Category: Finished Series: Mystery/Suspense

Jigoku Shoujo – 67

by psgels, posted in Jigoku Shoujo



Short Synopsis: A girl whose brother is a rising DJ calls Jigoku Tsuushin.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7,5/10 (Good)
What is it with anime and sibling complexes? Heck, it’s supposed to be a taboo, but you see it broken so much in anime that it’s become an exception for a brother and a sister to not have romantic feelings for each other. Good grief, do all Japanese grow up as only children or something?

Having said that though, this episode was actually a pretty good character-study of both brother and sister, who both unknowingly looked up to each other. The sister was a huge klutz and has a stupid smile all of the time, but because of that she gets lots of attention, and her brother dislikes that because this causes himself to get no attention at all. The sister at the same time is well aware that everyone just finds her stupid and talks about her behind her back, and is just smiling because otherwise she couldn’t bare it. She in turn is jealous of her brother’s successes as a DJ. And as it indeed turned out, the brother’s dreams of becoming a DJ fails, so both envied each other for things that didn’t exist. I like that, it’s down to earth and a typical problem that siblings like them can have.

Of course, the ending where the sister sends the brother to hell because her brother refused to keep a promise he made when they were small, about how he’d marry her once she became pretty was a bit forced, to say the least. Do people really put that much value into a promise that was made as six year olds? But then again, that’s also where the premise of Jigoku Shoujo comes in, and the ease at which you can send someone to hell.

Yuzuki’s role was pretty pretty small in this episode, but not wasted at all. This episode was really designed to make her stronger, and to teach her to not give up, or simply assume that everything is the way it looks.

Jigoku Shoujo – 66

by psgels, posted in Jigoku Shoujo



Short Synopsis: A girl who misses her train calls Jigoku Tsuushin.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7,5/10 (Usual revenge, but Yuzuki is finally coming in action!)
And with this episode, everything suddenly becomes clear: Yuzuki was indeed meant to be the next Tsugumi, and she’s also going to play Hajime by trying to stop the revenges in the rest of this season because of what happened to her best friend. It’s definitely a better motivation than Hajime had, who simply was fundamentally against revenges. Yuzuki, instead, has a very good reason to hate Ai.

This episode played with the anxieties that the elite have about their reputations. I liked how the lead girl in this episode may have been a bright student with good grades, but she nevertheless was a normal girl. I’ve lost count of how many great students in anime have been portrayed as the perfect human beings, brilliant at every thing they do. While the lead girl did know how to avoid the biggest kinds of trouble, she did put her trust into someone who later turned out to be a criminal and ended up sending him to hell when a picture of both of them was taken that could have damaged her reputation. I actually had a lot of respect for the two of them before the creators went and showed the huge weaknesses of the both of them. ^^;

The interesting thing is how the creators are going to play in the future episodes, with Yuzuki trying to prevent Ai from taking her revenges. Compared to Hajime, she’s really shy and not very charismatic, and that guy failed nearly every time trying to convince characters that were a lot more sane than the people we’ve been seeing in the third season. I’d also love it if the creators threw in a bunch of psychopaths in front of her. Yuzuki has a lot of potential to grow, and I’m really curious to see where the creators plan to go with her.

Mouryou no Hako Review – 92,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Mouryou no Hako


The past fall season aired a lot of good and great series, but none of them was as good as this series: Mouryou no Hako, Madhouse’s latest masterpiece. This is one series that did just about everything right. Obviously it’s not for those who don’t like people talking over and over again, but it’s perfect for those who are looking for mature and complex anime. This is how mystery should be done!

I honestly can’t recall any other anime apart from a Mamoru Oshii-production that puts more emphasis on talking as this one. The series follows a string of bizarre murders, and the people who try to solve it. This whole mystery is multi-layered, it’s full of flashbacks and references, you’ll never know when something that passes the screen is important for the future. There are lots of scenes that don’t necessarily have any direct meaning, but instead are there to flesh out the setting or throw the viewer on a side-track, and yet the series itself never loses track of its goals, and everything comes together in the end in one of the best endings I’ve seen.

Another big selling-point of the series is its cast of characters. They hardly get as much screen time or background as your average anime, and yet they’re utterly amazing. The animation knows exactly what it needs to do to show their subtle movements and gestures in order to flesh them out while many other things happen, and the background that’s there is meaningful and has a huge impact. Every character has his or her own distinctive presence, with the best ones being Kanako and Akihiko, both for very, very different reasons. The entire cast is colourful and a delight to watch, despite the huge amounts of talking within this series.

Also, if you thought that shows as Code Geass is disturbing, then you haven’t seen anything yet. I refuse to spoil anything here, but like a few other Madhouse productions, this series breaks taboo after taboo. This is nothing near your average tame detective story.

