Jigoku Shoujo ep.1

October 5, 2005 | 14 Comments

Ending Theme: 「かりぬい」 - Karinui by Noto Mamiko (13.2MB, for PSP/Quicktime)

I was actually kind of reluctant to blog this after watching the first episode. I guess I am a bit disappointed with the digital look of the series. I was hoping that the series will be a bit more stylish than what it is at the moment. What really brings me back to it, however, is the storyline, which so far does a good job of keeping my attention. As a side note, there's a manga version of the story which runs in Nakayoshi monthly magazine at the same time as the anime. The story is different from the anime but retains its episodic nature. Anyway, I think I'm going to approach this series on episode per episode basis before I can be sure that I want to follow this continuously.

In this episode, a girl called Hashimoto Mayumi has been entrusted with 100,000 Yen (around $1000 US Dollar) fund raising money by her teacher and classmate. She keeps the money in her bag but when she returns to her class that evening, she realises that she has lost the money. Her classmate, Kuroda Ayu finds out about this and decides to bail her out. The favour, however, comes at a price. Mayumi now has to tend to Ayu's demand. Failure to do so will result in Ayu and her croonies telling the other classmates about the incident. While fetching a glass of juice for Ayu, Mayumi overhears two students talking about a website called Jigoku Tsuushin and how the website will be able to get rid of the person that the site's visitor hates. The catch is, your own life might be in danger if you visit the site.

That night, Mayumi is looking depressed after receiving a note from Ayu in the evening. She becomes even more sad when she hears her mother saying that despite being poor, they have recently lost some money to a robber, suggesting that the money that Mayumi used to pay Ayu back was actually her parents' money. Feeling guilty, Mayumi decides to go to her room and looks for the site that the other kids mentioned. Unfortunately, despite her attempt, the site only gives her a 403 error. That is until the clock's short and long hands reach 12 midnight. All of a sudden a flame flickers in her monitor and Jigoku Tsuushin appears right in front of her eyes. Mayumi tries to put Ayu's name in it but at the last minute, she chickens out and then gets interrupted by a phone call originated from Ayu.

The next day, there are rumours spreading about Mayumi. Her teacher refuses to believe it but Mayumi doesn't look happy regardless. That night, she visits Jigoku Tsuushin again and finally manages to get the courage to hit the submit button. Upon doing so, all of a sudden her phone rings, delivering a message from Jigoku Shoujo that her message has been received. The next day, Ayu takes Mayumi to a red light district, forcing her to go on a subsidised date with older, lecherous guy. When Mayumi refuses, however, Ayu takes a picture of her and the older guy and threatens to show it to everyone. Feeling depressed about her entire situation, Mayumi decides to commit suicide. Just as she throws herself of a high-rise, however, Jigoku Shoujo appears next to her and transport her to another realm, one that looks like it's enveloped in everlasting sunset.

Jigoku Shoujo introduces herself as Enma Ai and tells Mayumi that she calls for her. She then gives Mayumi a voodo doll with a red string attached to its neck. Ai tells Mayumi that if she really wants to get rid of the person that she hates, all she has to do is to pull off the red string from the doll's neck. However, just like everything else, there is a catch for this. Once the person that pulls the string dies, his or her soul will be forever tortured in hell. A blue flame then appears and enveloped Mayumi in it. When Mayumi opens her eyes, she finds herself sitting safely in the street. Mayumi's doubt as to what to do with the doll, however, immediately vanish the next day when Ayu reveals the picture that she took to the teacher. Mayumi finally loses her patience and pulls off the red ribbon from the doll's neck.

The doll immediately vanishes and Mayumi suddenly hears a man saying that her grudge has been heard. Elsewhere in a peaceful-looking village, Enma Ai is seen preparing herself in a special-looking kimono. A flying carriage is then seen over the sky carrying Ai on the inside, ready for her job. Meanwhile, Ayu is seen receiving a message from Mayumi to meet her in front of the school. When Ayu finds Mayumi, however, the girl runs into the school. Ayu then decides to follow Mayumi and gets to be the receiver of several well-deserved visual torture, ranging from faceless-looking classmates to a soccerball that turns into a skeleton. She is then confronted by Enma Ai's associates who reveals that the person who stole the money was actually none other than Ayu herself. Ayu tries to deny this and pretends that everything was just fun and game.

Enma Ai, however, proves that Ayu is wrong. She tells Ayu that she has hurt someone with her act and invites Ayu to see Death. Upon saying this, Ai lifts an arm, suddenly releasing the flower motifs out of her kimono. This in result, causes Ayu to fall unconscious. When Ayu awakes again, she finds herself on top of a boat that is controlled by Ai. As creepy arms suddenly takes a hold of Ayu, Ai informs the girl that she's taking Ayu to Hell. Fast forward to what is possibly a few days later, Mayumi is seen looking quite happy for the first time in a while to the point that her friend tells her about this. Unfortunately for Mayumi, she seems to have regain a strange mark around her chest. A mark that suggests that once she dies, her soul will also go to hell. For now, however, Mayumi seems to be quite glad to move on with her life.

Impression:

I really feel sorry for Mayumi. It seems with every step that she takes, she digs a deeper grave for herself. And all because she is too ashamed of the incident. And to think that all she had to do was tell her teacher and classmates that she lost the money. At the worst she will have to find a way to pay back the money and probably suffers major embarassment for a couple of months. But now, not only she has committed a murder, she has also been marked to go to hell once she passed away. To be honest though, I felt a twisted immense satisfaction at the sight of Ayu getting tortured by Enma Ai and her associates. There's something nice about the villain of this episode getting her just dessert. I also like Enma Ai and her associates and hope that their background stories will be revealed in future episodes.

It's interesting to note that Enma Ai herself seems to live in a rather secluded but peaceful area. It makes me wonder if she's actually human or some kind of a ghost. Judging from the kind of carriage that she gets to hop on, it seems her role as Jigoku Shoujo is quite special amongst the land of the dead. Her companions are equally interesting. The first one, Ichimoku Ren, at a glance look like a typical bishounen character. Closer inspection, however, will reveal that one of his eyes can appear in a building and sometimes on top of his head. Yikes. The other one, Bone lady, seems to posses a demonic side, judging from this episode. The last one is an old man who seems to be able to take a shape or form of other human beings. When I think about it, all of them appear as if they come from one of those Japanese mythologies. I'll try to take a look into this next time.

In fact, the series in general does remind me a lot of Hyaku Monogatari, Death Note, and a Chinese live-action drama called A Chinese Ghost Story. The ending theme, Karinui, actually shares some rather similar tunes to the theme song of A Chinese Ghost Story. Unfortunately, I'm not quite happy with the series, animation-wise. As I've said before, the series looks rather generic and bland at times. It looks too clean, something that I'd expect out of titles like Chobits but not this series. I also thought that a few scenes could have benefited from additional sound/voice works. For example, when Ayu is taken by Ai to the gate of hell, I kind of expect a little scream from her, just to amp the creep factor a little bit. I hope that future episodes will address some of these issues.

© memento 2003