Hell Girl
Hell Girl, which is known in Japan as Jigoku Shojo, is an anime series produced by Aniplex and Studio Deen.
The focus of Hell Girl is on a supernatural system where people can take revenge on someone by having them sent to Hell by Ai Enma (the "hell girl" that is referred to in the title) and her assistants. In the series, a client contacts Ai through a website called "Hell Correspondence," and requests are only taken on the website at midnight.
If someone submits a name to the website at midnight, Ai accepts the request. She will take the client to another realm, where she offers them a straw doll that has a red string wound around its neck. Ai gives the client the details of the contract, and explains that if the client pulls the red string around the doll's neck, Ai will ferry the revenge target to Hell. However, the client pays a price by doing this. A black crest-shaped mark appears on the client's chest, and when the client dies, then they too will also go to Hell.
The episodes of the series are primarily self-contained stories that narrate the suffering of different individuals in each one. During each story, the protagonists' dramas are seen in detail from the beginning of the grudge, and then escalate to the point that the protagonist can no longer deal with it and accesses the Hell Correspondence website. In most of the stories, the protagonist gives their tormentor a chance before pulling the red string on the doll. Once the string is pulled, Ai and her assistants torment the target with his or her sins before ferrying them off to Hell. For example, in the first episode of the series, the protagonist is a high school girl who is being bullied and blackmailed by a popular girl in her class.
I found the show to be rather dark and a bit odd, and it's a series that I'm likely not going to continue watching. With the dark themes and stories presented in Hell Girl, it's definitely not an anime series to be showing to younger viewers. Personally, I would recommend Hell Girl to anime viewers who are 15 or 16 years of age and older.
The focus of Hell Girl is on a supernatural system where people can take revenge on someone by having them sent to Hell by Ai Enma (the "hell girl" that is referred to in the title) and her assistants. In the series, a client contacts Ai through a website called "Hell Correspondence," and requests are only taken on the website at midnight.
If someone submits a name to the website at midnight, Ai accepts the request. She will take the client to another realm, where she offers them a straw doll that has a red string wound around its neck. Ai gives the client the details of the contract, and explains that if the client pulls the red string around the doll's neck, Ai will ferry the revenge target to Hell. However, the client pays a price by doing this. A black crest-shaped mark appears on the client's chest, and when the client dies, then they too will also go to Hell.
The episodes of the series are primarily self-contained stories that narrate the suffering of different individuals in each one. During each story, the protagonists' dramas are seen in detail from the beginning of the grudge, and then escalate to the point that the protagonist can no longer deal with it and accesses the Hell Correspondence website. In most of the stories, the protagonist gives their tormentor a chance before pulling the red string on the doll. Once the string is pulled, Ai and her assistants torment the target with his or her sins before ferrying them off to Hell. For example, in the first episode of the series, the protagonist is a high school girl who is being bullied and blackmailed by a popular girl in her class.
I found the show to be rather dark and a bit odd, and it's a series that I'm likely not going to continue watching. With the dark themes and stories presented in Hell Girl, it's definitely not an anime series to be showing to younger viewers. Personally, I would recommend Hell Girl to anime viewers who are 15 or 16 years of age and older.
| Hell Girl | 26 | 2005-2006 | Takahiro Omori | Studio Deen | FUNimation Entertainment |
| Hell Girl: Two Mirrors | 26 | 2006-2007 | Takahiro Omori | Studio Deen | Sentai Filmworks |
| Hell Girl: Three Vessels | 26 | 2008-2009 | Hiroshi Watanabe | Studio Deen | Sentai Filmworks |
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