Jigokuraku (manga)

The list of authors can be seen in the **page history** there.

### **Genre**

Action / Adventure / Dark Fantasy / Historical / Supernatural / Psychological Thriller

**Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku** (地獄楽, *Jigokuraku*) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yūji Kaku. It has been serialized weekly on the *Shōnen Jump+* application and website since January 22, 2018. The series has been licensed by Viz Media for an English release in North America. An anime television series adaptation by MAPPA premiered in April 1, 2023.

## History

The storyboards for the first three chapters of *Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku* were brought to the *Shōnen Jump+* editorial staff in 2017. A big fan of Yuji Kaku's art since *Fantasma* in *Jump Square*, Hideaki Sakakibara enthusiastically volunteered to take on the series and became its second editor with chapters two and three. He believed that *Hell's Paradise* was the "mainstream battle fantasy" series that *Jump Plus* was still lacking and could become a best-seller in print.

Sakakibara was initially concerned with the "multi-protagonist story" of the prisoners, executioners, and the island's creatures. Although he thought having the *Battle Royale*-style story in a manga would be interesting; he worried it would cause a badly paced story where they would have to split up the pages between characters and be unable to show the main characters' actions as much. However, he credits Kaku's genius at quickly and simply introducing characters and his drawing talent for making it all work.

## Plot

During the Edo period, Gabimaru, an emotionless shinobi assassin, known far and wide as Gabimaru the Hollow, serves his village, Iwagakure, by killing the targets he has been assigned to without a shred of remorse. After proving his worth to his village leader, Gabimaru was rewarded with marriage to the chief's daughter. As he spent his time with her, Gabimaru developed feelings for his wife. This was made apparent by the village leader after Gabimaru asked that he give up his life of crime and be given permission to live a normal life with her. Before he was given an answer, Gabimaru was ordered by the village leader to carry out one last mission, which he accepts. However, Gabimaru found himself betrayed by the village after they left him to be arrested and sentenced to death.

Gabimaru undergoes many forms of executions after subconsciously resisting and surviving each one. At the same time, he's interviewed by a woman reporter but later reveals herself to be Yamada Asaemon Sagiri; a member of a clan of highly skilled executioners called the Yamada clan. Sagiri initial attempts to execute Gabimaru but, after hearing about his past, gives him the chance to be free of his wrongdoings and live the normal life he desired with his wife by offering him a mission requested by the shogun. She explains that the shogun is looking to gather a group of death row criminals to compete for a pardon he is willing to give away if one of them can retrieve the Elixir of Life. Its location is at a recently discovered island believed to be Shinsenkyō. However, Gabimaru is warned that the island is dangerous since five expedition teams had not made it back and the only thing that ends up returning is a boat with a man in bloom. With the thought of seeing his wife again motivating him, Gabimaru accepts the mission regardless of the dangers ahead and becomes one out of the ten criminals sent to the island along with the ten Yamada Asaemon's to monitor them.

*Jigokuraku* follows the character development of the surviving criminals and executioners as they try to take on the dangers the island has in store for them. After they all gathered together, they see that working with each other is their best bet in survival to complete the mission and return back to Japan.

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.

## Reception

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.

With 16,510 votes, the series came in 11th place in the Web Manga Category of the Next Manga Awards 2018, organized by Niconico and *Da Vinci* magazine.

An exhibition of Kaku's manuscripts and illustrations from the series was held at Tokyo Manga Salon Trigger from November 3–9, 2018.

*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.

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.

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."

## External links

* Official Japanese manga site
* Official English manga site
* Wikipedia article

## Trivia

* Originally, the story idea for *Jigokuraku* was going to be about a venture to the Japanese folktale island Onigashima in order to eliminate the demons that were settled there.
* 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".
* While the real eleventh shogun is Tokugawa Ienari, the fictional eleventh shogun of *Jigokuraku* would indicate that the story is between 1773 and 1841.
	+ 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.

## References

1. ↑ *Jigokuraku Kaitai Shinsho*, page 169