Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku

Hell's Paradise is the least known member of what I've seen referred to as Shonen Jump's "Hell Trio", consisting of this manga, Jujutsu Kaisen, and Chainsaw Man. However, least known does not mean worst in this case, as I'd put Hell's Paradise on par with either of the aforementioned series (It's written by a former assistant of Chainsaw Man's author, and the eye for quality shows). While the action scenes are awesome, it's the character interactions and art direction that really distinguish this series from other Shonen Jump titles. The main reason why I found myself so engrossed in reading this manga when I firstpicked it up last summer was just how likable all of the characters are. This may seem strange if you've only read the synopsis, seeing as half of the characters are death row inmates, but the author does an excellent job of explaining the circumstances surrounding each character's imprisonment. You can safely assume that any character that doesn't die immediately after they're introduced has redeeming qualities beyond their criminal history and genuine depth. This is especially true for the main character, who I kept forgetting is the most feared assassin in all of Japan due to how endearing he is. The samurai executioners who are assigned to each criminal are understandably biased against their partners in the beginning, so seeing them gradually begin to warm up to the criminals is also really fun to watch. The other aspect of the manga that really shines is the art and overall style. This series incorporates elements from several different religions, and blends them into a disturbingly beautiful island that looks as much like heaven as it does hell. Watching the characters be hunted by disturbing imitations of divine figures is both exciting and surreal, and each character having a unique fighting style and demeanor keeps the action scenes varied and interesting. I often found myself going back through a chapter after reading it just to look at some of the art again. One last thing I want to touch on is how different the character's attitudes towards death is in this series. Most typical Shonen has every death be drawn out and the characters have to be sad about it for a full five chapters before the story can get back on track, but not Hell's Paradise. Given that each character has seen their fair share of death in their lives, deaths tend to push characters forwards towards their goals rather than driving them to despair, which I really liked. This is necessary to the story as well, seeing as characters die pretty often in this series. TL;DR - Hell's Paradise is an exciting dark Shonen with beautiful art and one of the most interesting and likable cast of characters I've seen in any manga. I'd absolutely recommend this series to anyone looking for a new action manga to read, and I'm excited for what the author does in the future. I'm also excited for the upcoming anime to release, so if you're here from that then 100% give the manga a shot too.

Overall relatively mediocre but with good art. The manga has some very good visuals especially at the start, and the mystery aspect of it is pretty engaging, however it quickly starts to fall apart. The characters are mostly boring until they're about to die which is when the author remembers they forgot to make you care about them, so they have to put in some backstory to make it sad. This happens for most of the characters at the start, some characters are developed later and do actually have good arcs, Shion/Nurugai being the best written characters in the entire manga. They actually change in ameaningful way as the events of the story play out, it's nothing spectacular but it's well done and the two are a likeable team. The main characters Sagiri and Gabimaru are unfortunately pretty boring. Gabimaru's entire character is really that he seems like a bad guy but because he loves his wife he's actually a nice guy, and Sagiri's entire arc is that accepting her weaknesses make her strong. Ultimately I found the side characters a lot more interesting, they're more stakes and character development, Gabimaru is just an extremely boring shonen protaganist, while Sagiri is better I still didn't care that much. All the side characters like the brothers, Yuzuriha and Tamiya Gantetsusai are more interesting albeit still not great. Another major problem is the pacing, it seems like the author had the structure planned out but didn't put much thought into how these events connect or why. For about five fights in a row we hear from characters that they're at their limit from fighting and could die if they make one mistake, well the fight ends and then not even few hours later another fight starts and the process repeats. The issue here is there's just no tension, characters are pushed to their limit and then go on to fight an even tougher enemy in this weakened state multiple times, it's not a one off occurence. Even a quick explanation of "I need to rest for 30 minutes to gather tao from my surroundings before I can fight" would have sufficed but especially from the middle to the end it's just a nonstop string of fights with increasingly tougher enemies. This pacing issue is also really noticeable at the end, it's almost comical how the way the author tries to increase tension is adding a bunch of characters we don't care about to die to really up the stakes. During the final confrontation a second group out Iwagakure and Asaemon show up, it's been teased throughout the manga, these characters are tough and you're looking forward to how they impact the story, and then they really don't. The Iwagakure except for one are all just cannon fodder, they could have brought 50 or 100 or 500, it's totally irrelevant. The Asaemon are all boring and extremely forgettable, none of them except for Shugen and Jikka are memorable. Shugen is only memorable because he plays a major role in the ending confrontation with the main antagonist, however his character is another that is just extremely boring. If Jikka had never left the island and a second expedition was never launched, it would have almost no affect on the story, the only point to it was to try and make the ending more exciting by introducing a ton of new characters to fight who are even more boring than the ones we already have. The ending aside from that is fine, I liked the final antagonist Rien more than the rest of the Tensen group, Tao Fa and Ju Fa were the only other Tensen that were interesting. What happens after the final confrontation was also good. The author does have talent no doubt but I was not surprised to see this was their first full work. I'd pay attention to their future works but Jigokuraku as it is has a lot of issues that are hard to ignore.

