Jigokuraku
Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku

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YOU'LL FIND A LONGER AND MORE DETAILED REVIEW BELOW!

OVERALL THOUGHTS AND A VERY SUMMARIZED VERSION:

Hell's Paradise shines in several aspects, particularly with its well-developed characters and the island.
With an original story that blends intense action and philosophical reflections, it's a highly recommended read for those who enjoy complex/emotionally charged narratives, some mystery and action.
With amazing battles/action and an excellent power-system.

Final Score: 8.7

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LONG REVIEW:

1. Plot

- Originality and Complexity (Score: 9):
Hell's Paradise offers a unique premise, blending ninjas, samurais, and a deadly island filled with supernatural dangers.
The quest for the elixir of immortality is gripping, and the inclusion of the "power of Tao" it's a very good power system with almost zero plot holes, and adds a philosophical and spiritual layer to the story giving it depth beyond the action.
What sets it apart is how the combat system requires characters to undergo introspection and personal growth to unlock their full potential, placing the author from the outset under the 'obligation' to develop the characters and write them well.

- Plot Progression (Score: 9):
The story progresses in an engaging way, with well-timed twists that keep the reader hooked.
The balance between action and plot development is well-maintained, ensuring consistent interest from beginning to end.

- Narrative Coherence (Score: 9):
The narrative remains solid and consistent within the world created.
The characters act in ways that align with their motivations, and the universe’s rules (like the Tao) are respected, giving the story a cohesive feel, although I encountered a super super minor discrepancy or perhaps a small inconsistency with Tao, but nothing too serious or that detracts from the experience.

2. Characters

- Character Development (Score: 9):
Gabimaru and Sagiri are complex characters with well-developed emotional arcs that depend on one another.
They grow throughout the story, facing internal struggles and becoming stronger and more complete individuals.
Their relationship is layered and evolves naturally, making it captivating to follow.

- Supporting Characters’ Relevance and Development (Score: 9):
The supporting characters are not sidelined; each has their own story and reason for being on the island.
They contribute significantly to the plot and have their own moments of spotlight, making the world richer and more engaging.

3. Art

- Technical Quality (Score: 8):
While the art in Hell's Paradise is detailed and expressive, capturing the brutal and dark from the story tone with the use of heavy black and a lot of contrast, there are moments where the action sequences become difficult to follow.
The chaotic nature of some fight scenes can make it challenging for the reader to fully grasp what's happening, which slightly detracts from the overall experience.

- Artistic Style (Score: 8):
The artistic style is strong and fitting for the series, with a unique visual identity that matches the dark and intense atmosphere. However, there are works out there that deliver a more polished or innovative artistic approach, which makes the art in Hell's Paradise really good and solid but not perfect.

4. Worldbuilding

- Depth and Consistency of the Fictional World (Score: 9):
The island in Hell's Paradise is filled with mysteries and dangers, with its own mythology that is gradually revealed.
The author does an excellent job building the island and the villains.
There could have been a deeper dive into some of the lore, they talk a lot about Iwagakure, China and even Japan but we saw almost nothing of it.

5. Pacing

- Narrative Flow and Tension Balance (Score: 8):
The pacing is mostly well-handled, with action scenes that keep you on the edge of your seat and quieter moments that allow for character development.
However, there are points where the story slows down a bit.

6. Theme

- Theme Exploration and Depth (Score: 9):
The manga touches on heavy themes like redemption, the meaning of life, and the struggle between life and death.
These themes are explored in an interesting way, especially with the concept of Tao, which has huge potential for complex philosophies.

7. Emotional Impact

- Emotional Response and Impactful Moments (Score: 8):
Hell's Paradise connects emotionally with the reader, particularly through the personal dilemmas and sacrifices the characters face.
There are several genuinely touching moments that stick with you, showing that the manga goes beyond action and really resonates on an emotional level.

