Review: Hell Girl Serves Up Half-Baked Shojo Manga Horror
It all sounded so promising. Innocent teens are tormented by bullies and evil adults. Their only hope for justice comes from a visit to a mysterious Web site that's only accessible at midnight, and a unique brand of damnation served up by a pretty girl in a floral kimono, Ai Enma a.k.a. "Hell Girl."
So where did it all go so, so wrong? Or if not wrong, then why did the Hell Girl manga end up being such a repetitive bore? The art is cute enough -- the girls all have flowing hair and huge, saucer-sized eyes that are hallmarks of ultra-shojo sweetness. And the mix of technology, urban legends and Japanese mythology seem tailor-made to give readers a new twist on your classic "serves you right" brand of horror stories. But sadly, Hell Girl falls short on several counts and serves up a half-baked tale that's worth a taste but not worth finishing, much less worth coming back for seconds.
Read my review of Hell Girl Volume 1 from Miyuki Eto and Del Rey Manga and feel free to disagree -- Is an eternity in Hell okay as long as your enemies get there first? If you're curious, visit the MySpace Comic Books page for a free preview of Hell Girl Volume 1.
Image credit: © Miyuki Eto / The Jigoku Shoujo Project
Comments
I agree with your review. When I initially saw the manga I was intrigued. It’s a good idea & is one that’s been done before in various ways. However I just couldn’t like this manga. The artwork is cute & the initial story ideas are ok, but it’s too much of a “everyone goes to hell” type of manga. Do none of these people ever think of trying to actually solve their problems by being honest, or (in the case of the bakery episode) move to another area to get away from the problem? The “problems” also seem to be overly hyped up & while a few of the stories could happen (the schoolgirl theft chapter), many of them just seem unrealistic. It’s like the creators just tossed every horror/retribution cliche they could into the storyline & sacrificed any real plotline.
I agree with your reveiw for the most part, but it isn’t as bad as I thought it would be.
and now Hollywood is making this book into a live action movie. Why is that if this book isn’t that great?
Oh, I think the concept is actually pretty good, and it could be an interesting movie with the right creative team. I guess my disappointment was from being intrigued by a promising story premise that was done in a half-baked, repetitive way… You know, good idea, not-so-good execution…
I’ve been keeping up with the manga so far (not buying, but reading it in the store) & I have to say that the series does get better in volumes 3 & 4. I still don’t see where it’s really worth the sacrifice of going to hell for eternity, but in one or two instances it seems somewhat rational. (Such as the girl who debated about sending her abusive father to hell & then ended up doing it in order to save her & her mom’s lives.)
Even so, it just seems a little ridiculous that everyone’s so willing to spend ETERNITY in hell in order to send someone else there first & that there’s no way to redeem themselves.
Hi Olivia,
thanks for your update! I haven’t picked up Hell Girl since Volume 1, so it’s interesting to hear from a reader who has.
I guess it’s intriguing enough to read in the store but not good enough to buy?