At an all-girls junior high school, a class has collected 100,000 yen for the donation drive where the funds are passed to the monitor, Hashimoto Mayumi. However, at the end of the day, she finds that the envelope containing the money has gone missing despite her placing it into her bag. Suddenly, she sees her classmate Kuroda Aya standing at the door and asking her what has happened...Due to the class donating the most funds, they receive an award which Mayumi hangs on the wall. In actual fact, Kuroda had lent money to Mayumi first so that she could submit the funds for the donation as the money was lost. Mayumi returns the money to Kuroda but she demands for interest. When Mayumi raises her objection, Kuroda threatens to expose Mayumi's loss of the money and forces her to buy drinks for her and her lackeys.
At the vending machine, Mayumi overhears some girls talking about Jigoku Tsushin whereby someone can enter the name of the person he/she hates at 12 midnight so that revenge will be taken on the target. However, you would have to pay for this with your life. When Mayumi brings the drinks to Kuroda's gang, the latter pours it away and blames Mayumi for not getting her a carbonated drink even though she does not like to drink it normally. After school, Mayumi is bullied again by Kuroda's gang and she cannot retalliate at all because they have a handle against her.
Mayumi's mother says that they have been losing cash in the household of late and wonders if this has to do with a burglar. However, Mayumi does not respond to this and goes back to her room.
At 12 midnight, Mayumi enters the name of Kuroda on the Jigoku Tsushin website but cannot bring herself to click the "submit" button as she's concerned about the repercussions of her actions. Just then, Kuroda call her mobile phone and forces Mayumi to go out in the middle of the night.
The next day, Mayumi hears rumours of her loitering outside at night. In addition, her form teacher asks her about this matter but he thinks that it's unlikely that Mayumi will do such a thing. Mayumi realises that Kuroda is behind this matter.
When Mayumi returns home, her mother is shocked to see that her face is bruised and asks whether she has taken the money lost recently. Mayumi finally makes the decision to enter Kuroda's name on the Jigoku Tsushin website and gets a fright when she sees an acknowledgement email in her mobile phone.
However, nothing happens after that which leads Mayumi to think that the Jigoku Tsushin website is just a hoax. Kuroda forces Mayumi to pick up guys from the streets and she is hugged by a man before she runs away in fright. Mayumi is shocked to know that Kuroda had taken a picture of what happened and the latter threatens to send the picture to the school if Mayumi does not give her more money.
Out of despair, Mayumi decides to commit suicide by jumping from a building. However, during her fall, she sees a girl beside her and finds herself at an unfamiliar place. The girl introduces herself as Enma Ai, the Jigoku Shoujo and she was summouned by Mayumi. Ai gives Mayumi a straw figure with a red thread around the neck where she can undo the thread as a confirmation of their contract and the target will be sent to hell. However, the tradeoff is that Mayumi's soul will go to hell when she dies and suffer indefinitely. When Mayumi regains consciousness, she finds herself sitting on the floor with the figurine in her hands.
In school, Mayumi runs away from Kuroda which leads the latter to expose the photo she took of Mayumi being hugged by a man. This proves to be the last straw for Mayumi as her teacher reprimands her for betraying his trust and that she will not get the recommendation next year to a senior high school. Mayumi goes to the rooftop and removes the red thread from the figurine which disappears, leaving the thread in her hands.
Meanwhile, Ai is preparing for this mission with her subordinates.
Kuroda receives an email from Mayumi to meet at the school gate at 10pm. She is surprised to see Mayumi running into the school and goes inside to look for her. However, what awaits Kuroda is a series of scary encounters including her lackeys being sucked into the wall. Finally, she sees a simulation of how she stole the donation funds from Mayumi. Kuroda refuses to admit her mistake despite Ichimoku Ren, Hone Onna and Wanyuudou bearing witness to what she did. In the end, Ai comes to take Kuroda into hell via a river...
Life returns to normal for Mayumi as if nothing had happened. However, Mayumi knows that something has changed as there is a tattoo on her chest to represent her agreement with Ai. Somewhere, there is a candle with her name representing her lifespan along with many others...
I rarely watch horror animes and this seems quite interesting with a new story in each episode. No doubt the quality of the animation seems to be less than satisfactory, I think the storyline, seiyuus and the BGM to build up the horror atmosphere can make up for this defect. The ED by Noto Mamiko was OK but it didn't leave a deep impression on me. Maybe I'll listen to it again in the later episodes.
Familiar seiyuus here include Noto Mamiko who is Nina Fortner in Monster and Mizuki Nana who is Wrath in Fullmetal Alchemist. Although I see Ueda Yuji's name on the official website, his character has not appeared yet and I'm looking forward to hearing his voice again. Noto is playing Enma Ai and I really like her voice which sounds so gentle and appealing.
As for the storyline, I like the concept of retribution emphasized in this series. In this episode, Kuroda may have been in the wrong right from the start because she stole the money first. I really felt like thrashing her up because she's so obnoxious. However, as what Ai said, to curse someone would mean that you are also in the wrong so Mayumi has to pay for the peace she desires when Kuroda is removed from her life. Thus, you can't justify your revenge in this manner and have to offer something in return. Sounds like the rule of fair exchange in Fullmetal Alchemist? In addition, the idea of using ideas to represent your lifespan is somewhat like what I usually see in Chinese dramas/movies where the flame will go off once you die. I wonder if the Japanese also believe in this concept to represent life or if this is taken from Chinese folklore. I guess more would be known about Ai and her subordinates in time to come since there wasn't much mention of them given that the emphasis was on how the Jigoku Tsushin concept worked.
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