This is How Movies Should Be Made

Simply A Masterpiece

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

I have to say, I thought this was going to be a sorta comparison to Death Note or even Hear They Cry, it's way far from it. It's where a girl who has had a bad past, decides to take up as Hell girl and whoever wants revenge, she does the rest to kill them with misery.I have to say, the first episode is pretty tense with a young girl being tormented by the bully girls. Although it was slow for Hell Girl to be able to get the work going and like as the episode moves on, you do get to see the sweet revenge in development. I wanna say, it was actually quite satisfying to see the bullies get a taste of their own medicine, although it's better for real to just punish them with serious light discipline rather then have the pits of fire nvolved lol!On the last episode, I nearly was upset by the fact a young girls mother was killed in a car accident and was suppose to take hell revenge on her father, because it was meant to be his fault that it happened to her. Hell girl begged the young girl to untie the doll in order to get the revenge going but the young girl decided that it can't happen. I mean watching the scene would really tear you up to the core, it was hard to watch a little girl and her father to break down. Even thinking about it now makes my eyes watery lolReally good anime, I'm impressed by it and its thrill!

This anime can be enjoyed by a wide variety of people. If you are fascinated by the Japanese symbolism or like the thrill of tense moments or enjoy common people finding themselves challenged by supernatural mysteries this one is for you.The dialogs are very clever, the visual elements are stunning and the plot is definitely interesting. There is just one problem, but admittedly it is a big one: It is very monotone.The same scenario and conversations are repeating themselves every episode over and over, so if that is something that annoys you, you might want to stay away from it, however if you can get through the first 6-8 episodes, you will be pleasantly surprised as the ending is worth waiting for.If not for the repetitions i'd probably give it an 8 or 9.

Especially from the aspect of enjoyment this show is real hell. Every single episode presents an enclosed story where we can ALWAYS see new characters that can be right away fitted into a pigeon-hole of a victim and a villain, and that ALWAYS evolves according to the same pattern. In the end, Enma Ai — Jigoku Shoujo — intervenes like "deus ex machina" to resolve the story saying ALWAYS the same phrase. Since this pattern never changes, it becomes terribly boring after some while, regrettably, we are to suffer it to the very end, because of the absence of any continual story. Moreover, we don't learn anything much about Enma Ai, nor about her partners from the hell ride. The animation itself is very good, as well as music by Takanashi Yasuharu which is well worth listening to. Weaker characters that can be driven crazy by boredom from the monotony are not recommended to watch it.

If you have seen the ads and trailers of this show that makes you think of it as a Ringu or Ju-On rip-off, I guarantee that you are at least 80% deceived. Jigoku Shoujo is a show that takes a cliché subject (where a person or thing with some power offers in sending people you hate off to hell and taking your soul as payment for it) and treats it in such a way that you actually think about it, trust me. You think about the whole of this selfish human race that thinks nothing but of its own pleasures and comforts, you think about how valuable present circumstances - pleasure or pain is that much important in our lives. So what if you go to Hell hereafter? That is in the "distant" future, right? That is what the people in this show are thinking. So they call upon poor Ai Enma to do the dirty work, and it is what she was forced to do, whether she enjoyed it or not. She punishes the guilty. She ferries them directly off to Hell, but for making her do that (which becomes a mortal sin), the person who made the request is also doomed at the end of his or her natural life.The animation is quite good, the music matches the mood, whether it is sadness or anxiety, and you have an unique show out of a very popular, dismal subject.