Hell’s Paradise – Episode 12

Episode Synopsis:

Sagiri, Senta, Yuzuriha, and Hoko encounter one of the Tensen at the gate to Horai. The being rejects the name given to them by Hoko, and claims that all of the island’s supernatural goings-on are merely the results of experiments conducted by them and their cohorts, possibly under the direction of a distinct top-ranking individual (the translation mentions a master). Furthermore, they claim that the “tan” that they cultivate to sustain their immortality is of limited use to ordinary humans, turning those that partake into tree people like Hoko.

While attempting to subdue the group after having reduced Hoko to a talking head, the Tensen becomes intrigued by Yuzuriha’s use of tao/qi, and invites her to stay and find the heights of her aptitude (with the intent to sacrifice her to produce tan if those heights are not to their satisfaction). She refuses, and the conflict escalates. Hoko advises that the center for the circulation of tao within the body is somewhere in the lower abdomen – Sagiri manages to land a cut there and reveals that her personal tao can act as a kind of counter to this Tensen’s. With teamwork, the humans immobilize the shapeshifter and Sagiri cuts them in half.

While catching their breath, Senta tells Sagiri of how his life has been constricted by his duties to the Yamada clan, and of the admiration that he has therefore developed for Yuzuriha’s free-spirited nature – he is soon murdered in the act of protecting Yuzuriha when the Tensen’s remains transform into a giant flower monster.

Episode Review:

I complained in my previous review that the optimal time to give a character’s backstory is before they are mortally wounded, and this episode takes that very advice to heart. Progress.

The battle that makes up the majority of the episode is more engaging than most of the show’s previous offerings – we get a good bit of the various protagonists using their disparate skills to assemble a significant threat to their opponent – even Hoko, incapacitated as he is, contributes by advising Sagiri.

The revelation that the whole place is some sort of inverse Island of Doctor Moreau is intriguing (further raising the question of what exactly the Iwagakure patriarch has going on), and puts the protagonists between a rock and a hard place – namely, probable death at the hands of the Tensen if they stay, or probable death at the hands of the government if they ditch. Obviously much less excitement in the latter route, so I expect we’ll be fighting to the center and ramping up the crazy powers along the way. My main concern at this point is that the revelations of the previous episode may lead to a dramatic increase in sexual tension amongst the protagonists, which the show has so far kept fairly low.

Summary: