If last week’s episode was about exploring Gabimaru as a character, and exposing his strengths and weaknesses, then this week it’s Sagiri’s turn to go under the microscope. 

We see her father, able to effortlessly behead a condemned storyteller in the midst of telling a story. We then see a few attempts at beheadings by Sagiri where she technically succeeds but shows hesitation that her father disapproves of. Their deaths are “painful”, and show she is “unsuited” for the role of an executioner. 

We are then brought back to the present, where Sagiri and Gabimaru have met up with a bunch of other executioners, a bunch of criminals, and the Shogun. They are shown someone who has returned from the island. Someone who now has flowers growing out of their body; including one particularly nasty blossom protruding out of their eye socket. 

When the criminals see the state of this man, they want outta there. And I don’t blame them. If you’re going to execute someone, execute them. Using prisoners as labor is wrong—a key point of the situation—but this goes beyond the pale. In the real world I’d be furious. But in fiction, this is like Suicide Squad. Except that, instead of bomb collars, they each have a personally assigned executioner who is eager and willing o bump them off at the slightest hint of an infraction.

I’m still very concerned that this whole thing is a set up. That the pardon is a sham. And that in the end it’s only going to be Sagiri’s conviction that will get Gabimaru back to his wife. (If we get that happy ending—this is dark fantasy so it’s just as possible that he is mortally wounded and dies in her lap. But I’m getting ahead of myself here. I’m anime only. And we should get back to the plot at hand…) 

The overarching question of the episode is clearly “When is it right to kill?” and “Can one kill with a clear conscience?”

For my part, I’d like to make the suggestion that the ability to kill with clear conscience is actually the hallmark of a monster. Whereas that lingering pain about killing is not weakness, but rather humanity. 

Ideally, a Shogun is suppose to be a leader for his people. A symbol of honor, wisdom, and justice. Yet the Shogun presented in this story is a psychopath who uses condemned criminals to create a slaughter house battle royale for his own personal entertainment. 

The criminals, in contrast, are being held accountable not for the crimes they have actually committed. But rather because they lack the power to ensure that people cannot hold them accountable. (When compared to the Shogun.)

Meanwhile, Sagiri is viewed as weak for having any form of hesitation about being able to kill people. And in turn, for feeling discomfort in what she feels after killing them. I wonder… 

Is the truth that her peers move past this feeling? Or that they don’t feel it? I don’t necessarily think this has to be an all or nothing scenario, but it will be interesting to see how or whether it is addressed as the story goes on.

Lastly we see Gabimaru, who spends the majority of the episode staying still and not getting involved in the conflict. Until they tell one of the criminals that he will get immediate access to the island if Gabimaru can successfully be slain. At which point, Gabimaru hesitantly resolves to fight the person who is coming at him.

And fight his opponents with the same mercy and compassion that he has been sitting and watching them bestow on each other. Seeing him go for throats like a jungle cat, especially the sequence where he literally rips a dude’s throat out with his teeth, makes it clear that he is not messing around.

Which is a beautiful reflection on how things often go in the real world. People who have knowledge of violence, but who also hold their own morality, will generally be the last people to start a fight. And the first people to finish one, if they are given no other option. Because the easiest way for people to feel no remorse in asking for violence is by being people who are ignorant to the consequences of the violence they seek. 

Like the Shogun, who looks like he’s gonna piss his pants by the end of the overall battle royale exchange. Gabimaru, for better or worse, has definitely left an impression.

In Gabimaru’s decision to fight and live, and in Sagiri’s decision to wield a blade, each character is doing their best within the reality they have been flung into. 

I love how, as she is talking to another executioner who suggests she give up and go back to her mansion, Sagiri reflects on her childhood in the Yamada clan. We see the reality, that even if she hadn’t become an executioner, all of the trades of her clan are rooted in death.

I particularly liked how, as she watches Gabimaru fight after much initial reluctance, Sagiri realizes that she shouldn’t feel ashamed of how she feels about killing people. Instead, she should strive to have the resolve to endure, and do what is right, regardless of how it makes her feel. 

I’ve seen some complaints that in this episode, there is too much sexism against Sagiri, and that it takes away from the story. That it shouldn’t matter if this is historically accurate since it has weird, magical stuff happening. That it should reflect our current world.

I disagree. Showcasing the way Sagiri is treated by her peers is as key to establishing her story arc here, as showing Gabimaru’s resolve to live was in episode one. 

When we demand that behaviors we dislike be barred from being present in our entertainment, we increase the risk that people will forget why we left those behaviors behind. We also put massive creative restraint on writers. By invading their space to create, rather than inhabiting our natural role as a viewer. 

Our interpretation of what we watch activates the story like a set of watercolors are brought back to life by a wet brush. By pre-empting this relationship between creator and viewers with restrictions based on our social mores of the times, we rob art of its integrity. Further, we also risk having people begin to embrace the very things we claim to hate. Without their presence in fiction, where it is safe to examine them fully, people forget why we decided those things are bad in the first place. 

Then these bad behaviors rear their heads in the real world, where we truly don’t want them. Much like the old saying goes: “Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.”. That doesn’t merely relate to specific historical records, but also to the stories we pass down through our societies. 

What I think Hell’s Paradise is really getting right is that it shows polar opposite representations of womanhood through Sagiri—a warrior—and through Gabimaru’s wife—who is more compassionate and nurturing. The show does not strive to make a claim that one is more valuable then the other. It also shows feral male ferocity and stoic decency—two different strands of being a man—through Gabimaru. 

Because at the end of the day, what truly matters for any person is not being stuck in a singular mode. It’s having the intuition or conviction to know what a moment calls for, and then having the ability to rise to that current occasion. 

Getting off that tangent and back on track, I’m really glad they’ve spent these first two episodes really diving deep into both Gabimaru and Sagiri’s backgrounds and motives. For some of you this may feel a little slow, but I feel it’s going to have massive payoff as we get onto the island proper and see just what these characters will be dealing with. 

So, what did you think of episode 2? Are you following the series weekly? Or maybe you’re from the future and binging it either after it’s complete or via a dub? However you got here, I’d love to hear your thoughts. If you’re interested in Hell’s Paradise and haven’t started it yet, it is available on Crunchyroll.