A vast improvement over the last episode, with a very…well, EPIC ending. Gods, where was this 18 episodes ago!? Mind you, the ending is still hidden behind the rest of the episode, but at least the plot was a lot more dramatic than a stupid radio show.
Noticed that nobody has ever put up the translation for the full version of ‘storm’, aka Mai Otome Zwei ED2. I like the song enough that I might actually put it up here. I’ll have to rummage around for the lyrics.
Summary:
Nakiri Kaori is the successor of a well-known flower arranger who isn’t exactly thrilled with her job. Instead of attending the funeral service, Kaori goes out on the town, eventually running into a wandering Yuzuki, carrying a bouquet of cast-off flowers Wanyuudou and company had cut from the school fields. Kaori arranges the flowers in exchange for Yuzuki buying her some yamaimo to eat. The two become fast friends, but their conversation is cut short by the arrival of Kaori’s escorts, including Tsukio; still somewhat unwilling to go, Kaori drags a hapless Yuzuki along with her.
At the funeral, Yuzuki is surprised to see her three teachers there (aka the disguised Hone-Onna, Wanyuudou, and Ichimoku Ren). However, everybody else simply sees long-time workers in the Nakiri family. Later, the Jigoku Tsuushin team raises concerns that Yuzuki can recognize them, but Ai simply states that she may be awakening, and Ai will have to explain things to Yuzuki soon.
Following the funeral, another woman named Kurozaka Yukina steps forward and claims rights to the family’s assets as her birthright between Nakiri’s father and another woman. Kaori is distressed at the idea of losing her family’s business to someone who clearly cares more about the money than anything else, and confides in her longtime friend Tsukio. Confides…and then confides a little more intimately.
Meanwhile, Yuzuki is out hunting for her three teachers again. Having taken pictures of them at school, Yuzuki intends to go to the Nakiri house and compare them to the ‘workers’ she saw the previous night. However, the pictures disappear from her phone as Ai appears and confirms Yuzuki’s beliefs, saying that the three of them are in her employ. However, Ai only responds with cryptic answers to Yuzuki’s other questions, leaving the full explanation for later.
At the Nakiri mansion, Tsukio overhears Yukina’s plot to poison Kaori and forcefully take the Nakiri assets. With the poison put into Kaori’s drink, Tsukio quickly grabs it and chugs the poison himself, exchanging his life for hers. In a fit of anger, Kaori puts Yukina’s name into Jigoku Tsuushin and is rewarded with a straw doll. Further compounding the issue is Kodakura (Kaori’s other supporter) revealing the true nature of Nakiri flower arrangements; Hakki-ryu, or the arrangement of flowers for the deceased. Kaori realizes that this is her lot in life, and pulls the string on her straw doll. As Yukina descends to Hell, Kaori completes her first project, and accepts Tsukio as her next.
Yuzuki finally catches up to Kaori, but the heiress has changed. Despite her not wanting to do flower arranging before, Kaori now easily accepts her position as the Nakiri family’s next in line. Before returning home, Yuzuki gets one more surprise from Ai – the revelation that she will be the next Jigoku Shoujo.
Impressions:
- ANYTHING is better than the BS episode 18. Stupid radio show, can’t get over how incredibly lame that was.
- This would’ve been a lot better if it didn’t fizzle out at the end. I guess they were running out of time and just had to make Kaori go through the “change-of-heart” phase really, really quickly.
- Okay, sure, it’s a drama, so obviously Tsukio had to take the bait. But really, drinking the poison yourself? Shouldn’t that be…I don’t know, THE LAST OPTION?
- I miss Akie. It’s kind of surprising, but the levity she brought gave a good contrast to the rest of the cast, especially you know who. There are series that take itself too seriously, try to do too much with the drama, etc., and JS3 falls into that category. It doesn’t help that they over-dramatize the oddest of situations (god I’m still ranting about Ep. 18).
- Okay, so the ending pretty much confirms my (and quite possibly everybody else’s) belief that Yuzuki would be the successor of Enma Ai. Which is weird, because…didn’t Ai get released in Futakomori? Didn’t her soul get dragged down to Hell, along with all the other villagers? It’s as if the Hell Spider went “Haha you’re done now…OH WAIT I FORGOT TO GET ANOTHER ONE OH SHI-” Really odd story lapse here, and I’m kind of curious to see how they explain it. If they explain it, that is.
Preview:
Hell Girl vs. Hell Professor. Literally.
What, did you want Hell Boy again?
This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 5th, 2009 at 7:42 am and is filed under Anime, Jigoku Shoujo.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
