Posted in: Anime, Crunchyroll, Opinion, Review, TV, TV | Tagged: anime, Crunchyroll, Hell's Paradise

Hell's Paradise: Colorful Crunchyroll Anime Dark & Very Twisted Fun

Crunchyroll's Hell's Paradise was an amazing anime that proved to be a cornucopia of colors balanced with darkness, gore, and lots of fun.

Continuing my quest to binge on new anime I have not watched yet – I finally gave in to Crunchyroll's Hell's Paradise. It was a cornucopia of colors, dark and gore, and just lots of fun. I enjoyed the story and loved the characters, but most of all, I was a big fan of the aesthetics— the colors and the animation were just magnificent. There was some magical chemistry or synergy between the animation, story and characters, colors, and splashes of gore that continuously fed from one another to create a fantastic first season.

As always, first things first: the animation and color palette of this anime were stunning. While different styles, it reminded me of how Houseki no Kuni (Land of the Lustrous) made me feel because while messed up, the vibes in juxtaposition with the opulence, beauty, and gore gave it a dream-like aura that keeps you wondering if this is all real. There was something majestic about the spiritual figures mixed with the beauty and brutality of it all, making it quite horrific yet rendering the viewer unable to turn away. I mean, I cannot get over how pretty it was regardless.

In regards to the story, it is pretty fucked up but follows a main archetype: a group of inmates on death row are sent by the shogunate to obtain the elixir of life from an island. While they refer to the island as paradise, we clearly see it seems to be the opposite actually. Some sort of hell where people never come back from and seem to be taken over by the flora. While competing against one another, it also becomes a race for survival, and teamwork becomes essential in moving on as things develop. I love the way the story is told and even more as the characters continue to develop as well.

Which brings us to the next point: the characters. I love how gray most of the characters we are introduced to are. While there are some clearly messed up ones in the bunch, there are some that make us wonder how reliable is the POV we are currently following. Starting with Gabimaru, our main shinobi on death row) and his assigned executioner, Sagiri. The story is mostly told from the present while looking to flashbacks as the times call for them. Especially with Gabimaru, we are not sure how reliable his mind is and, with it, his past. It even gets to the point where we wonder if any of his memories are real – or his – at all. The trials put them through such mental strain, and the island will challenge everything our characters know of the world as it is.

Crunchyroll's Hell's Paradise was a very fun anime with tons of action and thrilling horrific moments. As the episodes roll along it becomes even harder to step away or even pause to eat because there is so much going on and even more you will need answers for. The way things start coming together into light, as does Gabimaru and his past, kept me screaming at my screen. I loved Gabimaru, but we all knew I would once we saw white hair shinobi, right? Same with Sagiri, Yuzuriha, and Shion. I hope we get news of season 2 soon to see where things will lead. I mean, with all the surprising turns the anime takes, I cannot even imagine what could come next for our survivors so far.

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