Then the visuals: they look utterly incredible. Especially in the beginning episodes and episodes, the characters all look crisp and very detailed. The animators throw the most beautiful shots and visual effects at the viewer. Combine that with an awesome soundtrack, and you’ve got some amazing production values.

The only possible turn-off is, like mentioned above, the large amounts of talking: if you don’t like it, then it’s going to be hard to enjoy this series. There are two particular consecutive episodes, where nothing else happens apart from three guys, sitting in a room and talking to each other. This anime isn’t afraid to take risks, even though it might turn off some people.

So overall, this has been an amazing series. The script is fresh and creative and has a huge impact. There’s a lot of symbolism, both visual and in the storyline, and an excellent recommendation for those who look for a short mature series. The storytelling is strong yet subtle, and it’s yet another masterpiece by Madhouse.

Storytelling: 10/10
Characters: 9/10
Production-Values: 9/10
Setting: 9/10

Mouryou no Hako – 13

by psgels, posted in Mouryou no Hako





Short Synopsis: It’s finally time to reveal who is the real culprit behind this series.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 9/10 (Fantastic)
What an awesome way to close off 2008! I must say, this episode was absolutely incredible. It was the best episode of Mouryou no Hako yet, it had some of the best visuals of all the series I watched in 2008, it’s the second-most disturbing episode of 2008 and it has without a doubt the best ending of 2008, and in fact one of the best endings I’ve ever seen. Oh my god, how everything came together in the end!

So in the end, the culprit was Amemiya. I’m pretty surprised that I forgot this myself, but amongst all the clues that were thrown around, two of them pointed at the real culprit really clearly: the time when Kiba saw him outside of the research institute: he was trying to get Kanako’s limbs back, though didn’t take into account that Kiba would be there. Then, later as we saw Kanako lying in bed, it was indeed he who was watching her from the peek in the door. He then met Suzaki, who just smuggled Kanako’s head outside and killed him, taking away her head. It then seems that he met Kubo in the train, and showed him Kanako’s head, JUST LIKE IN THE STORY. It turns out that the story from Sekiguchi was from Kubo! Kubo then became jealous and wanted to create something like that too, not realizing that it took some advanced science to keep her alive in that state and… ah, forget the bloody summary, Hayase does a much better job at it.
And I must say that this is one disturbing story! Mimasaka slept with his actress daughter and got her freaking pregnant! People chopping up girls’ bodies, keeping them alive and distributing their limbs all over the country.

I must say, that of the past fall season, Mouryou no Hako has definitely been the best series of all airing shows. I already was convinced of that after the previous episode, and then it came with this episode. Even though Casshern Sins, Michiko to Hatchin and Bonen no Xamdou are already amazing, they’re going to have to be really good in order to be able to top this one. I realize how much of a hassle this series is to translate, but it would be such a shame if this gem would remain unsubbed.

My only question left is: what happened to Amemiya and Kanako’s body? Were they found? Did they disappear?

Jigoku Shoujo – 65

by psgels, posted in Jigoku Shoujo



Short Synopsis: A woman whose father was struck by a car calls Jigoku Tsuushin.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8,5/10 (Awesome)
OMG! OMG! OMG!

At times like these, I just have to resort to pure and utterly biased fanboyism. Enma Ai is back in action, baby! This episode was so beyond all expectations that I could have had of this third season. Since episode 13 of the second season wasn’t that impressive, I didn’t expect anything from this series, and what an important episode it turned out to be! Something’s telling me that the storyline for the third season is going to be even bigger than that of the second one!

After the previous episode, I actually made a prediction for this series: that the second half of the third season would focus on fleshing out Yuzuki’s classmates, just like it did in the second season with Ai’s dolls. Then this episode comes, and not only REVIVES AI, but also actually SENDS ONE OF THOSE CLASSMATES OF HER TO HELL! On top of that, it already starts to give some new hints about what hell in this series really, at this early stage of the series.

This is really why I fell in love with Jigoku Shoujo: it may seem like a very strange series with a revenge for EVERY FREAKING EPISODE, but then it actually develops, and show that there’s much more behind the revenges of the week. And at the same time, a lot of the revenges just remain entertaining in lots of different ways.

Mouryou no Hako – 12

by psgels, posted in Mouryou no Hako




Short Synopsis: Akihiko gathers everyone to tell them about the things he discovered.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8,5/10 (Awesome)
I don’t think that for the past year, I’ve ever been this frustrated at a climax than with this episode, apart perhaps from Kaiba. This episode was simply amazing, and then the creators stick in that damned cliffhanger just at the parts where the juicy parts really are about to begin! That final episode can’t come soon enough.

