Gods and People

After a week-long break, Hell’s Paradise is back with Episode 9. And this might have been the most action-packed episode of the series, so far. Sure, there’s been plenty of action before now. But, the fight between Gabimaru and Zhu Jin in this episode seemed to be the biggest.

But, I’ll get to that in a bit. First, I want to go over what we learned about the island’s inhabitants from Hoko. Apparently, Hoko and the others from his village were once human. However, they suffered from some sort of illness that slowly turned them into trees.

Hoko is the last of his people, with the rest of the villagers having died of the disease. When they near the end of their lives, the villagers make their way toward Horai and pray there until they die. These are the praying trees Gabimaru runs into.

Hoko also mentions that he’s nearing the end of his life. So, before the end of the series, I’m expecting him to meet the same fate as the others. But, what exactly is this disease that affected the people of the island? I believe it’s none other than the Elixer of Life.

The villagers turning into trees is pretty similar to what we’ve seen happen to others on the island. Now, the difference is that the others who have died there turn into flowers. But, that’s still plant life. And as Hoko says, his people lived long lives because of their devotion.

So, my prediction is that these people were actually having their life forces drained. It was a slow process because of their long lives. But, the end result is the same as those who get stung by the island’s insects. They become the Elixer of Life.

How to Kill a God

Something Gabimaru finds out in Episode 9 is that the Tensen are not gods. They’re technically not even immortal. He can kill them with the right plan. And he knows this because he almost killed one of them without a plan.

Zhu Jin is the orange-haired Tensen who Gabimaru fought. Simply by attacking fast enough, Gabimaru was able to overcome Zhu Jin’s regeneration. And this led to Zhu Jin having to use their trump card, which was the flower monster form they took on. So, if Gabimaru prepares, he should be able to kill a Tensen.

But, how could he prepare for this? Would the combined strength of him, Sagiri, Yuzuriha, and Senta be enough? What about if Fuchi and Gantetsusai joined in since we saw them at the end of the episode? Well, that still likely wouldn’t be enough.

Luckily, we did get a clue on how to defeat a Tensen. And that clue came from an unlikely source: Mei. You see, Mei isn’t a normal girl. We already knew this since Hoko mentioned she’s hundreds of years old. But, what also makes her strange is her ability to use powers.

Mei used the same kind of punch attack on Gabimaru that Zhu Jin used. And she was also able to create a forcefield to protect Gabimaru from Zhu Jin’s attack. It’s almost as if she’s one of the Tensen herself. Zhu Jin even knows Mei, which further implies this.

But, whether Mei is a Tensen or not isn’t what’s important. What’s important is that she could teach Gabimaru some of her techniques. Most notably, she could teach him that glowing punch attack. With that, Gabimaru might be able to kill a Tensen. And, he could kill his immortal father-in-law to save his wife.

The Seven Hermits of Shinsenkyo

As Hoko tells our protagonists, and as we ourselves saw, there are seven hermits of Shinsenkyo. The hermits are, as I predicted, the Tensen. But, these seven hermits are all part of the same one being, which is a bit weird.

The Tensen that appears to be in charge mentioned that they have a master. However, my guess is that their “master” is their combined entity. Hoko explains that there was originally only one hermit of Shinsenkyo. But, that hermit split their body into seven, creating the Tensen we see today.

And, I’m going to assume Mei is another body that split off from this original hermit. But, even if that’s the case, it’s possible that the other Tensen don’t realize that. Or, maybe they do, but they don’t acknowledge Mei as one of their own. They don’t kill her, but she’s not in their group.

There is one potential issue with all this, though. Think back to the legends of Shinsenkyo. The legends spoke of multiple hermits who all appeared as old men. You know, like the leader of Iwagakure. But, we’re being told that the seven Tensen split off from one original hermit.

So, was that original hermit one of many? Did he sacrifice the other hermits to acquire the Elixer of Life and then split into the Tensen? Or, was there always only one hermit? And how does this work into the Iwagakure leader’s story of how he gained immortality?

There is one thing we know. Hoko has repeatedly said that things changed 1,000 years ago. Before then, his village was lively. So, that seems to be when some event happened. That could be when someone — like this original hermit — obtained the Elixer of Life.

Conclusion

What do you think of Hell’s Paradise Episode 9? Do you think the villagers turned into trees because their life force was absorbed? Will Mei teach Gabimaru the secret technique for killing Tensen? And, do you think Mei is another body split off from the original hermit? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on your social media of choice — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 10 is available now.

