Jigoku Shojo

         

Jigoku Shojo or Hell Girl is an extremely compelling horror anime that never fails to send a chill down the viewer's spine. This horror thriller seems very docile and slow paced at first, but always gets you in the end because of its vivid dark imagery and portrayal of twisted human minds. The story is broken into many seemingly unrelated arcs that are all individually and suspensefully brought to culmination in a repetitive yet intriguing manner. I'll explain this plot device more below.

The story follows an urban legend of a cursed website. According to rumors, if someone holds a real grudge against another person, they can visit this website at midnight and request the 'Hell Girl', Enma Ai to kill their enemies. Here's where it gets interesting- if Enma and her associates from hell believe the grudge is strong enough, they will appear in front of the website user and hand them a black doll with a red string around its neck. If the string is removed, the grudge will be realized and any person the doll's owner chooses will be tortured and instantly dragged down to hell. The consequence is that the doll owner will also give up their soul and be sent to hell when they naturally die. The choice of using this double edged sword is what makes most of the show juicy. Hell Girl will explore the dark depths of human psyche and show what it takes to push a person to their limit. Each story arc is short and will get you ambivalent about the respective doll owners who range from petty and selfish individuals to helpless and victimized ones. This eerie plot bolstered by its creepy art style and sound track makes for a great pick if you love horror as a genre. 

Hell Girl does have a main overarching plot, but spends a lot of time on individual stories of people's grudges. Now because each story is unique, story progression can get a little disjointed. Think of this as a horror novel with many creepy chapters and a big finale, but you can only appreciate the finale if you put up with all the precursory chapters, some of which can be dry or monotonous. I for one, recommend sticking till the end.  



My personal ratings are: 

Story: 3/5
Character Development: 2/5
Dialogue: 3/5
Music: 3/5
Enjoyment: 4/5

Overall Recommendation: When One Soul is Cursed, Two Graves Are Dug

Irodoku: The world in Colors

Irodoku is a slice of life, shojo anime with one short season of thirteen episodes. It's a sweet and cute show that isn't very plot intensive, but rather focuses on the sentiment behind its story progression. Watching Irodoku feels like staring at a cuddly teddy bear- it's attractive to look at, and makes you feel warm for a second, but you'll get bored if you keep looking. While I still do recommend giving it a watch, don't let it become your primary anime, it works better as something to fall back on when you need a break from everything else. 

The story of Irodoku follows a high school girl called Hitomi and is set in Japan 2078. It's well known that the world has rare individuals who are able to perform magic, Hitomi's family is full of such mages. Hitomi is colorblind and very introverted, she does not try to make friends and has some deep rooted abandonment issues because of her childhood. Determined to broaden Hitomis' perspective, her grandmother, Kohaku casts a spell on her and sends her 60 years into the past. In the past, Hitomi meets teenage Kohaku and now attends school with her as a transfer student, whilst trying to figure out how to return to the future. The story then explores how this extremely closed of girl manages to join an arts and photography club and makes genuine friends. She opens her heart to new experiences also falls in love for the first time. It's also interesting to see how she initially hates magic, but now begins to enjoy using it because it gives her a chance to see colors and make others happy. But as reality catches up, we must ask, what happens when she returns to the future?     

What I dislike about Irodoku, apart from its snails pace on story progression, is that it completely disregards any laws of time travel. There are no consequences or paradoxes that should be created by her actions in the past, which I find really illogical. They also have a great start to building characters, but don't really pull through in making them interesting enough to support the plot. In the end, just watch this anime for its 'feel good' factor, it does not have much else going for it. 

      

My personal ratings are:

Story: 2/5
Character Development: 3/5
Dialogue: 2/5
Music: 3/5 
Enjoyment: 2/5

Overall recommendation: A Monochromatic Photograph 

Irodoku is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.  

The Disastrous life of Saiki K.

Saiki K. is a slapstick shonen comedy anime that's all about the laughs. The show is full of unrestrained nonsensical humor that is guaranteed to put you through a fit of laughter. Saiki K is basically the anime equivalent of a fart bomb or a whoopy cushion, it's the most base form of comedy, but still undeniably effective and funny. Be prepared for unexpected gags, fast paced comedic dialogue, constant breaking of the fourth wall (something I'm guilty of too) and unapologetic jokes at the expense of other mainstream anime. Saiki K is a great way to shut off your mind and let laughter therapy take you to a happy place. 

The anime is basically one long commentary on the life of its protagonist, Kusuo Saiki. I mean an actual commentary as we're always hearing the inner working of his mind throughout each episode. He's basically a boy born with psychic abilities and god tier levels of power. Saiki does not see himself as gifted because his powers come with many burdens and restrictions. He is good at heart and wants nothing but to be an ordinary high schooler and to be left alone. Unfortunately the world keeps introducing chaotic people into his life who always create impossibly messy scenarios, forcing him to use his powers while still trying to hide them from others. Nothing makes sense here, but it's all ridiculously funny and spoofs various anime cliches to make great content for seasoned anime watchers. I think of this one as an instant classic, it's great to binge with friends as well.    

The thing about this anime is...there's no real story. With the absence of an overarching plot, Saiki K becomes almost mindless, especially because it goes on for four seasons counting specials. Even though this is intentional, and works well for most viewers, I feel like a small main story line would give a little more direction to this otherwise brilliant comedy.     



My personal ratings are:

Story: 1/5
Character Development: 2/5
Dialogue: 4/5
Music: 3/5
Enjoyment: 5/5    

Overall Recommendation: Yare Yare 

All seasons of The Disastrous life of Saiki K. are on Netflix, you can use a VPN if not in your region.