Jigoku Shoujo – 51

Short Synopsis: The detective survives the attack, while Takuma and Hotaru get captured by the sinful village people. Good: Excellent episode, great climax. 🙂 Bad: None. Overall Enjoyment Value: 8,5/10 With this, I’m convinced: the climax of the second season is better than that of the first season, and the final episode has to be really bad in order to change that. Don’t get me wrong, this doesn’t mean that the second season overall is better. Personally, the cases in the first season appealed to me more than in the second season. Hajime’s and Tsugumi’s differences of opinion were very interesting to see, but the climax itself was more focused at showing Enma Ai’s background than resolving the conflict between the two of them. And they also just disappeared afterwards. With Takuma, however, things are getting really interesting. The focus of this climax is much more interesting, and it seems like the entire series has been building up for this. It’s not the background of Ai’s dolls, like I originally thought. These were just some necessary episodes in order to flesh out their characters a bit. The real focus of the second season is to show people getting more and more lenient in sending a person to hell. Overall, I found the cases in the second season far less extreme than those in the first one. And I have to say, that while I originally thought it a bit unbelievable, I do admit that I really like the way this turned out. Another thing is that Jigoku Shoujo is starting to become selfish yet again. This time however, it’s far more interesting, as unlike the first season, she doesn’t feel hatred, but compassion. Takuma and Hotaru were very interesting in this episode as well. Especially Hotaru freaking out in the boat was awesome. And even though the detective disappearing in the end had it coming, the results of this were so worthwhile to see. It also becomes clear now why Kikuri showed Hotaru the pot full of candles. She knew that Hotaru would understand that Takuma has never sent a person to hell, so she’d get close to him as well, so that Takuma would lose another person who got close to him. I also assume that she alerted the detective of Takuma’s whereabouts. The next episode will be very interesting to see, as she’ll finally reveal her plans. Takuma obviously is going to do something to make Hotaru stop cursing him, after which she’ll probably make herself really hated. One thing that’s too bad: Hell Boy not returning. It seems that the climax will really be about Kikuri and Takuma. Ah well, there’s always hope for a third season somewhere. In any case, I’m glad to see that Jigoku Shoujo still shines as bright as usual. :)]]>