Is a person really in any position to rightfully judge another person, being as flawed as all humans are? Story: The world of Jigokuraku is mind-boggling, be it visually or morally. The story is very interesting, and keeps the reader involved at all times. Once you start reading it, you just don’t want to stop. The pacing doesn’t seem rushed, nor is it too slow. Essentially, it’s a ‘good’ vs ‘evil’ shounen-type story, packed with good action, interesting characters and a lot of plot-twists. However, it goes beyond that, in a sense that it portrays lives of the individuals pretty ‘realistically’; although half of the castis consisted of humans deemed criminals deserving of the capital punishment, we get to see the all too well-known human traits and emotions pouring out of them. This manga does not simply paint its world in black and white, rather, it serves to show how nothing really is just one or the other. Throughout the story, we get to see ‘the beautiful’, ‘the ugly’, ‘the perfect’, the ‘abominal’, ‘strength’, ‘weakness’, ‘the good’ and the ‘evil’, explored in such a way that it makes us wonder if anything is as it seems and whether we are worthy of judging the nature of things or not. It also touches upon topics of personal goals and to what extent is someone willing to go in order to achieve them, self-doubt and rebuilding oneself, finding new strength, loss, hate and forgiveness. The story also relies heavily on the principles of Tao, and such a religious motive gives it a whole new level of complexity. I do, however, feel like the love is the biggest motive of all, in it’s many shapes and forms. Really, if you’ve ever loved any shounen manga, chances are you’re gonna like this, since you will be reminded of a lot of good characters and lessons from them. Art: Beautiful. No matter the scene type, the mangaka manages to preserve art’s dominant beauty and a degree of consistency. However, when circumstances call for it, it goes very, very well with the overall vibe of the moment, adapting to the point it’s trying to make. Character’s outer appearances go pretty well with their personalities for the most part, and when it comes to panels that really focus on something or someone, the details are absolutely on point and done with a lot of care. It interesting how even in those panels where the reader’s supposed to get shocked or feel goosebumps, the art maintains its high level, in spite of the repulsive, eerie or gory nature of the scene. Characters: It is a rarity to find such a fine mix of seemingly similar characters and their motives, but so utterly different at the fundamental level. It becomes pretty obvious early on that we can crudely divide the characters into two groups by many standards: social standing, status, gender, good and evil, intelligence, species. However, it is with the progression of the story that we see the tiny bits and pieces of their personalities and personal history that truly make it impossible to simply deem any one of them as purely ‘good’ or ‘evil’. Absolutely every character of any importance for the story gets character development, and most of the plot twists are character induced – be it due to their intelligence, resourcefulness or adapting power. A person might be a villain in the eyes of the world, but the biggest hero to have ever lived in the eyes of a single person. Due to this, a lot of characters in this manga hold the MC potential, as well as the main villain potential. However, everything is well balanced, and in the end the respectful roles they end up having is story-wise justified one way or the other. One thing that separates Jigokuraku’s characters from others is how beautifully and tragically human they all are: be it a high-class samurai, a murderer or a god-like creature, all of them will show some type of imperfection at some point, being reminded in the process of just how nothing is ever carved in stone, nor is it forever. You might find it hard to actually hate any character; you get their motives, stories, hearts and souls displayed in front of you, and as you follow them through their battles, getting attached to at least some of them is pretty much inevitable. Enjoyment: This is a highly thought-provoking piece of art, there’s just no other way for me to sum it up. Other than that, the battles are portrayed very well and little is left for discussion considering the outcomes. Character interactions and bonds are also very interesting to observe and follow, as well as their inner monologues and memories. Every time a comic relief scene is used, it is well thought-through and just in time to make the most of it. I must say, this manga really is not for everyone, since most of the fight scenes are pretty gory and graphic to an extent, while the surroundings or the story’s setting fits the words eerie and creepy perfectly, as well as nauseating at times. All in all, be it deep philosophical thoughts and ideas, or just sheer bloodshed and chaos, there is enjoyment in every layer of this manga, depending on your personal preference.

