Rage of Bahamut: Virgin Soul

Episode 6

Following several weeks of foreshadowing, Rage of Bahamut: Virgin Soul has finally brought Charioce into its love triangle. Surprisingly, he doesn't come in with the intent of controlling her dragon powers. Their date is perfectly innocent - although I doubt the same will be true of their subsequent encounters.

It all begins with our heroes making preparations for the yearly festival. They all run a food stand together, having a great time treating people and seeing the sights. There's some discord, however, because Nina is (justifiably) angry at Bacchus for creeping on her in bed the other night. She doesn't know that he was investigating Mugaro, and Bacchus doesn't dare enlighten her. Eventually, Nina is sent out on some errands – and into the face of danger.

Remember that slaver Nina and Mugaro took down last week? Well he's back, and he brought friends. Hot friends. Normally, a crew of random thugs would be no match for Nina's draconic super strength, but she has trouble just looking at them – even as they're punching her – without finding herself on a one-way train to Hornytown. Fortunately, a disguised Charioce happens to walk by and assist her. This doesn't exactly solve her horny problems, but he does remember her, so they agree to meet up later. Nina – practically intoxicated by the prospect of her first date with a hot guy – returns to her friends, having utterly failed to complete her errands.

Charioce arrives later and Bacchus sets the two of them up, earning him forgiveness in Nina's eyes. As they proceed on their date, we see sides to Charioce besides "genocidal ubermensch." He can groove, for one thing. It's implied that his Princess Jasmine-like forays into the city have something to do with his childhood, when he was a distant branch on the line of succession. There may be a schism in his personality along these lines, between an isolated or emotionally stunted young man and the prodigiously determined king.

Really, there isn't too much to say about this episode. It was mostly an atmospheric meet-cute, coaxing us into being charmed by Nina and Charioce's relationship, and I've gotta say, it succeeded. This was the most Disney-ish episode of an already profoundly Disney-ish show. It's most obviously inspired by the festival scene from Tangled, especially in the color palette and montage style. There was also some standout animation – the dancing sequence was the best of the series so far. It was a young woman's fantasy date, right down to the secret identity and vague yet insistent assurance that they'd “meet again some day.” So of course, Nina comes home convinced that she's in love with “Chris,” as Charioce is calling himself in disguise.

Meanwhile, Azazel is proceeding with his plan to strike back against humankind. He's planned his assault for the second day of the festival and roped an unsuspecting Nina into the scheme. The two of them run into each other after Nina's date, and she doesn't even blush at the sight of his lanky demon ass. I'm so proud of our girl! She's getting ahold of herself! Okay, she's really transferred all her erotic fixations onto another guy. We'll see if this interferes with Azazel's plan to arouse her into WMD-form tomorrow night. It's a hard knock life, having so many magical fantasy boyfriends. Let's see what'll happen when they start fighting each other!

Grade: B+

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.