There’s just one day left until the premiere of the new Bastard!!: Heavy Metal, Dark Fantasy anime adaptation on Netflix.
To spice things up, an uncredited OP video has been revealed. The opening song is “Bloody Power Fame” by coldrain.
A commemorative special program starring Kishō Taniyama (Dark Schnieder), Hiroki Yasumoto (Gara), Yoko Hikasa (Arshes Nei), Tomokazu Sugita (Abigail), and Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (Lars) will commence on July 8.
The Bastard!!: Heavy Metal, Dark Fantasy 2022 anime series: at a glance
Given that Bastard!! is to premiere on June 30, pretty much all relevant info has been revealed, including that it will be a split-cour series with the first 13 episodes to commence tomorrow and the remaining 11 episodes to be released at a later date (amounting to 24 episodes for the entire series, in total).
Here’s the first Bastard!! trailer, to refresh your memory before the premiere…
… And a stellar PV to boot.
The main cast is, as follows:
- Dark Schneider: Kisho Taniyama (Attack on Titan’s Jean)
- Tia Noto Yoko: Tomori Kusunoki (Assassins Pride’s Melida)
- Gara: Hiroki Yasumoto (One-Punch Man’s King)
- Arshes Nei: Yoko Hikasa (High School DxD’s)
- Gara: Hiroki Yasumoto (Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War’s Yasutora ‘Chad’ Sado)
- Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (Sasaki and Miyano’s Taiga Hirano)
The staff members are:
- Producer: Warner Bros. Japan
- Art Director: Kazuhiro Inoue (Kusanagi)
- Art Setting: Barnstorm Design Labo
- Creature Design: Raita Sunaga
- Effects Design: Tatsuo Yamada
- Color Key Artist: Aiko Shinohara
- Special Effects: Ayumi Arahata
- Special Effects Supervisor: Kumiko Taniguchi
- 3D CGI: Felix Film Compositing
- Director of Photography: Junpei Takatsu
- Editing: Mai Hasegawa
Bastard!! is being produced by Liden Films (Berserk), with Felix Film in charge of the 3D-CGI.
The Bastard!!: Heavy Metal, Dark Fantasy manga
The Bastard!!: Heavy Metal, Dark Fantasy manga by Kazushi Hagiwara began in 1988. It was serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Shōnen Jump until 2000 when it was transferred to Ultra Jump. In 2010, the manga went on hiatus and remains unfinished to this day.
Bastard!! blends multiple genres and is heavily inspired by the titular heavy metal and RPG, specifically Dungeons & Dragons. If you’re unfamiliar with the franchise, expect adventure, fantasy, and supernatural galore, topped with catchy heavy metal songs and epic battles.
The 2022 Bastard!! anime is the second adaptation of the manga; a six-episode OVA series (covering the first seven manga volumes) was released in 1992/93.
As for the synopsis, VIZ Media puts it this way:
“In a postapocalyptic world of heavy metal fantasy, the only thing able to save humans from orcs, lizard men, and other monsters is something even more evil. Sealed within a 14-year-old boy, the chaotic wizard Dark Schneider is unleashed to fight four mighty generals and their plot to resurrect on evil god!”
By the by, VIZ Media originally licensed the manga and released the first nineteen out of twenty-seven volumes.