Jigoku Shoujo ep.22

March 8, 2006 | 13 Comments

This is an okay episode I supposed. I am not thrilled with the revenge of the week case but the little revelation about Hajime's past is quite interesting to know. This episode basically points out that revenge can come in any type or form and even if Jigoku Tsuushin does not exist, human can still hurt other humans through other means. It's also nice to see another side of Hajime, one that explains his desire to prevent others from wishing revenge on the person that they hate. The most enjoyable part of the episode, however, is seeing Ai acting out of character and slightly childish at the start of the episode. Anyway, with only 4 episodes left, I hope the writers can wrap up the story in a satisfying manner. All I want is for the writers to reveal the identity behind Enma Ai and her connection to Hajime and Tsugumi. It'll be nice if we learn more about Grandma spider and Ai's associates but I am afraid the writers won't actually tell their story.

The episode begins with Tsugumi seeing a waterfall and a Sakura tree in her vision. She then overhears Ai addressing the boy who stands next to the tree side as "Sentaro". The vision, however, ends when a street vendor startled her. Tsugumi pretends that there is nothing wrong with her and proceeds to buy a bunch of chestnuts. Fast forward to a few hours later, Hajime is seen entering the house while talking about his job last night. Much to his surprise, however, he sees Tsugumi dressed up formally in grey. He pretends to not understand the significance of this and wonders if there is something to eat. Tsugumi quietly fetch him some foods. Before Hajime can eat, however, Tsugumi asks for a confirmation if this year he will go with her. In return, Hajime asks his daughter what she is talking about. Tsugumi becomes angry upon hearing Hajime's answer and tells him that in that case, she'll go on her own. She then takes a train to go to another house.

It turns out the house belongs to Tsugumi's grandparents. They too look rather disappointed when they find out that Hajime does not come with Tsugumi. At the same time, Hajime has just finished his food and notices something that Tsugumi purchased. It's a photograph collection called Nihon no Sakura/Japan's Sakura. Unknown to Hajime, one of the photographs inside the book is similar to the location that Tsugumi saw in Ai's vision. The scene then cuts into Ai's sunset world, where it is revealed that a similar location is also replicated in this world. Both the waterfall and the Sakura tree look exactly similar to the one that Ai saw in her vision only this time they both look red-tinted. At the same time, Ai is in the middle of vandalising the paper door in her house by licking her finger then poking a hole in the door. Ai's grandma sounds a bit concerned to see Ai acting like this while her associates agree that something probably bothers Ai.

Back to Tsugumi, she is seen looking through Ayumi's old photo album while her grandparents are impressed with her ability to make Kuri Okowa on her own. At the same time, a cafe owner is asking Hajime if today is the anniversary of his wife's death. Hajime is surprised to hear this and wonders how the cafe owner knows about it. Because of this he tells Hajime that yesterday Tsugumi came and asked him to teach her how to make Kuri Okawa (Chesnut Rice). Apparently this is her mother's favourite food. Upon hearing this, Hajime begins to reminisce of the time when he first met Ayumi at the university. At first he thought Ayumi wasn't interested in him due to his rather brash attempt in approaching her but he's happy when he found out that she has feelings for him as well. The two eventually wed but Hajime was too preoccupied with his work as a journalist to the point that he actually left his wedding reception to hunt for news. This obviously upset Ayumi a lot.

Meanwhile in the present day, Ai is seen stalking a woman called Hayashi Noriko, who at the moment is seen entering a love hotel with a man. Tsugumi, as usual, becomes the recipient of the sight and causes a little bit of worry for her grandparents when her eyes look as blank as a zombie. Tsugumi quickly realises that Ai has passed on some detailed information to her in the form of the name of the person and the place. After weighing in the ups and downs of passing on the information to her father, Tsugumi eventually decides to give Hajime a call. Hajime decides to take a taxi to go to the central hotel that Tsugumi mentioned. Along the way, however, he remembers how he often left Ayumi alone because of his job. This continues day in, day out even when they're supposed to have dinner together. Then one day Ayumi found herself pregnant. She was hoping that her pregnancy will make Hajime will pay more attention to her a little bit.

However, as discussed in the present day by Ayumi's parents, Hajime didn't change a bit even after Tsugumi was born. As a result, Ayumi often took care of Tsugumi on her own. Meanwhile, the present-day Hajime finally arrives at his destination. Upon getting there, however, he remembers of the time when he got info about a politician who was having an affair. Much to Hajime's shock, however, the woman with whom the politician was having an affair with was Ayumi. Hajime ended up punching the politician and turning bitter towards Ayumi. In the present day, Hajime runs out of the taxi in an attempt to stop a seemingly crazed person from pulling the red string. Before he can stop the guy, however, the person already done the deed while screaming Noriko's name. Hajime becomes angry and asks the person why he sent a person to Hell. The man answers that it's because he loves Noriko but the woman only used him for his money. Because of this, he can't forgive her. This immediately reminds Hajime of the time when he told his superior that he can't forgive Ayumi for cheating on him.

In the present day, Noriko is punished by Ai and her associates by changing the appearance of the man she's currently to look as if he's made out of nothing but money. At the same time, Hajime remembers of the time when Ayumi begged to be given another chance. Hajime, however, coldly refused her request and denied her the ability to see Tsugumi. Ayumi then leaves in the middle of a rainy night and later on died in a fatal crash. Meanwhile, Noriko is seen running into a room, thinking that Hone-Onna is helping her. Instead she finds herself inside a bank security vault filled with money. Her happiness upon seeing the money, however, turns into horror when Hone-Onna torches the place with fire. Ai then sends her to hell and shows how her face is now made out of money. Back to the present-day, Tsugumi and her grandparents arrive at Ayumi's grave only to find the grave has been cleaned. Two flowers and one bento box containing Kuri Okawa have also been placed on top of it. Tsugumi cries happily realising that it was Hajime who did this.

Impression:

On a closer look, there are several interesting cues about the little boy that Ai has been seeing lately. First of all, judging from Ai's little whisper, his name is Sentaro. Also, if you look closer, the area where Sentaro was standing is similar to Ai's Sunset world, complete with the waterfall and the Sakura tree. The most interesting clues of all, however, is that Tsugumi ends up buying a book titled 「日本の桜」 - Nihon no Sakura. In this book, there is a photograph of a real place location that is eerily similar to the waterfall/Sakura tree that is in Ai's Sunset world. In that part of the photograph, there is also this word written on it: 「撮影場所　六道郷」 . I can't make sense of the second word (Rokudougou?) but the first word is 'Photograph location'. My guess is that the location was the place where Ai died. I remember that the opening has a shot of Ai drowning. The shot of Ai falling over backwards from a few episodes ago and the shot of the waterfall in this episode seem to suggest that she did fall into the waterfall somehow.

© memento 2003