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Hell Girl Gets New 12-Episode TV Anime in July
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
The April issue of Kodansha's Nakayoshi magazine will confirm on Friday that a new television anime for the Hell Girl (Jigoku Shōjo) franchise has been green-lit. The new anime is titled Jigoku Shōjo: Yoi no Togi. It will have six new episodes and six "reminiscence" episodes, and will premiere in July on MBS, Tokyo MX, Gunma TV, Tochigi TV, and BS11.
The cast members feature returning cast reprising their roles, except for Misaki Watada as Michiru. The cast includes:
- Mamiko Noto as Ai Enma
- Takayuki Sugō as Wanyuudou
- Takako Honda as hone-Onna
- Masaya Matsukaze as Ren Ichimoku
- Hekiru Shiina as Yamawaro
- Kanako Sakai as Kikuri
- Misaki Watada as Michiru
Hiroshi Watanabe (Hell Girl: Two Mirrors scriptwriter, Hell Girl: Three Vessels director) is again credited for the original concept. Takahiro Ōmori, the director of the first Hell Girl anime as well as Hell Girl: Two Mirrors, is returning to direct the anime at Studio DEEN. Also returning are Mariko Oka, Kenichi Kanemaki, and Yasuharu Takanashi for character designs, series composition, and music, respectively.
Stories in the Hell Girl franchise usually begin with bullied or tormented people accessing the Hell Correspondence website, allowing them to submit a request to eliminate the person tormenting them. It is then that Ai Enma, the titular Hell Girl, appears, and gives these people a doll that, once pulled, sends their tormentor to Hell, where Enma and her companions proceed to enact karmic torment on the doomed person. The catch is that the person who originally sent the request will be sent to hell as well.
Studio DEEN debuted the first Hell Girl television anime series in 2005. The series received two subsequent television anime sequels in 2006 and 2008, as well as a live-action television series adaptation in 2006. The anime also received the manga adaptation by Miyuki Etoo, as well as two other manga adaptations named Shin Jigoku Shōjo (New Hell Girl) in 2009, and Jigoku Shōjo Enma Ai Selection Geki Kowa Story (Hell Girl: Enma Ai Selection, Super Scary Story) in 2014. The manga is also getting a Kessakusen Kachōfūgetsu volume, which compiles popular chapters from Etoo's manga adaptation of the earlier anime, and will bundle a booklet of production designs for the new anime.
Funimation released the first series on DVD in North America in 2007. Sentai Filmworks released Hell Girl: Two Mirrors, the second season, on DVD in 2010. Sentai Filmworks also released Hell Girl: Three Vessels, the third season, in the same year on DVD. Del Rey published the first Hell Girl manga in seven volumes.
The franchise inspired a stage play last November.
Update: Del Rey's publication details corrected. Thanks, kakashi12210
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