REVIEW: ‘Hell’s Paradise’ Season 2 Episode 9 – “Love and Karma”

Following the knockout that was “Chrysanthemums and Peaches,” Hell’s Paradise Season 2 Episode 9 delivers something a little more subdued. Which might come as something of a shock considering the major battle fronting it, yet “Love and Karma” adopts a more somber approach even as Ju Fa and Tao Fa appear in their ruinous, otherworldly forms with their combined Kishikai. Their story is one of tragedy, cruelty, and abuse, as they suffer the will of one person’s desires, created to drain the life out of others, while only able to comfort one another in brief, undeterred moments of respite. 

If anything, the main surprise in Hell’s Paradise Season 2 Episode 9 is just how quickly the main fight moves. Instead, it’s over by the halfway point. It’s still effective, mind you, due to a balance of strong, fluid direction and the subtle character growth that persists throughout. 

Toma, in particular, demonstrates just how far he’s come and how swiftly Fuchi and Gantetsusai have impacted his life. So much so that even Chōbei (Ryōhei Kimura) can realize it, he recalls how, in the past, Tōma (Kensho Ono) was only ever able to follow in his footsteps. Toma didn’t move until Choebi did, caught in his brother’s power and influence. The animation is truly remarkable in this moment of understanding as, for maybe the first time in the entire series, Chōbei’s face noticeably softens. 

For all the carnage and bloodshed, “Love and Karma” crafts a tragic atmosphere. 

It’s similar to Episode 7, when the series sharpened Toma’s features to demonstrate how he was imitating his brother’s ferocity. The shift is subtle but deliberate. Because in Chōbei’s realization of how his brother has transformed into a more confident, independent fighter, he, too, is showing his own personality shift. He hasn’t lost his claws, but he’s willing to work as a team to get out alive.

In many ways, Toma is the MVP of Hell’s Paradise Season 2 Episode 9. He’s the one first to implement the plan to combine their Tao abilities, grabbing Fuchi to solidify contact and deliver effective blows. He also bears the brunt of an attack originally targeting Fuchi (Aoi Ichikawa), before telling him to pull himself together to execute Chōbei’s plan to cause real, fatal damage to Ju Fa and Tao Fa’s (Junichi Suwabe/Yūko Kaida) bodies by cutting their separate tandens. 

There’s a flurry of carnage as the four work together to utilize their strengths and elements against the Kishikai. But despite this, it all comes down to the more human, emotional moments that make each attack flourish. The design of this particular Kishikai is particularly grotesque – and that’s before it turns itself inside out to protect the more wounded part of itself. The imagery is shocking and garish, implementing the body horror aesthetics that have become so key in the series. It’s not just that it looks alien, but that the body is warped to the point of visible, visceral discomfort. 

Fuchi once again offers unexpected compassion. 

And it’s this which speaks to the tragedy. There’s an interesting blend of emotion to Ju Fa and Tao Fa’s demise, as they’re finally cut down. On the one hand, they’ve caused immeasurable amounts of pain, complicit and guilty of taking the lives of innocents for their own gain. And yet, while Chōbei is happy enough to prolong their suffering for what he’s undergone at their hands, Fuchi and Gantetsusai  (Tetsu Inada) aren’t as eager to succumb to mindless brutality. 

The image of Fuchi holding a decomposing, struggling Tao Fa in an expression of compassion is one of the more lovely, unsettling scenes of the series to date. It offers yet another layer to the character while demonstrating the crucial difference between the humans and the Tensen, with Fuchi understanding that Tao Fa needs to let go and be comforted in this moment. 

Because, as much as it is a relief to see them defeated and as much as it’s clear there was no other way for the story to move forward, there’s a mounting, uneasy sadness that comes with it too. Because, in the end, Tao Fa and Ju Fa were innocents created to be corrupted.

Survival doesn’t mean simply escaping the island. 

And the sequence of the two reaching out to one another in their most basic, fundamental forms, once more, the only source of comfort (though flipping it so that, this time, Ju Fa is the one receiving it) is devastating. Proof that in this world, so many of the monsters are made and manipulated rather than organically born. 

It’s such a striking piece of storytelling that it’s momentarily disappointing to return to the Rentan Palace. Hell’s Paradise Season 2 Episode 9 manages to further up the ante as Sagiri (Yumiri Hanamori) and Mei (Konomi Kohara) speak with the nonchalant Gui Fa. Gui Fa has no interest in fighting.

However, they’ve been instructed to stop anyone who tries to pass them, leaving them in an impasse with Sagiri. But it’s not the threat of a showdown that provokes the episode’s most haunting imagery; it’s the illusion of a future not yet realized that Gui Fa shows Sagiri. 

In it, Sagiri learns that a simple escape from the island is futile when all she’ll be returning to is a prolonged reality of suffering and decay. Tensen plans to release infected butterflies onto the mainland, which will turn humans into Waitanhua flowers. From there, they’ll combine into a god-beast to perfect the Tan (life-force) that will be a greater sustenance to Rien’s desire for immortality. 

Hell’s Paradise Season 2 Episode 9 looks at a distorted, apocalyptic future. 

The color grading grays and dulls in this suspended, nightmarish sequence, as we watch the enormity of the threat unfold behind Sagiri’s horrified gaze. The shifts in artistry have been sublime these past few episodes, each signaling varying levels of tension or terror. “Love and Karma” embraces the apocalyptic sense of impending doom through these projected illusions, demonstrating that, to survive, their objective can’t be just a simple escape. Fighting is the only option. 

This becomes more daunting when we learn that Shion (Chikahiro Kobayashi), in his battle with Zhu Jin, is on his last legs. Despite his exhaustive efforts to slow Zhu Jin’s regenerative ability, it hasn’t been enough, despite having slain him over 200 times. The heroes, up until now, have continued to engage in battles where it’s difficult to see how they will emerge victorious. And, in the case of Shion, that concern is even more pressing. 

Hell’s Paradise Season 2 Episode 9 hits its high early but still delivers haunting imagery while raising the stakes considerably in the back half. With one battle completed, “Love and Karma” pivots to a dread-inducing effect. 

Hell’s Paradise Season 2 Episode 9 is available now on Crunchyroll.

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