(It's Not) A Happy Ending | Rage of Bahamut Virgin Soul Episode 24/Finale Review/Rant

Lol excuse my ugly handwriting on the grave, though I do try to be better with my calligraphy.

First off, I'd like to apologize for posting this weeks after the finale, but I've been bombarded with irl work, and it goes without saying that I had to prioritize that over this silly anime. Anyway...

This is it. We've finally arrived at the ending of Virgin Soul, and boy is it complete A-S-S.

Before we dive into hell again, let me play you a song that describes the show for me. Pay close attention to the lyrics because it really captures the essence of Virgin Soul (the orphans and "plot that's not quite awful" parts maybe not so much, but you get the gist):



With that out of the way, please turn your attention to my previous writings for Shingeki no Bahamut if you haven't done so already:

• Rage of Bahamut Anime is Great! ...Until Virgin Soul Gives Me Mixed Feelings
• (Not So) Cool Motive, Still Murder | Rage of Bahamut Virgin Soul Episode 22 Review/Rant
• The Good News Is... The Bad News Is... | Rage of Bahamut Virgin Soul Episode 23 Review

If you've followed me throughout my small journey with this anime, then it's probably safe to assume that we were all expecting this finale to go to shit, which it did, but it took "shit" and turned it into the biggest, jurassic mound of Indominus-rex feces there ever was. I'm astounded, and infinitely more disgusted than I was before with Virgin Soul, but at least I was able to laugh throughout the entire episode because even in its own bizarre, fictitious world, this finale lacked any sort of common sense to the point where it all turns into a big fucking joke. Surely the writer must be in on their own joke because I refuse to believe that any sane person with a brain (and a paid "professional" scriptwriter, mind you) can write something that stupid and dense, and call it a serious narrative work. A caveman could've written this episode and it would've been more intriguing. For fuck's sake, I've read tons of poorly-written fanfiction and they're all immensely better than this garbage.

The only way this ending starts to become palpable is if you unconditionally like Charioce and/or Nina, and frankly I'm not attached to those characters, so consider yourself warned because if you're not prepared or open to read criticism on them, then this review is not for you. I would rather avoid the whole situation of people feeling personally offended when I'm criticizing the argument presented by the writer, not the people who support it.

I might not address every little thing wrong with the episode and season overall because there is A LOT to address (not to mention the review would get repetitive since I've constantly described everything wrong with Virgin Soul on previous posts); it's overwhelming to tackle, and I'm tired.

Let's just get this over with.

You're Gonna Die Live, Baby! (reference)

Right off the bat, the intro starts without the opening (because apparently the writer needs all the time they can get to write a shitty finale), and Bahamut starts destroying everything around him. Even the capital civilians, who are still evacuating the city, are within firing range. LOL this just goes to demonstrate how stupid Charioce's plan is: he catalyzes Bahamut's return, lures the beast into the most heavily-populated city in the world, and he doesn't even give his own subjects enough time to reach safety (granted, no one is safe from Bahamut, but they're still very close to the capital and out in the open).

It's only been a minute, and I'm already annoyed.

Next, we cut back to Charioce's ship where Kaisar is still dying, which puts a stop to Azazel and Jeanne's fight with the king, as we all predicted it would, but it doesn't make watching this any easier because this shouldn't be happening in a good narrative. I'll write more about Azazel and Jeanne later because right now they're not important, according to the writer. Anyway, as Kaisar is dying, his last words to Charioce are:

This line becomes ironic given what happens to Kaisar at the end of the episode, which I'll also write more about later.

Just before he passes away, Charioce gives him this look in return:

He nods and toughens up with renewed determination to fulfill his "destiny". In the past, Charioce himself has stated that he would die slaying Bahamut, so Kaisar's words only seem to reinforce the king's fate. Not that Kaisar ever knew of Charioce's plan like Favaro and Nina, but he gets the idea that no matter what happens (whether he's killed by Azazel&Jeanne or Bahamut), Charioce would not be able to escape death. With that idea in mind, I was more than prepared to see Charioce die, even if it would make him a martyr, and I expected no less....so the fact that he doesn't die....

