Rage of Bahamut Anime is Great! ...Until Virgin Soul Gives Me Mixed Feelings

Note: This EXCRUCIATINGLY LONG meta/review is meant for those who have at least seen Genesis, but anyone is welcome to read this. Below contains heavy spoilers from Genesis and Virgin Soul. I write about Genesis so that I'm able to compare it to Virgin Soul.

Because of Hurricane Irma, I got time off work, so I kept myself distracted with Rage of Bahamut, otherwise known as Shingeki no Bahamut (SNB for short). I had heard of it before, Virgin Soul more specifically, and while I hadn't seen much of the story or characters, I liked what I saw. Immediately I was drawn to the art style and animation. If you're a fan of Berserk like I am, then you've probably recognized the art style and animation from the Berserk movies because both feature character designs by Naoyuki Onda. Besides the lovely art style, there's much to say about the animation quality, but my thoughts boil down to the animation having a good and seamless inclusion of 3D animation. The Berserk movies and SNB don't pollute themselves with 3D animation, which is great for me since I'm not the biggest fan of this kind of animation in anime (See: recent Berserk anime that is disgusting to look at; also there are great movies like Blame! that have interesting stories, but the 3D animation is a killjoy). The one thing that had bothered me was Amira's glowing skin when she's using her powers (it starts to hurt my eyes at some point), but this is such a minor critique.

Now that I addressed the art and animation, let's get to the nitty gritty stuff before I go on a rampage (and rave too, I'm not completely heartless) about Virgin Soul. Well, I did try being nice with my criticisms while writing this—given the fact that Virgin Soul isn't over yet.

So what is Rage of Bahamut? It's an online fantasy card game, later adapted into an anime. The first season, Genesis, is 12 episodes long and right off the bat it sets up the world, or rather, how the world was almost destroyed by a nefarious mega dragon called Bahamut. Because of Bahamut's destructive nature, it took both the sacrificial effort of the god king Zeus and the demon king Satan to seal away the dragon and save the world from ultimate destruction. Flash forward 2,000 years and the seal is being held up by the gods (basically angels, but they're too fancy for that apparently), and the gods are worshipped by humans. Meanwhile, demons mind their own business, occasionally terrorizing humans just for the hell of it.

The main cast of Genesis: Favaro, Amira, and Kaisar w/ Bahamut looming in the background.

Our protagonist is a young and cheeky bounty hunter named Favaro Leon. We meet him crossing swords with an ex-knight, Kaisar, who forcibly became a bounty hunter because his knight father had disgraced his position, all thanks Favaro supposedly. Out to avenge his father's honor, Kaisar becomes Favaro's rival, all the while Favaro slickly slips away from death. One night after Favaro collects a bounty and gets shitfaced drunk, a girl with magical powers finds him. She had overheard him say that he's been to a place called "Helheim" (of course, he's lying to impress the pub gals), so she asks him to be her guide to Helheim. He jokingly agrees so long as she kisses him, but then some wanted dude attacks Favaro with a giant ghoul. The girl, named Amira, transforms into a demon and easily demolishes the assailants. Then she places a curse on Favaro, and he wakes up to have a demon tail. The humans freak out because now they think he's a demon, and Kaisar takes it a step further by believing Favaro abducted Amira. Not only is Favaro chased by Kaisar, but human soldiers and demons are in hot pursuit after Amira. So Favaro has no choice but to take Amira to Helheim to get rid of his tail (that is unless he can talk himself out of this stressful journey).

Well I ain't calling you a truther!

It turns out that Amira is half-demon, half-god, so she was able to sneak into the land of gods and steal a "God Key", which is capable of releasing Bahamut. In doing so, the key becomes a part of her, so she herself becomes the God Key. She steals the key because she believes that if she takes the key to Helheim, she'll be reunited with her mother. Towards the end of the season, we learn that Amira was tricked by her teacher into releasing Bahamut and becoming a part of the dragon, thus unleashing chaos into the world. It's a rather tragic story since Amira wanted nothing more than to innocently be with her mother, but her memories of her mother were nothing more than a lie planted by her teacher, and her "father" Beelzebub essentially created her to be used as tool/weapon of mass destruction. There's no escaping her fate, and once she is fused with Bahamut, there is no going back. In the end, it's up to Favaro, with the help of Kaisar and his friends (as well as the united efforts gods, demons, and humans), to seal Bahamut again by killing Amira.

A bittersweet end after a long, arduous, and painful journey together.

All in all, Genesis has a pretty straight-forward story with interesting characters that all have their own agenda, which causes all the misfortunes in the story. Everyone carries a bit of the blame. There are a few minor plot holes that don't get addressed in the anime (Like where the hell did Beelzebub come from? Or how is there another realm with a wise and old dragon? How does one like Lucifer and Azazel become a fallen angel? Did Kaisar suddenly let go of his quest for vengeance when Azazel told him he instigated everything?), but in the end you get an acceptable solution to a world that was faced with complete destruction, and the characters find their peace.

