Finally, we’re going to leave Anatae. Part of Shingeki no Bahamut: Genesis‘s charm is seeing and learning about this fantasy world that the angels and demons are so desperately fighting over. Sure, I liked last week’s episode, but being stuck in Anatae hasn’t really been much fun. Thankfully, our heroes have a new quest. Actually, it’s not really new, but they do have a new direction: help Amira find her mother not in Helhelm but Prusidia instead. Unfortunately, they had a hard enough time just trying to get to Helheim. On the other hand, neither Favaro nor Rita had heard of Prudisia until now, so how are our heroes going to pull this off? In fact, I’m rather disappointed to see that we’re just four weeks away from the show’s finale. It seems like there’s so much still to see and learn about this world. The scope of the story feels so large, and yet, we only get a single cour to hear this story. In fact, can Amira really find and reunite with her mother in just four episodes? Or will things end on a cliffhanger as a potential sequel looms on the horizon? I guess we’ll find out soon enough.
Well, there isn’t any particular subject that I want to discuss in great depth this week, so I’ll just blog this episode with a bunch of small notes and observations.
— So just seeing a very simplified representation of Bahamut is enough to make Amira scream and pass out. There are still so many questions to answer.
— What does Gabriel do? I suppose humans aren’t suppose to comprehend what the gods do with their spare time, but seeing Gabriel pop in out of nowhere just to butt into a conversation, I can’t help but wonder what Gabriel has been doing this entire time. Also, the angel seems deadset against letting the humans win the day. If there’s a traitor on the demon’s side, I wonder if the gods will have an antagonist of their own to contend with.
— It’s always funny to me when fictional kings are deeply offended if someone turns down a generous reward. I guess I just don’t see what there is to be mad about. Oh, you don’t want bountiful land? Okay, no sweat off my back. Nevertheless, we’ve come to somehow expect this sort of behavior whenever we read or see a story about any member of a royal family or even just the aristocracy.
— In Amira’s memories, a demon told her to go to Helhelm. He isn’t a demon that we recognize, though. I wonder if he is perhaps her real father (I never once bought into the idea that Lavalley was her father). In any case, he must be the “mastermind” that the angels speak of?
— Kaisar can be so silly at times. He doesn’t think Lavalley can be a demon because the man once said inspiring words to him! Basically, if you’re good, you can’t be a demon. So what does he make of Amira, then?
— Was it really necessary to gather all these people in the courtyard just to have them watch Favaro and Kaisar be knighted?
— So what about Rita? Does she get anything? I don’t like her character, but I mean, she did help… in her own ways.
— A weapon that can even slay a god, huh? That’s a lot of trust to put on any person. Plus, where does that leave the Maltet now that Jeanne has a fancy new sword?
— I’ve been saying all along that this king is an asshole, and it looks like my suspicions have just been confirmed. It’s just hilarious when I think back to all those people trying to defend the king’s actions. Yes, a man totally deserved to die just because he was ambushed and thus lost a very important artifact. Uh-huh.
— Coy Amira who looks away from Lavalley just makes me want to roll my eyes. Bring the old Amira back, man.
— We briefly see that Azazel had survived the previous battle, but Beelzebub shows up anyway to finish the demon off. This is anime, however, so you can never be too sure if anyone is actually dead, especially if they’re a demon. But there are so many characters with so many ulterior motives. All that we learn is that Beelzebub intends to betray Lucifer, but nothing more.
— Is this Snow White now? But not surprisingly enough, King Charioce has now fallen under evil influences — as if he wasn’t deplorable enough — and he’ll likely betray Jeanne in a later episode. Maybe even try to burn her at the stake.
— “The war gods have been wiped out?” Who are the war gods?
— And elsewhere, we finally meet Lucifer… and he is one shiny mofo.
— As expected, Amira is half angel and half demon. Not only that, her growth has been sped up, and this explains why she’s so childlike. We thus have a bit of a reversal. She’s not a young girl who has an old soul. Rather, she’s a grown woman who has a young soul. So hands off, pedos.
— But how come only Lavalley knows this — and he thus recognizes Amira — and no one else? Surely, this is important information that other important people should know. Like Jeanne, for instance.
— We also have to worry whether or not we can really trust this guy. My inclination is to say that he isn’t lying, but you never know. Again, it’s a bit odd that he knows so much, and yet, no one else seems to know anything.
— Kinda looks like the Death Star. But apparently, the pendants in both Amira and Lavalley’s possessions can help them pinpoint the location of the girl’s mother. Is she in Helheim? No. Rather, she’s in, uh, Prudisia, the Valley of Demons.
— But we still have plenty of questions. Who’s her father? And if she’s really the daughter of an angel and a demon, then what’s her connection to Bahamut? And c’mon, can our heroes really leave Kaisar and Rita behind?
Moe Sucks 
“In Amira’s memories, a demon told her to go to Helhelm. He isn’t a demon that we recognize, though. I wonder if he is perhaps her real father (I never once bought into the idea that Lavalley was her father). In any case, he must be the “mastermind” that the angels speak of?”
Actually, we have seen that demon before, two episodes ago. You also see him all the time in the OP. He’s the one that heckled Azazel the first time about losing to humans. His name is Martinet and he works for Beelzebub. Beelzebub works for Lucifer but is obviously betraying him, and from the blue fire that surrounds Amira and the shape that comes up the protect her, I think it’s a pretty good bet that Beelzebub is her father and where she gets her power. He’s obviously the mastermind behind everything too.
Oh well, these characters need to be more developed for them to be memorable to me.