Ooooooof. I'm clenching my fist right now thinking about this. But for now let's put aside Charioce's fate and continue with the review.

Charioce's expression to Kaisar is odd to me because without any context, we're given the impression that Kaisar's sacrifice affects the king profoundly, as if he had always cared for Kaisar, which isn't the case. The last scene they shared together prior to this was back several episodes ago when Charioce threw Kaisar into the gladiator arena and forced him to fight Azazel to the death for his own enjoyment. That's not even mentioning how before the death-match, Charioce had constantly threatened Kaisar and used fear to coerce him into submission. But sure writer, anything to paint Charioce as "a kind-hearted hero".

Just Shut Up

Moving on, we cut to the hippogriff carriage, which is somehow knocked down to the ground by Bahamut's fire without ever being shown lol. Pretty much everyone is K.O.ed with the exception of Nina, meaning that they won't be able to contribute to the fight in any way. After Nina hauls everyone out of the carriage, she looks out to the yonder, where pretty much everything is burning around her. This reminds her of the last time Bahamut appeared 10 years ago, which lead to her father ultimately being killed by the beast.

I really wish this (hella short) backstory was more important to Nina's character development than her "forbidden" lover, and it sort of is in the beginning of the season because the trauma of her father's death is what prevents her from turning into a dragon properly. More importantly, I wanted to know how exactly her trauma is cured by Charioce kissing her. Right now it just seems like Nina needed to seek fulfillment from another man in order to cope with her father's death and turn into a dragon properly, which is disappointing and it rubs me the wrong way. While it's realistic to have people help you through the loss of a family member, Nina's "cure" seems superficial and shallow, and even if it's not intentional on the writer's part, it gives off some heavily sexist vibes. Her "cure" kills off any potential Nina has for self-discovery and personal growth because the writer is basically conveying that a young girl, who has barely reached adulthood, needs a man to feel complete. So much for finding self-fulfillment (not to mention that this is a horrible message to women and girls everywhere).

Her father's death could have been used as a better plot device instead of becoming the reason to drag Charioce into the forced "romantic interest" picture. Why couldn't Nina have been on a quest to finish what her father started? She could've chosen to fight Bahamut to honor her father's legacy, or simply because it's the right thing to do and it would help millions of people. It would've been miles better if Nina got over her trauma in a different manner and realized that "hot boys" aren't the keys to happiness; that long and durable happiness comes from wanting to give, not constantly receiving. Or hell, it could've been as simple as her accepting that death is a part of life and to let her vulnerabilities appear before her companions (the anime does make a point of illustrating Nina as being peppy and cheerful towards her friends when she's hurting inside), and for as cruel as life is, love and compassion can save many others, including herself. I think it's perfectly okay for Nina to believe in love; that's a pure and beautiful belief. In this season, love saved Mugaro several times, love saved Azazel, and love saved Jeanne. Love truly is salvation...but not the raging hormonal lust that she displays for Charioce and mistakes for "love".

...Hence why she is insufferable for the rest of the episode, which brings me to the next scene.

An injured Favaro wakes up, and he presents the biggest ultimatum to Nina, which we knew all along would happen:

It's scary how quickly she answers his question.

Then with renewed determination, she runs toward her "destiny", and as she's doing so, Favaro says this:

^ That's it. That's Virgin Soul for ya.

First off, Favaro, stop talking. Secondly, "you don't need to worry about what will happen to the world" and "do us all a favor" should not belong in the same phrase; can't you see how contradictory this is?

Also, why do I get this hollow feeling with the implication that Favaro regrets "sacrificing" Amira? There's no denying that killing Amira was pretty dark and brutal, so it's realistic for Favaro to feel guilty about it and never fully recover from such an event. However, with the way he expresses it here, it's like he really regrets giving up Amira, as in he wishes he could've saved Amira and to hell with the world, the same world that was facing certain destruction by Bahamut.

I'm sorry, but how do you go from having this resolve:

...to just saying you shouldn't give two fucks about everything else simply to encourage a teenager's pursuit for a tyrannical and almost-emotionless man? Plus, the writer completely forgot that Amira has feelings as well and that she didn't want to be responsible for the entire destruction of the world. Not to mention that it's completely selfless of Favaro to kill Amira because dying to prevent the deaths of millions is what Amira would've wanted (even Favaro couldn't bring himself to stab Bahamut's head the first time). That final kiss and "thank you for everything" weren't for nothing.

