Short Synopsis: Takuma returns yet again. This time, even more people in his surroundings die or disappear.
Good: And this is what happens when Jigoku Shoujo starts building upon a past case: awesomeness.
Bad: The spider needs more development!
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8.5/10

Haha, that was awesome! I knew that as Jigoku Shoujo drew to its ending, the greater cases would appear, and this one definitely is something to remember. It’s very interesting to see Takuma return yet again. And yet again he’s blamed for everything while he’s one of the few characters who actually never sent anyone to hell himself. He also continues his with his father’s ideals: if you do bad things to people, you’ll only be hurt back. And well, that happens quite a few times this episode. A guy insults another guy and gets sent to hell, that guy tries to put the blame on Takuma and he gets sent to hell as well.

And Yes! I finally have a small idea about Kikuri’s plans! What if she’s actually trying to get sent to hell herself? At this episode, I finally realized that she’s been trying to get hated all along. Takuma hates her probably the most of all people. Right now, she’s planning to do something with the detective’s sister, which will probably have an even more negative effect on him. Remember, Takuma has yet to send anyone to hell, and there is a certain hell-boy that has been sent to a certain place. What if he needs Kikuri in order to escape yet again? I really can’t wait for the next episode!

Overall, when you compare Kikuri and Takuma to Hajime and Tsugumi, I’d have to say that I like Hajime and Tsugumi better. At least, at this point. It’s probably because of the two got more attention than Takuma and Kikuri. But the latter two have yet to feature their ending. The ending for Hajime and Tsugumi was decent. Not bad, but not special either. The ending for Takuma and Kikuri, however, seems full of potential. I’m not trying to expect too much, but the unique character of Kikuri and her entire opposite Takuma are proving to become very interesting.

Short Synopsis: The moment is finally there: Fantine dies. Jean, meanwhile, has been arrested by Javert.
Good: Gavroche; Jean.
Bad: Where did Gavroche find these puppets so fast? :P
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10

Another Jean-centred episode. When I first read that Fantine would die, I assumed that her illness would gradually increase, until it took her life. What I didn’t expect was that Javert helped this illness a bit, by speaking bad things about Cosette. Cosette probably was her entire raison d’etre, in the most literal way you can imagine. At her state, hearing one bad thing about Cosette was too much for her. It’s ironic. When an ordinary guy steals twice, he gets condemned, but when an important official kills someone, it’s nothing.

The next episode will probably feature Jean, trying to get Cosette away from the Thenardiers. The thirteenth episode will quite possibly close off the first arc of this story. I’m interested in how it’ll continue. The first quarter of the anime has succeeded in my opinion. All that’s left is the rest.

Meanwhile, over at the Thenardier’s, Gavroche gets in trouble because of Cosette. (His puppet-play also was quite interesting ^^;) The thing also is, Cosette will leave in a few episodes. Because of this, Thenardier will lose the person whom she likes to abuse most. She will be looking for someone else for this role afterwards, which will quite probably be Gavroche. I hope that the Thenardiers will still remain important characters after Cosette leaves. I hate them, but they’re definitely interesting characters.

Short Synopsis: Last episode left us with a dangerous game between Seiran and Sakujun, this episode continues this, and closes with a surprising, but tragic twist.
Good: Oh my god… that was one amazing plot twist!
Bad: Seiran has become rather useless, hasn’t he?
Overall Enjoyment Value: 9/10

Even though shows like Kanon have ended, the shows that I’m currently watching still have a few episodes to go. If these episodes are going to be as good as this one, then I’ll be in for a huge treat. The previous episodes were all good, but for some reason I felt that they all lacked something that the first three arcs did have. But with this, I totally take back my words. Sakujun was too amazing this episode.

So we start the episode with the little gamble between Seiran and Sakujun. As suspected, none of them are willing to just put their lives on a 50/50 scale. Seiran notices that Sakujun’s eyes got a strange colour, so in combination with the alcohol he got inside of him, he just destroys the table and attacks Sakujun. Sakujun, in his turn, used a very strong liquor that would bring any non-human-gorilla within minutes. Seiran feels this as he starts to move, so Sakujun escapes, saying that Seiran is not the person he’d lose a bet to.

But then Shuurei runs into him, and oh my god… the reason he kept asking her to brew Gan-Lu tea for her suddenly becomes clear! He actually put a slow-working deadly poison in the hot water Shuurei served him, while the Gan-Lu tea contained the antidote for it. Shuurei, however, refused to give him the Gan-Lu tea in the end, which means that he lost the bet he started on his own accord!

Talk about tragic deaths. And to make things even better, not all things have been resolved with Shuurei and Sakujun, unlike most deaths. Shuurei has never called Sakujun by her name, and she also never had the chance to brew Gan-Lu tea for him. She actually left him in order to get help, and he didn’t die in her arms, like you would expect. Also, Shuurei will never know this plan. All the dialogue we hear is in his head. Shuurei will never really know what really happened. Sakujun’s last words of “Shuurei” also were too cute. It’s true, I never really realized it, but he never mentioned Shuurei by her name as well. Almost never have I seen a story between two people in which a name was so important.

With this episode, I forgive this series for being a bit lacklustre at times. This episode definitely made up for so many things. The question remains, what will be featured in the final four episodes, and more importantly, can it be of the same quality of this one? I most definitely hope so!