‘Hell’s Paradise’: Who Is Tamiya Gantetsusai & What Is His Story?

The recently-premiered anime adaptation of Hell’s Paradise has become a major global hit in every aspect, so it is normal for fans to start asking questions about the series’ characters, their roles in the story, and their fates. Hell’s Paradise is undoubtedly one of the season’s biggest hits, so we have decided to dedicate yet another article to the wonderful world of this manga and reveal some additional information about one of its characters. The character we will discuss is the powerful criminal Tamiya Gantetsusai, whose role will expand as of this moment. In this article, we will tell you who Tamiya Gantetsusai is and his story in Hell’s Paradise.

Tamiya Gantetsusai is a minor principal character from Hell’s Paradise who becomes an ally of Gabimaru and his friends at one point in the story. He is an extremely skilled and powerful warrior who, after destroying the property of a daimyo, was sentenced to death; to avoid execution, he accepted the mission to Kotaku to find the Elixir of Life. He is one of the series’ strongest characters, and his elemental attribute is Fire. He also has a perverted nature, which is the source of much humor in the series.

The rest of this article will focus on Tamiya Gantetsusai and his story in the Hell’s Paradise series. Tamiya Gantetsusai was undoubtedly one of the most intriguing characters in the lore, and it only makes sense that the fans want to know what happened to him, how he ended up on the island, and how powerful he is. This article will contain some spoilers from the Hell’s Paradise manga, so be careful how you approach it, but we won’t be revealing his whole story so as to not spoil the experience for the viewers.

Tamiya Gantetsusai got in trouble because of his strength and hit temperament, but he was actually a loyal ally

The basic premise of Hell’s Paradise is well-known. The Shogun wants to get the Elixir of Life for himself, so he keeps sending people to Kotaku, where it is supposedly located. After his own men fail to retrieve it, he gathers a group of powerful death convicts, to whom he offers his pardon if they accept his mission.

They are both powerful and quite menacing (okay, not all of them – Nurugai was completely innocent), but also expandible, which is why they were great for the mission. Among these criminals was also Tamiya Gantetsusai, a powerful and sturdy man who would eventually receive the small Yamada Asaemon Fuchi as his retainer. Tamiya Gantetsusai, of course, survived the brawl of the convicts before the voyage, and he was one of the criminals who got the “honor” of traveling to Kotaku.

But why was he even in such a position in the first place? His story was revealed fairly early in the anime, so we’ll see what happened to him.

Tamiya Gentetsusai was actually born as Tetsunosuke, and when he was still a child, he was trained in the art of swordsmanship by an unnamed yet highly-skilled master. His master was an old guy, so when he managed to defeat him in his prime, Tetsunosuke was confused and asked his master how he could win while being so old; his master simply said that Tetsunosuke had become blinded by his greed for power and that he could not defeat him like that.

To become more powerful, he would have to discard all and every desire for powers, a valuable lesson that the young Tetsunosuke did not understand at the time.

As he grew, he became even more powerful and only searched for even stronger opponents to fight, defeating each and every one of them. At one point, he would take up the name Tamiya Gantetsusai, part of which was taken from Ganryū’s Dōjō, a place he stormed, proving his worth in terms of his skills and abilities.

After being able to defeat every human warrior he could find, he wanted even stronger opponents, so he started chasing monsters, thinking that they could be able to present a challenge for him at the time.

Soon after that, Tamiya Gantetsusai actually did meet his first “monster,” which was actually the “keel” of a ship. Now, cutting a keel is notoriously difficult, but as Tamiya Gantetsusai managed to do it, he became a “monster-slayer,” which also earned him a new nickname, Blade Dragon. At some later point, he would also join an unknown war, details of which were never revealed, and gained some additional experience in fighting on the battlefield itself.

So, before the incident that led to him becoming a death convict, Tamiya Gantetsusai had already become a powerful warrior, which, mixed with his difficult personality, wasn’t the best of solutions for those around him, really.

So, what happened next? At some later, unknown point in time, a daimyo invited Tamiya Gantetsusai to his home to work for him, which Tamiya Gantetsusai seemingly accepted, but it didn’t really work out like that. When he saw him, the daimyo commented on how he wasn’t sure that Tamiya Gantetsusai could really slay a dragon, as his nickname suggested, which made Tamiya Gantetsusai furious, so he took out his blade and cut down the front gate of the daimyo’s home, proving his strength.

But, as you might assume, the daimyo wasn’t all too happy with Tamiya Gantetsusai destroying his house, so he kicked him out and reported him to the authorities, which soon sentenced him to death. And the rest is history.

Soon after arriving on the island, he and Fuchi saw the monsters, and a human-face butterfly stung him on the arm. Knowing that it might be dangerous, Tamiya Gantetsusai immediately cut off his arm to stop the poison from spreading, which was a smart move on his part, as it allowed him to survive. He wasn’t seen until later, Fushi, and he came across Gabimaru and Mei after the latter met with Zhu Jin, one of the Tensen.

Gabimaru and Tamiya Gantetsusai considered a potential face-off, but Fuchi interrupted their imaginary battle, after which Gabimaru proposed an alliance to them, which they would eventually accept. And this is where we are going to stop to avoid revealing too many spoilers about Tamiya Gantetsusai and his future in the series.

As for his powers and abilities, we know that Gantetsusai is a skilled swordsman who is well-known throughout Japan after being hired to serve a daimyo who had noticed him. He had survived a massacre of death row inmates all with his hands tied, making him suitable to take part in the shogun’s expedition to find the Elixir of Life.

Rien noticed that Gantetsusai’s ability to kill a Mōnshin after arriving on Kotaku was anything but typical for a human. Gantetsusai managed to live through the raid on Hōrai long enough to kill Tao Fa, a Tensen-level Sennin, and assist in taking down the united Kishikai of Ju Fa and Tao Fa. His elemental affinity is Fire, and aside from his fighting skills, he also seemed to possess significant medical expertise, as he was a doctor actually.