Shingeki no Bahamut: Genesis

**SPOILER FREE REVIEW** Every now and then, an anime comes along that is so remarkably charming, entertaining, and fun that you just completely forget about the rest of its flaws. Shingeki no Bahamut: Genesis, is the epitome of this kind of anime. It’s 100% “rule of cool”; a million things are going on at the same time, ridiculous amounts of insanity are crammed into short intervals of time, the characters and plot events are totally over the top, and yet all you can do is smile while watching it. SnB is undoubtedly the pleasant surprise of the season, considering that it’s based on, of all things,the lore of a card game. First WIXOSS and now SnB… Huh. Maybe card games are on to something. Anyway, let’s get to the review: Synopsis: This story follows the happenings throughout the world of Mistarcia: a magical clusterfuck where humans, gods, demons, monsters, creatures, etc all must coexist. Long ago, a tremendously powerful being, Bahamut, threatened to destroy the land, but humans, gods, and demons united to seal its power away. The key to that seal was split into two pieces; one half was given to the gods and the other to demons, so that they would never be united and Bahamut would never be released. Two thousand years later, Bahamut threatens to be awakened once more… If you think about it, there’s really nothing remarkable about SnB’s premise; I think we’ve all seen the “an evil power sealed away for thousands of years is going to be awakened!” type of thing before. What makes this show so awesome is not in its premise, but in its execution. The show thrives during its stretches where there is very little exposition at all, which is most of the time. SnB knows how to “show don’t tell”, and let's the plot events do the talking for them. Unfortunately, the show gets away from that winning formula during its middle stretch and begins spending way too much time on the overarching story, which creates a number of problems. As previously mentioned, the plot of this show is really nothing special; it's way too ambitious for its own good, has holes, and isn't exactly the most original. When the awesome, over-the-top action slows down, the audience begins to remember that these flaws do indeed exist, hurting the enjoyment gotten out of the anime. Luckily, it pulls itself out of its overly-plot-focussed rut relatively quickly and goes back to the fresh and energetic action you can't help but love. I really can't stress enough how nearly every episode presents us with an entirely new scenario in a totally new setting full of insanity and pure fun. For instance, have you ever wanted to see a fight consisting of zombies vs. bounty hunters vs. mermonsters vs. demons vs. a giant crab on board a pirate ship? If you aren’t at least slightly amused by that idea, then you’re a stick in the mud. It’s HARD to not be entertained by the show’s extremely well done action, comedy, and variety of settings. There may not be much depth to the plot, but this anime will make you not care. As amusing as the plot may be, the real factor that makes it SnB so endearing definitely has to be the characters. They are a delight to watch every second they are on screen, ensuring that there is never a boring moment. Surprisingly, this cast doesn’t just manage to be mindlessly entertaining because of their personality quirks; they are legitimately well written. Favaro, the closest thing we have to a protagonist, is hilarious, charming, has clearly defined motivations and even has a small semblance of a backstory. Amira, the female lead, is quite similar; she’s charming, she’s funny, she has a backstory, but she is also strong; no misogynistic stereotypes to be found here. Kaiser and Rita are marvelous additions as well, not to mention the plethora of colorful side characters. Some of the cast may be underdeveloped, but they certainly never cease to be entertaining. It has been a long, LONG time since I’ve seen a cast of characters with this much personality. They make the show an absolute blast to watch and you’ll definitely get attached to them. To top off the intoxicating style of SnB, it’s worth mentioning that the animation looks completely awesome. For one, this is actually a rare example of CGI done RIGHT in an anime; it’s used sparingly and actually looks fluent when it is used. Besides that, the art style, shot composition, character/monster designs, and animation is all spot on; it makes for an immersive experience that you can’t take your eyes off of. That brings us to the music, which is just as fun and over the top as the rest of the show. The OP gives you a pretty good idea of what you’re getting into and the OST never fails to set the “Fuck yeah!” kind of mood that the show is so good at eliciting. SnB wouldn’t be the same without it’s stellar and stylized presentation. In conclusion, this anime is likely the most pleasant surprise of the entire year. It ranks right up there with the other best "rule of cool" shows as an awesomely entertaining, funny, action packed adventure with endearing characters and a kick-ass presentation. It doesn’t have a whole lot of depth to it and it’s not exactly going to blow you away, but it’s hard to argue against the fact that this anime is fun as hell to watch. If this kind of show is your thing, I recommend it!

