Thanks for visiting Anime Rants. As my country descends further into authoritarian horrors, murdering nonstop and shitting all over everyone with moral decency, I’m just trying to stay out of the psych hospital. Anime helps me with that. So, let’s talk about Hell’s Paradise Season 2 Episode 9, which is cumulatively episode 22. It was an awesome installment that delivered one of the most satifying antagonist deaths I’ve seen in a long time. The episode was so amazing, in fact, that it’s a little daunting to write about. I might miss something important because there were so many cool moments worth mentioning. Well, I guess I’ll give it a try. Let’s Rant!
Episode 9: Love and Karma
Episode Rating: 10/10
As the battle with the Eldritch flower monster continued, Choubei protected the others with a shield made of tough plant matter. Choubei had recieved a warning from Rien that his brother had an ill omen attached to his talisman. Touma might not survive. But Choubei figured he would just protect his brother like always and prevent that future. As this was going through Choubei’s mind, Touma suddenly leaped out into the fray, holding hands with Fuchi. Together, the two boys dealt a painful wound to the enemy. As Fuchi explained, his metal Tao was strengthened with Touma’s earth Tao, making it even more effective against Tao Fa’s wood attribute. It was an awesome technique, and it proved that gender is not a barrier to strengthening types of Tao through touch.
After the wound inflicted by Touma and Fuchi, Ju Fa and Tao Fa’s combo monster changed form by turning inside out. This was how it switched to defense and let its injured half rest. Then Choubei announced a plan, telling Touma and Fuchi to work on killing Tao Fa while he and Gantetsusai tried to kill Ju Fa. Though Tamiya complained about being directed, Choubei convinced him to cooperate by flattering his sword skills. It was a humorous moment because although I don’t like Gantetsusai as much as the other characters, his stupidity does make him endearing at times. In other notes, I liked seeing Choubei recognize that Touma is now more independent and capable on his own.
The flower monster continued its attacks, reacting to everyone at once. Gantetsusai charged forward, saying he’d open a path for Fuchi and Touma. On his way closer to the monster, the big swordsman was hit multiple times by impaling vines from the enemy. But he kept fighting onward, fueled by the urgency of the situation and pure adrenaline. There was also a cool moment when Touma protected Fuchi, taking a Tao-infused shot to the back and still standing. Thanks to that, Fuchi got his head back in the game. When Gantetsusai unleashed a huge sword-strike, it cut Ju Fa and Tao Fa apart. That’s when Fuchi and Touma struck, fatally attacking the Tanden of Tao Fa.
We now come to the deaths of Tao Fa and Ju Fa. I think these deaths were handled very well, in such a way as to not be too cruel, but still satisfying for the good-guys. Tao Fa was drowning in the pool after being sliced, still pathetically calling out for Ju Fa. In a truly beautiful act of compassion, Fuchi took Tao Fa out of the water, embraced her, and told her it was enough in a gentle voice. (His words were “Mou, ii” meaning “That’s enough,” or “it’s over now.”) Tao Fa withered away until all that was left was a single pink peach.
As for Ju Fa, he was being burned by the Water Tao spirits that Choubei had stolen from Rien. He had hidden them by swallowing them earlier. Then he cut the bottles out of his belly during battle. (It seems like he wouldn’t be fine after slicing open his gut, but then again, this is anime.) Choubei was enjoying slowly melting Ju Fa with the liquid water Tao. However, in my favorite Gantetsusai moment thus far, the big swordsman finished off Ju Fa, putting him out of his misery. All that was left was a chrysanthemum. Tamiya then set the peach next to the yellow flower, reuniting the spirits of the Tensen lovers as they passed on. The humans were victorious.
The episode then switched over to Sagiri and Mei, who were facing Gui Fa. Instead of fighting, Gui Fa said they would leave the humans alone. But if the humans were insistent on a fight, Gui Fa would crush them mercilessly. I’m using they/them pronouns for Gui Fa because they seem very nonbinary. Of course, technically, all the Tensen are genderfluid, but it seems that most lean either masculine or feminine in their normal presentation. Gui Fa has a really cool design that screams “gender,” in my opinion as a nonbinary person myself. In other words, they’re quite androgynous, with short hair, a feminine voice, masculine pronouns (they use “boku“), and a tall, slender build that could belong to a boy or a girl. Gui Fa was apparently very shy, preferring to read their book rather than talk face-to-face in conversation. This struck me as very cute, but before long, I was reminded that Gui Fa was still an antagonist who steals and devalues human life.
Gui Fa showed Sagiri and Mei a vision of the unfolding plan of the Tensen. Rather than opposing this plan, by the way, Gui Fa was in favor of it. They viewed humans, in their own words, as creatures on the same level as nonhuman animals. The plan was for Rien to sail to Japan (Wakoku as Gui Fa called it) and release a shit ton of evil, magical butterflies everywhere. These butterflies would sting everyone, causing them to be became tree-like and slowly converting them into Tan as their Tao was drained and their minds and bodies broke down. There were enough butterflies on the ship to infect an entire country. In other words, if this plan was enacted, Japan would be destroyed and repurposed as a Tan factory for the Tensen.
(Side Note: In the Tao illusion/vision, there was a moment where Sagiri saw a child with its head taken over by Tao-eating flowers. It was extremely creepy and unsettling. I love when an anime pulls off good moments of horror like this.)
To restate, it didn’t seem like Gui Fa was against Rien’s plan. From their perspective, what does it matter if humans were eliminated from one continent? They still had populations all over the world. Besides, humans were just sources of Tao like all other animals. Though this seems like a logical calculation more than anything on the part of Gui Fa, some of the other Tensen even enjoyed using and killing humans. In particular, Gui Fa mentioned, Mu Dan and Ran were most delighted by it. They were most likely predators by nature, while Gui Fa just sees it as the most efficient way to survive – probably so that they can continue studying forever. I’m always eager to learn things like this about the Tensen. I’m fascinated by these characters and I think the writing for them is genuinely good.
Sagiri had come to negotiate, but she also knew, thanks to Mei, that Gui Fa was reading their moves with the magic paper talismans. We don’t know yet if Sagiri will try to fight or not. While they were speaking, Gui Fa noticed that one of the talismans was starting to burn away – someone was close to dying. The scene then switched to that person – and it was Shion. He was exhausted physically and in terms of Tao. (Using too much can literally kill a person.) He asked Nurugai how many times that was, and Nurugai said some number over 200. (I forgot which). That was the number of times Shion had cut and killed Zhu Jin. Every time, Zhu Jin had to regenerate. After 200 fatal slices, the regeneration rate had actually started to slow down. Shion planned to exhaust the Tensen this way, but it was killing him, too.
In the middle of regenerating, Zhu Jin demanded why the humans were being so insanely persistent. The episode ended with Shion telling Zhu Jin that “The one who takes cannot understand, but the victim never forgets.” Good line. To be continued.
~Thanks for Reading~
Written by 7Mononoke at Anime Rants
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