Hey there! I’m glad you stopped by Anime Rants on this fine day. Hell’s Paradise season 2 has proven highly enjoyable so far and we’re now a quarter way through it. I haven’t been upset by misogyny too badly, though some individual characters have icky tendencies (like Tamiya verbally harassing Yuzuriha). I also wish it wasn’t a recurring joke for the characters to misgender Nurugai for not being feminine enough. Complaints aside, Hell’s Paradise is strong on character psychology, audiovisual quality, and plot writing. Let’s talk about season 2 episode 4, in which we learn more about the fascinating and terrifying Shugen Yamada Asaemon.
Content Warning: Violence and violent images
Episode 4: The Samurai Code and Carnage
Episode Rating: 8/10
We start the episode with Shugen and a group of about fifty ninjas on a ship bound for Shinsenkyo. With Shugen were also two other Samurai who were known for their skill. One was a very young boy named Kiyomaru and the other was a towering woman named Isuzu. Due to Kiyomaru’s age and Isuzu’s gender, neither were allowed to have official ranks as Samurai. But thanks to their skills, they were still expected to serve the Shogun. Kiyomaru’s character design is precious, but I haven’t decided if I actually like him. I tend to get annoyed at bratty kids. But I already like Isuzu for sure – for one thing, she’s a promising and skilled new female character. For another thing, she’s so damn cute and attractive. Another great character design!
It turned out that Kiyomaru isn’t just a bratty kid; he’s straight-up a child psychopath. He tried to pick a fight with the ninjas for no good reason. Isuzu urged him to calm down and apologized for his rudeness, but the ninja commander wasn’t bothered at all. He said that the Shinobi were only tools for their masters, and that if anyone was offensive to the great Samurai, then that individual would be executed. Kiyomaru then called the man’s bluff and asked him to demonstrate a ninja’s loyalty. The ninja leader proceeded to kill himself by stabbing his own neck and sawing at it until he toppled over and died. It was lowkey disturbing, especially since he grinned and sang a song in a shaking voice as he stabbed himself. Kiyomaru just shrugged and said he didn’t understand ninjas.
(Side Note: The Shinobi are especially evil and scary from my perspective, as they highlight one of the darkest parts of human nature I’ve had to observe: indoctrination. I grew up in the Quiverful Movement with my family and surrounding homeschool community functioning basically as a cult. It was terrifying to see what people – including myself, in hindsight – were capable of doing because of indoctrination. There was a time I would have died for my blind faith if it was demanded of me. As children, we were encouraged to fantasize about giving our lives for god. The humans on the “good side” of this anime think the Tensen are evil for manipulating human life, but the ninjas are just as bad if not worse. For generations, they’ve been indoctrinating young people into mindless soldiers and expecting them to die at the drop of a hat.)
Now we need to talk about Shugen and what we learned about him in this episode. When Shugen was a child, his father was murdered. As a result, he began to think of all criminals with single-minded, ferocious hatred. He was trained as a Samurai and Executioner after he was adopted by Eizen Yamada Asaemon. Eizen was Shugen’s surrogate father after he lost his real one. At first, Shugen wanted to torment criminals by giving them slow deaths with a jaggged sword. But Eizen said he would smooth the edge of the blade every time. From Eizen’s training, Shugen learned to execute criminals swiftly and accepted this as proper behavior. However, that didn’t mean he had gotten softer on criminals. This became abdundantly clear in the Edo Yakuza incident.
Edo was the capital city in those days. Shugen caught a dangerous gang leader there and handled the situation in a nightmarish way. The rest of the Samurai did not like to talk about it, even despite the fact that the Shogun was apparently delighted by the carnage. Shugen killed all the gang members down to their underlings in hiding and made their leader watch as he beheaded them. And that’s not the worst of it. He also executed their families, including the women, children, and at least one infant. Though he appeared upset – shedding tears as he slew the baby – it was his own legalistic hate that led him to do such things. His tears did nothing to absolve him.
Despite 100% disagreeing with Shugen’s actions, I think the writing for his character is fucking fantastic. It’s impossible for me to hate him even though he’s done unspeakable things. For one thing, I see myself in Shugen – mostly his black-and-white thinking and his quickness to emotional responses. He’s also done objectively good things with his power, such as securing an official Samurai rank for Sagiri. Since Sagiri is probably my favorite character, I am grateful to Shugen. In addition, Shugen is kind to people who work with him as well as the underdogs of society who work hard. He accepts women like Isuzu as Samurai and treats Jikka with respect most of the time. Shugen loves others deeply and is loved in return for wearing his heart on his sleeve.
Interestingly enough, Sagiri was once lowkey in love with Shugen. He was her childhood crush. Though Shion said he liked Shugen as a Samurai and thought of him as a friend, he was also aware of the merciless nature of his friend. He suspected that Shugen would kill any and all criminals and call anyone a traitor who defended those criminals. He would certainly try to kill Gabimaru. And if they protected him, not even Shion or Sagiri would be safe from Shugen’s wrath. While Shion warned the others of this, Shugen and his companions arrived on the island. Before long, they discovered Eizen’s body, or what was left of it. Naturally, Shugen didn’t take this discovery well.
While the devastated Shugen held an unofficial ceremony to “send off” Eizen, a group of huge monsters attacked. They were led by a humanoid creature with a cabbage for a head. He could talk and use Tao. The ninjas handled some of the monsters in groups while others were slain by Isuzu and Kiyomaru. Both of them have epic anime fighting styles! Once he was done chanting the Buddhist prayers over Eizen, Shugen chopped up one of the monsters. He then captured and began torturing the cabbage-head. Also note that Shugen made the edge of his sword jagged on purpose and vowed to kill every living creature on the island. He was so furious he literally cried blood.
Shugen knew they needed information from the talking monster. The new ninja leader (who took over after the other one killed himself) asked to handle the rest of the torture and interrogation, and Shugen reluctantly agreed. The Shinobi leader’s name is Shija according to the entry on MAL, but they haven’t been name-dropped in the anime yet. I’m not sure of Shija’s gender either. The character sounds very feminine, but they were voiced by a male seiyuu named Ayumu Murase. Hopefully we’ll find out more about Shija in a later episode. What we know without a doubt is that Shija will do anything to fulfill the mission from the chief, which is to kill Gabimaru no matter the cost.
Now let’s go back to Gabimaru and the others in the cave. Shion explained that he had learned more about Tao and confirmed it with Mei. There were five points or types of Tao: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. Based on what subtype of Tao you one uses, there are weak and strong match-ups. Understanding the principles of Tao was the only chance the normal humans had at defeating the Tensen. There was a star-shaped diagram on the ground drawn by Shion, but since I cannot read Kanji characters, I don’t know the arrangement of the five elements at the points of the star. I also don’t know if the position of the characters meant anything about their Tao or not. For example, was Gabimaru standing between Wood and Fire? No idea. I will need to do more research into the types of Tao and what subtype goes with each character.
After Mei detected the arrival of many newcomers to the island, Shion grew worried that it was Shugen. He suggested splitting into two groups to minimize casualties. One group would secure an escape route and the other would kill the Tensen and acquire the Elixir. However, nobody wanted to part ways with Shion or each other. They all felt that teamwork was the best option here. It was cute and sweet when everyone decided to stay with Shion. Of the male characters, Shion and Fuchi are my current favorites, followed by Gabimaru, Touma, Jikka, and Shugen. It’s hard to decide things like that when there are so many cool characters as options. Anyway, that’s all for today.
~Thanks for Reading~
Written by 7Mononoke at Anime Rants
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