REVIEW: ‘Hell’s Paradise’ Season 2 Episode 1 – “Dawn and Confusion”

Nearly three years since the premiere of Season 1, Hell’s Paradise Season 2 Episode 1 wastes little time in reestablishing the duality of worlds in “Dawn and Confusion.” Based on the manga series written and illustrated by Yuji Kaku and produced by MAPPA, this horror story of morality, immortality, and the sacrifices made that strip people of their humanity continues to dazzle and dizzy through narrative density and visual spectacle. 

Hell’s Paradise: Jigokuraku returns us to the overgrown chaos of Shinsenkyō, where our protagonist, Gabimaru (Chiaki Kobayashi), remains, split off from the rest of his original party. The group, now in different teams, was first sent to the island to find the Elixir of Life for the shogun, after other parties failed to reach their destination. Made up of death row convicts and Yamada Asaemon executioners (who test their blades through said executions) who are watching them, their plight quickly descends to mayhem and double crossing by the time they reach the island. 

Now, Hell’s Paradise Season 2 Episode 1 returns us momentarily to the real world as we’re introduced to two characters who are about to take the lead. The shogun is impatient while waiting for the original team, so he decides to send out a new team of the Yamada Asaemon group, led by the serious Shugen (Ryōta Suzuki) and the flighty Jikka (Kōji Yusa). Jikka, who, technically, was meant to be on the first mission but whose charge died on the boat ride over. 

Hell’s Paradise Season 2 Episode 1 swiftly reestablishes this vibrant, nightmarish world. 

While we’ve spent little time with the two, the premiere does a good job of establishing their personalities and how they contrast. It’s a reminder that, despite the proposed rigidity of their profession, they’re not a monolith. Jikka is an enjoyable addition, demonstrating a loose candor and outright mockery of what is expected of him. 

And despite this being the “real world,” it’s also where we get our first reminder of how spectacular the visuals can be. It shouldn’t be surprising, considering the first punch of color in the Season 1 premiere came in the image of a corpse, grayed and shrunken, given a posthumous life through blooming flowers growing out of it. Beauty in the macabre and unsettling imagery of garish euphoria is the series’ sweet spot, and it continues to be. 

With Jikka and Shugen, it comes through in the lighting and direction, their lanterns, and the full moon, offering depth and shadows on their walk as they establish their mission. It makes the feverish shift to Shinsenkyō all the more striking. As we come to the hedonistic shrine of Tensens, the lighting becomes overbearing, with a neon glow and kaleidoscopic coloring. 

The threat of Tensen looms large over our protagonists. 

The reminder of their threat makes it clear that Sagiri (Yumiri Hanamori) and her group, Yuzuriha (Rie Takahashi), Nurugai (Makoto Koichi), and Shion (Chikahiro Kobayashi), are all currently in the Tensen castle, and that the threat is greater. While the danger of this island has been unmistakable since the start of the journey, with an increasing number of characters dying due to the monsters it hosts, the reminder is necessary. Not just for the sake of the audience, but also for the story, as we delve deeper into the lore and worldbuilding. 

Sagiri decides they need to find Gabimaru and Mei (Konomi Kohara). And while the moment mainly establishes where this group is heading, it also allows Sagiri and Yuzuriha a playful bout of banter that highlights just how far each character has come.

We see it both in their mutual respect and faith in their abilities to get them out unscathed and in Sagiri’s willingness to help Yuzuriha with her goal now that they know the elixir of life is a lie. And, considering the constant teasing that Yuzuriha did towards Sagiri in Season 1, it’s a fun change of pace to see her be the flustered one for a change. 

Gabimaru and Chōbei operates as two sides of the same coin mid-battle.

The main action, unsurprisingly, comes in Gabimaru’s current circle in Hell’s Paradise Season 2 Episode 1. Having overused his ki (Tao), Gabimaru isn’t at his peak strength, unable to recall the source of his usual inhuman strength (the memory of his wife). While his group of samurai and fighters, including Tamiya Gantetsusai (Tetsu Inada) and Fuchi (Aoi Ichikawa), is strong, his not being at full capacity makes their run-in with the siblings Chōbei Aza (Ryōhei Kimura) and Tōma (Kensho Ono) more dangerous. 

Chōbei and Tōma are such richly drawn characters with an air of tragedy circling them, even if they’re often the perpetrators of their own self-destruction. Watching the transformation of Chōbei is wonderfully done, especially as he doesn’t worry about losing his humanity as long as he can remember his brother, who tethers him. It makes the fight between him and Gabimaru explosive, both visually and emotionally, as both fight with self-sacrificial intent. 

Gabimaru believes he has nothing left to lose, igniting what it means to be a last run, suicidal blow as his power engulfs him. Chōbei, meanwhile, says he can lose anything in the world as long as he has his brother. 

“Dawn and Confusion” ends on an explosive note of transformation.

The contrast in their fighting styles, driven by these pivoting yet strangely unifying beliefs, delivers a high impact on narrative and characterization. Two characters willing to risk it all with strikingly different understandings of what that “all” is. Fitting, considering how much of the series throughlight resolves around balance. Of yin and yang, of the need for strength and weakness.

Hell’s Paradise Season 2 Episode 1 ends mid-transformation, as Chōbei loses himself to the power he inherited after his brief death in Season 1. It’s a fantastic place for the Season to start up at, as all of our major groupings are being moved towards this seemingly unstoppable, unforgiving power. 

Bolstered by stunning visuals and detailed linework (look, for instance, at the work of the eyes or the details of the hilt of a sword), Hell’s Paradise Season 2 Episode 1 is quick to reestablish itself as a must-watch. The grand, sweeping worldbuilding stuns with its squeamish designs, while the complex characters at the center drive the story towards increasingly dire and relentless circumstances. 

Hell’s Paradise Season 2 Episode 1 is out now on Crunchyroll.