Jigoku Shoujo

O pitiful shadow, bound by darkness
Looking down upon people and causing them pain
A soul drowned in sinful karma
Want to try dying this once?

I'm somewhat late to the Jigoku Shoujo party, which has been on the backburner for just over two years now.

First impressions: it's incredibly repetitive and formulaic (not that it's a bad formula)...right up until about two thirds of the way in, when all that stuff about Hajime and Tsugumi's connection with Ai starts kicking in. (The pacing is not entirely dissimilar to something like, say, Noir.)

At its worst, the show adheres to a baseline quality, and the style ensures that it never really gets dull. At its best though - which is to say the last five episodes - it's pretty damn arresting, especially when the questions surrounding Ai's agenda and origin wind to their inevitable resolutions. The short stories that makes up the bulk of the standalone episodes are well written, and are often injected with a welcome dose of moral ambiguity: not everything in Ai's world is a simple right and wrong, and every choice has its own consequence.

Ai herself comes from a long and venerable tradition of Japanese tragic heroines from folklore and classical theatre: her assumption of her current duties is a riff on at least one tale from the oral tradition. (NB: see also the poetically doomed and equally vengeful Kirie of Fatal Frame.) Her fate - and the divinely-mandated burden that comes with it - will, as good J-Horror should, tear your heart to shreds while simultaneously terrify the living daylights out of you.

Part pulpy supernatural revenge drama, part meditation on hatred, forgiveness, sin and redemption, and yes, sometimes atonement can be quite the bitch.

edited 23rd May '11 7:49:28 PM by zeroplusalpha

It is quite a wonderful series.

Now are you a bad enough fan to watch the other two seasons featuring the same formula with a couple of twists?

Of course! I'm on Futakomori right now already.

I'm a big fan of Ai (note the avatar.)

She's quite the character, with a very nice design, a tragic backstory and she's creepy awesome. What's there not to like?

I remember creating the first Hell Girl thread way back.

zeroplusalpha: Once you've finished Mitsuganae, I have a question to ask you.

Holy shit you're right, Ai is similar to Kirie.

edited 24th May '11 1:17:34 AM by KousakaKirino

Oops. Sorry, I didn't mean to clone your thread. ^_^"

(I thought so, but then it wasn't mentioned in the sticky, so I thought it might be ok to start anew...)

I'm really looking forward to the next couple of seasons.

Well, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, so they say. <laughs nervously>

I don't really care if you make a new thread. The only thread had me asking a bunch of questions about Mitsuganae that no one could answer.

I hope you can. ^^;

On Episode 10 of Futakomori. Kikuri kind creeps me out slightly: those eyes!!!

Also, hilarity.

Bump, because just started on Mitsuganae.

Futakomori was fantastic, I have to say. I would have been have been fine with it ending there, but I won't say no to moar Ai, she's all kinds of awesome.

So, Mitsuganae sees the return of Ai, even though she has since been released from her obligations, if I'm correctly interpreting the end of Futakomori.

I'm not sure I understand what's going on.

EDIT: That's because that was one of my biggest fails. For some reason I watched ep 10 thinking it was the first episode. Boy do I feel stupid. >_<

edited 28th May '11 8:01:29 AM by zeroplusalpha

I liked how Ai's companions came a lot more into focus during Futakomori.

Yes, the focus given to the staff of the Jigoku Tsuushin was nice touch: it made them more than one-dimensional agents of retribution.

Unfortunately, the writing in Mitsuganae isn't quite as engaging as its predecessor. I'm not a huge fan of the way most of the stories seems to revolve around the students of Yuzuki's school, mainly because all the revenge motives seem so incredibly petty and adolescent.

The Rokumon Lantern Festival episode (episode 13, natch) seems to hint at the Hellmouth-y nature of Saigawara city, though, so hopefully this will get developed in later episodes. ( Ai's re-emergence was all kinds of win!)

Mitsuganae = Contractual Immortality for Ai.

Now, finish Mitsuganae and go through Ricchan Yuzuki as the new protagonist. I need a question answered that's been bugging me for more than a year now.

^ That episode is very important.

edited 29th May '11 4:37:37 AM by KousakaKirino

Well, my guess as it stands is that Yuzuki is destined to take up the mantle of the Jigoku Shoujo: Ai is brought back to effect the changeover, so to speak.

"The rest is up to you to decide."

I refuse to believe that's a throwaway line.

Also, let's not forget that Yuzuki's eyes momentarily flashed red during Akie's unfortunate exit from the proceedings.

I think that the requisite of becoming the new Jigoku Shoujo is that you have to accumulate enough despair and hatred, or something like that.

I'm talking about the very last scene in Mitsuganae, by the way.

I haven't seen the last episode yet, I'm only on episode 15. I'm still just conjecturing at this stage.

edited 29th May '11 11:13:41 PM by zeroplusalpha

Get back to me once you've seen it. :3

What did I say? WHAT DID I SAY?

Yes, okay, more or less everybody could see that coming. The reveal episode was one of the saddest things I've ever watched, though. T_T If just a touch unbelievable: I mean, is everybody in town an asshole of mythic proportions?

edited 3rd Jun '11 9:33:55 PM by zeroplusalpha

Azusa is an asshole. So anyway, that ending sequence. I want answers. :3

Ask away, my friend, ask away...

What the hell is it with Ai appearing at the very end? Like, I thought she was banished from hell or something.

edited 4th Jun '11 12:29:23 AM by KousakaKirino

^No, no, she just goes back to her old job, after Yuzuki proves herself entirely unsuitable for it.

When Ai offers to take Yuzuki's punishment for her, Enma (the spider) simply says something like, "There will always be hatred in the world. You will have to do this work forever. You will never be freed again."

Ai understands that if Yuzuki were allowed to continue, then sooner or later she'd screw up and doom herself to Hell.

edited 4th Jun '11 12:33:07 AM by zeroplusalpha

Uh, hi. Sorry to ask a stupid question and add nothing to this topic, but I've been hearing about this show for awhile, though one of my brothers and his girlfriend watched it and he hated it, so is this series any good?

It has its ups and downs.

It's very episodic, and they're pretty much variations on the same theme right up until episode 20 or so, and then the overarching plot kicks in, which is usually when it gets cranked up a couple of gears.

It depends very much on whether you like the premise of the show, and how much you dig Enma Ai.

EDIT: You could just read the first post in this thread, and see if any of that does it for you...

edited 4th Jun '11 12:37:54 AM by zeroplusalpha

Oh, that makes sense to me.

It's kind of like a Bodhisattva deal: she could have just left the cycle of existence, but then, nobody so far has demonstrated a better ability to do her job.

So in a way, that's how she atones for the "innocent" victims she has to send to Hell, by limiting the damage in the only way she can.

If she abdicates,there would only be more victims, both from the errors in judgement of her potential successors and the consequences that those errors would give rise to.

Plus, her crew likes her and obviously don't really want to work under new management.