Jigoku Shoujo Futakomori ep.22

March 13, 2007 | 12 Comments

This is not as good as the episode that comes before it but it's not a bad episode either. It's kind of nice to see Takuma again, whose lousy fate was featured back in episode 14. The good news is that his situation is actually a lot better here than the way it was shown back at the end of episode 14. I wondered if viewers protested about his fate or if the animators felt that they were being too cruel to someone as innocent and nice as Takuma. Either way, he seems better off in this one although if one thinks about it, his fate is still kind of lousy. At any rate, it seems the animators want to do some kind of small arc with his character. One thing that I hope will materialise out of this is some kind of character development for Kikuri.

The episode begins with Ai and Kikuri watching the sunset world together. After a while, however, Kikuri declares that she's bored of the view and runs away from Ai. Takuma, the boy who was accused of killing his mother back in episode 14 is seen exiting a hospital room. Upon seeing him, the nurses spread unfounded bile about him. Takuma decides to return to the room and as it turns out, his father actually survived the attempted murder incident but is now in a coma. During police interrogation, they asked Takuma if his father was strict on him. Back then Takuma wondered if he's suspected for the murder. In the present time, Takuma tells his father that even he had tell the truth, no one would have believed him since the perpetrator who killed his mother and injured his father disappeared. The guy was sent to Hell. That day when Takuma goes shopping, everyone either being rude to him or are afraid of him.

While a bunch of old hags are gossiping about how Takuma has been released due to lack of evidence. Three months have apparently passed and they worry that he will kill someone again. All of a sudden, a girl with a motorbike takes off into the mall in her motorbike. One of the old hags seem to recognise the girl and looks angry. When Takuma gets off a bus, the girl decides to follow him to a nearby lake. The girl then sits to him, prompting Takuma to ask her if she doesn't know about him. In response the girl asks Takuma if he's some kind of talented kid. She then grabs his melon pan and eats it only to remember that she doesn't like melon pan. The girl, however, doesn't mind and introduces herself as Seri. Later on, Seri asks Takuma if he knew that they supposed to build a train station here so Takuma tells her that his father told him once about it. She tells him that it fails because the economic bubble burst so they had to stop.

When Takuma asks Seri what 'bubble' meant, however, Seri tells him that she has no idea but they have no more money. She thinks it's some kind of karma for the contractor since this place used to be her home. However, because her parents didn't mind losing their home since they get a lot of cash for it. Seri then grabs Takuma's hand and takes him to an area, informing the boy that there used to be a creek around here. Every year when it turns to Spring, there are a lot of frogs. Although they're kind of noisy at night, she loves their voices. Takuma thinks it must be annoying to have to hear those voice every night. Seri explains that she loved sneaking out at night and see the creatures. She then shows Takuma her frog phone-strap and tells him that when she hears them making noises, she can forget about her parents' fighting. Seri then bids goodbye to Takuma, prompting the boy to ask her where she's going. This stops Seri in her track.

Takuma nervously invites her to come home with him since no one lives with him, she doesn't have to worry about things. Seri smiles upon hearing this and asks Takuma if he's hitting on her. :) Takuma stutters but Seri tells him she'll come with him and cook him something. She does warn him that she's a bad cook though. Unknown to them, Ai observes the two from a far with a grim look on her face. When Takuma and Seri get into a scooter, she pulls out a spray paint and vandalises the bus stop. Takuma, however, refuses when she asks him to try it, claiming that his father told him that if you do a bad thing, it will come back to haunt you. Upon seeing the upset look on Takuma's face, Seri apologises and hugs him, dropping the paint can in the process. Upon seeing them, Wanyuudou remarks how cicadas usually cries around this time. WTF? He then asks Hone-Onna if she's not cold. Hone-Onna claims she's fine but she suddenly sneezes.

On their way back to Takuma's house, Seri stops and waves at a man inside a house, telling a guy that it seems he returns home earlier today. The man pretends to ignore her and when Takuma asks Seri if she knows 'Hasue-san', she just says "sort of". From inside a house, however, a woman can be seen observing Seri with anger. When they arrive at Takumi's house, Takumi is embarrassed that his house is in a mess. Because of this, Seri helps Takuma to clean up the house. When she looks at the trash-filled backyard, however, she gives up. Right at this time, she spots the same woman from the supermarket spying on her so she gives a cold smile and greets her good evening. During dinner Takuma realises that Seri lied because the food that she cooks actually tastes good. Seri then asks Takuma if he'd like to leave the city with her. She feels this is no longer the town she knows. Unfortunately Takuma can't come with her since his father is in a hospital.

