Ai's Grandmother

Ai's Grandmother
Status	Youkai
Gender	Female
Relatives	Ai Enma (Granddaughter)
Anime Debut	The Possessed Girl
Japanese V.A	Eriko Matsushima
English V.A	Juli Erickson

Ai's grandmother is a person so named because Ai refers to her as "grandmother," although whether she is Ai's grandmother is unconfirmed, as it is common for people in Japan to refer to older women not related to them also as "grandmother." She appears in all three seasons of Hell Girl. Eriko Matsushima plays her in the live-action television series, who also happens to be her anime voice actress.

Appearance

Ai's grandmother is never actually shown. Only her silhouette is shown through the shōji door of her small room inside Ai's home. Nothing is known about her appearance besides the fact that her silhouette looks like one belonging to a woman.

However, other people have seen her, namely Ai, Kikuri, Hotaru, and presumably, Hajime Shibata. Among these people, Hotaru screamed and ran away out of fright from Ai's house after she saw Ai's grandmother, which implies that her appearance might be far from that of a human.

Personality

Ai's grandmother doesn't usually talk to anybody except Ai. She has spoken to someone else other than Ai only four times - the first time with Hajime to tell him that she can let him out of the realm of eternal twilight for something in exchange. After that, with Kikuri to ask her to stop trying to touch the spinning wheel that she spins, then with Hotaru in a wondering tone when Hotaru tried to speak to her, and finally with the first three companions of Ai to pass on Ai's message of thanks to them.

From the little amount of talking that she has done, it seems that she is a nice person. She occasionally comments on some things like some specific cases that Ai takes up. She also seems to care for Ai, asking Ai if she is okay whenever she thinks Ai is troubled, and she also seems to understand when something is troubling Ai without Ai making it clear.

Biography

Not much is known about Ai's grandmother. It has never been clarified whether she is Ai's grandmother, or merely a woman Ai refers to as such, as it is common for people in Japan to refer to older women not related to them also as grandmother. If she is indeed related to Ai, then she is presumably the only relative of Ai who is still "apparently" alive, because it is hard to tell to what extent she is alive. It is questionable whether she is or has ever been a human at all, especially because she has never been shown, and her identity has never been clarified.

Ai's grandmother always spins a spinning wheel in her room, which is presumably for spinning thread, though it is never made clear. She rarely stops spinning this wheel and has stopped only on two occasions - the first time when telling Hajime that she can let him escape in exchange for something, and the second time when passing on Ai's message of thanks to the first three companions of Ai.

She occasionally notifies Ai when Ai's computer receives a request from any client. Whenever Ai is about to set out to the ordinary world to take someone to hell after washing herself in her ritualistic purification process, Ai's grandmother always prepares her nagajuban and lays it somewhere near for her.

Near the end of the first season of Jigoku Shoujo, Ai traps Hajime in the realm of eternal twilight. It is then that Ai's grandmother speaks to Hajime and tells him that she can let him out of the realm of eternal twilight for something in exchange. She says that it is something that she wants him to do. Later on, Hajime does come back to the ordinary world, which most probably means that he must have done what Ai's grandmother wanted him to do. However, it has never been revealed what that something was that Ai's grandmother wanted him to do.

In Jigoku Shoujo Mitsuganae, Ai's grandmother doesn't appear until about midway through. This seems to be because Ai is not the Jigoku Shoujo for some time in the middle, and neither does she have her own body throughout this period. During this time, Ai's companions reside in the ordinary world instead, and Ai possesses Yuzuki for most of this time while already wearing her kimono, for which she doesn't need the help that her grandmother used to provide to her. For this reason, Ai's grandmother, along with the realm of eternal twilight, was not even visited in the middle. It is therefore unknown if either the realm or Ai's grandmother continued to exist during that time.

When Yuzuki became the Jigoku Shoujo for a short while, her best friend Akie served a similar role to Ai's grandmother for her - the purpose of a helper. The notable thing is that Akie was already sent to hell earlier by someone using Ai's service. To this, Ai's companions had commented that Akie is merely a guide for Yuzuki, as her soul has fallen into hell. This might mean that Ai's grandmother had faced a similar situation as Akie. This means that she might also be a soul who had previously fallen into hell and is merely a guide summoned by the master of hell for Ai in the form of somebody that Ai may feel more comfortable with, just as Akie is for Yuzuki.

If the above information is indeed correct, likely, Ai's grandmother isn't alive or a human at all. It would explain why she seems to have no problem not leaving her room, let alone the realm, as she is in a state where she might have no needs that need to be fulfilled. Furthermore, she may not even have the ability to leave in the first place, which could be because her current state causes her to be trapped in that specific place by the master of hell.

Abilities

Though this may not be a supernatural characteristic of Ai's grandmother, it is worth noting that she never seems to get tired of spinning the spinning wheel in her room. However, there is always the possibility that she might stop at times when she is not being shown.

She can tell if there is anyone outside her room and even seems to know who they are. She also seems to understand when Ai's computer receives a request from any client. She is even aware of the location of Ai as long as Ai is near her house. Her ability to sense and detect presences and activities around her may be limited to a certain distance.

She also seems to be able to tell if Ai is troubled, as long as Ai is present near her house, even if Ai doesn't openly express it. However, this could simply be because she knows and understands Ai to a reasonable extent.

She is one of the beings that can bring people in and out of the realm of eternal twilight.

Trivia

• It is a mystery how she prepares and sets Ai's nagajuban outside when she seems never even to leave her room.
• The figure depicting Ai's grandmother is a folklore reference to an Onibaba, a Demon-Hag. They are usually seen at a spinning wheel and appear as a shriveled older woman with a disheveled, maniacal appearance, wild-looking hair, and an over-sized mouth.