...Until season 2 with Virgin Soul.

Virgin Soul

The new heroine, Nina Drango, front and center. Kaisar and Favaro are at the front, and behind them are Azazel and a new character, King Charioce XVII. 

With Virgin Soul, set to be 24 episodes long, we get an interesting shift in the story. It takes place 10 years after the events of Genesis, and our protagonist is no longer Favaro, but instead a new teenage girl named Nina Drango. There is MUCH for me to write about Nina, but before I get into her, let's go over the premise since it's quite different from Genesis.

My beautiful demon/fallen angel, Azazel, who returns as part of the main cast of Virgin Soul...for the first part of the season :(

After Bahamut was sealed away again, the new human king, Charioce, betrays the gods and decides that humans shall no longer worship them/stand below them, and no longer shall they fear demons. He steals some forbidden power of gods and uses it to kill and enslave demons. His horrendous actions have brought prosperity to humans, but consequently they caused the gods to be distant and the demons (the ones that were lucky enough to escape enslavement) were forced to leave their home Cocytus and live a disgraceful life in hiding. Not wanting to hide and do nothing for his kin, Azazel leaves Lucifer's side and recklessly fights the humans head-on in the human capital. There he disguises himself in rags, earning him the nickname the "Rag Demon", and kills anyone who mistreats demons. He becomes the only bounty in the capital, whom at first, Nina is set out to capture because she has a wild aspiration to become a bounty hunter just like her teacher Favaro (too bad we don't see him come back till like 8 episodes in).

Nina is diligent, eccentric, and outgoing. She's actually quite amusing to watch, and right off the bat we learn that she's no ordinary girl. She's insanely strong and fast because she is a dragon (dragonfolk). Unlike the other dragonfolk in the village where she's from, Nina cannot voluntarily turn into a dragon. She is only able to turn into a dragon whenever a man makes her heart race (it has something to do with trauma she has from her father's death), cue Azazel (and many others to come). She moves into the capital to become a bounty hunter and her first target happens to be the Rag Demon. In a failed attempt to capture him, soldiers mistakenly believe she works with him and they start to attack her. The Rag Demon rescues her, mistaking her for his comrade Mugaro. As he flies through the air escaping magical projectiles from the soldiers, he realizes that it's Nina he has in his arms, not Mugaro, but he's decent enough to not drop her. But some of his rags fall off his pretty face and his tight hold on her makes her heart race, and POOF! She turns into a wild and rampant dragon.

Honestly, who can blame her for turning into a dragon here? Azazel is a beauty.

Azazel realizes that Nina's power can exceed his own and the humans', so he tries to recruit her to his cause, and though Nina sympathizes with the demons, she doesn't prioritize them and she continues to go about her daily routine. On another occasion, Nina saves Azazel from death by turning into a dragon again, this time more of her own volition with some assistance from Azazel. Because of this and of a few other times where Nina bumps into Azazel, he assumes that she'll help him fight the humans. He assumes wrong, and it's a very grave mistake on his part.

This reminds me of how disappointing group work was in school lmao.

Azazel then forms a plan to attack King Charioce during a parade, but the plan heavily relies on Nina's dragon, and he gets his allies involved with the reckless plan. Meanwhile, Nina is practically oblivious to this plan, so she goes about her own business enjoying the festivities. She gets aquatinted with a handsome fellow named "Chris", but really it's Charioce in disguise. It doesn't take long for Nina to develop a crush on him, which has an effect on her ability to turn into a dragon. When Azazel goes through with his attack, he does whatever he can to make Nina turn into a dragon, but her heart is so consumed by Charioce that she can't turn into a dragon with help from Azazel. As a result, the whole plan goes wrong, and Charioce ends up killing Azazel's comrades and takes Azazel, Nina, and Kaisar prisoner. Meanwhile Mugaro, Azazel's companion, gets taken away to the land of gods because apparently he's a powerful holy child (he's essentially kid Jesus).

Now let's go over Kaisar's character since I won't mention him that much hereafter. After Genesis, Kaisar resolves his problems with Favaro and becomes a knight to the king, serving under Jeanne D'arc's command. Eventually Jeanne is sent away because Charioce won't tolerate her commitment to the gods and she has lost her powers since she involuntarily killed gods in Genesis. As a result, Kaisar becomes the new captain of the Orleans Knights, and while he performs dutifully, he questions Charioce's cruelty to Jeanne, the demons, and the gods. Eventually, he comes between Azazel and Charioce, which puts him in prison. In Virgin Soul, Kaisar is mainly there to establish middle ground, urging both Azazel and Charioce to believe that humans, gods, and demons should coexist peacefully.

