Saturday, December 27, 2008

JIgoku Shoujo


Jigoko Shojo..

Most of my close friends know how much I adore japanese anime. The animes that I watch range to different types of variety to comedies, romantic comedies, about cars, death, action, adventure etc.

One of my favorites is Jigoko Shoujo, which means Girl from Hell.

Here's an over view:

On the internet is a special website which can only be access at midnight. The rumor is that if you enter the name of someone you seek revenge on the Jigoku Shoujo (Hell Girl) will come and take them to hell. Her name is Enma Ai a young girl with blood red eyes and a cold unwavering stare.

While the anime has a main plot running through it each episode tends to stand alone focusing on some person seeking revenge on another. When someone makes a request through the website Enma comes to them and explains how the contract works. The rule is that she will take the person to hell immediately however as compensation the person requesting revenge will also go to hell, all be it when they die.

The requester is give a doll with a red string and told to except the contract all they have to do is pull the swing. Normally people spend quite a while wrestling with there conscious before finally deciding to pull the string.

After the contract has been made Enma and here assistants ride to the person riding in a flying coach with a burning wheel (actually one of the assistants transformed). There then follows a kind of stalking where they attempt to show the person the error of there ways through an elaborate series of often scary illusions. Finally the Jigoku Shoujo, dressed in a black floral kimono, speaks a few chilling lines and send the person to hell seemingly activating the flowers on her kimono.

One of the main plots threading through the episodes features a father and daughter, Hajime and Tsugumi Shibata. Hajime is a freelance journalist by profession whose wife, and mother of Tsugumi, died in a car crash. Hajime takes an interest in Jigoku Shoujo which slowly grows into an obsession, objecting morally to her actions of sending people to hell in revenge for others.

They are able tell where and when a revenge will take place due to a strange link between Tsugumi and Enma, allowing her to see what Enma sees. This happens randomly, normally when someone is requesting revenge, with Tsugumi going into a trace repeating whatever words Enma is saying. Tsugumi is not so sure that the actions of Enma are wrong, not sharing Hajime's total condemnation of her actions.
It's like watching revenge served in a new certain level. I can't say that it is grotesque but I love the way how the story goes.

It's making a deal. You get what you want and in return, you have to pay something of equal value.

Try to watch it, it's fun for tweens but not good for the younger ones.

xoxo

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