Hell's Paradise Season 2

Episode 7

I have to tip my hat off to the animators who choreographed the fighting in this episode. Hell's Paradise has always been a gorgeous-looking anime with fluid action, but this episode took things to another level. How everyone moved, dodged, and took advantage of their position was inspired. I also loved how the camera was used to showcase the action from different angles. Things were almost always in motion, and while the characters still loved to explain what was going on, the action perfectly captured the specific ways the characters were reacting to the fight itself. When Ju Fa described Chobei and Toma as fighting as one being, the way they fought actually reflected that. Plus, the parallels between how they were beaten before versus how they've gained the upper hand now actually add a lot of emotional satisfaction to the fight. The brothers' deranged looks also helped with that, and while I wish there was a bit more buildup with how far Toma had come as a fighter, I love how his relationship with Chobei is showcased.

The action was already pushing this episode for me, but there is also a lot of good story and characterization to be extrapolated from Yamada and Tamiya's fight with Tao Fa. Firstly, I was a little shocked that the show actually the Tensen some interesting characterization, and it was done with only a few small lines of dialogue. Their characterization has been tricky because they all sort of feel like the same person. The show hasn't distinguished their personalities enough to make them all distinctly interesting. This is probably the first time that the show has actually played with my expectations by having probably one of the loudest and most joyful Tensen actually reveal a tragedy about themselves. The fact that some of the Tensen don't believe that the elixir of life is possible and that they have been forced to toil away at a seemingly impossible task for over 1000 years is heart-wrenching and arguably a great parallel with the main cast. This show starts with people being sent to their death on an impossible task, but at least they are allowed to die and be released from this hell, while the Tensen are already borderline immortal, so they're just forced to live out this task seemingly forever. The fact that Tao Fa's joyful personality is more of a self-aware sign that she's gone crazy, because it's the only thing she can ironically do to keep everything together, is really fascinating.

Then there's Yamada and Tamiya, who were not characters that I thought would work as a duo, but I like how their differences tie them together. Tamiya is a big idiot and painfully straightforward, while Yamada is something of a scientist. Both of them, for different reasons, don't believe in things that they cannot physically see or play around with, which goes against the very idea of what Tao is as an invisible lifeforce. It's an example of how spirituality doesn't mesh with overly practical or headstrong people. They should not be struggling in this fight as much as they are, but they're at a disadvantage due to a self-imposed handicap that they need to figure out how to overcome, which is a great way of blending character growth with the action.

I also like the solution that they lean towards by the end of the episode. Yamada's interest in Tao is actually getting stronger throughout the fight as he is physically able to feel it. The irony is that the more he gets the hell beaten out of him, the more fascinated he is by its existence, and I'm pretty sure that curiosity is going to lead him to understanding how to utilize his own Tao in the next episode. Then there's Tamiya's stubborn ability to power through things in arguably the most logically illogical way possible. I like how Tamiya doubles down on his stubbornness because he would rather self-mutilate than try to understand something in a way that was taught or explained. But that seemed to have worked, and now it looks like the playing field is being leveled.

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