Please be warned that this review may contain stuff that by some may be considered as spoilers even though no specific scenes of events of the show are described. As far as the story goes, this anime has just another anti hero wannabe guided by fate and poorly developed emotions to save the girl and the world plot. It has no innovations whatsoever and in it's short 12 episodes it develops, in my opinion, even that poorly. The main character is way outclassed by the world and the happenings around him, never really displaying either the physical strength or the strength of character one would expect amain character to have so that he may deal with the problems at hand. That being said i feel that his emotions and way of thinking are not developed enough on screen for us to see some actual change that would lead him from being just an average bounty hunting rogue to a man who would give his life for a girl or an even higher purpose at that. All in all i consider him to be one of the most boring, weak and underdeveloped main characters i've ever seen in an anime. The girl of this story is even less developed, being a crybaby of epic proportions. She is unable to do anything or resist anything when it really counts even though she is considerably strong normally. As a matter of fact she is a lot stronger than the hero so the whole giving in thing just creates the sensation that it is done on purpose so that the story can move on and so that she needs rescuing when she normally could have just ended most problems very easily on her own. The "team" has 2 more characters one of which is the former knight (also very weak) who doesn't actually do anything other that waste dialogue time from the start till the end of the show and a zombie girl who is the most interesting concept of a character in this show but we actually get to see too little of her. The rest of the side characters have virtually no development and are just casually thrown in here and there so that the story may advance with the exception of Jean who gets a few more minutes of screen time. She is the only human capable of actually doing anything but ultimately gets shut down in a runabout way which also gives the sensation that it is done so that the main character may get the chance to step up and be the hero himself. This leads us to the main problem of the show which is the bad guys. Personally I am one of those twisted guys that enjoy a good villain more than a good hero most of the time because he can spice things up and admittedly a hero's greatness can most times be measured by the greatness of his nemesis. I wasn't expecting to find an "Uchiha Madara" in this show but come on. It felt like the villain here didn't have any kind of end game other than the "watch the world burn" scenario and we are not even shown why or how he got there.It is not even clear weather he is a demon or a human and how it is exactly that he does what he does. Everything about him is shrouded in vagueness and he is taken down ridiculously easy, easier in fact than most of his so called pawns. As far as the art goes its is the only feature that i find pretty good as it kind of combines western concepts of knights, armors, castles and so forth with purely anime based concepts of angels, demons and spells. The sound effects and music are also, to say the least, enjoyable.

Here are the three things that made this anime so wonderful: 1) It created the sense that the world was expansive and filled with mystery and potential adventure, which is something that many other anime have tried to do and failed miserably at. 2) The characters (for the most part) weren't cutouts of what is so easy to find in anime. The main character, Favaro, was intelligent and adroit, but he wasn't without his faults. He wasn't just some guy that was fighting for peace for no other reason than peace. He has more depth than that, he can be selfish and cold, aswell as kindhearted. Another main character, Kaisar, is constantly trying to get back at Favaro for stripping his family of their social status. Although he does fit into the role of the always chivalrous character, he at least has a nice dynamic with Favaro. Amira, the female lead, was well fleshed out. She has a very childish personality, and it shows at every possible opportunity. This is a very good personality for her, and it is explained why later in the series (I don't want to have any spoilers, so I won't say why). and 3) The animation. It is really well done for the most part. The character all have their own unique designs (no need to have to differentiate characters only by their hair color like in SOME anime). The animation is fluid and the chaos and fighting in the show is where the animation really stand out in fluidity and overall beauty. The only problems that I found with the animation was the monster, Bahamut. Although he seemed epic and powerful, he just seemed somehow out of place, as if his design and animations didn't match the rest of the show. The plot seemed to be nothing special at first, but the way that it was presented was what sets it a league apart from the competition. Favaro gets in contact with a wandering, magical girl, Amira, because of his lie of knowing how to get to a place called Helheim. She really wants to go their and he gets stuck in a contract in which he must take her there. Eventually they are caught up in an epic battle to save humans, angels, and demons alike. There adventures lead them through a vast world where they meet all types of magical beings, from g-ds to zombies and everything in between. The opening was slightly better than average. Although the visuals were nice and fit the show well, the song had too much screaming in it. Although some may like that kind of music, it isn't my cup of tea. The ending is a different story. The music was beautifully done and it was calming. It was animated in a unique style that was stunning and it fit in perfectly with the music. Overall, the anime was done beautifully and was well paced. There was never a dull moment; it was always filled with important plot events that were exciting. A must watch for anyone that likes anything dark, adventurous, or is just looking for something else to watch that they will love. It gets a high recommendation!

Another anime that prove MAPPA’s technical capability, after the success of Zankyou no Terror. We received another amazing anime. So let’s start. Bahamut starts with the most enthralling beginning that makes us all excited. We get the usual adventure-slash-fantasy vibe executed in the best way possible. But the problem is, as we get closer to the midway of the show, the mood of the show toned down. I now realized that Bahamut is becoming more boring and dull. It is losing its charm. It becomes less entertaining. For the reason, that Bahamut is not even “trying”. It is not that ambitious of a work to becomemore entertaining. That is why in the end, it almost became a generic fantasy adventure anime. Bahamut has a cast of a usual fantasy anime but the good thing here was that their characters are well written. We have the awesome Favaro, a goofy bounty hunter with an afro and Kaisar, the gallant bounty hunter/knight. Let’s not forget the childish Amira and her seemingly counterpart which is the grumpy (and badass) Rita. These character might be bound to some overused character tropes but, like I said, that doesn’t matter. They did the role they were supposed to do and that is good. Considering MAPPA is from Madhouse, it is not surprising that the animation is beautiful. But it is not only that, Bahamut’s charm is its camera use. The camera is comparable to those of Hollywood fantasy blockbusters. It is like Pirates of the Caribbean in a way! The movement is full of fluidity with well-choreographed fights. The sound is not that bad either, the OP and ED are amazing and the VAs did a OMEGA GOOD JOB! Bahamut, although I said that it was going downhill in the second half, is far from disappointment. It is good in its own ways but really needs to work on the narrative. Anyways, this show is solid, fun, and enjoyable. 7/10

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