This episode was excellent just like the previous one. It was high in action and interesting moments for several characters. In addition, Gabimaru finally recovered his memories, leading to a discussion about his wife. But before that, the battle between Gabimaru and Choubei Aza was still ongoing. It’s time to rant about Hell’s Paradise Season 2 episode 2!
Episode 2: Reality and Illusion
Episode Rating: 8/10
Choubei had turned into some kind of monster by releasing a lot of Tao all at once. While he raged, Choubei essentially lost consciousness, becoming a blindly angry war machine with no concept of identity. He had definitely lost sight of what was important. I don’t think he should have picked this fight in the first place.
Gabimaru had also lost himself in battle. He saw and felt a vision of his wife, who he still didn’t remember. I wasn’t sure if she was spurring him onward or trying to hold him back. The result was that Gabimaru charged into the battle even crazier than before. His Tao was almost all gone and he was close to dying, but he kept fighting like a beast.
The fierce conflict was suddenly interrupted by Touma, who didn’t want to lose his brother to the madness of whatever power he was currently using. It also occured to Touma that he was the weaker one and perhaps Choubei was doing all this because he couldn’t count on Touma’s help in a pinch. This made the younger brother feel horrible. He went to Choubei and didn’t care when he was stabbed by several of the monstrous vines growing out of his brother. Choubei blindly scratched Touma’s face with his claws before realizing it was his beloved sibling. He stopped moving for a few seconds. Touma, eyes sparkling with tears, begged Choubei to come back to his senses. He also apologized for being “weak.” Touma’s tears nearly melted my heart.
Taking advantage of Choubei’s pause, Gabimaru leapt into action, aiming to ignite his fire power again. Mei knew Gabimaru would die if he kept fighting, so she resorted to using her own Tao to cause the rock underfoot to start crumbling. Choubei protected Touma from the rocks and said “wait for me” before being knocked off the edge of a cliff. With Choubei gone, Gabimaru’s group was safe. They captured Touma, who was devastated to be without his brother. Fuchi also managed to capture the legless monster, which was known as a Doshi. Meanwhile, Mei had changed after using her power. She was now a beautiful young woman rather than a child.
In addition to being suddenly grown-up, Mei was extremely weakened. Judging by her lack of ability to use words any better than before, I assume she’s still a child mentally, which is all sorts of messed up. And while we’re on the topic of messed-up shit, let’s talk about Tamiya. His every other line in this episode was sexual harassment of a female character. This may be realistic to how the average man would have acted in that era, but that doesn’t make it less tiresome to deal with characters who act like swine. It also sucks because I thought Tamiya had potential to be an interesting character as a man with a disability. But alas, so long as Tamiya is written like in this episode, all I can do is hope the brainless brute gets killed off soon.
Sagiri’s group reunited with Gabimaru’s group. That’s when Tamiya said they should just kill Touma and prepared to do so himself. Sagiri stopped him and they almost came to blows over it. However, the tension was interrupted when Gabimaru awoke from his unconscious state. Before we talk about that, however, I want to mention Fuchi. Once he learned that Senta had died, the samurai boy was absolutely devastated. We saw him crying his eyes out at the place where they left Senta’s sword. I really like Fuchi so far and this moment was important for his character development. After all, Fuchi had been good friends with Sagiri and Senta in their days training as samurai.
Anyway, Gabimaru was conscious again but still close to death. He still couldn’t remember anything about the mission or his wife. He didn’t know who Sagiri was, either. Like a cornered animal, Gabimaru was wary of everyone and likely to “bite” anyone. Nevertheless, Sagiri approached him, leading to my favorite scene in the episode. Sagiri knew that Tao could be used for healing, so she took it upon herself to try healing Gabimaru by – topping him?
Since he was so weakened and presumably Sagiri was in an empowered state, Gabimaru could not fight back when knocked over and held down. It was possibly the most sexual instance of non-sexual contact I’ve ever seen animated. All she did was hold him down for a bit, but it was clearly charged with sexuality. Sure enough, their Tao was compatible and the prolonged touch healed Gabimaru’s Tao. It apparently fixed his head, as well, because he finally remembered his wife.
(Side Note: This scene wasn’t just spicy for the sake of being spicy. All of this was extremely important to the characters and their personal emotional journeys. I like it when an anime uses sensual elements in a creative way.)
For Sagiri’s character, it’s clear that she’s become bolder in her feelings toward Gabimaru. She obviously likes him, but at this point, she couldn’t possbily admit that her interest isn’t completely platonic. She thinks she is supporting him selflessly – only so he can return to his beloved wife. Her own innocence and lack of self-awareness actually emboldened Sagiri to be more honest than before. Instead of calling herself an executioner who might kill him, she called herself “an important ally.” Her smile was so sweet. Sagiri is a great character who is way too compassionate and courageous for her own good. I adore her.
When Gabimaru was more stable, he apologized for the trouble and the group started to talk about what to do next. Gabimaru wanted to continue the mission despite Yuzuriha’s concerns about the danger. Yuzuriha took the opportunity to explain her theory that Gabimaru’s wife was not real. Though Gabimaru looked horrified initially, he wasn’t actually shaken in his belief in the existence of his wife. He explained some of what he remembered about her to Yuzuriha and Sagiri. This was when her name was dropped for the first time in the anime: Yui. (I’ve known her name since the beginning of the show since she is listed as Yui on the cast page on MyAnimeList.net).
From the way Gabimaru talked about her, it seems more likely than ever that Yui is real and not an illusion. (Interestingly enough, Shion pointed out that talking about Yui made Gabimaru’s Tao stronger.) I am also of the opinion that Yui is real at this point in the anime. (I haven’t read any of the manga as of January 2026). Anyway, Tamiya and Shion both seemed to agree to help Gabimaru and Sagiri with the mission. Yuzuriha was still worried, and rightly so. Continuing the mission would doubtlessly mean fighting more Tensen. It took five skilled combatants to take down one of those beings. What if more than one attacked the group at once? But Gabimaru seems confident.
Meanwhile, Choubei regenerated at the bottom of the cliff. He reverted to his human form easily enough thanks to Touma. So, it seems my prediction about him dying from releasing too much Tao was wrong. But he might still die – because, as he was eating monster flesh, Choubei was interrupted by the sudden appearance of Rien. The Tensen Lord knew that Mu Dan was dead – killed by outsiders. He wasn’t happy about it. To be continued.
~Thanks for Reading~
Written by 7Mononoke at Anime Rants
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