Subculture Anime Blog

OP: I should have known. They showed the real OP this week, which is definitely a lot more pleasing on the eyes. Even then though, I personally don’t think it lives up to the first two….and I still don’t like Nana Kitade.

Summary:

Yuzuki continues to be troubled about the events that have occurred previously, when Akie meets her by the riverside. The two begin discussing Itsuka’s recent transfer while walking through town, as well as Tange’s strange disappearance, but Yuzuki eventually apologizes and leaves Akie. Soon after, Akie meets with three of her other friends. Reaching her apartment, Yuzuki notices her acquaintance Akira run past her. This boy travels to a small electricity store to buy usual supplies, keeping a close eye on the woman named Mitsuko inside. Akira becomes disappointed when he does not have enough money on him to buy what he wants, but Mitsuko gives him a discount since he comes by so frequently. When a violent looking man enters the store afterwards, Akira quickly leaves. This man abusively punishes Mitsuko in a warehouse later, because of his belief that she is somehow involved with Akira. Unknown to the two, Akira observes this in secret from the outside. Akira accesses the Hell Correspondence website that night, but he soon realizes that he does not actually know the man’s name. Seeing this in a vision, Yuzuki is waken in worry about Akira.

Watching Mitsuko as she gets off the phone with him the next morning, Akira learns that the man’s name is Seiji. Elsewhere, Yuzuki has a joke played on her by some of the boys in her class. She panics at the sight of a straw doll in her desk, and the boys appear to discuss the Jigoku Shoujo in delight afterwards. When Yuzuki runs out of the classroom in frustration, Akie gives the boys a beating for what they’ve done. Akira again watches Seiji abuse Mitsuko in the storehouse that night, and when he accesses the Hell Correspondence website the second time, he successfully makes contact with the Jigoku Tsushin. Ai presents Akira with a straw doll as usual, explaining to him the price that would be payed for sending his enemy to hell. When Yuzuki sees this, she wonders why Ai continues to show such horrifying things to her.

Yuzuki leaves her home the next morning after getting off the phone with her father, who is living elsewhere with her mother. Yuzuki is then approached by Akira, who asks her for advice dealing with the situation he is in. Yuzuki learns through implication that Akira does not know why Mitsuko continues to put up with Seiji’s abuse, but he guesses that she simply cannot run away. Seeing how Akira feels about Mitsuko, Yuzuki suggests that he tell her to stop being involved with Seiji. The Jigoku Tsushin wonder why Ai has decided to use Yuzuki’s body in their world, but they can only guess various reasons. Yamawaro suggests that the human body is easier to move in than the butterfly’s, but this reason alone is not enough to explain something so drastic.

When Akira sees Mitsuko at the shop again, he quickly gets to the point by mentioning the injury on her wrist. Mitsuko is unable to agree to Akira’s suggestion that she run away with him, however, only worried that Seiji would appear soon. Seiji does appear, then attacking both Mitsuko and Akira. Seeing Seiji violently torture Mitsuko again, Akira pulls the red string off the straw doll that has fallen out of his bag. In a comedic faction, the Jigoku Tsushin torture Seiji for his sins. While being ferried to hell by Ai afterwards, Seiji can only express his desire to make a phone call to Mitsuko. Akira assures Mitsuko that things are alright in the aftermath, but she only tells him to go home and come back the next day. When Akira returns as promised, he finds that Mitsuko is no longer at the shop. Observing a picture under the familiar ringing phone, Akira finds a picture of a happy Mitsuko and Seiji together.

Preview: I…..idoru???

Impression:

After re-watching parts of the first episode earlier this week, I kind of suspected that they would change the OP. There was just no way they could make one so simple, and the bouncing ball probably just worked well as an intro for the events happening during the opening scenes. Seeing the OP properly animated certainly bumps up my appreciation just a little bit for this season of everyone’s favorite goth anime. I’m also liking the implication that Yuzuki will have a pretty big focus throughout the series. Although my favorite non-Jigoku Tsushin characters will probably still be the first season’s protagonists, their appearances were far too spread out to make them consistently interesting to watch. Yuzuki’s soft voice and innocence is refreshing to hear after having to see so many angry people week by week, and I’m really interested to see how she will play into Ai’s story.

I ended up laughing a lot throughout this episode, and I’m not sure if all of it was from intentional humor. The opening scenes of this episode were the most obvious displays of fanservice since the hotsprings episode in season two (Popsicles? Really?), and Hone’s big butt also made an appearance during the usual torture scene. Ai’s ridiculous disappearance through the soccer poster, Akie’s version of Ai’s “Die once,” and Kikuri’s warning about electricity, on the other hand, were obviously meant to be comic relief. I still find it hilarious that the studio keeps trying to come up with different ways to present the straw doll, and even implementing different (and random) shots to try to keep things interesting. The playground scene with Yuzuki and Akira was so sloppy, and I just couldn’t see how this could have been considered as aesthetic. Ai’s bursting out of Yuzuki’s body reminds me of a rehashed mahou shoujo scene too.

I couldn’t take this week’s plot very seriously either, even though Jigoku Shoujo’s stories are always over the top. Seiji’s abuse of Mitsuko was never really explained properly, beyond perhaps his being obsessed with her in a less than sane way. I do believe that the abuse displayed this show can happen though, despite the common belief that such acts are too drastic for human beings to actually perform. Watching Akira lust over the middle aged Mitsuko was really awkward, but it’s not like this wasn’t an accurate display of a hormone-filled growing teenager. Sending Seiji to hell for being abusive though? Why not call the cops instead? Doing things in the spur of the moment can only go so far, and it always amazes me how these characters would sacrifice their eternities to get revenge. (Akira’s dramatic screaming while pulling the doll’s string was hilarious though.)

Anyways, since everyone else seems to be too sick of this show to cover the third season (*cough* *cough* Garten *cough*), I guess I will be covering this. Maybe I’m just feeling nostalgic after hearing the OST again…