*Spoilers Ahead*
Gabimaru began as one of my favorite main characters in the beginning. His apathy and brutality signifies the contemporary pattern of shonen becoming more gruesome and bloody. Still though, the author is unafraid to make Gabimaru a victim to the generic, "I only care for x character" trope. This, in my eyes, actually works to the benefit of Jigokuraku, as his relationship with his wife is fleshed out not in the manner of countless flashbacks only when its convenient, but Gabimaru's intense struggle in Shinsekyo, a beautiful land that somehow both occupies the uncanny valley with its ominous manmade-ness and a divine land with its vast array of floral decoration and tinted skies.
He fights monster after monster, as well as even trying to forsake his role assigned by the Shogunate to ensure his Yamada-Asaemon guardian's safety, to ensure he can see his wife. And while this would usually be off-putting, a character who we know is going to win, and his wife is probably only a plot device to force him into victory regardless of how dire the circumstances get, the gore we see happening outside of Gabimaru shows the true dangers of the monsters on the land. Eizen, the rank 1 Yamada-Asaemon gets completely obliterated against the giant Rokurota. For all we know so far, the Yamada-Asaemon are master executioners, but also skilled in swordplay and make even the fiercest of wrongdoers quiver in fear. But Rokurota smashes Eizen into a tree and makes fine paste of him like it was nothing.
Because we know what is happening on the island isn't some willy-nilly nonsense with characters constantly prevailing over major obstacles, Gabimaru's struggle purely for his wife becomes even more valiant. At the same time, he is only thinking about how to be strong for his wife, not allowing his more sentimental side to interfere during battle. A major theme, that is constantly reverberated over and over, is that weakness really isn't that far off from strength.
Gabimaru's sentimentality towards his wife was initially perceived as weakness by him and the Iwagakure members, but it's what allows him to overcome the series' challenges. Sagiri Yamada-Asaemon's weakness as a morally gray executioner who is dragged down by her past victims, no matter how evil they were, is what allows her to become the centerpiece in taking down the main villain at the end. Tenza's weakness as a amateur swordsman and criminal sympathizer allows him to gather the courage and power to face an immortal being to save his partner and teacher. Shion's weakness that makes him run away and make the correct decision when Tenza was getting killed is the weakness that eventually implores him to face the enemy head on in regret that he made the correct choice. And this list goes on, and on, and on. These themes are weaved in beautifully with the narrative, and it never becomes sob stories.
We don't need to feel grief for Sagiri that she is a woman and doesn't get recognition, we just need to know that that is her circumstance. It might be painted in an unlucky way sometimes, but it's never depicted as a source of pity for the audience. I've always felt a pit in my stomach whenever I am forced to look down at a character's sadness and weakness in contempt rather than admiration. For Jigokuraku, every character's struggle is contextualized in a morally grey manner, as well as offering not sorrow but understanding. In Kimetsu no Yaiba, as Akaza is getting killed, he suddenly gets a sad backstory that is implied to somehow justify his actions as a demon. In Jigokuraku, when Shugen, the least morally ambiguous character in the entire series is questioned about his morality, he doesn't go on a sudden trip down memory lane about "my Yamada-Asaemon comrades, they all died for these convicts..."to suddenly become their ally, instead, it only reinforces his absolutism in justice.
While some characters change over the course of the series, many retain some, if not all of their qualities. Of course, Shugen is the greatest example of a character not budging on their ideology in Jigokuraku, but Shion also does not change his views that much from the beginning of the series to the end. These contrasting viewpoints only serve to make the characters that do undergo drastic alterations, like Sagiri and Gabimaru, stand out.
Ultimately, Jigokuraku is as much about love as it is about war. War is Jigokuraku's tool to emphasize the love Gabimaru feels for his wife, but love is also the tool used to put meaning into the struggles. Every character had something to lose, and if they didn't at the beginning, they certainly did at the end. The eccentric characterization made it incredibly easy to fall in love with almost every character, whether it be the teasing Yuzuriha or the caring Gabimaru, each character is fleshed out in a manner unbefitting of a series that killed off such threatening figures so early on. Yet it's exactly because it's unbefitting that we are somehow left yearning for the salvation of the cruel criminals.
But still, there is something that steers me off of praising Jigokuraku too much. As much as I can sing praises for its awesome characters and themes, the plot's progression itself from the second act of the manga onwards becomes messy and compromised.
Tao, I'll admit, is a power system that I don't even really understand that well. But even if I chalk it up to my own ineptitude, I still disagree with the author's choice to pin up the Lord Tensen as ultimate, immortal beings, yet Gabimaru and crew swiftly come to not just threaten them, but actually kill them. In the end, when it is only Rien standing, there's almost a feeling of unrewarded-ness. If Rien is this force that is basically about to solo everyone and everything, then what was even the point of watching each of the Lord Tensen members fall one by one? In addition, the main cast is seemingly immune to death, as Yuzuriha even monologues after her battle against Ran that she is about to die. Yet some chapters later, she pops up and is like, "Yo, what's up Sagiri."
And it's not just Yuzuriha but a bunch of other characters who are about to kick the bucket but then just randomly heal up. While I didn't want Gabimaru to die at the end, the method of which he was brought back so easily, left a bitter taste in my mouth as to how anticlimactic the ending was about to be. If it's that easy to basically revive him, then certainly it can't be that hard defeating immortal plant girl, given that they've done it many times before right?
The Lord Tensen were awful villains. By comparison to the exuberant protagonists', the Lord Tensen were hardly explained in detail and thus left to be figureheads for villainy rather than villains themselves. Even Rien, the big bad at the end, succumbs to exactly what I hated about Akaza from Kimetsu no Yaiba (see earlier in this review). Even Shugen and Jikka, characters that made for excellent tension with their absolutist tendencies and indifference, respectively, were nothing more than a backdrop in the face of Sagiri and Gabimaru saving the day. Not to say I didn't enjoy watching Sagiri and Gabimaru finish what they started, but surely Shugen and Jikka could have at least been introduced earlier.
Jikka's conniving ends up successful, though the audience hardly cares, and the rest of the characters get a good ending.
Which is boring.
I mean, of course they were going to spare each other on the boat home, but Rien was this close to killing Sagiri and Gabimaru. Even at the end, the same manga that shocked me with its unrestricted violence against major figures at the beginning, it devolves into a death-free resolution filled by plot armor and grandiose sentimentalities about love and friendship.
I can't put into words how frustrating it is to read such great character writing, that is consistent throughout, but a plot that fails to drag the narrative up to pace with the characters. Sagiri is without a doubt, one of my favorite characters in all of the manga I've read, but her utilization is bland and ultimately slapstick by the author. Everyone's utilization, in fact, was, because of how quickly all of the Tensen fell.
Even then, its themes and characters stick with me in a way that tell me I can't possibly rate Jigokuraku low. I teared up at ending the series, and that in its own way, shouts at me, "you loved this, just admit it". And yeah, I did love it. Jigokuraku is swiftly going on any recommended list I'll ever give to friends, but I can't let that cloud my judgement. This is about the moment I'd declare it a light to decent 6. But after reading the satisfyingly sweet epilogue, I reminded myself my style of reviewing has always been more subjective than objective. I favored Sagiri and Gabimaru together, even if I knew it wouldn't happen, but after the epilogue where Sagiri is Yui and Gabimaru's biggest shipper, I couldn't help but bolster a big, and likely stupid, smile.
I feel like I should thank Jigokuraku for some reason. And that in of itself is enough to garner it a higher score than I initially had marked down.
I'm feeling a light to decent 7.