I really, really hate what's been done to Favaro. It would've been better if he didn't even have a cameo this season so that I could've retained my fondness for who he was in Genesis.

Anyway, Nina then finally transforms into a dragon, and here my silly ass is finally expecting to see some cool action....only to find that Nina flies to get to Charioce before quickly changing back, and that's about it.

How anticlimactic, I should've known.

Keep in mind that we're only approximately five minutes into the episode...

Almighty Plot Armor

Back to Charioce, he tells Azazel and Jeanne that after he kills Bahamut and is still alive, then they can do whatever they want with him. SO NOW THE WRITER IS IMPLYING THAT HE'LL LIVE AFTER USING DROMOS?! This plot armor is beyond ridiculous because just in the last episode we had a vomit bath with Onyx Soldiers dying all over the place due to all the power they exhausted from the forbidden stones to merely fight gods and demons. Now you're trying to tell me that the mother of all powerful forces of nature, that precedes the world itself, isn't even enough to kill Charioce while his life is being simultaneously drained? And please keep in mind that dying by Bahamut's fire in no way rectifies his crimes as king. Conveniently for the writer, they have Azazel and Jeanne say nothing (or do anything) to acknowledge Charioce's statement. Soon after, Charioce is transported to Dromos.

TFW the opposite of jinxing is just as bad.

We Shouldn't Have to Save Y'all, But We're Not Shitty People Like You

We cut to Dias hauling around a dead terrible scapegoat to remind us who's really to blame for all this bullshit Alessand. Meanwhile Bahamut is burning everything, and just when a fireball flies toward Dias and some other people, they are miraculously saved by Lucifer, the demons, Gabriel, and the gods.

While I bet Lucifer is more intent on sparing the capital for the demon slaves sill down there, this is still the incredibly corny "all races are united" crap that I kept on warning about in my last few reviews. They're not even forming their shields around Bahamut like in Genesis; they're prioritizing the capital over the dragon. The heroism is nice, but it's like Lucifer's and Gabriel's war on the humans never even happened. Despite this, the scene is by the far one of the best scenes in the episode just purely for its aesthetics. Hot and beautiful Lucifer and Gabriel are great eye candy, so at least I got to indulge in that.

The Power of Love Bad Writing Will Save the Day!

Once Charioce arrives on Dromos, he activates the weapon, ready to sacrifice his life and kill Bahamut (and looking quite happy about it too if you refer to the image above) . All according to plan...until Nina flies in like the convenient Deus ex Machina she is. She jumps behind him trying to help activate the weapon, and he attempts to push her off, telling her that she doesn't need to die as well, but Nina insists that she wants to die beside him. Thus, together they decide to blast Bahamut into oblivion with Dromos, with the weapon taking the shape of Nina's dragon.

You...

...versus the guy she tells you not to worry about.

First things first, dragon Dromos is looking a little crusty compared the vigorous and nefarious Bahamut. LOL sure Jan, this thing will definitely save the world. This is what the action boils down to: one standoff, Harry Potter vs Voldemort-style, where Dromos immediately overpowers Bahamut. What a let down. I thought the writer would have some sense of realism and let the fight against the monster take up more than half of the episode. But they suck, as proven with the latest episodes, so I'm mad at myself for expecting anything more. Even last season where Hansa is dodging fireballs is more action-packed and heart-racing than whatever just happened with the VS finale.

Now onto the Nina & Charioce bullshit. I can tell that the writer is trying to make some Shakespearean references with the whole "star-crossed lovers thing" by having these two love-drunk characters "die" together to save the world, just like how Romeo and Juliet's deaths were what caused the Montagues and Capulets to stop fighting each other. While the scene is attempting to appear bittersweet and tragic, I'm just not buying it. Throughout the entire anime, the writer has given me no good reason to support Nina's love interest, so her sacrifice is pointless to me, and in no way does this advance her character development. Sure, her sacrifice would conveniently save many lives in the process, however, she's not dying to help those people; she's dying because she simply can't stand to be without Charioce or let him "carry this burden" all alone. That exterminates any sense of altruism in this scene.

