Hell's Paradise

Episode 5

I'm very pleased with how economical this episode was in following up on previous concepts, fully establishing other characters, and potentially setting things up for the future. When the last episode ended with Sagiri collapsing, I knew we would begin this episode with everyone taking care of her, so I was waiting for the show to justify that decision, considering all of the tension and "kill or be killed" mentality that everyone seems to have on this island. I like how it was addressed and tied into a previous narrative beat regarding Sagiri and Gabimaru's relationship. Gabimaru felt at least a little guilty about Sagiri collapsing because she seemed to get sick from poison due to a cut that he inflicted on her during their little scuffle. But he also feels like he owes her because she seems to have been the one responsible for instilling that resolve to live in him from episode one. I like this because the show is acknowledging that Sagiri was written and presented differently in the first episode compared to how she is being presented now. I'll give the show a lot of credit for that if it's making it an intentional narrative choice. Sagiri is a skilled swordsman and executioner with a strong resolve, so I didn't like that the show portrayed her as so incompetent in these past couple of episodes.

The episode tries to tie Sagiri's resolve to her unconventional upbringing, where it's frowned upon for a woman to become a samurai. However, I would have preferred if this had been established earlier instead of having a half-episode dump of unapologetic sexism. While it makes sense, given the realistic elements of the period, its narrative could have been handled a bit better. Plus, the whole conversation seemed detached from previous elements about Sagiri's resolve with the Sword, as it appeared more of a personal issue rather than a need to prove something to external forces. I'll give the show the benefit of the doubt that this will all come together, but if it drops the ball on the setup, I'm gonna be crying a lot of fouls in the future, especially since it's going out of its way to address this narrative inconsistency.

Speaking of setup, I did like Nurugai and Tenza's relationship in this episode, even though I was constantly thinking that they were going to die the whole time. I don't know; I feel like this show is conditioning me to think that a character can die at seemingly any moment, and when half of the episode is front-loaded with a backstory for a character we've never really seen before, I am left thinking that it's all for sudden shock value. But not only does it seem like these two are going to stick around, but their dynamic seems to be amongst the healthiest of all the other groups on this island, with one even teasing that they were going to get married when they somehow get out of this.

Outside of that, I like the worldbuilding established here and how each episode seems to give us a little more information regarding this strange island and how it operates. The characters point out how there seems to be a lot of overlap regarding different religions, from Buddhism to Taoism, and how the creatures seem to exist in this weird uncanny valley. They're too crude and deformed to come off as intentional tributes to the gods, but they seem to have enough awareness and presence that's not some random accident of nature. Plus, the fact that they seem to be operating without organs implies that some mythical force is keeping them alive, which could point to the elixir of life. I'm curious about what else they will find out about this island in the next episode.

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Hell's Paradise is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.