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Hell’s Paradise Season 2 Episode 19 – Quick Summary
In Hell’s Paradise Season 2 Episode 19, “Hindering and Restoration,” Gabimaru, Sagiri, Yuzuriha, and Mei encountered Ran, who in no way wanted to let them pass or escape. Gabimaru, who in the previous episode said that if they encountered the Tensen, it was all over. Now, they’d encountered the Tensen. Is it, in reality, “all over?” Does Gabimaru have a backup plan? What about their other companions? And what plans has Choubei put into motion?
Note: This post may include spoilers, so be cautious.
Favorite Quote from Hell’s Paradise Season 2 Episode 19
Mei made her decision – and kept us in suspense for a few moments! Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.
My favorite quote is as much about the relief I felt hearing it as for its considerable dramatic impact.
Mei’s a very sympathetic character. From hearing how the Tensen hurt her to how tenderly her foster father Houko treated her to how she relates to her found family (especially Sagiri), I really want to see things to well for her.
That’s why her words to Ran were so scary at first. Ran disclosed that he and the other Tensen had almost perfected the Elixhir, and that there really was no reason for Mei to fight. Sagiri realized this was a big moment for Mei, given the look she gave her.
So when Mei said (04:12), “I am different from the rest of you” and approached Ran, I had a momentary fear that she was going to “defect.” I couldn’t see her turn against Sagiri, Gabimaru, and Yuzurih. But I could see her rejoining the Tensen out of a sense of obligation.
Until she stopped before reaching Ran and delivered my favorite quote. She said (04:28), “Both dying and not being able to die are sad. I came to see all of you.”
At this point, I’m still freaking out. Then she added, “I came to say goodbye. I am leaving the island.”
Man, I was seriously relieved! Seeing Sagiri step up, place her hand on Mei’s shoulder, and angle her weapon for easy use just put the icing on the cake.
Favorite Moment from Hell’s Paradise Season 2 Episode 19
She’s far more than a pretty face. Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.
This was a busy week for Hell’s Paradise! It’s been a while since an episode gave me so many choices for my favorite moment. It started early with Gabimaru’s defiant speech (00:46), continued through Sagiri being ready to defend Mei after my favorite quote (see above), picked up steam when Gabimaru explained how he had learned from everyone in the party (15:25), and kept going when Gabimaru took exception to Ran dismissing Gabimaru’s power-up as mere talent (16:28).
As I watched this episode, each one of those moments became a contender for my favorite moment. But my favorite moment was, in many ways, the culmination of those previous moments. Which just gave it even more dramatic punch.
Ran was not expecting this! Kinda reminds me of a shot from JoJo. Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.
Ran had been impressed with Gabimaru’s ability to actually punch him (10:14). He realized that Gabimaru had used Ran’s own tao against him. So, as Gabimaru got ready to launch his next attack, Ran accordingly lowered his tao to give Gabimaru less to work with.
Which is the moment Yuzuriha had been waiting for. Leaping above Gabimaru (17:24), she used one of her weapons to slice Ran in half.
The timing was perfect. The level of trust between Gabimaru and Yuzuriha was just fantastic. And you know how much I love strong female characters. Their coordinated beat-down was exactly what Ran deserved.
It’s just too bad about what happened next.What did you think of Choubei enticing Touma to switch sides? What were your favorite moments? Feel free to share in the comments!
Hell’s Paradise Season 2 Episode 19: Other Posts
Other Anime Sites
- Reddit: Jigokuraku Season 2 • Hell’s Paradise Season 2 – Episode 6 discussion
- Leisure Byte: Hell’s Paradise Season 2 Episode 6 Review: Gabimaru Is In A Major Issue
- Anime Rants: Hell’s Paradise Season 2 Episode 6 Review
This Site (Crow’s World of Anime!)
- Hell’s Paradise Season 2 Episode 14: Dawn and Confusion
- Hell’s Paradise Season 2 Episode 15: Reality and Fantasy
- Hell’s Paradise Season 2 Episode 16: Immutability and Change
- Hell’s Paradise Season 2 Episode 17: The Samurai Code and Carnage
- Hell’s Paradise Season 2 Episode 18: Humans and Sages
- Hell’s Paradise Season 2 Episode 19: Hindering and Restoration
- Hell’s Paradise Season 2 Episode 20: Two People and One Person
- Hell’s Paradise Season 2 Episode 21: Chrysanthemum and Peach
I mean Ran has Water Tao. My bad.
TCrow, as for how Gabimaru and Yuzuriha get out of this situation, I see two possibilities.
Episode 19 shows each Tao attribute neither restores nor hinders the attributes on either side of it while the attributes across the diagram from it either restores or hinders it. Specifically, the left attribute across from them restores them and the right attribute across from them hinders them, which is why Gabimaru’s Fire Tao neither restores nor hinders Sagiri’s Wood Tao whereas her Wood Tao restores his Tao. Also of note is Water Tao restores Wood Tao as shown by Nurugai’s Water Tao healing Sagiri, so Sagiri’s well-positioned to tank Ran’s attacks since she has Wood Tao while Ran has Earth Tao, so Sagiri and Mei could head back to save Gabimaru and Yuzuri with Sagiri serving as Yuzuriha’s meatshield.
