For the most part this felt like a fairly ordinary episode, albeit a bit disturbing when Shizuko opened the bag. Things turned out to be a bizarre misunderstanding, which I wasn’t really expecting. In a way it ended up kind of sad for both parties once we figured everything out. I guess I should have expected some sort of twist towards the end. It wouldn’t be like them to make the story so straightforward and obvious. All in all, I thought it was an average episode in terms of entertainment value relative to the other episodes this season. We’re almost half way into the series and we really aren’t much further than the first episode in terms of the
underlying plot of the series. If they don’t start relatively soon I don’t know if I can expect a well thought out story.

This was probably the most unique episode out of all the other “Jigoku Shoujo” episodes I’ve seen. Unfortunately it was much too different that it affected the episode negatively. On one hand I thought it was interesting to see a whole other side to Hone-onna. On the other hand, the episode itself wasn’t all that entertaining. Normally an episode would unfold in a manner that allows us to make some sort of connection with the main characters. I thought that factor was missing from this episode. There are also usually emotional highs and lows throughout the episode, but this episode seemed relatively flat. I’ll give them credit for trying something different. I just hope the rest of the series will adhere to the winning formula.

I found this episode to be quite sad on multiple levels. I’m not implying this was a bad episode at all. It’s just the combination of the subject matter with the events in the episode that make it a depressing episode. There were many ways they could have portrayed the main characters of this story. The path they decided on was unique for sure. You could really see the consequences of not knowing how to deal with fear and confusion. Ren’s interest in this specific case might be an indication that his past may be somewhat related to this situation. More specifically, the woman we saw in his flashback a few episodes ago may be his sister. I would be interested in learning more about his past as well as the pasts of the other characters.

They’re really on a roll this season. There hasn’t been a single episode where I ended up fairly disappointed with the story. The story turned out to have lots of twists which I found to be really entertaining. Needless to say it was once again a completely unique story for the series. Since there was no new plot development relevant to the recurring characters, I’m going to stop expecting it anytime soon. As long as they’re able to keep coming up with good episodes it won’t be a big deal to me until later on in the series. I said previously that the endings tended to be darker for this season. This episode can be taken as an exception. Depending on how you look at it, it can be seen as somewhat of a “happy” ending. On the other hand it can also be viewed as depressing. It’s still one of the better episodes this season regardless of how you interpret it.

This has to be one of the more bizarre episodes I’ve seen in the “Jigoku Shoujo” series. It’s one of the very few episodes where there isn’t one specific person you can point the finger at. Although it wasn’t the most attention-grabbing episode yet, it was still fairly entertaining. From early in the episode we already knew who the ‘target’ was, but it was just a question of when the inevitable would occur. It feels like the epilogue for the episodes this season are generally darker than the first season. You can’t help but feel really sorry for the lead in this episode by the end. Once again there was absolutely no development regarding Ai or Kikuri. At the moment I have no clue as to where they’re ultimately trying to take the story.

As I was watching this episode I thought they had finally run out of ideas for an original story. After watching it in its entirety though, it turns out I was wrong. It wasn’t the most interesting episode thus far, but it still managed to keep me entertained for the majority of the episode. They played the opening theme for the first season during the bowling scene. I thought it was a nice addition to the episode. There was no progress made in terms of the underlying story of this season. It feels like it’s a good time to start dropping hints regarding the plot. Without recurring characters like Hajime and Tsugumi from the first season, there is currently no definitive way of figuring out what this season is going to be ultimately about.

During the early parts of the episode, I was thinking there wasn’t going to be anything special about the episode. As the story unfolded, however, things took an interesting turn. I thought this was one of the more meaningful episodes in the grand scheme of things. If you want to see a great example of karma at work, then this is the episode for you. We still don’t know what Kukuri’s purpose in the series is. Currently I can only see her as a waste of time. I don’t recall learning about her name previous to this episode, but I may have just missed it. One of the scenes towards the end really took me by surprise. I never would have expected to hear Ai insult someone like that. It was definately one of the more humourous moments in the series.

Although there wasn’t any new concrete facts about the little girl, there was some progress in terms of the underlying plot of the series. One thing I do know for sure is, up close, she looks extremely creepy with her overly-large eyes. At the moment I can’t tell whether her intentions are good or not. Something is going on with Ai as well; at least it appears that way. As for the one-shot story in this episode, I felt it kind of lacked impact until late in the episode. The lead character’s actions in the past may be unforgiveable, but you can’t help feel sorry for him by the end. The fact that he really ended up not gaining anything made his efforts appear as if they had been in vain.

Although this episode was unique just like the previous two episodes, I didn’t find it as entertaining. That’s not to say this was a bad episode. It had its merits as well. The main character of this episode, Tae, was one interesting character. Simply put, the way she expressed her love for Kei-chan was one of a kind. At first I thought Tae was just kind of creepy. As the episode progressed though, I could see why she thinks and behaves the way she does. When I watched the preview for this episode, I assumed we would make some sort of progress with the underlying plot of this season. Unfortunately there really was no development on that front in this episode. I guess as long as the one-shot episodes are entertaining the lack of progression isn’t a big issue at this point in the season.

It looks like we’ll actually learn about the past of the other characters to a certain extent in this season. We got a brief glimpse of an unnamed woman whom we can only assume is somehow connected to Ichimoku Ren’s past. Ai is showing us different sides of her we haven’t seen previously. They seem to be trying to provide the character development that was pretty much missing from the first season. I think it’s just a matter of time before we get see an ongoing story once again. It’s almost certain that the mysterious little girl in the kimono will play a big part in it. Currently we still don’t know anything about her. The one shot stories for the first two episodes have been unique, so I actually wouldn’t mind them continuing the series in the same format for now.