The Third Tensen

Hell’s Paradise Episode 8 was all about Tenza Yamada Asaemon. He’s the executioner assigned to Nurugai. And the episode opens with Tenza and Nurugai on the shores of Shinsenkyo, searching for a way to escape. Their last attempt ended in failure when a giant octopus monster attacked them.

So, they’ve retreated back to the island. But, Tenza doesn’t want to enter the jungle. He knows that the dangerous insects and demons reside there. By comparison, the beach of the island is a relatively safe place. So, the pair plans to continue searching for a current to take them off the island.

However, those plans are cut short when one of the Tensen descends from the sky. This is a different Tensen than the two Choubei and Touma came across in the jungle. And, at first, this Tensen seemed to be one Tenza could reason with.

Now, Tenza didn’t even attempt to reason with the Tensen. He immediately tried to both fight and flee. That may have been the wrong choice. When Tenza and Nurugai fled into the jungle, the Tensen asked “Why are you running?” To me, this seems to imply the Tensen had no intention of attacking them.

But, at the same time, there were also hints that this wasn’t the case and that fleeing was the right choice. For example, the Tensen was mad about the monsters on the island being killed. And the Tensen asked if Tenza and Nurugai were the ones who killed them.

Could Tenza have talked his way out of that? I’m not so sure. Also, later on, during their fight in the jungle, the Tensen mentioned “Tan.” That’s the Elixer of Life. And they said that humans need to still be alive to become Tan. That explains some things.

Student and Master

Episode 8 also introduced a new character, Shion Yamada Asaemon. He’s Tenza’s master — the one who took Tenza off the streets and trained him as an executioner. Before Shion came along, Tenza stole food, robbed people, and generally caused chaos. Shion was the first person to see Tenza’s potential.

But, I’m not really all that interested in Tenza’s backstory, to be honest. It was a fine backstory; nothing special. Shion, however, is someone I want to learn more about. We learned a little about his backstory via Tenza’s — like how he once had to execute one of his former students.

That explained why he was so adamantly against Tenza leaving the dojo and going back to the streets. Shion didn’t want him to become a career criminal who would need to be executed one day. But, there’s still more I’d like to know about Shion.

For now, my biggest question is how he got his scars. Shion’s defining characteristic is that he’s blind. He uses his senses of smell and hearing to navigate the world around him. But, it doesn’t appear that he was blind from birth. He has scars across his eyes.

There’s one horizontal scar that goes across both eyes. And each eye also has a vertical scar across it. That seems very intentional. Someone blinded Shion on purpose. But, why? Was Shion once a criminal like Tenza? Was blindness his punishment instead of execution?

Or, did Shion intentionally blind himself for some reason? We know he was blind even before he executed his former student. So, it wasn’t in response to that. But, there may have been something else in his past that he wanted to repent for. I’m hoping we won’t have to wait too long to get an answer.

Shion and Nurugai

Well, Tenza didn’t last very long. The Tensen who attacked him and Nurugai on the beach killed him at the end of the episode. But, at least Tenza was able to give Shion and Nurugai time to flee. And that means Shion and Nurugai are now a pair.

But, speaking of being killed by a Tensen, I want to go back to something I said earlier in this review. I mentioned that the fact that only living humans become Tan explained some things. One of those things it explained is why the other Tensen didn’t kill Choubei and Touma.

In Episode 7, we saw the Tensen throw Choubei and Touma into a pit. And within this pit, there were the bodies of other humans who had also been thrown in. We now know the reason for doing this is that if the Tensen killed them, Choubei and Touma wouldn’t become Tan.

Anyway, there aren’t many criminals and executioners left on Shinsenkyo. Unless I’m forgetting some characters, there are only five pairs left. There’s Gabimaru/Sagiri, Yuzuriha/Senta, Choubei/Touma, Gantetsusai/Fuchi, and now Shion/Nurugai. Though, as I stated in my Episode 6 review, I have a feeling Eizen is still alive.

Assuming Eizen isn’t alive, though, half of those sent to Shinsenkyo are dead. At this rate, it doesn’t feel like Hell’s Paradise is going to be a very long series. We also already know the general location of the Elixer of Life.

But, then I remembered something that someone (I don’t remember who) said earlier in the series. There’s another wave of criminals and executioners waiting to go to the island. So, at some point, I’m expecting an injection of a bunch of new characters. Oh, and the shinobi from Iwagakure are allegedly coming, too.

Conclusion

What do you think of Hell’s Paradise Episode 8? Could Tenza have reasoned with the Tensen who appeared before him and Nurugai? Did you like Tenza’s backstory? And, which of the remaining 10 characters do you think will be the next to die? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on your social media of choice — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 9 is available now.

