Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku 2: Volume 2

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Another issue is that the story is constantly moving away from Gabimaru and his friends to other members of the expedition to the island, who at this point in the story at least feel rather minor. Yes, they do have some good fight scenes, but it doesn’t really seem to move the plot on that much. At least with Gabimaru’s friends we are with some of the main characters still and some of the information around the island can be learned, but these other little pairings seem to be not that interesting. Reviewing the first chapter for The Fandom Post, Chris Beveridge gave it a B grade for its artwork, interesting ideas, and covering a lot of ground in its setup so it can move forward. The end reveal reminded him of the novel Annihilation. However, he felt the structure was a little awkward and expressed concern that it would fall into the "usual manga storytelling traps." WARNING: This is a mature title for adult readers only, and contains spoilers to Volume 1, Volume 2 and Volume 3.

An exhibition of Kaku's manuscripts and illustrations from the series was held at Tokyo Manga Salon Trigger from November 3–9, 2018. As of June 2019, over 1 million copies of Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku were in circulation. Volume two of the series sold 16,328 copies during its first week of release, while volume four sold 20,139. Volume five sold 45,912 copies in its first week. While the real eleventh shogun is Tokugawa Ienari, the fictional eleventh shogun of Jigokuraku would indicate that the story is between 1773 and 1841. According to the Q&A of Jigokuraku Kaitai Shinsho, the science fiction novel, The Island of Doctor Moreau, which is confirmed to be Kaku's favorite novel, acted as the "skeleton" to the whole story of Jigokuraku. He also wanted the theme of his work to lean towards "ambivalence". The fourth volume of Hell’s Paradise still contains a lot of action and violence, but in this volume we also see the move into something else that may well be considered only suitable for people aged 18 and over.In the 2019 edition of Kono Manga ga Sugoi!, which surveys people in the manga and publishing industry, Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku was one of three series tied for 16th place on its list of the best manga series for male readers. Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku came in fourth on Honya Club's Nationwide Bookstore Employees' Recommended Comics of 2018 list, compiled by surveying 1,100 professional bookstore employees in Japan.

The epilogue reveals that Chōbei and Tōma settled in British Hong Kong during the mid-1800s, which was after a year had passed since they and the other survivors escaped Kotaku. This would suggest that the story of Jigokuraku happened around 1840, as British Hong Kong lasted from 1841 to 1997.Upon reading all this, my feelings towards Hell’s Paradise have become more complex and uncomfortable. The fact that this series is a particularly violent one, and there are plenty of fight scenes to keep the readers entertained in this volume, doesn’t really bother me. However, now that sex has been brought into it, and by the sound of things, sex that is not consensual, the story takes a very different tone. For starters, the fact that Mei seemingly has no power of her own and relies on Gabimaru and Hoko to protect her now makes it feel like Mei is falling into the “damsel in distress” cliché. Also, we do witness the aftermath of one of Tensen’s sex scenes, and that is shown to also be very bloody, so the sex itself is rather extreme and uncomfortable viewing. Lord Tensen, a group of seven immortals, are presented as the main villains throughout the series. Later, a second landing party puts themselves in the middle of the conflict with little regards for the first team's current situation. Gabimaru has once again just defeated some of the local monsters, the Soshin, while helping the rather helpless Soshin girl Mei. The beginning of this edition sees him encountering another of the criminals sent to the island to find the elixir of life, the one-handed swordsman Tamiya Gantetsusai, who is accompanied by his Yamada Asaemon executioner Fuchi. Gabimaru judges Tamiya, and offers him the chance to team up with him to fight the Soshin. Tamiya agrees, partly because his overall ambition is not the elixir of life for himself and to become literally immortal, but to become metaphorically immortal in the stories and legends that will passed down by others after his death. However, things become stranger for Gabimaru when suddenly he sees that Mei has instantly aged into a teenager and can speak some words.