Shingeki no Bahamut: Genesis – 05

Shingeki no Bahamut 501

Rita’s already preparing for Thanksgiving.

It’s finally my turn to join in the round robin posting schedule of Bahamut! This one has been a surprising favourite, since no online trading card game anime adaptation has any right to be this damn good.

By all means, Favaro should have been elated that Kaisar and Amira were kidnapped. Now he doesn’t have to transport a very troublesome demon girl to a place he has no idea how to get to, and he doesn’t have to worry about his mortal rival trying to stick a sword into his heart. It’s a pretty good deal! But Favaro still decides to go out of his way to save the two of them, alongside Rita. He has no obligation to save them, or even to accompany Rita to do so, but he does. If you ask him, I’m sure he’d just attribute it to wanting to break his demon curse. But despite being a bounty hunter and a bit of a delinquent, he does have a sound moral code. Just don’t mistake that for him being a super nice guy and you’re good.

Shingeki no Bahamut 500

Just one more move…and he’ll finally figure out how that tiny hat stays on her head all the time

His relationship with Kaisar and Amira reminds me a bit of the Space Dandy crew. They complain about each other’s company all the time when they’re together, and don’t seem terribly upset when one or the other is kidnapped or in mortal danger. But they still risk their lives to rescue each other because that’s what friends do. I’d hesitate to say Favaro is really friends with anybody yet, but he at least knows them well enough to feel guilty for letting things end abruptly at the hand of some rando demon whisking them away from under his nose. It’s like the minimal amount of kindness the director could give him so that he would actually go and rescue them without being physically forced to (such as in the beginning of the series when he only rescued Amira because a feisty horse made him do it).

Favaro’s good side seems to come from his father, who wasn’t so bad for a bandit. He was more of a Robin Hood figure than an evil, black-hearted criminal. That’s why even when Favaro is stuck in a rut, he still does he best to avoid pointless violence. He doesn’t kill Rita, even though he has no reason to help her. He doesn’t kill Bacchus either. As much as Favaro tries to act like a criminal without a care in the world, that’s not quite accurate. I doubt he’ll be winning any awards for kindness any time soon, but he’s a much better person than he appears at first. It makes me wonder why he doesn’t ever try to clear things up with Kaisar about what happened to his father. I feel like these two won’t be rivals for very long since they have similar goals and I don’t think Favaro intended to betray Kaisar. Both of them should be focusing their rage towards Azazel, the guy who really made all of these horrible happen.

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The two of them are already starting to work together. A little bit. They take down Pazuzu surprisingly quickly using one of the oldest tricks in the book. A little anti-climactic, actually, to see all these battles end so quickly. Cerberus runs away and Azazel swiftly gets knocked back by a strange figure that appears to protect Amira. It’s clear that there’s still a lot we don’t know about Amira’s powers. But we’re getting closer. And the beauty of this show is that I don’t care how long they tease us with this mystery because everything else in between is so stellar. I’d be happy even if we never found out and the four of them just decided to become pirates. Hell, they could be lumberjacks and it would still be one of the best shows this season! …Okay, maybe that’s pushing it, but you get what I mean.

I’ve just been more invested in just mindlessly enjoying Bahamut than focusing on the plot. It just does everything else so well that I don’t care what happens as long as it involves the misadventures of Favaro, Amira, Kaisar and (my new favourite) Rita. It’s one of those shows where everything just clicks. But now that we’re already at episode 5, it’s time to step up the story progression. It’s not the most original story, but it’s so well-done that I can’t fault it for being cliche. There’s a lot of promising aspects for future episodes, and I can’t wait to see where episode 6 takes us. I’m still holding out to see Cerberus and her wonderful, sentient hand puppets face off against Favaro.