Tensen and Proof of The Elixer of Life

We got a decent amount of new information in Hell’s Paradise Episode 7. But, that doesn’t mean it was an exciting episode. I’d say this was probably the worst episode so far. Not all that much actually happened.

Something we learned is that the two mysterious women we saw at the end of Episode 6 are the Tensen. These are god-like figures who inhabit the island. Though, it doesn’t seem like they’re actually gods. Instead, they’re just perfect, immortal beings. And yes, I understand that makes them sound like gods.

But, Hoko never refers to the Tensen as such. He says that they’re the strongest beings on the island. He also says that they’re responsible for ensuring no human makes it off the island alive. And, most importantly, he says they’re proof that the Elixer of Life is real.

So, does this mean the Tensen were once humans who drank the Elixer of Life? That’s possible. But, if that was the case, why are they still living on the island? Do they want to continue living there because it’s paradise and they have nothing to worry about?

That doesn’t seem quite right. If a human traveled to the island and found the Elixer of Life, I doubt they’d stick around. They’d want to use their newfound immortality to return to human civilization. What’s the point of immortality and absolute power if you can’t use it to control others?

I have a feeling that these two are, in fact, the hermits of legend. And something I’d like to point to as evidence is their shapeshifting abilities. We see the blonde woman turn into a man. So, even if the hermits were once old men. That doesn’t mean they have to still look that way.

Three Regions of Shinsenkyo

Besides the existence of the Tensen, Hoko also tells Gabimaru about the island. According to him, it’s divided into three main regions. These are Eishu, Hojo, and Horai. Eishu is the coast, Hojo is the forest and village, and Horai is the center.

The Elixer of Life, also known as Tan, is somewhere within Horai. And, unfortunately, we don’t really know anything about Horai. The center of Shinsenkyo is covered in a thick layer of mist. So, the only thing we can make out is that there’s a mountain there.

But, now that Gabimaru knows the Elixer of life is in Horai, he can ignore Eishu and Hojo. Though, this does bring up the question of why those regions were even named. What’s the point of telling Gabimaru about the three regions? Wouldn’t it have been easier to just say that the Elixer of Life is in the center of Shinsenkyo?

We also learned the source of the Elixer of Life. Hoko tells us that those who the Tensen kill become flowers on the island. We can assume this is what happens to anyone killed on the island. And, the Elixer of Life comes from those bodies.

So, it seems like the entire ecosystem of Shinsenkyo works to create the Elixer of Life. The animals on the island kill intruders and then the plants break them down into the Elixer of Life. So, what that means is that the Elixer of Life is actually just human juice.

Oh, and speaking of human juice. That’s how I would describe what we saw of Yuzuriha’s ninjutsu. I know that’s a bit of a tangent. But, I didn’t know where else to tie that in. Yuzuriha’s jutsu has something to do with secreting slime from her body.

Hoko and Mei

I’ve mentioned Hoko a few times in this review now. But, who is Hoko? He’s the tree-golem thing who takes care of Mei. And who is Mei? She’s a “young” girl who lives on the island. She appears to be human.

When Hoko is talking about the village, he says it wasn’t an overgrown ghost town 1,000 years ago. That implies that Hoko is over 1,000 years old. And as he shows Gabimaru, the Elixer of Life has some effect on his body. His injuries regenerate almost instantly.

From this, we can assume that it’s through the Elixer’s power that Hoko has lived for so long. And he’s not the only one who seems to be affected by this power. He also mentions that he’s been watching over Mei for centuries. So, she’s at least a few hundred years old, despite her appearance.

The thing is, Mei hasn’t only not aged physically in that time. She still acts like a child and doesn’t seem to know how to speak. My guess is that she’s a human. And as for how she came to be on the island, she was probably part of an earlier expedition.

It could be that those who brought Mei to the island didn’t know what the island was. And after they all died, Mei was the only one remaining. Unfortunately, we don’t know for sure yet. The one thing Hoko wouldn’t discuss was how he came to be Mei’s guardian.

I was going to theorize that the Elixer of Life might be the island itself. That could explain why Hoko and Mei have lived so long. And it could explain why the Tensen don’t leave the island. But, we also know the leader of Iwagakure is immortal.

Conclusion

What do you think of Hell’s Paradise Episode 7? Who do you think the Tensen really are? What do you think Yuzuriha’s jutsu is? And, how do you think Mei came to be on the island? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on your social media of choice — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 8 is available now.

