Hell’s Paradise 2×04 and 2×05 Review – “The Samurai Code and Carnage” and “Human and Sages”

Hell’s Paradise anime season 2 episode 4, ‘The Samurai Code and Carnage’, and episode 5, ‘Human and Sages’, had new characters trekking through the mysterious island while our OG cast tried to find a way to escape it.

Due to the previous episode concluding on a cliffhanger of Shugen and his crew arriving on the island, I was looking forward to seeing just how powerful the new characters would be against the numerous monsters coming toward them. Shugen’s been hyped up ever since he appeared in the anime, and it turns out, it was all valid. Apparently, Shugen’s an OP Yamada Asaemon, capable of picking up on using Tao as soon as he set foot on the island. Not only that, he was by-the-book to a fault. There’s a brutality to Shugen that I wasn’t expecting, but it sure gave him an edge.

Turns out, while Yamada Asaemons trained to behead criminals in one swing, a young Shugen was into dulling his blade to ensure the beheading was painful and took time. And while his mentor helped a young Shugen overcome his thirst for punishing wrongdoers in such a manner, there was a moment in the timeline that cemented Shugen as a formidable Yamada Asaemon.

The flashback to when an adult Shugen decided to kill every single clan member (including infants) connected to a criminal proving difficult to interrogate was visualized impressively well. Seeing all the violence made me uneasy, but what took the cake was how Shugen explained away his actions under the guise of following the law and stopping a surviving clan member from potentially filling a vacuum down the line. Shugen will shed a tear for your family, but it still won’t stop him from killing them.

Seeing his mentor’s dead body on the island pushed Shugen back to his initial tendency to cause pain. So, yeah, the monsters and the Tensen better watch out. Heck! Even Gabimaru and the rest of the surviving criminals weren’t safe because Shugen was going to follow the order of said wrongdoers being murdered onsight.

Accompanying Shugen were the young Kiyomaru, the giantess Isuzu, and the carefree Jikku. We already knew that Jikku’s not a fan of being forced to return to the island. So, I’m interested in seeing if he will continue going along with Shugen’s plan or find a way to escape, again. As for Kiyomaru and Isuzu, those two were unranked due to being too young and a woman, respectively. It was nice to see another woman, along with Sagiri, who also had the exceptional skill to become a Yamada Asaemon, going against the male-only rule. I want Sagiri and Isuzu to interact and talk a bit about their experiences and how, as of right now, circumstances have pitted them against each other.

As for the minions, the crew included four Iwagakure ninjas and 50 ninja subordinates. The Iwagakura ninjas were tasked to follow the Yamada Asaemon’s orders as long as those orders didn’t clash with their Chief’s mission of killing Gabimaru. I mean, it’s clear that the Iwagakura ninjas will fight against the Yamada Asaemon soon. But the way they managed to “win” their trust, with a male ninja killing himself without hesitation… yeah, the Iwagakura ninjas weren’t playing around.

Episode 4 focused a lot on the newcomers. And I was okay with that. It helped flesh out their dynamic, along with their power levels, before the narrative switched to the OG cast going into episode 5.

Talking about the fifth episode, Shion and the rest decided to pay attention to two objectives instead of waiting around to see who was part of the second expedition. Shion assumed that Shugen was likely leading the second group. But knowing Shugen, Shion deemed it better not to face him unless necessary, because again, Shugen wasn’t going to take kindly to the criminals the way Shion and the rest had grown to.

The OG survivors were going to split into two teams. One group was going to steal the Elixir of Life, while the second team would focus on securing a boat to escape the island. Apparently, the sea monsters had been trained not to attack the boat used by the Tensen.

I liked the educational class Shion gave about the different natures of Tao and how certain Taos were strong or weak against each other. From what I could understand, Gabimaru and Gantetsusai had Fire Tao. Toma and Yuzuriha had Earth Tao. Mei and Nurugai were Water Tao. Shion and Sagiri were Wood Tao. And Fuchi was Metal Tao. If they ran into a Tensen, they had to make sure said Tensen had Tao weak to their own Tao types. Otherwise, the chances of them winning were essentially zero.

After Shion’s lecture, Gabimaru and Yuzuriha instructed the crew about ninja techniques. Yuzuriha taught how to suppress one’s Tao to become almost invisible. Gabimaru showed how an opponent’s Tao could be used against them. Gabimaru casually demonstrating how to dislocate your neck and other joints made me laugh. As Yuzuriha put it, Gabimaru’s a nerd at heart.

The Stealth team comprised of Yuzuriha, Gabimaru, Sagiri, and Mei. They were selected because of their refined Tao control. The rest made up the team to find the boat.

I thought Mei would accompany the Boat Team, but she shared she didn’t want to leave the island without getting to talk to Rein and their Grandmaster one last time. I mean, I understood where she was coming from when she told the crew about needing closure, especially because Rein and her Grandmaster had been acting very differently. They had turned into people she didn’t recognize anymore, and she wanted to know what had changed. According to Mei, they used to be nice.

The interaction is obviously not going to go the way Mei expects it to. And I would have advised her against it. Rein and the rest of the Tensen are far gone with no chance of redemption. But yeah, for narrative purposes, Mei needed to be on the team to steal the Elixir of Life.

With the OG cast talking about how they would see success if they stuck to their plan, with the biggest factor being not confronting a Tensen under any situation, I liked how the narrative amped up the dread. From the pacing to the music, I enjoyed seeing the characters unknowingly walking into trouble. They had been betrayed by none other than… drumroll… Chobei.

Now, to be fair, there was no way Gabimaru and the rest would have realized such a thing could happen. Heck! It even surprised me. Apparently, Chobei could sense Toma ever since he accidently impaled him, allowing him to keep track of what Toma and the survivor group would be upto.

As for why Chobei was assisting the Tensen to perform the Hekiji Fukusho ritual (a process to simultaneously collect massive amounts of Tao belonging to all attributes), I think it might have to do with getting the opportunity to grow stronger and learn about their motivation while finding a way to keep Toma safe in the process.

With the OG crew encountering a bunch of Tensen, I’m so ready for some cool fights to occur! Certain characters have added new tricks to their arsenal. Also, I wouldn’t be surprised if Shugen and the rest will appear to lend a hand.

Did you watch Hell’s Paradise anime season 2 episodes 4 and 5? What did you think of 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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