Plot: The continuing stories of Hell Girl…..
Chapter 18: The Smiling Celebrity
(Note: This is a few years overdue. I didn’t realize I skipped over this volume entirely. Sorry about that.)
This chapter is really stupid, but this time it’s in a rather funny way.
Ayumi is a popular teen idol who has worked her whole life to escape the ‘normal’ appearance she had when she was a child to be a beautiful and adored actress and model. She suddenly starts getting accusations of having plastic surgery and is harassed by someone who keeps bringing up her past, specifically her brief stint on a short-lived crafting show.
Her stalker enters her name into Hell Correspondence, but when Ai doesn’t do the job, she decides to kidnap her instead.
The client is the crazed host of the craft show, Masae, who adored how Ayumi looked as a child and hated the flirtatious and more mature-looking young woman she had turned into. She intended to use her ‘crafting’ skills to turn Ayumi back into her old child self by cutting her hair, clipping off her nails with scissors, and CUTTING OFF HER ARMS, LEGS AND BREASTS. She’s even worse than Psychochiro from the last volume. Holy shit.
Ayumi manages to escape Masae, but she has no idea where she is so she can’t call the cops, which is dumb in itself because they’re the cops, they can trace your call. She decides the next best course of action is to contact Hell Girl.
Ai comes and ferries Masae to hell but not before we learn why Ai didn’t help Ayumi.
And it’s probably the absolute stupidest excuse I’ve heard for Ai turning down a client.
First and foremost, you’re not supposed to be able to see the Hell Correspondence website at all unless you have a grudge. Masae could access the website.
Secondly, Masae has stated several times over that she despises Ayumi for how she looks now.
Third, she has harassed Ayumi over the period of several days and has even tried to viciously mutilate and/or kill Ayumi all because she wasn’t living up to her messed up views of her.
With all that in mind, why do you think Ai refused her as a client?
According to Ai, the reason Masae didn’t qualify as a client was because the emotions that were fueling her were those of love not hatred or a legit grudge……
Ai….have you not been paying attention to literally anything? How can you confuse the psychotastic babblings of this crazy person with love? How can you claim she loves Ayumi at all if she’s willing to mutilate and/or kill her, in a particularly vicious manner with scissors, all because she doesn’t look the same way she did when she was a little kid? If it was love, she’d love her unconditionally. If it was love, she’d be more concerned with Ayumi’s happiness than her own. If it was love she wouldn’t try to viciously mutilate and/or kill her with scissors.
Not to mention that tons of clients use Hell Girl in the name of love, and Ai hasn’t said a word to them. Several chapters I’ve covered and are about to cover are heavily rooted in love. What are you smoking, Ai?
After this, Ayumi does indeed change her look to be more reserved and she completely quits her life as an idol, which I kinda get because it must shake you pretty badly to be attacked like that because you’re famous, but it also comes off just a tiny bit like she was agreeing with Masae?
Anyhoo, her new drive in life is to be more self-confident and help other people be as beautiful as her but in a natural way, so she starts teaching others about the exercises and stuff that she used to grow her boobs and improve her facial features.
As we close out the chapter, we get this hilariously stupid panel.
Such foreboding words…..on top of boobs.
Chapter 19: Letters to Hell
This chapter is loosely based on the anime episode “Purgatory Girl”.
Chiharu has always believed that her grandparents were all dead, but she discovers that her grandma on her mom’s side is still alive after receiving a letter from her. Chiharu’s mother normally intercepts letters from Chiharu’s grandmother, who will be referred to as Nitta from now on, addressed to Chiharu because she doesn’t want her to know that she’s alive. Chiharu’s mother, referred to as Yuko from this point, is very unreasonable and aggressive about it, leading Chiharu to run off to meet her grandmother on her own.
She meets and hangs out with some locals who convey the story of someone who mysteriously disappeared from the area. They’re perfectly nice to her until they walk with her to her grandma’s house. They suddenly all bolt from the house in a panic. Chiharu finds it weird, but she still decides to visit.
When she gets there, her grandmother seems like an incredibly nice and inviting person. She used to make paper for a living when she was younger and has been accustomed to sending paper letters instead of using digital methods of communication.
