Bastard!!

Overview

Main article: List of Bastard!! characters{{!}}List of ''Bastard!!'' characters

Four centuries ago, Earth suffered a cataclysm caused by the demon Anthrasax before she was slain by the Dragon Knight, plunging the world into a new Dark Age. In the present, the Kingdom of Metallicana is attacked by the Dark Rebel Army who seek to resurrect Anthrasax. This prompts the high priest to ask his daughter to awaken Dark Schneider, a dark wizard and founding leader of the Dark Rebel Army who reincarnated himself within the body of 15-year-old Lucien Renlen. In time, Dark's allies learn of his true nature and ties to the calamity that befell the Old World.

*Bastard!!*s history is about sorcery, revenge, and other power struggles in a Dungeons & Dragons–like world. It is a dystopian world where people need magic to survive against wild beasts and evil monsters. There are four kingdoms, each one the protector of one of the four seals that keep the God of Destruction in stasis.

Production

Kazushi Hagiwara aspired to become a manga artist after reading Go Nagai's Devilman and popular ja manga magazines during his youth. Following his departure from high school, he served as an assistant to Izumi Matsumoto on the Weekly Shōnen Jump series Kimagure Orange Road at Shueisha, concurrently developing his own one-shot stories. In 1987, Hagiwara contributed to a Shueisha initiative designed to showcase new artists. His dark fantasy one-shot Wizard!! Bakuen no Seifukusha was selected, performed favorably in reader surveys, and earned a weekly serialization. Hagiwara subsequently adapted the sword and sorcery setting and characters from Wizard!! for the newly titled Bastard!!, which debuted in Shōnen Jump in 1988.

From the manga's inception, Hagiwara integrated scriptwriting, storyboarding, and artwork into a single process. He estimated dividing his time equally between illustrations and dialogue, completing up to three pages daily. The initial chapters, which comprised the first few ja volumes, were produced solely by Hagiwara on a demanding weekly schedule. He concluded that while he could work faster to complete more volumes, the perceived artistic quality would decline under strict deadlines. A team of up to six assistants at his studio aided with backgrounds, inking, and screentone application. The series later transitioned to a less frequent publication schedule in other Shueisha magazines. With more time between chapters, Hagiwara assumed greater responsibility for the artwork rather than delegating it to assistants. Beginning during his tenure as an assistant, Hagiwara employed extensive screentone for character shadows, background shading, and effects to create a three-dimensional appearance. He instructed his assistants in this technique and increased its use after the magazine transition. Hagiwara also referenced cosplay photographs and his extensive figurine collection to achieve a more realistic aesthetic. He experimented with digital coloring for the series but predominantly used analog methods with Pantone and Copic markers.

In addition to the significant influence of Devilman, Hagiwara derived inspiration for the fantasy setting of Bastard!! from role-playing video games such as the Dragon Quest series and gamebooks, particularly the Fighting Fantasy series by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. As an avid anime enthusiast, he attempted to emulate the styles of contemporary artists and animators he admired. Primary influences on the character designs included , Hiroyuki Kitatsumi, Tomonori Kogawa, and Mutsumi Inomata. Kitatsumi later contributed to the character designs for the Bastard!! anime OVA, while Onda illustrated the adaptation's DVD covers. Hagiwara had studied and replicated Kogawa's distinctive cel art style for years; the character Princess Sheila was conceived due to his appreciation for Ciela from Aura Battler Dunbine, a series on which Kogawa worked. Locations, spells, and certain characters in Bastard!! are directly named after hard rock and heavy metal bands, including Bon Jovi, Accept, Stryper, Metallica, Judas Priest, Whitesnake, Anthrax, Megadeth, Venom, Guns N' Roses, Black Sabbath, and Helloween.

