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EspañolJIGOKU SHōJO
(Redirected from Jigoku Shoujo)
, also known as ''Girl From Hell'', is an anime series, produced by Aniplex and Studio Deen. It premiered across Japan on numerous television stations, including Animax, Tokyo MX, MBS and others, between October 4, 2005 and April 4, 2006. Following the success of the first season, the series was followed soon after into a second, , which premiered October 7, 2006 across Japan on Animax.[1] A live-action television series adaptation started airing in Japan on Nippon Television from November 4, 2006.[2]
Each short story of which the series consists describes the suffering of a different individual caused by one or more antagonists. A website known as Jigoku Tsūshin (Hell Correspondence) may only be accessed at midnight by one who harbors a desire for revenge against their tormenter. Should someone submit the name of one they hate, the Jigoku Shōjo (Hell Girl) will offer them a black straw doll with a red string wound about its neck. If the string is pulled, she will ferry the recipient of the revenge straightaway to Hell, but on the condition that those who request her intervention fall into Hell as well at the end of their natural lives.
During each story, the protagonists' dramas are explained in detail from the start of their grudges, through the escalation of their torment until it becomes unbearable and they resort to the "Jigoku Tsūshin" (correspondence with Hell) - a mysterious black colored web site only accessible at midnight. The contents of the site are only a text: "あなたの怨み、晴らします。 (We will take revenge on your behalf.)", a text box where the grudge's object must be written, and a "送信 (Send)" button. Some time after the post, they are visited by Enma Ai, a young red eyed girl wearing a traditional sailor school uniform. She delivers them a black straw doll (In the second season, the doll may also be red or dark blue depending on who turns into it) with a red string tied to its neck, and she tells them that if they want their vengeance to be delivered, they must remove the string from the doll, and their enemies will be immediately taken to Hell. However, a crest shaped mark will appear on the protagonists' chests, always reminding them that after their lives come to an end, they must give compensation by having their own souls also sent to Hell.
Enma Ai lives in a house in an unknown world that is in eternal sunset with her grandmother whose face never appears. Ai is helped by her three assistants. When they are not under her services, they stay in the form of three straw dolls, otherwise they assume the form of Ichimoku Ren, a handsome young man in casual clothes and takes the form of the blue straw doll, Hone-Onna, a beautiful woman wearing a kimono with the obi (sash) tied in front which signifies she is a prostitute and takes the form of the red straw doll; and Wanyūdō, an old man wearing a hat and a red scarf and takes the form of the black straw doll. They help her during the event when their victims are confronted with their own sins, prior to the moment when Ai (dressed in traditional kimono with floral patterns) ferries them to hell. Also, the trio helps her investigate the true nature of their clients.
In episode 8 of the series, two recurring characters are introduced: A journalist named Shibata Hajime - a former scandal hunter-blackmailer who turned to investigating the stories involving the Jigoku Shōjo; and his daughter Tsugumi. After an encounter with Enma Ai, Tsugumi starts to have visions of what Ai sees and thus the two become more and more involved in Ai's matters. Hajime doesn't agree with Ai's methods to deliver vengeance for her clients, and tries to stop those who contacted Jigoku Shōjo from using her service with Tsugumi's help.
As the series progressed, it was revealed that Hajime and Tsugumi were the descendants of a man named Sentarō Shibata. Sentaro and Ai are childhood friends as well as cousins. The village they lived in had a tradition; Every seven years, a seven-year-old child would be sacrificed to the gods, allowing for seven more years of prosperity. Ai was chosen as the sacrifice, but her parents asked Sentaro to hide Ai rather than leave her to be sacrificed. Sentaro agrees, and takes her up to the mountain, keeping her hidden for six years. However, the village also experiences a great famine.
During one of Ai and Sentarō's secret meetings, the villagers catch them and bring them to the village, where Ai and Sentarō are accused of angering the Mountain Gods. The villagers throw Ai and her parents in a pit and force Sentarō to bury them as an atonement for hiding Ai. Ai is conscious at the moment and feels betrayed by him.
After Ai was buried, Sentarō awakens one night and went out of his home. When he returns, he sees Ai setting the village on fire. Out of insanity and guilt, Sentarō runs away. He grew up regretting what he had done and builds a temple in remembrance of Ai and other sacrifices to the Mountain Gods. He opens a candy store named Shibataya that sells a black candy that he and his descendants and other owners of the store send to the temple as an offering.
The realization of Hajime and Tsugumi's relation to Sentarō awakes Ai's hatred, and she attempts to kill Hajime and Tsugumi but fails. For doing so, Ai was to be sent to hell, but she escapes and decides to provoke Tsugumi into sending her father to hell by showing Tsugumi how her mother died and her father's denial of his responsibility, Ai keeps pressing Tsugumi to pull the string while Hajime is trapped in Ai's world, but is subsequently able to escape because of Ai's grandmother who releases him for an exchange (whatever the exchange actually was never shown).
Hajime returns to Tsugumi and admits his faults and tells Tsugumi to send him to hell. This angers Tsugumi because she feels that his acceptance of hell infers that he does not value their moments together. She returns the straw doll to Ai, and Ai later incinerates the temple built by Sentarō either as a way of relieving her grudge (in this case, the destruction of the temple would symbolize Sentarō's release from his regret) or as a sign that she would not forgive Sentarō despite all that he did to show his regret (the destruction of the temple in this case would symbolize the refusal of Sentarō's apology). The season ends with Hajime and Tsugumi going back to normality and Ai continuing what she has been doing for centuries - sending people to hell.
'Season 2' of Jigoku Shōjo (named Jigoku Shōjo Futakomori) started by revealing that Ai is to be punished by hell for the massacre of her village.
If she refuses, her parents shall wander in darkness for eternity. It was known that her punishment is to deliver the vengeance of others.
In the beginning of season 2, there is a mysterious girl who shows up in glimpses during the first episode that has a kimono similar to Ai's and seems to smile after the people who make the covenant review their situation, as in episode 1 where she appears just after Ai walks away. After episode 4 the girl's name is revealed to be Kikuri.
In season 2, the origins of Ai's assistants are revealed.
The major arc of season 2 revolves around Takuma Kurebayashi, a boy from Lovely Hills who is blamed by his townsfolk for causing disappearances around the town, which was actually caused by the townsfolk who used Jigoku Tsūshin. The unfair treatment received by Takuma from his townsfolk awoke Ai's memory of her own past and she refuses a request to send Takuma to hell. By doing so, Ai has broken the law of Hell and her role as Jigoku Shōjo was relieved. Nonetheless, as she is relieved of her duty, she is returned to life by the cruel Lord of Hell and sent back to the real world in a near death situation, experiencing the agony of aging of 400 years all at once. Ren, Honne-Onna, and Wanyuudou tried to help the mortal Ai, only to discover that her memories of them have been erased by the Lord of Hell.
Ai tries to stop the villagers from killing Takuma and succeeds for a moment. However, a frightened user of the Jigoku Tsūshin, in hope of saving himself from going to hell when he dies, beats Ai in the back of her head with a shovel. A few other townsfolk of Lovely Hills, all whom have used her service, joins in with the assault in a fit of rage. As Ai succumbs to her death, in a relieved way, says, "This is the end." She disappears into a wind of cherry blossom petals shortly after death and her parents' souls are set free from Hell. Kikuri, on the boat to Hell, says as she pokes a cherry of the color of Ai's eyes in a childish way: "It's over. That was Ai's answer... Well done." The season ends. Ren, Onna, and Wanyūdō going their separate ways in the real world, Takuma's life returning to normality, and an anonymous girl receiving a message from Hell Girl on her cellphone.
Also of note is that the male narrator at the beginning of every episode is also the actor who portrayed Wanyuudo in the live-action adaptation.
