VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia
MANGAKA: Juji Kaku
TRANSLATION: Caleb Cook
LETTERS: Mark McMurray
EDITOR: David Brothers
ISBN: 978-1-9747-1321-9; paperback (May 2020); Rated “M” for “Mature”
216pp, B&W, $12.99 U.S., $17.99 CAN, £8.99 U.K.
Jigokuraku is a manga series written and illustrated by Yuji Kaku. It has been serialized weekly for free on the Shōnen Jump+ application (app) and website since January 22, 2018. VIZ Media is publishing an English-language edition of the manga as a paperback graphic novel series, entitled Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku, under its “VIZ Signature” imprint.
Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku is set in Japan during the “Edo period” (specifically between 1773 and 1841 for this story). The ninja, “Gabimaru the Hollow,” is sentenced to death, but no method of execution can kill him due to his superhuman body. Lord Tokugawa Nariyoshi, the 11th Shogun, offers Gabimaru and other monstrous killers sentenced to death a chance at a pardon. They must travel to a strange island, known as “Shinsenkyo,” where they must find “the elixir of life,” which will make the shogun immortal. The executioner, Yamada Asaemon Sagiri, and others of her clan will accompany these criminals to an island where “Heaven” and “Hell” are said to be practically the same thing.
As Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku, Vol. 2 (Chapters 7 to 16) opens, Gabimaru, his fellow convicts, and their escorts face murderous creatures that are either gods or monsters. Stone, animal, insect, and human, these creatures seem to be an impossible blend of all or some of those things. Meanwhile, we learn the back stories of a number of characters, including Yuzuriha of Keishu, a kunoichi (female ninja); the Aza Brother Bandits, Chobe and Toma; and the mountain tribeswoman, Nurugai, who joins Lord Tenza in a bid to escape the island.
Plus, Gabimaru and Sagiri start to understand each another, just as Sagiri's fellow clansman, Genji, insists she leave the island because she is a woman. This debates occurs as the convict, Rokurota the Giant of Bizen, approaches them with murder on his mind.
[This volume includes miscellaneous art and “Translation Notes.”]
THE LOWDOWN: The Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku manga is an Edo-period, samurai drama that is also firmly entrenched in the horror genre. It's English title, “Hell's Paradise,” aptly fits the series' repugnant-attractive elements, as this story is like a dark fairy tale turning darker with each page.
Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku Graphic Novel Volume 2 is one of the best second volumes of a manga tankobon/graphic novel that I have ever read, just as Vol. 1 was one of the best first volumes. Creator Yuji Kaku's ethereal, illustrative style perfectly visualizes this series' gruesome, nightmarish tableau and tapestries. From the start, Kaku enthralls the readers with the mysteries of the island of Shinsenkyo; now, he multiplies the mysteries in this second volume.
Caleb Cook's translation conveys Kaku's move to focus on the characters' personalities, desires, and back stories with the same focus in which Cook's work conveyed the demented nature of many of the characters in the first volume. Letterer Mark McMurray slashes and smashes us with the gory glory of Hell's Paradise using pitch perfect lettering. Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku is a paradise for fans of manga that blend samurai, ninja, and horror.
I READS YOU RECOMMENDS: Fans of “VIZ Signature” titles will want Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku.
A
9 out of 10
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
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