Rage of Bahamut Genesis

Episode 8

I suspect this episode of Rage of Bahamut Genesis will be a disappointment to people after the bombast of the past few weeks. The first two parts of this arc were full of epic battles between angels, demons, and dragons. This part was a lot of talking in rooms about character backstories and worldbuilding. For those watching this series purely for the action and gorgeous visuals, that could be a let-down. Yet, much to my surprise, that's not what I watch this show for myself. Somewhere along the line, these characters and their journeys caught my emotional interest too. These revelations have been baited yet delayed continuously, and it feels so refreshing to finally reel in the line.

Besides, it's not like all this talking wasn't gorgeously rendered anyway. Rage of Bahamut actually looks best when it moves away from the eye-gouging brightness of the angels' realm that we saw in so many of the battles, and back to sunny, crowded courtyards or moonlit castle chambers. That's what we got this week, and Rage of Bahamut outdid itself visually this time. My personal favorite was the king's late night fever-dream, where his mother's ghost warns him of Jeanne's future betrayal. His room was realistically dark and full of shadows, but didn't let the characters drown in low contrast, unlike previous darker scenes in this show. Of course, that was because some of them were ghosts, but even the less ethereal were easy to distinguish. The show has also stepped up the game in its flashback scenes. Amira's origin story gets rosy pastels that Favaro's and Kaisar's lacked, and the color design lends the scene strong clarity that the boys' backstories didn't possess either.

Speaking of Favaro and Kaisar, while it's clear (and adorable) that the dudes like each other now and have settled some of their differences, this episode kicked some sorely needed new conflict into their relationship. Their promotion to Orléans Knights was always going to be awkward, setting up a potential conflict of interest with their investment in protecting Amira. Yet, the show also uses it to explore the difference in Favaro's and Kaisar's worldviews and goals, and how the events so far (or to come) have the power to change them. Favaro is as stubborn and freewheeling as ever, scoffing at the idea that he'd ever be cut out for a life as a knight—though it says something that he goes along with it when Kaisar enthusiastically accepts. For Kaisar's part though, as much as he's told Favaro that this is the culmination of his lifelong dreams, it's clear he feels conflicted. Traveling with Favaro, Amira and Rita obviously rewrote what he wanted out of life, and I'll be very surprised if he doesn't end up following them on their new journey.

Of course, this is only possible because of how much we've learned about another character this week. It turns out Amira's father is not her real father, but a friend of her mother's, and he spills the beans about where our favorite perky pink-haired demon came from. Now we finally know why Amira acts so babyish and knows nothing about the world! She actually is a baby—well, a five-year-old. In light of this, I thought her personality was actually an inspired choice. Fantasy anime is full of characters who are older or younger than they look, but their maturity tends to hew closer to their physical rather than chronological age, even though in real life that's determined by life experience. Amira really is a little girl in a woman's body in every way, and the commitment to this concept works.

Amira's origin story as half-demon, half-angel, casts her position as walking plot ball in a more understandable light, and makes me wonder where the story will ultimately take this. Are the demons and angels actually as pure bad/pure good as they seem right now? Who is her true demon father? How much of the "angel" side does she have left in her after what the demons did to her? As much as this episode answered questions, it raised a lot more. The king's suspicions about Jeanne are a good example: are they actually founded, or is he just paranoid? (Moreover, was it just a boozy hallucination or was that really his mom's ghost talking to him? This is a show with giant crabs and the Queen of the Zombies as a main character. Stranger things have happened.) If Jeanne does want to kill him, why? If not, why is she so hesitant to take the honors he bestows upon her?

These kinds of questions can be frustrating when left unanswered too long, but help to seal viewers' investment in the show when it can't be held by battle scenes alone. It was beginning to feel like things were tied up too nicely at this point, for how much we still didn't know about the characters, their world, or the conflict. Favaro and Kaisar had buried their hatchet and were now best friends. It looked like the main demon antagonist had been defeated (thank goodness this episode laid that to rest). Fresh conflict was kicked into all of those relationships this week and then some, and the show is better for it. MAPPA has put oodles of money into this thing, and this week is proof it didn't just go into the visuals—Rage of Bahamut Genesis is a well-written anime, too.

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 Autostraddle.com and her own blog. She tweets at @composerose.