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:The primary protagonist of the series. With long, flowing hair and red eyes, she is a spiritual entity with a tragic past, she lives in a world of eternal twilight with her grandmother, and is the one who receives and delivers vengeance on her clients' behalf. She normally wears a black seifuku, or sailor uniform (which is usually worn during winter months), but always wears a flowery kimono when delivering the vengeance of a client. Ai started her career as the Hell Girl by her own act of vengeance on the villagers who sentenced her to a sacrificial death. Her task of fulfilling other people's vengeance and ferrying people to Hell is her punishment, a task which she has performed for the better part of 400 years. Although this task is presented as atonement, it is unknown whether she will ever be freed of it. Since she has done this for so long, she initially seemed to have become emotionless, numbed, as is shown by her expressionless face. Wanyūdō noted she still had feelings, though, although she did not express them strongly, and it was later revealed that Ai had been ordered to close her heart by the Spider. The experiences she has with the Shibatas first reawoke her discontent with her terrible fate and later apparently reawoke other emotions, or at least Ai's ability to express them. Before meeting the Shibatas, it was even possible that Ai had managed to suppress her memories of her own grudge and past. When enraged, Ai demonstrates the power to hurl great blasts of energy, as well as the power to create elaborate illusions and teleport others and herself. Later, in the second season, Ai's emotions and memories are once again released by the suffering of Takuma Kurebayashi, similar to her own situation in the past. This leads Ai to defy her 'employer', who is the Lord of Hell, causing her to be restored to human life - and killed shortly thereafter, when saving Takuma from his tormentors. After Ai's self-sacrifice, her body dissolves into sakura petals and drifts into the sky; one might theorize her self-sacrifice serves as sufficient atonement for her crimes that she and her loved ones are released from the grasp of Hell.
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:An assistant of Ai who appears to be a handsome young man. He can manifest a single, very large eye that can be directed anywhere, allowing him to see inside of a building through walls. This manifests as an eye on a wall, etc. The large eye can also be used as a weapon, by projecting intense flashes of light. When so required, Ren becomes the blue straw doll by kissing a pendant he wears around his neck. He is sometimes referred to as "Moku" or "Ichimoto Ren". It is later revealed that Ren is a tsukumogami, an artifact which has gained sentience after a long time of existence. In Ren's case, he was once a katana, forced to be aware and watch whatever was done with him. He was given his current form(s) by Ai, who collected him after he was abandoned on a battlefield. Since that time, Ren has apparently grown quite fond of his human form, displaying considerable vanity from time to time. Ai claims she invited him to join her because there is something that Ren is looking for, a fact perhaps manifested in Ren's occasional puzzlement and inability to understand the things humans do. Alternatively, some of Ren's comments indicate that what he was looking for was companionship, something to fill the emptiness of his existence as a sword used for endless killing. Ren has apparently developed feelings for his colleagues, seeing them as family. He is Ai's second companion.
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:Assistant of Ai, and appears to be a beautiful woman in a kimono with its obi tied in front--the trademark of a prostitute. But in the second season, the obi was tied in the usual manner. She becomes the red straw doll when necessary by tossing her red obi strap over her neck. Onna, along with Ren, researches the people who make a contract and the ones they have a grudge against. She usually infiltrates human society in casual clothing to investigate cases, on these occasions she tends to use the psudonym "Sone Anna". On certain occasions, she uses throwing knives as weapons; Onna is apparently extremely skilled with these weapons. Her knives seem to carry some mystic charge, since they can be used to quickly dispatch supernatural enemies. Onna also seems to have some skill as a contortionist, which allows her to squeeze into very small places. Getting ''out'' of those same places, however, is an area she is less talented in. Onna seems to suffer from mild vanity; she can be quite offended when she is addressed as ''obā-san'' ('old lady' or 'auntie'; a Japanese form of address for any woman of middle age and above). She can expose the bones in her body, scaring the target of the grudge; the name 'Hone Onna' actually means 'bone woman'. In episode 8 of Futakomori she jokingly reveals that she is "200 years old". A flashback scene revealed that she was a Geisha originally named Tsuyu; Tsuyu was betrayed by a man who she had fallen in love with, who sold her to a Geisha house to be able to pay off his own debts. Tsuyu was betrayed again later, this time by fellow Geisha Kion, when she attempted to arrange Kion's escape with a man who had come to truly love Tsuyu. She and her beloved one were stabbed by a samurai under the eyes of Kion; that same samurai cast Tsuyu into a river afterwards. Spirits rising from human bones thrown into the river before merged with her, transforming Tsuyu into the yōkai Hone Onna, in which form she later met Ai. She is Ai's third companion.
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:Assistant of Ai, who becomes the black straw doll with a red string around its neck, the string probably originating as the red scarf he wears in human form. He also frequently takes the form of a Ai's coach with burning wheels when she goes to the human world to claim a soul; Ai has stated that before he performed this task for her, she used to walk to and from her sunset world. The coach incidentally bears the same black flame-crest that appears on the chest of those people who contract with the Hell Girl. At all other times, Wanyūdō appears as an older man whose eyes remain mostly shut, wearing a fisherman's hat and fairly old-fashioned Japanese clothing. Despite appearing quite mild-mannered, frail and weak with age at most times, Wanyūdō possesses considerable skills in martial arts and is capable of hurling fireballs and performing feats of inhuman strength. Wanyūdō's name means "A wheel entering the road" a reference to the flaming wheel form he most commonly assumes. In episode 12 of Futakomori, it is revealed that he was the driver of a princess's entourage, which fell off a cliff. The coach caught fire and all aboard were killed. As a result, he became a yōkai terrorizing people in the form of a flaming wheel with his own enlarged, infuriated face as a hubcap, until he met Ai and she invited him to join her as her first companion. Ai revealed to Wanyūdō his ability to shapeshift.
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:Never actually seen in the series, other than as a shadowy silhouette behind a paper screen, she is always spinning thread in her room, and occasionally talks to Ai and gives her advice. She is mostly telling Ai that she has another client or telling Ai her client has pulled the string. She never speaks to anybody but Ai, with three exceptions; she occasionally scolds Kikuri, and she has talked to Hajime once as a deal for her to get him out of captivity in the sunset world for a favor. A single human eyewitness who has observed Ai's grandmother ran in terror, implying her appearance may be other than human. And lastly when she gave a message to Ai's 3 assistants from Ai herself.
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:An oddly-coloured spider with three eyes upon its abdomen, which appears in the sunset world where Ai and her assistants reside between assignments. The spider is probably the same creature as the giant jellyfish-like entity which watches whenever Ai ferries a soul to Hell. It speaks with the voice of a man and is apparently Ai's superior, having been the one to pronounce sentence on her after she killed the people of her village. It claims to be holding the souls of Ai's loved ones - namely her parents - hostage against her good behaviour; if Ai did not do the job she was given, they would wander in darkness for eternity. The spider at one time demonstrates an ability to pilot the ferryboat to Hell and tries to restrain Ai, having decided to take her to Hell when she reawoke her feelings of rage and violently attacked the Shibatas. Ai turned out to be too strong for it to hold her without her consent. The spider is neither liked nor trusted by Ai's assistants, with whom it in turn does not speak. In the last episode of the second season, Wanyuudou identifies the spider as the lord of Hell. It seems likely that the Spider deliberately exposed Ai to a situation reminiscent of her own death in order to test whether she would obey its will or act on the impulses of her human heart. Apparently only Ai's self-sacrifice saved her and her parents from the cruel fate the spider had planned for them.
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:An enigmatic little girl introduced in season two. Little is known about her except the fact she is not an ordinary human as she can wander freely between the mortal plane and Ai's house in the sunset world, sometimes interfering with her and her associates' job. In stark contrast to Ai, Kikuri has completely blue/purple eyes (including the sclera) and her personality is far more childish than Ai's. She has stated that she likes Ai, but her actions and use of powers seem to serve causing the greatest amount of suffering and fear possible. It is as yet unknown whether this is due to true malice or not. Occasionally, she seems to take delight in acts of low-level destruction, such as chopping off flowers or destroying anything that Ai cares for. She has shown incredible skills with her loincloth, using it whip-like to catch or hit objects. Despite the fact she appears to wreak havoc on her, she takes orders from Ai and Ai alone (in one episode, she shows this while going to touch Ai's grandmother's spinning wheels despite the woman's protests). In the last episode of the second season, it is revealed that Kikuri is in fact a host for the will of the Spider, which can take over her body as it pleases. As such, it becomes questionable how many of her malicious acts were of her own will and which were instigated by her master. After Ai's death and the release of her beloved ones, Kikuri, riding on the boat, says, "it's over...that was Ai's answer...Well done." As she says those words, she pokes a cherry the color of Ai's eyes in her former childish way. As of now, it is uncertain who the next Hell Girl is - but it is certain that there ''is'' one.
