Audience reviews
11 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
Dutchleague
A 7 is for the Heavy Metal aesthetic. It’s loud and it’s ridiculous. It feels like an album cover come to life. It’s a solid 7 because it’s fun, but it’s definitely not "high art."
● Themes and Narrative Structure:
It’s a classic "Dark Wizard vs. The World" setup. The themes are light, mostly about ego and power. The structure is a bit dated (it is an 80s throwback, after all), following a villain of the week progression for a while.
● Character Development:
Dark Schneider is the ultimate love to hate him lead. He’s arrogant and powerful, but he’s not shallow. He’s a man with a past that slowly unfurls. He’s the opposite of a good hero, which makes him interesting.
The antagonists are often former allies, which adds a layer of history to the fights.
● Technical Execution:
The mod…
Read at the sourceCiezul
Loud, outdated, and kind of embarrassing.
Yoko was annoying af. No real depth, no real growth.
Dark Schneider was so dumb. I mean, you're supposed to be the greatest sorcerer of all time, but you can't see Nei's problem? Very generic and laughable but a big plot hole. The writing makes him look like a parody, and not in a good way. It’s painfully generic.
And then… that creepy revelation.
Seriously, wtf was that? Was the mangaka on weed while planning that plot point?
Ugh... I wanted to watch the new adaptation. But after this experience? Yeah, no thanks. I’ve got better anime to spend my time on.
Read at the sourceSgtSalamander
Oh, what shall I say about Bastard!! It's the kind of anime you'd furtively get from your local video rental place's anime section back when it was the weirdest thing you could be into. Bastard!! is the kind of anime you'd find painted on the side of a van, next to Conan the Barbarian. In short, Bastard!! is violent, horny, and 90s as hell, and not once does it pull back or apologize for it. It leans so heavily into the trope that it almost borders on parody, with just enough sincerity to not quite cross the line. There's blood, there's titties, and there's Dark Schneider, the badmouthing overpowered badass that can never seem to just stay dead. It's also enveloped in an array of bizarre production decisions that lend the whole thing a sense of hallucinatory absurdity. For example, the int…
Read at the sourceThatAnimeSnobRE
On a superficial level, the title is extremely fun, full of mostly naked chicks, muscular guys, epic level spells, ugly monsters, explosions that level mountains, girls hitting hapless men, as well as a weird mix of medieval castles and ruined high-tech cities. It comes off as someone has maxed out his JRPG characters and is now fooling around with mid-level fighters who think they stand a chance. So yes, it is like an isekai power fantasy. Only with very good production values for the time it was made and not the ugly CGI nonsense they give us today.
Fair warning, there is a plot, but it’s more of an afterthought. It comes down to a bunch of overpowered warlords fighting each other over who gets to rule the world, and everything takes place inside a hapless kingdom of mid-level fighters…
Read at the sourceErnacram
Bastard!! is dark fantasy OVA focusing on a powerful magician known as Dark Schneider. He tried to conquer the world with the help of four other magicians known as the lords of Havoc, but was eventually trapped in the body of a child named Rushe by a group of clerics. Fifteen years later, the lords of havoc are trying to awaken Ansla-sax, the god of destruction that destroyed the world and brought humanity back to the medieval ages. Trying to defend their town from the lords of Havoc, the clerics bring back Dark Schneider so that he can defeat his former comrades. Joined by a few other people, such as a girl named Yoko and the princess of the town, Dark Schneider goes on a quest to track down his former friends, beat them up and reconciliate with them, because as you know if you’ve watched…
Read at the sourceephemerry
Bastard!!, or Basutādo!! Ankoku no Hakaishin, has been localized as either ‘Bastard: Heavy Metal, Dark Fantasy’ or ‘Bastard: ‘The Destructive God of Darkness.’ Despite Dark Schneider being the definitive example of a hyper-masculinized, power fantasy—the series is a satirical deconstruction of this archetypal, over-powered, fantasy character. *Parodical in its nature (similar, in the display of overt masculinity, to JoJo's Bizarre Adventure), Bastard!! is a balls-out, seinen epic that is unabashed about gratuitous violence and the blatant sexualization of its characters.
*In the redrawn volumes of the Bastard!! manga, Kazushi Hagiwara adds Haruhi Suzumiya and Mikura Asahina from Suzumiya Haruhi no Yūutsu, as well as Rin Tōsaka and Rider from Fate/stay night, to Dark Schneider’s harem.
—St…
Read at the sourceStarfleeting
I read reviews for this show before watching it, finding the premise intriguing but still unsure about it. However, since it was only six episodes wrong, I thought why not give it a watch. And yeah there are definitely times this anime is bad. The ecchi type humor also doesn't do it many favors.
However, I still enjoyed it. Some of the humor made me chuckle because it was that ridiculous and the voicework wasn't that bad in those moments (I especially liked recognizing some familiar voices in the cast).
It was a genuinely interesting premise that I honestly think would benefit from a new, longer anime for it. But until then, I'm considering giving the manga a read since the anime as it is is incomplete.
Read at the sourceItsFapTime
Our story begins in a far future where the world has been through an apocalypse that spawned all sorts of strange and evil creatures, leaving human beings in a precarious position. Things have gone back to a feudal era where sorcery, sword fighting, and armor plating rule the day. Four warlords of chaos get together to break the seals that hold back a creature of ultimate darkness, and as the viewer knows, this can't be good. At the same time...Yoko is best friends with Rushe, a little boy who follows her everywhere. Little does she know that buried deep within Rushe is a secret weapon, the wizard known as Dark Schneider. When the warlords' plans come to the attention of the free world, there's a realization that Dark Schneider is the only hope of defeating the threat.
There's only one pr…
Read at the sourcelazy-san
I love this anime because it was so bad that it was funny. It played on a lot of the usual cliches in a story and made fun of itself. I honestly thought that at some parts their lines were so obviously bad it was really funny. I also love how this anime points out that the hansom guy always wins. It kept me laughing. I'd recommend this for a laugh and something to watch on your off time since it's short.
Read at the sourceRaja
if you enjoy a good amount of action with some nudity this show is difinetely worth watching
the plot is pretty cliche so if you are looking for an anime with a deep storyline, you might wanna look elsewhere
this was made in 1993 so if you are looking for shiny glossy characters, ill suggest you guys look elsewhere but all in all i found this anime to be enjoyable and i would recommend it if you are looking for a good action anime to watch
too bad it ends in 6 episodes i would have prefered if it continued
Read at the sourcemoozooh
Bastard!! is, for the most part, so hilariously, inexcusably bad that it's actually good; essentially a parody on itself. Or rather, it depends entirely on your sense of humor!
Let's compile a brief checklist of the bad. We have:
* a cliche-ridden story;
* a nonsensical amount of injuries (and blood loss) casually sustained by characters;
* pathetic sound effects;
* character design that is both bad AND forgettable (wow!);
* ridiculous screenplay and over-the-top voice acting;
* vomit-inducing fan service and ecchi humor;
* overpowered fighters and magicians beating the crap out of each other with named trump-card techniques;
* the essence of MANLINESS furiously emanating from most of the male cast with not a single female around who wouldn't be in heat over this;
* ripping off the naming…
Read at the source