Hell Girl 1 [Paperback]

Miyuki Eto (Author)

Book Description

Series: Hell Girl | Publication Date: January 29, 2008

SHE’S COMING FOR YOU. . . .

When you thirst for revenge, there’s a surefire way to get it: Simply go to the strange website that appears only at midnight, and enter the name of your enemy. The Hell Girl will appear to drag your tormentor to eternal damnation. But you will have to pay a price . . . your soul!

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Enter your enemy's name at midnight on a special Web site, and Hell Girl takes revenge on them for you. Each chapter is thus a story of someone getting what's coming to them. The most fully realized, in both motivation and setup, is the first. Nerd Mari is set up to be caught shoplifting; popular Satsuki rescues her but blackmails Mari into buying her treats. Later stories cover a pastry student opening her own shop sabotaged by her jealous former teacher; an aspiring actress starring in the Hell Girl movie who's being stalked; an evil vet; and a girl sexually harassed by her teacher. As the book proceeds, the stories and resolutions become more perfunctory. It can be difficult to tell which character is speaking, given the lack of tails on the word balloons, since the voices aren't distinctive. The action is also unclear in key scenes, with too many shortcuts taken. Hell, by the way, looks like a shower of black chrysanthemums, the Japanese funeral flower. Those wishing evil are told that in return for their enemy's condemnation, they too will go to hell after they die, but that warning is little played up in this anime tie-in that probably plays better on TV. (Jan.)
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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 16 and up
  
• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey (January 29, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345497473
• ISBN-13: 978-0345497475
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.6 x 7.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #912,898 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Has potential, but ultimately falls flat, February 25, 2008

By 

ChibiNeko "Sooo many books, so little time!" (Whereever I go, here I am.) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Hell Girl 1 (Paperback)

I really wanted to like this manga. It's got a bit of everything I like. The artwork is cute, it's in an episodic format (each chapter is a different story), & the plotline is interesting. The idea of being able to send an enemy to hell by entering in their name on a hidden website is an interesting idea. While the idea of retribution via an outside party has been somewhat done before, this was a good approach. However, that's about where my admiration stopped.

The plotline revolves around Ai (Hell Girl), an ageless entity who collects names of the deserving (and sometimes undeserving) for retribution. The cost of sending your enemy or rival to hell? You eventually join them in eternal torment. While this format works for the first few stories, eventually I started to wonder if any of these characters actually thought about whether or not their revenge was worthwhile & if they'd really tried to solve their own problems themselves. After the first 2 stories I was struggling to really want to finish the manga or even care about the characters. Some of them really seemed to be at the end of their ropes, which made their desperate move of registering on Hell Girl's website somewhat understandable. However most of them just appeared to be rather whiny & unlikeable, as in the case of the would be girl chef. Her store was constantly trashed, robbed, & slandered, but did she ever think about leaving the area to get a fresh start in a new town?

Another flaw is that you never see any of the people actually fully realize their choices & their mistakes. None of the clients ever fully understand what "eternal suffering in hell" means, & as such they never appear to regret their actions or fear their deaths. They all assume that they'll live for a long time. It would have been refreshing to see that realization (and maybe it'll happen in future volumes), but at the moment the characters are all one sided & cliched.

If I see any future volumes in the stores I'll glance at them, but there would have to be some serious improvements before I'd consider actually buying this story. I gave the volume 3 stars due to the cute artwork & a novel idea for a manga. I've been told that the manga improves & I hope it does. Otherwise it's just another manga that pulls out every cliche in hopes of selling to the mass market goth & horror crowds.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The books are not worth the time, August 10, 2008

By 

M. Larson (Boston, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hell Girl 1 (Paperback)

First: the DVDs are great (as long as you start with DVD vol2. Vol 1 is completely throaway and does nothing to advance the story. Everything you learn in Vol 1 you learn in the first episode of DVD vol 2.)

Now, the BOOK: Apart from some nice black and white art, the books are slightly difficult to follow, they are even more vague and repetetive than the DVD (VOl 1) and the stories are not that interesting. As I read from Book 1 to book 2 to book 3, I kept thinking that at some point that story had to start becoming connected like the DVD did, but no. Every story is an isolated tale about someone with a grudge who ultimately calls Hell Girl, who ultiamtely sends them to Hell. It gets pretty monotonous. Don't waste time on the books. I am sorry that I did.

3.0 out of 5 stars hell girl manga vil.1 my review, July 24, 2008

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Hell Girl 1 (Paperback)

hell girl,was the first manga ive read,in vilume 1 you are able to relize what exactly hell girl is about.But they have misted parts in the chapters,such as the straw doll and ai-chan seemed to jingle her braclet before the victom was terirized before being sent to hell.I watched some episodes of the anime and relized this.Also the charecters seemed to not think before going on hell corispondence,and they didnt try there own way of helping there problem.The charecters seemed whiny,and cried a bit,they gave up very quickly too.But the art work in this manga is amazing miyuki eto draws eyes and the charecters hair very well.All in all,this first volume may leave out parts and not seem very story like,but it leaves you beging to read the next volume.