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Hell Girl Live-Action Film Green-Lit for Next Fall
posted on by Karen Ressler
A live-action film adaptation of the Hell Girl (Jigoku Shōjo) anime franchise has been green-lit for fall 2019 in Japan. Kōji Shiraishi (Impossibility Defense) is directing the film.
Tina Tamashiro is starring as Ai Enma. Other cast members include:
(Second row in image above, left to right)
- Manami Hashimoto as Hone Onna
- Raiku as Ren Ichimoku
- Akaji Maro as Wanyūdō
(Third row in image above, left to right; character name romanizations not confirmed)
- Nana Mori as Miho Ichikawa
- Sawa Nimura as Haruka Nanjō
- SKE48's Mina Ohba as Sanae Mikuriya
- Kazuki Namioka as Kudō
- Tomu Fujita as Maki
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 three subsequent television anime sequels in 2006, 2008, and 2014, 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. A stage play adaptation opened in November 2016.
Funimation released the first series on DVD in North America in 2007, and Sentai Filmworks released the second and third seasons on DVD in 2010. Aniplex of America streamed the anime on Crunchyroll and Amazon's Anime Strike channel as it aired in Japan. Del Rey published the first Hell Girl manga in seven volumes.
Sources: Jigoku Shōjo film's website, Comic Natalie
