As the results of the patron poll trickle in, I’ll keep tabs on the candidates – Jigokuraku certainly being one of them. I’m still moderately invested here – it looks good, has a fine if derivative premise, and some of the characters are quite interesting (plus, the OP is a banger). The more it indulges the thoughtful side of its personality and the less the graphically violent side, I suspect the better I’m going to like it. And this ep was a fairly palatable mix.
Genji telling Sagiri to go home and get knocked up was certainly direct and to the point. As with so much else about it the gender politics of Hell’s Paradise are a bit schizoid, but at the very least there are three female characters in prominent roles (and I knew immediately that Nurugai was a girl, even if poor dim Tenza didn’t). In the end it’s a moot point as Tenza and Nurugai are in the process of demonstrating that one can’t just leave this place, but Genji and Sagiri aren’t to know that so what she decides on the subject is quite relevant.
Nurugai seems unique among the crims in that she, as far as I can see, has done absolutely nothing wrong except be in the wrong place at the wrong time. She’s a member of the Sanka tribe of mountain people, and like the Burakumin caste to which Sagiri belongs, the Sanka are a very real group in Japanese history. And like the Burakumin they’re still discriminated against to this day, despite the caste system being legally abolished. The fact that Jigokuraku chooses to highlight members of two such groups is a solid point in its favor as far as I’m concerned, because generally speaking “good” Japanese people don’t talk about such things, in order to preserve the illusion of racial purity.
At this point it seems likely that those two will join forces with the Gabi-Sagi-Yuzu-Senta group. And despite them theoretically having to be enemies in the end, at some point it’s going to become irrefutable that the whole Shogunate plan makes no sense and is basically irrelevant. As far as what’s actually going on with all these weird “malformed Gods” and plants that used to be people, for the moment we have no answers. But the questions are interesting in a sort of low-rent Togashi way, and all of the above taken together gives Jigokuraku a decent foundation to build on.
animealex
May 1, 2023 at 4:00 amJust a random thought at first: Tenza (Kenza?) gained a huge amount of plus points in my book, because when he was flustered by Nurugai’s reveal, he genuinely didn’t try to to peak while she stood naked in front of him. I also already like their dynamic after half an episode.
I like nearly all of the cast, who stayed alive so far. Which in turn means, it will all the more heartbreaking, when the story progresses, as I assume it will progress. Frankly nobody on this cursed island should buy any green bananas, but I think anybody who watches this show already realized that. I mean we had people dying every episode, some of them quite unexpected.
Last week, I was all: Alright, give me more about the brothers; they seem to be fun to watch. And this week, I hope for more from the new introduced pair. Also, give me more of the “core group”… If a show can make me interested in so many different characters in five episodes, it either means a) I’m really shallow or b) the show has that special something which will keep me invested till the end.
Now I only hope the mystery of the island will keep up with my expectations.
Guardian Enzo
May 1, 2023 at 6:29 amOK, you win, Tenza!
Nicc
May 1, 2023 at 1:21 pmSagiri wakes up from her anxiety attack and the whole group gets together to get the lowdown on the current situation while having dinner. Gabimaru has been preparing some rations using the local ingredients. Good idea, as I don’t think those monsters are edible. It’s been a helluva first day for everybody. Gabimaru gives a useful scouting report, which is helpful for us viewers as well.
We meet another pair of survivors in Tenza and Nurugai. I also figured it out quickly that Nurugai was a girl. They answered the question on whether or not it was possible to escape the island on their own. The graveyard of ships and the monsters amongst them says it all and they have to turn back. Indeed, unlike everybody else, Nurugai’s crime was being at the wrong place and the wrong time.
Genji gives Sagiri a “stay in the kitchen” spiel was about to kill her when she refuses to go home. The giant Rokurota somehow gets the drop on them and… did he just kill another Asaemon? Maybe the big guy doesn’t like chauvinistic men.