Bastard!!

Bastard!! Heavy Metal, Dark Fantasy (BASTARD!! -暗黒の破壊神-) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kazushi Hagiwara. It began its serialization in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump in 1988, after debuting with a pilot one-shot in that magazine in 1987, and has continued irregularly in Ultra Jump since 2000, with its latest chapter released in 2010. As of 2012, 27 collected tankōbon volumes have been released. The pilot one-shot was remade by Tatsuya Shihara and published in Ultra Jump in July 2023. The manga was formerly licensed for English release in North America by Viz Media; only the first 19 volumes were released.

Hagiwara is an enthusiastic fan of heavy metal music and Dungeons & Dragons, using ideas from both of these in the Bastard!! story. Many characters and places in the story, for instance, are named after members of Hagiwara's favorite bands.

The manga was adapted into a six-episode original video animation (OVA) series by AIC, released from 1992 to 1993. The OVA was released in North America by Pioneer in 1998. An original net animation (ONA) adaptation of the same name, by Liden Films, premiered on Netflix worldwide in June 2022. The second season premiered in July 2023.

Bastard!! is one of Shueisha's best-selling manga series of all time, with over 30 million copies in circulation.

Overview
Four centuries ago, Earth suffered a cataclysm caused by the demon Anthrasax before she was slain by the Dragon Knight, plunging the world into a new dark age. In the present, the Kingdom of Metallicana is attacked by the Dark Rebel Army who seek to resurrect Anthrasax. This prompts the high priest to ask his daughter to awaken Dark Schneider, a dark wizard and founding leader of the Dark Rebel Army who reincarnated himself within the body of 15-year-old Lucien Renlen. In time, Dark’s allies learn of his true nature and ties to the calamity that befell the Old World.

Bastard!!s history is about sorcery, revenge, and other power struggles in a Dungeons & Dragons–like world. It is a dystopian world where people need magic to survive against wild beasts and evil monsters. There are four kingdoms, each one the protector of one of the four seals that keep the God of Destruction in stasis.

Manga
Bastard!! is written and illustrated by Kazushi Hagiwara. A pilot chapter, titled Wizard!! Bakuen no Seifukusha (WIZARD!!〜爆炎の征服者〜), was published in Shueisha's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump in 1987. Bastard!! began serialization in the same magazine on March 14, 1988, and ran on a regular basis in the magazine until August 21, 1989. The first tankōbon volume was published on August 10, 1988. The series was then switched to the Weekly Shōnen Jump Specials quarterly magazine, where it ran on an irregular basis. It was later published again in Weekly Shōnen Jump, on an irregular "monthly" basis, from 1997 to 2000. The series was transferred to the seinen manga magazine Ultra Jump, starting on December 19, 2000. The manga is published in the magazine on an irregular schedule. Its latest chapter was published on May 19, 2010. Twenty-seven volumes have been released as of March 2012. Shueisha re-released the series in a new kanzenban-like edition, titled ''Bastard!! Complete Edition''. The first volume updates Hagiwara's art style, improving backgrounds, screentones and includes redrawing of some characters. The second volume is fully redrawn and includes a graphic sex scene not included in the original release. Further volumes are unchanged. Volumes were released from December 2000 to December 2009. In 2014, Shueisha released a nine-volume bunkoban edition from May to September.

In North America, Viz Media announced the license of Bastard!! in July 2001. The Viz edition is based on ''Bastard!! Complete Edition''. Viz edition differs in a few ways from Japan release. Including graphic sexual scenes being censored, the major differences are the changing of place names. The series names places, spells and some people after various heavy metal bands, such as Metallica, Judas Priest, Whitesnake, Anthrax, Megadeth, Venom, Guns N' Roses, and Helloween. Fearing lawsuits, Viz Media (and Pioneer for the OVA adaptation) took the Japanese transliterations of these band names and changed them somewhat, then transliterating them back to English, e.g., Anthrax became "Anthrasax", Iron Maiden into "Aian Meide", and the main city in which the story takes place, Metallicana, was changed to "Meta-Rikana". Viz Media published the first five volumes in a left-to-right edition from August 2002 to December 2003. The volumes were later republished in its original right-to-left version starting from November 2003. The manga stopped its publication after the release of volume 19 in September 2009.

A 51-page reboot of the pilot chapter, ''Wizard!! Bakuen no Seifukusha, illustrated by Tatsuya Shihara, was published in Ultra Jump'' on July 29, 2023.

Original video animation
A six-episode original video animation (OVA) series by AIC was released between August 25, 1992, and June 25, 1993. The OVA cover the story up through the Four Lords of Havoc's battle against Abigail (volumes 6–7 of the manga).

In North America, Pioneer Entertainment released the series on three VHS set tapes with an English dub between August 28 and December 8, 1998. Pioneer re-released the OVA on DVD on June 5, 2001.

Original net animation
An original net animation (ONA) adaptation by Liden Films was announced on February 3, 2022. The 24-episode ONA is directed by Takaharu Ozaki, with scripts written by Yōsuke Kuroda, character designs by Sayaka Ono, and music composed by Yasuharu Takanashi. The first 13 episodes were released worldwide on Netflix on June 30, 2022, while the remaining 11 episodes were released on September 15 of the same year. The opening theme is "Bloody Power Fame" by Coldrain, while the ending theme is "Blessless" by Tielle. In Japan, the ONA series began a televised broadcast on BS11 on January 11, 2023.

A second season was announced on January 9, 2023. It premiered on Netflix on July 31, 2023, consisting 15 episodes. The opening theme is "New Dawn" by Coldrain, while the ending theme is "La Muse Perdue" by Tielle. The second season start broadcast on BS11 and other networks on January 3, 2024; the first three episodes aired as a 90-minute special.

Video games
A 1994 Bastard!! 3D fighting game was released for Super Famicom. A role-playing video game with turn-based fighting elements, titled Bastard!! -Utsuro Naru Kamigami no Utsuwa- (BASTARD!! -虚ろなる神々の器-), was released for PlayStation on December 27, 1996.

A MMOG platformer called ''Bastard!! Online'' was also in development by the Japanese publisher Tecmo and software developer Shaft. A beta test was released in 2006; however, Tecmo announced that they had canceled its development in December 2009.

Reception and legacy
Bastard!! is one of Shueisha's best-selling manga series of all time, with over 30 million copies in circulation.

Video game designer and producer Daisuke Ishiwatari said Bastard!!'s fantasy setting was a major influence on creating Guilty Gear.