As for Jeanne, she returns to farming after leaving the capital and remains loyal to the gods. Then she becomes a version of the Virgin Mary by giving birth to Michael's son/reincarnation, El, aka Mugaro.

You planted more than just your spirit in Jeanne, I'd say.

The immaculate birth of El/Mugaro.

Jeanne and El's story is actually heartbreaking, and the way they're hunted by Charioce really makes me hate him more (which is okay, if we want to consider him as our antagonist). El has the ability to disable the forbidden magic Charioce and his men utilize against gods and demons, so it's in Charioce's interest to kill El. Therefore, Jeanne is forced to cut off her son's wings and disguise him as a demon slave in order to save his life and hide him away from Charioce. OMG CHARIOCE YOU ASSHOLE! However, when El/Mugaro regains his powers in the land of the gods, it reveals a much darker side to the gods. Rightfully so, they want to bring peace and restore the relationship they had with humans, but ultimately they want control, not peace. Because of this, they fill El's head with ideas that only his power can bring the humans to submission, but consequently they do too well of a job with El that he becomes arrogant and starts to waver the gods' control over him.

The Problem with Charioce and the Romance

Now let's get to the real, stark problem with Virgin Soul: Nina and Charioce. Let me start off by stating that I don't mind the concept of their romance (lol I ship "reylo" from Star Wars, so I'm very familiar with hero x villain ships); it's the execution that's completely horrible, and it's easy to admit that Nina's role as a protagonist and her character development come to a sudden halt by this romance. Sad thing is, when romance appears in a convoluted story like this, it usually becomes a subplot that's still quite noticeable. Nina's romance isn't a just subplot, however; by the midpoint in the season, her love-life becomes the center of the story. Even if that particular detail isn't bothersome, the dynamic that Nina and Charioce have is. 

Ever heard the saying that true evil is beautiful?

There isn't a shred of doubt that Charioce is meant to be a problematic character, no one is questioning that; you can have a problematic character who is still compelling (i.e. Azazel, who btw, is the most developed character in this anime), but Charioce is a dark void whom we hardly know anything about. One side of Charioce is ruthless and dominant, which makes him the biggest oppressor in the story. The other side is supposedly nice? Like yeah, he's attracted to Nina's outgoing nature, he admires her physical capabilities, and perhaps he likes it when she stands up to him whenever he does something wrong, but his motives are still somewhat shrouded in smoke. He believes in "the end justifies the means" philosophy, so mass genocide and slavery are the means to create a dominant human race capable of even challenging...BAHAMUT (dun dun duuun). The ancient weapon he digs up is meant to rival Bahamut's power, so it's clear that Charioce wants to destroy Bahamut once and for all. For the greater good? Maybe. But for humans to thrive? Absolutely. 

An incomplete weapon, powered by the backs of prisoners and slaves, that is capable of bringing down gods...potentially Bahamut in the future.

But why seek out to destroy Bahamut if he's already been sealed away? This ties into Charioce wanting to stand above gods and demons, whom are essential to sealing Bahamut away. Charioce will not settle for depending on these divine beings to handle Bahamut, not when he can prove himself more powerful and kill the damn dragon himself. But what compelled him to believe he's more powerful and better than gods and demons? The answer is vital in order to understand the true reasoning as to who Charioce is.

Nina unexpectedly running into Charioce in a graveyard.

We see several scenes where Charioce visits a certain grave, but why? Well for starters, the grave belongs to his concubine mother. Obviously she was important to Charioce, and it's revealed that she was killed 10 years ago by Bahamut's fire. Perhaps Charioce blames the incompetence of gods and demons and holds them responsible for breaking Bahamut's seal and killing his mother, and perhaps he is planning to seek vengeance by becoming a power far greater than Bahamut, but it comes with the heavy cost of becoming a murderous and hated king. If this reasoning is true, then perhaps we can understand how Nina gets in the way of his plans.

By falling in love with Nina, Charioce is recognizing all the horrible deeds he has done as king. Nina is someone Charioce cares for, the extent or why he cares for her is never really explained (side-eye the writers), but that's what the writers want us to know. Really the only things they have in common are that they like to dance with each other (that seems to be their "thing") and they both had a parent killed by Bahamut. Regardless, Charioce also cares for her judgment on him. He could care less what anyone thinks of him (clearly), but when the love of his life questions him, of course he's worried about what she thinks of him. He admits that because of her, he starts to second-guess himself. Personally for me, this comes a little too late (especially after he throws her into prison, humiliates her, and orders his men to kill her), but whatever.

They spin my head right round into insanity.

Even Jeanne's relationship with Michael was better written and more convincing, and they were pretty platonic.

Is Nina a Good Heroine?

This is where we get the other side of the problematic dynamic: Nina. It pains me to see her development this second half of the season because for the first half, she was enjoyable. She was radiant with positivity, and even when she didn't understand or cooperate with the demons entirely, she had enough sense to help (or at least try to help) those in need. But once she meets "Chris"/Charioce, she becomes incredibly selfish and inconsiderate to her companions whom had suffered so much at the hands of her crush. When she visits the land of gods and discovers how much they resent Charioce, her first thought isn't to sympathize with them. Instead, she antagonizes them by thinking "why must everyone hate Charioce?", as if "everyone" is where the problem lies and not with Charioce. It would've been better if Nina recognized the blame that everyone, including Charioce, has for the current chaos in the world, but she doesn't and opts to defend her crush. And even after her imprisonment and being humiliated for dancing with the king, she still dreams about kissing him. Granted, she dreams about the idea of "nice guy Chris", and not this mad king, but it speaks volumes as to where her priorities lie.

Nina, honey, it's okay to understand a bad person and even sympathize with them, but it isn't a good idea to let them keep at it and let yourself lose compassion for your friends after they were mistreated by your bae, the same bae who threw you into jail.

Now we get into perhaps her greatest moments of inconsideration. 

As Nina gets to know "the true side" of Charioce, we find out that despite him putting demons into slavery and forcing them to horrible living conditions in the slums, he's not totally a "bad guy". We see him act kindly to the demons, and he even plays some soccer with the demon children (it could be an act for all we know). Later he confesses that all the horrible things he's done as king are to achieve something (killing Bahamut, duh, but Nina doesn't know that), and that up until he met Nina, he's had no regrets. While this might be understandable, Nina's response utterly disappoints me. Aside from sympathizing with Charioce, she wishes to help carry his burden. So what does that mean? Is she willing to commit genocide and enslave demons with him? Does she even understand what she's saying? Honestly, I feel like Nina gets too obsessed with Charioce that she forgets her companions like Jeanne, Mugaro, and Azazel to an extent. Because of this, it's hard to relate to Nina or even understand her as a protagonist. Sure, she's still a naïve teenager, but this is starting to play out like a terribly written young adult novel where Nina's love interest gets in the way of her being a good person. The Nina with Charioce feels almost alien to the Nina we were introduced to at the beginning of the season.

By this point, I rather see Nina end up with the random muralist from Ep. 1 instead of this asshat. Like girl, you don't have to bite your cheek about all this in order to make out with Charioce, please regain your agency.

After she kisses Charioce, somehow that leads her to freely transforming into a dragon without her heart needing to go "doki doki" (Where's the explanation for this? Lmao this is getting really corny). Later she reveals the "good news" to her friends, including Azazel, who is in utter disbelief and pain after seeing her effortlessly turn into her dragon. When he asks "why now?", meaning "why now, and why not when I needed you when my kin were dying or when Mugaro was being taken away by gods?", she carelessly responds with "oh maybe because I finally discovered love (obviously I'm paraphrasing, but I'm not that far off, surprisingly)", and that produces agonizing tears in Azazel's eyes.

Adding salt to the wound, level: NINA

Wow, Nina... What a low blow (even if it wasn't her intention or that's she willfully ignorant). Azazel might have been wrong in expecting too much from Nina and her power, but to hear this silly and selfish response after Azazel had seen his kin murdered and enslaved by Charioce and was forced to kill demons in the gladiator arena for the king's amusement, of course he's devastated by Nina's inconsiderate answer. And what's more depressing is that he isn't angry with Nina, rather he's angry with himself for expecting too much out of her, which he had to pay for dearly with his comrade's blood and his imprisonment. Regret hits him like a gale wind.

Earlier in the season I would've liked to have seen a dynamic between Azazel and Nina play out, but at this point it's become so hard to relate to Nina, and if she continues to be written like this, there's no way I want her problematic and naïve way of thinking getting in the way of Azazel's character development.

The ship baiting for the first half of the season was real af.
Honestly writers, if you're going to completely ignore Azazel x Nina later on, then why have it at all?

I'll write more about Azazel because he really is the selling point of the anime for me, but before I do let's discuss Nina's "break-up" with Charioce and the events surrounding it.

The King's Ball and the Aftermath

So Charioce's bracelet has the power to control the super-weapon that I mentioned earlier, so the gang form a plan to crash his ball and destroy the bracelet to stop Charioce's plans of mass-destruction and genocide. Nina is the one who sneaks into the ball, and instead of laying low as she's directed to do so, she just has to dance with the king in front of everyone. So much for following the plan. Seriously, no plan has ever worked for anyone in this show (with the exception of Rita, because she's too smart and savage to put up with bullshit, hence why she's a fan favorite). When Nina and Charioce are alone, Charioce decides that they should never see each other again and that what they had for each other was a lie, blah blah blah, he hurts Nina's feelings. 

Then it's up to Favaro to fix this mess by aiming a crossbow at Charioce's bracelet. It's revealed that the bracelet's stone is irremovable, and it drains the user's life force (which is why Charioce wants to dump Nina so he can spare her the misery of losing him; predictable), so Favaro would have no other choice but to kill the king or chop his arm off in order to stop the weapon. And of course, Nina won't stand for that, so she comes in between Favaro and Charoice, laying this whole plan to waste, so Favaro and Nina are forced to escape along with help from the gang. Favaro of course knew that Nina and Charoice had a thing going on, and he warns Nina that sooner or later she'll be faced with an ultimatum. Luckily, this scene is saved when Favaro sucker-punches Charioce.

FAVAROOOOOOOO I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!!!!

Before I go on with the aftermath, as Favaro becomes the first person to be fully aware of Nina's love-life, he starts to recall his relationship with Amira and draws comparisons with Nina's relationship with Charioce. I must admit, this is a weak plot device because Nina and Charioce pale in comparison to Favaro and Amira. So even though the writers want us to believe that Nina x Charioce is true love just like Favaro x Amira, the parallels fail and I feel like they're suffocating us. Believe me, it's not like it's impossible for Nina x Charioce to work, but these writers don't know the concept of nuance and letting things happen naturally while keeping characters consistent.

After everyone gets back to the slum hideout, Mugaro finally agrees to return to the land of gods with Jeanne and Sofiel. After he says goodbye to everyone, he gets shanked by Alessand because the bitch knight is so desperate to prove himself to the Onyx soldiers. Mugaro dies, which leads to Jeanne and the gods declaring war on Charioce, and Azazel manages to convince Lucifer to gather the demons and finally join the fight against the king.

Back to another frustating Nina moment. She has a very peculiar way of expressing her grief over Mugaro's death.

Oh Nina... It's perfectly normal to feel sad for your friends when they're hurting, but let's be honest about her sadness. She lost her father long ago, but really the only sad things that affect her profoundly in the present are when Charioce is revealed to also be her crush "Chris", when he rejects her at the ball, and when she discovers that he gave the order to kill her. But that's really nothing compared to all the sad things happening to the people around her. It's especially worse when you remember all these "sad things" happened primarily because of Charioce's cruelty. Even before she was "dumped", she is preoccupied more so where Charioce is concerned while still knowing he's responsible for all this misery happening to her friends. She's basically the definition of a bystander at this point. Would she still be this "broken inside" if Charioce hadn't rejected her?

Sure, it's important to remember that Nina is a 17-year-old who's bound to make mistakes, but the way the writer's handle these mistakes is stereotypical and they really have no sense about all the personal growth and learning that happens in adolescence.

But hey, by the end of this shitstorm Nina is finally willing to put aside her feelings for Charioce and put a stop to his plan. So while this all happens at a terrible pace (seriously, one day she's kissing the king, the next she gets dumbed, and by morning she's ready to confront him? wtf, this is why the writer's make it difficult on us to sympathize with Nina), Nina isn't a complete lost cause.

However, I have to continuously remind myself of her merits back when she was first introduced to us because I really like that Nina. I just wish the writer's could have taken their time with her to properly flesh her out instead of forcing this romantic subplot on us and not letting it happen gradually.

Mugaro/El: Gone Too Soon

So while Nina's a disaster for a heroine stuck in a terrible romance novel, let's criticize the writers' decision to kill off Mugaro. Mugaro was nowhere near close to being a fully-developed character, and the writers were building him up to achieve great things in the war to come. It honestly feels like they killed him off for shock value, or rather, to advance the development of other characters such as Alessand, Nina, and Jeanne. Not to mention, I feel like there are various plot inconsistencies where healing magic and divinity are suddenly forgotten for the sake of plot convenience. Really, it shouldn't be so easy for Alessand to stab Mugaro with a simple dagger. The whole point of this death was to give the gods and demons a reason to go to war and for Nina to finally come to terms with Charioce's tyranny. I want to have faith that somehow Mugaro comes back, pulling another Jesus on us and getting resurrected, but I really don't know if I can trust the writers with that. It's a shame really because Mugaro had so much potential to grow as a character, especially where Azazel is concerned.

...which eagerly leads me to my next point.

Best Boy Azazel: Why He's the Best Character in Virgin Soul & Makes It Worth Watching (lol my bias is clearly showing)

Azazel in Genesis. His appearance is slightly different since here he has a second set of horns.

Make no mistake, this beauty used to be as horrible as horrible gets.

