Side Character Spiral: Yamada Asaemon Senta

You wonderful starving artist, you.

Hell’s Paradise/Jujutsu Kaisen spoilers ahead!

I didn’t expect to be here. I mean, I expected to go side character spiraling in the realm of Hell’s Paradise, but I expected it to be for Chobe Aza and literally no one else. Yet here I am, dwelling on my man Senta, dead too soon.

I actually didn’t realize how much Senta was living in my brain. I’ve been hooked on Hell’s Paradise for awhile, taking it in bites so I don’t burn through it too quickly, and even as Gabimaru and crew made headway, and the stakes ratcheted up, and the narrative tension wrung me like a wet towel, Senta was there, calling to me.

Still dead, mind you… but is he? Is he really?

Is he?

So I kind of spiraled already and dug into that obsession before writing. Oops. I cheated. But here’s how it went.

There are two things about Senta that I found particularly engaging. First, his artistry. Second, his poorly hidden infatuation with Yuzuriha.

Let’s start with his artistry.

I’m a starving artist. Fun fact. I am not known for much, and certainly not for my artistry. Remember that whole “seeing yourself in characters” spiel I went on with Gabimaru? Yeah, it’s here with Senta too. This guy wanted to be an artist, but family restrictions made him be an executioner. It’s the Yamada clan, the most renowned executioners in all the land. Tough nuts, Senta, better start killing people.

He’s good at it though. At killing people. He’s as capable as everyone else in his clan, even if he doesn’t embrace it as fully as some of them.

Few things are further from art than death. Which sits Senta squarely between polarizing pillars that mean his life is a constant negotiation between the two. There is a lot of story we’re not seeing for him. A lot of things left unsaid. A conflicted mind and a depth of character we will never know. That’s pretty heavy. And it’s also immensely fascinating. Nothing is more captivating than a character that readers know they’re not seeing all of. That’s Senta. This guy has depth, and since he’s dead (have I mentioned that he’s dead), those depths are like a gold mine that will never be escalated.

However, that’s not where the Senta obsession really hit home. It hit home in the ridiculously beautiful death panel where he’s in the arms of Yuzuriha—ninja, perpetually sarcastic, flirts as a tactic—holding Senta in his final moments.

Just… look at it.

Believe it or not, those aren’t my tear splotches on the page, that’s just the style it’s illustrated in for that singular, marvelous panel.

This may well have been the most heartbreaking panels I’ve ever seen (close second: Nanami’s last words), but the set up was equally heartbreaking. Senta came out the worst in a battle, but there was some hope he may yet prevail, even though he’d been horribly scarred by those deadly plants. In these uncertain moments, he delivers key information to defeat the baddy that got him, but then he dies anyway. However, before dying, it’s Yuzuriha who comforts him, and tells him to picture himself in the arms of someone he loves.

Cue the momentous panel.

What makes that so exceptional is Senta’s beautiful naivety. Naivety is a double-edged swords. You can have characters like Asta from Black Clover or Inosuke from Demon Slayer, who are frustratingly naive. I wouldn’t call their naivety endearing, so much as that readers have to accept this flaw in their character. Or they can just hate them, plenty do.

Senta’s naivety is charming, and it never gets in the way of anything. He’s optimistic, but not overly. He’s positive, but not stupidly. And it’s because of his personality that we see Yuzuriha be anything other than sarcastic, lazy, nonchalant, etc. Which makes you question the naivety at all. Is his budding relationship with Yuzuriha naivety? What did she think about him?

Good characters get readers to ask questions. And I will continue to ask so many questions about Senta because he died before they could be answered. Do I reference Boromir enough here? He’s the same way. He died before some exceptional questions could be answered—how would he have served Gondor with Aragorn, where did his morality truly lie, what would his return have meant to Denethor and Faramir?

Senta’s character is one of complexities, familiarities and unwitting charm. He’s a fish out of water, a true professional, and a dreamer. Am I writing his epitaph? What’s going on here?

The point is, he had layers. So many layers. And while he didn’t play a big part in the overall story, the part he played left a big impression.

RIP King.