Short Synopsis: Ichimoku Ren is the last of the dolls to show his past. The case, meanwhile, involves the daughter of someone who had already been in contact with Jigoku Shoujo before.
Good: Finally a great episode again! The changes that people make over 12 years were great to see.
Bad: Can we now finally have some kind of main plot?
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
Finally, I’ve been waiting for another episode to bring a twist to the episodes of Jigoku Shoujo. The past few episodes have been rather disappointing. Episode sixteen showed some good signs again, and with this episode, this show is back on track again. I really like when Jigoku Shoujo deals with past cases, as it really gives some insights about how the characters changed. I would have loved to have seen the case of the mother, earlier in the series, but I guess that 12 years is too early for the start of the anime.
It’s interesting to see how the woman has changed into a workaholic over the years. Because of this, her grandmother probably got enough chances to manipulate her to make her think that her mother is a bad person. It seems that she’s the real reason of tis story. She just couldn’t forget her son’s death, and she had to blame someone for it. I think she’s actually seeing her granddaughter as a substitution for her son.
The mother, meanwhile is too sad. First her husbands abuses her, then she has to send him to hell to protect herself and her daughter. Because of that, she has to work hard to sustain her family. Her mother-in-law meanwhile tries to take her daughter away from her. Her daughter meanwhile thinks of sending her own mother to hell because of this. In order to protect her daughter from going to hell, she decides to take the initiative.
We also see Ichimoku Ren’s history this time. His history also is the bloodiest of all. While Wanyuudo got in an accident, and Hone Onna got murdered as prostitute, he actually was a sword, which had been used by lots of people to kill, cheat, steal and other nasty stuff. That’s probably why he’s the most silent of the three dolls, even though he has the youngest body.]]>
Jigoku Shoujo – 43
It is interesting to see that out of all 3 Hone was the only human who Hell Girl recruited.
Actually, Wanyuudo was a human too. At least, before he turned into a ghost. Hone Onna was a rotting carcass, while Ichimoku Ren was a sword-turned-human when Ai found them.