Azazel was originally presented to us as an antagonist in Genesis. At the start he's pretty straight-forward to understand: a demon bad boy out to capture the God Key/Amira for the benefit of demons. He's sadistic and enjoys killing and torturing innocent humans when he's bored, but he starts to change when his pride is wounded thanks to Beelzebub's betrayal. By the end, in order to protect the demons and restore his pride, he agrees to help Favaro, Kaisar, & company put a stop to Bahamut's destruction of the world. It's a short and dispassionate alliance, but he does pay the price of his villainous acts by getting repeatedly pummeled by everyone:

Looking back at this, the scene is amusingly ironic because it's Azazel who becomes a sort of guardian for Jeanne's son, Mugaro/El.

Watching Azazel get hurt even becomes comical at some point because it's well-deserved.

By the end of Genesis, Azazel is covered in bandages and his fancy horns have broken.

...And he still atones for his past and present mistakes a great deal in Virgin Soul.

In Genesis, he's really only partially redeemed since he only decided to help defeat Beelzebub and Bahamut because if he didn't, it would mean certain death for him and his kind. But presumably, he would go back to his old demon ways, killing humans for sport and drinking fancy wine in his castle. That is until Charioce becomes the king and turns into a massive threat for demonkind. And though Azazel is full of pride and feels no remorse killing humans, he isn't completely self-centered. Instead of going into hiding with Lucifer for self-preservation, Azazel risks his life fighting the humans on his own in order to defend demons and restore their pride. He's desperate to achieve his goal, and in turn he becomes a reckless and emotional killing machine (even more so than before). Although demons aren't completely innocent since they had been terrorizing humans for a long time before Charioce's reign, the horrendous measures Charioce takes well surpass justice, and it becomes easy for us to sympathize with Azazel. We might not completely agree with Azazel's violent methods, but neither is he entirely wrong in rising up against the king.

When Kaiser attempts to persuade Azazel out of his violent vendetta, Azazel threateningly reminds Kaisar that being a demon means he's no friend to humankind.

Redemption arcs are extremely popular and well-liked, and it's one of the reasons why I enjoy Azazel in Virgin Soul. However, redemption is no easy matter to achieve or write; it requires an abundance of atonement, and a WHOLE LOT of suffering....which is something Azazel endures heavily this season. It's also important to remember that one simple act of kindness doesn't always atone for all crimes. In spite of Azazel helping the good guys in Genesis, there is still much he needs to answer to before he can be considered redeemed, and that starts off his arc in Virgin Soul.

In Virgin Soul, Azazel is desperate as he's been stripped of nearly all power, people are suffering around him, and he had to scrape demon bodies up off the floor of the arena where the gladiator matches are held. Azazel gets beaten up constantly in every battle he runs into, and without Nina, Mugaro, Kaisar, and Rita, he certainly would've died much earlier in the season. Remember how his reckless plan involving Nina backfires when it gets his demon comrades killed, and he gets taken prisoner and is separated from Mugaro.

Always covered in scratches and bruises.

Though he's still filled with pride, Azazel isn't as cynical as he was in Genesis. He can no longer afford to waste time sadistically toying with humans. He's certainly more serious and stoic due to the unfortunate predicament he's found himself in. However, his pride is nearly crushed when he's driven to defeat by Charioce, so much so that he questions why he's still trying to survive. At that point, he seems ready to admit defeat through death so long as he doesn't have to live a tortured and shameful life as a slave. See: When he urges Charioce to kill him when he's pinned; he also does the same with Kaisar when they battle in the arena.

Azazel being tortured by Charioce.

And while there's much blame to go around in this show, Azazel carries a lot of it. As I mentioned earlier, he blames himself for expecting too much out of Nina and for also assuming that she had officially joined his side. He also blames himself for the death of his comrades, whom died following his plan. He also turns down Mugaro's apology for being unable to use his holy powers because once again, Azazel feels responsible.

Azazel visits the street where his comrades were killed. He demonstrates sincere regret. 

Yet despite being tortured or forced to kill demons in the arena, there's one thing that's keeping him going, and that's Mugaro.

Azazel and Mugaro: The Dynamic that Transcends Race, Proves Kaisar's Ideal World Can Happen, and Breaks my Heart

The dire situation that Azazel has been placed into has also allowed him to open himself up to others (unintentionally or not), especially to Mugaro. He first finds Mugaro beaten and mutilated along with a group of demon slaves. After Azazel rescues them, Mugaro clutches onto him, following his mother's instructions to trust and stay with the first person who helps him. Azazel willingly takes Mugaro under his wing (no pun intended) without knowing he's Jeanne's son or the holy child. It's kinda a random act of kindness, but both have lost and suffered so much at the hands of Charioce, and as a result Azazel and Mugaro grow fond of each other. Whether it's a sibling or a father-son dynamic, it's undeniable that they both deeply trust each other and are willing to go through great lengths to save one another.

"If you keep smiling I may not die tonight." -Azazel
This is my favorite line in the whole show; it really packs a punch to the heart. Also, the way he pats Mugaro's head is so nuanced, yet speaks volumes as to how much Azazel adores Mugaro.

