Ep25: Yuzuki
Well, translated episode 25 today! I guess you could say that I’m on a roll, but that was only possible because I failed to translate them earlier. And I’m beginning to feel sick to boot. Maybe it’s all that angsty anime I’ve been watching lately.
Anyway, that episode was interesting… that her whole life was basically a lie. I liked when her eyes suddenly turned red. But really, I don’t see how her life could prove that sending people to hell can be good, since sending anybody to hell in that situation wouldn’t have helped anybody.
Anyway, three notes again:
04:33 Pachinko — It’s the Japanese equivalent of pinball combined with a slot machine, I guess, where you buy a bunch of balls to put in the machine, which can sometimes activate the slot machine inside. A jackpot gives you more balls to play with, or exchange for prizes. It’s quite popular amongst Japanese men. Frequently cited in anime for its potential to waste a lot of money, usually angering the wife of the household.
16:09 Ojichan — Ojisan is a word used in Japanese to refer to any older man (as in, older than 20-30 and younger than 60 or so), and Ojichan refers specifically to a man like that that you are close to.
16:36 Hanko — In Japan, instead of signing important documents, you frequently use a stamp. These are pretty normal — they just have your name in Kanji on them. While it may seem easily forgeable, the most important documents require you to register the specific stamp, and thus, most of these stamps are very unique, not to mention handmade.
…. this episode made me realize that there really IS a need for jigoku shoujo. Since the first season, i’ve been wondering that it’s pointless and they should just leave mortals alone in their own demise.
Well translated btw and I’m very thankful for your efforts. This is the only anime this year that i really liked and maybe i liked it because you guys did a very good job. Keep up the goodwork, I’ll be waiting for the last ep’s subs.
Cake
I wonder if this scenario can be happen in the reality. I mean, a young widow and her daughter ostracized and abandoned? I also watch a movie about condition of poor people, # Harmful Insect (Gaichu)… it seems to weird, one of the most rich and civilized country of the world does not have a basic social assistance network? O_o
Well, Japanese society works that way. It might be strange, but they essentially became a “disgrace to society,” and any communication with them, therefore, basically makes you an outlier and someone whom you cannot talk to without disrespecting you and your family. Japan indeed has social assistance, but it wouldn’t really apply to people in such a situation, since it’s not that they’re poor, it’s that all of society is against them.
It’s just a cultural thing, essentially… it might seem strange to those in other “developed” countries, but Japanese society is a unique blend between that which is traditional and that which is new (i.e. Western). Japan has always had an emperor, a strong, universal practice of religion (not too strict, but there), and a large emphasis on how you look to society.
This was an intense episode. I’m not really comfotable with Yuzuki’s job as Hell Girl. Its really Ai’s job…eh, I hope the next episode has answers as to WHY they chose her of all people, and WHY Ai is getting ‘kicked out’. I suppose its because she died (in the last season), but im not sure.
Oh, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
From season 1, it seems the main requirement for becoming Hell Girl (aside from being a girl), is to die as an innocent victim abandoned by society (and thus embody all that is wrong in the world).
Ai was buried alive as a sacrifice to maintain her village’s prosperity (fat lot of good it did them), Takuma from season 2 became everyone’s scapegoat for being at the wrong place at the wrong time, and now we have Yuzuki, who was shunned by society because a transportation company didn’t want to admit to a mechanical failure.
She didn’t become a vengeful spirit like Ai did, though, nor did she incur any sort of debt with the lord of Hell. One episode left to see what happens to our gothic-moe poster girl. You can’t have Hell Girl without the girl herself, right?
No, Zau. Her past made Akie more important to her, so she would stesp through the torii.