8. Conclusion

- Reader Satisfaction and Arc Resolution (Score: 9):
The conclusion is satisfying and ties up most of the story arcs well.

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Final Score: 8.7

Jigokuraku is a fine shounen battle manga. I hoped that it would be great, and it is - for a long stretches of time. But I certainly have some problems with it.

Act I is sometimes needlessly brutal, almost comically gory and overtly cynical. But gradually manga sheds its edginess, and its characters turn from over-the-top caricatures into more or less relatable and certainly lovable humans. The premise is wonderfully ridiculous, the mysteries are captivating and exiting, the horrors of the deadly island are disgusting, thrilling and alluring.

Of course, there is an impressive rogues gallery. Villains are completely amoral and hopelessly evil. It is ... very easy and very stimulating to hate them. And their inhuman wickedness makes it easier for us to accept our (anti)heroes as a force for good. Because, yes, almost all of them are criminals, almost all of them are “bad people”. But at least there is Something good in them. At least they are People, not literal monsters.

Act II is all about classic shounen fighting, duels to the death, rapid evolution and self-actualization of characters. You know, the good stuff.

Unfortunately at this point lovely and nuanced relationships between main characters Gabimaru and Sagiri begin to fizzle out, because story forces them to spend too much time apart from each other. Author decides to just stop developing their friendship, as if there is a limit to how many friend-points two people can get. They hit 100, and their friendship is locked, and now they are friends forever and don’t have to bother anymore. Their internal conflicts are also very cleanly resolved by this point, so nothing to see here.

As a result, our “protagonists” are constantly being upstaged by crazy, charismatic secondary characters. Which is not a bad thing. It’s nice to have a robust and diverse team of colorful individuals. They gel together very well and develop strong bonds. Every time someone dies, it hits hard, it is painful to accept. Every time they score a point it feels exhilarating.

It is true that characters spend too much time explaining to each other various powers, abilities and affinities. But when the time comes to punch and kick and slice and dice, they enthusiastically get down to business.

Then Act III comes, and everything starting to fall apart.

Author decides that he have to throw more able bodies into the mix. So he brings a second expedition of fighters to the island. Naturally, it poses a problem. Because the whole story up to this point was about maintaining a delicate power balance between heroes and villains. Heroes sacrificed a lot to figure out how to fight the bad guys, and then spent a lot of time and effort to catch up to them. It feels immensely satisfying to see them fighting back, hurting and even killing their ridiculous inhuman opponents.

But now we have new fighters on the island, bursting onto the scene like a bunch of overpowered paid DLC characters. They don’t have to level up, don’t have to learn new skills. They are regular humans. But it doesn’t matter, because they just steamroll through everyone and everything to jump into the fray as soon as possible. Our heroes have been fighting gods up to this point but suddenly find it difficult to deal with samurai and ninja.

By the way, badass newcomers bring with them a squad of 40 shinobi, to use as cannon fodder in battles. And it feels like there are not dozens, but hundreds of them. Everyone and their grandma fighting these shinobi, everyone killing them. But there is always more. As if there is a spawning point hidden somewhere on the level.

The most embarrassing scene comes when The Main Villain of the story suddenly confronts one of the newcomers and a bunch of her goons. In previous episodes this guy demonstrated power that far surpasses even his closest comrades. But now he is being outplayed and outsmarted in the most ridiculous ways. It is true that he never before encountered opponents so cunning, but it is not the point. Imagine Dio Brando being robbed in the middle of the street and then helplessly watching thieves running away from him.

At this point I just started rooting for the villains. Not because I found some sympathy towards them, but because I wanted them to eradicate foreign elements and get the story back on track. But, alas, it couldn’t be salvaged at this point.

Like many shonen manga before, this one devolves into ridiculous mess during its final volumes. The Final Battle goes on forever and escalates to the point of absolute absurdity, when any suspension of disbelief is being thrown out of the window, every single person involved it the story "dies" several times. At this point we look not at the characters, but at toys being crashed into each other. One is like - BAAAM! And the other is - DRUUM! And then - CRAAASH! It is utterly exhausting to read.

