Jigoku Shoujo is the answer to the question of "What if we made the grim reaper weeaboo bait as fuck?"
But no that's actually really inaccurate despite your titular character sporting looks that could just bring some japanophiles to hell.
Hell girl is an episodic train of 24 episodes, each fleshing out instances of "People in power". The "victim of the week" (quoted because they're no saints themselves) is given a choice to send their nemesis to hell on the spot.
No form of high horse, no "necessary evil", told like how it is; nobody is a saint. That's where majority of the show's story point's stem from. (I give the show a 9/10 in that aspect) Every episode is chock-full of down-to-earth despair
like
Think of a bowl of curry. Add prawn paste chili, wasabi and jalapenos and for good luck cook it in Godzilla's fires. If hell girl was curry that would be what hell girl is. Taking despair and giving it power alongside a troublesome decision.(Oh hey I just summarized 90% of the show.)
What's keeping it from the perfect 10 is well, the fact that a curry metaphor summarizes 90% of the show. It's rather linear. It's almost a legitimate argument that you're watching the same episode again and again with a few anomalies until the the final effort to give the show closure of sorts which is great and all but is it perfectly paced? Haha no you need more than 3 episodes if you wanna wrap the show up properly.
The Art gets a 10/10 just look at the fucking eyes drawn god do you see Enma's lovely red jewels no I don't mean her nipples look at her eyes I actually feel like having intercourse with those rubies and nothing else those red eyes are EVERYTHING about Ai
*ahem*
The sound's a downer here at a 7/10. While the the Opening and ending songs (ED especially Karinui is amazing) are solid the show provides very little variety of an OST and what's present isn't too powerful on its own. It's (understandably) in relation to the show's "One-dimensional" but that doesn't change the fact that it's grating to hear the same pieces when there's at least the decency to come up with new scenarios every episode.
The characters are at a 10/10 here considering if the hell correspondence was an actual thing there would be events that unfold as written in the anime. That's enough to justify the 10/10.
What do I say about the enjoyment part? I like watching people get shit on by the Hell correspondence team in their Executions and I especially love all that human jazz that goes on before the victim finally pulls the string. What's stopping me from giving it a 10/10 for enjoyment?
Overall while I'll have it as rationally a 9 I'll always frame it up as a 10 on my list because I'm a faggot lol
