Hell Girl Vol. 6: Pinwheel Review

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            In the final four episodes of Hell Girl’s first season, the stories will all start to come together. Tsugumi will have her thoughts and notions challenged right away when Ai has to ferry a nurse that everyone loves to Hell. Faced with this new reality and Ai herself, Tsugumi and Hajime are led to a small village.

            While they are there all of the truths will come out. Ai’s past will be revealed, what her connection to Hajime and Tsugumi are and Tsugumi will be put to the ultimate test as Ai seeks to consign her final grievance to hell.

Good and the Bad

            Tying the other stories together in the final three episodes, the staff does a great job of finding just about every loose end and bringing them logically together. While there is always the fear that a series that has been this consistent will drop it in the end, the staff really ties it off well here. The staff for this series has always been very meticulous about making sure that all of the stories that interweaved made sense. The final end game here really shows the audience how far back some of these events were first being planted.

            The finale to the series is really satisfying for the audience. All of the characters will come out of this story changed in one way or another. The changes will be real and tangible from the moment they appear on the screen and the emotional impact is intense. To listen to Tsugumi’s speech near the end of the series and not feel the power delivered by the dialogue is a difficult thing to do indeed. The anguish that these characters are going through as they deal with the darkest parts of their lives is delivered with such force that it’s impossible to ignore.

            The animation in these final episodes looked absolutely gorgeous. The colors were bright and crisp. The only small thing that stuck out while viewing is how Ai has a much more natural skin color. In all her previous lightings and scenes, her skin has been much paler. It was an odd change to see but not really a negative to the series.

            The pacing throughout the story arc remains consistently fast the entire way. The four episodes fly by and each episode flows seamlessly into each other. This keeps the story moving fluidly throughout. Rarely was there a gap in the story movement. It seemed as though every second was written so precisely to keep something happening at all times. 

Music

             The music in the final episode of this series is some of the best heard from the series. The string and piano music that plays as Tsugumi is alone in her apartment, face to face to Ai is riveting. Without that music, this scene would have been very difficult to pull your eyes away from. With this music playing, I couldn’t take my eyes away from the screen.

Dub vs. Sub

            Both vocal casts had their work cut out for them in these episodes. The emotional range that Brina Palencia and Mamiko Noto as Ai have to go through is very sharp. The same goes for Luci Christian and Nana Mizuki as Tsugumi. Both casts deliver sharp performances that pull their audiences in. Nana Mizuki delivering Tsugumi’s speech at the end is voice acting gold.

Extras

            For this final volume, the extra included besides the clean animations is titled ‘Office Kitchenette of Hell’. In this eleven minute extra, director Takahiro Oomori, series organizer Kenichi Kanemaki, producer Ai Abe and Character Designer Mariko Oka will talk about the series. As you may have guessed already by the title, they have decided to film this eleven minute ‘casual chat’ as I suppose it is supposed to look like in the production office’s kitchenette. Though I’m sure it’s a very evil kitchenette. Points for innovation I suppose though perhaps someone can explain to me what’s wrong with just doing a round table discussion?  

Overall

            This is how a series should be produced. From start to finish, Hell Girl has focused on telling a solid story. With compelling characters to push along a mesmerizing story, the finale delivers a great ending that wraps up the story. No loose ends or plot hooks are left dangling to compel audience members to watch the second season. Instead I’m left wanting to watch second season because I want to watch it, not because I am left feeling like I have to.