They decide to have dinner together. Chiharu will go out and get some groceries while Nitta will cook. When Chiharu gets back, the locals start harassing her because she’s the granddaughter of a ‘murderer.’ They even go so far as to chuck a rock at Chiharu’s head, leaving her with a big gash on her forehead.
When she gets to her grandma’s house, she finds her collapsed on the floor. She’s been sick for some time now and is nearing the end of her life. When confronted about the ‘murderer’ allegations, Nitta relays her story to Chiharu.
When she was younger, right after she had given birth to Yuko, Nitta’s husband died and she was forced to raise Yuko all by herself. In order to stay afloat, she worked as a paper maker, but she had also taken a substantial loan after being tricked and needed to pay back a massive debt. Masajiro Kitamura, her loan shark, viciously pursued her for the money. He ruined her papers and convinced the locals to not buy what she had left, which is insanely backwards. You’re preventing her from paying you back, you moron. I know it’s not a lot of money, but it’s better than no money.
He then demands that she give him the house if she can’t pay, which she refuses, and then he suggests killing herself and her daughter so he can get the insurance money, which only continues this nonsense train. Yeah, I’m so sure that her switching the beneficiary of her insurance to you right before she and her daughter die of a murder/suicide won’t raise any red flags with the insurance company. Likewise, I’m pretty sure no one gets a life insurance payout if the person commits suicide.
She contacts Hell Girl through a newspaper ad by sending her a letter. She gets the doll, but is unsure about pulling the string because that means she’ll never meet her husband (or daughter) in the afterlife. One day, her home is set ablaze while she’s in the house. The fire was originating from Yuko’s room. She rushes to get Yuko out, and is successful, but as she sits in the yard and tries to wrap her head around what just happened, Kitamura shows up smirking claiming he meant to burn her as well as Yuko.
He walks away laughing, and she can’t take anymore, so she pulls the string.
Since he was spotted around her house right before he went missing, everyone instantly believes that Chiharu’s grandma is a murderer, which is super stupid. He just went missing. That does not equal murder. And even if he was last seen around her house, how does that equate to her killing him?
Also, her house was set on fire that night. Did no one connect the dots that maybe he set the fire? Or does no one care that a single mother and her baby nearly died because of arson in a clear attempted murder?
It seems they really don’t care because when Yuko becomes a teenager everyone starts harassing her about her ‘murderer’ mother.
Why does everyone care so much? He was the human embodiment of hemorrhoids. Even if they had all the proof in the world that she killed him, why would anyone care so much that they’d carry over their hatred into the next generation? Why would no one even believe she did it in self-defense because he clearly tried to kill her and her daughter? What is wrong with you people?
When Yuko confronted her mother about the allegations, she confessed that she killed him but she did it to protect her daughter. Yuko won’t even begin to hear a defense for her actions and decides to leave home. How could she not even try to hear her out? Some daughter you are. Also, where the hell did she even go? She doesn’t look nearly old enough to be on her own, and her father is long since dead.
Yuko cut off all contact with her mother after that day, but Nitta was desperate to keep the connection. She sent tons of letters to Chiharu to keep in touch, but since Yuko wanted to cut her out of her life she just threw them all away without Chiharu ever seeing any of them, robbing them both of a relationship with the other.
Additionally, Nitta sent letter after letter to Hell Girl asking for guidance, but she never came.
Chiharu asserts that her mother will hear her out, and she rushes out the door to call her. However, when Chiharu returns, ironically proclaiming that her mom will drive out there to talk with her, she finds that her grandmother has passed away.
In the ferry, Nitta laments on how she was contacting Ai all those years to maybe get her to tell her that she made the right choice in sending Kitamura to hell to protect her daughter. However, she tells Ai that she doesn’t need her to do that anymore. After seeing what a happy and mature daughter Yuko had in Chiharu, she knows both of them lead a good life, which means she now knows for certain that she made the right choice and that it was worth the fate that befalls her at the end of the river.
At Nitta’s funeral, many people keep on with their whispering saying they hope she’s in hell for what she had done, which, again, why are people so upset about this horrible guy’s death? It was never established that he was a beloved figure in the village. In fact, by all implications, he intimidated or threatened people in the village too, so what gives?