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:A former journalist who now earns money by blackmailing celebrities with evidence of their scandals. He began to investigate Jigoku Tsuushin merely out of interest, but becomes more heavily involved once he realizes that it's more than just a rumor and people are actually being dragged into Hell. Furthermore, his daughter Tsugumi seems to have a mysterious connection with Enma Ai that allows her to see anything significant that Ai sees. He is briefly mentioned in the second season as a writer of Ai's biography.
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:Hajime's daughter. Even though he's her father, she always refers to him as "Hajime-chan." She saw Ai one day and has had a mysterious connection with her ever since. At first, she reports everything she sees through Ai to Hajime, but as the series progresses, she becomes more reluctant to do so as she begins to disagree with her father on whether they should try to stop Ai or not. She appears strong and sassy on the outside but is actually very vulnerable and confused on the inside. She is briefly shown in the second season as a source of information for an investigator.
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:Hajime's dead wife. Hajime devoted more time to his work than to his family, actually with the intent to make his wife happy by improving their standard of life by earning large amounts of money. In her loneliness, Ayumi had an affair with a politician that Hajime happened to be spying on. Because of that incident, he cast her out of the house and forbade her from ever seeing Tsugumi. However, just a few moments later, she got into a car accident and died. Tsugumi keeps her mother's earrings as a memento. Hajime still loves his wife very much, and regrets not forgiving her because he believes she would be alive if he had. In the second season, she makes a quick appearance, showing that her connection with Hell Girl still exists. At the same time, it seems that she has a mutual relationship with Kikuri (revealed in the last episode of the second season).
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:Takuma is a quiet boy who makes his home in Lovely Hills. He is misunderstood and oftentimes bullied by his fellow townsfolk who believe he's the "Devil's Child" much like Ai was in her village. When he first made his appearance, his mother was killed by a friend of his father, who was also seriously injured by him. While he was trying to kill Takuma he was sent to hell, but at this time the police arrived and his fellow townsfolk believed Takuma was the murderer. It is unclear if he possesses as much spiritual powers as Ai but he does have the ability of foresight and he has been observed by Ai for some time throughout the story. In the end, he is saved by Ai, who loses her life in return. Ironically, by doing so, Ai's parents and herself are "saved" and freed at last.
The ''Jigoku Shōjo'' anime series was produced by Aniplex and Studio Deen. Directed by Takahiro Ōmori, the first season spanned 26 episodes and premiered across Japan on Animax between October 4, 2005, and April 4, 2006. The series' second season, , premiered from October 7, 2006 across Japan on Animax. Animax also later translated and dubbed the first season of the series into English for broadcast across its various worldwide networks from October 2006, where the series received its international premieres, including its English language networks in Southeast Asia and South Asia and its other networks in Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and other regions.
FUNimation licensed the first season of Jigoku Shoujo at SakuraCon 2007 and will be releasing the show as Hell Girl. The first DVD is set to be released in October 2007. [3]
★ Original Concept: Hiroshi Watanabe
★ Original Work: Jigoku Shōjo Project
★ Planning: Kenji Shimizu (Wellthink), Hideo Katsumata (Aniplex)
★ Planning Coordination: Hirō Maruyama (MBS), Akira Sasaki (Animax), Yasuyuki Uchida (Kid's Station), Hitoyasu Oyama, Kazuyoshi Takagi (CBC), Satoshi Matsumoto
★ Series Composition: Kenichi Kanemaki
★ Screenplay: Masashi Suzuki, Noburo Takagi, Natsuko Takahashi, Satoru Nishizono, Maki Hiro, Yukinori Fukushima, Kenichi Kanemaki, Hiroyuki Kawasaki (second season)
★ Character Design: Mariko Oka
★ Mechanical Design: Shōhei Ohara
★ Prop Design: Shogo Morishita
★ Chief Animation Directors: Masahiro Aizawa (first season), Mariko Oka (second season)
★ Art Directors: Yoshinori Hishinuma (first season), Nariyuki Ogi (second season)
★ Paint Inspection: Shinji Matsumoto
★ Director of Photography: Shinyo Kondō
★ Editing: Masahiro Matsumara (Jay Film)
★ Music: Yasuharu Takanashi, Hiromi Mizutani
★ Music Production: Jasuto
★ Music Director: Fumiko Harada
★ Sound Director: Shōji Hata
★ Sound Design: Minoru Yamada (Ena)
★ Sound Production: Darks Production
★ Animation Producer: Kōji Ījima
★ Producers: Ai Abe (Aniplex), Norihiro Hayashida (Wellthink)
★ Director: Takahiro Ōmori
★ Animation Production: Studio Deen
★ Production: Jigoku Shōjo Project (SKY Perfect Well Think, Aniplex)
;Opening theme:
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★ Lyrics: SNoW, Hideaki Yamano
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★ Composition: SNoW, Asanjō Shindō
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★ Arrangement: Asanjō Shindō, Ken'ichi Fujita
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★ Performance: SNoW
;Ending theme:
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★ Lyrics: Hitomi Mieno
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★ Composition and arrangement: Masara Nishida
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★ Performance: Mamiko Noto
;Opening theme: '''NightmaRe'''
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★ Lyrics: Hideaki Yamano
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★ Composition: SNoW, Asanjō Shindō
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★ Performance: SNoW
;Ending theme:
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★ Lyrics: Aa (savage genius)
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★ Composition: Takumi (savage genius)
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★ Arrangement: Masara Nishida
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★ Performance: Mamiko Noto
The first original soundtrack for the ''Jigoku Shōjo'' anime series was released on January 25, 2006. The second original soundtrack for the series was released on April 19, 2006.
''Jigoku Shōjo Futakomori'' released its first soundtrack on January 24, 2007, and the second soundtrack on March 21, 2007.
'Jigoku Shōjo Original Soundtrack'
'Jigoku Shōjo Original Soundtrack II'
'Jigoku Shōjo Futakomori Original Soundtrack'
'Jigoku Shōjo Futakomori Original Soundtrack II'
The ''Jigoku Shōjo'' anime series was later adapted into a manga, which featured art by . It has been serialized in Kodansha's ''Nakayoshi'' shōjo manga magazine since October 2005. While the stories are mostly original, chapters 4 and 10 are adapted from their respective anime episodes (in the first season), while chapter 2 is adapted from anime episode 9.
Due to the difference in media, Ai's ''modus operandi'' in the manga is somewhat different from the anime. She has been seen attending the same schools as some of her student-clients. Also, the straw figurine with the string was not featured in the first few chapters. Subsequently, its appearance is no longer as ubiquitous as its anime counterpart. Ai's clients need only to accept the contract, and the victims' torture by Ai and her helpers would then begin. In some cases, the torture begins after she has rung her bracelet in front of her victim (and not before as seen in the anime). The appearance of the boat in which Ai uses to ferry her victims to Hell is reduced as well.
Notably, although Sentaro Shibata is featured, Tsugumi and Hajime are not. Also, Kikuri has made appearances from volume 4 onwards.
The ''Jigoku Shōjo'' live action television drama series adaptation premiered across Japan on Nippon Television from November 4, 2006 and aired 12 half-hour episodes. The director for the series was Makoto Naganuma. The theme song for the series is ''Dream Catcher'' by OLIVIA.
★ Ai Enma: Sayuri Iwata
★ Ren Ichimoku: Kazuki Kato
★ Hone Onna: Aya Sugimoto
★ Wanyūdō: Hisahiro Ogura
★ Ai's Grandmother: Eriko Matsushima
★ Hajime Shibata: Kazuhiko Nishimura
★ Tsugumi Shibata: Saaya Irie
1. Animax's featured lineup of October
2. Nippon Television official website
3. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-04-08/sakura-con-announcements
★ ''Jigoku Shōjo'' official website
★ Animax's official website for ''Jigoku Shōjo''
★ Animax's official website for ''Jigoku Shōjo Futakomori''
★ NTV's official website for ''Jigoku Shōjo Live Action''
★
★
, also known as ''Girl From Hell'', is an anime series, produced by Aniplex and Studio Deen. It premiered across Japan on numerous television stations, including Animax, Tokyo MX, MBS and others, between October 4, 2005 and April 4, 2006. Following the success of the first season, the series was followed soon after into a second, , which premiered October 7, 2006 across Japan on Animax.[1] A live-action television series adaptation started airing in Japan on Nippon Television from November 4, 2006.[2]
Story
A painting by Kawanabe Kyōsai, featured in the opening theme of ''Jigoku Shōjo''
Each short story of which the series consists describes the suffering of a different individual caused by one or more antagonists. A website known as Jigoku Tsūshin (Hell Correspondence) may only be accessed at midnight by one who harbors a desire for revenge against their tormenter. Should someone submit the name of one they hate, the Jigoku Shōjo (Hell Girl) will offer them a black straw doll with a red string wound about its neck. If the string is pulled, she will ferry the recipient of the revenge straightaway to Hell, but on the condition that those who request her intervention fall into Hell as well at the end of their natural lives.
