Title: Hell Girl Vol 2
Author: Miyuki Eto
Original Story: The Jigoku Shoujo Project
Publisher: Del Rey
ISBN: 9780345504166
May Contain Spoilers
Ai Enma is back to send people with personality flaws straight down to Hell. If you’ve got a grudge, she’ll dole out a little punishment against your enemies. Just keep in mind that you’ll be given a one-way ticket to Hell, too!
This volume of Hell Girl has Ai coming to the rescue of young girl being abused by her nanny, shows the dangers of accepting a dinner invitation from your best friend’s crush, and demonstrates that cheating doesn’t guarantee that you’ll finish first. There’s also an incredibly mean substitute teacher who tosses anything unrelated to school in the trash heap, and a girl who being stalked by a creepy guy in a bunny suit. Yeah, that one was enough to give me nightmares – bunnies should never be used for evil! That just goes against the natural rules of the universe.
Hell Girl’s collection of short stories start to feel painfully repetitive about halfway through the book. Sure, the setup for each chapter has a different twist, but the solution to everyone’s problem is exactly the same. After reading Ai explain the “rules” of sending someone to Hell ad nauseam, it starts to get so old. You can almost skip the last few pages of each chapter, because you know what’s going to happen. There’s no suspense or question about the ending of each chapter, and that makes it really difficult to stay interested in the stories.
My favorite aspect of the title was, once again, the art. How can these doe-eyed girls be so evil? Ice skater Azusa tries to manipulate her rivals into sending each other to Hell, and she has the largest, creepiest eyes of any manga I’ve ever read. Hope she doesn’t have to shop for contact lens, because I don’t think they make they that big. While some of the backgrounds are a little too tone heavy, the cutesy art helps to keep the horror elements from becoming overwhelming. It’s kind of funny that the series runs in a magazine for elementary girls in Japan, but it carries a rating for Older Teen on the Del Rey editions. Don’t want to traumatize any young kids with these unrealistic images of Hell, I guess.
Grade: C
Rated for Older Teen
Review copy provided by Del Rey
May 29, 2008 at 7:22 am
[...] Alliance+, and vol. 33 of InuYasha at Active Anime. At the Manga Maniac Cafe, Julie has vol. 2 of Hell Girl, vol. 4 of Dragon Eye, vol. 5 of Yurara, vol. 15 of The Wallflower, and vol. 1 of Fushigi Yugi Genbu [...]
November 30, 2008 at 12:25 am
i love nakayoshi…thank you miyuki eto senpai.arigatou!i am indonesian!!!i hope i can go to japan some day.i love to see japan.it’s many some amazing place to see.i sorry,i can’t speak english well.because,my grade is 11.i now,i was to child to read nakayoshi.but..i very love to see you emma>.
November 30, 2008 at 12:39 am
sorry..my real name is kharisma.and my letter not already,finish.your anime it’s very amazing!!^^ i love it!thank’s to nakayoshi kru,okay?your birthday is 3 july,right?i have read in nakayoshi 62.your comic’s is very good.and i hope we can meet some day.okay..see you^____^
October 24, 2009 at 2:20 am
I love the fact that this manga actually goes into real depth about mankind’s fickle and selfish desires as well as exposing those who are willing to themselves to hell in order to get them punished…I wonder, if Heaven can become too full, what about Hell?Sorry if I’ve gone completely off the point of your manga, factis I love it! Keep up the good work ^_^