Hell Girl: Three Vessels

MeMyself · 27-04-2012, 07:01 PM

First of all, if you have not yet seen Hell Girl: Two Mirrors, stop reading now. Depending on how well you put two and two together, there may be some spoilers to that series below.

Ai Enma has returned and she’s putting the band back together. This time she is adding a new member, Yamawaro, a boy about 16 years old. There are also a few other changes as well. Everything begins to center around a schoolgirl named Yuzuki Mikage.

Hell Girl: Three Vessels is the third season of the series. It begins with Ai taking possession of Yuzuki’s body, although Yuzuki remains in control. She sees things through Hell Girl’s eyes and witnesses people being sent to hell. For some reason this does not seem to bother her enough to upset her life until episode 13, which is as far as I got in the series so far – the half way point. Notably this is where things look like they are getting interesting.

So why is Ai possessing Yuzuki anyway? That probably will not be revealed until episode 26, but I can guess it is necessary due to the ending of season 2, and may have something to do with Yuzuki’s absent parents whom she seems in one episode to be uncomfortable talking about. But that is just my guess.

But there are problems with Three Vessels. At least to this point, it is just not as good as seasons 1 and 2. There are about three really good episodes, while the rest just seem to go through the motions. Some of them get a bit silly, such as when Ai dresses up as a bee to send one victim to hell. Plus it does seem odd that Ai and her friends as now spending all their time hanging around Yuzuki , and that all of their cases involve people Yuzuki knows or meets. And there is a bit of (ahem) girl/girl relationships implied, which was not too expected.

But this is Hell Girl. The ending of episode 13 alone is enough to keep you interested in the series. I will report back when I finish watching the remaining episodes. I don’t know how many out there have seen Hell Girl: Three Vessels. I don’t think it has yet been dubbed into English. But if you have seen it, please no spoilers!

MeMyself · 14-05-2012, 10:43 PM

Before I forget, since I forgot to say this in my last posting, You Tube has picked up the series again after a short absence.

So I finished the series, and as much as I was disappointed with the first half, I was quite pleased with the second. Yukuzi at first tries to stop Ai. Then the real truth is revealed. After the first few episodes, I thought I had the ending figured out. I was 1/3 correct. But even if you do figure this thing out, it is still a powerful ending.

Tsugumi Shitbata, the little girl with the connection to Ai in season 1, returns. She made a brief cameo in season 2, but here figures into the storyline. She is now a school nurse who gives Yukuzi a sympathetic shoulder to cry on, but there is little else she can do. It’s all about fate, destiny and compassion – from an unexpected source. And Yukuzi throws a few curves of her own -- which turns out not to be such a good idea.

I don’t know if season 3 has been dubbed yet. The on-line episodes are all in Japanese with subtitles. I don’t think season 2 is available on DVD, at least not in the US. I certainly would like to see seasons 2 and 3 again.