During each story, the protagonists' dramas are explained in detail from the start of their grudges, through the escalation of their torment until it becomes unbearable and they resort to the "Jigoku Tsūshin" (correspondence with Hell) - a mysterious black colored web site only accessible at midnight. The contents of the site are only a text: "あなたの怨み、晴らします。 (We will take revenge on your behalf.)", a text box where the grudge's object must be written, and a "送信 (Send)" button. Some time after the post, they are visited by Enma Ai, a young red eyed girl wearing a traditional sailor school uniform. She delivers them a black straw doll (In the second season, the doll may also be red or dark blue depending on who turns into it) with a red string tied to its neck, and she tells them that if they want their vengeance to be delivered, they must remove the string from the doll, and their enemies will be immediately taken to Hell. However, a crest shaped mark will appear on the protagonists' chests, always reminding them that after their lives come to an end, they must give compensation by having their own souls also sent to Hell.
Enma Ai lives in a house in an unknown world that is in eternal sunset with her grandmother whose face never appears. Ai is helped by her three assistants. When they are not under her services, they stay in the form of three straw dolls, otherwise they assume the form of Ichimoku Ren, a handsome young man in casual clothes and takes the form of the blue straw doll, Hone-Onna, a beautiful woman wearing a kimono with the obi (sash) tied in front which signifies she is a prostitute and takes the form of the red straw doll; and Wanyūdō, an old man wearing a hat and a red scarf and takes the form of the black straw doll. They help her during the event when their victims are confronted with their own sins, prior to the moment when Ai (dressed in traditional kimono with floral patterns) ferries them to hell. Also, the trio helps her investigate the true nature of their clients.
In episode 8 of the series, two recurring characters are introduced: A journalist named Shibata Hajime - a former scandal hunter-blackmailer who turned to investigating the stories involving the Jigoku Shōjo; and his daughter Tsugumi. After an encounter with Enma Ai, Tsugumi starts to have visions of what Ai sees and thus the two become more and more involved in Ai's matters. Hajime doesn't agree with Ai's methods to deliver vengeance for her clients, and tries to stop those who contacted Jigoku Shōjo from using her service with Tsugumi's help.
As the series progressed, it was revealed that Hajime and Tsugumi were the descendants of a man named Sentarō Shibata. Sentaro and Ai are childhood friends as well as cousins. The village they lived in had a tradition; Every seven years, a seven-year-old child would be sacrificed to the gods, allowing for seven more years of prosperity. Ai was chosen as the sacrifice, but her parents asked Sentaro to hide Ai rather than leave her to be sacrificed. Sentaro agrees, and takes her up to the mountain, keeping her hidden for six years. However, the village also experiences a great famine.
During one of Ai and Sentarō's secret meetings, the villagers catch them and bring them to the village, where Ai and Sentarō are accused of angering the Mountain Gods. The villagers throw Ai and her parents in a pit and force Sentarō to bury them as an atonement for hiding Ai. Ai is conscious at the moment and feels betrayed by him.
After Ai was buried, Sentarō awakens one night and went out of his home. When he returns, he sees Ai setting the village on fire. Out of insanity and guilt, Sentarō runs away. He grew up regretting what he had done and builds a temple in remembrance of Ai and other sacrifices to the Mountain Gods. He opens a candy store named Shibataya that sells a black candy that he and his descendants and other owners of the store send to the temple as an offering.
The realization of Hajime and Tsugumi's relation to Sentarō awakes Ai's hatred, and she attempts to kill Hajime and Tsugumi but fails. For doing so, Ai was to be sent to hell, but she escapes and decides to provoke Tsugumi into sending her father to hell by showing Tsugumi how her mother died and her father's denial of his responsibility, Ai keeps pressing Tsugumi to pull the string while Hajime is trapped in Ai's world, but is subsequently able to escape because of Ai's grandmother who releases him for an exchange (whatever the exchange actually was never shown).
Hajime returns to Tsugumi and admits his faults and tells Tsugumi to send him to hell. This angers Tsugumi because she feels that his acceptance of hell infers that he does not value their moments together. She returns the straw doll to Ai, and Ai later incinerates the temple built by Sentarō either as a way of relieving her grudge (in this case, the destruction of the temple would symbolize Sentarō's release from his regret) or as a sign that she would not forgive Sentarō despite all that he did to show his regret (the destruction of the temple in this case would symbolize the refusal of Sentarō's apology). The season ends with Hajime and Tsugumi going back to normality and Ai continuing what she has been doing for centuries - sending people to hell.
'Season 2' of Jigoku Shōjo (named Jigoku Shōjo Futakomori) started by revealing that Ai is to be punished by hell for the massacre of her village.
If she refuses, her parents shall wander in darkness for eternity. It was known that her punishment is to deliver the vengeance of others.
In the beginning of season 2, there is a mysterious girl who shows up in glimpses during the first episode that has a kimono similar to Ai's and seems to smile after the people who make the covenant review their situation, as in episode 1 where she appears just after Ai walks away. After episode 4 the girl's name is revealed to be Kikuri.
In season 2, the origins of Ai's assistants are revealed.
The major arc of season 2 revolves around Takuma Kurebayashi, a boy from Lovely Hills who is blamed by his townsfolk for causing disappearances around the town, which was actually caused by the townsfolk who used Jigoku Tsūshin. The unfair treatment received by Takuma from his townsfolk awoke Ai's memory of her own past and she refuses a request to send Takuma to hell. By doing so, Ai has broken the law of Hell and her role as Jigoku Shōjo was relieved. Nonetheless, as she is relieved of her duty, she is returned to life by the cruel Lord of Hell and sent back to the real world in a near death situation, experiencing the agony of aging of 400 years all at once. Ren, Honne-Onna, and Wanyuudou tried to help the mortal Ai, only to discover that her memories of them have been erased by the Lord of Hell.
Ai tries to stop the villagers from killing Takuma and succeeds for a moment. However, a frightened user of the Jigoku Tsūshin, in hope of saving himself from going to hell when he dies, beats Ai in the back of her head with a shovel. A few other townsfolk of Lovely Hills, all whom have used her service, joins in with the assault in a fit of rage. As Ai succumbs to her death, in a relieved way, says, "This is the end." She disappears into a wind of cherry blossom petals shortly after death and her parents' souls are set free from Hell. Kikuri, on the boat to Hell, says as she pokes a cherry of the color of Ai's eyes in a childish way: "It's over. That was Ai's answer... Well done." The season ends. Ren, Onna, and Wanyūdō going their separate ways in the real world, Takuma's life returning to normality, and an anonymous girl receiving a message from Hell Girl on her cellphone.
Also of note is that the male narrator at the beginning of every episode is also the actor who portrayed Wanyuudo in the live-action adaptation.
Characters
Main characters
;
:
:The primary protagonist of the series. With long, flowing hair and red eyes, she is a spiritual entity with a tragic past, she lives in a world of eternal twilight with her grandmother, and is the one who receives and delivers vengeance on her clients' behalf. She normally wears a black seifuku, or sailor uniform (which is usually worn during winter months), but always wears a flowery kimono when delivering the vengeance of a client. Ai started her career as the Hell Girl by her own act of vengeance on the villagers who sentenced her to a sacrificial death. Her task of fulfilling other people's vengeance and ferrying people to Hell is her punishment, a task which she has performed for the better part of 400 years. Although this task is presented as atonement, it is unknown whether she will ever be freed of it. Since she has done this for so long, she initially seemed to have become emotionless, numbed, as is shown by her expressionless face. Wanyūdō noted she still had feelings, though, although she did not express them strongly, and it was later revealed that Ai had been ordered to close her heart by the Spider. The experiences she has with the Shibatas first reawoke her discontent with her terrible fate and later apparently reawoke other emotions, or at least Ai's ability to express them. Before meeting the Shibatas, it was even possible that Ai had managed to suppress her memories of her own grudge and past. When enraged, Ai demonstrates the power to hurl great blasts of energy, as well as the power to create elaborate illusions and teleport others and herself. Later, in the second season, Ai's emotions and memories are once again released by the suffering of Takuma Kurebayashi, similar to her own situation in the past. This leads Ai to defy her 'employer', who is the Lord of Hell, causing her to be restored to human life - and killed shortly thereafter, when saving Takuma from his tormentors. After Ai's self-sacrifice, her body dissolves into sakura petals and drifts into the sky; one might theorize her self-sacrifice serves as sufficient atonement for her crimes that she and her loved ones are released from the grasp of Hell.