But really, with a series of this calibre, it actually has the chance of being my favourite ending of 2008, with all the building up that has basically been meant for that final episode, and the big questions still aren’t revealed, even though the huge amount of revelations in this single episodes. I’ve probably said this before, but I really have pity with the poor fansubbers who have to translate and typeset this series. This really is something else, and I’m still utterly amazed at how many open questions the creators managed to create without me even realizing it.

So, let’s see if I got everything correctly: The scientist whose name I forgot is actually Youko’s father, and one of the culprits is Suzaki, the one who died. In the last episode, we didn’t see Atsuko, but instead Youko (my mistake). When Kanako got in her accident, it was actually Yoriko who pushed her, after being inspired by reading Sekiguchi friend’s novel. The trigger was seeing Kanako crying (probably due to Youko, I think that it was then when she found out about how her sister was actually her mother). The man in black coat was Akihiko himself, who seems to have witnessed the event.

When Kanako was caught in the accident, her wounds couldn’t be treated in a regular hospital, so Youko desperately tried to search for a different address. That’s why she wound up at her father’s, and it was Suzuki who she talked to. It then seems that Suzaki was the one who chopped up Kanako and moved her out of the research institute in BOXES, in order to avoid detection. After that, something came and killed him, just like how Kubo Shunko was silenced. The question now remains: who the heck was that?

The way the episode ended was just filled with question marks: what is Kubo doing at the research institute if he’s supposed to be dead? Why did Akihiko say that they’re “inside Kubo”?

At this point, I can’t say whether Mouryou no Hako has been the best series of the past Fall season, since half of them aren’t over yet, but it’s definitely been the best series of the fall season that only lasted 12 or 13 episodes. At the moment, I can’t wait to see what the creators have in store for the finale.

Mouryou no Hako – 11

by psgels, posted in Mouryou no Hako



Short Synopsis: Kiba’s had enough and starts going after who he thinks is the culprit.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10 (Excellent)
Whoa, to think that this series actually managed to squeeze in some romance, and manages to get away with it! At this point, it really is clear that both the limbs in boxes and Yoriko’s death were simply red herrings in order to keep the viewer busy, and distract him from the one who really is at the centre of everything: Kanako. This episode, with the announcement of the death of Kubo, finally gets back to her own story.

I’m not exactly sure whether Kiba really picked out the real culprit, but someone in the research facility at least has to be involved with the whole mess. This someone used Kubo as a way to get female bodies and cut those up and used them in his experiments to create the ultimate human being: when it dies, just replace its limbs and it’s up and running again. This guy also murdered one of his colleagues, probably because he either found out too much, or was involved with the project, but tried to chicken out at that time.

Central is also Youko. If this is the case, then it would explain why the movie director knew about the human experiments. I’m still not exactly sure why she found Kiba her biggest threat, but I guess that we’re going to find that out in one or two episodes. I also wonder, what was the point of showing that poisoning-murder case at the beginning of the episode. It didn’t seem related in anyway, or did it?

I also keep getting impressed by this series’ idea of “action”. Most of the action here lies in its subtle but very powerful emotions. Like with Kiba in this episode: the creators know exactly how to create tension, and make the viewer hope that Eno’s going to be able to stop Kiba in time.

Regarding the cliffhanger, if this was a regular anime, it’d mean that the scientist didn’t die yet. However, this is Mouryou no Hako we’re talking about. Everything can happen from this point, and I’m really anticipating to see what kind of ending the creators have chosen.

(Oh, and on a side-note: Atsuko looked scary as a teenager O.o)

Jigoku Shoujo – 64

by psgels, posted in Jigoku Shoujo



Short Synopsis: A loser who works part time at a swimming pool “tries” to access Jigoku Tsuushin.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 9/10 (Uhm… yeah…)
The best episode of Jigoku Shoujo Mitsuganae yet. This episode was awesome, but god… it is SO for the wrong reasons. This episode featured the single biggest idiot we’ve seen on Jigoku thus far, and his stupidity really reached epic levels in this episode. This guy is really the typical case of an emo teenager.

To give you a bit of an indication… he’s hiding a poster of a cute girl in swimsuit behind a picture of “the scream”. Every time someone pisses him off, he adds a sticker somewhere on this girl’s body, starting from her feet. The person that reaches “goal” (come on, it’s easy to guess where “that” is) first is the one he’s going to send to hell. In the end, when three people are about to reach the “goal” he chickens out and wants to savour the moment. And indeed: soon his mind becomes distracted by something entirely different and he completely forgets his plans with Jigoku Tsuushin in his enthusiasm.