Chiharu shocks everyone by bursting out yelling at them, stating that they have no idea how much Nitta suffered and that she did it all to protect her daughter. Chiharu tearfully mourns her lost grandma as Ai and Kikuri walk away from the funeral.
Just as “Purgatory Girl” was a fantastic episode of the anime, this is a great chapter of the manga. Like I said, it’s only very loosely based on the anime story, mostly just in regards to the existence of Hell Correspondence via newspaper and letters and the fact that this episode centers on an old client reaching the end of their life instead of exploring a new grudge.
Eto took those small details and ran with a story all her own, and she did a very good job. While I think some of the details are very hokey, particularly the complete overreaction of the villagers and Yuko not giving her mother a chance to explain herself at all or even bother to learn the full story, this is an extremely tragic and well-written Hell Girl story that really leaves you feeling awful for all of the parties involved. Even Yuko seems like she’s starting to regret not coming around sooner, and you know it will hit her like a ton of bricks that she threw away her relationship with her mother for nothing.
I can be thankful that Nitta at least got a chance to share her story and be with her granddaughter before passing away, but that’s not much consolation. I really believe she should have, at least, been given a few fleeting moments with Yuko before passing. She suffered her whole life just to make sure Yuko was safe and happy, and she repays her by not giving her a single chance and abandoning her.
Keep in mind, Chiharu got a rock to the head for being with her grandma for a few hours. Imagine what Nitta has been getting her whole life.
Overall, I was impressed by how impacting and emotional this chapter was. It was definitely a suitable successor to “Purgatory Girl”.
Chapter 20: Days of Love
This chapter is legitimately frightening because it dives head first into a realistic depiction of a toxic overly possessive relationship while also using Hell Girl as a power over one of the parties involved.
Arisa is in love with her childhood friend, Ryousuke, but she can’t get up the nerve to tell him. She’s suddenly approached by a boy named Masaki who asks her out. Stunned, she says yes as a reflex, but she still decides to continue dating him afterward when it seems like Ryousuke doesn’t seem jealous or affected by this. However, Masaki’s true colors soon start coming through.
He demands Arisa not hang out with Ryousuke anymore, that she listen to the music he likes, that she keep a journal of everything she does every day, that she call or text him once every half hour, and that she take pictures of every meal she eats. She quickly understands how horrible and controlling of a person Masaki is, but she’s soon trapped in the relationship.
Masaki hates Ryousuke so much and believes him to be a threat to their relationship, so he calls Hell Girl on him and uses the straw doll as leverage against Arisa. If she breaks up with him or goes against any of his rules, he’ll pull the string.
Arisa gets so scared about possibly losing Ryousuke that she too contacts Hell Girl. She’s contemplating pulling the string when she gets a call about Ryousuke being in a terrible accident. She rushes to the ER only to find Masaki already there, taunting her about Ryousuke’s accident and saying Ryousuke might die. He’s even such a douchecanoe that he pulls the string…..on a fake straw doll that he made just to screw with her. That is definitely the best use of the doll in this whole scenario because someone like him would totally make a fake straw doll just to emotionally torment his victim. I gasped when he pulled the string and was so pissed (and simultaneously relieved) when he explained it was a fake.
Now, despite this whole ‘accident’ situation being very suspect – Ryousuke was even obtaining Masaki’s phone number when it happened – Masaki asserts that the accident was just an accident. We never learn what happened to Ryousuke, so it’s up in the air about whether he’s telling the truth.
Doesn’t matter anyway because Arisa is so distraught that she pulls the string on her doll, sending Masaki to hell with a nice hell torture where he’s the one being victimized in a toxic relationship. Nice.
Ryousuke is going to be alright. Arisa confesses to him when he wakes up, he feels the same way, and she promises to be with him as long as she can because, when death comes, she’ll be separated from him as she’s sent to hell.
This was another really good story, even if Masaki goes from 0 to 60 in the crazy department way too quickly. Not saying that couldn’t happen, but it was a bit of a whiplash.
Chapter 21: Request from Hell
Closing out on another high note, this chapter revolves around a teenage girl named Mizuho and her little brother, Yuta. Recently, both of their parents were killed in a hit and run incident, and Mizuho has been working tirelessly to find the culprit. Her little brother has always been ill, but when their parents were alive it was perfectly manageable. Once they died, the stress made his condition much worse, so she becomes even more determined to find the culprit and have him thrown in prison.
