Hell Girl

Pretend this is still Thursday, OK? That way I'm still posting once a day, and feel better about not missing yesterday.

We'll keep going on our Halloween theme with Hell Girl, which sounds like the punk band that never was, but should have been. The more elegant Japanese title, Jigoku Shoujo, better fits the elegant horror of the series. Well, of the first episode, anyway, which I saw at the anime club Wednesday night. Saw, and wanted more.

Fortunately, Liz has some of this on order, and the big Funimation and AN Entertainment sale (40% off until November 4) means she'll be pre-ordering the rest of it. Here's Right Stuf's site if you want to take a look: http://www.rightstuf.com/

Sarte said, l'enfer, c'est les autres, "Hell is other people." That's a pretty modern take on the nether regions. My son is currently reading Dante, who gives you that ol' time Inferno. Hell is payback, on a grand and glorious scale, with the rich and famous highlighting the hit parade of tortures and torments. Somewhere in-between Dante and Sartre is Hell Girl.

The first episode focuses on a particularly nasty form of bullying, more psychological than physical. Class pretty girl Kuroda Aya teases and eventually blackmails the quiet and passive Mayumi, pushing her into a corner of alienated humiliation. Desperate, the girl finds a rumored Internet site that promises the ultimate in revenge: send your enemies to Hell with the click of the mouse. Sure enough, she soon meets Enma Ai, the Hell Girl of the title pictured above.

Enma assures Mayumi that she can have revenge, but at no little price. Though her enemy will go straight to Hell, Mayumi will too, after she lives out her natural life span. Faustian bargains are always more appealing on the installment plan, and Mayumi eventually accepts. Accompanied by her otherworldly assistants, Enma tracks down Kuroda and in a disorienting, surreal sequence bundles her off to the land of the dead. But Mayumi's satisfaction is tempered by a literal hole in her chest that marks the girl for eventual damnation. And while the Buddhist hell of Japan isn't eternal, that's about the only good thing about it: the pain and suffering there give Dante a run for his money.

The series is beautifully animated, and like much Japanese horror sad and lyrical. The tone is strikingly similar to Vampire Princess Miyu. I can't wait to see more.