Jigoku Shoujo (2019)

Do you want to see what death is like? - Ai Enma

It reminds me a little of Hellraiser, if the Cenobites are summoned if someone manages to solve the puzzle, then the Cenobites will appear, granting sadomasochistic pleasures, shows a great practical effect and take the ones who summoned them to hell.

In this film, there's Ai Enma, the Hell Girl, a mysterious woman who can send someone who you have a grudge against to Hell in exchange for forfeiting your own soul to Hell once you die. But unfortunately the way she taking people to hell is not very satisfying, makes me say "Just like that?".

The other things in this film not making me interested, it's just a procession bringing people to hell that I can say just "okay".

I love you Koji Shiraishi-san, but I'm really not satisfied with your work on this one.

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Movie adaptations just don't work for Jigoku Shoujo.

As someone, who's seen complete Jigoku Shoujo the anime series and is ready to read the manga, I feel like a movie adaptation just doesn't do any of the characters justice. TV series would have more space to introduce everyone properly and imerse you more in the story. Which this movie is honestly lacking and I'm not sure who should be the target audience, but about that later.

N O T S P O I L E R F R E E / N O M A J O R S P O I L E R S

Did you ever felt hatered so strong, held such a powerful grudge, that you would be able to curse someone for hell? What if I tell you there's something called Hell Correspondence, that only those filled with anger and pain can access when the clock strikes midnight? Would you do it, would you send someone to hell? Not for free of course, it would cost you your soul. You will get to live your life in peace, but once you die, your soul will also go to hell, because once you curse someone, the curse will come back right to you.

Sometimes pain makes us do irrational things and it's quite easy to be blinded by our emotions. And once the rumor about Hell Correspondence brokes out and becames a urban legends, you can be sure there will be someone, who will try to access the page once midnigh comes. Mikuriya Sanae is one of those people. Scared for life after her attacker slashes her face with a kitchen knife and mocks her in his apology letter, she decides to make a deal with Enma to take him to hell, cursing herself with the same fate. On the other hand, Ichikawa Miho makes deal with Enma to save her friend from being sacrificed by popular male idol in live show...

Okay, so, what we got - brief introduction to how Hell Correspondence works, no lore, no history background, no other explanation about Enma Ai and her team, their reasoning and how this whole thing works, what all they can do and how the hell works, because for everyone hell looks differently. So the most interesting things were left out.

Enma Ai was actually my biggest disapointment, her character felt bland, ghost like (which she isn't) and not creepy enough. The flower animation for when she took people to hell was quite nice, but I honestly missed the bell on her bracelet ringing when she did that, and Wanyuudou as the carriage that takes you to hell. I also have to wonder why none of the Hell's Correspondence client weren't given the chest tattoo as symbol of closing the deal with Enma. I guess it didn't suit any purpose in this story, in anime it was rather important detail.

Overal this movie was lacking any characters that you could feel for, except for Kudo, but yeah, he also doesn't get to live for long. No good soundtrack, no background that makes Jigoku Shoujo interesting, just B grade movie that I feel will piss of fans of this series and confuse people that never heard of the original. Unfortunatelly live actions will always have problem to uplive to their ancestors.

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