We see a softer and altruistic side to Azazel whenever Mugaro is involved; the reason he even saved Nina from falling to her death was because he had mistaken her for Mugaro. Only for Mugaro do we see the most genuine form of gentle warmth and kindness from Azazel, and Azazel is more than prepared to give his life for him (See: When he pleas for Nina to turn into a dragon to rescue Mugaro rather than himself). It's also worth noting that Azazel never drags Mugaro into battle or uses him for his powers, in fact, he directs Mugaro to safely stay away from battle; but whenever Mugaro enters a scene, it's of his own volition to help Azazel.

Eventually when they are reunited after Mugaro has his powers fully restored, their love for each other never diminishes. However, Azazel keeps his distance because one, he's terrible at communicating his feelings properly, and two, there's now various people looking after Mugaro, so perhaps Azazel believes he's no better than they are at protecting Mugaro. And it was thanks to his reckless plan that got Mugaro taken away from him in the first place, so perhaps he believes he's no longer fit to look after Mugaro and thinks that he can only put Mugaro in more danger.

Mistakenly, Mugaro believes he's getting the silent treatment because he's to blame for letting Azazel's comrades die, so he tries apologizing to Azazel like Nina did (only his apology is more convincing). But Azazel assures him that he doesn't blame him for anything, and rather he questions why everyone is trying to apologize to him when he's the one at fault.

Azazel will only show a kind smile to Mugaro.

When it's time for them to part ways, Azazel is the last person Mugaro says goodbye to, and that's because he's the hardest person for Mugaro to let go of. Azazel tells him to remember the name he gave him, "Mugaro", and then proceeds to break my heart in doing so. "Mugaro" is El's connection to Azazel, that's why the name is so important for them. So long as El remembers that name and can remember his time with Azazel, Azazel will always be a part of him. It's touching to see Mugaro break down and tightly embrace Azazel one last time. He thanks Azazel for everything he's done for him, and unknowingly he runs towards his sudden death.

The saddest scene in Virgin Soul in my opinion: Mugaro saying goodbye to Azazel.

Mugaro is then stabbed by Alessand, and afterwards...well, I'll simply let these gifs do most of the talking:

If you watch the scene entirely, it seems that Mugaro hangs onto life just long enough to see Azazel one last time. Up until this moment, we've never seen Azazel shed tears (before he's only been on the verge of tears, but he was able to keep himself together). He walks away as soon as Mugaro passes and immediately jumps into anger to deal with his grief. He wants to avenge Mugaro by killing Alessand and Charioce, but obviously he knows he can't do it alone, so he's driven to finally ask Lucifer for help.

You can easily tell how hard Azazel tries to restrain himself from bringing up Mugaro or using his own personal feelings to persuade Lucifer, but he fails and loses his cool anyway. Nevertheless, Lucifer is pretty generous despite his own reservations about going to war, so he promises to fight the humans so long as the gods join the fight as well, which they do.

THIS SCENE WAS SO FUCKING COOL. I swear, Azazel steals the show. Plus Lucifer is very pretty, how can you not enjoy him?

Azazel and Nina: Victims of Ship Baiting (since I might as well address it here)

LOL THEY EVEN MADE AZAZEL "KABEDON" NINA!

While it's clear that Azazel and Nina don't have romantic feelings for each other, the writers certainly took the opportunity to ship bait them together. Perhaps this was meant to be a red herring, and the whole Charioce & Nina romance was to come as a neat plot twist (which it wasn't).

Anyway, what Azazel feels for Nina is strictly impersonal. Because of her power, he incorrectly assumes that she's a demon too and urges her to join his fight because "Hello? Our demon kin are being wiped out and enslaved!"; therefore it's only logical (in his point of view) that they should be on the same side fighting for justice. He sees Nina as a trump card to use against the humans and blatantly plans to use her as such, nothing more. The hugs, however embarrassing as they are (especially so for him because he's full of pride), are merely the necessary means to activate her dragon power. When hugging doesn't work, he opts for trying to kiss her. Again, there's no romantic notion behind this. It's simply do or die.

At least this scene was meant to be funny, whereas Nina's kiss with Charioce magically curing her daddy trauma is rather annoying (like how the fuck does that make sense w/o turning into a boring cliché?).

When Azazel realizes that he no longer has an effect on her power, and after he escapes the arena and Nina tries apologizing to him, he lies to her, saying that he expected nothing from her. He lies not to spare her from feeling guilt over the death of his comrades, but because again, he's full of pride, and at this point he doesn't want to admit to others that he's responsible for his plan not working. Of course, the charade doesn't last long after Nina figuratively kicks him in the balls and learns to control her power when it is too late.

