Heavy metal and dark fantasy manga Bastard!! is coming back with a new anime project.

Bastard!! Destructive God of Darkness was first released in Shonen Jump in 1988 by Kazushi Hagiwara, a mangaka who was most notably the assistant of the late Izumi Matsumoto (Kimagure Orange Road). Bastard became famous for its references to heavy metal, its violent and sultry atmosphere, and its anti-hero Dark Schneider.

The Bastard manga was popular enough to get a series of OVA adaptations in the early '90s. There were some game adaptations too, as some of you might remember that weird Bastard 3D fighting game on Super Nintendo. The gameplay was really bad but the game itself looked incredible with its usage of Mode 7.

Most older anime fans have seen the Bastard OVAs on VHS, and it's pretty exciting to know it's coming back with a new anime project.

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Bastard!! Heavy Metal Dark Fantasy new anime project revealed

As shared by anime and manga leaker Sugoi LITE on Twitter, a new Bastard anime project is in the works, with a new key visual revealed. Part of the main cast was revealed as well, with:

  • Kisho Taniyama, also known as Kishow, the vocalist of Anison rock band GRANRODEO. He's also a popular seiyuu who voiced Kitan in Gurren Lagann, Saten in Needless, Jean in Attack on Titan.
  • Tomori Kusunoki, a new seiyuu who most notably voiced Llenn, the protagonist of Sword Art Online Alternative Gun Gale Online.
  • Hiroki Yasumoto, seiyuu of Sado in Bleach, Agil in SAO, Christophe Giacometti in Yuri on Ice, Weiss in NieR.
  • Yoko Hikasa, seiyuu of Mio in K-on, Kyoko in Danganronpa, Rias in High School DxD, Satan in Umineko, Katia in Super Robot Wars OG.

This main cast is pretty interesting as they're all veterans from the late 90s or the 2000s, except for Tomori Kusunoki who only debuted in 2017. You can find the first key visual for Bastard!!: Heavy Metal, Dark Fantasy below, featuring protagonist Dark Schneider and main character Tia Noto Yoko.

The new Bastard anime project will be officially announced soon as a domain for the anime was also registered.

We're currently in an era where pretty much everything is getting a remake, reboot, sequel, or a new project. But I certainly didn't expect Bastard would be next. Did you guys watch the OVAs on VHS back in the day? Tell me in the comments below!