REVIEW: ‘Hell’s Paradise’ Season 2 Episode 12 – “Endings and Beginnings”

As we long for the days when more series were granted a full 24-episode season, few have shown the strain of such condensed conditions as Hell’s Paradise Season 2 Episode 12. While the finale is captivating and delivers on many of the dynamics the series has been building to, there’s a general sense of “that’s it” that plagues the climactic moments. It operates, technically, as a cliffhanger, but with all the setup it provides and all the standoffs it stages, cutting off the story at this moment to make us wait for a third season is frustratingly abrupt. 

That bereft feeling is such a shame because, on the whole, Hell’s Paradise Season 2 Episode 12 is enjoyable, displaying the series’ mastery of its tone. While we know, having seen the destructive arrival of Shugen’s party, that the stakes are impossibly high with our protagonists surrounded, the writing still allows for levity, specifically, in the playfulness injected into the scenes with Fuchi (Aoi Ichikawa), Chōbei (Ryōhei Kimura), Tōma (Kensho Ono), and Gantetsusai  (Tetsu Inada). 

For one, the moment when they dry their clothes before advancing toward their objective reveals a different, more youthful side of Fuchi as he coolly aligns Gantetsusai’s new eyepatch. And second, it highlights that, despite their innate differences, this foursome in particular is now a team, whether they like it or not. At the very least, they know how to work with one another while riling each other up.

Any playfulness evaporates the moment Shugen and Shija arrive on the scene. 

The scene where they run away after Shugen (Ryōta Suzuki) arrives, trying to devise a plan, is so well executed because we now know these characters so well, while still allowing them to surprise us. It’s the contrast between the silliness of Fuchi’s skipping run and a rare moment of sobriety from Gantetsusai, as he recalls the honorless horrors of war and recognizes they’ve stumbled into their own mindless battlefield.

Their only objective and way for survival is to retreat. Considering how much the series draws on the contrasts of human nature, it makes sense that the one time Gantetsusai is truly perturbed, truly scared, is by Shugen, whom he likens to a monster, rather than the inhuman Tensen (Junichi Suwabe/Yūko Kaida) . 

Along with Shugen, there’s Shija (Ayumu Murase), sent to kill Gabimaru (Chiaki Kobayashi) to become the next Gabimaru, the Hollow of the Iwagakure shinobi clan. Like Shugen, their threat is indeterminable, arriving with a motive but where the objective seems lost in their own desires and ideals. Shugen kills for the sake of what he declares “justice” without allowance or empathy for anyone he believes to be wrong. His bloody tear that tracks his face as he lays waste to the island’s monsters is a performative tell of his own self-delusions. Meanwhile, Shija’s ascension is clearly motivated by some past connection or affection for the current Gabimaru. 

Hell’s Paradise Season 2 Episode 12 has unshakeable tension throughout. 

It makes Shija’s face-off with Tensen even more complex, highlighting how unknowable they are. Rather than go after Gabimaru, they’re letting the other shinobi take the lead in the pursuit, while Shija is going after the greatest threat to Gabimaru and co in their efforts to escape the island. Shija even instructs their underlings to ensure one boat remains unscathed. This isn’t suggesting that Shija is working in Gabimaru’s best interest. Rather than, like Shugen, what gives them their drive is murkier than many easy antagonists or protagonists. 

It’s that element that gives Hell’s Paradise Season 2 Episode 12 its unshakable, thematic tension. In any other series, the arrival of the Asaemon and shinobi would bring a sense of relief, backup coming at the exact moment they need it the most. Instead, it drives up the stakes because we know that their belief systems are muddied by Shugen’s pervasive desire to hold any criminal accountable for the deaths of his fallen comrades, even if that means having to kill others of his group of executioners who might stand in his way. 

When Jikka (Kōji Yusa), Isuzu (Sayaka Ohara), Kiyomaru (Maaya Uchida), and Shugen stand before Chōbei, Tōma, Yuzuriha (Rie Takahashi), Nurugai (Makoto Koichi), and Gantetsusai, the atmosphere is suddenly consumed by dread. Because while the Asaemon are meant to be the leaders of justice – the good guys, really – instead they’re beckoned in as the harbingers of doom.

The lines between good and bad grow even murkier in “Endings and Beginnings.”

It makes the support from Fuchi, Sagiri (Yumiri Hanamori), and Shion (Chikahiro Kobayashi) all the more telling, as members of the same clan who demonstrated the capacity for change and enough empathy to believe their condemned counterparts deserve a second chance at life. 

It’s telling that, despite Tensen’s success in bringing the Banko to life (a genuinely haunting moment), it is still Shugen and his loyal followers who inspire the greatest fear. It’s they who make it hard to fathom how the group manages to survive. 

That said, Hell’s Paradise Season 2 Episode 12 certainly isn’t concerned with hand-waving what were, previously, grievous injuries. Yuzuriha seemed on death’s door in Episode 11 and yet springs back to life to assist Sagiri and Mei (Konomi Kohara).

And Gabimaru is acting on pure fumes and his desire to see his wife, only just able to defend himself from the shinobi attacks. It’s only mildly frustrating, the narrative lending itself to convenience to make sure all of the pivotal characters are still standing in what feels like the final leg of the story, their night from hell, someone worsening by the moment. 

Hell’s Paradise Season 2 Episode 12 leaves us on a major, dread-inducing cliffhanger. 

Hell’s Paradise Season 2 Episode 12 deploys some effective, swift animation, even if it doesn’t scale the same heights as earlier episodes. But there’s detailed work on how Shugen wields his blade, him gripping it and shaking it down to rid it of the blood that’s been splattered on it, immensely effective in the weight of the movements. The score from Yoshiaki Dewa also unsettles, using eerie composition to create an auditory sense of impending, apocalyptic devastation, everything just a little off-kilter, a touch dissonant. 

Murase is a superb addition to the ensemble, instilling Shija with emotional ambiguity, and the characters’ unpredictability is a good match for Murase’s elastic vocal performance. Ichikawa and Ono also stand out as Fuchi and Tōma in the early moments, as they’re the ones allowed to have a little more fun with their performances in what feels like the last moments of levity for the series as it careens towards unstoppable carnage. 

Hell’s Paradise Season 2 Episode 12 is a strong finale despite the need for a longer season which is beyond their control. More than anything, the MAPPA series dials up the immense sense of dread as these characters, after minor triumphs, hit another devastating bump in the road. The exhaustive battle looms over them all. Punctuated by necessary bouts of humor that offer the series a breather, “Endings and Beginnings” promises much more to come. 

Hell’s Paradise Season 2 Episode 12 is out now on Crunchyroll. 

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