Customer Reviews

Hell Girl 1

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

As a journalist who writes about emerging media with spiritual themes, I'm fascinated by the rising interest in manga among young readers -- teenagers and 20-somethings (and I've even spotted a good number of 30-somethings in the manga aisle at Borders).

There are some promising religious comic artists creating graphic novels and manga with Christian, Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist themes. Bravo to those artists! But the mainstream of manga is more of a mish-mash of spiritual themes. For instance, a number of Japanese manga tales have picked up traditional Catholic images and concepts -- like the Vatican's office of inquisition and ideas related to angels and demons. But the places they wind up are mingled with Gothic tales of vampires and even images from the ancient world about heroes, gods and goddesses.

This is an immensely creative realm in media -- and obviously the audience is growing each year.

I gave this title 3 stars, because I think it's an intriguing choice to sample some of the spiritual soup that simmers in manga these days. The basic idea here is that a special Web site empowers someone to send a tormentor to Hell. And, eventually, the hellish sentence can consume the executioner's life as well.

The imagery is classic manga for younger readers -- cute, big-eyed characters placed in scenes with strong black-and-white graphic design.

The theology doesn't really make sense, but that's not the point of most manga, which is more of a kaleidoscopic toying with potent spiritual and mythic iconography.

No, it's not a 5-star classic -- but it is a relatively new (in English editions) slice of what makes manga attractive these days to many American readers.