Jigoku Shoujo Ep. 9

Episode title: 甘い罠 (Amai Wana: Sweet Trap).

Basically this episode's story was about sisters who opened a pastry shop and their special pastry recipe was stolen by a family friend/pastry chef and he announced the dish on national TV a minute before they revealed the same one while promoting the opening of their store. This ruined the reputation of the store and business was poor and they had a ton of debts...

The person making the wish to send someone to hell is Kasuga Yuka, the younger of two sisters (older sister: Kasuga Hiromi) who open a patisserie. The person she wishes to send to hell is pastry chef Morisaki Shinya. The father and daughter pair we got introduced to in the last episode, Hajime and Tsugumi, have smaller roles in this episode.

Pictures:

Sisters Hiromi and Yuka Kasuga


Yuka gives family friend/chef Morisaki Shinya a taste of her sister's top creation


Tsugumi is delighted in seeing the sweets featured on TV. Meanwhile, Hajime is busy with work as always.


Ai is spending time making paper cranes


More of Enma Ai


Eyes reflect Ai


Ai's looking at you...


Yuka pulls the string


Ai, sending people to hell


Morisaki gets his just desserts

Japonica Logos, Love Edition

The November 22nd Japonica Logos focused on "Love."

The questions they had were:
Which word connotes that you want someone all to yourself: "Ai" or "Koi"?
Here is the screenshot asking the question in Japanese above:


To help illustrate the rest of the questions, they had the help of gravure model Haruna. ^_^


In the skit, she and her date are walking through a park and they see another couple flirting. The guy doesn't like that kind of scene and comments on it. Which leads to the second question: Which word for flirting is more derogatory, "icha-icha" or "beta-beta"?

Some pics to illustrate the above:



Guests (model/actress) Otoha and (comedian) Koumoto demonstrate the flirting motions of "icha-icha" and "beta-beta":



Then (comedian) Sekine and the host Tamori demonstrate their understanding (but begin monkeying around):




The next skit was with the dating couple in a room. The guy decides it's time to make a move and tries to kiss her. However, she says, "Stop it!" (yamete). On another day, he tries again, and she says, "No!" (iya). However, she gives him an angry look and calls him "spineless" (ikujinashi). Therefore, the next question is: Which of these two phrases actually can mean, "Ok": "yamete" or "iya"?
Here are the pics illustrating:





Final question: The person you like teases you and you call him/her something: Which description means you like the person: "ikenai hito" or "warui hito"? Here is the pic:

Blood + Episode 8

Episode title: "Phantom of the School"



Saya gets enrolled in the French school in Vietnam (the one connected with the tainted wine that was sent to the yokushuu infested military post in Yambara, Okinawa). Meanwhile, Kai and Riku find themselves abandoned in a hotel room at a Vietnamese port, but are left with 2 business-class tickets back to Okinawa, passports, and a credit card. However, instead of using the tickets to return home, they try to find the members of Red Shield and then decide to look for Saya. Haji works undercover as the garderner's assistant, and the girls have discovered him... let the blushfest begin.

At the school, Saya gets befriended by her talkative roommate Min who tells her about a legend (a story akin to 'Beauty and the Beast') and the Phantom related to that legend... it seems the Phantom goes after dark haired beauties and leaves a trademark blue rose. Saya's investigations lead to bell tower where she sees the "Phantom" with her own eyes.



At the bellfry, the Phantom sneaks up on her, she almost falls, but fights off the Phantom's attack using the dagger given to her by Haji earlier. Haji also arrives on the scene and he and the Phantom have a brief skirmish (the Phantom evades Haji's attack easily) and the Phantom escapes.

Thoughts: it's amazing how Saya, Kai, and Riku can communicate so well in Vietnam... just what languages do they speak there? Also, the "Phantom" yokushuu seems pretty strong even without transforming into a brainless monstrous form. Is he a special yokushuu?