Are you ready for the epic and over-the-top tale of Dark Schneider kicking ass and taking names? Are you ready to see the band of colorful characters come together and banter with each other? Are you ready to see villains hamming it up while chewing scenery? Are you ready to see more of the epic qualities that made the first season of BASTARD!! so enthralling? Well…you might have to wait a bit because that stuff won't hit your doorstep until about five episodes in, and even then, it doesn't achieve the level at the end of season one.

Season two of BASTARD!! started in a very interesting new status quo. Due to the cliffhanger of season one, our cast of characters is scattered to parts unknown; two years have passed, interesting alliances have formed, and the final leftover villain from season one is moving on to full-on worldwide conquest. What started as an attack on a very specific kingdom has now escalated into a full-on war around the world, and with Dark Schneider seemingly missing, humanity is hanging on by a thread. This sounds like the plot's natural progression, but this story direction might've hurt this series more than helped it in the long run.

BASTARD!! never came across as a show meant to be taken seriously. It is the textbook definition of cheesy self-indulgence. Dark Schneider is a pompous, over-the-top, overpowered, and entitled asshole who practically wins every battle because he is the handsome main character (literally his words, not mine). He wants to fuck everything that moves, and even though he doesn't display any respect for anybody in the show, women practically fall at his feet and are willing to let him do anything because he's just that awesome and assertive. It was wish fulfillment in its purest form, and there's nothing wrong with that, especially when you consider the series' self-awareness. At first, that was conveyed in tone alone but towards the end of season one, it was breaking the fourth wall without a care in the world. It wasn't for everybody, but a show this unapologetic was like a breath of fresh air. If anything, my only real complaint was it felt like it wanted to go further with its violence, cheesiness, and sexual exploits, but for one reason or another, it never was allowed to.

The escalation in season one's narrative and the new scale of season two should have lent to unprecedented levels of cheese. But it takes a while to even remotely get to that point, and when it does, we rarely hit any of the massive highs conveyed last season. Instead, BASTARD!! Season Two tries to go for a more serious approach with its narrative. The series' character portrayals hinge on tragedy. There are a few apparent tidbits of social commentary regarding how loyal someone should be to leadership, no matter how corrupt. The villain's backstory is devastating, asking the audience to empathize with him the most out of everybody in this entire show. There's a real sense of camaraderie and passion between the characters, and I was surprised at how much I genuinely cared for everybody.

The show could take a more serious direction, especially since there is a precedent for it. The problem is it tries to have its cake and eat it too by still having Dark Schneider…act like Dark Schneider. The show spends episodes establishing this new tone with Schneider utterly absent from the story, but when he gets re-introduced, it's back to the molesting, slapstick, and fourth wall breaks. It felt like I watched two different shows every few minutes and got whiplash. These styles don't mix as organically as the staff wanted them to.

Before, the story started to conform to Dark Schneider's charisma and worldview. The more things escalated, the more self-aware everybody became. It also helped that the previous cast were former comrades of Dark Schneider, so they were privy to his idiosyncrasies. It led to some genuinely funny chemistry and banter. Now our newly established cast doesn't have that chemistry with Schneider, who desperately wants to take center stage, but because there are so many more moving parts in the narrative, he only gets to chew the scenery. Now the only thing connecting Schneider to the good side is Yoko, who initially seems to go through a character evolution when Schneider is not around. Still, the minute he is re-introduced, it's back to business as usual without the entertainment factor.

This is an example of the show being pulled in too many directions. It wants to have a sympathetic buildup for the main villain but also expand the cast by introducing a bunch of characters the audience has never seen before. It wants to up the stakes by making things feel more dramatic, but it also wants to have this quirky slapstick comedy with the main couple. It wants to develop Yoko and Schneider's relationship by leading us to think that things may be handled more maturely, but then it's back to business as usual, with Schneider wanting to fuck anything that moves. It's like for every intention the story develops, there is a polar opposite intention that takes away from it, and unfortunately, this also bleeds into the show's presentation.

The show doesn't look bad by any means. It looks better than season one from a purely aesthetic standpoint. The character designs are adequately upgraded due to the time skip, and some pleasant moments of additional shading give the character designs more dimension. Plus, the scale has increased, with more locations to explore. Not to mention the soundtrack continues to be the best thing about this show, with its heavy-metal-inspired guitar and drum riffs. However, because it kept cutting away to so many different situations and environments, there weren't a lot of moments of impressive animation.

While things do get more epic by the end of these fifteen episodes, it takes way too long to get there. This season didn't build upon the previous season's foundation, and because of that, no new heights were reached. This was a situation where trying to do less would've allowed them to do more because, unlike Dark Schneider himself, BASTARD!! doesn't get to succeed just because it wants to.