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Rage of Bahamut Genesis
Episode 6

by Rose Bridges,

This week was one heck of a ride. Rage of Bahamut Genesis usually is, but this episode was particularly jam-packed with new stuff to digest—but in a good way, unlike last week where the plot was running on overdrive. This time we got a dump-truck's worth of stuff that previous episodes only let out in small chunks: worldbuilding! Yep, if you were eager to learn more about the world of Rage of Bahamut, its history and its politics, this episode is your chance. Since it's a Part I, there's likely more to come next week, as well as more exciting battles between Jeanne's Knights and our latest brand of monsters.

In a time when so many fantasy-adventure series are under the impression that worldbuilding should be delivered via dull info-dumps, it's nice to see an anime showcasing how to do it right. This episode fleshed out a world that definitely needed the added context, but did it by filling in character backstories and furthering the plot. The God-key and Amira's powers are explored through revelations of Amira and Jeanne's personal histories. More information leaks through in scenes where the gods and royalty interact, and Azazel answers to his demon-superiors. Even the closest thing we got to a true info-dump—Jeanne sharing a story to Favaro near the end of the episode—still gave us clues about Jeanne's and Favaro's character motivations. Jeanne is the sort of person who believes everything in life is full of purpose, thirsting for knowledge and power, and assuming others share this thirst. Favaro couldn't give a rat's butt about any of that.

Speaking of Favaro, this week also provided heaps of drama between him and Kaisar, some of the richest so far in this series. It was clear from episode one that Favaro and Kaisar were meant to be each other's foils, but it's setting their rivalry up in a very interesting way. Favaro is our typical western hero, a "simple bounty hunter" who lives for the moment, and doesn't think about the larger consequences. He doesn't think at all really, which is how he got himself into this mess in the first place. Kaisar, on the other hand, thinks heavily and over-analyzes every aspect of his life. While Favaro is happy-go-lucky to the point of recklessness and cruelty sometimes, Kaisar is a man of strong conviction. He's the sort of guy we expect to play the lead in high-fantasy series like Bahamut. He's been pulled into something much larger than himself or his goals—he's a family-oriented guy, focused heavily on his late father—but he has a much clearer way forward than Favaro does. Or so he thinks.

Favaro and Kaisar will likely come closer together in personality and in their relationship with one another in order to settle their past scores while banding together to defeat a larger threat. Obviously, they need each other on that level; their battles so far have been won by both Kaisar's thoughtful planning and Favaro's spontaneity, so there's no reason to expect that will change from here on out. At the same time, they also have individual struggles. Kaisar must question his preconceptions and see the world in greyer shades, while Favaro must embrace a life with greater meaning beyond the day-to-day. They both have a lot of growing to do, but they're already starting out in interesting places.

Jeanne and Amira could turn out to be foils to each other too, with the way this episode sets them up as the "gods' choice" and the "demons' choice" for the God Key. Jeanne was chosen young and has known all her life that that was her role (and the fact that she can talk to the gods makes her choice of name much clearer). Amira is the Prometheus who stole the power for herself and for humanity. She's a wild card they can only learn to make do with that the villains are just as likely to grab for themselves. Both of them are already more than their roles though, and as we go on to a Part II of this episode, we'll likely see even more about how they do and don't fit the parts that the story has prescribed to them. The "mystical artifact girl" is a well-worn cliché, but rarely do we get two of them—or any explored as much as Amira already has been. It's further testament to how much Rage of Bahamut Genesis likes playing with classic fantasy ideas, like the golem-demons Jeanne fought this episode.

Bahamut had some stellar direction and visual design this week even by its own standards. In spite of the lack of new environments to explore, the towns and hills are still inviting and colorful. Even better, the problems with the angels' and demons' realms seem to have been addressed, as they're a lot easier to look at now without getting lost in the lack of contrast. At least the characters can stand apart from their over- or under-saturated environments now. This week's episode of Rage of Bahamut Genesis juggled many different things, but with far more deftness and purpose than it did last week. If a mere "Part I" can pack so much in and still feel cohesive, that bodes pretty well for "Part II"—and the whole series going forward.

Rating: A

Rage of Bahamut Genesis is currently streaming on Funimation.

Rose is a graduate student in musicology, who has written about anime and many other topics for LGBT site Autostraddle.com and her own blog. She tweets at @composerose.


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