Taking that into account, I couldn't care less for their deaths, but at least we'd be done with this romance torture (hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha).

So Bahamut "dies", and Nina is then teleported into a glowing Bahamut realm where she finds Amira.

Nipple-titty censorship at its finest.

Amira embraces Nina, probably as a thank you for saving the world, and whispers something into her ear before disappearing back into Bahamut again. Nina is then left to return to the real realm. What's nice about this scene is of course AMIRA (the OG and best homegirl of SnB), and that she's not really dead, but the fact remains that she's still permanently trapped inside the dragon. Yet because we're still dealing with Nina, again, I lack the effort to care for this exchange. Not to mention that this is all one big "copy & paste" from the Genesis ending, or rather a "let me copy your homework; sure, but make sure to change the answers a bit so it doesn't look obvious" situation. Except this copy is worse, unrealistic, extremely short, and underwhelming.

I'm just gonna headcanon that Bahamut blew his own head off because he too was fed up with the bad writing catastrophe.

Additionally, just as soon as Bahamut is gone, the skies are blue, the sun is shining, the grass is green, the crowds are cheering. Lmao, are we just gonna pretend that the sky wasn't blood-red and filled with smoke and ash just a minute ago?

C'mon Azazel, you're smarter than this.

Oh well, at least Charioce and Nina died together (insert some sappy and romantic shit here), facing the repercussion of challenging and "killing" the most powerful beast known to the world....

...then Charioce's hand twitches and all hope is dead.

Oh, for fuck's sake!

I'll reserve my comments of their survival till the end, so let's keep going. Next, we go back to Favaro (and Bacchus, where unlike in Genesis, he does absolutely nothing). Hip hip hooray (deadpan sarcasm), they're all alive. And Favaro just further annoys me by continuing to support the worst heroine ever, honestly, his character is only enjoyable in VS when we first see him in prison and when he helps Kaisar and Azazel escape the arena.

Really? Personally I would be rather ashamed. Also, shoutout to useless Bacchus.

All is well and we briefly get a shot of Favaro spotting one of Bahamut's barbs, cue another shoutout to Genesis. This is essentially useless unless Bahamut isn't dead, therefore a powerful barb might come in handy if the dragon ever comes back. We're not shown Favaro picking up the barb or carrying it around with him in the end, regardless, it just alludes to the possibility of a third season, and already it's looking like yet another copy & paste scenario.

Bahamut's barb, just in case he's not really dead and we need to poke him in the head again.

Dear Mom, 

Amazingly enough, we skip through A LOT and cut straight to the reconstruction of the capital. For the most part, the rest of the episode is narrated by Nina writing a letter to her mom. As repairs are going on, the capital is back to normal, and Nina keeps on helping the commoners we've seen since the beginning. It hardly feels like Bahamut had ever attacked the city, or that Nina and one other person defeated Bahamut all on their own.

We learn that Charioce is still alive and kicking because he keeps his position as king. We also find out that he paid a substantially small and meager price for using Dromos, which was going completely blind. Really, writer? So he loses sight in one eye just for going against the gods, and he merely loses the other against Bahamut? What sort of cheap consequence is that?

Meanwhile, Dias has become the new captain of the Orleans Knights, and demons are still living in the human capital. But don't worry! They're not slaves anymore because now they get paid for their labor.

Biggest understatement ever made.

This feels wrong. If Charioce truly freed them, then why the hell are they still working in a capital that isn't theirs? Ah it's because Charioce destroyed the demon capital of Cocytus, right? Still, they have no reason to stick around, and with their pride they would have left and tried to rebuild their own city. Anyways, that still doesn't explain how humans and demons are all singing Kumbaya together after everything terrible that has happened. We're also given the impression that the magic stones have vanished as well, so there is no way for the humans to control them anymore, so unless the demons get compensation, there would be riots and revolutions (and even then, it still feels like there's heavy marginalization and xenophobia against demons). It's amazing (and frankly a missed opportunity, in my opinion) how the season didn't end with Charioce being assassinated like the Czar in the Russian Revolution.

