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Jigoku Shojo Futakomori
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Animation - 8.0 |
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Sound - 8.7 |
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Story - 7.0 |
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Character - 7.3 |
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Value - 7.3 |
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Enjoyment - 8.0 |
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Average - 7.7 |
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| Average |
6.5 |
| Animation |
6 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
6 |
| Character |
6 |
| Value |
5 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| Jigoku Shoujo is back at it again; her work is eternal after all, and it's the same job she had in the first season. She and her servants take requests from people who harbor grudges, and sends their antagonists to hell. The plots are usually not quite so straightforward as a bully cornering a victim before the victim realizes he has no choice and pulls the string, instantly sending the bully to hell, but damning himself also. Sometimes two people contact Jigoku Shoujo for a grudge against the same person, sometimes the bully ends up one upping the victim by using the dolls of damnation on the victims first, but slight twists aside, the only real appeal to most of the episodes is just the expression of despair and hatred. The minor characters that have only 1 episode stints are too simple to really feel for, but there are a fair amount of episodes in this season that develop the spirits who serve Hell Girl. Their stories tend to be in and of themselves more interesting and engrossing than the standard episodes, but it's learning their point of view, and why their sympathies lie where they do that makes these episodes especially satisfying.
In the first season of Jigoku Shoujo, a consistent central story developed, albeit sluggishly at first, involving the Jigoku Shoujo herself, a reporter and his daughter. The biggest problem with the second season is that we don't even see a hint of a central story until the last 4 or so episodes, which are rather distinctly separated from the rest of the generic episodes in such a way that the central story could have easily been a pretty good self contained mini-series.
Just like in the first season, you have to stomach a lot of junk episodes with overly simplified villains and protagonists who are always way too quick in choosing the path to their own damnation. It's hard to imagine one episode stories under this premise being much more sophisticated or dramatic, especially considering how many episodes are cranked out (there are only so many reasons people would want revenge at the cost of damnation). Learning about Jigoku Shoujo's spirit and the family issues involving the reporter and his daughter were the payoff in the first season, and likewise, the stories of the servants as well as the central plot thread involving a boy suspected of murder, a detective, his sister, and once again, Jigoku Shoujo's slightly more human side is the payoff here.
The first new addition returning viewers will notice is also one of the most insubstantial: a little mischievous girl named kikuri follows the Jigoku Shoujo around and just pops up here and there, sometimes throwing a menacing grin. She's more than meets the eye, but completely unimportant for all but a few minutes in the whole series.
If you haven't seen the first season, don't start with the second. The inconsequential episodes are pretty bad, and the central plotline will not be as interesting unless you've seen the ending of the first season. For those who enjoyed the first season, the second is a lot more of the same. Most of us will probably be ready to just skim through the less interesting episodes.
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| Average |
8.5 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| Having never seen season 1, I went ahead and watched season 2 of Jigoku Shoujo. Season 2 stands on its own with very few references to season 1.
This anime is hard to rate. Since it is broadcasted on TV, the show is meant to be episodic and watched on a once-a-week basis. For american anime fans, watching this show in this fashion is a bit difficult, especially if you're a chronic marathoner like I am.
For the first half of the series, each episode deals with an isolated incident of calling Jigoku Tsuuchin. After episode 16, however, the series takes a different turn. There are a three flashback episodes detailing the history of Enma's three servants. Since they make up the only cast of characters that continue from one episode to the next, I thought these histories were very interesting. There is also a multi-episode plot near the end of the series that was quite nice.
All-in-all, Jigoku Shoujo is an enjoyable anime. The only improvement I would have liked to see would have been multi-episode plots instead of single-episode plots, which would have made it easier to connect with each character. However, Jigoku Shoujo is a great anime to watch as an intermission or reprieve from another, more lighthearted anime you may be primarily watching.
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| Average |
8.2 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| Lets say that S2 is better than S1 because even though there is the same hotline to hell concept, S2 focus more on the what happens after someone is sent to hell, and not much of the hatred building part. Second since you have a good background what this show is about, you are pretty much used to it by now. Since a lot of it is like S1, I will only state which are important.
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