What They Say:
Favarro is a rogue bounty hunter by trade and is relentlessly pursued by his rival Kaisar. One day after completing a job he encounters a mysterious girl who is seeking out a location called Helheim. Favvaro claims to know where it is and after she ends up saving him, Favarro finds his life changed forever.
The Review:
Content(warning as portions of this review may contain spoilers):
As the show heads towards it’s conclusion, Bahamut gives us yet another episode full of new revelation. Though much like the with the last one, the stakes have been raised even higher, and the results have a pretty big impact. However where last week’s episode mostly ended on a note of hope, this one is pretty much downright despair, and as with everything the show does it’s delivered in the most spectacular way possible.
Favarro and the gang continue their trek to Prudessia where Amara’s mother is supposed to be, and though she and Kaisar had their spirits renewed from Favarro’s speech last week, he on the other hand is worried about having to kill her. Meanwhile back at the capital Jeanne is burned at the stake and when she sees the citizens getting slaughtered for defending her, she succumbs to the dark side when gods refuse to come to their aid. Rita and Bacchus decide to go after the others after she has an encounter with Martinet, the demon who manipulated Jeanne and they end up running into Azazel, who’s still alive somehow.
Back with the main trio they finally arrive at Prudessia but it turns out to actually be Helheim as Martinet and Beelzebub reveal they’ve been behind the entire scheme and that Amara was a creation they made from her mother to obtain Bahamut. Amara ends up having an unexpectedly cruel reunion with her as it’s used to transform Amara into the key and the two demons complete their master plan. Favarro decides to take the opportunity to pull a fast one and pretends want to join them, but (as with pretty much all of his schemes) it ends up backfiring and they turn him into a full-fledged demon instead.
This is the heaviest episode of Bahamut yet, and pretty much all the new developments work in it’s favor. Jeanne actually being corrupted and turned into a demon, is great subversion of her character archetype in most fictional media, while still being true to the core of the character itself. The manipulation the scene where she renounces the gods is mostly obvious and yet it’s completely believable that she would rise to defend the people even in such a way, and it should be interesting to see where the show takes her next. It’s also kind of fun to see Azazel again (even if it’s a little odd he somehow survived being incinerated) and while it seems like he’ll being going enemy-mine with the heroes, he still comes across as a slimeball and hopefully things stay that way. Favarro’s fate at the end is also a pretty shocking twist and given that he’s clearly going to be the “knight” prophesied to stop Bahamut, it’s one that could make for some crazy complications if it sticks.
What really makes this episode particularly heavier than usual though, is by and and large the Amara stuff. Seeing her have her worldwide view shattered so quickly is pretty heartbreaking, especially considering how excited she was about being able to see her mother again at the start of the episode(Marinent’s evil mustache twirling delivery of the revelation doesn’t help things either). The scene where she finally meets her mother and tries to give her a hug in a desperate attempt to assure herself she loves her is two parts tragic and horrifying as Amara genuinely wants to be with her, while her mother on the other hand looks downright terrified to see her as she knows what her existence will bring. Although at the end of the scene, the expression her mother makes does indicate that she returns Amara’s feelings at least a little bit, and the fact that none of this is verbally said really makes it work, showing that the show is as good at writing emotion as it is at writing good fantasy. It also becomes apparent for the first time after seeing this episode, that the ending theme to the series is actually from Amara’s perspective and is an expression of her desire to see her mother again, which really adds to the punch as the reunion is painfully ironic.
In Summary:
Bahamut delivers on it’s emotional episode yet, and manages to pull it off with a sense of grace befitting of all the other highs it’s reached so far. The truth about Amara is a pretty painful one for her, and the show’s execution of it is really well done. With her becoming the key and Favarro now a demon, it’s hard to see how the others are going to pull out of this one next week, but it should be pretty fun to watch.
Grade: A
Streamed By: Funimation. Hulu
