Yuji Kaku’s Hell’s Paradise: Jigokuraku is something of a breath of fresh air in the manga scene. With so much of market saturated by isekai, Hell’s Paradise offer’s something unique.

A shonen version of Homer’s The Odyssey, Hell’s Paradise tells the story of Gabimaru the Hollow — a ninja from a village notorious for raising the most efficient and ruthless ninja. Betrayed by his comrades, Gabimaru is condemned to die. His training and upbringing tell him this is acceptable. And, yet, he does not want to die. He has found something in life worth holding on to. He realizes he loves his wife, and he wants to be reunited with her.

Realizing his drive to live, and his skill, the executioner Yamada Asaemon Sagiri recruits him to undertake a mission of mythic proportions. The objective is simple enough… to understand, that is — recover the Elixir of Life from the Pure Lands, and he will be pardoned for his crimes.

The land they journey to is both ethereal and foreboding. Teeming with flowers, gods, and sages, it is a forbidden land where death is a blessing when it blossoms, and a curse when you must beg for it.

Gabimaru and Sagiri must form a uncertain alliance to survive the island, and the other criminals sent to claim both the Elixir and the Pardon. But they are the least of the threats they must face.

This manga is very well done. The artwork and story are as close to perfect as possible. The story is as close to an epic as manga can come, and completely original.

Though this is an adult manga — with very adult scenes — I highly recommend it.

The major themes of this manga deal with people being more than they were raised to be, finding love and coming to believe they deserve to be loved, and learning to let go of who they’ve been told they are in order to embrace who they can become.

All 13 volumes of this manga series carry the same epic energy, and its conclusion is perfect. I was not left wanting after I completed it.

Rating: 10/10: Definitely Recommend