Try Your Hand At The Metal Anime Easter Egg Hunt
(By Easter Egg, we mean hidden (and not so hidden) Heavy Metal references throughout the show, which you can have a blast finding)
There is an anime called Bastard!! Originally it was a manga series written by and illustrated by Kazushi Hagiwara which became an anime series. It is a medieval-themed show, which was clearly made by a metal fan. The first serious villain in the series is a crazed wizard called Osborn. Also, as it is medieval-themed, there has to be at least one Dio reference. The main character is also a villain, trapped inside an innocent boy. All throughout, there are people, places, and spells that are metal references.
Character names include Abigail, Lars Ul Metallicana, Yngwei von Malmsteen, Bon Jovina, Geo Noto Soto, and more. The kingdoms are also references to bands as well. Overall, it’s a unique story, and even those who don’t enjoy anime can have fun seeing all the heavy metal anime references they can spot. Clearly, someone enjoyed the masterful work of Dio and classic metal. Hair metal is also included as at one point (spoiler alert) the main character used a spell that references Slayer, only for it to be countered by a priest using a spell called Stryper. It’s a wild ride, and I have only seen a handful of episodes, but it’s quite a journey.
Currently Bastard!! Dark Metal Fantasy is available for viewing on Netflix.