Shingeki no Bahamut 502

This is what happens when a guy travels alone with an underaged girl for too long…

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A neuroscience graduate, black belt, and all-around nerd. You'll either find me in my lab or curled up in my rilakkuma kigurumi watching anime.
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29 Responses to “Shingeki no Bahamut: Genesis – 05”

  1. Irenesharda says:

    I don’t know what it is about this show, but it seems to out do itself every time. I thought last week was the best episode so far, but then along came this one, and it was the best so far.

    I love how our in-it-for-himself hero, Favaro is beginning to show his heart of gold and is going after the girl who cursed him and he was going to kill and betray but three episodes ago, as well as the former friend that is out to kill him. And not only that, but he gives up his livelihood as well, and has decided to take up outlaw status, all because of two people that he is beginning to care about (or in Kaisar’s case, care about still). We knew Favaro’s heart of gold would begin to shine through.

    Rita was an awesome characters this episode, she’s already loyal enough to Kaiser to brave the wrath of Lucifer’s second in command to go and rescue her new traveling buddy. She seems to know and have met Azazel before, I wonder how? Was he the one to give her her powers?

    Bahamut is becoming a major threat and the angels are doing their best to hold it it bay. They don’t know what they’ll do if he actually awakens.

    Amira’s having a pretty hard time this episode, poisoned and tortured about stuff she doesn’t seem to know? Why is Amira stealing the keys? And is she really a demon or does she have some sort of guardian inside of her that manifests itself to look like her demon form?

    Azazel seems to recognize what it is that protects her. Also, the demons don’t include her as one of their own, so what is she exactly? Is Jeanne’s second in command knight, Lavalley, actually her father as I’ve been suspecting? He has a pendant exactly like Amira’s and they seem to respond to each other. It was how he knew where Azazel was going and that Amira was with him. And it was how he knew that she flew off with Favaro and the group on the zombie wyvern at the end. Amira says her mother had a necklace just like hers, so either there are three necklaces about, or Amira’s mother is dead and Lavalley wears the pendant now. The only reason you would wear someone else’s pendant is if you were pretty close to them and cared for them.

    It was interesting seeing that Favaro has recognized Azazel as the demon that set up their families and killed his dad, and also Azazel knows who Favero and Kaiser are. I’m hoping Kaiser will find out the truth sooner than later. He actually seems to be the stronger between the two, especially when he’s fired up.

    And then that awesome fight at the end. It was just so cool how they used regular medieval artillery, and used holy magic to make it spectacularly fiery and devastating. And how often do we get human armies that are actually competent in these things? That was amazing in and of itself. And Jeanne is one of the best Jeanne D’Arcs I’ve seen, her angelic attack was just great.

    I’m so loving this series, I can’t wait until next episode. I looks like we’re going to get some backstory now on the knights.

    • Overcooled says:

      It’s soooo good. And it’s one of those shows I feel you could recommend to almost anyone and they’d really like it.

      Favaro gave up his only way of making money to save his bitter rival and some chick he picked up in town one night. He’s a good guy despite his crassness. I love him as the main character. And Rita as a side character is wonderful too! She knows so much since she’s lived so long AND her zombie skills are super handy. All we need is for Kaisar to get on board and co-operate with the two and we’ve got a really strong party of adventurers here~

      Amira is still one big question mark…But I think Lavalley is indeed more than he seems. That shot of him after the ED song makes me think he’s a lot more important than being some random, human knight in the army. How else would he have the pendant?

  2. JPNIgor says:

    I’m here just to say that I was pretty disappointed with all the talk about torture methods and the blood squishing when Pazuzu hit Amira and then they show Amira only with some bruises.

    I like the direction the character relationship is taking. I really liked the fact that Rita won’t just turn a blind eye to whatever stupid stuff Kaisar does because she’s basically following him for no reason. Rita being carried on a bag by Favaro was funny as well. I really hope Favaro stop running away from Kaisar, but I’m pretty sure that was a really big bluff (that “I’ll definitely settle stuff with you” line) and he’s going to run away again.

    And… “I’m a zombie, after all.” Damn, Rita is awesome.

    • Overcooled says:

      I’m all for torture, but I think it would have been a little out of place in a show like this.

      Rita really is awesome! She keeps both Favaro and Kaisar under control. I love how “no-nonsense” she is about getting stuff done and trying to settle the pointless feud between the two.

      Her zombie skills also add to the charm

  3. belatkuro says:

    >Rita
    >kicking Favaro in the nuts
    >stranglingcuddling a duck
    >pretty light and easy to carry in a bag
    >can fight minions
    >Zombie Rocket Punch!
    >reanimating a wyvern to escape
    >voiced by Sawashiro Miyuki
    Why is she so awesome?

  4. BlackBriar says:

    Rita’s already preparing for Thanksgiving.

    The market was out of turkey so they had to settle for a duck dinner. 😉

    Are we sure this series was based on a card game? It’s way too entertaining to believe that. Every new entry outdoes the previous ones.

    The life of a bounty hunter is usually a selfish one if it’s a lone wolf so spending so much time around Amira and Kaisar (Even if the guy is hunting him down and continuously shouting his name) is probably causing Favaro’s anti-social tendencies to deteriorate. That and after the betrayal of a former ally last episode, he remembered his father’s moral code. A few episodes back, he didn’t even give a damn Rita was bitten and turning into a zombie.

    It’s possible he hasn’t told Kaisar what really happened because he’d immediately dismiss it all as a lie and chooses to avoid him instead. After everything he’s pulled on him, it’d be a shock if he did believe right away. The best way to get the message across is from Azazel himself.

    Rita’s apparent personal knowledge of Azazel leads me to believe he’s the one who gave her the Black Bible, therefore giving her control over the zombies of her old hometown, her Necromancer powers and ability to maintain a child’s form before becoming one of the undead herself. I facepalmed seeing her carried on Favaro’s back like some baby. That came out of nowhere. 😀

    I’m still holding out to see Cerberus and her wonderful, sentient hand puppets face off against Favaro.

    Cerberus… How can someone so hot be so evil?!! 🙁

    • skylion says:

      Yeah, Cerebus. Those are some nice puppies…

    • Overcooled says:

      Usually “online trading card game adaptation” is a recipe for disaster. I have no clue how it turned out so well but I’m glad it did.

      Favaro’s definitely getting a bit less cold over time. Now I don’t think he’d be so quick to sell out Amira or even leave Rita to die. I hope he gets the heart to at least try to work things out with Kaisar. He’s the type to deny everything against his current beliefs, but someone has to at least get the ball rolling!

  5. HannoX says:

    Regarding Rita’s hat staying on–I suppose it could be her magic. Or maybe she just nailed it to her head. It’s not like that would bother her any. She is a zombie, after all.

    • BlackBriar says:

      Nice one!! But surely she wouldn’t go that far in abusing her new undead status. 😉

    • Irenesharda says:

      Oh, keeping such a small hat on your head isn’t that amazing. She probably just did what women have been doing to keep elegant hats both large and small, on their heads for centuries: the hatpin. 🙂

    • skylion says:

      …a zombie putting a nail into her brain meat? Not seeing that work anytime in the near future.

  6. skylion says:

    OMG. I love this show. It’s a clear consensus of awesome isn’t it? And I am champing at the bit for my turn to cover again! I’ll even break from convention and say I’m chomping at the bit, too!

    This is still going just like a D&D game. I’ve either played moments like these or heard tell of them.

    Well, except for the LOLi in a bag thing…

    • Overcooled says:

      Damn right! I was crossing my fingers that the episode I got to cover would be an exciting one….but they’re all exciting so it doesn’t even matter. It’s so good that no one blogger can hog it to themselves!

      • BlackBriar says:

        Everyone wants a piece of the pie, I see. 😉

        • skylion says:

          It was like Kyo at I on the FI, and then it just hung there for nearly three weeks after. And then Kyo was like, Hey, we need a show covered! And then a bunch of us showed up.

          Who will it be next time? Oh, that is a surprise.

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