Jigoku Shoujo Futakomori ep.03

October 22, 2006 | 18 Comments

Wow, that was kind of messed up in more ways than one. Just like Ai and her associates, I ended up being confused by the time the story ends. I mean, the grudge is quite lame to begin with and everyone in the story is kind of messed up in one way or another. I think they need a good therapy and not one way ticket to Hell. Having said that, this episode proves that whatever Hellfiends that Ai and her associates work for are grudge-whores. It doesn't matter if the grudge is silly or bordering on ridiculous, they'll take all of them. There is no quality control on which grudge is worth their time and which one is not. I guess there are more than enough real estate space in Hell to accomodate every misguided souls. Anyway, summary will be slightly different in style this time around since I want to try something different for a change.

A little girl called Sakairi Tae is using a famous search engine 'Deegle' to look for Jigoku Tsuushin. It's hard not to love the page description under the link: "Anata no Urami, Harashimasu". It looks like Ai and her associates took a marketing class in between the first and the second season. When Tae clicks on the link, she gets the 'Not Found' error page. It looks like Jigoku Tsuushin Ltd. also uses Nightmare host as their web provider. I guess no one can resists their 1TB bandwidth offer but you'll go to figurative Hell for signing a contract with them. Anyway, while waiting for the clock to hit 12 midnight, Tae tells herself that she'll be happy if she can become Kei-chan's sister because then they can always be together. That was kind of creepy on so many levels and we haven't even seen the torture scene yet. I think I understand the sentiment but the way she goes about it is plain creepy. Although that's a good thing for this series.

When the clock hits 12, Tae refreshes the browser and voila! Jigoku Tsuushin. She puts in someone's name in order to protect her 'Kei-chan'. The next morning, Tae goes to school and becomes hyper when she sees this 'Kei-chan' walking with his girlfriend, Yumie (who looks like evil version of Natsuki from Mai Otome). When Tae asks Kei if he's happy, his girlfriend becoms jealous and asks him to go. After the two left, two other students ask Tae if she still hasn't given up on Kei. They think she should because not only it's sickening, it makes her look like stalker. That was cruel but I agree with them. Besides, Tae doesn't mind being called a 'Stalker' as long as she can protect her 'Kei-chan'. From the bush Ai appears and asks her if she's really okay with this. Tae is surprised to hear this and when she looks back, she's already in Ai's world. In here, Ai gives her the jackstraw doll and tells her the usual "You'll go to hell after you die" drill.

During evening, Tae prepares her room and prays to God that things will go well for 'Kei-chan' and 'that woman'. I think God is probably confused at this point in the story but Tae ignores this kind of logic and knocks on the window adjacent to her room. She informs Kei that her room is ready for him to use. Yes, because nothing else screams "Love" other than giving your own room so your loved one can have sex with someone else. Anyway, Kei apologises for borrowing her room but Tae assures him that it's okay since her parents won't come home until late. They then do this "Bui" sign which adds to the creepiness of the entire scene. That night, Tae sits on a swing in a park while Kei tries his luck with fake Natsuki, I mean Yumie. She encounters Hone-Onna who pretends to be a drunk office lady. When Hone-Onna asks Tae what she is looking at, the girl claims that she's looking at her room where the boy that she likes is with the girl that she hates.

Inside the room, Kei tries to make his move on Yumie but she tells the guy that she wants to do 'it' in Hawaii. Outside the house, Tae explains to Hone-Onna that she loves 'Kei-chan' soooooo much that she wants to protect Kei and ensure that Yumie doesn't hurt him. Just like me, Hone-Onna fails to see the logic in this and thinks that people will normally get jealous. Tae admits that she feels a twinge of jealousy at times but because she doesn't want to lose Kei, she'll do anything to make him happy. Hone-Onna thinks that Tae basically loses Kei by letting him going out with another girl but in Tae's bizarro mind, she'll always be by Kei's side. Unfortunately before Hone-Onna can jolt some sense into the girl, she already sees Kei waving at her from the window so she immediately runs back to her house. Hone-Onna doesn't get this and thinks that she's getting old, A little girl appears in the background, asking her if she just realised this now.

The brat then disappears before Hone-Onna can turn her into a mincemeat. When Ren asks her why she's yelling, Hone-Onna simply tells him that there was this weird brat just then. She also explains that Tae basically contacted Ai in case the girl that Tae hates hurt the boy that she likes. Ichimoku Ren thinks that Tae has such strong emotions because she and Kei are very close. Well, that or some of her wirings are crossed. Ren thinks they should just leave her alone but as a woman, Hone-Onna is concerned for Tae. Meanwhile, Tae is upset because nothing happened between Kei and Yumie inside her room. Ewww, shouldn't she be happy? Even if he is her close friend, that's just too much imagination for one to handle. Kei then knocks on her window and tells her that Yumie wants to have their first time together in Hawaii. When Kei talking about getting a job so he can get the money, Tae pulls out her cash card so Kei can use it to go to Hawaii.

