Hell’s Paradise: Was Nurugai in Love with Tenza? Relationship Explained!

The term “ship” in terms of anime is actually a shortened version of the word “relationship” and represents fan-based relationships between the characters in the series. So, if you think that two characters would be great as a couple, you’re “shipping” them together. As far as Hell’s Paradise is concerned, the series is filled with some amazing and memorable characters, and in this article, we have decided to talk about the relationship between two of them, namely Nurugai and Yamada Asaemon Tenza. This article is going to explore the nature of their relationship and reveal whether Nurugai was indeed in love with Tenza or not.

This was never confirmed, but it was heavily implied that Nurugai was in love with Tenza. He was her retained, but he was friendly to her and believed in her innocence. He also behaved like a true gentleman, which Nurugai knew how to cherish, and it seems that she has indeed fallen for him, telling him that she would marry him once they left the island, which Tenza brushed off as a joke, but he did not really reject her. Her pain when Tenza died also proved that she had strong feelings for him.

The remainder of this article will give you a detailed overview of Nurugai’s relationship with Yamada Asaemon Tenza, as it happened on the pages of the Hell’s Paradise manga. You already know the gist of the issue, so we will just bring you the details so you know the whole context. Be careful, though, as the article will contain many spoilers, so if you don’t know all the details, be careful how you approach the text.

Tenza believed in Nurugai, and she loved his manners, which she found quite noble and nice

As fans of the Hell’s Paradise anime and manga will know, Nurugai is a very interesting character. When Nuragai is first seen, it is only a brief scene showing the character among the other criminals who have accepted the Shogun’s mission in exchange for not being executed. And in all honesty – but that was the author’s intention, we assume – everyone thought Nurugai was an odd-looking boy. Yet, when Nurugai arrived on the island, it was revealed – in fact – that she was a girl! This was one of the first major shocks in the series!

Nurugai is a member of the Sanka people, as her backstory demonstrates. The Sanka were a peaceful mountain tribe that did not seek conflict; instead, they merely desired solitude, which is why they declined to swear allegiance to the Shogun.

But because he was a tyrant, the Shogun declared them rebels and commanded his samurai to kill them because he did not want them to leave his control. The Sanka managed to avoid the Shogun for a long time because they lived so high up in the mountains and were so well hidden that no one could locate them. However, there was a problem. However, they devised a strategy.

To locate a Sanka member, a party of samurai posed as lost travelers. They met Nurugai and persuaded her to assist them by driving them to her hamlet so they could relax. Nurugai, who was innocent and kind, escorted them to her village before realizing her error. The guys exposed themselves to be Samurai, captured Nurugai, and then massacred her entire town and its inhabitants.

They said they would execute her if she revealed the whereabouts of other Sanka settlements, so they kept her alive in hopes that she would. However, events did not turn out that way.

Namely, while she was imprisoned and sentenced to execution, although she had done absolutely nothing wrong, Nuruga was visited by Yamada Asaemon Tenza, who told her about the Shogun’s mission, and she accepted. At the time, though, no one knew that Nurugai was a girl, and everyone treated her as a boy. This included Tenza as well, and seeing Nurugai’s appearance, you cannot really blame anyone for thinking she was a boy, as she has a very androgynous appearance. But things changed on the island, and it was Tenza who first discovered that Nurugai was actually a girl.

Not long after landing, Yamada Asaemon Tenza and Nurugai wanted to find a boat to get off the island, but large tentacles soon attacked them, and they managed to escape. Later on, Nurugai took her clothes off, and Yamada Asaemon Tenza finally observed that her naked body resembled a female; Nurugai then coldly confirmed that she was a girl, which shocked Tenza.

She then said that, once they got back, she would make him her husband, but he just brushed it off at the time, claiming that they had much more important things to do at that moment. This was, actually, the first sign of affection that Nurugai showed towards Tenza, whom she viewed as a noble gentleman, which is something she obviously liked. And while Tenza brushed her reply off, he did not openly reject it.

Later on, though, their relationship became even closed. Namely, as the two of them explored the island together, they also got to know each other better and Nurugai saw how Tenza protected her and how he was willing to do what it takes to protect her as a girl and as someone he was responsible for.

This showed he was quite chivalrous and is another thing that Nurugai liked, which is why she would go on repeating that she would like to marry him once they back home. As the first time, Tenza seemingly brushed off her remark, but he – in that aspect – did not openly reject it. Did they end up together? Sadly, no.

Namely, Tenza would go on dying during their mission, whereas Nurugai survived the events and remained the last Sanka even after the manga’s ending. This happened during their meeting with the Tensen Zhu Jin, who attacked them – first just Tenza and Nurugai, and later the two of them accompanied by Shion, who saved them the first time they faced the powerful enemy.

During the second clash, Zhu Jin managed to slice Shion’s neck, praising the Asaemon for being able to survive the attack, as Zhu Jin thought that they had completely sliced off the Asaemon’s neck. With Nurugai taking care of the bleeding Shion, who managed to stop the bleeding with a piece of cloth, Tenza was the only one who had any chance of stopping the Tensen.

Zhu Jin started fighting seriously and it became obvious that Tenza would lose, as he couldn’t really hit Zhu Jin properly, and even if he did, the Tensen would simply recover. On the other hand, Zhu Jin’s strength and agility proved to be too much for the Asaemon and he was, quickly, fatally wounded by Zhu Jin.

Still, Tenza managed to retain some of his fighting spirit and he continued to fight, even though he was on the verge of dying. This was, of course, done to give Shion and Nurugai time to escape, as Tenza decided to sacrifice himself to save the lives of his master and Nurugai.

Shion wanted to help and even Nurugai wanted to jump in after Tenza was fatally injured, but Shion stopped her and the two of them escaped. His sacrifice was ultimately proof of his noble personality. It showed that he cared for Nurugai and that he respected his master, Shion, incredibly. Tenza would ultimately die in this battle, so we’ll never know if a relationship between Nurugai and him would have worked out, but it seemed to be a potentially interesting ship.

Nurugai was hurt when Tenza died and it was obvious that the emotions she felt for the Asaemon were honest and that she had, indeed, liked him, meaning that her expressions were honest and that she wasn’t just fooling around with Tenza.

It is sad to observe how Tenza never got to see a more feminine version of Nurugai that would appear later in the story and it is sad to see that such a potentially interesting ship never materialized. Tenza obviously cared for Nurugai, but we don’t really know in what way. Namely, Tenza never really got the chance to analyze his emotions or see how they would develop.

Under the circumstances that they were in, he had to take care of himself, he had to take care of Nurugai, he had to think of his duties as an Asaemon and he had to get off the island safely. Under such circumstances, he never really had the chance to even entertain the possibility of being with Nurugai. Nurugai, on the other hand, has far less to worry about, and seeing Tenza’s noble and chivalrous nature, she was able to realize that she liked him.

Their relationship never developed but they had an interesting dynamic between the two of them. Nurugai definitely liked Tenza but due to his premature death, we will never find out how it would have developed, which is a shame, actually.