;
:
:An assistant of Ai who appears to be a handsome young man. He can manifest a single, very large eye that can be directed anywhere, allowing him to see inside of a building through walls. This manifests as an eye on a wall, etc. The large eye can also be used as a weapon, by projecting intense flashes of light. When so required, Ren becomes the blue straw doll by kissing a pendant he wears around his neck. He is sometimes referred to as "Moku" or "Ichimoto Ren". It is later revealed that Ren is a tsukumogami, an artifact which has gained sentience after a long time of existence. In Ren's case, he was once a katana, forced to be aware and watch whatever was done with him. He was given his current form(s) by Ai, who collected him after he was abandoned on a battlefield. Since that time, Ren has apparently grown quite fond of his human form, displaying considerable vanity from time to time. Ai claims she invited him to join her because there is something that Ren is looking for, a fact perhaps manifested in Ren's occasional puzzlement and inability to understand the things humans do. Alternatively, some of Ren's comments indicate that what he was looking for was companionship, something to fill the emptiness of his existence as a sword used for endless killing. Ren has apparently developed feelings for his colleagues, seeing them as family. He is Ai's second companion.
;
:
:Assistant of Ai, and appears to be a beautiful woman in a kimono with its obi tied in front--the trademark of a prostitute. But in the second season, the obi was tied in the usual manner. She becomes the red straw doll when necessary by tossing her red obi strap over her neck. Onna, along with Ren, researches the people who make a contract and the ones they have a grudge against. She usually infiltrates human society in casual clothing to investigate cases, on these occasions she tends to use the psudonym "Sone Anna". On certain occasions, she uses throwing knives as weapons; Onna is apparently extremely skilled with these weapons. Her knives seem to carry some mystic charge, since they can be used to quickly dispatch supernatural enemies. Onna also seems to have some skill as a contortionist, which allows her to squeeze into very small places. Getting ''out'' of those same places, however, is an area she is less talented in. Onna seems to suffer from mild vanity; she can be quite offended when she is addressed as ''obā-san'' ('old lady' or 'auntie'; a Japanese form of address for any woman of middle age and above). She can expose the bones in her body, scaring the target of the grudge; the name 'Hone Onna' actually means 'bone woman'. In episode 8 of Futakomori she jokingly reveals that she is "200 years old". A flashback scene revealed that she was a Geisha originally named Tsuyu; Tsuyu was betrayed by a man who she had fallen in love with, who sold her to a Geisha house to be able to pay off his own debts. Tsuyu was betrayed again later, this time by fellow Geisha Kion, when she attempted to arrange Kion's escape with a man who had come to truly love Tsuyu. She and her beloved one were stabbed by a samurai under the eyes of Kion; that same samurai cast Tsuyu into a river afterwards. Spirits rising from human bones thrown into the river before merged with her, transforming Tsuyu into the yōkai Hone Onna, in which form she later met Ai. She is Ai's third companion.
;
:
:Assistant of Ai, who becomes the black straw doll with a red string around its neck, the string probably originating as the red scarf he wears in human form. He also frequently takes the form of a Ai's coach with burning wheels when she goes to the human world to claim a soul; Ai has stated that before he performed this task for her, she used to walk to and from her sunset world. The coach incidentally bears the same black flame-crest that appears on the chest of those people who contract with the Hell Girl. At all other times, Wanyūdō appears as an older man whose eyes remain mostly shut, wearing a fisherman's hat and fairly old-fashioned Japanese clothing. Despite appearing quite mild-mannered, frail and weak with age at most times, Wanyūdō possesses considerable skills in martial arts and is capable of hurling fireballs and performing feats of inhuman strength. Wanyūdō's name means "A wheel entering the road" a reference to the flaming wheel form he most commonly assumes. In episode 12 of Futakomori, it is revealed that he was the driver of a princess's entourage, which fell off a cliff. The coach caught fire and all aboard were killed. As a result, he became a yōkai terrorizing people in the form of a flaming wheel with his own enlarged, infuriated face as a hubcap, until he met Ai and she invited him to join her as her first companion. Ai revealed to Wanyūdō his ability to shapeshift.
;
:
:Never actually seen in the series, other than as a shadowy silhouette behind a paper screen, she is always spinning thread in her room, and occasionally talks to Ai and gives her advice. She is mostly telling Ai that she has another client or telling Ai her client has pulled the string. She never speaks to anybody but Ai, with three exceptions; she occasionally scolds Kikuri, and she has talked to Hajime once as a deal for her to get him out of captivity in the sunset world for a favor. A single human eyewitness who has observed Ai's grandmother ran in terror, implying her appearance may be other than human. And lastly when she gave a message to Ai's 3 assistants from Ai herself.
;
:
:An oddly-coloured spider with three eyes upon its abdomen, which appears in the sunset world where Ai and her assistants reside between assignments. The spider is probably the same creature as the giant jellyfish-like entity which watches whenever Ai ferries a soul to Hell. It speaks with the voice of a man and is apparently Ai's superior, having been the one to pronounce sentence on her after she killed the people of her village. It claims to be holding the souls of Ai's loved ones - namely her parents - hostage against her good behaviour; if Ai did not do the job she was given, they would wander in darkness for eternity. The spider at one time demonstrates an ability to pilot the ferryboat to Hell and tries to restrain Ai, having decided to take her to Hell when she reawoke her feelings of rage and violently attacked the Shibatas. Ai turned out to be too strong for it to hold her without her consent. The spider is neither liked nor trusted by Ai's assistants, with whom it in turn does not speak. In the last episode of the second season, Wanyuudou identifies the spider as the lord of Hell. It seems likely that the Spider deliberately exposed Ai to a situation reminiscent of her own death in order to test whether she would obey its will or act on the impulses of her human heart. Apparently only Ai's self-sacrifice saved her and her parents from the cruel fate the spider had planned for them.
;
:
:An enigmatic little girl introduced in season two. Little is known about her except the fact she is not an ordinary human as she can wander freely between the mortal plane and Ai's house in the sunset world, sometimes interfering with her and her associates' job. In stark contrast to Ai, Kikuri has completely blue/purple eyes (including the sclera) and her personality is far more childish than Ai's. She has stated that she likes Ai, but her actions and use of powers seem to serve causing the greatest amount of suffering and fear possible. It is as yet unknown whether this is due to true malice or not. Occasionally, she seems to take delight in acts of low-level destruction, such as chopping off flowers or destroying anything that Ai cares for. She has shown incredible skills with her loincloth, using it whip-like to catch or hit objects. Despite the fact she appears to wreak havoc on her, she takes orders from Ai and Ai alone (in one episode, she shows this while going to touch Ai's grandmother's spinning wheels despite the woman's protests). In the last episode of the second season, it is revealed that Kikuri is in fact a host for the will of the Spider, which can take over her body as it pleases. As such, it becomes questionable how many of her malicious acts were of her own will and which were instigated by her master. After Ai's death and the release of her beloved ones, Kikuri, riding on the boat, says, "it's over...that was Ai's answer...Well done." As she says those words, she pokes a cherry the color of Ai's eyes in her former childish way. As of now, it is uncertain who the next Hell Girl is - but it is certain that there ''is'' one.
Recurring characters
;
:
:A former journalist who now earns money by blackmailing celebrities with evidence of their scandals. He began to investigate Jigoku Tsuushin merely out of interest, but becomes more heavily involved once he realizes that it's more than just a rumor and people are actually being dragged into Hell. Furthermore, his daughter Tsugumi seems to have a mysterious connection with Enma Ai that allows her to see anything significant that Ai sees. He is briefly mentioned in the second season as a writer of Ai's biography.
