Rage of Bahamut: Virgin Soul

Episode 10

This episode acquaints us with everything that's happened to Jeanne since the end of the first season. We already know where she ends up, but there was more of a journey to getting there than I expected. So after turning into a demon and murdering 3/4ths of the celestial leadership, Jeanne resumed her position as the captain of the Orleans Knights. The problem is that the gods withdrew her celestial superpowers (because y'know, she killed most of them) and now she's not that good at fighting. Her own men smack-talk her all the time, with only Kaisar and Dias supporting her. Things change for the worse, however, when Charioce ascends the throne. His “kill all the gods” policy goes against Jeanne's morals (if not her past actions), and she's exiled for refusing to obey him. So the former saint and war hero is now just some random peasant girl once again.

While living in the countryside, she prays a bunch to her deceased angel patron/boyfriend, Michael. One night, she suddenly gets a vision of him, followed by a flash of light reaching into her ladyparts. It pulls out a fetus, which grows into a baby, which grows into a full-blown angel child within seconds. She's been immaculate conception'd with Michael's child/reincarnation/whatever! That is, of course, Mugaro, who she names El. For a while, she raises her kid happily in the countryside. But then one day, Jeanne rescues a wounded Sophiel, who's been running from Charioce's god-killing Onyx Knights. Mugaro unleashes his crazy god powers to save them all, making his mother and himself new targets of the state while Sophiel escapes. (This explains Sophiel's aforementioned debt to Jeanne and Mugaro.)

So Jeanne and her baby are now being hunted. Eventually, the Onyx Knights corner them in a demon slave warehouse, and Jeanne is forced to disguise Mugaro as a demon in order to save him. She dyes his hair, cuts his wings, and allows herself to be captured alone. This leads to Jeanne's imprisonment, Mugaro's acquaintance with Azazel, and pretty much the plot of the show as we know it now.

This was one of Rage of Bahamut: Virgin Soul's strongest standalone episodes so far, thanks to the heartwrenching journey of Jeanne's fall, Mugaro's birth, and their tragic separation. For a side character, Jeanne's arc was one of the best-written parts of the first season, and that looks like its memorability will continue here. While the first season was about her fall – how her righteousness was taken advantage of by the Gods – this second season is about how she recuperates through her own moral fortitude. Baby Mugaro is adorable, and it was harrowing to watch Jeanne make sacrifices for his sake. (That wing clipping scene especially – ouch.) I'm pumped to finally see her escape and maybe even reunite with her son by the end of this season.

Young Charioce seems like as much of a jerk as old Charioce, albeit with a cuter haircut. I'd guess that he's in his late teens/early 20s at this point, which would put him in his late 20s in the present day, seven years into his reign. Apparently he wants something that the gods have that they refused to give him. My bet is that it's something super sappy, like the ability to bring back his dead mom, for example. That'd help give him some of the sensitivity he desperately needs as a romantic option for Nina at this point; not that it would make his actions morally justified at all, but it would make him seem like less of a genocidal robot. Speaking of genocidal robots, this episode also highlights that something is probably up with those Onyx Knights. Where did Charioce even get those anti-magic powers anyway? There's a good chance that he's being manipulated by someone bigger than him, like maybe Gilles de Rais again.

Next week, we may finally get the prison break, unless the show decides to treat us to an episode-long flashback of Alessand's childhood or something. Jokes aside, while I have been harsh on the show over the past few weeks, this is the balance of new information, emotional revelations, and episodic storytelling that I'd like to see going forward. With all this buildup, I look forward to what Rage of Bahamut: Virgin Soul might deliver for its first season finale.

Grade: A

Rage of Bahamut: Virgin Soul is currently streaming on Amazon's Anime Strike.

Gabriella Ekens studies film and literature at a US university. Follow her on twitter.