Reviews

Jun 22, 2011
Mixed Feelings
This season of Hell Girl felt like a step down in quality compared to the quality of the second season. Mitsuganae retains the elements you would find in the first two seasons of Hell Girl where a victim browses the Hell Correspondence site to send their tormentor to hell, thinks over the decision and sends said tormentor to hell when they reach a breaking point. The elements of flawed and sympathetic elements found between the victim and tormentor of each episode are retained from the second season as well. Anyone expecting a change from the same repetitious developments found in Hell Girl's past two seasons will be disappointed to know that the series leaves them intact. This season introduces a new companion for Ai's group in the form of Yamawaro, whose character gets his focus in a later episode of the series.

Mitsuganae also creates a more ongoing story focus between Ai and new character Yuzuki when Ai possesses the body of the middle school girl to resume her duties as Hell Girl. Yuzuki finds herself pushed to her breaking point throughout this season as she gains a role somewhat similar to the Shibatas from season one which she tries and fails to prevent anyone from making use of the services of Hell Correspondence, as well as developing a supernatural connection to Ai. Hints are dropped throughout the season that Yuzuki's life is not as it seems as Ai exposes her more to the harsh realities of man's most selfish traits.

It does become apparent at points that Hell Girl is starting to run out of fresh ideas for this season of the series, particularly with the role of Yuzuki's character and what we eventually learn of her past. Compared to the past two seasons, the tragic dilemma with Yuzuki connecting her to Ai is poorly contrived and skewers into melodramatic territory compared to the Shibatas from season one and Takuma from season two. In addition, a number of the punishments that Ai and her companions inflict upon tormentors before sending them to hell were a bit on the silly and ridiculous side, not consistent with the horrific images they left said tormentors from earlier seasons. It is these major reasons that make me rate Hell Girl's third season at a lower rating compared to the last season.

Hell Girl Mitsuganae retains the colorful and detailed visuals found throughout the past two seasons with animated highlights shown through a number of the punishments Ai's companions are involved with and a new one in the form of Yuzuki's transformation into Ai while she is possessed. Much like the past two seasons, there are reused animation frames apparent during these scenes as a result of said repetitious developments. Some of the show's musical tracks from the prior two seasons are retained for this season, though the OP and ED musical choices do well at complementing the tense and mellow moods respectively found throughout the series.

While Hell Girl Mitsuganae does introduce a couple new characters connected to Ai, this season of the series doesn't really offer up much new from what the prior two seasons provided to me and carries some significant flaws compared to the second season. Still if you have pressed on with Hell Girl for this long and are still interested in continuing the franchise, this season is a decent look provided that you understand that it still offers up much of the same thing from the prior two seasons.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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