Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul

A decade ago, humans, gods, and demons joined forces to stand against the threat of the colossal dragon, Bahamut.

Now, in the present, humans living in the capital city of Anatae have been enjoying lavish and prosperous lives. Their progress is largely due to the administration of the newly appointed king, Charioce XVII, who has stolen a power from the gods and allowed for the abuse and slavery of the demon race in the capital. As humans continue to immorally exploit demons, a sense of hostility against humans begins to build up within demon communities, threatening a revolt. Meanwhile, an atmosphere of uneasiness is spreading among the gods, as they scramble to regain their lost power.

Amidst it all, Nina Drango, a cheerful young bounty hunter, has arrived at the Royal Capital with hopes of settling down and earning a living. However, her peaceful life in the capital is quickly thrown into chaos when she crosses paths with the ominous Rag Demon who is determined to seek revenge against humans, and Kaisar Lidfard, a noble knight battling an internal moral conflict.

Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul continues the tale of the social and moral conflict between humans, gods, and demons, and their struggle for survival and dominance.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Leone, Favaro Main

Yoshino, Hiroyuki Japanese

Drango, Nina Main

Morohoshi, Sumire Japanese

Azazel Main

Morita, Masakazu Japanese

Charioce XVII Main

Umehara, Yuuichirou Japanese

Lidfard, Kaisar Main

Inoue, Gou Japanese

Rita Supporting

Sawashiro, Miyuki Japanese

Lucifer Supporting

Sakurai, Takahiro Japanese

d'Arc, Jeanne Supporting

Han, Megumi Japanese

Mugaro Supporting

Kugimiya, Rie Japanese

Cerberus Supporting

Kitamura, Eri Japanese

Ootsuka, Manabu Producer

Takenaka, Nobuhiro Producer

Masuda, Katsuhito Producer

Satou, Keiichi Director, Sound Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Sep 29, 2017

HaXXspetten

Recommended

The original Shingeki no Bahamut: Genesis was perhaps one of the most surprising anime of the last few years in the sense that it was an ultra-rare case of a game adaptation that actually didn't suck. In fact, it was actually a really solid fantasy adventure, albeit perhaps not with the best ending. Virgin Soul can be roughly described as a more extreme version of the same pattern: it's even better than the original for the vast majority of its runtime... but also somehow has an even worse ending.

Virgin Soul takes place approximately 10 years after the events of the original. At this point the ... human realm is the dominant force in the world, lead under the ruthless King Charioce XVII. He has managed to effectively steal the powers of the gods and used them in order to turn the demon residents in the capital area into slaves. Both Heaven and Hell have rebellious thoughts on their minds due to the oppression they're suffering, but they have a hard time doing much against the overwhelming power which Charioce possesses. It is here we find our new protagonist Nina Drango: a young and energetic bounty hunter who arrives at the capital seeking her fortune. As a tiny little catch, Nina has the ability to transform herself into a dragon, but only spontaneously, involuntarily and uncontrollably.

As the story goes on, many more characters are introduced, including both new ones and returning ones from Genesis. And what I really like about them is that they're not only extremely well characterized, but you get so many different perspectives about the conflict in place in Virgin Soul. It's not just that many of the characters are quite likable on a personal level, but the agendas of Heaven, Hell and the human realm respectively are all very logically depicted. It's a very balanced cast both in terms of differentiating back stories but also in terms of personalities. Nina herself may be extremely naïve and overly optimistic, but that's also part of her charm and her personality is frequently played around with as a means to drive the story forward in certain directions. And on the opposite side of things, I also have to say that Charioce is one of the more interesting villains I've seen in quite some time. There's so much mystery regarding his true intentions and motives that pretty much up until the very last few episodes of the anime, you still don't know for sure if he's really good or evil, or why he's doing any of the things he is. Yet at the same time he's extremely charismatic, and the peculiar Romeo & Juliet-esque relationship he forms with Nina throughout the story is very unorthodox in nature.

The world-building in Virgin Soul is also excellent. It truly feels like a living and breathing fantasy world in its own right, and it helps magnifying the importance of the consequences of any major event that takes place. And there truly are a lot of major events in it, with its large scale storyline and grandiose vocal + instrumental soundtrack. It just feels epic in general, but without being excessively overdramatized. But unfortunately, for some reason the story just can't keep up all the way to the end. I can't really go into detail without spoiling some of the biggest plot points, but basically there are several plot twists towards the end of the anime which quite frankly don't make any sense. They undermine the credibility of large portions of the anime's storyline leading up to that point, and as a result it leaves you with a bad taste in the mouth by the time you actually finish the show. Of course this is only a small part of the anime as a whole, but the ending is pretty important for a story like this, so seeing them slip up at the end like this is a bit frustrating. Especially considering that it's the second time in a row it has happened for the franchise.

That being said, for the most part Virgin Soul is still a very good fantasy adventure anime in my opinion, even more so than its predecessor, and while it certainly left a lot more to be desired in the end, ultimately the level of the journey leading up that point is enough to make up for it. I also firmly believe this is an anime which most people will enjoy regardless of what your usual genre preferences may be. Honestly I generally dislike action anime and typical battle shounen adventures even more so, but I like this anime quite a bit. Virgin Soul just feels more believable than most series of this genre. No one feels unreasonably overpowered in this story, it's not too predictable and other than the disappointing plot twists towards the end, the various motives for its rather diverse character cast are quite logical. Even when it does go into action scenes, every move feels perfectly plausible based on the characters' own writing, and you don't see any forced turnarounds as a result of plot-convenient power-ups or dumb luck. It all feels relatively fair.

