Jigoku Shoujo Ep. 14

Episode title: Beyond the Blind Alley (Fukurokou no Mukou: 袋小路の向こう)

Basics: The target is Kusunoki, the beloved mayor of a small town; the person wanting vengence is a high school girl named Saki, whose father commited suicide. However, Tsugumi gets the vision of this, and Hajime goes to try to stop it.

Pics (click to enlarge):
Tsugumi wakes from her Jigoku Shoujo vision while in class
After another day at work for Enma Ai
Hajime and Tsugumi investigate who the hell target might be
The target: Mayor Kusunoki
Saki is saddened by the loss of her father
Hajime makes a request to Kusunoki, but his son wants him to butt out
To make matters worse, Saki's dad didn't have much in his savings; Ichimoku Ren looks on
Will Ai have to face further tragedy?
Saki makes her decision

Spoilers: Tsugumi gets a vision of hell. In hell, Ai's granny asks her how (work) was. Ai answers, "the same as usual... everyone had sad eyes." Ai doesn't look so happy either.

After Tsugumi gets a vision of the next target, she tells Hajime and they investigate till they find a match: Kusunoki, a mayor of a small town, and Saki, whose father died in an apparent suicide.

Saki confronts the Kusunoki, but his angry son drives her away. Saki remembers how she woke up in the middle of the night to hear her dad speaking angrily to someone on the phone. She finds a large envelope which has photos of the mayor apparently having a meeting with criminal organization members. He leaves in the middle of the night and the next day it seems he'd commited suicide. At the funeral, she tells the mayor and his son to leave. She goes to the police, but they found no envelope and say if she wants money, she should try some other method.

Hajime finds Saki, learns about the situation. They talk near an old folks home and the senior citizens throw a stone at her. The mayor is much loved, and he had built this home for them. At that point, Hajime sees the hell doll sticking out of her pocket. "Have you already seen the Jigoku Shoujo?" he asks. He tells her not to do anything, that he'll do his best to find out the truth.

The next day Hajime goes to the mayor's office to demand to talk to him. Although his son tries to turn him away, the mayor eventually talks to him. We find that he is quite kind hearted and loves old folks because he was brought up by his granddad when his parents died when he was young. He takes him to the old folks home. He said that the underworld had backed the building of a luxury condo, but he was able to build the old folks home instead. He says that Saki's father was trying to blackmail him, but that he didn't kill him. It could be that the members of the organized crime group may have done in Saki's father. He also adds that if something happens to him, the old folks home will surely be lost. That night, Hajime calls Saki and asks her not to exact vengence; if she does, she'd surely regret it.

The next day, the mayor's son has a meeting with Saki at a diner. He tries to bribe her to drop this whole deal. He said if something happens to his dad, the whole town would grieve. On the other hand, the only person that grieves for the death of her father is her. She runs off in tears, bitter, sad, and angry.

Hajime has another meeting with the mayor. He says at the least, try to apologize to Saki. The son bursts in, angry, asking what he's doing. Hajime pleads to understand the girl's feelings.

At the bank, Saki receives the savings of her deceased father. It's not much.

It is sunset, Saki is on a bridge. Hajime calls Saki and says he'll bring Kusunoki with him. She says, "never mind. I realize clearly what I must do." "Ah, then you've decided to stop this vengence thing!" says Hajime, optimistically. "No, there's only one thing I can do to help the memory of my father. I'm sorry," she says, and hangs up the phone. Ai watches her with resigned eyes, then shuts her eyes after Saki pulls the string, and walks away. Wanyuudo's voice sounds sad as he says, "this request has been accepted." Kusunoki's son runs out of the building in horror and says his father disappeared.

Kusunoki is on Ai's ferry. After he finds out his situation, he says, "ah, it was that girl. There was one thing I wanted to do before I died... I wanted to apologize to her. Is there any way I can do that?" "No," answers Ai, emotionlessly.

The old folks home is slated to be closed. Saki looks at the mark on her chest.

Overall a sad episode.

It looks like next week is a filler episode showing flashbacks of the previous episodes.