That night, Tae stalks Yumie at her house and sees her rival with another boy. The boy realises that Tae is watching them and becomes concerned about this but Yumie assures him it's okay since Tae won't tell Kei. The next day, Tae meets Hone-Onna inside a temple and tells her about Yumie's two-timing ways. Hone-Onna thinks that Tae should tell Kei but Tae refuses because she thinks it'll really hurt him. Once again Tae's logic fails on Hone-Onna who tells her that normally people will be happy to have the person that they love for themselves. Tae, however, is not too concerned about this because she and Kei have always been together since they were kids. When Hone-Onna asks Tae if she ever confessed her feelings to Kei, Tae claims that she doesn't want to since her relationship with Kei will change if she does this. Later on, Kei tells Tae that he found out about Yumie's two-timing nature. Tae feels sorry for Kei and invites the guy to her room.

In order to cheer him up, she puts her arm around him but Kei ends up pushing her down to the floor and kisses her. Before you can say "OMG, pity sex!" the two already do the deed. That night, Tae informs Hone-Onna what happened but instead of being happy, she wants to ensure that was the end of their affair. She's afraid that if Kei and herself goes beyond this and become lovers, one day they'll break up. If that happens, she won't be able to cope with it. What a drama queen. She also suddenly realises that she's become too close of a friend with Hone-Onna and decides to bid goodbye. And just to amuse you, Ai provides the comedy of the week when she accidentally cuts her nail a bit too much. That night, Kei is being persistent and wants a second helping of what he had earlier. This time around, he also claims that he understands that his most important person is Tae. He then tries to jump to Tae's window to enter her room.

Tae, however, closes her window, claiming that if this continues the distance between them will change. Kei doesn't understand this and keeps calling her name. Tae eventually relents and opens the window. However, this causes Kei to lose his balance since one of his leg was straddling her window. He plummets to his death, shocking Tae in the process. A few days later, Yumie's friends express their condolonces to her. Yumie, however, tells them that she didn't actually love Kei. She just felt sorry for him because Tae always so clingy with him. Tae who overheard this becomes angry and pulls the red string. Once this happens, Yui's boyfriend turns into Ichimoku Ren and she gets spinned on top of her bed like a roulette. Hone-Onna then throws Shuriken at her before Ai sends her to Hell. In the aftermath, Tae moves to a new place but becomes happy when her new neighbour greets her. Her eyes turn creepy and starts calling the boy 'Kei-chan'.

Impression:

I feel sorry for the new neighbour. I think Tae will stalk him like the psycho that she truly is. Okay that's a bit unfair but she comes across as a bit loopy in the head. Anyway, there is actually an interesting theme being explored here and that is the distance that a person has with the people around him/her. I have heard that the more you know someone, the more you get to see their imperfection and flaws. This is why close friends occasionally get into a fight. Because they know each other so well, sometimes it's hard to tolerate their friend's unpleasant behaviour. The same thing can be said about lovers or married couple. The more you know your loved one, the more you realise that this person is not as perfect as you thought he/she was when you two first met. It's an inevitable part of a human life, a 'Hedgehog's dillema'. The closer you get to someone, the more likely you're going to hurt, dislike, or being hurt/disliked by that person.

What Tae tried to achieve here is an 'ideal' relationship where she is close to Kei (or Hone-Onna) but not too close that they start to see each other's imperfection. The problem is, it doesn't work this way. She just ignores the fact that Kei has unconsciously been using her. In a friendship, a person has to receive as much as he/she gives or otherwise the relationship will become unbalanced. If one gives too much to someone, a decent person would feel uncomfortable and if the person is a jerk, then he/she would take advantage of the situation. In Tae's case, she keeps giving to maintain the illusion of friendship but when said friendship gets too close, she bails out, afraid that it'll turn into a mess one day. However, friendship or any other relationship doesn't work this way. One has to accept that a relationship will never be perfect and that the people involved in it will probably fight and drifted apart one day.

Anyway, everyone in this episode is quite messed up. Tae is too obsessed and comes across as a stalker. Kei doesn't have a backbone and from the look of things, likes to use others. Yumie is a nasty piece of work but on a reflection, I don't think she's any worse than the other two to the point that she deserves to go to hell. After all, it was Tae who was responsible for Kei's death. If she had acted like a normal person, the incident could have been prevented. What is interesting in this episode is the fact that Hone-Onna actually sympathise with a client. There is also a mysterious appearance of the little girl that appeared in the first episode. It remains to be seen if she'll be a big problem for Ai and the others or if she's just a mild annoyance for them. There isn't much comedy to be had in this episode but Ai as usual provides a scene where we get to laugh at her. This time around she cuts too much of her nail.

Preview

On next week's episode: a story about male host?

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