;
:
:Hajime's daughter. Even though he's her father, she always refers to him as "Hajime-chan." She saw Ai one day and has had a mysterious connection with her ever since. At first, she reports everything she sees through Ai to Hajime, but as the series progresses, she becomes more reluctant to do so as she begins to disagree with her father on whether they should try to stop Ai or not. She appears strong and sassy on the outside but is actually very vulnerable and confused on the inside. She is briefly shown in the second season as a source of information for an investigator.
;
:
:Hajime's dead wife. Hajime devoted more time to his work than to his family, actually with the intent to make his wife happy by improving their standard of life by earning large amounts of money. In her loneliness, Ayumi had an affair with a politician that Hajime happened to be spying on. Because of that incident, he cast her out of the house and forbade her from ever seeing Tsugumi. However, just a few moments later, she got into a car accident and died. Tsugumi keeps her mother's earrings as a memento. Hajime still loves his wife very much, and regrets not forgiving her because he believes she would be alive if he had. In the second season, she makes a quick appearance, showing that her connection with Hell Girl still exists. At the same time, it seems that she has a mutual relationship with Kikuri (revealed in the last episode of the second season).
;
:
:Takuma is a quiet boy who makes his home in Lovely Hills. He is misunderstood and oftentimes bullied by his fellow townsfolk who believe he's the "Devil's Child" much like Ai was in her village. When he first made his appearance, his mother was killed by a friend of his father, who was also seriously injured by him. While he was trying to kill Takuma he was sent to hell, but at this time the police arrived and his fellow townsfolk believed Takuma was the murderer. It is unclear if he possesses as much spiritual powers as Ai but he does have the ability of foresight and he has been observed by Ai for some time throughout the story. In the end, he is saved by Ai, who loses her life in return. Ironically, by doing so, Ai's parents and herself are "saved" and freed at last.
Anime
The ''Jigoku Shōjo'' anime series was produced by Aniplex and Studio Deen. Directed by Takahiro Ōmori, the first season spanned 26 episodes and premiered across Japan on Animax between October 4, 2005, and April 4, 2006. The series' second season, , premiered from October 7, 2006 across Japan on Animax. Animax also later translated and dubbed the first season of the series into English for broadcast across its various worldwide networks from October 2006, where the series received its international premieres, including its English language networks in Southeast Asia and South Asia and its other networks in Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and other regions.
FUNimation licensed the first season of Jigoku Shoujo at SakuraCon 2007 and will be releasing the show as Hell Girl. The first DVD is set to be released in October 2007. [3]
Staff
★ Original Concept: Hiroshi Watanabe
★ Original Work: Jigoku Shōjo Project
★ Planning: Kenji Shimizu (Wellthink), Hideo Katsumata (Aniplex)
★ Planning Coordination: Hirō Maruyama (MBS), Akira Sasaki (Animax), Yasuyuki Uchida (Kid's Station), Hitoyasu Oyama, Kazuyoshi Takagi (CBC), Satoshi Matsumoto
★ Series Composition: Kenichi Kanemaki
★ Screenplay: Masashi Suzuki, Noburo Takagi, Natsuko Takahashi, Satoru Nishizono, Maki Hiro, Yukinori Fukushima, Kenichi Kanemaki, Hiroyuki Kawasaki (second season)
★ Character Design: Mariko Oka
★ Mechanical Design: Shōhei Ohara
★ Prop Design: Shogo Morishita
★ Chief Animation Directors: Masahiro Aizawa (first season), Mariko Oka (second season)
★ Art Directors: Yoshinori Hishinuma (first season), Nariyuki Ogi (second season)
★ Paint Inspection: Shinji Matsumoto
★ Director of Photography: Shinyo Kondō
★ Editing: Masahiro Matsumara (Jay Film)
★ Music: Yasuharu Takanashi, Hiromi Mizutani
★ Music Production: Jasuto
★ Music Director: Fumiko Harada
★ Sound Director: Shōji Hata
★ Sound Design: Minoru Yamada (Ena)
★ Sound Production: Darks Production
★ Animation Producer: Kōji Ījima
★ Producers: Ai Abe (Aniplex), Norihiro Hayashida (Wellthink)
★ Director: Takahiro Ōmori
★ Animation Production: Studio Deen
★ Production: Jigoku Shōjo Project (SKY Perfect Well Think, Aniplex)
''Jigoku Shōjo'' (first season)
Episodes
| # | Title in English | Title in Japanese | Client (Seiyū) | Target (Seiyū) | Air Date (Y/M/D) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | From Beyond the Twilight | 夕闇の彼方より(Yūyami no Kanata Yori) | Mayumi Hashimoto (Kana Ueda/Laura Bailey) | Aya Kuroda (Tomoko Kawakami/Luci Christian) | 2005-10-04 |
| 2 | The Stalked Girl | 魅入られた少女(Mi Irareta Shōjo) | Ryōko Takamura (Ai Shimizu) | Kōichirō Kisaragi (Kazuya Ichijo) | 2005-10-11 |
| 3 | The Filthy Mound | 汚れたマウンド(Yogoreta Maundo) | Daisuke Iwashita (Wataru Hatano) | Mamoru Hanakasa (Noriaki Sugiyama) | 2005-10-18 |
| 4 | Inaudible Cry | 聞こえぬ叫び声(Kikoenu Sakebigoe) | Junko Kanno (Satomi Arai) | Yoshiyuki Honjō (Takehito Koyasu) | 2005-10-25 |
| 5 | The Woman of the High Tower | 高い塔の女(Takai Tō no Shōjo) | Misari Urano (Ayako Kawasumi) | Riho Kaifu (Michiko Neya) | 2005-11-01 |
| 6 | The Window on an Early Afternoon | 昼下がりの窓(Hirusagari no Mado) | Haruka Yasuda (Chiwa Saitō) | Namiko Todaka (Emi Shinohara) | 2005-11-08 |
| 7 | A Broken Disguise | ひびわれた仮面(Hibiwareta Kamen) | Kaoriko Kurushima (Marina Inoue) | Kurenai Ayaka (Satsuki Yukino) | 2005-11-15 |
| 8 | The Silent Relationship | 静寂の交わり(Seijaku no Majiwari) | Chiaki Tanuma (Yuki Matsuoka) | Gorō Ishizu (Show Hayami) | 2005-11-22 |
| 9 | Sweet Trap | 甘い罠(Amai Wana) | Yuka Kasuga (Rina Satō) | Shinya Morizaki (Kouji Ishii) | 2005-11-29 |
| 10 | Friends | トモダチ(Tomodachi) | Minami Shibuya (Sawa Ishige) | Shiori Akasaka (Megumi Toyoguchi) | 2005-12-06 |
| 11 | Broken String | 千切れた糸(Chigireta Ito) | Masaya Kataoka (Daisuke Ono) | Takashi Inagaki (Wataru Takagi) | 2005-12-13 |
