The upcoming Bastard: Heavy Metal Dark Fantasy anime is coming to Netflix on June 30, the streaming company announced today. LIDEN FILM will animate the series which will have 24 episodes. Watch the latest trailer below:
Coldrain is performing the opening theme song, with Tielle on the ending theme. The cast includes:
Takaharu Ozaki (Goblin Slayer) is directing the anime, with Sayaka Ono on character designs. Yosuke Kuroda is doing the series composition, and Yasuharu Takanashi is on music. As Netflix’s original anime, Bastard will stream only on their platform.
The manga is based on Kazushi Hagiwara’s manga, which started serialization in 1988 in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine. In 2000 it moved it Ultra Jump, where it stayed until 2010 when it went on hiatus. The series has a total of 27 volumes the last one of which was published in 2012. Viz Media licensed 19 volumes in English. Six-episode Bastard!! OVA by studio AIC was released between 1992 and 1993.
Viz Media licensed the manga, but it is no longer in print. They describe the plot as:
The kingdom of Metallicana is under siege by evil armies of monsters. The desperate defenders turn to a legend that a virgin’s kiss may awaken the wizard “Dark Schneider” from his slumber inside the innocent boy Lucien. Thanks to his sister Yoko, Lucien metamorphoses into the powerful, lecherous wizard. With demons, dragons, and other dark forces roaming the land, and Dark Schneider barely under control, the question remains: will Metallicana ever know a lasting peace?
Source: Netflix Anime Offical Twitter
©Kazushi Hagiwara/Shueisha, BASTARD!! Project