Media

Manga

Bastard!! is written and illustrated by Kazushi Hagiwara. A pilot chapter, titled Wizard!! Bakuen no Seifukusha, was published in Shueisha's ja manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump in 1987. Bastard!! began serialization in the same magazine on March 14, 1988, and ran on a regular basis in the magazine until August 21, 1989. The first ja volume was published on August 10, 1988. The series was then switched to the Weekly Shōnen Jump Specials quarterly magazine, where it ran on an irregular basis. It was later published again in Weekly Shōnen Jump, on an irregular "monthly" basis, from 1997 to 2000. The series was transferred to the ja manga magazine Ultra Jump, starting on December 19, 2000. The manga is published in the magazine on an irregular schedule. Its latest chapter was published on May 19, 2010. Twenty-seven volumes have been released as of March 2012. Shueisha re-released the series in a new ja-like edition, titled Bastard!! Complete Edition. The first volume updates Hagiwara's art style, improving backgrounds, screentones and includes redrawing of some characters. The second volume is fully redrawn and includes a graphic sex scene not included in the original release. Further volumes are unchanged. Volumes were released from December 2000 to December 2009. In 2014, Shueisha released a nine-volume ja edition from May to September.

In North America, Viz Media announced the license of Bastard!! in July 2001. The Viz edition is based on Bastard!! Complete Edition. Viz edition differs in a few ways from Japan release. Including graphic sexual scenes being censored, the major differences are the changing of location named after real-life bands. Viz Media (and Pioneer for the OVA adaptation) took the Japanese transliterations of these band names and changed them somewhat, then transliterating them back to English, e.g., Anthrax became "Anthrasax", Iron Maiden into "Aian Meide", and the main city in which the story takes place, Metallicana, was changed to "Meta-Rikana". Viz Media published the first five volumes in a left-to-right edition from August 2002 to December 2003. The volumes were later republished in its original right-to-left version starting from November 2003. The manga stopped its publication after the release of volume 19 in September 2009.

A 51-page reboot of the pilot chapter, Wizard!! Bakuen no Seifukusha, illustrated by Tatsuya Shihara, was published in Ultra Jump on July 29, 2023.

Volumes

November 5, 2003 (RL) (RL) December 1, 2003 (RL) (RL) March 1, 2004 (RL) (RL) July 7, 2004 (RL) (RL) October 12, 2004 (RL) (RL)

Original video animation

A six-episode original video animation (OVA) series by AIC was released between August 25, 1992, and June 25, 1993. The OVA cover the story up through the Four Lords of Havoc's battle against Abigail (volumes 6–7 of the manga).

In North America, Pioneer Entertainment released the series on three VHS set tapes with an English dub between August 28 and December 8, 1998. Pioneer re-released the OVA on DVD on June 5, 2001.

Original net animation

Main article: List of Bastard!! episodes{{!}}List of ''Bastard!!'' episodes

An original net animation (ONA) adaptation by Liden Films was announced on February 3, 2022. The 24-episode ONA is directed by Takaharu Ozaki, with scripts written by Yōsuke Kuroda, character designs by Sayaka Ono, and music composed by Yasuharu Takanashi. The first 13 episodes were released worldwide on Netflix on June 30, 2022, while the remaining 11 episodes were released on September 15 of the same year. The opening theme is "Bloody Power Fame" by Coldrain, while the ending theme is "Blessless" by Tielle. In Japan, the ONA series began a televised broadcast on BS11 on January 11, 2023.

A second season was announced on January 9, 2023. It premiered on Netflix on July 31, 2023, consisting 15 episodes. The opening theme is "New Dawn" by Coldrain, while the ending theme is "La Muse Perdue" by Tielle. The second season began broadcasting on BS11 and other networks on January 3, 2024; the first three episodes aired as a 90-minute special.

The series' first season was released on a Blu-ray Disc set in North America by Sentai Filmworks on January 21, 2025.

Video games

A 1994 Bastard!! 3D fighting game was released for Super Famicom. A role-playing video game with turn-based fighting elements, titled Bastard!! -Utsuro Naru Kamigami no Utsuwa-, was released for PlayStation on December 27, 1996.

A MMOG platformer called Bastard!! Online was also in development by the Japanese publisher Tecmo and software developer Shaft. A beta test was released in 2006; however, Tecmo announced that they had canceled its development in December 2009.

Reception and legacy

Bastard!! is one of Shueisha's best-selling manga series of all time, with over 30 million copies in circulation.

Video game designer and producer Daisuke Ishiwatari said *Bastard!!*s fantasy setting was a major influence on creating Guilty Gear.

Notes

References

References

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