Jigoku Shoujo Futakomori ep.12

December 25, 2006 | 13 Comments

Sorry for delaying this post until today but I thought this episode would have been perfect for a Christmas Jigoku Shoujo episode. Yeah, I realise that 'Christmas' and 'Hell' don't go together but this is one of those rare episodes where the story ended happily. Well, as happy as any Jigoku Shoujo story can be. Unfortunately the setting is a bit dull this time around. The story simply relies on two location: inside an old house and a truck. It feels as if the animators try to minimise the amount of money that they must spend on the episode. Thankfully there is a nice twist towards the end of the episode which leads to the happy end I mentioned above. This episode also reveals some information about Wanyuudou's past although it does not explain how he became one of Ai's helpers.

The episode begins with a man driving a truck in the middle of the night but quickly slams the brake when he sees an old man standing in the middle of the road. As it turns out the old man is Wanyuudou and he asks if he can hitchhike on the truck. Inside Ai's sunset world, Kikuri sees the old grandma sewing and decides to annoy her by sticking her fingers into the wheel and ignores her request to stop. XD The little terror eventually stops when Ai asks her to. She also looks visibly happy when Ai invites her to come along. Inside the truck, Wanyuudou tells the driver that he's quite familiar with this area. A flashback then shows a carriage carrying a Princess when the carriage suddenly unable to move. Wanyuudou tells the driver that back then they didn't have a nice road like this one. The driver explains that the road has just been recently completed. Having said that he's been on this job ever since he graduated from high school.

The driver believes that Wanyuudou is a car freak as well and used to drive wildly on the road. XD He then explains that when he started on the job, this road has yet to be opened for public use. Another flashback reveals that during Wanyuudou's time, the carriage was attacked by a bunch of Samurai. In the present time, the truck driver and Wanyuudou stops for a drink so the driver informs Wanyuudou that the truth is this road is not complete yet. Apparently there is an owner of an old house who refused to relocate. As a result, the 4 ways road converge at one point, creating an X-like intersection. In this dangerous area, an 18 year old boy died. Another flashback shows the carriage guards trying to fend off the fire arrow attack from their pursuer but unable to do so. The fire quickly burnt down the carriage. Wanyuudou, who I assume was the controller of the carriage, was shocked to see the fire and didn't pay attention to the road.

When they carriage reached a curved road, Wanyuudou lost control of the horse and the carriage. The carriage, the people in it and Wanyuudou then fell off a cliff and into their death. In the present day, Wanyuudou wonders how many hundreds of years have passed since then. His thought got interrupted when the driver tells him that he can't forgive the owner of the house because he feels it's the owner's mistake that the accident happened. What annoys him the most is the fact that there's just one single old man living in that house. Speaking of the old man and his house, Hone-Onna can be heard banging on the door, asking him if she can rest at the house. The old man asks her to go to other house but Hone-Onna insists that she can't see other house nearby. Upon opening the door, the man is surprised to see Hone-Onna alone so she explains that she came in her boyfriend's car but they had a fight so she left the car and walked on her own.

When Hone-Onna gets inside, the guy suddenly looks as if he's in pain. Despite this, he tells Hone-Onna that he's fine. Back inside the truck, the driver asks Wanyuudou if he's ever heard about Jigoku Tsuushin. He explains how there is a website with that name and if you put a person's name on it, that person will be taken to Hell. Although it sounds like a manga-plot, the driver admits that he accessed the site last night. When Wanyuudou asks him on whom he placed his grudge against, the driver tells him that it's the old man living in the old house. He reminds Wanyuudou about the high school boy who died nearby. That high school boy is his younger brother. Just like him, his brother loved car ever since a kid and when the guy turned 18, he took a license. His little brother wanted to be a truck driver just like him one day. One night, however, the brother was speeding and drove off of a cliff in an attempt to avoid another car.

