What They Say:
“Someday, Somebody Will…”
A younger brother and sister live with their older sister, parents and grandmother who all have personality problems. One night, Akira sees his mom holding a straw doll, and then the next day, their grandmother disappears
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Say what you will about Hell Girl, for a somewhat episodic series it does try its best to not be boring and this particular season is succeeding wildly. This week we’re going dark, I mean, really, really dark. Don’t believe me? I kept having flashbacks to Visitor Q, the Takashi Miike sickening masterpiece about a horrible family everyone should see, and I never thought I’d say this but that movie was a whole lot more hopeful than this episode.
We begin by taking a peek into the life of the Nagata family. At first, they don’t seem to need anyone to send them to hell. Do you know the expression “hell is other people”? Well, this family is the embodiment of that. There’s the horrible grandma, who has dedicated her life to making sure her daughter in law never knows peace. Before you start feeling sorry for her, keep in mind, she’s no better and on top of it, she frequents host clubs to do more than just drink. Her husband is also having an affair and when he’s at home he pays so much attention to the rest of the family, you’d think he doesn’t even live there. The oldest daughter, Asuka, is a full fledged bully along with their cousin Yoshinori, whom she seems to be dating. And then there are the two young kids, Akira and Arina, two innocent children who bear the blunt of it all, or something like that.
Sadly, or maybe not, I can’t even tell anymore, the Nagata family doesn’t get a visitor Q, they get Ai Enma. It all starts going downhill fast (or even faster, I should say); when Akira wakes up one night, to find his mother undoing the red string on one of the straw dolls. Yes, she’s just sent grandma to hell, condemning herself and proving to the eyes of her young son that Hell Girl is real. He’s terrified at first, but then he starts getting ideas and recruits his sister Arina to help him out. The plan they come up with would make a mob boss proud. Seriously, these kids are on the right track to a life of high crime. Wait, did you honestly believe anyone can grow up in such a family and not get at least a little bit warped?
When their plan fails, mainly because they tried to involve at least one person who wasn’t willing to pay such a high price, and then they’re psychotic, would-be-rapist of a cousin moves into the house, things take a turn for the worse. I feel so strange just saying that I mean what exactly is “taking a turn for the worse” in this family? The episode does a really good job at making you feel the anguish and desperation of these kids, even if they themselves are twisted beyond repair.
There is no question someone is going to hell; it’s just a matter of time and pain. The real questions here is who will it be or how many will it be? Who is going to break first? How far do things have to go? Is it going to be retribution, prevention or selfishness that wins in the end?
All I can say is by the time we get to the final and horrifying last scene, Ren’s words about them being more monstrous than monsters prove to be absolutely true, for every one of them.
In Summary:
Hell Girl went almost unbearably dark this week and while I wouldn’t call this story enjoyable, it was absolute genius in its relentless portrait of a group of people who not only deserved to go to Hell but seemed to be begging for it. It does feel tragic though, don’t get me wrong. I couldn’t help but wonder what would have been of these kids if they’d grown up in a semi-normal family. See? This family was so horrible, I’m not even shooting for completely normal, just one sane parent would have done the trick. It’s so bad, I even wonder if the one kid who got the worst of it, would have behaved even more monstrous had the tables been turned. I can’t really blame them for wanting release from all the suffering but dang it, they crossed the line and just kept on running. I am positively astonished by Hell Girl’s quality in storytelling. I thought I was in for an entertaining “monster of the week” series, but I’m getting so much more out of it.
Grade: A
Streamed By: Crunchyroll, Anime Strike