Their conversation comes to a halt when Kikuri suddenly opens the backyard door. Takuma denies that the brat is he friend but the brat insists that it is true. When Takuma asks her if Jigoku Shoujo has come as well, Kikuri claims that she doesn't know. Seri who doesn't know what Jigoku Shoujo is about is interested to know if it's an anime. XD Because of this, Kikuri makes fun of her for not knowing about it. Meanwhile outside the house, Hone-Onna and Wanyuudou are annoyed that Kikuri is in their way again so Hone-Onna decides to pick her up, pretending to be Kikuri's mother. Kikuri immediately decides to be confrontational by calling Hone-Onna "old woman". She then tells her that Takuma knows that she's not a human. This causes Seri to wonder what they meant by this and when Hone-Onna tries to take Kikuri back, the brat retaliates by telling Seri that this old woman is a Yokai. Thankfully Ai then appears and orders Kikuri to go home with her.

After the Hell bunch left, Takuma realises that someone must have accessed the website again. As he looks into a mirror, Takuma starts to wonder if....judging from his look, the poor boy must think that someone wants to send him to Hell. When he tells Seri about this, however, she thinks it's just a superstition. Takuma insists that he saw it with his own eyes: people disappearing all of a sudden. Takuma's voice rises as he tries to convince Seri that it's the truth. Seri ends up coming out of the shower nekkid and hugs the boy, assuring him that it's okay. Later on that night after Takuma is asleep, Seri makes a phone call to someone, asking the person if he's got the money. She doesn't want any excuse this time since the guy promised her to give it yesterday. The guy claims it's impossible since she's asking for so much money but Seri doesn't care because she's leaving tomorrow morning. She wants 'Hasue-san' to put it in the mailbox.

Much to Seri's surprise, Takuma overheard everything because of this she has no choice but to admit when Takuma asks her if she's blackmailing Hasue-san. She knows that Takuma will ask her not to do bad things but she needs the money to get out of town. As to why she chose Hasue-san, she would have done it to anyone but she happens to meet Hasue-san. He is basically the head development of the Lovely Hills. She purposely bumped into him and then arranged to meet him on a date. She then threatened him by saying she'll tell others that he had a relationship with a minor like her unless he pays up. The truth is, the guy didn't do anything. However, she feels that this is a revenge for buying her parents' house. One day she came to his house and in the process caused his wife to be suspicious. The more he denied the relationship, the more his wife believes that they had an affair. Seri plans to start again in countryside where there are a lot of frogs.

Takuma tries to convince Seri to drop the plan and to live with him. Seri hugs Takuma and thanks the boy but doesn't say anything else. In the morning, Seri gives Takuma her frog phone-strap. She tells him to visit her when his father is better. She then hugs him, asking him to do his best even though it's hard and to stay away from strange men. Takuma cries after Seri left and becomes embarrassed when he sees Kikuri again. Kikuri tells him that Jigoku Shoujo has come but much to Takuma's surprise, she didn't come for him. He quickly realises that Ai's target is Seri. At the same time, Seri picks up an envelope from Hasue's mailbox. Unknown to her, his wife watches from the slightly ajar door. The wife then smirks before pulling the string from a straw doll. As soon as she does this, Seri's motorbike crashed into a pole. When Takuma finds the motorbike, Seri is not there anymore. In Hell, Seri cries on the boat asking Ren to return her. The episode ends with Takuma looking sad as he stares at Seri's phonestrap.

Preview

Impression:

I think the storyline itself was a bit weak but I love the characterisation of Seri. It shows the complexities of an individual. Just because someone seems nasty to a person, it doesn't mean they are incapable of being nice to another person and vice versa. Yeah, it wasn't nice of her to make up a rumour about someone else's husband. However, I like the fact that she's the only person who can see the truth behind all of the gossips that the townsfolk spew about Takuma. If there is one character I despise it'd be the wife. I probably should feel sorry for her because her family name ends up being in slandered due to Seri. However, she was shown gossiping about Takuma, calling the boy a devil's child even though she doesn't know the truth. I'm sure she won't like it if the townsfolk talk about how her husband has been having an affair with a younger girl. But if that's the case, then she should know better and not badmouthing a little boy like Takuma.

As for Takuma's talk about Karma, I'm not really sure what to think about it. I used to believe that when I was younger but these days, it's hard to believe that kind of thing. If you don't look out for yourself, I doubt fate will do it for you. Proof in point, Takuma has done nothing bad and yet it seems like he's punished for nothing. Now that Seri is death, I'm sure he'll be blamed for it. The townsfolk probably claim that it's because he's the devil's kid that Seri died. Thankfully so far Takuma hasn't been doing too bad. He still has hope because his father is still alive. However, I'm not really looking forward to see next week's episode. It doesn't help that Kikuri is annoying and always look as if she wants to play with Takuma in Hell. It was fun seeing her scolded by Ai in this episode for being an annoying brat. Anyway, next week's episode will continue Takuma's story which makes me wonder if the animators just want to torture him some more. Instead of doing this, I hope they use the opportunity to develop Kikuri.

© memento 2003