First Impressions / Jigoku Shoujo

Short Summary:
Iwashita Daisuke and his friend Muroi look up to Hanagasa Mamoru, who is a fellow a baseball team player with a bright future in the sport. However, after Muroi dies as a result of Hangasa’s bullying, Iwashita gets pissed off. His problems get worse when, during Muroi’s memorial, the investigation turns to him, and Muroi’s mother starts blaming him. And to top it all off, he sees Hanagasa praying for Muroi there, getting credit for being sensitive. That night, Iwashita uses the Jigoku Tsushin and inputs Hanagasa’s name. Enma Ai visits him almost immediately and gives him a black doll and the conditions. The next day, Iwashita calls out Hanagasa, trying to get him to come clean one last time. Hanagasa acts like a jerk as usual, and Iwashita feels that he has no choice but to pull the string. That night, Hanagasa plays a baseball game from hell, and is finally sent there by Ai. On the boat, Muroi’s spirit wants to play baseball with him.

There’s one word I can say about this episode (and I don’t mean to be too harsh): reused. Plenty of Enma Ai’s shots this episode are quickly getting a stock footage feel, from the stagecoach ride to the mesmerizing kimono. The plot didn’t impress me particularly either since the formula felt the same as the first episode: person is wronged, person endures it until he/she reaches the limit, he/she uses the Jigoku Tsushin, he/she waits for one more boiling point event, then pulls the string, and so forth. The episode is still interesting to watch, but they are becoming a little less so with each week that passes, even with the variations they throw into the plot about who’s responsible, who’s the victim, etc.
This would all be moot if they could give us some back story on Enma Ai and her companions and how they got their current jobs. But for now, it seems that we’ll get more of these type stories. Next week deals with a veternarian and a little girl’s dog.

Closing Thought: Ai is downright creepy in the way she appears to Iwashita after he types in Hanagasa’s name. The same applies to the way she looks in the small mirror after she disappears.

27 Comments

  4. @bj0rN: did you try at 0:00? :>

    Well, Imma start my rant about this show again. 😛

    While the drama parts are still good (even if its the same thing basically) its yet another episode of Jigoku Shoujo with the same issues I had with episode 1 already.

    Ai is not creepy to me at all (and this probably wont get fixed cause its the seiyuus fault for the most part). So far she is the most useless character I think – shes not doing a thing in those episodes. Unfortunately for me, she’s featured in my favorite scene of each episode – the love boat. 😉 I know it’s almost the same in each episode, but it works for me, and I just wish the angles were different. :X

    Punishment scenes are not dementia-ish enough (though this episode seemed like a small improvement with the hand and bat scene), they are uninteresting and since you always know how its going to end, its just boring. The music during those scenes, while very good, doesnt fit the scenes at all. I’d expect these scenes to be the highlight of a show like this, but they just dont work – maybe cause of the straightforward nature of each episode – producers, throw some twists to the presentation.

    Reused Ai animation sequences (…) and music, though this one is better than episode2 in this aspect, cause the opening 8 minutes have pieces I didnt remember hearing earlier.

    Also, the animation in both 2 and 3 are definitely worse than the first one…

    If they dont include something original (ok so maybe it’s not original, but I want a suicide and Ai taking an innocent person to her love boat :P) in the next 2 episodes, I’m ditching this show. It’s, unfortunately, just incredibly disappointing so far.

    About next episode preview, I’m quite confused. So is the little girl going to kill the vet cause he didnt save her dog? Maybe the innocent death I’m hoping for? 😡

    kacper
    Reply

  7. well, me again: a whois on jigokutsushin.net 😉

    Domain Name: jigokutsushin.net Created On: 13-Sep-2005 10:53:54
    Expiration Date: 12-Sep-2015 21:57:52 Registrant Name: Ai Abe Registrant Organization: Aniplex Inc.
    Admin Name: Nobuyuki Suzuki Admin Organization: Sony Music Network Inc.
    Billing Name: Ai Abe Billing Organization: Aniplex Inc.
    Tech Name: Nobuyuki Suzuki Tech Organization: Sony Music Network Inc.
    Name Server: ns.sme.co.jp Name Server: anex.sme.co.jp

    kacper
    Reply

  16. I have typed a name on a site like that, not jigokutsushin.net… I guess you could call it a mirror site. Anyway, nothing happened, typed it when it was supposed to be midnight Tokyo time, or my time, nothing. At least not yet. Also, Jigoku Shoujo or Jigoku Tsushin means “the girl from Hell” or atleast something close to that.

    Ana
    Reply

  23. I tried to go on jigokutsushin.net but it showed me this “Internet Explorer cannot display this page.” I also went on whois, but it said that it would expire at 2015….what’s the deal with this site!? And I really wanted to send someone to hell too….

    Helpless
    Reply

  27. 地獄少女、それはこわいよ！たくさんの人がきらいけど地獄津新は。。。だめよ。そして、本当のけんおがあるそのサイトに行くいつほうがいいよ。。。
    私の日本語をゆるしてください。日本語があまりできないのよ。
    じゃ。
    ーウサギ

    女の子
    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *