(Not So) Cool Motive, Still Murder | Rage of Bahamut Virgin Soul Episode 22 Review/Rant

Excuse the shitty header, I literally photoshopped this in 2 minutes.

Well, I didn't expect to write anything so soon after I had just written my Rage of Bahamut Virgin Soul review a few days ago, and if I were to write anything more for the show, I thought I would do it until after the season ended, but after watching Episode 22....

I'm livid, but not surprised because the writers of Virgin Soul have proven to suck ass on multiple occasions. However, they fucked up ROYALLY with this recent episode. I could very well just not write this and be happy with life, but the mistakes that are made in this episode are so obtuse that I simply can't ignore them. 

To save some time, please read my last Rage of Bahamut review so that you can understand my perspective on this show. There I also explain some of the motives and flaws that Charioce and Nina have, and this episode flat out confirmed all my criticisms.

So be warned, because I'm going to rip this episode apart. In a way, this will be cathartic for me by the time I'm done, but I'm disappointed that I was driven to this point to begin with. 

With all that said, this is by far the shittiest Rage of Bahamut episode ever, not just for this season.

What Happens in Eibos...Should Stay in Eibos

The episode starts off with Bacchus, Hamsa, Favaro, and Nina all flying to Eibos to find out what Charioce is doing there and to put a stop to it. Favaro recalls memories of Bahamut's attack and Amira's death, which happened 10 years ago, because all that shit went down in Eibos last season. While everyone else is speculating Charioce's motives, Nina doesn't give two shits because she's there to kick Charioce's ass for breaking her heart and for Mugaro's death.

Meanwhile in Eibos, Charioce and his men are there monitoring Bahamut's seal. The old man working for the king basically says that if they keep tampering with the seal, it could potentially blow up half the continent. Well great, where once we worried about gods and demons being victims of Charioce's mass genocidal tendencies, now we gotta worry about half the damn population. But please writers, do try to tell me that Charioce is a good guy who likes to play soccer with poor and malnourished demon slaves.

Anyway, Charioce then reveals that he intends to remove the seal. Of course, anyone who's been paying attention would know that he wants to destroy Bahamut, but idk if it's just me, but the writers were treating this like this was supposed to be some big reveal/plot twist, and it's pretty annoying and underwhelming.

Jeanne Spilling Tea and Handing Receipts like the Boss-Ass Bitch She Is

Jeanne boosting the morale of the demons, soldiers, and gods who have all suffered under Charioce's reign.

Jeanne descends from the land of the gods and gives all her supporters a pep talk to motivate them in her fight against the king, and soon enough they all proudly march towards the royal capital, Anatae. She's doing this more so to avenge her son's death than to bring peace, so boohoo, vengeance is bad, so what? It's a good enough reason to fight at this point because it really isn't like Charioce is innocent. Honestly, this reckoning was bound to come sooner or later.

So once again for the millionth time, the capital civilians are forced to evacuate to safety, and the Onyx soldiers focus on fortifying and protecting the ancient forbidden weapon, Dromos, so that it can later be used to kill Bahamut. Then we cut to Alessand, who's commanding what's left of the Orleans Knights since many left to go fight with Jeanne. The knights obviously question his authority because he's a noob, which starts making him more worried and terrified, so he starts to wonder where Dias went because the man has always been there to get him out of trouble (hahaha, not this time sucker). His mind is still reeling with memories of murdering Mugaro, so he desperately tries to convince himself that killing the holy child was the right thing for him to do, and basically he paints himself as the guy who did nothing wrong (but deep down he knows he's a guilty son of a bitch).

If Jeanne manages to kill him for what he did, it would be like ironic justice because Alessand originally became a knight for Jeanne, thus Jeanne killing Alessand would be coming full circle (and to bite him in the ass). But given how the show wants us to sympathize with Charioce's cause, I'm starting to doubt Alessand will ever face the consequences he deserves.

Alessand looking like a mess because he is a mess.

We next see Dias with Kaisar approaching Jeanne's troops. Kaisar, trying to be the neutral, chivalrous guy he is, stops Jeanne and asks her to reconsider moving forward with her attack. He explains that it wasn't Charioce who ordered to kill Mugaro, but that it was Alessand acting on his own; therefore, Kaisar accepts full responsibility of the situation because it was him who got Alessand involved with their gang. Then he preaches that fighting would only spill more blood, so while he has the best intentions of trying to save as many lives as possible, he becomes a Charioce apologist without even realizing it. Jeanne, unimpressed and being the only sane character in this godforsaken episode, disregards his advice continues on with her march.