Boring episode. The show has been really slow lately.
“Was it really necessary to gather all these people in the courtyard just to have them watch Favaro and Kaisar be knighted?”
I think we can argue two ways here. The first is that these are the heroes whose story we are following and who we are supposed to identify with, blabla, so having so many people gives the viewer a sense of… perhaps entitlement or feeling special or something like that?
The second way is to look at the knighting as a political act. I mean we already got tons of indications in previous episodes that in terms of leadership and charisma and overall competency, the king totally fails in comparison to Jeanne. And now we see that he is painfully aware of that. You are wondering why he reacts so offended when she declines his offer and you are not wrong by stating that this is really cliched behaviour, but if I put myself into his shoes for a moment, Jeannes reaction is an (albeit superficial) signal that she is not under his full control. And for a person in power who has nothing to offer but birthright this can be seen as a major threat.
The episode did not spell it out explicitly, but when Jeanne made her “humble request”, I am pretty sure that she was the one to suggest Favaro and Kaisar’s knighting. In this context making such a huge public deal out of it makes totally sense for me, because the king takes back political agency (in his mind at least) by turning Jeannes sensible request (he believes in her competency) into a glory spectacle for himself. He basically one ups her in his mind, so when Michael came down and gave Jeanne the sword, it was probably twice as painful for him. On a purely practical level, doing such a big ceremony is probably the only thing he can do to signal (or cast the illusion) that he is actually doing something. I mean, can he lead and inspire through example? No charisma and courage. Slay demons? Too wimpy. Wield Maltet? The weapon would be wasted.
“So what about Rita? Does she get anything? I don’t like her character, but I mean, she did help… in her own ways.”
If my assumption about Jeanne’s recommendation is true then this would also make sense. She witnessed Favora and Kaisar handling Azazel, but Rita was working in the background at that time.
And elsewhere, we finally meet Lucifer… and he is one shiny mofo.
Considering the meaning of his name, his design makes a certain amout of sense. Watching him still hurt my eyes though.
What is your issue with Amira not being, “angry action grrrll” 24/7?
1)I’m pretty sure that will happen eventually
2)is there something wrong with a woman being feminine/showing feminine emotion in anime or something? It’s not like she’s a haremette to the main character(s) (thank god) I’m kinda thinking that you (e-minor) just want to see women being broody and angry all the time or something, Hell most people in this show aren’t even that way! . . .Except for Joan of Arc. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her smile once.
Bahamut=/=Garo
Because the only alternative to cutesy is angry/broody. Gotcha.
“Women have no other emotion to display.” — Anonymous, 2014
Continued: I’m thinking you’re just nitpicking at something that isn’t an issue (Amira’s range of emotions. . .which should be a good thing especially given her backstory) if anything should be nitpicked at, it should be the Cliche way that the king is portrayed! Fuck, I haven’t seen a good anime king in a long time! In anime its always King and/or religious leader(pope/space pope whatever) is some evil asshole guy. Amira is fine, the king on the other hand is a poorly written character.
Sorry, you don’t get to decide what I take an issue with.
“We thus have a bit of a reversal. She’s not a young girl who has an old soul. Rather, she’s a grown woman who has a young soul. So hands off, pedos.”
Luckily, the characters in the show like Favaro or Lavalley treat Amira in a way that is appropriate to her inner age. Kaisar not so much, but his whiteknighting kind of forces him to keep his hands off her.
Still, I also read your essay “Cult of Cuteness” and the infantilization-aspect that you pointed out is very much at work here. In the end we still have (on screen) a well-proportioned attractive woman, who lacks agency due to her being a literal infant (or child) at heart. Though in-story-wise the reason for her infantilization are perfectly reasonable, it still disappoints me that there can’t be a female main character in anime who at the same time simply possesses agency.
I have grown up in Germany and everywhere I looked, I got to know women who had exactly that: agency, and guess what? They have totally different and diverse personalities and traits. So how difficult can it be to write these women into stories? Anime and its disconnect with reality, I swear.
There are so many different ways her character could’ve turned out, but she ends up being yet another innocent child with little life experience and needs to have her hand held. What makes Shingeki no Bahamut so appealing is that it avoids many of the common anime cliches. That’s why both Rita and Amira have been disappointing. On the one hand, you have a necromancer parading about as loli. On the other hand, you have a strong and powerful half-demon… who’s emotionally a child. Give me a break, man. But even so, I make one comment on Amira’s personality. One. Out of 1000 words, I simply say bring the old Amira back. But apparently, if I don’t like girls with the personality of a 5 year old — and, somehow, this is just what femininity is to the previous commenter — this means I want super angry “I Spit On Your Grave” style women everywhere. It’s hilarious.
That king is a real asshole, I wonder why Kaisar doesn’t resent that guy, now he’s super joyful that his father’s executioner made him knight, he more than anybody should know that a title like that worth shit, I swear Kaisar is like the dumbest character of the show.
Now that we know the truth about Amira’s real age I think that sadly there’s no turning back to the “old Amira”, Favaro will be his fatherly figure and that’s that, anyway I just want to see her going super saiyan and kicking some ass again.
I agree with you in that it’d be a waste to end the series for sure in just four more episodes. I, too, would really like it to have a sequel in the future, as the world is very interesting, and you can’t just not appreciate Favaro.
It’s funny how all this came to be just from a card game’s lore. The sad thing is that, despite the anime doing very, very well sales-wise, if it also doesn’t boost the card game’s sales, then the company probably won’t consider doing it again.