Shigofumi ~ Stories of the Last Letter – 04

Okay, it’s a bit hard to believe that a fire would start, just from the suns rays that shine through a bottle of water, but thankfully this time, it didn’t ruin the story for this episode at all. All the doubts I had of this series after episode 2 are gone now, and this has been shaping up to be an awesome series that successfully combines the ordinary with the spectacular.

This episode tells the story of two girls. One of them is the best player at a local high-school tennis-club, and the other is the coach of said club. A lot of signs point to the fact that both are lesbians, or at least very close friends. One of them has been left by her mother, when she ran off with another guy. Right now, this mother died, and sends Fumiko out to deliver her Shigofumi.

Most of the episode is about the girl, running away from this Shigofumi, and afraid to confront it. After all, her mother ran off without coming back at all. This has to feel like some betrayal, and the girl must have thought that her mother hated her. Turns out that her mother watched her tennis-matches from the side-lines, and encouraged her all the way. The past two stories have been simple, but due to their building-up, they’ve worked out really well. What I especially like is how we also get a small look into the lives of the ones to receive the Shigofumi. I guess that this is the same reason why I fell in love with Jigoku Shoujo. ^^;