Welcome. As usual, this review contains spoilers. To be honest, I have mixed feelings about this episode. It’s the first time I’ve felt disappointed in this season so far – not that it’s ruined my overall enjoyment, just that it made me sad and angry to see a premature conclusion to such a great character. Yuzuriha dies after helping Gabimaru and eliminating Ran. My thoughts on that and other aspects of this episode are below. Just a reminder – Hell’s Paradise season 2 episode 11 is equal to episode 24 of the series in total.
Episode 11: Ephemeralness and Fire
Episode Rating: 8/10
Early in the episode, as Gabimaru lay close to death, we saw flashbacks to his life as a Shinobi and his time with Yui, his beloved wife. Yui is so cute and precious. After marrying Yui – the details of how that happened are not given – Gabimaru tried to avoid killing others in his missions. The other Shinobi noticed because previously, Gabimaru used to always kill people who were in the way before carrying out the mission. In Gabimaru’s mind, this wasn’t “a change of heart caused by mere marriage,” but a sense of conscience born from not being able to face Yui the way he wanted. Yui’s presence was definitely the driving factor in Gabimaru’s change, regardless of whether he considered it that way. But sadly, the Shinobi chief ordered Gabimaru to start killing again, which ultimately led to his attempt to run away from being a ninja assassin, and thus his arrest.
We also saw flashbacks of Gabimaru planning his last-ditch move against the Tensen. He still had the tentacle bud belonging to Mu Dan. If it came down to his life being in danger, Gabimaru would inject himself with the bud’s flower Tao. This would make his body like that of Choubei’s, fused with plant Tao just like a Tensen Lord. Mei warned Gabimaru that this was not a good idea. Not just anyone could transform into a flower creature and survive. Choubei was special due to his strong sense of self, she argued. But Gabimaru believed that Choubei stayed sane because he had someone to come back for – and since Gabimaru had his wife, he thought he could achieve the same effect.
Gabimaru’s plan was effective. He became like the Tensen and quickly regenerated his wounds. With the newfound strength and abilities of flower Tao, Gabimaru was able to keep fighting Ran. Yuzuriha helped too. However, Gabimaru still couldn’t hinder Ran. Instead, he tired Ran out until his kishiki transformation faded. Tensen Lords could only maintain their kishiki flower-monster forms for about an hour. After that, they would be exhausted of Tao. This plan also worked. After an hour, Ran’s transformation fell apart. They reverted to an ancient-looking human form. Sometime during the fighting, however, Yuzuriha was hit badly in the side by a Tao bullet from Ran. She was now weakened. If Yuzuriha helped Gabimaru finish off Ran, she could die from using too much Tao.
Yuzuriha was usually a very logical, clear-headed person as well as someone who was normally self-absorbed. It would be unlike her to take a risk and save Gabimaru. As Gabimaru said, she had probably never been “a fool for someone” – meaning she had probably never been in love or had someone she would die for. Despite all this, Yuzuriha chose to take the deadly risk. She imbued her weapon with her Tao and cut open Ran’s Tanden, killing the Tensen Lord for good. Her motivation on the surface seemed to be that she simply wanted to defeat Ran, and she decided to do what she wanted rather than what would keep her alive. I suspect that she wanted to defeat Ran because the alternative was that Gabimaru would eventually be killed if she didn’t act.
Gabimaru said they needed to rejoin the others in a hurry, but Yuzuriha was seriously wounded, so she said she would stay behind and rest. Before leaving, Gabimaru genuinely thanked Yuzuriha for saving him. Then Yuzuriha was left alone. I know she wanted to look at the gaping wound in her side, but it felt insulting and frustrating that Yuzuriha spent her last moments pleasing the audience by removing her clothes. For me, the fan-service ruined the otherwise serious moment. Yuzuriha remembered her little sister and said that she’d done her best to live for both of them. (Her little sister died of an illness at a young age, a fact that shaped Yuzuriha and her desire to live life to the fullest.) After this revelation, Yuzuriha passed away with a smile on her face. At least, I think she did. We didn’t see her talisman burn away, so there’s still a small chance she gets rescued before death. However, given the tone of the episode, I think the ninja girl is no more.
I am not happy about this, but there’s no point in complaining more right now. Most of the character writing is good in this series, so I’ll definitely be sticking around for more, even if I think it was a mistake to kill Yuzuriha. The scene cut back to Sagiri, Mei, and Gui Fa. Though Sagiri expected Gui Fa to be upset by Ran’s death, the immortal enby reminded her that Tensen were creatures who did not have bonds or ties to this world. That’s obviously not completely true, since Mei, Tao Fa, and Ju Fa were all capable of love. But for Gui Fa at least, the priority seemed to be finding truth and enlightenment removed from the world and its bonds. Interestingly, Mei’s discovery of love – her relationship with Houko – was what made her come back to face the other Tensen. She said she had figured out life at long last. Gui Fa expressed envy, but the conversation was cut off by the noise of Shugen and company arriving in the palace. To be continued.
~Thanks for Reading~
Written by 7Mononoke at Anime Rants
Anime Rants 