"That's not weakness. It's a type of strenght." I'm really impressed with Jigokuraku, I didn't expect that much from a shounen, since shinobi fights are not my favorite style. But this one got me. This review should begin talking about the characters. When they say this is a story about Gabimaru, or an adventure-fantasy-fight story, I tend to disagree. It's about every character, their relationships and their redemption. While the shogun must give one pardon, we are open to pardon all of the worst outlaws from Japan. Those characters are beautifully shown to us through flashbacks, casual moments and fights. No, the fights are not simply fights,but an excuse to show what's happening at the character's mind - and we would hardly know them if it was not the fights. Forget the condemnations, the bushido. Now they are exposed, we can see them clearly. We can see their motivations, the flow of their thoughts, and because of that, the change is evident. Most of them are not plain; they change wonderfully and humanly, almost tangible. The terrible Gantetsusai, or the egoistic Yuzuriha, Gabimaru the Hollow - they are not the monsters we think they are. They can change, and they are good, but their development is hard, not a miraculous that turns the bad guy into a good guy. They must suffer, love, hate and see other's suffer, and only then they can change. On the other hand, we have those strict, close-minded samurai, who walk through the same path of suffering until they can open their mind to see goodness inside criminals - in such a way they even renounce their samurai duties! Because they are more than samurai who follow rules - they are human,, and see how the criminals are similar to them. I can't forget the villains, who also show a potential of changing. Of course, not all of them could be good, but the glimpses of humanity that those immortals deities reveal is an indicative that they are also open to change, and they could be good if the conditions were different. It doesn't mean you'll love them, or every character, but your judgement won't be that limited. Next, the story: to summarize, Jigokuraku is about a group of condemned to death super-criminals who are sent to an island - from where it's impossible to come back - where, supposedly, they could find the elixir of life. The one who brings it to the shogun will be pardoned. With each criminal, there is a highly-trained samurai to kill him if necessary. The problem is: the island is ruled by immortal deities who control the Tao, and whose immortality comes from a juice made from humans. If the criminals and the samurai want to come back to Japan, they have to fight together, kill those deities and their monsters. I must admit, I didn't expect the story to be so deep. I mean, I thought it would be a battle royale of criminals and samurai. But it's about how the criminals and the samurai must adapt to defeat immortal beings. It can be a bit complex, because taoistic references are everywhere, and westerners may not understand it well, so you'll have to pay attention, or you'll get lost. Besides the characters, other subjects made me very glad: the author doesn't explain everything about the power of the characters. Oh, why are the shinobi that strong? Oh, how can they can see Tao? Oh, how the samurai can be that strong without knowing the Tao? It doesn't matter. Actually, it would take more time and brain cells to explain it. This is not Naruto, you'll have to suspend your disbelief and let things go. The narrative technique of telling character's past through flashbacks during fights is really nice, and the story doesn't seem rushed; the flashbacks can hold the fights, explain the characters, and then give the fight a deeper meaning. On the other hand, I didn't like how the fights were developed sometimes; the willpower saves them more than I could deal with, and there should be more deaths if it was not because of that. Maybe I have said before that it's not necessary to explain everything, but "the Tao" is not the answer to everything! It's just deus ex-machina. The fights should have another rhythm if the villains should die. What balances this problem is how hard things get through the story, with more problems coming until the end. They always have a dilemma to solve, so the psychological pressure on the characters is always at the peak. Now, the art. It's gorgeous. Even when the manga is black and white, I can see the colors through that psychodelic hell's paradise. The characters design is really remarkable, and reflects well their personalities. The contradiction between beauty and brutality in the scenery fills our eyes, and we can understand why the characters say it seems "artificial". The influences of Chinese and Japanese aesthetics, as well the Taoistic and Buddhist imageries turned into monsters and scenarios is astonishing. You see how Eastern this manga is. The eroticism is also attractive, but not vulgar, what means it's done correctly; and this same eroticism counterparts the brutality and blood, following the concept of yin and yang. Finally, remember to spend some time admiring the watercolor paintings before each chapter, and the huge canvas covering entire pages. I don't think that is necessary to waste more time talking about the enjoyment, as I stated my impressions through this review. Story: 8/10 Art: 10/10 Character: 10/10 Enjoyment: 9/10 Overall: 9/10