Netflix Dark Fantasy Remake Is A Love Letter To Old-School Anime
Fantasy and metal go together almost as well as peanut butter and jelly, from bands like Blind Guardian to the Kings of the Wyld novel, and even fantasy anime is no exception to this. Case in point, Bastard!! Heavy Metal, Dark Fantasy on Netflix, the remake series of the classic 90s OVA (original video animation), which is everything it says right there in the title. It’s a modern anime with an unapologetically old-school style to it, which means you’ll either love or hate this series; there’s no in-between.
Heavy Metal, Dark Fantasy
Bastard!! Heavy Metal, Dark Fantasy tells the tale of Dark Schneider, the most powerful wizard in the world (as he often reminds everyone around him), who was betrayed by his own generals and forced to be reincarnated into the body of a young boy. Now, years later, the boy is 15, and the Dark Rebel Army is marching on the Kingdom of Metallicana (hold that thought because you’re right, and I’ll get to that), one of four kingdoms that sustain the seal keeping the demon Anthrasax trapped.
If that sounds like a home-brew Dungeons & Dragons campaign, well, yes, it does, and that’s a huge part of the appeal of the series.
An Anime With No Subtext
There is no nuance to Bastard!!, no twist about “who’s the real monster” when it turns out that people are the real enemy; instead, there’s an evil army on one side, and their former commander, now cursed with a conscience, standing against them on the other. There are magical battles, new alliances being formed, old foes becoming friends, old lovers becoming enemies, and through it all, Dark Schneider is at the center. Demon Slayer has a deeper plot, but again, the story is not the point of this series; it’s pure fantasy escapism as imagined by a teenage boy.
A Tribute To Metal
Your first clue, that Bastard!! is aimed right at the daydreams of everybody who fantasizes about heavy metal album art all the names, including the obvious Metallicana, are derived from musicians and bands, including Zakk Walder (Black Sabbath’s Zakk Wylde), Schen Karr (named for the Scorpions guitarist brothers, the Schenkars), and Ba Thory (Bathory, the groundbreaking Swedish metal band), among many, many others.
The Fan Service
The second clue is the overabundance of the male gaze, so get ready for long, lingering shots of Arshes Nei, Dark Schneider’s former lover; though often played for laughs as she’s annoyed over his womanizing, so while the fan service can be grating, I suppose it could be worse. Bastard!! is a throwback in every sense, though, so if objectification of the 80s (City Hunter, for example)and 90s is offense, steer clear. That said, as a long-time anime fan, I’ve seen a lot worse.
A Modern Old School Anime On Netflix
REVIEW SCORE
Bastard!!, for all of its faults with pacing, characterization, and design, is at least aware of what it is and will often poke fun at itself. The original OVA had a gag about how Ninja Master Gara couldn’t do anything as he was off-screen at the time, and the remake followed suit with more of the same throw-away jokes in between the impending end of the world. If it wasn’t for the humor running underneath everything, it would be harder to recommend the series, but thankfully, it’s there throughout and lampshades all the old-school anime tropes.
Available on Netflix, Bastard!! is a fun throwback that’s not for everyone, but if you grew up watching the original Heavy Metal or you know how to calculate THAC0, this is the perfect binge.
