Bastard!! (1988)

[BASTARD!! -暗黒の破壊神-]

Volume 2

Author/Artist: Kazushi Hagiwara
Publisher: Jump Comics

Synopsis:
Dark Schneider kicks in Gara's front door in his bid to rescue Yoko.

Story/Characters:
'Subtlety' isn't in Dark Schneider's vocabulary, much to the chagrin of Bon Jovina, who was hoping for a more discreet infiltration. Gara isn't in a rush to confront him, A) because he can't imagine Dark Schneider rushing to save anyone, and B) because he wants to keep watching the clothes-melting slime do its thing, so he tells his men to hold off and let the fortress' labyrinth take care of the intruders. And what labyrinth would be complete without a Minotaur? DS leaves the Minotaur to Bon Jovina and the boys while he and Sheila go on ahead. DS bids the Princess go on ahead up the ladder to the next level, but she's rather concerned about dangerously short tunic she's wearing. Dark Schneider's solution is to hoist Sheila up on his shoulders, but this provides complications for the Princess as there's a lot of rubbing going on the way she's positioned. She bears with it as best she can. The way is barred by the Beholder-esque Suzuki Dogezaemon, who apparently slipped through a dimensional rift due to Anthrasax becoming more active. We cut back to Yoko asking Gara what his intentions are, if he's really intending to fight his former comrade, and Gara seems eager for the chance to prove himself against his former master. As for the fight with Dogezaemon, Sheila tries to be useful and actually manages to secure the opening DS needs to finish the bugger off. She even gets to be a little sassy afterward, but Dark Schneider doesn't take it lying down. (Pick your battles, Princess.)

As they get closer to Gara, DS tells Sheila she's going to have to fend for herself once the fighting starts, so she decides to pick up a nearby sword. The sword is cursed, forcing her to attack DS with its poisoned blade. The wounded DS tells her to suck the poison out, leading to sequence where suggestive camera angles make it appear like something else is going on. Once that's done, the spirit residing in the sword manifests, an Efreet. We cut to Gara giving a magic lecture to Yoko (who should already know this stuff, so it's really for the audience's benefit), explaining that because Efreet and Dark Schneider's magic specialty share the same element, there's no way he can win. DS has the additional handicaps of being weakened from the poison and also having to protect Sheila. DS resorts to the Tim 'The Toolman' Taylor solution of "more power", subduing the Efreet and claiming both it and sword it resides in.

Now it's Gara's turn to confront DS with Yoko in tow. While impressed DS managed to take down the Efreet, he notes that the dark wizard has to be at his limits. He then balks at how Dark Schneider hasn't touched Yoko given his notorious reputation. DS, meanwhile, is furious that Gara has gotten to see things he hasn't gotten to see yet. (This doesn't make Yoko happy, as you would imagine.) They both take an arm apiece, which just riles them up more. Gara decides to push Dark Schneider's buttons further by making all manner of wild claims about the stuff he did to Yoko (amid her furious denials), and I'm sure you can imagine how making DS angry improved his odds. After turning the fortress into a pile of fun-size chunks, we see Gara show some genuine concern for a change when he thinks his pet dragon Lars was caught up in the explosion. Lars is revealed to be safely clinging to Sheila, who was shielded along with Yoko during the fight. Seeing how much DS has changed is enough to get Gara to admit his defeat and swear fealty to his old master once more.

Back in the enemy camp, Kall-Su is shaken by Gara's defection and orders Dark Schneider's elimination. We're then introduced to the fourth member of the villainous quartet, Arshes Nei. Once the armor comes off, we see a woman who's pining after her "Darsh" and it looks like winning her over will be barely an inconvenience, but when DS appears to her in a dream, we learn that while she might love him, she's also in a rage of jealousy over his womanizing ways, murderously so. As much as she'd like to go out and deal with him right away, she's tied up in her current battlefield, so she sends Sean Ari of the Three Sorcerer Generals. We cut to DS on the road with Lars, where they can converse via telepathy. DS is annoyed at the accompaniment but Lars insists on sticking around to keep an eye on him. It would appear they have a past together (more on that later). Lars warned him of traps being set along the way and we get our first one with a girl being attacked by a monster. DS rescues her and is invited back to her mansion for a feast and then a little after-dinner entertainment. Yes, the girl was a disguised Sean Ari who thinks she's successfully cursed DS to death, but of course no. He picks up where they left off before things got all spidery and wouldn't you know it? All it took was some sweet, awkwardly posed loving to win an enemy to his side. The next morning, Sean Ari tries to dissuade him from going forward, saying he'll definitely be killed. He's not going to let something like certain death slow him down, though. (Nei doesn't take the news of Sean Ari's defeat well. Maybe don't send cute girls after the notorious womanizer.) Our cliffhanger is the appearance of the second of the Three Sorcerer Generals.

Art:
As you would expect, we get big flashy action set pieces, especially the fight between DS and Gara. Sassy princess is best princess, by the way. I will say, though, if Sheila was so concerned about her modesty, she should've invested in a decent pair of trousers. As mentioned before, the sucking out the poison scene is framed to look more like something else, but we get more of a straightforward (if, as mentioned, somewhat awkwardly posed) seduction scene with Sean Ari. The things they could get away with in a shounen label back in the 80s...

Other:
We get a little 4-koma at the end with Hagiwara thanking the readers for their purchase and fretting about not having his current manuscript ready.

Conclusion:
I realize that DS and Yoko are supposed to be the main couple, but I really like his dynamic with Sheila. We get a suitably big showdown with Gara and afterward we get the ball rolling with Nei, who is another character I like. DS being the kind of guy he is won't be for everyone, I know, but sometimes it's just amusing watching his audacity in action. If you were drawn in by the first volume, you'll want to give this one a read as well.

Rating:
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