4th entry - Jigoku Shoujo (Hell Girl)

About 9 weeks ago, Arts Central started showing a re-run of the first season of Jigoku Shoujo (Hell Girl), a 26-episode Japanese anime about a mysterious girl who has the power to carry out revenge for people. Those who have been wronged or suffered injustice, or who have witnessed others suffering injustice, can log into a website at 12 midnight and send the request. Hell Girl will then assess the situation with the help of her 3 companions - a kimono-clad prostitute, a trendy young man in jumper suit and an old man wearing a hat, and respond to the requesting party.

Are her services free? Not really. So what are her terms?

Hell Girl will exact revenge on behalf of the requesting party provided that he or she makes restitution to her. She will recite the following words to her requesting party:

"When a person is cursed, 2 graves are dug..."

Basically, both the requesting party and the target of vengeance will both end up in Hell. The target will go immediately, of course. The requesting party will go eventually when he or she dies. To ensure that the requesting party knows in no uncertain terms what Hell is like before the mind is made up, he or she will go through the "appetizer" first.

A straw voodoo doll with a string tied around its neck is presented to the requesting party to let him/her "think about it" carefully. (Incidentally, her 3 companions are actually her voodoo dolls: the black one is the old man, the red one is the prostitute, and the blue one is the young man. Bizzare...) Once he/she decided to proceed, he/she can pull the string and enter into a contract with Hell Girl. A mysterious voice will announce that Hell Girl will execute the revenge immediately.


The standard modus operandi of Hell Girl in executing her vengeance is in my opnion really fabulous. She will go to the target and enact a scene with her companions. This scene is related to the target, choreographed specially to make him/her realise the wrong that he/she has done. The targets are allowed to confess the sin and repent but they usually don't. Thats when Hell Girl will proceed to say...

"Pitiful shadow cloaked in darkness... Do you like to see what death is like?"

The next scene will show the target lying in Hell Girl's boat, being ferried personally by Hell Girl, through the Gate of Hell. The river is full of eerie lanterns, and sometimes hands of tormented souls will appear to torture the target. Gruesome ......

What happens to the requesting party?

Back in the "real world", the situation will mysteriously improve for the requesting party. Not only will "justice" be restored for the requesting party (or the person for whom he/she had exacted vengeance), sometimes a windfall may be experienced. The requesting party will then bear the sign of the Hell Girl: a tattoo marked on his/her chest. Hell Girl will carve that the name of the requesting party onto a lit candle to remember that she has to ferry his/her soul to hell when he/she dies, eventually...



What I like about the anime is the vibrant colors and beautiful artwork. The stories tend to be quite similar, evolving around pitiful situations where people become desperate enough to go to hell so as to have their revenge. I've always been brought up to think that revenge belongs to God; we are to leave it to God to "take care" of moral justice. While I don't agree with Hell Girl's concept, I relish the joy of seeing evil people get what they "deserve"... heeheehee ...

Read more about the anime on animenewsnetwork.

The Japanese website for this anime can be found here.

This is one of my favourite anime theme songs (the full version of the ending song for season one).