And lo, the flow of premieres has turned into a flood. That means I’m behind the 8-ball as usual, and that means Shingeki no Bahamut is going to get a little bit of the short shrift – as usual. It’s as if a conspiracy of fate is trying to keep me from covering this series as expansively as I should, because it’s really good – and I will give it its due, starting next week. But with over half of my first tier new series premiering within 24 hours of each other and everything still backed up from A/X, this week is again going to be a short post.
This week’s episode was a sharp contrast to last week’s action extravaganza, which is fine as “Virgin Soul” is quite adept at both phases of the game. Mostly we’re focused on Nina and Jeanne, and while I think the series is better when the spotlight is shared more evenly – I love Nina but non-stop she can be a bit much, and Jeanne is a bit… boring – it works well enough. The trip to Nina’s home village is a good one, though it is mostly Jeanne gazing warmly on Nina and all of her heartwarming connections. I especially liked Granny, and especially the moment when she offered Nina a sip of her tea. That was great physical comedy.
Not all that much actually happened, though we did find out that Nina’s father had died heroically in the Bahamut affair and that her transformation syndrome may be a response to that. Most interesting is that Charioce apparently reminds her of her father (that’s what pushes Nina’s buttons). Granny is going to take she and Jeanne to the Land of the Gods on her back (she’s one majestic dragon). I would also note that Azazel turns up in both the OP and ED, so I think rumors of his disappearance from the premise may be greatly exaggerated – I hope so, because I find his personality is missed. The ED, by the way, is highly amusing – a “Cinderella” theme.
GC
July 7, 2017 at 7:38 pmNina is one of the best characters of 2017.
HoTaRu
July 7, 2017 at 8:20 pmThis was so heartwarming and moving, especially Jeanne’s heart-to-heart with Nina’s mom. I feel like Nina has matured quite a bit since the beginning of the series as displayed when she talked about her feelings for Charioce. She still maintains all of her exuberant charm though which makes me happy. The grandma kind of reminded me of Madame Torogai. I love the new opening and ending songs. Such great visuals! I appreciated that they kept the same kind of lightheartedness with the ending like they had before. This show is firmly set as one of the best five for me this year so far. It’s not perfect (most shows usually aren’t) but it certainly gets close most of the time.
Scampi
July 8, 2017 at 4:46 amWhen the multi-colored trailing bishounen stars appear at the end of OP I can’t help but be reminded of macross…it even got naked people, epic mothership and mechas (golems) shots. I kind of lost it when I see Chaorice shedding a tear and just hope the OP has nothing to do with the storyline at all.
Flower
July 8, 2017 at 2:15 pm“The ED, by the way, is highly amusing – a “Cinderella” theme.”
This one took me totally by surprise … I had a silly grin combined with a look of bewilderment plastered all over my face almost the entire time it went on. The staff were obviously enjoying themselves with it. XD
That aside … a great ep. And wow! The village elder went from such a teensy, frumpy, endearing character to such a HUGE other form! O_o