Hell's Paradise

Episode 4

With each passing episode, this “paradise“ gets creepier and creepier. Not only do we have insects whose venom can cause you to go insane after having flowers sprout out of you, but we have these weird perversions of deities walking around and talking about how all life is precious while they actively try to kill you. It's unnerving, and while I can probably assume that this framing might be a bit creepier in the original manga, I have to hand it to the animation staff and sound design team for helping these things feel very imposing. Even when these mighty and borderline broken criminals can cut a bunch of them down, I still feel a bit unnerved, as if a new threat is just around the corner.

Speaking of the criminals, it appears the show is taking the route of misdirection for the sake of narrative payoff. We already know everything we need to know about Gabimaru and Sagiri's character arc. I still have a lot of reservations about what Sagiri's purpose in the show is supposed to be now, as I worry that the writers are making her more deadweight with each passing episode, but I will reserve judgment on that until I see more. In the meantime, we are getting more insight into the other criminals outside our central duo. I know there's more going on with that ninja girl than she's letting on, and I like how she doesn't hide the fact that she has an agenda.

The other criminals we see live by some code regarding freedom, even if they are still arguably terrible people. If I had to guess, I would say the story is trying to get me to form connections with these other criminals so that it'll be harder to guess who will survive and who isn't. I must admit; they almost got me with the fake out of Chōbei seemingly abandoning his brother. My ability to care and empathize depends on the storytelling and characterization moving forward, so hopefully, he can get me to let my guard down enough to buy into that potential narrative direction.

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Hell's Paradise is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.