Hell Girl...
I was wandering around looking for someone interesting to come home with me and Hell Girl seemed to fit the bill very well...
Hell Girl follows a fairly consistent formula where troubled individuals seeking vengeance bring their concerns to Hell Girl aka Ai Enma and she exacts vengeance and also commits both parties involved to Hell. There are the occasional twist endings, but, it's really hard to get away from the basic formula. There is some red ink, but, Hell Girl is not particularly gory. The series is moody and atmospheric and, at times, can be quite unpleasant to watch, but, the predictable nature of the series and the fact that it's more of an anthology series with different characters and stories throughout, makes the series really more of a chore to watch than I would really like. Overall, Hell Girl was not as entertaining as I would have liked. Ultimately, I gave Hell Girl a 2 out of 5.
Hell Girl was released in a traditional multi-volume set. The original release had gold foil on the cover art which, unfortunately, doesn't scan very well and each volume had a handful of images included with each release printed on heavy card stock.Season 1
Volume 1
Butterfly
Beyond the veil of midnight lies a website. Type in the name of one upon which you desire retribution... And it will be served. If you truly desire to take revenge up on those who have wronged you, just untie the scarlet thread from the totem's neck. Pulling this thread will bind you into a covenant with Ai Enma, who will ferry the soul of your tormentor straight into the depths of Hell. However, once vengeance has been served, you will have to deliver on your end of the bargain. There always has to y a price to pay. When you die, your soul will also belong to Hell. You will never know the joys of Heaven. The decision rests with you.
One may feel her pranks are harmless while another feels safe beyond the reach of the law. One blinded by conceit, one heartless and cruel, one who treats life as a game. But all will come within Hell Girl's domain...
Volume 2
Puddle
An adulteress and a fallen actress, a young woman seeking vengeance for her silenced friend. A sweet tooth and a girl forlorn, both witnessed by one desiring truth. All will come within Hell Girl's domain...
Volume 3
Cherry
A journalist rife with dirty dealing, a young girl isolated from the world. Vengeance from the past and vengeance blind to the truth, and a reporter who wants to stop the pointless. All will come within Hell Girl's domain...
Volume 4
Marble
Once a mother's mistake, this time a sister's. Tragedy both past and present. As a reporter struggles to stay a step ahead and stop the vengeance, even he will need to be saved. All will come within Hell Girl's domain...
Volume 5
Carp
A pretty possession, a fiery reputation. A daughter lost and a lover spurned. While the reasons for revenge may vary, the reporter's desire to stop it remains the same. But beware, for vengeance slips even closer. All will come within Hell Girl's domain...
Volume 6
Pinwheel
As vengeance loses meaning, perhaps it's best to put it all behind. But fate has other things in mind. Drawing the past into the future and the accused into the path of the damned, all will come within Hell Girl's domain...
Season 2
Two Mirrors
Volume 1
They call her Jigoku Shoujo - the Hell Girl. For endless years, Ai Enma has served as the embodiment of revenge itself. If you desire to send another's soul to eternal torment, contact her via the internet and she'll come from her land of endless sunset to deliver your revenge. At the cost of sending your own soul, of course, but it's a price a surprising number of people are willing to pay. However, things are changing with the Hell Girl. Once seemingly implacable and pitiless, glints of emotion now show through the cracks forming in her emotionless façade. And now, there is a new girl with infernal connections who seems to be turning up with alarming regularity. Things are about to heat up in the damnation game in the first brimstone-blazing collection of HELL GIRL - TWO MIRRORS!
Volume 2
Whenever there has been Hell to pay, Ai Enma has been the collector. Now, however, the volatile emotions she has kept entombed are slowly beginning to exhume themselves, and as a monstrous cycle of reprisal and retribution wields its deadly scythe across the people of Lovely Hills, the Hell Girl and her companions suddenly find themselves confronted with visions of their own mortality. Who were they, before becoming Hell's Collectors? And what will be their ultimate fate? As she seeks to cope with the ceaseless inhumanity of mortals consumed with vengeance, Ai Enma must take a journey she never expected, and answer the question she never dared to ask: When you're already in Hell, are you allowed to die? The truth lies buried in the second shocking collection of HELL GIRL - TWO MIRRORS!
Season 3
Three Vessels
Volume 1
You can take the girl out of Hell, but unfortunately you can't always get the Hell out of the girl. Just when it seemed that Ai Enma was finally at peace, innocent schoolgirl Yuzuki Mikage appears to become the perfect host for Ai. And that's host as in being physically possessed! Ensnared in the web of the Hell Correspondence, ridden by Ai's spirit and joined by a nightmarish new assistant, Yuzuki must now fight to maintain any hold on her real life and friends, even as the darkest secrets of the Hell Girl threaten to consume her! But in a malevolent world where any soul can be sent to Hell with the simple pull of a string, how can any mere human withstand the merciless onslaught of evil without being irrevocably changed? The cycle of damnation and revenge begins anew in the soul-chilling first collection of HELL GIRL - THREE VESSELS!
Volume 2
Possessed by the spirit of Ai Enma and pulled into the fate of the Hell Girl, Yuzuki has struggled to cope with the terrifying burden. But even as she desperately attempts to maintain her own humanity, she finds the world around her slowly shattering into a terrifying series of riddles. Why has she been drawn into the world of the Hell Correspondence? What is her relationship to Ai? And has her ultimate destiny already been predetermined? As the powers of the Hell Girl continue to grow inside her, Yuzuki's very existence is now at stake. Who and what is she, really? The shocking secrets of Yuzuki's past are unlocked, the tragedies of Ai's are revealed; and the torch of the Hell Girl is passed in the shocking final collection of HELL GIRL - THREE VESSELS.
Hell Girl follows a fairly consistent formula where troubled individuals seeking vengeance bring their concerns to Hell Girl aka Ai Enma and she exacts vengeance and also commits both parties involved to Hell. There are the occasional twist endings, but, it's really hard to get away from the basic formula. There is some red ink, but, Hell Girl is not particularly gory. The series is moody and atmospheric and, at times, can be quite unpleasant to watch, but, the predictable nature of the series and the fact that it's more of an anthology series with different characters and stories throughout, makes the series really more of a chore to watch than I would really like. Overall, Hell Girl was not as entertaining as I would have liked. Ultimately, I gave Hell Girl a 2 out of 5.
