Short Synopsis: A-Laws prepares for the next wave of attack.
Highlights: Ooh, more background.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7/10 (Enjoyable)
You know, in a way I’m glad that the creators decided to wrap up Saji’s story in this part of the story instead of waiting for this until the end, but really: it has to stop somewhere. He was the most annoying character in the second half of the first season, and as much as I hate to admit it, he’s also the most annoying character of the second season. I don’t mind how you can have a character like him on the show, but the creators are really giving him way too much airtime.

Every episode I keep thinking that the guy has learned his lesson, and for every single episode so far he’s proved me wrong. Okay, so he sees that he screwed up big time in the previous episode; He wants to help; that’s good. Unfortunately, the episode ended at the point where he was about to shoot down Louise, something which will make him even more emo than he already was for goodness’ sake!

Okay, so those were the bad parts. The rest of the episode was pretty enjoyable, to say the least. “Mr. Bushido” seems to be finally coming into action, and I’m interested in what he can add to this archetype. The overall episode was a good aftermath that did let the deaths of the previous episodes sink in. I’m also glad that Setsuna has grown up really much, and didn’t just try to get to Ali as soon as possible (like he would have done in the first season). The guy knows his priorities, and overall he’s turned into a capable main character for this series.

Meanwhile, I was pleasantly surprised when this episode showed some of Sumeragi’s past. She had this whole life as a soldier behind her, explaining why she knows so much about tactics, and why she fell into a slump after the end of the first season: she already had lost some of her loved ones at one time, and she tried to use the Gundams to forget about these times, but that pretty much failed after that final episode. Then Billy took care of her for the next four years, which also wasn’t the smartest thing to do because he kept reminding her of her past.

I’m also warming up to that silver-haired official, thankfully. His big disadvantage is that he doesn’t have the season worth of build-up like the other characters have, but he works very nicely against the other, more moralistic characters. I still think that the military people act a little bit too sentimental, considering how they’re supposed to be rigorously trained and should be used to the fact that anyone of them might die, but this is just me being nitpicky.

Studio 4°C is known from its original premises that try to explore the boundaries of the medium of anime. Once every five years or so, they release a comedy, and they too have these traits: think of Eternal Family and Kimagure Robot. The newest instalment is Detroit Metal City, a series that parodies a genre that hardly ever appears in anime: metal. The series was a huge success, and at the time that I’m writing this it stands as the highest-ranked series on AniDB. But then again, the second-highest ranking series is Code Geass 2, so one shouldn’t take these rankings too seriously.

In any case, Studio 4C’s experimental trademarks are clearly visible in this series. The character-designs look like no other series I’ve seen and they’re truly original, the art looks great, although the animation is simplistic. This is another comedy that heavily relies on its energy to keep the jokes going, and throughout its airtime, it makes a complete fool out of the metal-scene while offering some social commentary at the same time.

The major part of this series is about the lead character’s extreme case of multiple personality: on stage he’s a brute king of death metal, off the stage he’s a country bumpkin who likes Swedish Pop. The best parts in the series are when a Negishi’s fans get weird ideas after a simple accident, and even though they’re mostly over-exaggerated stereotypes, they’re a lot of fun to watch due to their bizarre imagination.

Ultimately though, this isn’t the best comedy out there. The comedy is really hit or miss: some episodes are hilarious, some are mildly entertaining, but others simply don’t work or drag on and the dull episodes outnumber the hilarious ones by a small fraction. In a way, it’s hard to get excited for such a series if you don’t know whether it’s going to hit or not. Thankfully, the final episode does deliver, so the series won’t leave a bad taste in your mouth.

So yeah, DMC is the least impressive out of Studio 4°C’s comedy-repertoire. I feel that if the creators cut the length in half, and removed the lesser episodes, it would have made for a much more exciting series. That’s what made Kimagure Robot and Eternal Family so great: they were hilarious, had some nice hidden messages here and there, and they were over before you knew it. DMC is a nice experiment for a series with a longer length than Studio 4°C’s usual works; it’s a good series, but not the best.

Short Synopsis: Two girls get a crush on Hone Onna.
Highlights: Talk about an elaborate punishment-scene.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7,5/10 (Good)
This episode was really typical of the third season of Jigoku Shoujo: two girls are fighting over the love of Hone Onna, one using more subtle tricks, while the other blatantly threatened the other. The second one then ends up sending the first one to hell, and the next day she’s forgotten her crush and fallen in love with someone else.

If there’s one thing I’m worrying about this season, then it’s the lack of variety when compared to the others. It really seems that this third season is set in a high-school, and so it will be about conflicts between students and teachers, while the first and second season also like to show problems between adults at times (the lovable idiot, for example). I also wonder, since Jigoku Shoujo is basically confined to one area this time (since she can’t really move anywhere because she’s bound by Mikage), what are other people doing with their revenges? Does the website simply not work? The first season had this as well, and it’s an annoying plot-hole in an otherwise excellent series.

In any case, the ironic thing about this episode is that it’s basically Hone Onna who set up the two girls against each other. One oft he girls was awfully shy, but Hone Onna gave her a bit of courage, after which she started making the life of her rival miserable, getting sent to hell afterwards. Again, there’s a hidden meaning beneath this: adults meddling in teenaged business isn’t always the right thing to do. From a teenaged perspective, in any case.

This episode aso showed the first hint of an overall storyline: it’s now clear that Mikage is proving to be not the best vessel for her. Let’s see how this evolves throughout the series.