Finally, I’ve been waiting for the second season of Jigoku Shoujo. And I’m glad to say that the first episode didn’t disappoint at all. The show immediately starts with an incredibly touching, though shocking first episode. If this series keeps up with the same quality, we’ll be in for something amazing. ^_^

The case: a girl is getting bullied, but she doesn’t know by who. The bully goes pretty far, caterpillars are put inside her pencil box, knits have been put through one of the sleeves of her jacket, her books are trashed and hateful things have been scribbled on her shoes. One of the teachers tries to help her, though in the end, the teacher appears to be the actual culprit.

The things I liked about this episode were the dramatic moment. Jigoku Shoujo features beautiful and very detailed character art, and knows how to use it. Especially during the climax, when the teacher grabbed the girl’s hair and tried to restrain her looked gorgeous. Also at the beginning of the episode when the case is introduced, we see the girl come in with ruined shoes and books, and in the background, there’s laughing. The property destruction and abuse is just one part of this girl’s sadness. I think the way her classmates reacted also is a huge factor in this story.

This also was the first time Hone Onna turned into the doll. Up till now, Wanyuudo played that role. I also noticed that Ai was more impatient than usual. It probably has to do with the fact that she changed a bit after she met up with Hajime and his daughter. The dolls realize this, and investigate for themselves. I like the fact that they actually discovered what really went on, though we don’t get to see the moment they realize this. I also liked the doll’s sarcasm when they were punishing the teacher. I think they somehow enjoy extracting revenge at times. ^^

As the fact remains that this episode actually had an open ending. There’s one girl who attempts to help the girl who’s being bullied, by giving her a hint that her teacher was the one behind the bullying. But at the end of the episode, we see the two of them together, and then the latter girl appears to use the same kind of knits as the ones who were used to edit the girl’s sweater. It may just have been that the teacher stole the knitting machine from the classmate, but why would she bother? I actually think that the classmate also did some of the bullying, but at one point, she got scared and backed off. Probably because she found the teacher was going way too far.

Also, this episode introduced another important character. She looks a bit like the younger version of Ai, but all we got was a small shot of her, smiling. I’m also glad to hear that the musical score for the second season has become even better since the first season.

Well then, there were a few flaws in this episode, though. The reason for the teacher is never really stated, but that’s normal in Jigoku Shoujo. It clearly chose to focus on the victims and not on the bad guy. And I also like this degree of mystery to the ones sent to hell. Also, things may have been a bit too dramatic to be normal. I mean, there is no way a person would go so far in real life. But that doesn’t matter. I love this show. ^^

Whoa… this seems to be the final arc after all. O_o

When this arc started, I definitely didn’t see that one coming. I think it’s even better for the final arc to be so lengthy, as this way, it has more time to build up, and so far, things have been as amazing as usual. This definitely was the best episode of the arc so far, and if the creators still have enough material to last three episodes, things are promising to become awesome (remember that Ikus hasn’t played his trumps yet).

It’s a nice trick by the creators. At the end of each episode, the feeling is given that there’s only one more episode left, but every time, new problems are introduced and new events force the arc to become one episode longer. That’s been very cleverly written. Rona Fauna attacking Honoka, at the end of the episode also was really well built up. I really didn’t see that one coming. And is Joganki really dead? O_o Or was it just a false threat by Rona Fauna? But why did Paife cry?

I also love how Ikus has been a complete mystery up till now. We really don’t know anything about him, except for the fact that he’s an alien. Only during the previous episode, we learned that he can’t be shot, and I’ve got a feeling that that’s only a small part of his mysteries. Honoka’s fight also was as awesome as usual. The narrator really helped in this, when he told about Honoka’s doubts. I’m really liking Honoka’s ideals. ^_^

There also was a nice contrast between Honoka, Blue Breaker, Rona Fauna and Joganki and Paife and Bogie. While tensions are high inside of Rona Fauna’s hideout, Paife heads back to Bogie, and the two just wait for things to happen. Because they’re both realist, the mood between the two of them is really different when you compare it to the other actors.

One final nice touch is that the creators showed one shot of Rona Fauna, when she was alone in her room. It’s totally different than what you see in most shows. Most bad guys smile in an evil way, but because Rona doesn’t have to live anyway, that short moments showed how she prepared for her final trick before she would die. But at the same time, it made me suspect that she gave up on her ways.

I love this show. ^_^