Hell's Paradise (TV series)

Season 1

In November 2022, Crunchyroll announced an anime adaptation based on the manga series Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku by Yuji Kaku. The anime series is produced by Twin Engine and MAPPA and directed by Kaori Makita, with Akira Kindaichi writing the scripts, Koji Hisaki designing the characters, and Yoshiaki Dewa composing the music.[12] The first season ran for 13 episodes and aired from April 1 to July 1, 2023, on TV Tokyo and its affiliates.

Season 2

Immediately following the conclusion of the first season, a second season was announced.[13][14] The season aired from January 11 to March 29, 2026, with the cast and staff from the first season reprising their roles.[9][15][16]

International distribution

Crunchyroll streams the series internationally outside of Asia, while Netflix streams it in the Asia-Pacific region (excluding Mainland China, Australia, and New Zealand).[3][17]

Critical reception

Digital Spy's Ali Griffiths described in his review of the series' premiere that the series makes up a group affectionately known as the "dark trio of shōnen" by anime fans along with Jujutsu Kaisen and Chainsaw Man (coincidentally, all animated by MAPPA) due to their similar tone and themes, especially compared with their peppier peers. Ali praised the show's character-building, action, animation, visuals, humor, and the handling of Gabimaru's versions of his story which tells about "how he's feeling and what he wishes he'd done differently". He felt that some fans might found that the opening episode of the series was a little slow, but stating that "the way it centers the backstory of its protagonist and immediately emphasises the relationship between Gabimaru and Sagiri is emblematic of the kind of character-first action show they're hoping it will be".[25]

MrAJCosplay of Anime News Network reviewed the first three episodes of the series. While praising the anime for its colors, sound design and animation, he considered Sagiri's character as "strong" and endeared on how she can see right through Gabimaru's façade. He felt that "her decision regarding walking down the path of an executioner and characterization as a stickler for the rules wasn't the direction he expected the show to go". Her introduction in episodes two and three was considered to be a "little inconsistent", although he needs more time to root her. He also noting that Gabimaru was one of his favorite characters, while he found the character's backstory as "sweet" due to the subversion of his mentality.[26]

Adi Tantimedh of Bleeding Cool in his review of the first two episodes gave them a 8/10, feeling that they had a "stylish opening chapter to a brutal, bloody journey of death and redemption as a ninja is forced to take a suicide mission to find the elixir of eternal life, melding the samurai saga with a supernatural thriller drawing from Japanese folklore".[27] While Den of Geek's Daniel Kurland would rate the first episode of 4 out 5, writing "quite the bloody affair and is absolutely obsessed with death. That being said, this is far from a callous series. If anything Hell's Paradise doesn't criticize this brutal behavior, but rather emphasizes how there's a right and wrong way to slice off a head and bathe in blood".[28]

Accolades

The series ranked third in the anime category of Yahoo! Japan Search Awards, based on the number of searches for a particular term compared to the year before.[29] The series was nominated at the 8th Crunchyroll Anime Awards in eight categories: Best New Series, Best Fantasy, Best Art Direction (e-caesar), Best Character Design (Kouji Hisaki), Best Opening Sequence and Best Anime Song ("Work" by Ringo Sheena and Millennium Parade), Best Voice Artist Performance – English (Marisa Duran as Yamada Asaemon Sagiri), and Best Voice Artist Performance – French (Yoan Sover as Gabimaru).[30] It was also nominated for eight categories, including Anime of the Year at the 10th Anime Trending Awards in the same year.[31]

Awards and nominations