Review - Jigoku Shoujo Mitsuganae

 

The third season of jigoku shoujo, is, unfortunately.... a disappointment. Not bad, but disappointing. It is incredibly hard to live up to the impeccable job that the previous two seasons did, and so, I wasn't expecting that this season would be necessarily better than the prior ones, however I was hoping for at least something similar in quality to the first show, and unfortunately it cannot deliver even in that regards. If you haven't seen the prior seasons well, you should, they are amazing. That being said, the issues with this season can be broken down into a few primary sections.

I) Justification of the Sequel

When you make a sequel to a show, that sequel must justify its existence. This can be through a myriad of ways, such as continuing an unfinished plotline, providing more context for the broader story within a timeline, and other things. The problem, is that Mitsuganae does not do this.

The second season of Jigoku Shoujo, Futakomori, essentially resolves Ai's plotline and reason for existing as hell girl, and while at the very end of that season we get a hint that there will be another, there is no reason given and not any loose ends in the plot indicated in the second season that could be why we needed a third. Thus, I was surprised to find that there is actually no adequate reason given as to why Ai Enma was still Hell Girl in Mitsuganae, or even... why Hell Girl needed to exist at all given the reason why Ai Enma was hell girl in the first place was already resolved. In fact, the ending of this show only will leave you with a sour taste in your mouth as it could have been completely avoidable if Ai had simply stopped operating as Hell Girl and this season did not exist.

II) The Inconsistency of the Morality of Ai

One of the essential aspects of what makes the previous seasons of Jigoku Shoujo particularly compelling is that Ai herself has a subjective view of what is right and what is wrong. This is indicated by her actions via who she accepts a contract with, and who she decides to torment. Before this season Ai and her companions never tormented people who were deemed innocent, at least in regards to why they were banished. However it seems that in this season Ai has zero trouble tormenting those who in previous seasons she wouldn't. This... is also not given an explanation. It almost feels to a certain degree that this Ai is a completely separate character from the Ai I saw before. This sort of leads into the next issue as well.

III) The Degradation of Torment

Another essential aspect of Jigoku Shoujo is when she does torment people, how she does so and the imagery used. This is extremely important to the 'horror' element of this show. In previous seasons, the torment someone receives is based on the unforgivable act which they committed. Additionally this part of the show is taken extremely seriously in its tone.

Would it be surprising to learn that this isn't the case in this season? For roughly half the show if not more these torment scenes, if you can call it that, are more of bad jokes than torture. On one occasion, the scene is interrupted to give a P.A. on not using too much electricity. In another, the show temporarily stops being animated and you see an amateurish torture of a paper cutout of a character being held by chopsticks. It absolutely takes you out of the scene and it makes me wonder if the production team was somehow lacking in funds because I quite honestly do not know how it made it into the show.

IV) Subverting the Subversion of Expectations

This show attempts to subvert expectations when it comes to who is the one cursing or who is the one who will curse. However often times the 'twist' ends up being nonsensical either because of a lack of proper motivations or poor setup.

V) Poor Scope

Previous seasons of the show mostly focused on various incidents throughout many different areas that were localized. This plays well because it means there are less questions about people starting to catch on. Before this season, if several events were localized into one place, the show takes that into account and handles it accordingly. This gives the worldbuilding quite a significant weight to it which I greatly respected. In this season, our scope is small, it is within a single school, and all of the events happen locally to the school. This season though, does not address the issue of people catching on and spiraling similarly to what would happen in previous seasons, even though it would be a very real problem. This is made further apparent in regards to the knowledge of Hell Girl. In season 1, she was still a relatively obscure rumor. After season 1 there was a book written about her, and she became widely more known as a rumor. In this third season, by deductive reasoning which is also confirmed by the show in many moments, her infamy is actually more widespread than ever. Which makes the fact that the school as a whole does not catch on to what is happening even less believable than it normally would be.

That being said, there are some genuinely good moments and episodes in this show. And while these good moments generally do not relate to the broader plot of the season, they are enjoyable. So if you do wish to watch this season after the previous ones, there is enjoyment that you can get out of it. However please do not go in with high expectations. This season does not meet the quality of the previous ones, and in order to get the most enjoyment out of it, it is best to ignore or at least be apathetic towards the broader plot of the season.

Rating: 6/10