Hell’s Paradise Creator Breaks Down Berserk’s Influence on The Series

Hell’s Paradise is one of the most brutal new anime series of 2023. Focusing on a ninja known as Gabimaru the Hollow, who is struggling with whether or not he wants to be alive, the anime adaptation by Studio MAPPA brings to life some of the creepiest creatures in the medium. In a new interview, the creator of the series breaks down how Berserk influenced the series, along with the horror genre in general.

In a recent interview with Crunchyroll, Yuji Kaku described how his love of scary images helped create Gabimaru’s story, while also giving a nod to horror legend Junji Ito when it came to developing the demonic entities of Hell’s Paradise, “I clearly remember in my third year of grade school reading Ito Junji-sensei’s collection of short stories Long Hair in the Attic (adapted into Netflix’s Maniac in 2023) at a bookstore I frequented. A woman proud of her long hair suffers heartbreak and is found headless in her room. Nobody knew where her head went, and that was the scariest thing I’d seen in my life until that point. I think that broke my fear gauge, and I thought I’d never experience anything scarier in my life. (Laughs) Since then, I’ve felt an affinity for scary things. Intellectually I understand that makes me a little eccentric, but when drawing the covers for Hell’s Paradise, even when my editor asks me, “Don’t you think this is a little scary?” I respond, “How is it scary? It’s cool” (Laughs)”

Gabimaru x Guts

Hell’s Paradise creator confirmed that Kentaro Miura’s masterpiece heavily influenced the tale of Gabimaru The Hollow, with the Black Swordsman fighting demonic enemies that look like they’d fit in well on the cursed island, “ I didn’t think about that being written as an article and spoke as though I was sharing drinks with a more experienced author. A relative who read the article later told me, “That was less of a promotion for Hell’s Paradise and more like an interview about Berserk.” (Laughs) I was able to speak that freely, and Berserk has had an enormous influence on my own work as well. I still remember that conversation with Miura-sensei as though it happened just the other day…”

Do you think Hell’s Paradise lives up to the Band of the Hawk? Does Gabimaru The Hollow take the cake for the most brutal anime character of 2023? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of the cursed island. 

Via Crunchyroll