Same, Jeanne, saaaaame. Honestly, her face says it all lol.

She gives the most sound and correct explanation ever, stating that although Charioce might not have been the one to physically drive a knife into Mugaro's body (or order Alessand to be the executioner), he still created the conditions for her son to be murdered. It was Charioce who ordered his men to hunt her and Mugaro like animals; it was Charioce who drove Jeanne into cutting off Mugaro's wings and putting him into slavery to save his life, and it was Charioce who ordered his men to kill Mugaro when he reappeared in front of them 2 years later, and it was Charioce who placed such a heavy bounty on Mugaro's life that it compelled Alessand to kill him in his name and profit from it. Charioce shares as much blame for Mugaro's death as Alessand does. Period.

This pretense that Charioce never ordered his men to kill Mugaro is complete bullshit because it did happen, and there is never a moment in the show where he changes his mind and orders his men to stop their pursuit. Sure, he gave the command a while back, earlier in the season, but the command is never revoked.

For Kaisar to go and say that the king had no part in Mugaro's murder is utterly pathetic and so unlike him. Remember that this was a man willing to fight and kill Favaro for his father's honor, and while Kaisar does want to save as many lives as he can, forgetting Charioce's part in all this chaos isn't something Kaisar would normally do. At the very least, he would probably demand for Charioce to be spared but to also answer for his crimes in a cell, however, letting the king off the hook is completely unacceptable to me.

Shortly after, Jeanne begins the attack on the capital, and that's the end of her scenes in this episode.

We'll Stop Him! Oops, Sorry, Never Mind...

If the first part of the episode isn't frustrating to you, then this part will blow your head off, assuming we both care about character consistency unlike the writers.

Back in Eibos, Nina & company finally arrive. Nina charges in and starts sweeping the floor against the guards, and Favaro urges her to slow down instead of aggressively rushing in without a plan (but let's be fair, plans never work out in this show, and watching Nina savagely kick ass is spiritually cleansing to me). 

I'm annoyed that this is only Nina's second time using her whip since the very first episode. But I'm willing to overlook that matter because this is a side of Nina I've been wanting to see for a while now.

Immediately they find Charioce and his boys trying to release Bahamut's seal (Nina doesn't know that yet, and Favaro doesn't know why). Charioce is surprised to see Nina alive because he had been told that the Onyx soldiers had finished her off, however, that doesn't stop him from reaching for his sword and approaching Nina for a fight. Before any fighting happens, Bahamut's roars erupt from the seal, but they do little to distract Nina because she is blinded by rage and at the moment doesn't care what Charioce is doing with the dragon; what matters is that Charioce took many lives to get here and Nina won't stand for this any longer. She starts attacking him (ABOUT DAMN TIME, HOMEGIRL), pins him down, and grabs his sword in order to destroy his bracelet.

Beautiful.

Charioce's eyes twitch painfully for a moment, maybe because he's sad that "the love of his life" is fighting him, but at this point I've pretty much lost all sympathy for him. However, Nina hesitates, unable to put an end to everything because she's so "broken inside" and so in love with him despite herself. Though Charioce encourages her to get it over with, she doesn't chop his hand off and sinks to the floor, overcome with emotion. I'm not entirely bothered by this because Nina has never really killed anyone before (As an enraged dragon unable to control herself, yes, but she hasn't done it consciously yet. Plus the people she's killed were canon fodder and none of them were too important), and hurting someone she's been in love with is too much for her to handle. However, the scene would've been better if Nina's relationship with Charioce was properly developed, but alas that is not the case.

Favaro then takes control of the situation by asking Charioce what he intends to do after bringing Bahamut back, and the old man explains that Charioce is actually trying to do the opposite and kill the monster, SHOCKER (it really isn't to us, but to Favaro and Nina it is)! He goes on to say that 10 years ago they discovered Martinet's secret hideout under some debris in the castle, and in that room they found text which described Bahamut's attacks as well as the powerful ancient technology that was deemed forbidden by the gods. At least this explanation was helpful since we learned how Charioce even came to learn about Dromos. 

Of course, this anime wouldn't have been complete without a cameo from the tacky KISS cosplayer from Genesis, Martinet.

More importantly, they also discovered the inevitability of Bahamut's return, so (with their dumb logic) in order to avoid this situation, they helped Charioce come to power because he has incredible mental fortitude, and from there they created the conditions needed to slay the dragon. I mean, it certainly takes a special kind of person with strong mental fortitude to enslave and kill demons without feeling any regrets. Yeah, I don't care about Charioce's end goal after all the bullshit he's pulled out of his ass.

In order to prevent Bahamut's return, they need to release him? ....Okay. What a strange juxtaposition. Honestly, they could've waited for Bahamut to return on his own instead of catalyzing the whole process. With that extra time, they could've looked for alternative solutions that didn't involve killing gods and demons and actually rallying them together, but mass genocide is more dramatic I suppose.

But unlike me, Favaro and Nina willfully ignore all the horrible things Charioce has done once they get that explanation, and Charioce reminds everyone how his life-force is being drained at the cost of wielding forbidden power. Then he confirms once and for all that he's slaying Bahamut because the beast killed his mother, and he urges Nina to stay out of his way.

A martyr for the greater good? Hahaha, no.

I'm disappointed that this is the backstory the writers decided to give for Charioce. We already knew since Episode 17 that he was going after Bahamut because his mother died, and I was hoping we would get more elaboration on this. More precisely, I wanted to know what made Charioce think he should be the one slaying Bahamut and why he's chosen to do it on his own without help from gods and demons. Humans, gods, and demons may not ever be willing to peacefully coexist with each other, but as proven in Genesis, they will undoubtedly put aside their differences when Bahamut threatens their survival. Given that fact, what pushed Charioce to think mass genocide and enslavement was the right thing to do for this situation, and how exactly does that play into Bahamut's defeat? Because the whole "my mom died" motive is pretty weak right now (not to mention that it's a trope that's overused in a plethora of other stories, especially in anime), and guess what, Charioce isn't the only character in the world victimized by Bahamut, yet you don't see other characters doing the horrible things he does.

Moving on, as he continues releasing the seal, the writers fuck up hard with Favaro's character.

Favaro starts by pointing out how surprised Charioce looked when he saw Nina enter in (for reasons I explained earlier), and he begins to imply that Charioce didn't really order for Nina to be killed. STRIKE ONE.

Next, Favaro, much like Kaisar, states that Charioce never ordered Mugaro to be killed. STRIKE TWO.

Then Favaro explains that Charioce wouldn't have wanted to kill Mugaro because he didn't want to pick a fight with the gods when he's too busy waging war on Bahamut. STRIKE THREE.

AND YOU'RE OUT!

To answer your question, you're doing terribly, Favaro.

It's painfully clear how much the writers desperately want to portray Charioce as the unsuspected hero of this tale, and it's even worse how they manage to drag a perfectly written character such as Favaro and twist him in order to fulfill their own agenda. They might not hold themselves and Charioce accountable for their mistakes, but I will, so let's review everything wrong with Favaro's dumb comments.

Strike One

Writers, how about we don't pretend that Charioce did nothing wrong?

Umm, actually, Charioce very clearly gave the order to kill the Red Dragon back in Episode 3, and he hasn't gone back on his word since. While he feels more conflicted about killing Nina since he's grown to love her (we have yet to receive an explanation for this btw), he willfully puts aside his feelings for her since she gets in the way of his plans, and he's not going to let anyone, including her, get in the way of his "destiny." (God, I hate that they're even calling it that)

He certainly has no reservations provoking Nina when she's a dragon.

Even though the Onyx soldier leader (I forget his name because he's so irrelevant to me) sensed the king's reservations on killing Nina, it's important to remember that Charioce never told him to stop his mission, so he's not entirely to blame for hiring a demon-dragon to kill her. Also, when he lies to Charioce about killing Nina, Charioce is clearly bothered (with that trademark eye-twitch) but he's pretty much like, "Ah man, I'm sad, but oh well! I still have to kill Bahamut if it's the last thing I do because it's my destiny!", and he doesn't punish the Onyx soldier whatsoever.

Really writers, how can y'all expect me to like Charioce and ship him with Nina?

Strike Two

Since Episode 2, Charioce has wanted Mugaro dead.

He also seems to be more than perfectly okay with killing a child.

For fuck's sake, he even says this to Jeanne's face back in Episode 4.

I already explained why Charioce "not being responsible for Mugaro's death" is strike two and a massive red flag. Hell writers, you made Jeanne, your own fucking character, explain it to everyone in the same episode. How stupid can they be for conveniently forgetting this when it's Charioce's time to shine? Next!

