Jigokuraku aka Hell’s Paradise– The final evolution of Ninja Scroll.

An interesting pedigree and a rather awesome idea rolled into a single series.

Ninja and Samurai themed anime are a dime a dozen – To the outside observer and casual fan you could start connecting the dots backwards towards unstoppable juggernauts like Demon Slayer, but truth be told that just sells out the good name of the sword and sorcery genre.

It’s easy to look at Jigokuraku, aka Hell’s Paradise and “know what they were going for” pointing meme-ishly at lunchboxes with Tanjiro or Nezuko’s face on them, but people that have lived and breathed good anime for decades know that there is more to the story here.

The anime itself is adapted from the Shonen Jump+ manga called Hell’s Paradise: Jigokuraku, an ongoing series that is serialized weekly and written by Yuji Kaku. The manga is very dark, abnormally violent and explores the deep and rich nature of both Buddhist and Taoist lore. Exploring this idea further, the name of the series itself, Jigokuraku is a unique and exceptionally clever portmanteau, combining the names of hell “Jikgoku” and heaven “Gokuraku” into a singular phrase, with one describing the literal English translation as something akin to Helladise.

That’s so bad ass.

Within the anime series I see the bare bones of something far more complicated and more primal, an abstract kernel that harkens back to the rawness of classic anime like Ninja Scroll. It’s more than just demons and slayers, it’s highly evolved complex mysticism and deep spirituality. The bad guys aren’t just faceless monsters that yearn to do evil for evil’s sake, they each have names and have a purpose beyond being a pin cushion for the main character to thrust their sword into.

Jigokuraku becomes interesting right off the bat because it doesn’t seem interested in serving up the audience what you would expect from anime characters in 2022 – our main hero, if you can call him that, is Gabimaru, a former assassin with an exceptional set of skills that we are introduced to in prison while he awaits his execution. Gabimaru himself is particularly uninteresting; he doesn’t have a unique scar or hairstyle, his pupils aren’t little stars or an odd and unrealistic overly stylized shape and he isn’t wearing an outfit with lapels the size of the wingspan of a Boeing 747.

Gabimaru is short, has a boring face and is completely unassuming. While this is absolutely intentional and acts as a stark contrast to his ninjutsu skill set, it really is refreshing to know that the producers of this show were not automatically aiming to slap the main character’s face onto a keychain that itself is stuffed inside a gacha ball intended for gaijin.

The conceit of the series also harkens back to something older and more adult themed than standard shonen fare – Gabimaru, on the verge of death, has his execution suspended if he agrees to undertake a dangerous and highly secretive mission on behalf of the shogun.

Here we are introduced for the first time to the paranormal element of the program; Shinsenkyo, a literal religious paradise has been discovered to exist on an island located in the south-west of Japan. Looking to plunder its resources and the hunt down the rumoured Elixir of Life, said to give immortality to the drinker, the shogun green-lights a series of expeditions to open the island up for exploitation.

When every expedition disappears, the shogun changes tact.

Gabimaru, along with a sordid collection of other criminals, may obtain a pardon for their crime if they explore the mysterious island of Shinsenkyo and recover the Elixir of life.

In all it feels like a cross between Monster Hunter and the Suicide Squad – a group of bad ass criminals are thrown into certain danger to explore an uncharted mystical land for no other reason than they are expendable. To survive they need to use their considerable skills as merchants of death and destruction to resist the flora, fauna and religious deities that inhabit Shinsenkyo and litter their path with powerful obstacles to overcome.

In many ways the manga, and by extension the anime, could roughly be considered an isekai. While not directly transporting the cast of characters to another world that exists in parallel to our own, the world of Shinsenkyo itself is so bizarre and intriguing that if fastidious anime superfans were looking to properly categorize the series it could easily slip into that definition.

In all Jigokuraku is interesting, has powerful pedigree and is fascinating enough to keep you watching as one episode ends and another begins.

Plus, the intro music absolutely rocks.

The Tokyo 5 rates Jigokuraku 7 out of 10.

~ Andrew Archer

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Anime, TVAndrew Archeranime, samurai, isekai, demonsComment