Rating; OT 16+
Price: 10.95 USD
If she wasn't a minion from hell, I might feel a little worse for the bludgeoning poor Hell Girl has received in recent reviews. Johanna Draper Carlson thought the stand-alone episode form works better in anime episodes. Chris Mautner declared Hell Girl will contend for 2008 Worst of the Year lists (with 11 months of releases as yet unread).
Though I think it's a wee-bit early to declare any title a potential worst-of-the-year, Hell Girl does suffer from issues some cross-over titles can suffer from, but will still entertain a certain faction of fans.
Adapting from anime to manga is almost expected now. Whether it is welcomed or necessary isn't clear. Name recogition in manga and anime go a long way in world where the sheer volume of titles being released has been nothing short of overwhelmng over the last year. (I think this will change in 2008, and we are already seeing the brakes being put on, for a variety of reasons, but that's a better topic for a different venue.)
Crossover titles can work, but only if they can work independently of their source material. Blood+ gives an alternate version of the history written in the anime. On the other end, the Coyote Ragtime Show manga is not only almost incomprehensible if you haven't seen the series, it acts like Cliff's Notes of an otherwise action-packed series.
So where does Hell Girl fall? Somewhere in the middle. Having not seen the anime, I can't speak to the adaptation, but it shouldn't make a difference, right?
The first chapter (of five) is the most detailed and engaging. Schoolgirl Mari is blackmailed by her classmate Satsuki for a crime she actually didn't commit. This kind of hazing is common in manga and anime, and stirs nothing but a desire for revenge from the reader. Enter Hell Girl, a classmate by day, at midnight she turns an agent of revenge helping the desperate and the hurting. Revenge is delivered, in return for the requester's eternal soul.
A fun concept, for sure, but with two flaws: 1) Each chapter is the same story told over again and 2) the stories get darker and danker to the point where gleaning "enjoyment" gets more difficult. A mean classmate is one thing, but a middle-school teacher with wandering hands and a veterinarian wih a sadistic streak were less than comfortable stories to read.
With a super-big-eyed shojo look, Hell Girl's style works to keep it grounded in fantasy, but also gives a cute-and-creepy feel that will appeal to goth-loli lovers. If you like it unabatedly dark, Hell Girl is your gal, but without any back-story and explanation, the stories cannot be called deep.
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