Yup! The name of the series is Bastard!! – with the double exclamation marks. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, I should warn you that this is not an anime for children. Duh!! – with double exclamation points.
So not to make a long story, the demon Dark Schneider (no I did not make that up), is imprisoned in the body of a young boy named Lucien. Dark can only be released by a kiss of a virgin, and then imprisoned the same way. Yoko, daughter of the high priest, is that virgin. Add blood and nudity, as well as the occasional profane remark, and you have the series.
I should say that Bastard!! does not try to take itself too seriously. Don’t let the fact that nothing funny really gets said or done fool you into thinking this is not a comedy. It is a comedy – just not a very good one. You get virgin jokes, Yoko beating on Dark, and a few other feeble attempts at formulaic humor. They jokes just don’t work, especially since many are repeated needlessly.
The artwork is very well done. They obviously spared no expense there. Maybe that is why they didn’t, apparently, have the funds to do a decent job of animation? Outside of the fight scenes, the characters are wooden and lifeless.
Season one is 13 episodes. I got through eight when I realized all I was doing was to wait for the episodes to end. Bastard!! is not worth any more of my time. Much of what it offers we have seen done before and done better.
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