kanna-chan's cafe

Hey guys, kanna here. I know it's a little unfair to judge a 12-episode series after just 5 episodes, but you know what? I decided to break my rule of waiting until the halfway point. For now, anyway. Whether I'll do that in the future remains to be seen. I promised you at least one Anime Monday before I started school, so here it is. Hopefully there will be more on the way.

Today's Anime Monday will talk about a series that...well...I put the main title in Japanese for a reason. If you'll recall, I reviewed 地獄少女 (H**l Girl) for an Anime Monday about a year ago. So I'll give a little background on this season. There will be some spoilers, because you need to have seen the previous seasons to understand this one. You have been warned.

Ok. I gave a general background of the anime in that review, so here's a little background on this season before we dive into each of the episodes. The third season of 地獄少女, Three Vessels, finished airing April 4, 2009. We all thought that that season was going to be the end of the anime. Some of us wanted a fourth season, some of us didn't. Personally, I was indifferent. I wouldn't have minded a fourth season, but I was okay without it.

On February 25 of this year (eight years after the third season), a fourth season of 地獄少女 was announced; something that I don't think a lot of people expected. While I'm sure some fans were more excited than others...I was a little indifferent. I thought a fourth season would be interesting, but I was unsure of where the writers would take it. So I think nervous might be the better word.

The fourth season premiered July 14 of this year. We'll get to what I thought about the series later, but for now...THIS SEASON IS ONLY 12 EPISODES! 12! FREAKING! EPISODES! ALL THE OTHER SEASONS HAD 26 OR SO EPISODES AND THIS ONE ONLY GETS 12?! IS THIS ATTACK ON TITAN ALL OVER AGAIN?! COME ON!

*end rant*

Ok. Deep breaths, kanna. Deep breaths.

Ahem.

Anyway, this new season was supposed to feature six new episodes and six "reminisce" episodes. By "reminisce," I can only assume that this means background on the characters. We got one "reminisce" episode just recently, but I'll talk about that one later. For now, let's get to the insight of the first five episodes of 地獄少女.

Episode 1: This episode is actually one of my favorites, and it wasn't bad for a first episode. It gave a great insight into bullying, especially cyber-bullying. In this episode, a girl is being bullied in her class's group chat for reasons unknown to her. She meets another girl who encourages her to join another group chat meant for loners. However, upon scrolling through the new group chat, the girl discovers that the other girl was responsible for the bullying and sends her to 地獄. I'll admit, that's not the best solution to any problem, but given that this is a fictional anime where some things are taken to the extreme, I'll let it slide. For now.

It's also in this episode where we meet a new character in the series. We don't know who she is (yet), but she seems to be judgmental of the work that Ai and her companions do for reasons we don't quite know (yet). It's also revealed that this girl doesn't know who she is or how she became a spirit.

Episode 2: I wasn't a fan of this episode. I mean, part of the reason why could be because I don't understand Japanese comedy (as in, I haven't seen enough of it to become familiar with it), as that's part of what's featured in this episode. The other part is two friends forming a damnation pact with each other and one friend sends the other to 地獄. So far, this season is sounding pretty similar to the previous seasons. I'm not liking this.

Episode 3: OH. MY. FREAKING. G-D. I HATED this episode. Not because the season was starting to seem formulaic and a little too similar to its predecessors, but because it was downright AWFUL. Why? Well, in this episode...how do I put this...everyone hates each other except for two siblings. You have a grandma who hates the mom, the grandma's son who doesn't really get involved in anything, and the parents' three kids (a girl with a boyfriend who is abusive towards her siblings and she doesn't care, a brother, and a sister). The writing was awful, there was little to no character development, and the whole thing revolved around the brother and his younger sister not wanting to get their hands dirty. What a piece of crap.

Episode 4: This was another bad one, but not for the same reason as episode 3. In this episode, we got to see the dark side of what happens in homes for the elderly. It was basically elder abuse nonstop. I wanted to cry; I felt awful for the characters. I mean...this is some of the stuff that you REALLY don't want to show viewers. But, surprisingly, that's not what pissed me off about this episode. No. What pissed me off was that they brought Tsugumi Shibata, a recurring character from the past three seasons, back for pretty much NO REASON. I'm not kidding. She's there as a worker who knows about the abuse and is trying to stop it (yay her), but she contributes nothing to the overall storyline of this episode. Useless, much?

Episode 5: Contrary to what people might say about this episode, I actually kinda liked it. I mean, it wasn't great, but it wasn't horrible, either. This episode was...I can't really come up with a good word to describe it. Here's what happened, though, as it does contain quite a bit of character development as to who this mysterious spirit is. In this episode, three out of four boys were killed in a car accident because they weren't wearing seat belts and were roughhousing instead. Only one survived because he was wearing his seat belt. The mother of one of the boys who died wants to send the surviving boy to 地獄, because it wasn't fair to her that he survived and her son didn't.

We learn that this is somewhat similar to our mysterious spirit's past, whose name we learn is Michiru. She remembers her past bit by bit in this episode until it all starts to come together. I'm not going to give away exactly what happened, but I will say how she died and became a spirit. She and her parents were killed in a fire set by some villagers. At first, she thought that she and her family were going to Heaven, which is what the mom said as they were dying. This would have been an interesting twist; having 地獄少女 and "Heaven Girl" (Michiru) battle it out over each time someone forms a contract. But the writers don't do this. Instead, they relate Michiru's story to Ai's story and say that she is to become the next 地獄少女. And...that's pretty much how the episode ends. Kinda crappy, but not much we can do about it, right?

So, thoughts: This season is too formulaic and follows the formula of the previous seasons. If you're new to 地獄少女, the first season is worth checking out. This one and the previous two seasons: not so much. The animation is decent, the music isn't that bad (it's not great, but it's not terrible), and even the torture scenes are short so those who can't take blood/guts/gore can just go right past them.

That being said about the torture scenes...they're too short. I feel like they're twenty seconds before Ai says her famous lines (this is just one of many variations of them: "O pitiful shadow bound in darkness, looking down upon people and causing them pain. A soul drowned in sinful karma...Want to try dying this once?"), and then poof! Gone! I mean, I don't like watching torture scenes, but seeing a villain get their comeuppance (even if it's in a super violent and torturous way) is kinda needed in a show about sending people to 地獄. They weren't afraid to show the death scenes in Death Note. Even the previous three seasons had longer torture scenes that were anywhere from a minute to two minutes. I don't know, maybe it's just me.

There isn't a ton of character development, and the problems seem too similar to the previous seasons. I mean...where's the originality? Did it go down the toilet? Are the writers just lazy? I mean, people who wanted a fourth season waited EIGHT YEARS for this, and this pile of crap is what we get? Formulaic as heck?! Um, no. The only reason I'm going to keep watching is because I freaking LOVE Ichimoku Ren.

Well, that's this week's Anime Monday. Stay tuned for my next review of...actually, I'm not sure. Um...TBD?

Anyway, the next Anime Monday probably won't be up until I move into my dorm (I'll be lucky if I can post one sooner), so just keep an eye on my Facebook page. Until next time! ~k