▪	RELEASED BY:		DEL REY
		▪	AUTHOR / ART:		MIYUKI ETO
		▪	FORMAT:		JAPANESE / BW
		▪	PAGES:		200
		▪	RATING:		OT
		▪	RELEASE DATE:		01/29/2008
		▪	REVIEW DATE:		01/13/2008
		▪	REVIEWED BY:		DAVEY C. JONES

Get ready for horror that will send icy fingers down your spine! Based on the eerie anime, Hell Girl the manga puts a new spin with one story after another about curses and revenge. No matter how horrific the circumstances, each victim vowing revenge must pay a price if they go to Hell Girl for help. And that price might cost them their soul!

Each story goes by a formula. Each story/chapter is self-contained. Each has a victim. Every time they call on Hell Girl to help. Ai Enma is Hell Girl, a beautiful yet sufficiently spooky girl who can be contacted on a website only the truly vengeful can access. She’ll grant you your wish for revenge, cursing the perpetrator and dragging the people responsible to hell – for a price. And that price is pretty high. “To curse a person is to dig two graves.” is what Hell Girl says again and again. If you wish someone to Hell, you’ll follow. And each story ups the awful stuff that happens to these people. It starts off with a naïve school girl getting railroaded by her so-called new friend, blackmailed and her reputation ruined. Then it’s onto an aspiring actress who is almost ruined completely by a violent stalker, a sister and her bakery trashed by a vicious chef, a vet who is a sick sob who doesn’t live up to the title of healer, and a teacher who preys on his students. Each time the victims are given the chance for revenge and the opportunity to reconsider. Each time they take the plunge and give up their souls in order to rid the world of that particular piece of evil human being that did the damage to them. And each time the ultimate price is paid.

These stories go from harsher to harshest. But for me the most evil one had to be the vet. There’s just something about a guy who would hurt animals that twists my guts. What also gets me is how everyone around the victims turns against them on a dime, and then once the perp is taken care of, they’re all apologies and smiles. What a bunch of pathetic sheep! Actually I’ve got more respect for sheep than the hanger-ons in these stories. These victims are sacrificial heroes in a way. And the whole thing is so unfair. I mean, you’ve got these people who have horrible stuff done to them or those close to them, they put it all on the line to stop the wrong-doers and fix things, yet its these good people who have to go to Hell, eventually, along with the perp that did all the bad? Unfair! But I guess something as awful as sending someone to eternal damnation should come with a damned high price. It’s hard hitting. These stories aren’t for the squeamish!

Great illustrations. The art work is super. It’s especially cool whenever Hell Girl shows up. Then the images get detailed and supernatural and pop off the page. The horror stuff isn’t really that graphic. It’s more the psychological awfulness of it all that gets you. 

IN SUMMARY:
Revenge comes with the ultimate price in Hell Girl the manga series. It’s so spooky you’ll feel ice slide down your back! Chilling!