Jigoku Shoujo – 09

Summary:
Shibata Hajime tries to find out what really happened previously, but there are no clues to be found at the storefront where Gorou disappeared and Chie won’t speak with him. Somewhere else in town, Kasuga Yuka is showing Morisaki Shinya, a famous pastry chef, the creations of her sister Hiromi. The two are following their father’s dream and opening a patisserie. She’s thrilled that Morisaki seems to approve and reports back happily to her sister. Apparently Morisaki even agreed to promote them on TV. After hearing the news however, Hiromi is less than ecstatic. When the day of the show comes, the Shibatas happen to be watching the program. After Morisaki introduces one of Hiromi’s creations as his own, they switch over to the Kasuga sisters. When Hiromi showcases the exact same dessert, the TV crew cuts to commercial. Soon word gets around that Hiromi is the one who copied Morisaki’s idea. With the store and family name tarnished, Yuka turns to the Jigoku Tsuushin. Enma Ai soon visits her and gives her the doll and the normal speech.
The next day, the bank tells comes to collect on their loan, the result of Morisaki’s influence and connections. With no money and no customers, the sisters have no choice but to allow their shop to be torn down. Yuka feels that everything is her fault, but Hiromi tells her the truth of it all: Morisaki likes Hiromi, but she rejected him. Yuka goes to a gala in order to confront him about it, but to no avail. She pulls the red string, and soon the guests start to complain about the pastries. They throw the food at Morisaki, and he goes running out once the reporters start to pepper him with questions after he yelled that the cakes weren’t his. Ai and her companions get their hands on him again and put him in a cake before sending him to hell. Hajime, who heard about the commotion from Tsugumi’s vision, arrives too late to see anything. The Kasuga sisters soon start over again, and Yuka seems happy even though she has the mark on her chest.

I’m surprised that they’re continuing to use Hajime and Tsugumi this episode, and even more surprised that they showed a little more conclusion to last week’s episode, including a brief shot of Chie. Contrary to what I had previously thought, they’re probably going to use the Shibatas to bridge the gaps between episodes from now on. Hopefully it won’t be too predictable with Hajime running around collecting clues about Enma and various disappearances.
With the exception of the now-reoccurring Shibatas, this episode borders on merely average. Morisaki isn’t a thrilling villain, almost to the point where I start to doubt if Yuka has grounds on which to send him to hell. He may be a jerk who ruined their business and lusts after her sister, but I don’t think it’s worth it for her to have sacrificed her soul like that when they could have picked up the pieces and moved on instead.
Next episode looks interesting as the preview shows not only Hajime, but also the doll being punctured. Now if only they would give Tsugumi more on-air time.