| 12 | Split Shards | 零れたカケラ達(Koboreta Kakeratachi) | Akane Sawai (Rie Tanaka) | Yoshiki Fukasawa (Susumu Chiba) | 2005-12-20 |
| 13 | Purgatory Girl | 煉獄少女(Rengoku Shōjo) | Fukumoto (Shiro Saito) | Ohkawachi ( ─ ) | 2005-12-27 |
| 14 | Across the Blind Alley | 袋小路の向こう(Fukurokōji no Mukō) | Saki Kirino (Yuu Kobayashi) | Ryozo Kusunoki (Masashi Hirose) | 2006-01-03 |
| 15 | Woman of the Island | 島の女(Shima no Onna) | Mina Minato (Masumi Asano) | Fujie Minato (Akemi Okamura) | 2006-01-17 |
| 16 | Night of the Itinerant Entertainers | 旅芸人の夜(Tabigeinin no Yoru) | Yumi (Asuka Tanii) | Yuki (Akiko Yajima) | 2006-01-24 |
| 17 | Glass Scenery | 硝子ノ風景(Garasu no Fūken) | Nina (Omi Minami) | 2006-01-31 | |
| 18 | Bound Girl | 縛られた少女(Shibarareta Shōjo) | Miki Kamikawa (Noriko Shitaya) | Meiko Shimono (Kujira) | 2006-02-07 |
| 19 | The Doll Bride | 花嫁人形(Hanayoume Ningyō) | Inori Ujiie (Fumiko Orikasa) | Kyōgetsu Ujiie (Miyuki Ichijo) | 2006-02-14 |
| 20 | Hell Girl vs. Hell Boy | 地獄少女 対 地獄少年(Jigoku Shōjo tai Jigoku Shōnen) | Esper Watanabe (Shinichirō Miki) | Gill du Ronfell (Jun Fukuyama) | 2006-02-21 |
| 21 | Kind Neighbour | 優しい隣人(Yasashii Rinjin) | Yūko Murai (Saeko Chiba) | Ryōsuke Sekine (Ryunosuke Obayashi) | 2006-02-28 |
| 22 | Rain of Regret | 悔恨の雨(Kaikon no Ame) | Gorō Suetsugu (Atsushi Imaruoka) | Noriko Hayashi (Shizuka Itō) | 2006-03-07 |
| 23 | Hospital Ward's Light | 病棟の光(Byoutou no Hikari) | Drug Addict | Kanako Sakuragi (Miyuki Sawashiro) | 2006-03-14 |
| 24 | Sunset Village | 夕暮れの里ō(Yūgure no Sato) | 2006-03-21 | ||
| 25 | Hell Girl | 地獄少女(Jigoku Shōjo) | 2006-03-28 | ||
| 26 | Temporary Sewing | かりぬい(Karinui) | Tsugumi Shibata (Nana Mizuki) | Hajime Shibata (Yūji Ueda) | 2006-04-04 |
Theme songs
;Opening theme:
:
★ Lyrics: SNoW, Hideaki Yamano
:
★ Composition: SNoW, Asanjō Shindō
:
★ Arrangement: Asanjō Shindō, Ken'ichi Fujita
:
★ Performance: SNoW
;Ending theme:
:
★ Lyrics: Hitomi Mieno
:
★ Composition and arrangement: Masara Nishida
:
★ Performance: Mamiko Noto
Jigoku Shōjo Futakomori
Episodes
| # | Title in English | Title in Japanese | Client (Seiyū) | Target (Seiyū) | Air Date (Y/M/D) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Girl Within the Darkness | 闇の中の少女(Yami no naka no Shōjo) | Maki Onda (Ryo Hirohashi) | Eiko Kamishiro (Mayumi Asano) | 2006-10-07 |
| 2 | Froth | うたかた(Utakata) | Yayoi Kurahashi (Houko Kuwashima) | Criminal (Yuichi Nakamura) | 2006-10-14 |
| 3 | Beloved Kei-chan | 愛しのけいちゃん(Itoshi no Kei-chan) | Tae Sakairi (Sayaka Aoki) | Yumie Hanamura (Rika Morinaga) | 2006-10-21 |
| 4 | Secret | 秘密(Himitsu) | Shūichi Yagusawa (Kouichi Toochika) | Shoki (Hirofumi Nojima) | 2006-10-27 |
| 5 | Rampage to Hell | 地獄への暴走(Jigoku he no Bōsō) | Leon Yamada (Isshin Chiba) | Rikiua Hashizume (Masaya Onosaka) | 2006-11-04 |
| 6 | The Place Where the Sun Hits | 陽のあたる場所(Hi no Ataru Basho) | Kiwako Nitta (Sanae Kobayashi) | Hirohisa Sugita (Junichi Suwabe) | 2006-11-11 |
| 7 | Bonds | 絆(Kizuna) | Megumi Mogi (Kei Shindō) | Kazuko Mogi (Rei Igarashi) | 2006-11-18 |
| 8 | Fake Hell Communication | 偽地獄通信(Nise Jigoku Tsūshin) | Shōko Baba (Michie Tomizawa) | Mami Kuriyama (Ayumi Tsunematsu) | 2006-11-25 |
| 9 | Elder Brother, Younger Sister | あにいもうと(Ani Imōto) | Maho Suzaki (Akemi Kanda) | Mikio Suzaki (Showtaro Morikubo) | 2006-12-02 |
| 10 | Anna Sone's Wet Holiday | 曽根アンナの濡れた休日(Sone Anna no Nure ta Kyuujitsu) | Hachiroku Toyota (Kentaro Tone) | Teturo Negoro (Shigeru Chiba) | 2006-12-09 |
| 11 | The Distant Adjacent Room | 遠い隣室(Tooi Rinshitsu) | Shizuko Amagi (Junko Minagawa) | Kyōko Tachibana (Kimiko Saitō) | 2006-12-16 |
| 12 | Black Furrow | 黒の轍(Kuro no Tetsu) | Michirō Itō (Tetsu Inada) | Hitori Kameda (Tomomichi Nishimura) | 2006-12-23 |
| 13 | Tragedy of V | Vの惨劇(V no Sangeki) | Kihachi Hisazumi (Takashi Matsuyama) | Tatsuhiko Makimura (Hiroki Yasumoto) | 2007-01-06 |
| 14 | The Calm Lake Shore | 静かな湖畔(Shizuka na Kohan) | Sayaka Yoshizaki (Chie Matsuura) | Toshiya Kakinuma (Tohru Furusawa) | 2007-01-13 |
| 15 | For This Country | この国のために(Kono Kuni no Tame ni) | Harumi Kanno (Sakiko Tamagawa) | Ikushi Kanno (Fumihiko Tachiki) | 2007-01-20 |
| 16 | Aspirations of a Wicked Woman | 悪女志願(Akujo Shigan) | Ran Itsumi (Mami Kingetsu) | Matsu Kōzuki (Miho Yoshida) | 2007-01-27 |
| 17 | Gaze of Silence | 沈黙のまなざし(Chinmoku no Manazashi) | Nene Chiwaki (Kurumi Mamiya) | Honami Chiwaki (Junko Iwao) | 2007-02-03 |
| 18 | That Person's Memories | あのひとの記憶(Ano Hito no Kioku) | Kouhei Takeda (Yutaka Shimaka) | Michiyo Takeda (Toshiko Sawada) | 2007-02-10 |
| 19 | Steam Hell, Inn on a Journey | 湯けむり地獄、旅の宿(Yukemuri Jigoku, Tabi no Yado) | Yurie Yumoto(Yukana) | Ichiko Aida (Fumie Mizusawa) | 2007-02-17 |
| 20 | A Maiden's Album | 乙女のアルバム(Otome no Arubamu) | Juri Moriuchi(Eri Kitamura) | Mari Fujimaki(Yuka Inokuchi) | 2007-02-24 |
| 21 | Soft Paper Balloon | 紙風船ふわり(Kamifuusen fuwari) | Yōko Kizuki(Sayaka Narita) | Makoto Tomaru(Takuma Terashima) | 2007-03-03 |
| 22 | Longing | 憧憬(Shōkei) | Misuzu Hasue(Rumiko Ukai) | Seri Mizutani(Kaori Shimizu) | 2007-03-10 |
| 23 | Distrust | 不信(Fushin) | Genzō Naito(Shigenori Souya)Satoko Komaki(Akiko) | Komaki Kimihiko(Yoshinori Sonobe)Genzō Naito(Shigenori Souya) | 2007-03-17 |
| 24 | Chain | 連鎖(Rensa) | Multiple senders | Multiple victims | 2007-03-24 |
| 25 | Wandering | 彷徨(Houkou) | Yasuharu Hasue(Kunihiro Kawamoto) | Seiichi Meshiai(Satoshi Hino) | 2007-03-31 |
| 26 | Indigo Dye | あいぞめ(Aizome) | Hotaru Meshiai(Fuyuka Ohura) | Takuma Kurebayashi(Ayumi Fujimura) | 2007-04-07 |
Theme songs
;Opening theme: '''NightmaRe'''
:
★ Lyrics: Hideaki Yamano
:
★ Composition: SNoW, Asanjō Shindō
:
★ Performance: SNoW
;Ending theme:
:
★ Lyrics: Aa (savage genius)
:
★ Composition: Takumi (savage genius)
:
★ Arrangement: Masara Nishida
:
★ Performance: Mamiko Noto
OST
The first original soundtrack for the ''Jigoku Shōjo'' anime series was released on January 25, 2006. The second original soundtrack for the series was released on April 19, 2006.
''Jigoku Shōjo Futakomori'' released its first soundtrack on January 24, 2007, and the second soundtrack on March 21, 2007.
