(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.

The Good News Is... The Bad News Is... | Rage of Bahamut Virgin Soul Episode 23 Review

I tried harder with this header compared to the last SnB review lol.

If you read my title for this review, then you've probably guessed that "the good news is... the bad news is..." describes what Episode 23 of Virgin Soul is. Good shit happens, and so does bad shit, especially considering that we're still riding the irredeemable and ghastly wave of Episode 22. At the very least, I can confidently state that this episode is certainly much better, and if we can pretend that Episode 22 never existed, then 23 would've been a decent episode. But alas, Episode 22 does exist, and it left some nasty scars that murdered the narrative, which in turn ruins some of the merits moving forward.

If you haven't read my previous metas/reviews for Rage of Bahamut, please check them out because I explain things there that I won't touch on too much here, so it's important to be caught up on all the context in order to fully understand this review.

• 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

With that out of the way, let's get started.

Spoiler Warning! 

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.