Strike Three

Similar to Charioce's order to kill Nina, Mugaro was a liability to the king because of his power to disable the ancient technology in the Onyx soldiers' armor, hence why again, Charioce gave the order to kill him the first place. Because of Mugaro's ties to the gods, the gods promised war on Charioce when he refused to stand down and return the forbidden tech he stole. And what was his response?

Gabriel's wrath is the least of Charioce's concern.

Even earlier when Kaisar warns Charioce not to provoke the gods and demons because they could band together and rise up against mankind, again, what was his response?

This took place in Episode 3 btw.

It's complete bullshit to believe that Charioce never wanted to provoke the gods because he's been fucking doing it since the beginning, and he spares no effort in doing so. In fact, he doesn't care at all if he pisses them off.

Bahamut's Return

Then Charioce releases Bahamut, and Nina is sad to see him leave because she knows that he'll die killing Bahamut. Suddenly believing that Charioce isn't responsible for any of this shit, Nina wants to do something to help Charioce survive, but after he leaves, Eibos starts to blow up thanks to Bahamut's resurrection, and Nina and Favaro are forced to leave on Hippogriff.

I really hoped the writers wouldn't ruin Nina anymore until this episode happened.

With Nina, Favaro, and Kaisar all willing to ignore that Charioce is a fuckboy, it shows how incompetent the writers are at writing redemption arcs.

I just don't understand how they can have an interesting and complex character like Azazel and write a good redemption arc for him, but they miss the mark horribly with Charioce. As I mentioned in my last review, redemption requires a shit ton of atonement and suffering, all things that Charioce hasn't done yet, not to mention the remorse he was starting to feel back in Episode 17 is completely nonexistent here since he's not willing to change his "nobody gets in my way" methods. Additionally, in order to get a redemption arc, the character has to recognize that what they're doing is wrong, and Charioce genuinely believes that what he's doing is right.

The only way he could possibly atone for this is by dying, but even if he does, it won't be enough for me because he's just done so many terrible things, and I have a feeling that Azazel and Jeanne won't even get a chance to confront him and deal a suitable punishment. Plus, Charioce sacrificing himself to defeat Bahamut in this situation doesn't even feel like a proper atonement because it's something that he's decided for himself since the beginning, and it doesn't pay the price for things like slavery, ordering a child's death, and hosting gladiator matches simply for entertainment.

Ugh.

Afterwards, Bahamut, without even being revealed yet, starts destroying Charioce's fleet. Charioce then orders his fleet to draw the dragon's attention because they're going to bring him to Anatae where Dromos is. So the whole shebang/climax is happening in the capital; it's going to be a clusterfuck in the next 2 episodes. The episode ends on a cliffhanger, with Bahamut finally coming back, ready to bring doom to all.

Bahamut looking as radiant as ever, if there's one good thing (besides Jeanne) to come out of this episode. This scene really is epic and animated well, I just wish it would've happened under better circumstances.

At this point, rooting for Bahamut doesn't sound so bad given all the lousy decisions the writers make in this episode.

However, now I'm fully prepared for the last 2 episodes to go to complete shit because here's what's now likely to happen. Azazel and Jeanne will have to put aside their completely justified attack on the capital and on Charioce because right now, Charioce is the only one capable of defeating Bahamut, and without him, they will all die. They're going to be forced to let him live long enough to kill Bahamut, and everyone's expecting Charioce to die soon afterwards. I have a strong feeling this is all going to turn into some corny, every-race-is-united-to-defeat-the-greater-evil development, and Azazel and Jeanne will have no choice but to help the one person who stole everything from them.

I'll be absolutely furious if the writers make Azazel and Jeanne, the only good characters left in this show, treat Charioce like a martyr and make them admit that they were wrong in antagonizing him. All this madness makes me miss the first act of season where it mainly centered around Azazel and his struggle against mankind because that storyline is waaaaaaaaay more intriguing compared to the shit the writers are giving us now. Not to mention that I'm done dealing with the sexist and stereotypical treatment they're giving Nina where they basically illustrate that her character is only valuable where her love interest is concerned and they get rid of her agency.

The story we deserve, but never got because it had to make room for the magically-redeemed Charioce & willfully-ignorant Nina ship.

Honestly, the show can only redeem itself if Bahamut, Azazel, and Jeanne roast all these bitches to crispy bits and share a glass of wine by the end.

And that's the end of this long rant review, finally. Feel free to leave a comment if you liked the review and tell me what your thoughts are on this hellhole of an episode.