No Character is Safe in Hell's Paradise

Hells Paradise captured the hearts of many people thanks to its unique setting, likable characters, and gorgeous animation. A great deal of thought went into how the anime presented itself visually and how the story effectively communicated its various potential branching paths. At Anime NYC 2025, original manga creator Yūji Kaku and anime producer Kirito Iwashita attended a panel that showed off exciting scenes from the upcoming season set to debut early next year. Yūji Kaku explained that he was very excited to see the cast come together in the next season, especially since he was very hands-off with the anime's production.

He explained that he did not want to micromanage the staff. Kaku's philosophy when writing Hell's Paradise was all about not softening the blow when hitting the audience with emotions. He didn't want to create a story that was predictable, even to him, since if he could predict what was going on, then so could the audience. He also loved creating the concept for Hell's Paradise's primary antagonists, as their existence is all about opposites at conflict with themselves for the sake of creating something beautiful. Outside of the panel, Anime News Network had the opportunity to sit down with these two and ask them questions about how the original story came to be and what the staff kept in mind when bringing such an interesting story to the animated medium.

Gabimaru is an interesting main character driven by his desire to be reunited with his loving wife. Married protagonists aren't something that we see a lot of in shonen battle manga these days. What made you want this to be a defining aspect of his character?

Yūji Kaku: Hell's Paradise was conceived as a story of survival, and the main character really needs a strong motivation to survive. He needs to be driven to get this over with as soon as possible. So I made his wife the driving force for Gabimaru. I'll admit that was something that I hadn't originally put too much thought into. It was really just a small aspect of his character initially. But afterwards, I realized I had created something unusual here with a married Shonen manga main character.

The setting of Hell's Paradise pulls from a lot of different religious and philosophical backgrounds. How in-depth did you go into studying these aspects? Was it difficult to merge so many of them to create this unique setting?

KAKU: When conceiving Hell's Paradise, it was important to include all the elements that I'm passionate about, so it's like a toy box of everything I'm interested in. It wasn't that I specifically studied any of these topics, genres, or aspects for creating the world. But they are all components of things that I'm already interested in and that I'm already passionate about. My interests blended into this melting pot to create the world that you see.

Well, that passion definitely shows! When you first heard the series was going to be adapted into an anime, what was your initial reaction?

KAKU: This is actually the first time my work has been animated. Initially, I couldn't even imagine what it would be like to see my creations, my artwork, my drawings move like this. It was a huge and delightful surprise.

Was there anything specific that you wanted to make sure the anime portrayed?

KAKU: One of my personal philosophies is that the animation team should be empowered and that their self-motivation and self-driven energy as the animation team really carry the quality. So, rather than micromanaging and directing them this way or that, what I really wanted to see was the animation team feeling empowered to make the best decisions and produce the best quality possible.

What has been your favorite anime scene thus far?

KAKU: I'm actually a big fan of the violence, horror, and gore genres. So anytime Gabimaru is soaked in blood is a favorite scene of mine. In particular, the last battle of episode two stands out as a favorite.

Without giving too much away, is there anything you're looking forward to getting adapted with season two coming out right around the corner?

KAKU: In season two, we finally see all the main characters of Hell's Paradise introduced and developed, so that's something that I'm really looking forward to.

Of the characters in Hell's Paradise, so many have different, unique abilities and power sets. What was it like coming up with all of those?

KAKU: Although there are many characters, each one has a unique aspect from me. They're all very relatable. Although there are many characters to keep track of, I don't find it very confusing. Each of them established themselves very well, and it was a very natural process to develop each of these characters.

Hell's Paradise starts with a rather large cast that slowly gets smaller as more people unfortunately meet their end at the hands of the horrors of the island. Did you always have who would live and who would die planned out, or was that something that you slowly figured out as you were already telling the story?

KAKU: So it's almost like a multiverse. Each character has a route of survival and a route of death. Depending on where and how the story progressed, each of those decision points was taken at the moment that they had to be.

You conceived routes for where each character would live and where each character would die in the story?

KAKU: Yes, each character had a route for life and a route for death, even Gabimaru initially.

Wow. Was there any character death in particular that hit you especially hard? Especially since you've made it clear that each character represents a little part of yourself.

KAKU: This might be a little cliché, but because each character has a little bit of me, it's really sad that any of them meet their end. And you might not believe this, but every single character that had to go, I was really regretting their death as I was drawing it.

When it comes to our central duo, Gabimaru and Sagiri, why did you pick them to be the leading duo of the series? What makes them stand out compared to the rest of the cast?

KAKU: Even though they are placed in the Edo period, Sagiri and Gabimaru have the most relatable mentality to us in the modern world, particularly around their philosophy on love. And so, of all of the characters involved, I felt that those two were the most relatable to those of us living in the modern world.

The Tensen are these frightening and powerful creatures that can morph between genders. How did you conceive them as the villains of this story?

KAKU: One of the thematic aspects of Hell's Paradise is that there's a conflict of opposites. Whether it's good versus evil, weak versus strong, there are elements of opposites integrated into the entire storyline. That's something that I really kept a focus on throughout story development. The main characters are criminals and executioners. So what does the opposite of that look like was a driving factor in conceiving the antagonist for the storyline.

Well, they're definitely horrifying, so I think you accomplished that!

KAKU: You're welcome!

Moving over to Kirito Iwashita, was there anything particularly challenging about bringing Yūji Kaku's manga to animation?

Kirito IWASHITA: Not necessarily. There are weak versus strong elements, there is strategy, characters are thinking through logic as they're fighting, and the media of animation really only has twenty minutes at a time to communicate all of this. So there's a severe limitation on how much content we can show at a time. How do we balance explanation with action? Anime viewers don't tend to rewind and re-watch. So everything has to make sense within that twenty-minute restriction. That's something of a challenge we're constantly trying to do our best on.

One amazing selling point of Hell's Paradise is those fight scenes. What steps were taken to bring those action sequences to life? Were there any specific rules or philosophies the animation staff had to keep in mind when translating those action scenes to animation?

IWASHITA: When it comes to horror elements and gore, being that this is a TV series airing on regular channels, there are a lot of regulatory restrictions. We can't make it too gory. We can't make it too extreme. So, within the constraints we're given, we're constantly trying to maximize how we can keep the spirit of the original and the aspects that are so terrifying in the original series. How do we maximize that spirit and achieve the same feeling, given the restrictions we have?

Based on what I saw, I think you definitely accomplished that. Thank you so much for your time.

Yūji Kaku (Hell's Paradise creator)
Born in Tokyo, Kaku-sensei began his career in the industry as an editor before making his debut as a manga artist. From January 2018 to January 2021, he captivated readers with his breakout hit Hell's Paradise, serialized on Shonen Jump+, which was later adapted into an anime by MAPPA.

Kirito Iwashita (Producer - Twin Engine)
Joined in 2020, the production company behind Hell's Paradise, Twin Engine. He began his production career as an assistant producer on Shine on! Bakumatsu Bad Boys! Since then, he has contributed to several titles as a planning producer, including Hell's Paradise.

The Hell’s Paradise: Jigokuraku manga is available digitally and in print from Viz Media on its Shonen Jump app. It can also be read digitally on Shueisha's MANGA Plus app and platform. The first anime season is available to stream on Crunchyroll or to purchase on home video. Hell's Paradise season two will premiere in January 2026 and stream on Crunchyroll.

ANN's coverage of Anime NYC 2025 is sponsored by Yen Press!