Line #1 Recap/HellGirlS1E11BrokenThreads


1	Masaya Kataoka is being beaten up by a group of fairweather friends that he was asking for a loan. They tell him that the only reason they hung out with him was because he used to be rich and could get things for them. Masaya accesses the Hell Correspondence and enters the name of a journalist, Takashi Inagaki. Masaya receives a taxt message saying his request was received. He receives Wanyuudo's straw doll in the sunset realm. Three days later, Masaya is thinking back to Ai's deal and has a vision of the people on the street turning into corpses and attacking him. Ichimoku Ren and Hone Onna look on, with Ren asking Hone Onna how much she wants to bet that Masaya won't pull the thread. Hone Onna tells him it isn't a game and Ren says she has no sense of humor, which he takes back after she glares at him.
2
3	Hajime visits his wife, Ayumi's grave and finds that Tsugumi had already been there. He receives a call while Tsugumi is standing at the railroad intersection where she first met Ai. Hajime goes to talk to Inagaki, his former editor who called him earlier. Hajime comments that the office he used to work at is as unpleasant as ever to which Inagaki responds that Hajime could have been an assistant editor by now if he hadn't quit. Hajime comments that readership for Inagaki's magazine has been up lately due to Inagaki turning it into a gossip journal. Hajime looks at an article on Masaya's father, a philanthropist and politician who was caught accepting bribes, and says he isn't coming back. Inagaki asks Hajime to look into allegations of corruption and marital infidelity against another politician. Ai watches from outside and Ren looks on from the ceiling using his eye as Inagaki tells Hajime that he has a week. Hajime accepts at first, but refuses again when Inagaki tells him to fudge the article if he needs to in order to complete it within the deadline and tells Inagaki to commit his own libel. Inagaki counters by saying that he knows Hajime has been blackmailing celebrities to make ends meet and should be grateful for the opportunity to do some relatively honest work. Ren comments that Hajime can't catch a break, but Hone Onna tells him to focus on Inagaki.
4
5	As he leaves the building, Hajime sees Masaya getting kicked out for trying to see Inagaki, who has refused to give Masaya an appointment. Hajime stops him from attacking the security guard and tells Masaya about how he used to work for Inagaki. Masaya introduces himself and Hajime says that Masaya's father was caught accepting bribes due to Masaya being arrested for drug use. Masaya denies it and says that Inagaki set him up. Hajime says that he heard the drug test came back negative and Masaya said that Inagaki just wrote whatever would get attention. Inagaki published a correction right afterward, but the rumors of bribery overshadowed it. Masaya says that everything his family owns has been seized and Hajime realizes that Masaya wanted to kill Inagaki. Hajime tells Masaya the revenge solves nothing and that he should use his anger to bring Inagaki down as a journalist, but Masaya runs off after vaguely referencing his deal with Ai. Hajime wonders how Masaya could have hired a hitman and realizes that Masaya contacted the Hell Correspondence.
6
7	Hajime's friend, the barkeeper, is babysitting Tsugumi, who is cooking some soup when she has a vision of Ai watching Masaya. Hajime is watching a drunken Inagaki walk out of a bar with two prostitutes, but receives a call from Tsugumi about the vision. Inagaki leads the two women into an alley where Masaya confronts him, saying that Inagaki ruined his life. Inagaki counters by saying that the blame rests solely on Masaya's father. Masaya admits that his father may have been guilty, but says that Inagaki shouldn't have targeted him to get at his father. Masaya tries to kill Inagaki with a broken bottle, but Inagaki disables him with a martial arts move and stomps him. Hajime shows up and tells Masaya that Inagaki is a black belt and that he knows Masaya accessed the Hell Correspondence for revenge on Inagaki. Ichimoku Ren and Hone Onna look on, annoyed at Hajime's interference. Back at Hajime's house, Tsugumi wonders who Ai is. Hajime asks Masaya what he knows about the Hell Girl, but Masaya says he doesn't know anything and shows Hajime the straw doll. As Ren and Hone Onna continue to look on, Hajime asks Masaya why he took matters into his own hands. Masaya shows Hajime that he hasn't untied the thread yet and Hajime says that he can expose Inagaki as a corrupt journalist if Masaya doesn't pull the thread. Hajime walks back to the bar where he last say Inagaki, but the prostitutes say he left with another woman.
8
9	Masaya has untied the thread and Ai rides forth to claim Inagaki's soul. The woman Inagaki left with, actually Hone Onna in disguise, leads him to a building in a deserted part of town asks him to get the door for her. Inagaki is startled when the doorknob turns into a hand that grabs him. Inagaki breaks throught he door and falls into a swirling purple vortex while Hone Onna drops her disguise comments that he reeked of alcohol. Hone Onna notices Hajime running up. Hajime, actually in an empty construction site, reaches a dead and runs back while Hone Onna seems to stick her head out of a support pillar to watch him. Hajime runs back to Masaya. Inagaki is trapped within a magazine article about his corruption and demands that Ai's minions let him out. Ai's minions tell him to confess to his crimes, but Inagaki says that what his sensational writing was justified because it exposed the truth despite the exaggeration. Inagaki says that he has done nothing wrong by printing stories that readers want and Ai appears, banishing him to Hell. On Ai's boat, Inagaki is swarmed by hands as Ai ferries him through Hell's gate.
10
11	Hajime tells Masaya that he didn't have to pull the thread. Masaya shows Hajime Hell's seal and says that Inagaki still destroyed his life before walking away. A candle with Masaya's name is lit.
12
13	-----
14	!!This episode contains examples of:
15	* DeathGlare: Hone Onna directs one at Ren to stop him from joking about their work.
16	* DownerEnding: Kataoka might’ve sent Inagaki to Hell, but it means he will never find justice since nothing’s been left behind.
17	* EvilCounterpart: While Hajime isn’t exactly a nice person, Inagaki is much worse than he is, ruining lives for the sake of money.
18	* IgnoredVitalNewsReports: Inagaki deliberately invokes this by posting a correction about his article on Masaya when nobody would notice it.
19	* IntrepidReporter: How Inagaki sees himself. Masaya and Ai's minions disagree.
20	* PhantomZonePicture: Inagaki's AfterlifeAntechamber has him stuck in an empty photo in a giant magazine long enough for Ai's minions to give him a ReasonYouSuckSpeech.

Context Recap / HellGirlS1E11BrokenThreads