Hell's Paradise Season 2

Episode 4

I am genuinely shocked at how much attention the show gave to Shugen in this episode. Considering how often the show will bounce back and forth between multiple points of view, it's a nice change of pace to sit in with one group of people and get a bunch of backstory about one character that takes up most of the episode. In fact, when the show cuts back to the main group, things almost feel superfluous because Shion's speech about everybody sticking together felt a little redundant. It is funny that the cast calls him out on that, considering how much all of them have been through together at this point. The appeal of this episode was definitely Shugen and establishing him as a legitimate threat. If anything, he gets more setup than the actual Tensen throughout the show, and they basically control the entire island.

At first glance, it almost looks like Shugen goes through a character arc in his own proper setup episode. He is an orphan with a lot of aggression boiling beneath the surface. But he's also a bit of an empath because he's overly emotional. I like characters who are so dead set on the rules and on carrying out things in the proper order on the surface, when in reality, they are more or less driven by motion. I like the setup and payoff with his sword: that a clean sword and a clean execution should be the main purpose of his job, even though he holds one of the highest ranks. But a jagged sword can be painful and take longer as a form of torture. I like to think this guy doesn't really care about the rules or etiquette as much as he comes off, and he wants an excuse to be more murderous. It's funny that a lot of the main cast have found themselves coming into their own more on this island, and yet this guy has gotten into the murder zone the MINUTE he sets foot on it.

There's also some setup with the ninja clan accompanying Shugen, as they were sent specifically to kill Gabimaru. I wasn't really sure why they wanted to kill Gabimaru, their best soldier. It's made clear that the head of the ninja clan had always been worried or cautious about his inability to fully control him anymore. He was initially relieved that Gabimaru was going to be executed, however Gabimaru was sent to the island before the clan could confirm, so now they're just trying to get rid of him before he has a chance to make it back to the homeland. I do find it funny that Gabimaru is so feared that maybe they're worried about him getting that pardon so that he can just kill the ninja clan that has abused and manipulated him for a good chunk of his life. It's also interesting to see their dedication to the cause. I was not expecting that one guy would just straight up kill himself in an eerily detailed way.

Now that all of that has been established, the next step is to see how these different factions will interact directly with each other. There's the main cast of the riff-raff underdogs; there's the murder squad that just came to the island; there are the Tensen, who are just going about business as usual; and then there's Chobei as our wildcard. Even though I have more information, my expectations for the next episode are no different from my original expectations for this episode. I guess I'm more excited now about where our murder squad is coming from. The real meat of the show is going to be once these factions start crossing over with each other.

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