Subculture Anime Blog

Proof that pop music cannot save anyone.

Summary:

Watching Yuzuki at her school, the Jigoku Tsushin notice that she does not seem to interact with anyone else. While out in the city later, Yuzuki and Akie are surprised to see the popular idol Moriyama Jun. After a successful set, Jun is harassed by an individual in an alley nearby. Yuzuki and Akie call for help when they see this, successfully driving the man away. With her managers and assistants afterwards, Jun offers a meal to the girls as a thanks. When the two girls arrive at Jun’s hotel later, they meet a girl who wishes for them to give a package to Jun. Before parting, the girl makes sure that they state that it is from Momota Masako. While Yuzuki and Akie enjoy dinner with Jun, her chief and a man named Yoshizawa mention Yuzuki’s inability to talk with many people because of her work. With this, they hope that the girls will talk with her in exchange. After receiving autographs from Jun, Yuzuki and Akie learn about her dream to become a singer. When the two bring up the package they recieved earlier though, the group panics at the name of the sender. Yoshizawa opens the package in panic, revealing several erotic pictures of Jun inside. Putting this off as a joke, he soon removes it from the room.

Yuzuki and Akie meet Masako when they leave the hotel afterwards, wondering if the photos they saw were real. She reveals that they certainly were, bringing up that she attended an agecy with Jun in the past. Jun treated Masako terribly, and she was the one who had her take the previous pictures. Jun had made Masako give up on her dreams, and further made her want to contact the Jigoku Shoujo to punish her. While Masako sings for the two, Yuzuki and Akie realize that her singing is actually quite bad. When Jun shows up to the group, she apologizes to Masako as she wished for her to. However, Masako changes her plans by asking for Jun to help her join her current agency. Although Jun is truly sorry for how terribly she treated her in the past, she cannot agree to helping Masako who does not have the preparation to become a singer. This brings Masako to the Jigoku Tsushin website that night, generating Ai’s usual encounter.

The next day, Masako is confronted by several people from Jun’s agency. However, they only give her a large sum of money in exchange for her keeping quiet. Coincidentally seeing the chief from before, Yuzuki later learns that it was he and Yoshizawa who planned this exchange. Jun puts on a performance on stage for all of her fans afterwards, but surprises several people by revealing how terrible of a person she was in the past. She soon puts this aside, however, claiming that she is obtaining her dreams with the help of her fans now. With this, Masako pulls the string off her doll. As the Jigoku Tsushin punishes Jun, they make her realize that her past actions will not disappear despite her changing herself. In the aftermath, several of Jun’s fans to gather with their despair that she has disappeared. Walking in the opposite direction of this crowd, Masako has a familiar mark below her neck.

Preview: I don’t like the look of this.

Impression:

That’s right. All those sellouts can keep singing their brain-numbing music…..until they’re sent to hell!!! Muhahahaha. …Ugh. Honestly, I can’t say I have a lot of positive things to say about this episode. Though I now realize that this season isn’t intended to be taken completely seriously (teeth sparkles and dead hands holding glow-sticks?), it doesn’t change the fact that the set ups for each episode are becoming repetitive just as quickly as they did in the last two seasons.

• Take a new group of episodic characters, typically consisting of around three people.
• Insert a ridiculously exaggerated revenge story that is hardly developed.
• Find some new way for Ai to present herself to the angry client.
• Find new ways to send people to hell.
• Teach some kind of life lesson.

If Jun would have just given Masako a big hug, none of this would have happened. I did like some of the scenes in this episode though, like Ai flashing in Yuzuki’s place while she was out with Akie. The “Jigoku Concert” was hilarious as well, and I almost expected Ai to actually start singing. (On the other hand, I really hated how stills were used so shamelessly during this scene.) The next episode looks kind of disturbing in a bad way, and it’s not like I can’t already imagine what is going to happen. But eh, I’ll still see how this goes for now. As long as this season is only going to be 13 episodes, and not 26 like the previous two, I’m sure I can find some way to make my posts entertaining for awhile.