'Jigoku Shōjo Original Soundtrack'
| Track Number | Japanese Title | Translated Title |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 焦燥 | Impatience |
| 2 | 悪意 | Malice |
| 3 | 影差して | Differing |
| 4 | 蜘蛛と老婆と少女 | The Spider and the Crone and the Girl |
| 5 | 地獄通信 | Hell Communication |
| 6 | 少女降臨 | Advent of the Girl |
| 7 | 三藁捜査線 | Three Straw Investigation Line |
| 8 | 真昼の太陽 | Midday Sun |
| 9 | いじめ | Bullying |
| 10 | 朱(あけ)に染まる | To Be Dyed Red |
| 11 | 父と娘 | Father and Daughter |
| 12 | 復讐の行方 | Direction of Revenge |
| 13 | あたたかいもの | Something Warm |
| 14 | 芝居 | Theatrical Play |
| 15 | うつろな穴 | Empty Pit |
| 16 | 覚悟 | Determination |
| 17 | 地獄流し | Hell Flow |
| 18 | 満ちていく闇 | Brimming Darkness |
| 19 | 哀れな影 | Miserable Shadow |
| 20 | 暗黒イリュージョン | Dark Illusion |
| 21 | 地獄ロック | Hell Rock |
| 22 | 地獄の川流れ | Carried Away by Hell's Current |
| 23 | 優しい気持ち | Kind Feelings |
| 24 | かりぬい(フルバージョン) | Basting (Full Version) |
'Jigoku Shōjo Original Soundtrack II'
| Track Number | Japanese Title | Translated Title |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 逢魔が時 | Dusk |
| 2 | 依頼人 | Client |
| 3 | 想い出 | Recollection |
| 4 | 袋小路 | Blind Alley |
| 5 | 憎悪 | Hatred |
| 6 | 柴田走る | The Shibatas Run |
| 7 | 逡巡 | Hesitation |
| 8 | 幸せ | Happiness |
| 9 | 狂い出した歯車 | Gears that Began to go Mad |
| 10 | せつない思い | Painful Thoughts |
| 11 | 地獄の仕事人 | Worker of Hell |
| 12 | 三藁熱血篇 | Three Straw Hotblooded Chapter |
| 13 | 一目連 | Ichimokuren |
| 14 | 火車 | Fiery Cart |
| 15 | 骨女 | Hone Onna |
| 16 | 満月 | Full Moon |
| 17 | 廃屋 | Abandoned House |
| 18 | 地獄ワルツ | Hell Waltz |
| 19 | 六道郷 | Six After-death Worlds |
| 20 | 地獄少年 | Hell Boy |
| 21 | 刻まれる音 | Engraving Sound |
| 22 | 火焔 | Flames |
| 23 | 迷妄の果て | Edge of Delusion |
| 24 | 桜吹雪 | Raging Snowstorm |
| 25 | 地獄少女 | Hell Girl |
| 26 | さくらうた | Sakura Song |
'Jigoku Shōjo Futakomori Original Soundtrack'
| Track Number | Japanese Title | Translated Title |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 迷い路 | Stray Path |
| 2 | 深き淵より | Deeper than the Abyss |
| 3 | 頚木 | Neck Woods |
| 4 | あのころ | Back Then |
| 5 | 暗雲 | Dark Clouds |
| 6 | 人間模様 | Pattern of Humans |
| 7 | 赤いマフラー | Red Muffler |
| 8 | きくり降臨 | Kikuri Advents |
| 9 | 地獄の舟歌 | Hell's Boat Song |
| 10 | 日常 | Daily Life |
| 11 | きくり | Kikuri |
| 12 | 不良のテーマ | Delinquent's Theme |
| 13 | 小さな幸せ | A Little Happiness |
| 14 | 悲しい話 | Sad Story |
| 15 | 企み | Plan |
| 16 | 水面の月 | Moon on the Water's Surface |
| 17 | 沼に沈む | To Sink into the Swamp |
| 18 | 覚悟2006 | Determination 2006 |
| 19 | 二籠 | Second Cage |
| 20 | 地獄交響曲 | Hell Symphony |
| 21 | 地獄メタル | Hell Metal |
| 22 | 彼岸花 | Cluster Amaryllis |
| 23 | あいぞめ | Indigo Dye |
'Jigoku Shōjo Futakomori Original Soundtrack II'
| Track Number | Japanese Title | Translated Title |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 地獄絵図 | Hell Illustration |
| 2 | 刻迫る | The Moment Approaches |
| 3 | 女の性 | The Nature of Women |
| 4 | 藁人形のテーマ | Straw Doll's Theme |
| 5 | 正義 | Justice |
| 6 | きくりのウインナー | Kikuri the Winner |
| 7 | 夜の三藁 | Three Straw at Night |
| 8 | 時雨 | Autumn Rain |
| 9 | 地獄の入り口 | Hell Entrance |
| 10 | 悪魔の子 | Devil's Child |
| 11 | 丘の住人 | Hill Dweller |
| 12 | わが町ラブリーヒルズ | Our Town, Lovely Hills |
| 13 | 裏切り | Betrayal |
| 14 | 戦慄 | Shiver |
| 15 | みずうみ | Lake |
| 16 | 異様 | Strangeness |
| 17 | 復讐の連鎖 | Chain of Vengeance |
| 18 | 囚われた町 | The Captured Town |
| 19 | あい | Ai |
| 20 | 集団心理 | Group Mentality |
| 21 | 記憶 | Memory |
| 22 | 少女のうた | Girl's Song |
| 23 | あいぞめ (Piano version) | Indigo Dye (Piano version) |
Manga
The ''Jigoku Shōjo'' anime series was later adapted into a manga, which featured art by . It has been serialized in Kodansha's ''Nakayoshi'' shōjo manga magazine since October 2005. While the stories are mostly original, chapters 4 and 10 are adapted from their respective anime episodes (in the first season), while chapter 2 is adapted from anime episode 9.
Due to the difference in media, Ai's ''modus operandi'' in the manga is somewhat different from the anime. She has been seen attending the same schools as some of her student-clients. Also, the straw figurine with the string was not featured in the first few chapters. Subsequently, its appearance is no longer as ubiquitous as its anime counterpart. Ai's clients need only to accept the contract, and the victims' torture by Ai and her helpers would then begin. In some cases, the torture begins after she has rung her bracelet in front of her victim (and not before as seen in the anime). The appearance of the boat in which Ai uses to ferry her victims to Hell is reduced as well.
Notably, although Sentaro Shibata is featured, Tsugumi and Hajime are not. Also, Kikuri has made appearances from volume 4 onwards.
Live action
The ''Jigoku Shōjo'' live action television drama series adaptation premiered across Japan on Nippon Television from November 4, 2006 and aired 12 half-hour episodes. The director for the series was Makoto Naganuma. The theme song for the series is ''Dream Catcher'' by OLIVIA.
Cast
★ Ai Enma: Sayuri Iwata
★ Ren Ichimoku: Kazuki Kato
★ Hone Onna: Aya Sugimoto
★ Wanyūdō: Hisahiro Ogura
★ Ai's Grandmother: Eriko Matsushima
★ Hajime Shibata: Kazuhiko Nishimura
★ Tsugumi Shibata: Saaya Irie
Episodes
| Episode Number | Title in English | Title in Japanese | Air Date (Y/M/D) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cracked Time | ひび割れた時間 | 2006-11-04 |
| 2 | The Boy in the Box | 箱の中の少年 | 2006-11-11 |
| 3 | A Baby's Dream | 嬰児の夢 | 2006-11-18 |
| 4 | Dusk | 逢魔の砌 | 2006-11-25 |
| 5 | The Epitaph of Lies | 偽りの墓碑銘 | 2006-12-02 |
| 6 | The Red Thread of Promise | 約束の赤い糸 | 2006-12-09 |
| 7 | Sweet Temptation | 甘い誘惑 | 2006-12-16 |
| 8 | Miracle of the Holy Night | 聖夜の奇跡 | 2006-12-23 |
| 9 | The Fake Compensation | 偽の代償 | 2007-01-06 |
| 10 | Memories of Sorrow | 悲しみの記憶 | 2007-01-13 |
| 11 | Darkness of the Real World, Pt. 1 | 現し世の闇 前編 | 2007-01-20 |
| 12 | Darkness of the Real World, Pt. 2 | 現し世の闇 後編 | 2007-01-27 |
References
1. Animax's featured lineup of October
2. Nippon Television official website
3. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-04-08/sakura-con-announcements
External links
Official sites
★ ''Jigoku Shōjo'' official website
★ Animax's official website for ''Jigoku Shōjo''
★ Animax's official website for ''Jigoku Shōjo Futakomori''
★ NTV's official website for ''Jigoku Shōjo Live Action''
References
★
★
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