Hell’s Paradise 2×08 and 2×09 Review – “Chrysanthemums and Peaches” and “Love and Karma”

Hell’s Paradise anime season 2 episode 8, titled ‘Chrysanthemums and Peaches’, and episode 9, ‘Love and Karma’, featured a whole lot of action and character development as the season neared its conclusion.

‘Chrysanthemums and Peaches’ took time to explore Gantetsusai’s backstory, providing viewers with a better understanding of his fighting style. From a young age, Gantetsusai’s been all about improving his skills as a warrior and making a name for himself by defeating other powerful opponents. In Gantetsusai’s opinion, the best way to battle was to strike a foe until victory was guaranteed. And while being a brute has served Gantetsusai well in the outside world, things were drastically different on the mysterious island. His weakness dealt with his unwillingness to let go of what he had grown used to and allow himself to welcome simplicity. He needed to be precise instead of wanting to cause the most destruction.

I liked how Gantetsusai’s master had encouraged him to only focus on a single point of attack and not worry about the rest. A single critical hit was better in a battle (depending on the circumstances) instead of continuously attacking an enemy while risking counterattacks and injury. The lesson was also about how the more you accumulated in life, the harder it was to see who you really were. Taking away his eyesight had encouraged him to sense Tao instinctively.

Gantetsusai, remembering his master’s teachings to ensure he cut Tao Fa without harming Fuchi (who held onto Tao Fa to hinder her Tao), made for a nice moment. We all knew a single sword slash wasn’t enough to kill such a foe, as the Tensen had their Kishikai forms as trump cards, but said scene did its job of fleshing out Gantetsusai as a character.

With Gantetsusai and Fuchi being busy with Tao Fa, Toma and Chobei continued their attack spree on Ju Fa. Again, while the two brothers performed well, Ju Fa unlocking his Kishikai form was inevitable. And of course, his OP form involved linking with Tao Fa to create a giant hybrid being.

Ju Fa and Tao Fa’s shared flashback helped further build the dynamic between the two. Even though the Tensen were a hive mind, Ju Fa and Tao Fa’s bond was certainly unique in the family due to them being born as twins. Ju Fa had always looked after Tao Fa, ensuring they didn’t get hurt, with his emotional understanding of pain and love being aided by Mei. He also stood with Tao Fa when Rein switched intentions and forced the rest of the Tensen to begin their training to achieve immortality. Episode 7 did have Tao Fa share how she wasn’t a fan of consuming humans for Tao, but over time, she had gotten used to her reality while being stuck on the island. I liked the scene where Ju Fa first sensed the change in Tao Fa’s personality. She was emotionally hurt when the Tensen sent the first ship to lure humans to the island, but there was nothing the twins could do about it. If they didn’t consume human Tan, they would die.

However, considering the type of anime Hell’s Paradise is, redemption for the Tensen was, fortunately, out of question. So, our lead characters had to put them down or die trying. It wasn’t ideal, but Chobei had to work together with Gantetsusai and Fuchi to kill the hulking winged Kishikai.

As for Shugen and the rest of the ninjas, they were still making their way to the castle to avenge the slain Yamada Asaemon. Shugen’s crew mentioned how running for days was a chore for the Yamada Asaemon, unlike the ninjas. However, I do feel like our lead group (which only consisted of two ninjas) had been able to travel the island a lot quicker. So, yeah, I can’t help but think of Shugen’s crew as suffering from plot convenience-induced delay. Even though Shugen used the whistle that controlled the giant monsters around the island and used them as rides, I doubt they will arrive until it’s time to make a cool appearance to lend a hand against the remaining Tensen.

‘Love and Karma’ was about Chobei and the rest putting their differences aside to ensure Ju Fa/Tao Fa were killed. The animators did a good job of making the hybrid Kishikai appear menacing. Keeping with the twin theme, it had two heads and two cores. It also had an offensive and defensive stance.

The character development stuff focused on Chobei realizing how much Toma had grown. He was used to his younger brother always staying behind him and following Chobei’s orders. However, the island had changed Toma for the better. The younger brother had now grown enough to stand alongside Chobei, with both playing a role in protecting each other.

As for more Tao-related lore, we got to see Fuchi and Toma combining their Tao to ensure Fuchi’s Tao would be super effective against Tao Fa. I’m excited about more characters using their Tao to amplify a specific Tao’s effectiveness against the Tensen.

A flashback showed Chobei learning about how the Tensen had used the Water Tao to track our lead group. Chobei used the same ritual against Ju Fa. Seeing him use the ritual water to have Ju Fa painfully die made sense for a sinister character like Chobei. However, I’m still not sure why Rien was so trusting of Chobei to begin with. I think Rein might be planning something that Chobei’s unaware of.

Jumping to Sagiri and Mei, they encountered Gui Fa, who, thankfully, wasn’t interested in fighting the two women. However, that didn’t mean Gui Fa was going to allow the duo to continue on their objective. Sagiri turning being pushed down to the ground by Gui Fa’s Tao into an apologetic pose to try and negotiate with Gui Fa was such an impressive move.

I appreciated Gui Fa being to-the-point in her conversation with Sagiri and Mei. The humans wanting to leave the island would accomplish nothing because Rein was preparing to release numerous butterflies across the mainland to turn civilians into Tan. The animators actually showing Rein’s plan via a Tao-based vision instead of just having Gui Fa talk about it did a lot in raising the stakes. Once infected and turned into Tan, Rein would harvest the human-produced Waitanhua Flower, which (from my understanding) would have combined to become the Banko, the god-beast, aka the perfect Tan Rein’s been working toward. As far as the Tensen were concerned, it was time for humanity to go extinct.

The narrative also gave us a reason behind why the Tensen were so adamant about using humans for Tan. Due to Hell’s Paradise talking a lot about opposing yet equal forces and Yin and Yang, humans were the best subjects for Tan because their entire lives were about contrasting energies. Humanity experienced love and hate. The good and the bad. Etc. Etc. The Tensen craved that!

With only a couple more episodes left to go, there’s still quite a lot of story left. That’s why I hope the anime gets renewed for a third season.

Did you watch Hell’s Paradise anime season 2 episodes 8 and 9? What did you think about them?

Let us know.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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