365 Days of Manga, Day 273: Hell Girl

HELL GIRL • Miyuki Eto/Hell Girl Project • Del Rey 8 13+
The Hell Girl anime series, about a beautiful, supernatural agent of vengeance, features lovely visuals and color-high production values all ’round. The Hell Girl manga is a “media mix” tie-in printed in Nakayoshi, a junior shojo magazine not normally associated with eternal torment and grinning skeletons mocking the wicked. Toned down for the younger audience, the manga is a series of short stories (some adapted from the anime, but mostly original) involving young girls who summon Hell Girl to get revenge on bullies, unscrupulous veterinarians, a sexually predator schoolteacher, and other irredeemably evil characters. The price for summoning Hell Girl is that you have to go to hell too, which makes Hell Girl’s aggressive sales tactics seem a little unscrupulous. The manga is a workmanlike adaptation at best; the plots are decently handled, but the big-eyed, juvenile house Nakayoshi art style unfortunately makes it look like a sweet kiddie series for 8-year-olds.
* 1/2 (one and a half stars)
Today’s winner is…. Kimberly R. of Ohio! Congratulations, Kimberly! When you get your manga, send us your photo, and we’ll get you hooked up with some more!

Today’s photo is of Jonathan T., who got a whole bunch of postapocalyptic science fiction manga — Biomega (awesome), Junk Force and the oldie but sort-of-goodie Frontier Line. Glad you liked it, I’ll be sending you some more manga soon!