Alternatively, instead of Sagiri being Yuzuriha’s meatshield, Gabimaru could become like Choubei since Rien’s conducting a ritual that turns the heroes into tan. If Choubei could wield the Waitanhua Flower by resisting the process of becoming tan due to his unrelenting desire to protect his kid brother, Toma, Gabimaru could similarly resist becoming tan through his unrelenting desire to make it home to see his beloved wife, Yui, and then he’d also wield the Waitanhua Flower. That’s one avenue by which they can win against Ran without Sagiri and Mei coming back for them. I’d prefer Sagiri meatshielding for Yuzuriha though as I like the idea of a sexy women team-up.
On another note, I believe DoubleSama gets a lot wrong on shows that are heavy on details that aren’t fully explained to viewers. I often found him completely misinterpreting things in Re:Zero, and he’s getting a lot wrong on Jigokuraku as well. He said that Gabimaru stating that their plan would fail if they had to fight Gabimaru is a poor nitpick since his initial plan was for a victory in which none of them had to fight the Tensen, so if any of them had to fight a Tensen, the plan would thus become a failure. Their back-up plan isn’t to fight but to use the Tensen’s Tao against them due to how much stronger they are. Sagiri also isn’t the protagonist of the series as DoubleSama claims she is as that’s clearly Gabimaru.
We’ll know which (if either) of your scenarios play out in episode 20. I really enjoyed watching Yuzuriha’s character development in this episode; I have a feeling she’ll stay close to Gabimaru, though if he takes the route you suggested (becoming like Choubei), then Yuzuriha might just get in his way.
I give most everyone a pass on Re:ZERO — I think the writer delights in misdirection! I mean that in a good way. And to be fair, you’ve invested more time than pretty much anyone (except probably the writer himself) in Re:ZERO.
I want to make sure I understand by protagonist in the contest of Sagiri. I think there’s a discussion to be had about who the main character is. But I think that Sagiri is definitely a protagonist, along with Gabimaru, Yuzuriha, Mei, and several other characters.
Did you mean you support the idea of Gabimaru being the main character? Or are you using “protagonist” in a way I didn’t expect?
Even if Gabimaru becomes like Choubei, I still don’t believe he’d be able to defeat Ran due to Ran’s Water Tao hindering his Fire Tao, so he’d still need Yuzuriha to deal the finishing blow or at least wound Ran enough for Gabimaru to deal the finishing blow, and given Yuzuriha takes less damage from Ran’s attacks and does more damage to Ran, I believe it’d make more sense for her to deal the finishing blow.
I use “protagonist” in the sense of the principal character of a work, similar to how people use the term “main character”. I believe Sagiri is moreso the deuteragonist, the second-most important character of this series.
I’d answer, but Dawnstorm answered with greater clarity than I could. So I’ll just point to his comment!
@”protagonist”: I wouldn’t get too hung up on the term. Literary theory has been a minor part of my degree, so here’s the lowdown.
The term comes from Ancient Greek theatre and arrives in modern Literary Theory via Aristotle’s Poetics. There are two basic interpretations of the term: the first being based on the most famous actor playing the most prominent role (a steretype in itself). Basically: what’s the most prestige role in the story. The second focuses on “agon” (“conflict”) and asks: who’s story are we telling?
What both these directions have in common is that there’s only one protagonist. But that’s based on highly formalised structure of Greek drama: a protagonist, a deuteragonist, and so on. Because there’s not necessarily only one central conflict in a story, or because the central conflict might transcend single characters (is there a single character who can be said to tie together Game of Thrones, for example?), that line of reasoning doesn’t always lead to the best way of analysing a story.
But in the case of Jigokuraku, I’d definitely say the traditional term works: Gabimaru’s conflict sits at the centre of the story: he’s the convict, he’s likely been controlled by his own clan, etc. Sagiri would wear the term deuteragonist well. So on the traditional reading of the term, I’d agree with Vance here.
The problem is that I think the original model is too biased to serve well as a descriptive term, and I think that’s reflected in casual use. Consider the difference between “the protagonist” (there can be only one), and “a protagonist” (an attribute any character can have or not). In causal usage, people tend to jump between both meanings as they suit the writer – and, frankly, that’s perfectly fine if you keep it causual.
The second meaning, “a main character”, is often used, too. For example, if you got ot MAL’s Jigokuraku page, you’ll see both Gabimaru and Sagiri listed as “Main” (their term), and everyone else as “Supporting”.
With the word “protagonist” it’s my intuition that the “only one” meaning is generally more prominent, even in casual discourse, but you’ll have to be prepared to read the term in the “character attribute” meaning, too, and sometimes the same person uses both meanings at different places in the same text. As a result, it’s usually best to just figure out what they mean to say, and if you can’t when it matters, ask for clarification.
Even then, there isn’t always agreement on what the term means. A famous example is Moby Dick where critics are split between Ishmael and Ahab for protagonist. Is the protagonist the driving force of the story, or the character we spend the most time with? (Someone should write a book with the whale as the protagonist: “It’s Moby Richard to you, good sir. Call me Dick again, and I shall sink your ship.”)
I find that I’m not taking a step back to set context before commenting here!
My last three trilogies (two of which have been published) have three protagonists, each being a plot load bearing character. So, that’s the mindset I took into my comment.
Which is equivalent to saying that’s why my answer was less than accurate.
So thanks for setting the record straight — with great examples, too!
And LOL Moby Richard.