Bastard!! (1989)

[BASTARD!! -暗黒の破壊神-]

Volume 3

Author/Artist: Kazushi Hagiwara
Publisher: Jump Comics

Synopsis:
Dark Schneider takes on the second of the Three Sorcerer Generals, Kai Harn.

Story/Characters:
The initial gag is that DS thinks Kai Harn is a guy and is more concerned about establishing himself as the prettier of the two than he is about the horde of Orcs sent to chop him to bits. (You can imagine which side ends up in bits.) You'd think a womanizer could tell even a somewhat boyish girl without any trouble, but it takes him blasting off her armor to realize. Kai then uses High Ancient magic to petrify him, which means that he can't break the curse normally, but his bigger complaint is that he's not satisfied with the pose he's in. Sean Ari shows up to come to Dark Schneider's aid, but her former comrade is infuriated at her being seduced and betraying them. She vows to kill them both in the name of her god, which ends up giving DS what he needs to break the petrification. His clothes don't survive (and I guess there's something to said for Hagiwara being equal opportunity when it comes to the frequent nudity in the series), which the man-hating Kai doesn't appreciate. When it looks like she's beat, Sean Ari pleads for her, but Kai has one last card up her sleeve by summoning a cockatrice. At least DS is kind enough to shield Sean Ari from the cockatrice's attacks before he breaks Kai's control over it and then dispatches it, but not before it gets a hit in on its former mistress. We now get to see another suggestive poison sucking scene, only this time with DS doing the sucking. (This annoys Sean Ari a bit.) Much as Sean Ari before her, Kai warns Dark Schneider that the next member of their group will be the death of him. He doesn't really take the warning and leaves on what he's sure is a cool exit.

As he's proceeding to the next objective, DS starts whining more than usual, which is a sign that he's losing control over his form and he reverts to Lucien, which is a bit of a problem smack in the middle of enemy territory. Meanwhile, Metallicana comes under attack by Arshes Nei's forces and Gara and his ninja army show up to help out. Around the same time, Lucien happens to stumble upon Yoko bathing. It says something to their relationship that once she sees it's him, she doesn't have any reservations. When the knights escorting her rush in to find out what the commotion is, however, that's a different story. (Also, she seems to be a bit embarrassed later that Lucien saw her, but as he was able to identify her by her butt, I'd say he's seen her before.) The reason she's out this far is because she was looking for DS. The knights are suspicious of Lars, but Yoko assures them that she doesn't sense any evil in him and when she mentions his name, the knights comment that Lars was the name of Princess Sheila's brother, who became the legendary Dragon Knight to defeat Dark Schneider 15 years ago. I'm sure all that is nothing but minor trivia.

We're then introduced to Count Di-Amon, the third of the Three Sorcerer Generals, a vampire with a taste for the ladies and his longsuffering retainer Jodo. One of his werewolf servants sent to pick up chicks catches the scent of some Grade A meat (Yoko) and attacks the camp. When he threatens Yoko, this prompts Dark Schneider's personality to resurface and unlike the time with Gara, he's actually in command of a measure of his power, enough to turn a werewolf to kibble at least. As you'd imagine, Yoko doesn't like seeing Dark Schneider's usually cruelty to his enemies being done in Lucien's form (though that werewolf had it coming). Lars realizes that DS is coming closer to completing his resurrection and Di-Amon happened to be watching from a distance and learns about DS being sealed in Lucien's body.

When Di-Amon makes his move, Lucien reverts into full Lucien mode, which results in the gang getting scooped up easily. It turns out that he's also taken Sean Ari and Kai Harn prisoner as well. However, the two former Sorcerer Generals prove that they aren't so easy to contain. They fight Di-Amon, but his healing factor works too quickly for the damage they inflict to even slow him down. He puts the bite on Kai and though she and Sean Ari don't have any prospect of victory, they boast of how Dark Schneider will defeat him. Di-Amon mocks them, pointing to the cage where Lucien is being held. Naturally, they don't believe the flimsy kid in the cage is Dark Schneider. He starts punting around Kai like a football, which starts to trigger DS, but the Lucien side of his personality is still present, with the two struggling against each other until Di-Amon turns his attention to Yoko (who kicked him upside the head to protect Sean Ari). With Yoko in danger, Dark Schneider manages to break the seal on his own. Formidable as Di-Amon is, he underestimates his opponent like every other baddie. I thought it was an a-hole move by DS to use poor Jodo as a decoy for one of Di-Amon's attacks, but refer back to the title of the series. DS gives Di-Amon a taste of the sun, but apparently the rules in this universe is that while the sun turns vampires to ash, their spirit can escape in bat form and they can fully regenerate after returning to their coffin to absorb energy from the earth. DS doesn't give him that chance, or at least not before cursing him with Accused, the Curse of the Blue Nail. If you disobey the one who cursed you, the cursed Blue Nail turns red and when it's turned fully scarlet, the victim is transformed into a frog.

With that settled, we have Sean Ari getting jealous of Yoko and while Yoko isn't happy about him fooling around with other women, she doesn't appreciate the cold attitude he takes with Sean Ari either. Back with the big bads, they see Metallicana hasn't fallen yet, in no small part due to the fact that Gara is helping them. Abigail notes that not only Gara but all of Nei's Three Sorcerer Generals have fallen to Dark Schneider and he expects she'll be next. He challenges her to submit to Accused to ensure she doesn't cross over and she accepts to prove her loyalty to the cause. Surely this won't be an issue later.

Art:
I've commented about the 80s hair in this series before, but Kai Harn is rocking it more 70s style. I almost expect her to pilot part of some combining giant robot. The design of the cockatrice is pretty cool and Di-Amon has a very striking look to him. Though he'll have cartoonish takes at time, usually he's drawn more realistically than the other characters, which makes him stand out. It's also interesting seeing DS fight as Lucien. Speaking of fights, the one with Di-Amon is fairly elaborate. I particularly like the full page shot of him when he takes the first big attack from Sean Ari and Kai Harn.

Other:
I don't know if the half-page commentaries on Kai Harn and Arshes Nei were in the original serialization or not, but I'll mention them anyway. There also a 4-koma commemorating the foundation of Hagiwara's group Studio Loud in School.

Conclusion:
The fight with Kai Harn feels like more of an appetizer to the main course that is Di-Amon. While not quite on Gara's level, he quite the step up from most of the jobbers DS has gone up against so far. We're setting things up for the big showdown with Arshes Nei and we've even tossed in a way to up the stakes further. If you've been liking the series so far, you'll want to give this one a read at least.

Rating:
Read It