Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku (Volume 7) - Beware This Man!

Hells Paradise Jigokuraku Volume 7 Cover

More people have landed on the island, but it’s not necessarily a cause for celebration. Shion believes it will make things worse, so they need to find the Elixir and get off the island as quickly as possible.

Hell’s Paradise: Jigokuraku (Volume 7) – Beware This Man!

What happened?

Shion is quite certain that Shugen will be among those that have come to the island. He’s trained with him and knows that he will be able to perceive Tao and while that might sound great, he’s also a stickler for justice, once killing an entire tribe just to find the hidden gang members planted in the local castle town. No one was spared his form of justice. Shion believes that he will execute all criminals on sight and most like any Asaemon that has sided with them. No, this is very bad news indeed.

Their only hope is to find the Elixir and get off the island before Shugen and his party find them. They believe that there must be a way to get off the island without being attacked by the sea monsters. Shion suggests they split into two groups based on their elemental attributes. Gabimaru, Yuzuiha, and Sagiri will sneak into Horai and find the Elixir. The others will secure a boat and find their way off the island. Since they will go at night, Gabimaru and Yuzuriha will be using their ability to sense Tao to map Horai. Since there’s no time to wait, they go that night.

However, it was a trap. Thanks to Aza Chobe, Lord Tensen knew what to expect and had cloaked their presence, even adjusting the Tao of the surrounding objects to distort the maps Gabimaru was able to create in his head. They organised it so that their worst opponents were waiting for them. However, Gabimaru was prepared for this. They will move to plan B which is fight until you can’t fight any more. These are not an opponent they can run from.

Hells Paradise Jigokuraku Volume 7 Gabimaru disappointed in Ran

What did you think?

All right, so we knew the Shinobi coming were bad news for Gabimaru and anyone else that gets between them, but the fact that Shugen is this much of a monster too makes things even crazier. I’m loving it. Not to mention that Lord Tensen has just stacked the game in their favour. Gabimaru is up against his nemesis, but he has Yuzuriha with him who is the ideal fighter for this Lord Tensen. Of course, he’s using that as a distraction so that he can attack by suppressing his Tao in his fist so that he could strike with his physical power and disrupt his opponent’s Tao.

I haven’t started the anime yet and am curious how far into the story they’ll be able to get in thirteen episodes, but I very much doubt they’ll make it this far. Not without sacrificing a lot of the fights and that would be ludicrous. The fights are spectacular. They aren’t everything though. I love the historical elements of the story and the way it weaves in the idea of Tao/Chi and the elements. There are a lot of finer details that have gone into planning this story that I am really appreciating.

I think I’ve said this with almost every volume, but the next one should be insane. This series just gets better and better. I really hope the anime does it justice.