Monday, October 6, 2008

Supernatural Anime 'Hell Girl' on IFC

September 29th, 2008 2:51 PM by Aaron H. Bynum

IFC Makes Covenant with FUNimation Anime

Life rarely goes the way one plans. In fact, some would say that life never goes the way one plans it. For those living in the world in which the Hell Girl inhabits, this is more than a passing thought; it feels more like a long-summoned inevitability. When life gives you circumstances in which things become unbearable; gossiping neighbors, bullying teachers, a betrayal of personal relations; people whose mind is on the edge sometimes use the ultimate alternative: the Hell Correspondence. If unable to enact their own revenge, troubled individuals now have the option to turn to the Hell Girl, who will bear their tormenters to the depths of Hades... but only for a price of equal value...

Distributed by FUNimation Entertainment and scheduled to start airing on the Independent Film Channel this week, as was announced at the end of the previous year [related A.I. news: "Anime on TV: IFC Adds Three" (12/2007)], the anime television series Hell Girl is a horror title that makes sure that its episodic journey into the lives of people with worst of luck is worth remembering. Whenever someone--a schoolgirl, a journalist, a legendary artist--encounters a moment in their life that feels unbearable, they go to the much talked about website for the Hell Correspondence. The website, only on-line and activated at the stroke of Midnight, is a direct line to the Hell Girl, whom with her supernatural denizens of the underworld take the liberty of taking the souls of those deserving hell.

But if you contact the Hell Girl in order to send someone to the depths of hell, there is a price to pay. As the beautiful little girl with the beguiling smile, Hell Girl, meets the grieved, she hands them a doll made of straw with a red string tied around its neck.

Should the knot on this string be undone, then a covenant is made between the aggrieved and Hell Girl: the wrong-doer will be ferried into the depths of hell for all eternity.

However, when the covenant-bearer comes to the end of his life, however many years that may be after the covenant was first sealed, they too will go to hell.

An exquisitely designed and at times, thoroughly dramatic clash between the netherworld and the real world, Hell Girl posits to viewers what they would do if every personal, social and emotional connection they had with the world began to break down all at the same time. The anime is scheduled to premiere on Tuesday, September 30th at 8:00pm (ET).

Evolving into a television animation that tracks even the thinking process of the Hell Girl as she considers the pleas of many a person, pondering the hell-on-earth mentality of some while still hoping to understand the no way out attitude of others. There are some humans who care not for redemption while staring down the gateway to hell, and there are others who are determined to fight the supernatural until the very end; all of them are forced to meet Hell Girl.

on FUNimation Entertainment: FUNimation Entertainment, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Navarre Corporation, is a brand management company and one of the nation's leading independent home video entertainment companies. The company has a proven formula for launching and advancing brands, and manages a full spectrum of rights with its brands including broadcasting, licensing, production, internet, and home video sales and distribution.
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