Hell’s Paradise: Why Did Mei Save Gabimaru from Zhu Jin?

And while the recently-premiered anime adaptation of Hell’s Paradise promises to be a big hit, fans have, naturally, begun to ask questions about the series’ characters, their roles in the story, and their fates. Seeing how Hell’s Paradise is truly one of the season’s biggest hits, we have decided to dedicate yet another article to the wonderful world of this manga and reveal some additional information about one of its recent moments. The moment we are going to focus on is the fight between Tensen Zhu Jin and Gabimaru, the show’s protagonist, a clash that took an unexpected turn when Mei appeared on the battlefield and saved Gabimaru. In this article, you’ll find out why she did it.

Although she was a Tensen herself, Mei intervened in Gabimaru’s fight against Zhu Jin and saved his life by taking him away from the battlefield. This action confused Zhu Jin, as they were unsure why Mei did that. Mei actually did it because, a long time ago, she cut all ties with the Tensen as she was dissatisfied with their goals and actions. After Gabimaru was nice to her, she became his ally and, thus, jumped in to help him.

The rest of this article will focus on Mei and her actions in the most recent episode of the Hell’s Paradise anime series. Mei was undoubtedly one of the most intriguing characters in the Hell’s Paradise lore, and it only makes sense that the fans want to know why this young girl helped Gabimaru despite being a Tensen, so we have decided to compose this article. This article will contain some spoilers from the Hell’s Paradise manga, so be careful how you approach it.

Mei helped Gabimaru because he was nice to her and she wanted to see him safe

We will talk about the aftermath of Zhu Jin’s battle against Shion, Tenza, and Nurugai. Tenza sacrificed himself to save Shion and Nurugai, who managed to run away, as Tenza remembered how he became an Asaemon before dying. With this, this battle, i.e., Zhu Jin’s first battle in the series, was over.

As Zhu returned to the Hōrai, they met Gabimaru, who was right at the gates. As Zhu protected the gates, a fight broke out between Gabimaru and them. Having had trouble with the humans not long ago, Zhu Jin asked Gabimaru to leave, but then the latter realized that the Tensen were using humans to create the Elixir.

He simply did not want to leave, so Zhu Jin was forced to fight. Gabimaru was initially successful and incinerated Zhu Jin, who then transformed into their Yang form. Gabimaru was able to withstand that form as well, to which Zhu Jin wondered whether Gabimaru was human or not.

While analyzing his opponent, Gabimaru managed to overwhelm Zhu’s Yang form, which also stopped the Tensen from regenerating quickly. At that moment, Zhu Jin resorted to their ultimate technique, the Kishikai Transformation, turning into a monstrous plant-like entity that finally managed to overpower Gabimaru. Gabimaru stood no chance against the powerful Kishikai, especially after the monster fired numerous lightning bolts at him.

Gabimaru wanted to set himself on fire and kill Zhu Jin at the same time, willing to sacrifice himself, but at that moment, Mei appeared and saved him. As Zhu Jin reverted back to their normal form after failing to kill Gabimaru and Mei, they wondered what drove Mei to act as she did. As you can see, Mei actually did intervene to save Gabimaru, but knowing that Mei was a Tensen, Zhu Jin wondered as to her motives, and it really did seem strange, both because of her very nature, but also because Mei had a very rough start with Gabimaru. So why did she do it?

Well, the roots of her decision to help Gabimaru are connected to two things. One of them is her past. Namely, about a millennium ago, Rien used the Tao of a single Tao puppet to create Mei, who thus became the first Tensen to be created on Kotaku; initially, she was led to believe that Jofuku, Rien’s husband, created her, but that was a lie. Rien trained her and helped take care of her other Tensen siblings, but when she observed the experiments Rien had been doing with immortality, she rejected them and rebelled against them. Because of that, Rien punished her by breaking her plant ovule, which did not kill her but reverted her back to her child form.

After that, she was banished from the central town and wandered the island alone until she was found by Hōko, the talking tree, who took her in as his daughter and raised her. The two lived under the radar and happily had nothing to do with Lord Tensen and their dealings. This is how and why Gabimaru and the group met Mei and Hōko when they explored the island and how the two of them became their allies, despite an initial rough start.

This explains why Mei would help someone against a Tensen, but why Gabimaru? Gabimaru and Mei had a very rough start, so the young girl wasn’t expected to rush into battle to help him. But, during their stay in the village, Gabimaru and Mei actually became quite close, as Gabimaru told Mei that she should not hide her scars, i.e., who she was, remembering how his wife had told him the same thing. Mei, who was not very talkative and even scared of Gabimaru a bit, was encouraged by these words as she saw that Gabimaru could be gentle and nice to her, which she liked.

And that is why she, aware of her powers, jumped into battle and ultimately risked her life to save Gabimaru against Zhu Jin. This was an important moment in the story, so we wanted to explain everything to you so that you can follow the story without wondering too much about what had happened before.