Horror themed mini-review: Jigoku Shoujo

That's right, got a new mini-review for you! To keep it in theme with the season we're in (with Halloween and all,) it's Jigoku Shoujo, or Hell Girl today!

First off, let me be brutally honest. If you're looking for horror in the form of Corpse Party, this will not satisfy that particular itch. No abundance of violent deaths to be seen here. This is gonna be a bit more of a "think about that for a second and say that isn't scary"-kind of deal. With that in mind, let's continue.

The story, unsurprisingly enough, revolves around Ai Enma, also referred to as Hell Girl. Ai, along with her three sidekicks, get requests from regular people at a website (called Hell Link) that can only be accessed at exactly midnight, and only if you have a strong grievance towards someone.

Your grievance shall be avenged.

We, as the viewer, get to
join in and watch Ai and her sidekicks work as different people submit names of people they want banished to hell. This is also the point where this stops being simple. Should you find, and submit a name to the Hell Link, Ai will visit you personally (within a second of submitting the name) and give you the following deal.

Would you untie the thread?

You accept the straw doll with a red thread. Now you got to confirm that you are serious about banishing someone to hell immediately. This is done by untying the red thread and banishing yourself to hell as well on the day you die, or you walk away. That's right. You thought this was gonna be an easy free ride to send someone you dislike to hell? You're wrong. You're sending someone into an eternity of pain, horror and who-knows-what-else immediately. The price to pay is that you will suffer the same fate on the day you die in the future. "Curses come home to roost" as Ai puts it. This is a question I really liked this series for asking. Just how much do you have to hate someone to see them sent to hell right this instant, and you with them at a later date?

About halfway in the series, the story changes a bit. Instead of just hearing about the stories of unlucky souls, we also get to know Hajime, a freelance journalist, and Tsugumi Shibata (Hajime's daughter). Hajime starts looking into the cases where people have mysteriously vanished (or as the viewer knows, been sent to hell), and at the same time Tsugumi begins to have these visions, where she momentarily sees something Ai is watching. Together they try to figure out why Hell Girl is banishing people to hell, if there is any way they can stop her, and why Tsugumi and Ai seem to have some sort of connection. I won't spoil anything, as this series is definitely worth a watch just to figure out what Ai's driving factor is, and how it all connects to Hajime and Tsugumi.

Final Verdict: 9/10
Pros:                                                                   Cons:
- Great characters                                                - Not as scary as I thought it was going to be
- Great use of suspense                                           for a horror series
- Big moral grey area with untying the
   red thread
- Great pacing.

Horror themed mini-review: Corpse Party

It's getting really close to Halloween, and I'm a fan of October as a whole being horror themed. With that in mind, I thought I'd do a mini-review of some horror-themed anime. The following is a mini-review of Corpse Party: Tortured Souls - Bougyakusareta Tamashii no Jukyou, and thus not fit for the squeamish or those with a heart-condition.

First things first. A lot of people might not know about this series, so I'll give you a quick introduction. Corpse Party started off as a PC game made with RPG-maker software back in 1996. It got a remake, named Corpse Party: Blood Covered back in '08, and Corpse Party: Blood Covered Repeated Fear for the PSP in February last year (which was when I discovered this gem).

Screenshot from the Playstation Portable version

 That's right, the game was deemed so good, it was not only remade once, but twice. It got a pretty big cult-following, so it's not to be unexpected. I mean, it's why we're here, talking about the recent anime adaption!

Hang on Kishinuma, let's save our progress first!

Having played the PSP version, I can't help but draw comparisons between the PSP version and the new anime version. This is however not a bad thing. The scenes are faithful to the game, they got the voice actors from the game to voice the anime, and they even threw in the save points (lit candles on the floor) at the same places! One thing the anime-series does very well is making sure the story flows along, not too fast, or not too slow. This was a problem I felt the PSP version had. The third and fourth chapters dragged on a bit and I wasn't as tensed up because of it. Making this a four episode OVA was definitely the right thing to do, as even if you watch all four of them continuously you will not get bored.

No quick deaths here. Massive pain ahead

It may be a bit late to mention, but if you want a horror story with a happy ending you've taken a wrong turn somewhere along the way. It's quite similar to the series Another in that respect. Half the tension is from figuring out who will make it, who doesn't, and how do the ones that don't survive, die? This is another place the anime mixes it up a little. The game has a ton of "Dead Ends" (or bad endings, if you will), and the anime version tried to get quite a few of those presented for the viewer. However, since it is a limited character pool, and they can't kill off the same characters multiple times, they change the Dead Ends slightly, so that the character survives (but not always, to keep you guessing).

Spoiler: He's not talking to his sister

Another thing to remember is that people surrounded by death, ghosts and constant fear, tend to end up somewhat unstable after a while. Even the living may end up being an enemy out to end your life!

When all is said and done, this is seriously a great anime, no matter if you've played the game or not. Give it a try, at most you've only spent two hours, which is nothing compared to the characters in this anime. Heavenly Host Elementary School awaits...

Final Verdict: 9/10

Pros:                                                              Cons:
- True to the games                                        - Some deaths are slightly changed (only matters if
- Great story                                                     you played the game and are super-loyal to it)
- Doesn't drag out, keeps the flow going
- Keeps blood/gore levels realistic
- No "sunshine and lollipops" ending