This episode tells about a girl, Yayoi, whose younger sister Sumire is missing, and along with her parents, are handing out flyers in front of a busy road junction in desperate hope to find Sumire. However, Yayoi seems to be plagued by drowning hallucinations and haunted by Sumire's pleading voice, telling her that it is cold and dark in whatever place that Sumire is in now. Yayoi, following her illusions, is led to her sister's room, where the pasokon automatically starts on its own and the Jigoku Tsuushin website popped up. A few more haunting episodes later, Yayoi came to find that her sister was drowned in the sea after being raped and killed by a man. And this gruesome crime occured on the day Yayoi had an argument with Sumire, where Yayoi left Sumire behind at a store and that being the last time she ever see Sumire. Having 'seen' the horrible event her sister was subjected to, Yayoi accessed the Jigoku Tsuushin and requested for the man to be sent to hell.
(For a detailed review, please visit Memento)
For a while, I wondered if Yayoi requested for the vengeance to be sent to hell because she was guilty that she may have indirectly caused Sumire's death, or that she really hated the man for killing her sister. Did she engaged with the Jigoku Shoujo out of guilt or hatred? At the end of the episode, she seemed happier even though still helping to hand out flyers to find Sumire, with the knowledge that Sumire is already dead.
Based on this episode, I'm sensing that the writers are taking the Jigoku Shoujo series to a stage of much more emotional development. This time around, we see that the urami (vengeance) case has a personal impact on Ichimoku Ren. Since the time they were first contacted on the Jigoku Tsuushin, Ren appeared to view the case with personal interest. He followed and monitored Yayoi throughout the day, and at one point of time, we see a flashback of his past.
It seems that the writers are trying to indicate that the case may have some similarity to his past, and that he may be struggling with either hatred or remorse. I wondered if he killed that girl shown in the flashback or that girl was someone important to him and he killed the person who murdered the girl. Saa...
I quite enjoyed this episode because there seemed to be improved development on the way the story was told. There were more character development (in this case Ichimoku Ren) and more emotional touches to the story telling. Also, I find the Ippen Shindemiru style this week quite cool. Ai did it in Noh fashion, with the assistance of Ren - and it looked really cool. Noto Mamiko even executed it with Noh-style voice acting, which I think is simply superb!
Consistent with last week's plot, the mysterious kimono-clad shoujo made a brief appearance.
I believe there'll be a larger plot to the urami-case we have every week, and probably involving this shoujo. However, based on the way they introduce her these two weeks, the development might probably be very slow.
Also, in this episode, they introduced the opening theme, NightmaRe, by SNoW. Although not as catchy as the first OP "逆さまの蝶", the song is quite nice and will probably wear on after a few times listening. The OP sequence that came along was also pretty good. They showed more images of Ichimoku Ren, Hone-Onna, Wanyuudou,.. and what might be the kimono-clad girl. Hopefully, these means that there will be more storyline involving them.
On a more technical note, I felt there's been improvement in the animation quality. In the scene where Ai was reading the memory of the dog, the change of the dusk scene into a snowing landscape was very fluid and pretty well done. The colors for this episode are also quite lovely. I simply love Jigoku Shoujo colors - they are beautiful, contrasting and fitting for the dark theme.
The soundtrack for this episode was also commendable. I especially love the way they integrated the initial interval of the ED theme with the final scene, it was very fluid and gave an excellent impact. Of course, it goes without saying that the ED song " あいぞめ" by Noto Mamiko is simply fitting and well sung.
Oh, and it seems like I spoke too soon. In this episode, Ren became the straw doll!! And when he said "怨み聞きとどけたり" (vengeance heard and delivered) was so kakkoi, and all I was thinking was "bishounen" >.<
It's quite refreshing that they allow other Ai's assistants to take on the role of the straw doll, unlike in the previous season, Wanyuudou would be the straw doll by default. I also liked the fact that the writers are giving the show much more emotional development. Previously, Ai and helpers just carry out the vengeance as requested. But in this season, it seems like they took the trouble to investigate the cases and in some ways, tried to prevent people from taking revenge where possible. This is evident when Wanyuudou wondered aloud whether Yayoi would be better off if she hadn't access to the Jigoku Tsuushin and forget about her urami. Also, the writers allowed the cases to emotionally impact the characters... so I think they are bringing the show to a more emotional level. Which is quite nice, if you ask me. It makes the show more thought-provoking and makes you wonder what is vengeance, hatred, justice, and their worth. If the writers develop the show in this direction, I think Jigoku Shoujo is heading for a successful season.
However, the writers still adamantly adhere to the one-episode-one-urami style. Hopefully, this doesn't drag too long. They could have also, given more character development to Ichimoku Ren. I would have liked to know more about his past, and how he ended up halfway between heaven-and-hell as Ai's assistant. But from the preview of next episode, it seems like they will move on to give a little bit of character development to Hone Onna. And who knows, after that we might get a dig into Wanyuudou's past.
Jigoku Shoujo Futakomori, ganbatte.
**Screencaps all belong to Memento and WRex.
～みはる～