Genji and Eizen

Hell’s Paradise Episode 6 was the worst episode of the series so far. The majority of the episode focused on the fight against Rokurouta. And that was a boring fight for two reasons. He’s a very minor antagonist and there was a lot of talk about how hard it’ll be to kill him.

So, I’m going to ignore the whole Rokurouta thing for now and focus on Genji and Eizen Yamada Asaemon. These are the two samurai who Rokurouta killed. But, maybe that’s not actually true. What if Eizen never died?

You see, we never actually saw Eizen die. It was heavily implied Rokurouta killed and ate him. But, we never saw him die. On top of that, what’s the point of having Rokurouta kill both him and Genji? Both Eizen and Genji had similar relationships with Sagiri. They were samurai she looked up to.

Now, think of how the events in this episode differ if Eizen is still alive. Specifically, think of how Sagiri’s development differs. There is no change. Whether Eizen is alive or dead, Sagiri still gets the same character development. Why? Because all of her development came from Genji’s death and what he said to her.

With that in mind, it doesn’t make sense to me for Eizen to have been killed off, as well. Based on what we’ve seen so far, Eizen was Sagiri’s mentor. He’s the most important person to her. So, why would we overshadow his death with Genji’s?

My prediction is that Eizen isn’t actually dead. But, how does that work? We saw Rokurouta eating something after attacking Eizen. Well, I never said Eizen wasn’t injured. He may have lost an arm or something in the attack. And that’s what Rokurouta was eating.

Rokurouta’s Execution

As much as I really don’t want to write about the fight against Rokurouta, I suppose I should. After all, it was the majority of the episode. But, as I mentioned earlier, a lot of this fight wasn’t actually fighting. It was thinking about fighting.

I don’t know about you, but I could have done without Gabimaru and Sagiri’s commentary. I get it, Rokurouta is strong and it’s going to be difficult to execute him. You don’t need to keep bringing it up every few seconds. All this did was waste the episode’s run time.

And let’s be honest, it’s not like Rokurouta was an interesting antagonist, to begin with. Sure, he got his little tragic backstory. All he wanted was to play, but his hunger kept getting in the way. And because of that, he ended up killing and eating his family.

Well, that’s a good backstory, I guess. But, there’s a major problem with it. Isn’t that the exact backstory of Big Mom from One Piece? I’m not saying two series can’t have characters with the same backstory. But, One Piece already did it better because it wasn’t crammed into a single episode.

Something else I wasn’t a fan of in this episode was the scene of Sagiri holding Rokurouta’s head. She’s speaking to his decapitated head, telling him that he doesn’t have to suffer anymore. But, how does she know that he was suffering from whatever his condition was?

It’s not like the fight stopped and Sagiri also got to watch Rokurouta’s backstory with us. And considering he never spoke a word, it’s also not like he told her. Was this supposed to represent some connection between the executioner and the condemned? I think it kind of missed the mark.

Hermits of Shinsenkyo

The one part of the episode I thought was interesting was the mention of the hermits of Shinsenkyo. I’ve been calling the island that the series takes place on “the island.” so far. But, it’s supposedly the legendary Shinsenkyo, where the Elixer of Life can be found.

Maybe in future episodes, I’ll refer to the island by this name. But, for now, we still don’t know if the island actually is Shinsenkyo or not. And that’s where the hermits come in. According to Touma, Shinsenkyo is supposed to be home to hermits, not monsters.

So far, we haven’t seen any hermits on the island. At least, none that match their alleged description. It’s said that these hermits look like old men, but are immortal. And if that sounds familiar to you, that’s exactly how I would describe the leader of Iwagakure. So, is he one of these hermits?

While it’s possible that the leader of Iwagakure is a hermit of Shinsenkyo, that’s only one theory. To be fair, it’s the theory I’m expecting to be correct. But, I have two other theories for you to consider, as well.

The first of these is that the monsters we see on the island are the hermits. Or, at least, they’re what the hermits became. We might find out that there once were hermits on the island. But, something caused them to turn into monsters. Were they corrupted by the Elixer of life?

My other theory, which I’ll admit seems far less likely, is that the women we see at the end of the episode are the hermits. But, how could they be the hermits? They don’t look like old men. Well, the information we have about the hermits comes from a legend. It could be wrong.

Conclusion

What do you think of Hell’s Paradise Episode 6? Do you think Eizen is still alive on the island? Did you also notice that Rokurouta’s backstory is the same as Big Mom’s? And what’s your theory regarding the hermits of Shinsenkyo? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on your social media of choice — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 7 is available now.

