Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul – 15

Another face from Genesis makes his first appearance in Virgin Soul: the fallen angel Lucifer, who holds court with a handful of elite demons. He convinces them to hang tight as they’ve been doing since the fall of Cocytus. He saw what happened to Beelzebub; he has no more confidence the humans will be able to control the power they’ve stolen.

Azazel is also back, in the worst-kept secret in anime. Like Thor in the upcoming Ragnarok, he’s fighting in the arena as a gladiator, but he’s not quite sure why he’s bothering to remain alive. Meanwhile, the elder dragon manages to just get Jeanne and Nina through the barrier into the land of the gods—by throwing Bacchus’ wagon like a baseball.

Speaking of Bacchus, Sofiel has him try to make some headway with El, who has been “pouting” ever since the gods’ defeat at Anatae. When Jeanne and Nina arrive they receive a cool welcome, and are struck by how sparsely inhabited the otherwise gorgeous lands are.

A guardsangel intercepts them, and when she hears Nina comment on how the place isn’t as “bright and sparkly” as she expected, takes them to what amounts to a mass god grave, with each streaking blue light representing a god fallen. They sacrificed themselves to save the surface world from Bahamut, only for Charioce to launch a crusade against them.

It’s good we get some perspective from a rank-and-file angel; it further demonstrates the mission El believes only he can accomplish: righting the evils in the world below to preserve both humanity, god-kind, and demons like Azazel, the one who saved him after he and Jeanne were separated.

That brings us to the most heartwarming/wrenching reunion of Shingeki no Bahamut’s run: the reunion between mother and son. It’s nicely balanced by the comedy of Bacchus and Hamsa thinking Nina is crying about reuniting with them rather than “Mugaro.” (Bacchus and Hamsa are also prove useless yet amusing in trying to get through to El before).

El proudly regails her mother of how he ended up hiding among demon slaves, and was about to be sold to humans who would do gods-know-what to him before Azazel freed him and the others. El followed his mom’s advice to stick with the first person to help him, which was Azazel.

Now, El, believes, it’s his turn to save everyone…but Sofiel (who was also elated to see Jeanne) is doubtful El has enough power to achieve what he’s aiming for, deferring to her superior Gabriel’s judgment. She’s loyal and dutiful to Gabriel, and with good reason, but El thinks Sofiel is wasting her time.

El is supremely confident of his abilities, especially now that his mother is safe and by his side. And with a wry smirk, he makes it clear he intends on making everyone else into a believer.

P.S. Nina is upset that Charioce is doing so many things that make everyone hate him, because she can’t stand the thought of everyone hating him. Sure, fine.