Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku Vol. 1: Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku, Vol. 1
- ISBN
- 9781974713202
- Publisher
- VIZ
- English release
- Pages
- 208
Hell's Paradise begins with a condemned assassin offered a dangerous route to freedom. Gabimaru's assignment, as VIZ describes it, is to retrieve an immortality elixir for the shogun from a hidden island. Start here if the attraction is that bargain: a man facing execution asked to extend somebody else's life. This is the opening standard volume, with 208 pages and VIZ's Mature rating; the threat of death is part of the premise, not an incidental complication.
Spoilers — why this volume matters. Tap to reveal.
The imbalance in the opening bargain is the useful reason to choose this series. VIZ identifies Gabimaru as an assassin betrayed into a death sentence, then sets his freedom against the shogun's desire for immortality. That arrangement makes his competence a resource somebody else can exploit. Being exceptionally good at killing does not put him in charge of the terms. The first volume is the appropriate purchase for testing that contradiction before committing to the run. Its selling point is the coercion built into the mission, rather than a promise that a skilled protagonist can solve every problem by winning a fight.
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