During the Qin dynasty, Qin Shi Huang sent Taoist alchemist Xu Fu to the eastern seas with 500 young men and 500 young women to find the elixir in the legendary Penglai Mountain, but returned without finding it. Many rulers of ancient China sought the fabled elixir to achieve eternal life. Xu Fu's first expedition to the Mount of the immortals. Unfortunately, it is eaten by a serpent before he can do so. Gilgamesh is directed by him to find a plant at the bottom of the sea which he does but seeks first to test it on an old man before trying it himself. He seeks out Utnapishtim, a Noah-like figure in Mesopotamian mythology in which he was a servant of the great Alchemist of the rain who later became immortal, to seek out the advice of the King of Herod of the Land of Fire. History Ancient Mesopotamia Īn early mention of an elixir of life is found in the Epic of Gilgamesh (from the 2nd millennium BC) in which Gilgamesh comes to fear his own declining years following the death of his beloved companion Enkidu. Alchemists in various ages and cultures sought the means of formulating the elixir. This elixir was also said to cure all diseases. The elixir of life, also known as elixir of immortality, is a potion that supposedly grants the drinker eternal life and/or eternal youth. Hell’s Paradise is currently being simulcast on Crunchyroll.The mythological White Hare from Chinese mythology, making the elixir of life on the Moon That being, hey, it won’t kill you to come along for the journey. While it’s too early to tell how the rest of the show will build off of its first episode and Yuji Kaku’s source material, Hell’s Paradise does a good enough job of convincing you of the same promise it gives its main character. However, the ambiguity of the plot mechanics are never enough to distract from the hook of wanting to know more, and the fluid animation and MAPPA-esque usage of shot composition and movement keep the story very fast and engrossing. The setup to the plot is in many ways a classic call to adventure, and the magic system of the fantasy teeters between the curiosity-piquing (what the magical underworld land of “hell’s paradise” is like, how the immortality elixir is made) to the standard shonen trope (specially-named, spoken fire attacks coming from white-haired anime boys). Unlike Baccano!, though, there is an interesting-if not necessarily fully-realized-yet-dynamic of one’s personal attachments on status of immortality. Hell’s Paradise’s theme of immortality is hardly new in shonen anime, and the period-piece examination of immortality, its creation, and the lengths one is willing to achieve it call to mind plot elements of the iconic 2006 shonen Baccano!. ![]() The first episode of the anime does more to set up the plot of the series than it does to show off all of the specific feel of this era and setting, although what is shown has the promise of a unique take on historical fantasy-horror not often seen in common shonen. With much of the color palettes and candlelit ambiance taking cues from Attack on Titan, that same energy is transposed onto a more historical period piece setting of Edo Japan (roughly from the 1600s to the mid-1800s). ![]() Produced by the legendary anime studio MAPPA (whose work includes Attack on Titan’s final season, along with Chainsaw Man, Zombie Land Saga and Jujutsu Kaisen), Hell’s Paradise continues their tradition of fast-paced, intense shonen. With the dynamic of these characters established, they begin a quest together to uncover the possible secrets of a fabled land that holds the secret elixir of immortality. By exposing his personal fixations, the observer Sagiri-who has her own secret revealed in the episode-also functions to potentially open Gabimaru up to the dangers of the death he had claimed to be unafraid of. When all of the attempts to murder the immortal protagonist meet only with his sighs over any bloodshed, an observer from the shogunate deduces that his immortality is connected with his attachments in life.
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