Whoa… This episode was totally different from the other Jigoku Shoujo episodes. I so LOVED it. If it had been perfectly executed, it could have been the best episode ever.
Okay, we still have the same pacing as most episodes do (vision, search, persuade, hell, blah), but there were just SO many little details that were unique, it almost scared me. For starters, the episode ran way more chaotic than it ever had. We also see that the creators finally managed to include some comedy in the series, with hilarious results. Tsugumi and Hajime’s search for Jigoku Shoujo also ended up a bit different than this, and Tsugumi’s drawings were just awesome, and even more awesomely used. The way the dolls tried to interfere with them was also great to see. Especially seeing them fail in this.
The case in this episode also was just NUTS. As an antagonist, we have the scariest woman ever. She lives together with her niece. Add those two up, and you get to the Hell-Hotline. I won’t say what kinds of things happened with this crazy woman, but believe me, she was awesomely scary to see. The niece also perfectly played her role, and the ending was just amazing!
If these two things were split into two distinctive episodes, so one with the chaos, the other one with the crazy woman, it would have made for the best episodes EVER! I just feel that both these elements were too awesome for each other, causing the overall picture to be a bit confusing. That, however, doesn’t mean that I didn’t love this episode!!