This writer has no concept of what consequence is, so the whole coexistence thing and Charioce remaining king and paying a minor price for his crimes is impossible for me to accept. Don't get me wrong, I would love to see coexistence, but how quickly and easily it happens is terribly benign, which it shouldn't be given how important it was to the story in the first act, but the writer treats it like an inconsequential backdrop. 

Azazel and Jeanne Deserve Better Writers

For the briefest moment, Nina mentions Jeanne and says that she's now living *in the land of the gods and will one day visit her again. Jeanne seems to have returned to farming given her garb, and she prays in front of Mugaro's grave, leaving him the wooden horse she carved for him and some flowers. On the other hand, Azazel stops to visit the grave and leaves Mugaro's flute-thingy beside it (*he's a fallen angel/ex-god, banned from heaven, so how he's even allowed there is beyond me). All Nina has to say about him is that "he went away somewhere". And that's the last we see of them.

* Edit Note: She's actually living in her home in the human world, my mistake.

I'm sad by this point. After everything these characters have given to the story, this is all they get in return; they are treated as an afterthought. They had become my only reason for finishing this shitshow, and I knew that they wouldn't get justice, but I'm still left hollow. The whole reason why I got into Virgin Soul was because Azazel's storyline, for however faulty as it may have been (i.e. how the fuck did Charioce easily bombard Cocytus with Lucifer there?, or how did Azazel become significantly weaker in power compared to how he was in Genesis?), it is still compelling and it increased my love for the character. Additionally, his story brought the promise of more refreshing narratives that didn't completely revolve around the endless and redundant rise and fall of Bahamut. The moment he is reduced to a secondary character is when the story starts to take a plunge for the worse.

Poor Jeanne. There's just no end to this woman's suffering, and worse, the writer doesn't throw her any bones. She has endured being manipulated and forced into killing gods against her will, was imprisoned twice by two different kings for unjust reasons, was seconds away from burning alive at the stake, was humiliated and forced out of her position in the Orleans Knights, was struggling to survive as a farmer, when she was finally blessed with a child she is immediately threatened and forced to give up her peaceful life, was forced to put her son into slavery, and in the end her son dies and neither of them get justice. Unless this woman was the definition of evil in her past life, she has done nothing to deserve all this calamity. All Jeanne has ever wanted was to serve the gods and protect the welfare of others. She is one of the most selfless characters in the story and yet the writer reduces her to a vengeful mother who needs to be stopped in order to grasp "the bigger picture", which is the Bahamut threat. If she comes back in another season, I give her full permission to cook everyone alive.

Speaking of her son, Mugaro, first off, fuck you, writer. I'm sick of your trolling. Why did you feel the need to include a perfectly drawn still of Mugaro in the last episode if you weren't going to bring him back? Why even bother developing him as a character meant to accomplish great things in a big war? We already got the point that he was dead when Rita couldn't save him, when pretty much all the characters were there to witness his final moments; you didn't need to show Mugaro again because apparently he no longer matters in the shitty narrative you wrote.

Azazel and Jeanne's love for Mugaro is the purest, most compelling thing Virgin Soul has given us. It shows two very different characters developing the same genuine and selfless love for a child to the point where they are both willing to risk their lives for him, and Mugaro is even willing to risk his own life to save them in return. And all they get is a tiny little grave, and we're left to imagine how they're dealing with such a loss. They don't even get a scene where they decide to let Charioce know he's being spared even when he deserves a much crueler fate. I feel almost betrayed, honestly, because it was their dynamic that got me so invested in Virgin Soul (I remember crying when Jeanne and Mugaro were pursued by Charioce's men, and when Mugaro had to say goodbye to Azazel), and I think there are many people who can agree that their stories and dynamics had struck an emotional chord within their hearts more deeply than anything else in VS (Nina and Charioce's love certainly can't even hold a candle to them). After all they've suffered and are continuously being punished for crimes that aren't theirs, Charioce remains static and completely untouched by justice. The greatness of this story was essentially all for naught, and that's what makes me feel empty inside.

