Shingeki no Bahamut_ Genesis [DeadFish] Ep. 01 - Now with pictures

Since I didn't know what I wanted to watch, I got the beginnings of a bunch of things, and I'm slowly getting through them. Here's the first.

N'er-do-well Favaro Leone is a bounty hunter in this pseudo-late-medieval world. That might seem like a "Oh jeez, not another one" anime plot, but his intense rivalry with fallen lord and now also bounty hunter Kaisar Lidfard is epic. And the direction and visuals are definitely high-end. After a prologue set way in the past that hints on the Big Shit that will probably be springing back up at the end of the series, we open on the two chasing each other on horseback across the top of a gigantic stone bridge/aqueduct, leaping across tiled roofs, swords clashing in mid leap. One gets a sense of an almost Lupin/Zenigata relationship between the two. Their battle culminates in a fight atop a gigantic water wheel tumbling down the hill through the city. And the final crash disrupts the actions of three thugs kidnapping some women for their boss.

Later on, those thugs are returning to the boss with their empty wagon, when a beautiful and naked woman with pink hair falls from the sky on top of it. They decide that they're not returning to the boss empty handed. We don't know what happens next, but the glow in her eyes seems to indicate that it will not go well for the thugs....


Favaro goes after a bounty, who coincidentally is the big boss of the three thugs. When he beats the two bodyguards, the boss summons some demons to protect him. Favaro declares, "Well, you leave me no choice." and bolts for the door. But it's a trick, outside he's poured a big puddle of alcohol, and the demons have a fire attack, but alas, not fire immunity. At the end of the fight, the strange wristband the bounty hunters all wear is explained, as it turns the boss into a sort of stone tablet that he later turns in to a "god" for his reward.


While celebrating his good fortune, and telling incredible lies to the bar girls (who coincidentally are the three he accidentally rescued from the thugs), the pink haired girl, no longer naked, and wearing a very familiar hat, overhears him talking about the fabled northern city of Helheim, where he's going next, and that he has a special shortcut so that he can survive the extremely perilous journey. Kaisar shows up to confront Favaro yet again, but Favaro pulls a fast one, leaving him with the girls (and the tab).


But as he sneaks out, he meets up with the mysterious girl, who wants him to guide her to Helheim, and he must quickly decide whether to ditch her or to keep spinning lies. She's cute, so he decides the latter.


But before his clever plan to extort a kiss from her can succeed, the big boss' smaller older brother finds him and picks a fight, summoning an enormous demon. It looks bad for Favaro, until the mysterious girl manifests her power, transforming into a horned, armored demoness.


At the very end of the fight, he gets knocked out, and has a nightmarish vision of hell, with a gigantic dragon (Bahamut?) over it, then he wakes up in a bed in the pub, and is horrified when he discovers that he's just acquired a spaded demon tail.


This was a great first episode, and the production is beautiful. This is on the watch list.

Update: I think I might switch Circles to Commie though. Deadfish mainly uses other people's translations, usually HS for their first release, and sometimes Commie or someone else for a v2.  I don't know what the deal is, but on this show they switched sources midstream.

OTOH, Commie sometimes goes a bit odd with their transliteration. In Twintail, the hero clearly is saying "Stoppu! Stoppu!" and they subbed it as "Time out! Time out!"  If you can't trust your fansubbers, who can you trust?

Secondary Update: Seems that Eraser is the A+ rated circle.  In their favor, they sub the music too.  Although I've seen at least one Your/You're error.  I'm up to episode 4.  But I don't know if I'm going to get a chance to write much more up, I have to work all weekend.

Does a dead girl violate the den Beste rule if she's now an undead zombie princess?

Posted by: Mauser at 06:06 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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