For the time being, she and her brother are staying with their aunt and uncle, who seem quite nice and caring, but their lives are being adversely impacted by taking care of Mizuho and Yuta – the latter in particular because he needs constant care.
Luckily, the police do track down the culprit. Unfortunately, it seems like he’ll only get five years in prison at maximum, which devastates Mizuho. Additionally, she believes her brother’s condition will only worsen because of this news.
Since they have the name of the guy, Mizuho opts to use Hell Correspondence and quickly pulls the string.
However, the situation is not as black and white as she believes it is.
When the culprit, Sato, winds up on the ferry, he accepts his fate, claiming he deserves it, but he asks Ai for one favor. She typically never does favors for anyone, but she made an exception this time for some reason.
He wrote a note to Mizuho explaining that he was extremely sorry for what he had done. He would have turned himself in when the accident happened, but his wife was extremely ill and had no relatives to care for her, so he couldn’t risk going to prison and leaving her alone. A few days prior to Mizuho pulling the string, his wife had passed away. He intended on turning himself in after that, but was too cowardly. He ends the note by stating that he’s in hell as he’s writing.
Mizuho collapses in despair and starts to question whether or not she made the right decision. Right as she tries to process this information, she’s informed that Yuta has become severely ill and is in the hospital.
Her aunt claims she only stepped out to go to the store real quick, but Mizuho believes his condition is so severe there’s no way he got this bad without someone noticing.
Later, she overhears her aunt and uncle in the waiting room saying they hope Yuta will just die already so they can collect the insurance money. They had received the life insurance money from Mizuho and Yuta’s parents, but they didn’t get much, and they wanted more. They had hoped they’d get consolation money when Sato was caught, but since he vanished they never saw a dime. Now they have hospital bills to contend with, and they’re regretting ever agreeing to take in the kids.
Mizuho is shocked, and she even considers using Hell Correspondence again, but then decides against it, which isn’t as impacting as you’d think because there’s no way she could be helped by Hell Girl now. She already used the service once. She can’t use it again. Additionally, she’d have to target both her aunt and her uncle, which isn’t allowed either.
Yuta wakes up, happy to hear the news that they got the guy who killed their parents because that means Mizuho can spend time with him again. Mizuho comes to the realization that Yuta was never preoccupied with revenge like she was – he only wanted to be with her.
In the end, she decides to go to an orphanage with Yuta and take care of him herself instead of staying with her awful aunt and uncle. They’ll be together forever, until they’re separated in the afterlife.
This was a really great and heartbreaking chapter. It showed us a rare instance where someone actually shows regret for pulling the string, it did a good job humanizing the culprit even if we only very, very briefly see him, and it showed that not all of Mizuho’s problems were solved by that straw doll. In fact, if anything, it may have caused problems for her. She would have found out that Yuta didn’t care about the guy getting caught or getting a lenient sentence once the police closed in on him, and she wouldn’t have to sacrifice her soul and give up her chances of ever seeing her parents or brother in the afterlife.
Pretty sure she also would have found out about her garbage bag aunt and uncle the same way and would have resolved to just leave. It’s really sad that Mizuho is bound for hell now, and all for nothing, really. But that just goes to show how much revenge can cloud your judgment.
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And that was volume five! Definitely the best volume so far. The only weak chapter was The Smiling Celebrity, and even that wasn’t that bad. It was just goofy in how over the top it was. A celebrity having a stalker is a realistic and frightening enough scenario, they just went about in a weird way.
Everything else was either good or some of the best work in the manga. My personal favorites were Letters to Hell and Request from Hell. They’re gripping and well-written stories that explore some deeper aspects of Hell Correspondence and how the service can be used with perfectly good intentions but still wind up causing a lot of suffering for many people.
According to Eto, the anime was wrapping up its second season when she worked on this volume, and she intends on following suit with what the anime did in regards to putting more focus on Ai’s associates and creating their backstories. Whether or not their backstories will match the anime versions is yet to be seen, but I’m interested to see how she’ll build on them.
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