But it is not the end of the world, it does not ruin the experience. For the most part the manga is very well paced and visually unique. Sometimes even educational, because it is bringing up a lot of interesting mythological information. Like a said before, it is fine. I am genuinely happy for characters that managed to survive it.

Hell's paradise review:

It's a cliché power fantasy that feels like it should be the final arc of any other manga.

Setting:

The manga is set almost entirely on an island called Paradise. (Spoiler-ish about the design of the island) The island is full of religious body horror monsters with some being quite creative. But the island itself is quite boring besides that which lives on it. The only standout areas in this entire claustrophobic area the manga takes place in is the Palace. The palace has some memorable scenery and is just as wild as the monsters that Guard it. However the fast paced nature of ... the manga makes it so that you can never truly appreciate the palace as there are barely any establishing shots, especially during fight scenes. The inner palace is very dark and dull, with all rooms being samey (for story reasons, alas) despite having the opportunity to be wildly different because of the characters which inhabit each room pursuing different "goals" but end up being quite plain and traditional old Japanese and Chinese architecture. The opportunity to have a truly stunning island with creative flora and fauna and an even more beautiful Palace is instead opted for a run-down, bland and barren setting in both nature and buildings. For story reasons this is acceptable, however it is insanely stale and uninteresting.


Art/Structure:

The art in general is fine. With Lackluster and mediocre panelling, choreography and layouts. Though some panels with Hatching and calligraphy-esque art are praise worthy albeit rare. The manga has many Biological-Lovecraftian horrors that are genuinely creative and unorthodox. There are a few outliers with some panels genuinely leading well into the next, which warrants praise albeit it's few and far between. Ultimately, this manga is as standard as you can get. There's no creative angles, the medium of manga is not used in any way whatsoever to enhance the structure in an out of the box way. For an action battle shounen, there NEEDS to be unending creativity to keep your reader hooked, Lest the action becomes stale. Which is exactly what happens here. So much repetition.
A good thing about this manga is it's uncensored freedom. The mangaka always says that they let him "draw whatever he wanted" and that shows, that freedom you feel from this manga is pretty unique and adds to the visceral carnage of the unrelenting world of Hell's paradise.




Story/Characters:

Interesting premise with a cliché execution. The manga consists of 90% fighting with little character development, though the "The strongest bonds are formed in the toughest situations" saying can apply here. Characters are eerily similar to Bleach both in design, function, and looks and are all 1 dimensional. The problem with battle shounen, Is that there is no hype. No buildup. It's constant stimulation and you get numb to it without periods in between to build up tension and hype, leading to boredom no matter how good the choreography or art is. There is a story reason for this initially, but it still does not negate the issues in retrospect. Villains are extremely boring and offer nothing, despite being different in designs, they all offer the same functionality despite supposed to be filling different roles and could easily be merged into one entity with the way the awful power scaling functions.
Characters are laughably overpowered, to the point where a Character who lost their right hand literally learns to become left-handed after a few swings of a sword. There is a power system in which almost every character masters or is a prodigy at immediately. Therefore, the fights have no tension or stakes behind them. The wishy washy power system leaves lots of plot convenience, anything can happen so long as the author wills it, rather than it being grounded in the power system's scaling and rules. Pretty good ending that's not rushed. The biggest issue I have with this manga is that it feels like the last arc in any other manga. All of the characters are already trained, and have already been through large moments of their lives. Unlike Naruto for example, we don't experience that with them, we are simply told them. Leading to not being attached to the characters, being told what to feel is not an effective way to make people care about your characters. As such, while all the characters have decent designs, they are all shallow. Or rather, Hollow.

Overall, If you only care about fights, this is the manga for you. I do not recommend this otherwise.

Rating: 4/10