Disclaimer: Minor spoilers for Hell Warden Higuma up to chapter 12. READ IT on Viz Media’s website if it’s available in your country and if not check out Shueisha’s new Manga Plus website which is available internationally.

“He who sows the wind shall reap the whirlwind.”- Hosea 8:7

It is imperative that one is ambitious, for it is a lack of focus and ambition that is killing this world. That’s not to say that the modern world neglects to try and make you feel bad about yourself so you’ll buy whatever “self-improvement” product or service is being sold, but that’s hardly in keeping with the true grit most imagine when they hear the word ambition. Indeed the very word itself originates from the Latin “ambire” which means to go around, likely referring to going around collecting votes. There’s a certain 2 sidedness to ambition. On the one hand, you have its shallower aspects which can be said to be seeking approval or power from the masses or your peers no matter the cost. A disposition we usually perceive as being inherently bad but it has its upsides. This post-modern era has made humanity fun-loving and even versatile overall largely as a result of the focus on this aspect of ambition. That said it has also left us distractable, too spontaneous and scattered. But what about the light side of ambition? That’s a topic I believe the new series in Shounen Jump, Hell Warden Higuma, wishes to tackle.

The Question at the Core of Hell Warden

There is a scene where Higuma’s boss is telling him about why he must do what they do, and Higuma insinuates that what he calls justice is really him just being Judgmental, implying he can’t properly empathize with fugitive spirits who are also people as deserving of empathy as them. His boss Enma replies with the idea that this is only the take away if the person calling for empathy has a guilty conscience. This gives us something that’s becoming rarer in fiction but is also increasingly valuable: Moral Ambiguity. Neither is wrong or incorrect in this exchange. Being guilty of the acts they commit is not a bad thing in itself, nor is not feeling guilty. It’s hard to say, for lack of a better term, where the ends justify the means here. Most would agree that overall they do, but is it really so simple? And if we accept that it is, will that cut us off from a better answer?

I think Higuma’s arc will be developing and following his own conscience, thus changing the world he lives in. I think he’ll grow to be able to hold different ideas and points of views as all true at the same time and then use that combined perspective for the greater good. To put it simply, he’ll be able to see the bigger picture and that will give him that sense of justice he says he lacks. The story so far is that he’s not comfortable with people knowing his true identity and seems somewhat introverted despite his social skills. And the reason he’s become introverted is that Higuma is constantly seeking the answer to why he’s here and why he fights. He understands on a logical level that he should use his position and powers to protect people but he has trouble coming to terms with sacrificing his and the desires of the fugitive spirits for the greater good. He has to either suppress his emotions or make it personal when he’s fighting otherwise he begins to question the morality of his actions.

I think to an extent Higuma feels he doesn’t fit into the world of other people, so he turns to the boss Enma for some type of guidance. He wants Enma to provide him not a judgmental gaze but a system created by a god without arrogance. However, I feel Enma already knows this, and while he’s secure that he’s in the right he also knows he can’t give Higuma that universal truth he seeks. This tells me that while Enma is somewhat shady he’s still a good person deep down, as oppose, for example, the military or police who might just take advantage with no concerned for the person doing the actual dirty work.

Ambition & Justice

Higuma has a desire to support and help people, but not for reasons of righteousness like Ayaha does, as he himself stated. His main motivation is to have an undisturbed life. To that end he has become incredibly skilled and proficient. He can suppress his emotions and is more than capable of completing his task, however, it’s only to maintain the status quo up till now.

True justice and ambition are inherently intertwined. Retributive justice is easy to carry out as the less you care the easier it is to do, and if you’re really riled up that also works. Apathy and anger are simple emotions to conjure up. Restorative justice on the other hand is much harder. It requires deep thinking and compassion; looking at what went wrong and why, and also how to prevent it in the future. If retributive justice is like turning off an alarm clock, restorative justice is like fixing a broken one. Restorative justice requires a sense of right and wrong and the motivation to fix what is wrong and not merely clean it up.

Ambition requires hope. Ayaha and the other’s he saves end up proving him hope the future. Higuma can see everyone’s perspective, which in turn means he can see in nearly everyone the potential to be good. To chase the potential good is what ambition is at its core. In a way, the very publication of this series itself that is noticeably different from typical style of Jump story telling is reflective of this ambition that it’s trying to teach through its Main Character.

Warden of Hell, Guardian of the Living

To say Shounen Jump is about heroes is to be too limiting. Not simply because Shounen Jump publishes many comedies as well but because when you get down too it the Jump motto of Friendship-Effort-Victory can apply to anyone. It’s not being good necessarily but doing good. Not about being kind to people without exception but being close to them and understanding them. Jump is not about telling you what victory is but asking you what winning means to you. That’s why I’m so excited about this new series in Jump. It has reminded me that Shounen Jump, above all else, is about heart.

Just a short post to celebrate what is quickly becoming a new favorite of mine. I hope that I’ll be writing about it much more in the future.