Hell’s Paradise – 04 – I Have So Many Questions

This week we get little vignettes of the various convicts who have survived, starting with the Dragon Blade Tamiya Gantetsusai, who was appointed the officer of a lord. When the lord said that surely Tamiya couldn’t cut down a real dragon, Tamiya cut him and his house down. Now he’s on the island, accompanied by Fuchi, who among the Yamada Asaemon seems to be the most devoted to the dissection and medical research part of their clan’s job.

When the giant monsters appear, Gabimaru makes a business decision not to overthink things and simply kill first and ask questions later. Because of this, both he and Sagiri are able to live longer. He’s able to take immediate action to neutralize the threats before them, and he even rescues Sagiri from being killed because she’s so overwhelmed by the situation that she freezes.

That said, even Gabimaru is momentarily distracted to the point he almost gets killed, so he’s lucky to be bailed out by the kunoichi Yuzuriha (Takanashi Rie, killing it as always), who is in the running to be Best Girl of the Season. Not only is she extremely deadly, but she’s also funny as hell. She also makes sure to at least try to seduce Wife Guy Gabimaru to bring him under her control. She fails, but better to have failed than to have never tried.

Yuzuriha now has not one but two Yamada Asaemon minders, as the one who was assigned to another convict she tricked and killed believes she’s too dangerous to have only one Asaemon guard. She also proves she’s able to at least put Gabimaru into a position where he has to listen to her, but fortunately for him, she doesn’t want to kill him, she wants to work with him and Sagiri. The five of them have a better shot at finding the elixir than just Gabi and Sagiri.

As for Sagiri, she’s so overloaded by weirdness of this island that she ends up passing out, so it’s fortunate that Gabimaru isn’t a dishonorable fellow, and that Yuzuriha is accompanied by two of her clan-mates. The balance of the episode involves a unique pairing of convict and Yamada Asaemon guard: Aza Choubei and his little brother Touma, who became a Yamada Asaemon executioner for the express purpose of providing support to Coubei.

The two were once the sons of a powerful samurai, but when their father was disowned by his lord they became beggars, then bandits. Touma remarks on Choubei’s preternatural ability to assess and adapt to any situation that comes their way, and believes his older brother is always right. This pair, along with Tamiya Gantetsusai, will surely be tough customers to the new alliance of Gabimaru and Yuzuriha—but I trust them to rise to the challenge.