Virgin Soul is a solid continuation to an already good anime, making great use of its world-building and characterization to deliver a very enjoyable final product. Yes, the ending kind of sucks (again) but don't let that discredit the quality of the show leading up to that point. Overall it's still one of the better adventure anime in the last few years.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Sep 30, 2017

98T4nk

Mixed Feelings

This anime will probably never get a 3rd season since it has done so poorly but besides all that its a decent enough series it def isnt as good as the first season and part of that reason is because of the entire nina and chris dynamic which really takes the series from like an 8 to a 6.

If you've watched season one you know how great the ending was i've grown to appreciate it more over the years but it was really good it defintely didn't need a second season in my eyes but they gave it a second season so like most ... fans i was excited but then you see nina and not favaro and it leaves a sour taste in ya mouth personally i didnt care because she was so eccentric and just had a lot of high energy so i liked her the season was good for a whlle but then the king comes in he's basically made a society in which the demons are slaves to the humans and has some crazy ass army with magic powers and shit at first you'd think his only purpose was to be an asshole.. but cool hes a basic character then you have to factor in nina dragon changing ability at first it was whenever she became attracted to a guy she would turn into a dragon fast forward her meeting the king for the first time but the king is disguised and basically helps her out when a bunch of dudes were tryna beat her up or some shit llike that my memory isnt the best bare with me she ends up falling for him not knowing hes the king and because she ends up falling for him shes the only guy she is now attracted to her first love and he is the only person at that point which can turn her into a dragon. I thought the king would use her and the story would go in that direction but it didnt and that was my problem her loving the king him clearly having feelings but repressing them and him being a terrible dictator yet she still loves him. Her completely negating all the shit hes done because shes in love is retarded and it ruins the series in my books. They had previous characters from season one bacchus,jean,zombie girl,kaisar and favaro even back when favaro came back i was hyped but then he didn't really contribute much to the season even though in the moments where he did help nina out they were great but having nina as the main character and having favaro exist being a much better fleshed out character also made the series suffer. I'm just gonna skip to the ending it was good and bad but because it left me kind of frustrated i'll side with the bad more than the good. The fact that jean and Azazel allowed the king to live when they had the chance to kill him is beyond me the fight with the bahamut was a cup of coffee the result of the bahamut with nina ending up becoming mute and is unable to speak while the king has become blind in both eyes... i mean wtf kind of shit is that. The good about the ending was nina meeting amira in the light of the bahamut which was cool but it didnt last long nor was much of anything and then the scene where favaro tells everyone hes leaving this occurs after the fight and nina and the others are having a meal she goes with him and ends up writing out a message on the ground because she cant speak anymore she tells favaro that she met amira in the light of the bahamut and relays a message she told her during that moment for favaro that was really cool but other than that the final episode was dissapointing the entire season has been disspointing and its a shame there was many good moments in this season but towards the ending half of the series it was very wishy washy and ended up falling off a cliff. Its not a bad season but it doesn't live up to how good the first season was so its a dissapointment. It really did not need a second season at all.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Dec 30, 2023

Javamaster

Not Recommended

So, Shingeki no Bahmut: Virgin Soul. The much anticipated sequel to the 2014 anime (in my opinion) Shingeki no Bahamut: Genesis finally aired it's 24th and final episode and boy was it a major let down. Let me get straight into it.

Story: 3/10

The story picks up 10 years after our heroes have saved the planet from a certain destruction. And what did they get for their selfless sacrifice? Favaro is MIA for half the season and Kaiser in stuck in stagnation as the commander of a dying-out military force. Some nobody is out of the blue named King and is following closely in the footsteps ... of an all-to-familiar 1939-1945 dictator from west Europe. Janne is exiled for reasons beyond my understanding. Demons are discriminated and considered as trash, angels are being massacred left and right for no reason and humans are just kind-of there. A NEW character is introduced, without any background or foreshadowing, without any character development or contribution and we're somehow supposed to jump aboard.
Skip a few episodes (23 to be precise) and we come to the conclusion where, SURPRISINGLY all the bad guys turn out to be ACTUALLY good guys, some people die, get forgotten and the BAD guys, who turned GOOD guys get to live happily ever after as heroes. Sound like LeLouche? Well, it's LeLouce only without him dying but instead getting everything he wanted and more.
(those of you, who actually sit through this 24 episode of time-waste will understand)

Art: 8/10

Just like the prequel, the art in this sequel is top-notch. It's not on the level of Unlimited CashWorks but it will leave you satisfied if visual effects are all you're looking for.

Sound: 5/10

Let's get this straight - the bad-ass opening from season 1 is gone and it's not coming back. The OP and ED in this sequel are not worth mentioning and the soundtrack in the actual anime is almost forgettable.

Characters: 3/10

Bland villains, bland main character, little to no character development, lots and LOTS of plot armor for the important characters. NO plot armor for the side characters. Not really the strong point of this anime (much like the story). Bad guys turning good - cliche as cliches get. The true bad guy defeated, but not really, so that a 3rd season cash-grab can be made - check! If you're into mindless action and shallow storytelling, with little to no character presence, then this anime is PERFECT for you.

Enjoymend: 5/10

The first half of the anime had potential. The second half ruined it all with it's horrendous storytelling, cliche characters and predictable plot. Not to mention the sacrifice of key characters without their contribution to the story being fully told.

Overall: 4/10

I wish I could give it a lower score but the average from the above 5 categories prevents me from doing so.

To summarize: if you are into a shallow story, with bland characters, no development, lots of minutes (potentially hours) wasted in idle chatter, some battles and some moral discussions, all leading to a predictable ending (with a few sad but overall overlooked deaths here and there) then this anime is definitely for you (poor soul).

I do hope we NEVER see a third sequel, as that will most certainly butcher an already massacred anime.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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