Despite the accident, the old man still refused to relocate the house. Because of this, the truck driver decided to write the man's name into Jigoku Tsuushin. However, Jigoku Shoujo didn't come and give him the straw doll. Inside the house, Hone-Onna finds out that the old man's relatives are all dead. He himself won't live long because he constantly suffers from heart attack. Outside the house, the truck driver stops and gives Wanyuudou his mobile phone to call for a taxi. Because Jigoku Shoujo didn't respond to his request, he intends on avenging his brother's death on his own. In addition to this, as long as the house is there, there's likelihood that another accident will happen. Meanwhile, the old man explains to Hone-Onna that lately he's been asked to sell his house and move out. However, he doesn't want to live amongst strangers and he doesn't need the money. All he wants is to live the rest of his life quietly in the house.

At the same time, Wanyuudou has gotten off the truck while the truck driver himself mentally prepares himself for the kamikaze attempt by playing a loud music on his stereo. Unknown to him, the old man inside the house is suffering from another stroke and asks Hone-Onna to get him something from a drawer. Much to Hone-Onna's surprise, the item is not a medicine but a rather a mail. Inside the truck, the driver is startled when Wanyuudou tells him that he'd get into accident if he's speeding like this. He then goes to inform the guy that Jigoku Shoujo doesn't immediately appear as soon as a request has been made. In order to find out about the intention within the requesters' heart, she has people like Wanyuudou to investigate the requesters. Wanyuudou then transforms into a straw doll which falls onto Enma Ai's lap. Ai gives the doll to him and tells him to pull the string if he really wants to avenge his grudge.

Despite his initial reluctance, the driver eventually decides to pull the string. Before he can do so, however, Ren appears and tells him that the old man is already dead. True enough, the old man can be seen laying on the bed looking lifeless. Kikuri who comes to the room starts poking the old man's head with her finger. An annoyed Hone-Onna tells the brat to look for Hana (Flowers) instead. In response, Kikuri goes for Hone-Onna's Hana (Nose) instead. XD Meanwhile, the driver still reeling from the shock that he can't avenge his brother's death. Refusing to believe this, he decides to drive the truck towards the house anyway. All of a sudden, however, he notices Kikuri crossing the road with the flowers. He immediately hits the brake and steers the truck so he won't hit Kikuri. However, this causes the truck to go out of control and veers towards the cliff. Wanyuudou decides to morph back into human and stops the truck with his bare hands.

The truck stops right in front of a railing with flowers and offerings. This was the spot where the driver's brother had the accident. Wanyuudou believes that the driver's brother wouldn't want him to die on the same spot as well. In the aftermath, Hone-Onna hands the driver the mail because it has his name on it: Itou Michirou. Because the house starts to collapse, everyone evacuates the place. Outside, Wanyuudou makes a remark how the house followed the footsteps of its master. After the group left him, Itou reads the letter which states that the old man had left the house to the family of the boy who died in the accident as a compensation for his sin. Everyone seems pleased with this. Even Kikuri imitates Wanyuudou by rolling on the hill and screams "Wanyuudou". As they leave the area, Ai asks Wanyuudou if he wanted to follow his master as well. Wanyuudou tells her that if he did that, he wouldn't be able to meet her.

Impression:

I thought it was kind of foolish for Itou to want to kill himself in order to avenge his brother. Judging from the flashback, the guy's brother was clearly speeding in an area which is known to be dangerous. While it's selfish of the old man to not want to move out, I don't think he should be blamed for the accident. It's the responsibility of the drivers who pass the area to slow down and watch out for other drivers. It's a good thing that Ai and Wanyuudou prolonged their investigation. This way everyone gets away with their soul intact. I think Wanyuudou also got the chance to redeem himself after failing to protect his master a long, long time ago. In other note, I give up trying to figure out the role of Kikuri in this story. So far she's only in this series to annoy everyone but Ai. She's kind of amusing when she tried to annoy grandma spider and Hone-Onna (again). Clearly she has problems with old women (just kidding).

© memento 2003