No Place for a Woman

Hell’s Paradise Episode 5 gave us some additional information about Sagiri Yamada Asaemon. We already knew she was the daughter of a high-ranking member of the samurai clan. But, I don’t believe we knew that she was the daughter of the head of the clan.

This is a key detail because of how the clan views gender roles. There’s an expectation that women of the Yamada clan will bear children for the growth of the clan. Women should not concern themselves with becoming samurai. And that’s why Sagiri stands out among the Asaemon.

Though, I do want to say that I’m pretty sure we’ve already seen another female Asaemon. I thought there was one observing from the sidelines during the free-for-all in Episode 2. I could be mistaken about that and Sagiri might actually be the only female Asaemon.

But, here’s the thing. Even if Sagiri isn’t the only female Asaemon, it’s still unexpected for her to be a samurai. As the daughter of the clan head, it’s her duty to continue the Yamada bloodline by having children. And because that’s not the path she wants for herself, she’s very similar to Gabimaru’s wife.

Iwagakure also has strict gender roles. The men are shinobi and the women are the child-bearers. Iwagakure and the Yamada Asaemon have that in common. And just as we’re seeing Sagiri choose a different path for herself, so too did Yui (Gabimaru’s wife).

At this point, there’s no indication that Gabimaru knows about Sagiri’s path. But, if he learns of it, I’m sure that will only make him want to protect Sagiri more. Gabimaru will want to help Sagiri realize the life she dreams of. Who could have guessed that Hell’s Paradise would be a social commentary on gender roles?

Escaping the Island

The middle portion of the episode focuses on Tenza Yamada Asaemon and Nurugai. I’ll discuss them more in the next section of the review. But, for now, I want to look at what they were doing and how they failed.

This executioner and criminal pair were trying to escape from the island. They took the rowboat they arrived on the island with and attempted to cross the sea. Of course, if they returned, the only thing awaiting Nurugai was execution. But, Tenza was confident he’d be able to convince the shogun to spare Nurugai’s life.

Their escape failed, however, when they ran into a wall of wrecked ships. And what wrecked these ships, you ask? Tentacle monsters. We don’t know how many of these giant octopus-like monsters there are. But there were certainly a lot of tentacles attacking Tenza and Nurugai.

So, from what we do know, there are 3 things preventing those on the island from escaping. The first is the currents. Most of the currents around the island point in the direction of the island, making it hard to escape. But, even if you get passed the currents, you’re not free.

That’s where the wall of destroyed ships lies. So, that’s yet another obstacle you’d have to get through. And, to make matters worse, there’s the giant octopus monster that’s going to be attacking you. However, all hope isn’t lost. We know there must be an open passage because some ships have returned.

Sure, the only people on those ships that returned were dead or as good as dead. But, they returned. And that kind of makes me wonder if those ships were intentionally allowed to return. Was the island using them as bait to lure more people in?

Tenza and Nurugai

Let’s go back to the characters of Tenza and Nurugai. From what I remember, we were never given Tenza’s name. But, since it’s not like his name is going to be a spoiler, I’m including it in this review.

Despite being a member of the Yamada Asaemon, Tenza has his own moral code. I say “despite” because many other members of the clan simply follow orders. Tenza doesn’t believe that a child, like Nurugai, should receive the death penalty. And, he even believes that Nurugai is innocent of any crime.

But, what was Nurugai’s crime, according to the shogunate? Nurugai’s crime was being a member of the Sanka tribe that lived outside the laws of the shogunate. The shogunate calls such people “Emishi” and declares their way of life illegal. But, rather than subjugating these people, the shogunate had the samurai slaughter them.

The samurai who captured Nurugai only spared her (I’ll get to that in a moment) life because she was useful. They tricked her into leading them to her village. And then they wanted to torture her so she would reveal the locations of other tribes before being put to death.

So, the thing about Nurugai is that she’s a girl. Tenza mistook her for a young boy. And, to be honest, I assumed Nurugai was a girl until Tenza started calling her a boy. It turns out that my assumption about her gender was right.

I’m hoping that Tenza and Nurugai last longer than some of the other pairs we’ve already seen meet their ends. I like their dynamic so far. And this episode implied that they’re going to be part of the main group of characters. But, the OP also shows an injured Tenza resting against a tree.

Conclusion

What do you think of Hell’s Paradise Episode 5? Will Sagiri’s background influence how Gabimaru thinks of her? Is it even possible to escape the island without consuming the Elixer of Life? And, which criminal and executioner pair is your favorite so far? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on your social media of choice — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 6 is available now.