...The writer had them do nothing. Nothing. Really? Even Azazel wouldn't be standing still, gawking like an idiot the whole time. Need I remind you of his minimal participation in the Genesis ending?("killing" Beelzebub even though Bahamut did most of the work, and even helping to create a shield around Bahamut?)

Instead they are reduced to mere backdrop in this "so-called epic" finale. S-M-fucking-H!

They're grieving over the loss of their character arcs.

People Get Paired Up to Emphasize the "Happy End"

Nina goes on to say that Bacchus hasn't changed and Rita, who is still grieving for Kaisar, is up and moving despite everything. When Nina jumps into the carraige, Hansa makes the comment that Nina's voice hasn't returned, and Bacchus adds that losing her voice is her price for slaying Bahamut. Later that evening, Sofiel joins them all for dinner (again, does Gabriel not care who comes and goes in heaven?), and Nina in her narration reveals that Bacchus is in love with Sofiel.

Nina could very well not be telling the actual truth, since the produces have mentioned that Nina can be an unreliable narrator. However, admittedly this "ship canonization" isn't entirely surprising to me because their "thing" (old camaraderie) has been hinted at since earlier in the season, and while the introduction of Bacchus' departure from heaven is an interesting concept, it doesn't add too much to the story this season. I do like how Sofiel comes to understand Bacchus a bit when she disobeys Gabriel and leaves heaven without permission to save Jeanne. If a third season should come to pass, I would certainly like to see more of Sofiel because right now she's the most interesting god character, plus she makes Bacchus' character multi-layered instead of him being the static, grumpy drunk all the time. Nevertheless, their relationship is a weird thing to bring up in the finale (and I personally prefer Sofiel's interactions with Jeanne), but it's not the most jarring detail that happens in the episode, so I'll give it a pass.

Soon Favaro tags along, but he says going to leave the capital, and he'll return to his wandering ways. When Favaro and Nina are alone, Nina writes to Favaro and finally mentions her meeting with Amira. Apparently she wanted Nina to tell Favaro that she wishes him the best. Favaro thanks Nina, and asks her the "which way does the wind blow" question; you get the point. By the end of her letter to her mom, Nina says she's doing great. Peachy.

Finally, we cut back to blind Charioce, and Nina appears before him, wearing all his trinkets. And the episode closes with them happily dancing together. THE END.

He gets a happy ending. (I don't even want to write about how bad this is anymore because I'm tired)

Looking back at the season as a whole, Nina was practically made to be the king's love interest; her only other use was to help Jeanne get to heaven and to occasionally (and sometimes accidentally) help Azazel & company out whenever they were pushed to a corner by the king. JFC, how many times do I have to throw the sexist card? Whatever happened to Nina's pursuit of becoming a bounty hunter? Or what happened to making some money to send to her village? All these things that make Nina who she is in the beginning of the story are almost nonexistent by the end, and she has not grown whatsoever and lacks any sort of development despite losing her voice.

As for Charioce, I've written time and time again how he is a terribly written character and how his sudden redemption from being the evil, dictator/king to becoming this hero heralded by all and uniting the races together is complete and utter bullshit.

The fact that he suffers no consequences after everything he's done is unideal in a narrative. His total blindness doesn't count for shit because it's a consequence he chose for himself, and that particular consequence only corresponds to his goal of slaying Bahamut; by no means does this cover slavery, mass-genocide, ordering a child's death, constantly threatening his subordinates, normalizing the exploitation of gods and demons (letting soldiers and civilians beat, torture, and rape slaves, and rallying them against the gods), etc.

Playing devil's advocate, let's say that the writer wanted to present a situation in where the villain wins and those who suffered under him received no justice. It's realistic because in our own world, you have rich pricks constantly undermining those without power and the bad guy is never punished. This wouldn't have been a terrible narrative for VS to explore, however, the writer is very clearly trying too hard to portray Charioce as the hero of this story, so even "the bad guy winning" narrative fails. My God, writer, embrace and own your character's flaws because it would certainly get you farther in your work, and you would begin to have consistently-written characters.

