10 episode of this serie and is it in my favorite anime !

I thought at first glance that it was supposed to be dark. It is but it�??s more psychological than blood and gore scary. This anime doesn�??t focused precisely on one individual but on society and vast differences of evil: from psychopaths to cutthroat fame. What got me hooked on it wasn�??t because of the gore that is associated to scary films but to the metal physiology represented through the people sent and the senders to hell.

As the artwork goes hell girl simple design and her lack of expression doesn�??t subtract from the anime. Actually it adds to it because you come to realize that this is her job nothing more. What I like about the art in it is not the people but the background. It�??s phenomenal, how you can really tell when their in hell or earth. The vibrancy of color of Enma Ai�??s home to the suitable grayness of the gates of hell completes the story.

Wow I didn't relize there was already a topic on it. I really like this series Its so interesting. I like the animation too. The storyline and characters are great also. My fave is Ai Enma who is played by one of Japans best voices Mamiko NOTO.

The name Enma rocks. Ai Enma, I have never heard that name before so it resonates for some reason. Jigoku Shoujo is really good so far, though I am waiting for the person who will say no. I keep trying to put myself in their situation and I can never see things getting so bad that I will take vengence, which lasts for a minute, and is probably great, but the payoff being that I have to spend eternity in hell. Thats just a bad deal all around. Their going to hell and all, but now I am off topic.

Its really good so far, and I am seeing situations that I had never even thought of before. ANother example of how bad your life can get. Can't wait for some more episodes to be released. Last time I checked, they had skipped 7 episodes. Hopefully that is corrected now.

There was a great analysis of this series done a few days ago at theotaku.com in the articles section - it's called Jigoku Shoujo: Revenge and Power. If you're at all interested in this series you might like to check it out, as the author of the article makes some very perceptive comments about the role of revenge in the series from a variety of perspectives - narrative, symbolic, religious and socio-economic .

I enjoy watching Hell Girl (I'm up to the 10th episode). It kind of reminds me of Vampire Princess Miyu but not as intriguing or as engaging, if only because some of the stories in Hell Girl are not as interesting as others and Ai Emma herself is very distant and detached from the audience unlike Miyu.

I do like the idea of what a person is willing to sacrifice (obviously an afterlife in Heaven) in order to gain a small peace of mind in the mortal life.