Jigoku Shoujo
Hell Girl

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Jigoku Shoujo (Hell girl) is a rather unique story about revenge.
Story: 7
The story doesn't particularly have a plot, every chapter (except towards the end of the series) is a new chapter long story. Sometimes the chapter is very predictable, other times it has a small, shocking twist to it.
Art: 7
Their eyes are massive, it's quite cute but they're completely disproportional to their face. It can also be quite difficult to tell some minor characters apart.
Character: 5
As it's only a short series it's difficult to feel close o the characters, particularly the minor characters.
Enjoyment: 7
I did enjoy the series but it did feel as though ... something was lacking with it, it was probably because of how short the series was.
Overall: 7
I think this is a good manga that should be read if you have spare time, but it's not really a "priority" manga to read.

There's a website you can access at midnight. It's a connection to the underworld. In there, one will find but a single prompt where you can write down someone's name to be quickly dragged to hell. The entity in charge of actually taking the person there is Enma Ai, a high school girl in beautiful kimono sets. That's the premise. Each story we follow a different revenge plot where a person is bullied or have something terrible done to her and that drives him or her to ask for hell girl's assistance.

Hell Girl has a very odd thing about it. The supposedly main character is ... actually just a minor character that receives no development whatsoever until the very end. On the entire run of this manga, Enma is featured as the main character in maybe 2 or 3 stories. All the other ones she just appears briefly to do the same thing over and over again; drag people into hell. This is rather frustrating given she's the only character connecting all this stories together and someone reading Hell Girl will probably want to know more about Hell Girl. We get some development and resolution for her but it's just not enough in my opinion.

Then there's the problem with many of the stories themselves. They can get very, very formulaic. Student is bullied, contacts Hell Girl, bully is sent to hell. Perhaps that's half the stories here. A few here and there really stands out as being interesting but you really have to be the patient type to reach them all. Hell Girl's friends also get pretty much no exposition even though they should be really important as well.

I'm glad I read it but I feel I won't be revisiting this title anytime soon nor did it inspire me to pick up the other ones that came after it. The art has its own thing going and might not be to everyone but it certainly has a particular charm to it. I just wish Hell Girl was more about Hell Girl.

As someone who has not watched the anime yet, you should probably go watch it over reading this adaptation. The reviews on Hell Girl's manga page should be taken into consideration as well.

So the question is, is this manga horror or a comedy?

The way the manga presents itself is very childish; even though there are serious tonalities in every chapter. The theme of Hell Girl is supposed to be dark, and the artwork did not deliver that. You have panels that did not transition, and sometimes you don't even know what the heck just happened. Also, for some reason 90% of the chapters open ... with a character making this face expression =[]= and for what? To relieve the nonexistent tension in the manga? The exaggerated faces make it feel like you are reading a comedic manga. There are people who have complained in the forums about the artwork being “too shoujo”, which, in the end the artwork does not translate well with the context of this manga. The art is cheesy, especially when a character is being sent off to hell. You can't take this manga seriously. Someone like Junji lto should've taken on this kind of project, or anybody that's experienced in horror manga art. If there are “complaints” about this manga and style being “too shoujo”, would this manga do better without the “shoujo” aspect?

Each chapter is formulated with the same type of female character with repetitive plots and outcome, and barely shows diversity for potentially different scenarios and (male) characters, EXCEPT for the last arc of the manga. If it's supposed to be like this in the anime, that's fine and all, but this is just a criticism I have as someone who has not watched the show. It makes me wonder if this repetition translates better in an anime format.

What was also weird to me were the many comical panels at the end of each volume. It's purpose is to probably make fun of the "seriousness" of the series, but it didn't really fit in, given how everything else is portrayed in the manga. The artwork is already comedic enough where it already feels out of place to add comical panels at the end of each volume.

This is not an adaptation I would recommend, especially if one is an avid horror fan. It was hard getting through the first half of the series; it eventually picks up around volume 7 where it felt more interesting to read and the artwork was tolerable; to a point.


All and all, this manga is not worth the time and energy. The artwork and context do not blend well in manga format.
Again, I highly encourage you guys to read the reviews on Hell Girl's page to better understand why this may not be a good adaptation. Please go watch the anime instead.