Bastard!!

The production values are only ok but hell has finally frozen over. LIDEN FILMS produced a presentable adaptation that doesn´t skip any plot beats on top of that! Many viewers will be confused why the promised "boundary-pushing" edge fest lacks gore, nudity or sex and has this much levity. Nudity and gore are rare until Vol 18 in the manga. That volume introduced Porno Dianno -she looks just like one would think- and throws the already splintering plot in the trash. The manga then fully gave up, moved over into a Seinen magazine and unwounded into a hard-to-follow comedy porno without real continuity. There is even a time jump to fully weed out the previous audience. Aka. Me. The first 60% of the manga pushed Shounen Jump boundaries but not Shounen demographic boundaries. The Devilman was published 12 years earlier and went waaay further. So did Jump´s very own Fist of the North Star 4 years before Bastard. The Netanime on the other hand skipped gnarly executions that would have been in ep 1&2, ep 6 didn´t feature the pornographic sex scene the fully redrawn Kanzenban version of Vol 2 has, ep 8 lacks a head explosion and so on. Even the 90s OVAs added nudity and settled on a grittier tone but the 2022 version remains committed to staying presentable to 13-year-old-boys. That was the manga´s demographic for a decade so fresh viewers can only stay for the plot. The bonkers later stages of the manga will simply never be reached due to the faithful and thus slow pacing. I prefer the 6 much faster-moving OVAs from the 90s due to better designs, animation, colors and all the skipped fluff but those only reached 2/3rd into Vol 5. S1E13 ends 1/5th into Vol 5. I wouldn´t mind an adaptation till Vol 12 and then transition into an original ending leading to a 3 season show. The manga starts ripping of Evangelion a few volumes after Vol 12 and one thing is not like the other...

In summary: Don´t expect a Hard-R Dark Fantasy near-hentai and set your expectation for a horny yet flaccid 80s-themed teen action/comedy/fantasy hybrid instead. For that the anime works fine and it´s not an isekai! 6.5/10.

Violence and nudity is not an issue. The way it's written is what I hate. Dark fantasy is supposed to be dark like Berserk, Claymore or close to Attack in Titan. This was just weird. To me it seemed tonally deaf with nudity and violence aimed at a more mature audience while the dialogue is on par with Dragon Ball Z or Samurai Pizza Cats.

Edgy good guy "I'm going to kill you for I am a mighty wizard and handsome to boot!"

Badguy: "No you won't and I will lick your virgins from head to toe, because I'm evil you see?! Muahahahaha!"

Edgy Good Guy: "Now you've done it, I'll..."

Then the minions squirt mud in awe of their master and then the protagonist when he beats their master.

The women in the harem are worried but also insecure about the other girl within aforementioned harem. Every fight that could be cool gets overly explained and becomes ridiculous, because of the overly present sidecharacters fawning.

^This doesn't happen to this extent in good Dark Fantasy Anime. There was an attempt. It failed. Better luck next time Netflix. Maybe get Ghost in the Shell 1995, the Berserk series 1997 in your library or fix Helsing's subtitles not being in French on Dutch Netflix...

Don't think this is a spoilers since you can see it in the trailer, so I think I'm just giving a heads up.

You learn pretty quickly (episode 1 if you've got a better trained eye than me lol, but for me episode 2 really). So as long as you know that it's basically a p*rno/h*ntai but on Netflix so major ecchi lol, you can make fun of it and just relax as it is dumb in ways, but it's entertaining enough for the time to pass. Honestly, the people making this must've had a lot of fun cause he acts so dumb, but the moments he causes, while equally so, have hilarious moments.

I 1st saw this when I was an elementary kid, got a peek from my brother collection. After that i was into magic and myth. Too bad they didn't have detail descriptions of the monsters and spells in the animate. That would be so awesome. Thx Netflix for bringing back Spriggan too. The story is very original to the comic, except the nudity. If it is 18+, I think they should have it. The fight scene wasn't the best nowsaday, still very behind from demon slayer and Sword Art Online is better. For me i can't stop watching it after the 3rd episode. If they can finish it till the end, it certainly make my bucket list. The last episode is as good as the comic. Again, thx Netflix.

I don't know if I should even like this, I'm certainly not target audience for this kind of production (or maybe I am) but I bloody love this. The writing is masterfully stupid with humor that hits you unexpectedly and frequently, accompanied with animation that's mostly top notch.

Nobody who's thirsty will protest the sexually themed animation, it all adds up to brilliantly mock male ideals and Hollywood tropes in my view, and yet, my primal brain does enjoy "Bastard!!"s great renditions of the female form - albeit idealized. Anyone who's tired of conforming to sensibilities of contemporary society, or everything else in our downspiraling world, may find some much needed stupid escapism here and I can't think of anything better than these perfect bite sizes of well animated debauchery to forget my day and bask in the glorious light of Dark Schneider - who, in my heart of hearts, I confess I wish to be.