English Dub Season Review: Bastard!! Heavy Metal, Dark Fantasy Season One Part Two

Based on the ongoing manga series written and illustrated by Kazushi Hagiwara but is technically the 2nd half of this Netflix adaptation. It immediately picks things up in the previous wave of episodes as the world of Bastard takes place in a post-apocalyptic future where the result of modern civilization and the world being destroyed due to the God of Destruction, Anthrasax, in 7 days, and then was sealed. Hundreds of years later, the kingdom of Metallicana is under attack from the “Dark Rebel Army” and its generals known as the “Four Heavenly Kings”. who will stop at nothing to get what they want, even if it leaves utter destruction in their wake.

The High Priest Geo Noto Soto (D.C. Douglas) in an act of desperation is now left with no choice but to break the rules despite being the very same person who magically imprisoned the Rebel Army’s former boss, the Godlike sorcerer Dark Schneider (Kyle Mccarley) inside the body of a dopey 15-year-old boy named Lucien (Anne Yatco). Geo now has to free Schneider to help save the kingdom and its people by getting his daughter Tia Noto Yoko (Erin Yvette) involved. Unfortunately for them, Dark Schneider himself has his own hedonistic and destructive goals in mind. Will he stop the Four Heavenly Kings or join them in their conquest of awakening Anthrasax?

On the technical side, much like the Jojo:Stone Ocean Part 2, a lot of the positives from Part One are thankfully carried over to part two such as the Animation being done by Liden Films (Terra Formars, Tokyo Revengers, Tribe Nine, and the 2017 Berserk remake) and is directed by Takaharu Ozaki (Who previously worked on Goblin Slayer, Persona 5, Girls’ Last Tour, and Takt Op. Destiny). With scripts written by Yōsuke Kuroda, and character designs by Sayaka Ono. The music also continues to be composed by Yasuharu Takanashi of Fairy Tail fame. With the opening theme “Bloody Power Fame” which is done by Coldrain, and the ending theme “Blessless” by Tielle.

It’s been almost 3 months (June 2022) since Part 1 aired the first 13 episodes on Netflix. And now finally, we continue with the other half consisting of episodes 14-24 as it further continues Dark Schneider’s destructive Rockstar-like antics on a consistent and comedic level with Yoko continuing to keep him in line as he continues facing off against the people who were once part of his circle 15 years before the current events of the story. I’m left even more shocked with how much they got away with when it comes to rock band references with names that were surprisingly untouched. And this is something Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure rarely does since they often change the names to something different to avoid copyright problems, What was easily one of the biggest highlights for me involved a “Magical Nuke” spell called “Black Sabbath” where Dark Schneiders recites an incantation named after the four members of the aforementioned band. But when it does delve into the occasional serious moments, they’re well executed.

Much like the first half of this season, Bastard, while based on a Manga from the ’80s, was made during the rise of heavy metal culture in the 80s. A time when masculinity wasn’t shamed or frowned upon, and manly things such as heavy metal, monsters, and sci-fi/fantasy/adventure stuff were the norm in the early years when R-rated anime was imported to America at the time. Essentially it’s popcorn entertainment and never aims to be anything more than that. As a character, Schneider continues to revel in its violence and sexuality with unapologetic aplomb with the occasional 4th-wall-breaking jokes here and there during its proceedings with Schneider as the result of sharing the body and soul of a dopey teenager starts going into “Anti-Hero” status.

Overall, while most of the 2nd half of this season worked in terms of continuing things, it’s only major detriments aside from the post-credits cliffhanger that raised more questions than answers, or that Netflix still feels the need to keep censoring the show’s casual nudity with well-placed shadows and nonexistent nipples, is the fact that Netflix’s own business model whether they know it or not, is unintentionally killing the hype of its ongoing Anime library through these periodic waves of episode releases with almost no promo material whenever each wave is announced. With the way the show ended, I’m curious how they could possibly continue if Season 2 becomes a thing.