Despite the baiting, Azazel's expressions are a national treasure, hahaha.

As for Nina, at first she sees Azazel for the handsome demon he is, which is troublesome for her because she wouldn't be able to control her dragon around him. She's attracted to him, but then again she's also attracted to any hot guy she sees, even thugs. Frankly, this doesn't mean Nina hopes to have some sort of romantic relationship with Azazel. Later on though, she is eventually willing to save Azazel by asking her to hug him. Again, embarrassing for her to do (especially since she's the most virgin to ever virgin), but it's necessary for his survival. However, she quickly gets over his looks after she goes on her first date with "Chris".

It's not what it looks like! I swear!

What is strange for Nina is that she has nothing practical to gain from Azazel (whereas he needs her to fight his battles). There was that chance to collect him as bounty, but the whole bounty hunter thing is quickly forgotten about in the anime, so it no longer matters. Yet despite having nothing to gain from Azazel, she still doesn't want him to die. It's never really explained why, but maybe it's because she's "supposed" to be a decent person and she simply doesn't want an acquaintance to get hurt, which is fair enough, albeit a little random (then again, Nina is likably weird and spontaneous to begin with). 

Nina trying to help a very injured Azazel.

The only time Azazel seemingly considers her feelings is after Mugaro's death; her crying interrupts a heated argument he has with Kaisar, which helps him realize that he's not the only one suffering from Mugaro's passing. However, nothing about this has romantic subtext, and it's such a small gesture.

And that's all we have for Azazel and Nina thus far. Whatever cute/dorky momentum they had in the first half of the season is nonexistent in the second half. So what was it all for? Honestly, I see no logical plot motive for this other than to get fans excited about cute/dorky Azazel who is awkward around cute girls. While awkward Azazel is admittedly amusing, it might be a problem for viewers because it contributes absolutely nothing to the story in the second act. #FANSERVICE

The writers and staff are basically teasing their fans at this point, and they're being pretty blunt about it too lmao.

I mean, we still have a few episodes left, so I guess I could reserve my judgment till the end....but let's be realistic with our expectations: there's only 3 episodes left. And with so many important loose strings to tie, I doubt the episodes will address whatever it is that Azazel and Nina have. Though the chance, however microscopically slim, is still there. Personally, while Charioce and Nina are "the couple", I think we can expect their relationship to be short-lived, meaning it will end similarly to how Favaro and Amira ended in Genesis. What's likely to happen is that Charioce's body will give out due to the forbidden magic he uses to control his super-weapon. So perhaps if there happens to be a third season of Rage of Bahamut, maybe then Azazel and Nina could potentially have room to grow together, that's of course, assuming they would both return (and assuming that Bahamut isn't killed off because if he is, then why is it necessary to have a third season?). 

They do have a very dramatic and heart-racing start, so it's possible for them to have something more later on. At the very least, and despite what canon may dictate, they are incredibly shippable for fandom enjoyment.

To Conclude Why Azazel is the Best

In simple terms, Azazel is the most well-rounded character at this point (with Jeanne falling close behind, and Favaro already had a satisfactory and complete story in Genesis). Not only is his redemption arc is going smoothly, and by smoothly I mean insufferable in the best way, but he's also a character worth rooting for despite his faults (his pride & wrath mostly). All his scenes keep you fully engaged, and he has some of the best dialogue in the entire show. The one problem is that he doesn't appear as much as I would like him to. Though he's not the protagonist in the first half of the season, he is still a major character. But once he gets captured halfway through the season, his role weakens to a mere supporting character (to sugarcoat it a bit, his character takes a backseat to make room for Charioce, Favaro, Jeanne, and other side characters). Nonetheless, whenever he appears, his scenes hold a significant weight. Let's just hope his role in these last 3 episodes is worthwhile.

Despite Its Problems...

...Virgin Soul is still entertaining, and I'm pretty invested in most of the characters, so it goes without saying that I'll keep following the series. Who knows if I'll write more about Rage of Bahamut once the season ends, but I'll wait and see how the show ending plays out. For not being Nina's biggest fan at the moment, I recommend this anime for Azazel's sake (as well as for Jeanne, Rita, and Kaisar). And hey, the anime is visually stunning to look at (the fight scenes are superb as well), so for that alone it is worth watching. I mean c'mon, the boys are all pretty!

Yes, even "Chris" is handsome too.

We really can't pretend to not enjoy the body shot. Plus anime boy nipples are a rare blessing. ;3

Even Favaro can be hot! ...Once the hair is fixed lol.

And that's the end of this long review! Feel free to leave a comment if you liked the review and tell me what your thoughts are on Rage of Bahamut!

To end on a light note, let's listen to the ending of Genesis, which in my opinion is one of the simplest, most beautiful anime endings ever.

Also, let me know in the comments if you have any suggestions on what I should review next!