Bastard 10
Posted: April 17, 2009 Filed under: Bastard 3 Comments »Okay, now here’s exactly what I’ve been looking for in Bastard all this time. I wasn’t expecting it to be good. That’s fine. I was expecting it to be a really hardcore and over-the-top-extreme fantasy manga with an obnoxious main character with women falling all over him and a bunch of fantasy animals and stuff for him to slay with ridiculous spells. This is hard to pull off well, because doing it without being self-aware will make the jokes terrible. Somehow, after stopping the last storyline and bringing Dark Schneider back to life, it has become exactly what it was that I thought it was going to be. It’s not serious about anything it does. The art has become less lazy. The swearing has become excessive and hilarious. A variety of monsters are now in every volume, as opposed to one big enemy that engages Dark Schneider in the most boring fight ever.
I’m glad it’s gotten so much more readable. This is one of the top selling series of all time in Japan, and reading through those other volumes was making me lose faith in… something. Probably manga, since I can’t imagine how many good series failed to sell more than this one. Looking at a chart, it’s sold more than Death Note. I know that it’s about twice as old and twice as long, but damn it.
Anyway. The motley group of heroes make it over to some sort of Ancient Elf City where they suspect Princess Sheila wound up after Metallicana blew up. Dark Schneider, after some prodding, speaks in an ancient tongue and the heroes use a portal to get there, whereas the enemies are using The Emerald Eye of Ekron and some blimps or something. Dragons are fought. Dark Schneider tries hard to be a bad guy, even though he has trouble now since Yoko doesn’t like it and he’s still part Lucien.
Kall-Su (who still reminds me of Cipher, and will as long as I see him) has been taken over completely by Anthrasax. Anthrasax wants to be unsealed before the great good that beat him wakes up, and there’s just the matter of Princess Sheila to finish up before it happens. Apparently he takes direct control of Kall-Su to make sure that this happens, but it’s also notable that most of the enemy headquarters has turned into some sort of weird biological extension of his body. Hmm.
[...] on vol. 1 of Animal Academy (Manga Maniac Cafe) Connie on vol. 10 of Bastard (Slightly Biased Manga) Connie on vol. 1 of Captive Hearts (Slightly Biased Manga) A Library Girl [...]
yes… yessss! *rubs hands* keep reading, it only gets better from here on out. Remember the earlier part was probably lower grade due to it being written in the early 90s or late 80s. I think 88 was the debut year. Manga, just like any other medium has certain trends, that may or may not be liked years down the road.
One thing that has bugged me in particular about the earlier volumes is the 80s hair… Ugh. But that changes for the good once you get in the mid 10+ volume. The 90s, go figure.
But yeah, I knew it would eventually get to you. Bastard!! is just, something to fill that niche. Especially later on, where it just gets… awesome in scope, and execution.
It wasn’t even so much the first few volumes that were bad, just… like, from volume 3-8 or something. I have no explanation why I liked the first couple, then hated everything right up to the part I just read. It wasn’t even so much the art or anything, but maybe you’re right about the 80s… I don’t know, maybe the humor and action scenes really were awesome back then. I can sort of imagine it.
I’m glad to hear it gets amazing, though. I’ll probably buy the a few more volumes next time I see them on sale, and I’ll hate myself a little bit because I promised to give it up. I’m weak when it comes to radical manga, though.