Yeah all right, I’m in…

No question about it, Shingeki no Bahamut is quite a lot of fun week in and week out.  The plot is still a bit of a muddle as far as I’m concerned, but I don’t think that’s especially important in the larger scheme of things.  It really is more a premise than a plot in the true sense of the word, because the objective of the series is mainly to create premeditated situations for explosions, swordfights, spit-takes and cool dialogue all set to what sounds like a movie soundtrack from the 40’s.  And there’s sure nothing wrong with that.

Favaro is the closest thing to a fully fleshed-out character here, and it’s becoming clear that much of his carefree bounty hunter act is just that.  He states the case for not following Kaisar and Amira very well to Rita – one of them wants to kill him, and the other one has cursed him.  And Rita makes no indication that she intended to force Favaro to join her in her rescue mission.  Yet Favaro does – and not only that, he apparently sacrifices his bounty hunter wristband (which I gather can never be replaced) in order to coerce Bacchus into assisting.

So what’s really going on here?  Surely it all ties back to Favaro’s betrayal of Kaisar, and the guilt he feels over it.  Japanese fiction loves to play with perception Rashomon-style (I’ve referenced that masterpiece a lot lately) and one suspects that Favaro, while he’s likely guilty in the matter, isn’t as guilty as Kaisar makes him out to be.  Did he lie?  Absolutely – but it’s a good bet he never intended things to go down the way he did, and has harbored grief over it ever since (and put on his Errol Flynn act as a way of covering).  Rita’s motivation seems pretty clear – she’s lonely, and Kaisar is the closest thing she has to a friend or family.  Favaro’s case is more complicated, but I think it boils down to the fact that he’s basically a nice guy but doesn’t want to admit it even to himself.

All this means tracking down Amira and Kaisar in Azazel’s giant Cthulhu snail ship (or whatever it is) which Favaro and Rita do with Bacchus’ help.  Azazel is having fun torturing Amira (or at least watching Pazazu do it) and generally being entertained by Kaisar’s feckless hero act, but the headline here is when Kaisar name-drops and Azazel recognizes it – and in fact, when Favaro shows up later he recgonizes Azazel as the demon who betrayed his father.  The plot premise thickens…  We’re well set up for a swashbuckling rescue here, especially when the Orleans Knights spring the trap they’ve set for Azazel – though Kaisar does delay things a bit by trying to kill Favaro.  Rita is the one who puts a stop to that by giving new meaning to the phrase “throwing a punch” – and it’s she who zombifies some transport for the team to make their escape.  This was definitely Rita’s strongest week in my view – she kicked some ass (and other things – two of them) and was amusing doing so.

So now we finally have the dream team assembled, and with Favaro having promised not to run this time I think he and Kaisar are finally going to get to the truth of what happened between them.  Meanwhile Hirata Hiroaki’s (this is a guy who can’t not be great, no matter the role) Lavalley seems destined to take center stage next week, as the Angels side takes the lead in the pursuit of Amira (who gives us a little taste of the power she has inside her after stealing the God Key).  I still don’t care much about all that God Key stuff to be honest, but having another cool character to watch go through his paces sounds like a welcome prospect.