Hell Girl Vol. 5: Carp Review

            In these four episodes, Hajime and Tsugumi will continue to encounter Hell Girl via Tsugumi’s visions. In episode nineteen, it is a woman named Inori who is being tortured by her future mother in law who wants her to be still and soulless like a doll. Before episode twenty which has Ai facing off against a psychic medium named Gilles de L’Enfer on television. After exposing a fraud on television, Gilles uses the man as bait to lure in Ai for a showdown.

            The battle of wills between Tsugumi and Hajime reach a boiling point in episode twenty one when the one who seeks vengeance is Yuko, the daughter of Hajime’s old colleague. Her life in ruins, Yuko seeks vengeance against the one who caused the death of her father. Tsugumi argues that her friend deserves vengeance for what had been done to her leading to a clash.

            In the final episode of the volume, while Ai is taking care of a woman who sees men as nothing but cash, it is the anniversary of Hajime’s ex wife and Tsugumi’s mother. In many flashbacks, the audience will finally learn the troubled family history of Hajime and Tsugumi including what caused the death.

Good and the Bad

            In these four episodes, Hell Girl continues with the same format that it has established as its trademark since the beginning. Each episode on this volume will focus on one single individual who has a right to seek vengeance while Hajime and his daughter attempt to stop them. Already near the end of the first season, it has long since passed the time for Hell Girl to attempt to introduce a new kind of storytelling format and so sticking with what they know works.

            A big reason why it works though is because while the format of the story telling has remained the same, the substance within each one is continually changing as well. In this volume, the staff behind this series decided to keep things interesting for the audience. Some episodes will end with an ironic twist and one has an open ending that will leave the audience guessing.

            The only place where these episodes really deviate from this is in the flashback episode. While finding out the whole torrid history behind Hajime and his family, having the flashback episode so late within the season feels almost weird. While normally one might just assume that the series placed it in there to be filler but the impact of the flashbacks are quite incredible. The moving nature of the story and the present day reactions from Tsugumi and Hajime also make the audience believe that there is a reason for the staff to be bringing up this story at this moment. If there wasn’t a reason to watch the final volume before, there is now.

            Beyond the primary story, the individual stories about the seekers of vengeance were presented very well in these episodes. Episode nineteen in particular hits one of the high notes in how creepy this series can really be. I rarely get startled by horror anime but even I jumped a little during some of Ai’s later scenes in this episode. Later in the volume Yuko will have a scene in episode twenty that again reaches new heights in how much tension Hell Girl is capable of creating in its audience members. To watch Yuko debate back and forth in her head over if she should pull the string or not is mesmerizing.

            None of this would even be possible to begin with however if it weren’t for the strong characters that this series has created. Ai and her crew have been wonderful pillars to balance this series on. When the series needed a protagionist with a strong willed sidekick, Hajime and Tsugumi stepped up and filled the roles perfectly.

            Using a child as a sidekick doesn’t always work. If the character is written too much like a kid they’ll never be credible, too serious and it’s the same thing. Tsugumi isn’t written as incredibly smart though. She’s a normal kid in that regard but with her history and her maturity, she is able to be strong willed and opinionated while remaining credible.

Music

Episode twenty one is filled with remarkable string compositions that add to the tension of the series. When Yuko is in the attic of her home remembering her father, the sad string melody that plays with it is tragically fitting. Later in the episode when Yuko has the straw doll in front of her and she is making her decision, the driving music adds to an already chilling atmosphere.

Dub vs. Sub

Luci Christian as Tsugumi and John Burgmeier as Hajime continue to steal the show with their debates and monologues. While Mamiko Noto continues to a brilliant job with Ai in the Japanese cast.

Extras

            Besides clean animations, the other extra included on this volume is labeled ‘Top Secret Hell Conference’. Like the previous volume, this feature has Mamiko Noto watching a ‘top secret’ meeting between heads of the series such as the producer, director, script writer talking about season two. The feature comes in at about eleven minutes and will drop tons of hints about what audiences can expect from the second season.

Overall

            A gem of the genre, Hell Girl has done a remarkable job thus far. Besides a short stumble with the introduction of the character Gilles, this series has continued to tell an incredibly complex and compelling story. Pushed forward by a cast of believable characters and leaving the audience asking questions, the ending of this series is easily one of my most anticipated.