And to think that in the end, he managed to find himself a date in a way that actually makes sense: simply asking the girl he likes! Dear harem leads: you can learn A LOT from this little idiot, remember that. And to think that in the end, he was the one to end up in hell because one of the girls he looked up to turned out to be even more emo than he was.

I also loved the little self-parody by Studio Deen, as the Magazine that was crazy enough to publish the work of this idiot. Also, I absolutely loved the “Tatanic” with “Hiroshi Watanahe” as the lead character. Could that be the creators’ way of saying “… yeah thanks.”?

But the real icing on the cake was the single best punishment scene that Jigoku Shoujo has shown us up till now aside from the one that took up the entire action. I mean… seeing the guy getting tortured in LIVE ACTION cardboard cut-outs! Brilliant!

On a more serious note, during the last episode I started to wonder what the second half of Mitsuganae would be focusing on. Of course, I should have known: it’s going to flesh out and develop Yuzuki’s classmates. This episode already made a small start with the shy girl in glasses, and this would also mean that there’s a very good chance of Tsugumi returning.

Jigoku Shoujo – 63

by psgels, posted in Jigoku Shoujo



Short Synopsis: A young teen kills people based on what he read in a novel.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8,5/10 (Awesome)
Haha! Best episode of the third season yet! It’s episodes like this one that remind me why I originally fell in love with this series. Sure, the normal episodes are entertaining, but the real gem of this series is the collection of stories in which the creators really start playing with the concept. This episode also wasn’t awesome in the overblown way that we’ve come to get used to from this series: everything was wonderfully written, and you could see why the people wanted to send others to hell.

I must say that it was quite creative of the creators to come up with a topic that has been such a recent news item kids who commit murders because they’re inspired by their favourite anime, novel or movie. It’s been a subject debated heavily, and I really liked the different sides to the problem that this episode showed: to the overblown image that the mass media provides, to the feelings of the original author, to see people influenced by his works in that way, to the victim’s relatives, who go and blame the original author. It all fits so well, and I loved how the three main characters of this series came to the conclusion of sending the involved people to hell. It was basically their way to make peace with the whole affair.

On a different note: I’m beginning to get curious about the second half of this season. It’s subtle, but the overall mood and direction did change in the past two season: in the second half of the first season, Hajime and Tsugumi really became main characters, and the cases became more extreme. In the second half of the second season instead, the cases became less extreme, and instead that half focused on fleshing out the different important characters. I really wonder what the direction of the second half of the third season is going to be, with such an extreme first half. Are things going to be even more extreme? Will Tsugumi come back? Will Yuzuki actually get to DO SOMETHING?

Mouryou no Hako – 10

by psgels, posted in Mouryou no Hako



Short Synopsis: Akihiko goes to the box maker to confront him with the things he’s done.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8,5/10 (Awesome)
Wow… just wow. This episode was simply awesome, and it shows that the creators know exactly what they’re doing with this series. The two episodes of straight talking may have been a bit weird, but of course they were an excellent means of building up, and now that we’re finally getting to see the fruits of all this, I can safely say that this is one awesome series. I definitely can put this in my top three series that have aired in the past autumn season.

This time, I don’t even care to find out what exactly was said. The non-verbal communication, along with the few key scenes that I did understand were enough to make a huge impact, although I do suspect that I’m going to have to pay a lot of attention in the next number of episodes, when it’s explained why Kubo has done all the things he did.

So in the end, the role of the box maker and his cult was that they were involved in the whole case by Kubo Shunko: at one point, he a bloodstained box ended up on their doorstep, which turned out to contain the finger of one of Kubo’s victims. Later in the episode, the police actually finds out Kubo’s hideout, and Yoriko’s body, chopped up into pieces and stuffed into boxes. He manages to escape, though, but I’m glad that apart from our four main characters, there are lots more people searching for Yoriko and Kanako, trying to find Kubo Shunko.

The big question now still remains: what the heck happened to Kanako? Kubo Shunko’s box murders was a very good side-plot of the series, but the central matter of the series has yet to be touched on, and yet we know that the two mysteries are connected somehow, as it seems that Kubo knows about Kanako, and Kanako herself has many more mysteries than simply her death and disappearance.

In any case, it’s episodes like this one that really remind me why I’ve decided to go with raws, even though my Japanese is far from perfect. The entire episode was packed with emotion, but a lot of that emotion was found in the non-verbal communication between the characters. The phrase “a picture says more than a thousand words” really fits in with this series. Every single shot seemed to contain a very powerful emotion, and that’s exactly what sets this series apart from other series that involve lots of talking, and seen to get lost in their own exposition.