Hell's Paradise season 2 stunning new opener hints at upcoming arcs

There's more to Gabimaru's story than resilience and redemption.

It makes sense for most high-ranking shinobi to be driven by the need for unprecedented power or righteous retribution, but not Gabimaru the Hollow, the ninja-turned-convict who is willing to experience hell and back just to return to his wife, Yui, in Yuji Kaku’s web manga series, Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku. After a botched assassination job, Gabimaru is sentenced to be executed, but the shogunate gives him the chance to earn a pardon if he travels to the mysterious island, Shinsenkyō, to retrieve the coveted Elixir of Life. Gabimaru is enrolled in this mission alongside a group of dangerous death-row convicts, but Shinsenkyō proves itself to be a death trap designed to break the strongest of wills.

[Ed. note: This article contains spoilers for Hell’s Paradise season 2 episode 1.]

The first season of Hell’s Paradise, which aired in 2023, brilliantly dismantles the frightening “Hollow” moniker attached to Gabimaru. As blood-soaked as his hands may be as a ruthless assassin, his sense of humanity is tempered by a deep love for Yui. But the story gets complicated when season 1 ends with Gabimaru experiencing dissociative amnesia, removing crucial context behind his reason to keep going. Hell’s Paradise used its recent Jan. 11 premiere to flesh out this disorienting new reality for Gabimaru, who acts like a completely different person in season 2 without the memories that shaped him.

The creditless versions of season 2’s opening and ending are now available, featuring stunning animation work from MAPPA. The opening, set to “Kasukana Hana” by Tatsuya Kitani (feat. Babymetal), features Gabimaru’s Fire Tao engulfing the screen and almost consuming his soul, until Yui’s disembodied hands gently embrace him. What follows is a fast-paced montage of Gabimaru’s allies, who need to put their differences aside to fight the Tensen, the show’s primary antagonists, who hold dominion over Shinsenkyō. Tao was established as the source of all life in season 1 (similar to the Force in Star Wars), which is why the opening draws a direct connection between the mental states of Gabimaru and his friends and the efficacy of their powers.

Meanwhile, Hell’s Paradise season 2’s contemplative ending theme, set to “PERSONAL” by Ziyoou-vachi, takes an intimate look at the Yui-Gabimaru dynamic, and how Yui’s existence spurs Gabimaru to resist death, even when he’s riddled with existential angst. The ending theme illustrates this with monochrome line art of Gabimaru alone and depressed, but this bleak atmosphere shifts to vibrant vignettes as soon as he remembers Yui. The beautiful memories made with her allow him to keep going, and the theme aptly ends with Gabimaru standing beneath a brilliant ray of light.

While Hell’s Paradise positions Gabimaru as the narrative focal point, its themes are more complex than the protagonist’s internal conflicts. To better understand Gabimaru, we need to look closer at Sagiri, a Yamada Asaemon (a ronin class of executioners) who enrolled him for the Shinsenkyō expedition and has been monitoring him throughout the mission. Circumstances force Gabimaru and Sagiri to find compassion for each other, and this symbiotic relationship even extends to her Wood Tao, which is highly compatible with Gabimaru’s Fire Tao.

As a woman in a position of power in Edo-era Japan, Sagiri has constantly battled doubts springing from the misogyny levied at her, but Gabimaru is quick to assess her strengths shortly after they meet. This ties into the theme of finding strength within weakness, as it is better to — in Sagiri’s own words — remain “nebulous and ill-defined” than harbor rigid worldviews.

That said, Hell’s Paradise doesn’t reduce its thematic complexities to the power of friendship or bank solely on brute strength to overcome odds. This is a dark, gritty story about the atrocities that forged feudal Japan, where sending a group of convicts to a dangerous island of near-mythical status (that no one has ever returned from) is justified in the eyes of the law. The convicts, who are all assigned personal executioners, have to give in to their impulse to kill at every point, as the island’s monsters aren’t the only obstacle to obtaining the shogun’s pardon.

As we get familiar with the convict expedition team, it’s easy to gauge how less-than-ideal circumstances can push people towards a life of crime and rob them of traditional morality and dignity. The shogunate, however, remains most culpable, as they treat these social outcasts as disposable, trampling their hopes and dreams to fulfill self-serving interests.

The balance between yin and yang is central to Hell’s Paradise. Once the expedition team learns about Tao, the need to achieve equilibrium becomes more urgent. Every aspect of the story makes more sense after this reveal, including the alliance between convicts and executioners, and the need to accept both strength and weakness to become whole. This process isn’t easy, of course, as it involves letting go of social perceptions and personal prejudices, which is an uphill battle for the short-sighted. This psychological obstacle is crucial to defeating the Tensen, who’ve mastered Tao and the delicate yin-yang balance at its crux (evidenced by the fact that the entities can willfully switch between male and female forms).

The Tensen have already claimed several lives, including the honorable Tenza, who endures fatal wounds and sacrifices himself in a fight against the Tensen-class Sennin, Zhu Jin, to save the young convict, Nurugai. Tenza’s heartbreaking death serves up the need to avenge him, strengthening the expedition team’s drive to inch closer to their goals as a united front. Unfortunately, season 2 opens at a juncture where the team couldn’t be more divided, with Gabimaru losing a chunk of his memories (and as a result, his humanity) and his allies being scattered across the island. Episode 1 of the newest season roots this tension with a brutal fight between Gabimaru and the recently transformed Aza Chōbei, setting up a gruesome clash between two near-immortals who have lost sight of what’s important.

If the anime’s breathtaking season 2 premiere is any indication, Hell’s Paradise is headed towards an intriguingly grim mood, which will set the stage for the upcoming Hōrai arc (which spans 51 chapters in Kaku’s web manga). Given that the anime is one of MAPPA’s more underappreciated titles, Hell’s Paradise deserves more attention as a shonen entry that isn’t afraid to dive into the discomfiting intricacies of being human.

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New episodes of Hell’s Paradise season 2 drop every Sunday on Crunchyroll.