地獄少女
Girl from Hell
闇に纏いし哀れな影よ。 人を傷つけ貶めて罪に溺れし業の魂 ・・・ 一遍、死んで見る？ -閻魔あい
(O miserable shadow clad in darkness! Hurting and disdaining people, a karmic soul drowning in sin...Would you try dying for once? - Enma Ai)
~~~
Story
Quote:
"At midnight every night, you can access Jigoku Tsūshin online. If you type in the name of someone who you have a grudge against there, Jigoku Shōjo will appear and send that person to hell. Rumors of the site spread among children living in cities. However, no one speaks of one thing, that you must make a contract with the Jigoku Shōjo to carry out revenge against your grudge."
The series is mainly a collection of short stories. Each of them describes the suffering of a different individual caused by one or more antagonists, and the subsequent punishment inflicted on the antagonists with the help of Enma Ai, aka the "Jigoku Shōjo" (Hell Girl).
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 doesn't work alone. She lives in a house in an unknown world that is in eternal sunset with her grandmother who orders her around and whose face never appears. Ai also counts on the help of 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, Hone-Onna, a beautiful woman wearing a kimono and Wanyūdō, an old man wearing a hat and a red scarf. 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 cases when something seems suspicious.
In episode 8 of the series, two other recurring characters are introduced: A journalist named Shibata Hajime who is 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. The fact is Hajime doesn't agree with Ai's methods; he believes people should solve their problems by other means than resorting to vengeance, and tries to stop those who contracted to the Jigoku Shōjo from sending their grudges to Hell with Tsugumi's help,but when he manage to locate the person,he's mostly too late. As the story progresses, Tsugumi begins to question if Ai's ways are as wrong as her father believes, but little do they know about the true reason why their thoughts are connected.
Spoilers below
Quote:
It turns out that Hajime and Tsugumi were the descendant of a man named Sentaro Shibata. Sentaro and Ai were very childhood friends and were cousins. Because of Ai's powers, she was hated and feared among the villagers in the village that they lived in. When it was time to sacrifice a seven year old child for the mountain god, Ai was chosen. Sentaro was enraged when he knew she was to be sacrificed to the mountain god, and argued that she was chosen on purpose because of her powers. Therefore, he and Ai's parents decided to hide her instead. This went perfectly well for about 6 years but during those years, there was a great famine and the villagers were terrified. They thought that the mountain god was angry at them.
Then the terrible day arrived. While Ai and Sentaro were having fun in the water, the village men that had bullied Ai in the past caught them and brought them to the village. They tied up Ai and her parents and knocked them out. After that, they threw them in a pit and forced Sentaro to bury them as repentance. Ai was conscious at this time and felt betrayed by him, as he has sworn to protect her. Sentaro ran away because from the confusion, before the villages buried Ai, Ai said she'll swear revenge on them one day.
After Ai was buried, Sentaro woke one night, and went in the fields for a walk. When he returned, he saw the whole village burning and in the fire was Ai, singing a song they used to sing (it was cute when they sang it but scary when she sings it in this scene) while setting the houses on fire. Out of insanity and guilt, Sentaro ran away. He grew up in regret of what he did and built a temple as a sign of his regret. He opened 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.
Having failed to directly kill Hajime and Tsugumi, Ai escaped her punishment to be sent to hell by the spider and decided to settle the score by having Tsugumi send her father to hell. After showing how her mother died and her father's denial of his responsibility, Tsugumi was left shaken and unsure. While Ai kept pressing her on to pull the string, Hajime was trapped in Ai's world but was able to escape thanks to Ai's grandmother who let him out for an exchange (whatever the exchange actually was was never shown). Hajime then arrived just in time for another trip to the past. This time, he admitted his faults and told Tsugumi to pull the string. This angered Tsugumi not because of what Hajime did but because that his acceptance to be sent to hell inferred that he did not value their moments together which is the thing that Tsugumi truly values. She threw her arms around her father and told him that she was happy being with him and that even if it was hard to be without a mother, she was able to make it though because him and after a few more tearful moments, she returned the straw doll back to Ai and said she didn't need it. Tsugumi then explained how Sentaro was very regretful of what he did and built the temple as a sign of regret but after hearing of this, she incinerated the temple either as a way of letting go of her grudge (in this case, the destruction of the temple would symbolize Sentaro's release from his regret) or as a sign that she would not forgive Sentaro despite all that he did to show his regret (the destruction of the temple in this case would symbolize the refusal of Sentaro's apology). The season ends with Hajime and Tsugumi going back to normality and Ai continuing what she's been doing for centuries - sending people to hell.
Then the terrible day arrived. While Ai and Sentaro were having fun in the water, the village men that had bullied Ai in the past caught them and brought them to the village. They tied up Ai and her parents and knocked them out. After that, they threw them in a pit and forced Sentaro to bury them as repentance. Ai was conscious at this time and felt betrayed by him, as he has sworn to protect her. Sentaro ran away because from the confusion, before the villages buried Ai, Ai said she'll swear revenge on them one day.
After Ai was buried, Sentaro woke one night, and went in the fields for a walk. When he returned, he saw the whole village burning and in the fire was Ai, singing a song they used to sing (it was cute when they sang it but scary when she sings it in this scene) while setting the houses on fire. Out of insanity and guilt, Sentaro ran away. He grew up in regret of what he did and built a temple as a sign of his regret. He opened 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.
Having failed to directly kill Hajime and Tsugumi, Ai escaped her punishment to be sent to hell by the spider and decided to settle the score by having Tsugumi send her father to hell. After showing how her mother died and her father's denial of his responsibility, Tsugumi was left shaken and unsure. While Ai kept pressing her on to pull the string, Hajime was trapped in Ai's world but was able to escape thanks to Ai's grandmother who let him out for an exchange (whatever the exchange actually was was never shown). Hajime then arrived just in time for another trip to the past. This time, he admitted his faults and told Tsugumi to pull the string. This angered Tsugumi not because of what Hajime did but because that his acceptance to be sent to hell inferred that he did not value their moments together which is the thing that Tsugumi truly values. She threw her arms around her father and told him that she was happy being with him and that even if it was hard to be without a mother, she was able to make it though because him and after a few more tearful moments, she returned the straw doll back to Ai and said she didn't need it. Tsugumi then explained how Sentaro was very regretful of what he did and built the temple as a sign of regret but after hearing of this, she incinerated the temple either as a way of letting go of her grudge (in this case, the destruction of the temple would symbolize Sentaro's release from his regret) or as a sign that she would not forgive Sentaro despite all that he did to show his regret (the destruction of the temple in this case would symbolize the refusal of Sentaro's apology). The season ends with Hajime and Tsugumi going back to normality and Ai continuing what she's been doing for centuries - sending people to hell.
Spoilers end