After Credits

We get a shot of what's left of Bahamut's body, and he magically evaporates, and it's confirmed by Favaro that he isn't dead.

Then Favaro imagines Kaisar's voice calling his name before riding off into the distance. Rita is watching him over a cliff and tells the person next to her that they'll see him again soon enough. The person is Kaisar, back from the dead...but as a zombie.

Lol remember this:

Bitch you thought.

Even dead Kaisar isn't safe from being manhandled by the writer. Thankfully I'm not too attached to him because if I were, I would be pissed. This is like a backhanded apology for killing him off; it's a desperate attempt to make everything all better for the sake of "a happy ending".

We don't know if Kaisar is a sentient zombie like Rita, but my lord he does not look thrilled to be back in the land of the living. So is he now gonna be Rita's zombie boyfriend? If that's the case, it turns whatever genuine feelings Rita has for Kaisar into a joke for fandom to laugh at, which is fine because I'm out of fucks to give at this point, but don't expect me to take the pairing seriously.

I personally find Zombie Kaisar tasteless, and again, it reiterates the point that the writer has no sense of the adequate amount for rewards and consequences.

The Case of the (Willfully) Ignorant Writer, and Season 3?

With Bahamut still alive, the ending gives the impression that Season 3 could happen, but given how complicated season renewals are, as well as judging how this season ended on a bad note, it's also possible that Season 3 could never come into fruition. Tbh, I am willing to give SnB another chance so long as they hire better writers. I'm invested in the characters, and they're pretty memorable, so I'd hate to just see them disappear when deserve justice. Also, I'm pretty picky about which anime I decide to watch because more than anything, I hate wasting my time. From the outside looking in, VS did look like a promising story and it's what got me into Genesis in the first place. What VS turned out to be was false advertising, and I'm at that bargaining stage of grief because I desperately don't want a whole month of heavy dedication for this anime to be all nothing.

Should Season 3 come to pass, just leave behind Nina and Charioce. I don't even want them to have cameos because I'm so sick of their shit. And preferably, make Azazel and Jeanne main characters again.

Yet despite the prospect of a third season, I think SnB might suffer from some heavy wounds due to VS. So why did VS go to complete shit? Well, take a look at this link if you want to learn more context surrounding the writer's qualifications and how they landed the job for VS.

Honestly, I can't entirely put all the blame on the scriptwriter because how stupid and reckless do you have to be to hire someone, who doesn't understand your work, create something directly tied to said work? Forget about the lore, the Genesis story is a rather straight-forward hero's journey; literally the inherent basic outline for most stories, especially with male leads. How is it difficult to understand? Bahamut is bad, Amira is the key to unleashing this shitstorm, and Favaro has to ultimately put her down to save the world. It's not that hard, even if you don't understand shit about the god/demon key, gods & demons, etc.

Also, it's one thing to accept a job for a decent pay....but just because the produces were hot? Like why is she setting herself up to fail? Regardless (and putting her personal motivations aside), at the very least, she should've at least tried to comprehend the whole story of SnB. 

Ok whatever, she dumbed SnB down so it's easier for audiences to understand...yet why did she even bother including tough topics such as slavery and all the faces of oppression in the story?

And again, Nina's character boiling down to being just "cute" and "having big boobs" demonstrates severe neglect to write an interesting female character, and they blatantly objectify her instead. Granted she's not real, but still, they treat Nina as a mere romantic interest and neglect her character development so we can have a shitty-ass romance story. It's disturbing how much goes missing in Nina when Charioce enters the picture because she practically gives up her sense of compassion for his victims. She becomes this disempowered tool who is either obsessing over her one, true love or is driven to protect him from the big, bad world (the very world he created). Her ambitions that she had at the start of Virgin Soul are gone, and her goal simply evolves into pursuing a man and she must lose her voice in order to do so. I dare say I even prefer Twilight's romance over this.

I'm done with this bullshit.

And that's the end of this review! Feel free to leave a comment if you liked the review, and tell me what your thoughts are on this episode. If Season 3 happens, what would you want to see?

Now that SnB is over (for now?), it's time for me to jump back into the Star Wars hype where the narratives and characters are actually worth raving about. Tootles!