Ao no Exorcist – 16

That’s right; Possessed Buddhist statues.

Hoshi: Guys, can I just say how sexy the music video for Meisa Kuroki’s ‘Wired Life’ is? Though I can’t get the ending images from Exoricst out of my head while I’m listening to it…

Hime: Exorcist was released with subs a day later than usual this week, and what a coincidence! I’m very late too, sorry hoshi…orz. Life dare get in the way of my animu?! -shakefist-

Hoshi: Getting right back into the chaos from last week, the class manages to escape while Rin goes on a mad rampage in the forest. A sudden burst of power sends him flying in front of the group and a worried Shiemi tries to go after him. Yukio and Shura stop her however, seeing as he’s dangerous in his current state. Yet, Shiemi still runs over and hugs him, hoping to calm him down. It works as Rin’s flames subside and he returns back to a normal, unconscious state.

At the top of one of the buildings, overseeing the blue flames taking hold of the forest, is a blond man who introduces himself as Arthur Auguste Angel, the newly appointed Paladin. He calls out Shura to ask why she hadn’t carried out her duties of exterminating anything that was related to Satan. In a flash, Angel pulls out his sword and grabs an unconscious Rin to exterminate him.  Shura tries to stop him as she draws her sword and attacks, but she’s no match when he quickly puts a stop to her actions. In a last minute decision, the Grigori, the high council of the True Cross order, decides to send Mephisto to court with Shura and Rin following, one to be a witness and the other to be a piece of evidence. Yukio offers to come as well, but Mephisto tells him he still has to worry about his students and gives him the startling news that the Kurikara can’t suppress Rin’s flames anymore.

At court, Mephisto answers truthfully the questions given to him, saying Rin is indeed the son of Satan and that the report of Fujimoto slaying the child years ago was fake. As for the question o f why they were raising him in secret, Mephisto tells it was so that he can become a weapon against Satan. Meanwhile, Yukio tells the class the truth about Rin and the Kurikara. When he tells of the blade being cracked, Bon is shocked. He explains that it was once an heirloom to his temple. Shima makes a suggestion to bring it to Yoshikuni, the place where the Kurikara was forged to see if it could possibly be fixed….

In the end, Bon, Yukio, Izumo, Shiemi, and Shima head out to Kyoto so Bon can lead them to Yoshikuni. When they arrive, a brown-haired girl is there and is introduced as the 11th Yoshikuni, a descendant of the one who forged Kurikara. Taking a look at the sword, she says it’s possible to fix it, but it’s impossible to create new jewel steel for demon swords. Bon asks if they could use some that already existed. When she says yes, he explains that they could use an old nail from the temple that was the only thing left after the Blue Night. It was made made from the same jewel steel as demon swords. However, they need to travel to another temple to retrieve it.

When the group arrive at the temple, there’s not a person to be found. Yukio and Bon enter the main hall, but when there’s still no one around, Bon goes to another room to search some more. Meanwhile, outside, Shiemi, Shima, and Izumo do their own searching and come upon a slew of unconscious men. In the main hall, both Bon and Yukio encounter talking statues that voice their disapproval of them helping a demon, and raising doubt in the two boys’ hearts. Suddenly, Shima comes to Yukio’s aid, and Izumo to Bon’s, and break them from the trance to rid the demons out of the statues. Outside, the men start to wake up and one brings Bon the nails they need.

Back at the court, the building starts to shake as Amaimon makes another appearance to get revenge on Rin. Mephisto tells the Grigori that they can use this opportunity to observe the real powers of Satan’s son since he is the only strength they have. As for the cracked Kurikara, the nail they brought back is a match and the Yoshikuni will be able to fix it~.

End thoughts~

Hoshi: Goodness, cheesy RinxShiemi moment is cheesy…In fact, there were quite a lot of cheesy, cliché scenes this time around; I had to laugh and facepalm at a couple of them, it was just so…predictable. The worst was that scene with the possessed Buddhist statues, I mean, it’s cool the Kurikara is getting fixed because we all know Bon obviously loves Rin so much he’s willing to show his dear brother a way to fix it, but did we really need that scene? I guess it’s because there had to be some sort of problem to obtain the nail because OBVIOUSLY nothing goes according to plan in anime, and of course we needed to showcase some sort of doubt for Bon and Yukio to test their will (Sarcasm is sarcasm). I just couldn’t believe they went so far away from what was a pretty decent and REALISTIC scene in the manga, to something so incredibly…shounen-y. I really liked the manga’s after-everyone-finds-out-about-Rin scene waaay better because everyone’s first impression reactions and the events leading to the trial were so much more realistic, even though it really pains the heart to read it (No, seriously. Just read that whole chapter, definitely has a bigger impact than this other mumbo jumbo, at least in my opinion). It just FITS much better than this “Oh let’s go get the Kurikara fixed in Kyoto!” scenario. They could’ve done an excellent adaption of that scene, but NO. And they were doing so well, but then they had to drop this original-cheesy-let’s-make-this-even-more-of-a-typical-shounen-anime bomb. Damn you A-1 and your original scenes…

The animation felt really lazy as well. The whole time I was screencapping I was thinking to myself, “I’m herp-derpin on these screencaps as much as A-1 is herp-derpin on the animation.” Yet where they failed with the animation and that particular scene, I think they did a great job on the court scenes. Personally, I loved the tense feel from watching those bit parts, plus Mephisto’s evil smirk and way of speaking made it ten times more enjoyable to watch. You have to appreciate what an awesome character he is (and what an awesome voice he has, being voiced by the ever-amazing Kamiyan) with his deceptive and quirky ways. He’s always been a favorite character of mine from the beginning. As for next episode, I’m curious as to how that battle with a revenge-driven Amaimon is going to go down. I was surprised with that added touch; I’m actually looking forward to it, mainly because I want some more epic battle scenes (which I HOPE they will bring)~.

Hime: What is this I don’t even…? or so the first draft of my End Thoughts read. A-1 has well and truely deviated from the plot now, and it seems we’ll be going for an anime original ending. I’m not too sure how to feel about this. Ao no Ex has been grating on me recently with it’s steady downhill into monotony, but I actually found myself climbing back aboard what I believed was a sinking ship with this episode. There was problems, though. Everyone accept Rin’s demonness waaaaaay to easily, Konekomaru was the only one who stayed semi in character. Suguro definately should have put up more of a fight and of course Shimei blinding forgave him for lying to her all this time, despite the strong feelings she has for him. It was all very tacked on and contrived. “Let’s re-write all the characters because it’s easier” was very much what the writers seemed to be thinking at this point, to for-go any drama. This is one of the cases where drama would have worked! They seemed to spend so much time on Rin feeling at ease among his new comrades, and I thought that’s what they were setting up for – for the guys struggle to accept Rin. It’s a real idiot who will pass up a chance for legitimate drama just to help move the plot along quicker. This is one of those times where the emotions needed a chance to breathe and sink in. Instead it was totally glossed over, lazily.

Good things about this episode were, hey! Loads of Yukio and Suguro! My two favorite characters! hurrah! I actually really liked the scene where the budda statures try to place doubt in their minds and turn them against Rin. Yeah, it’s a cliche scene and it’s been done a load of times, but at least they tried to do something new with it. It nearly worked as well! Which I like. As mean as it is to say, it was also nice to have a little break from Rin. Yeah, he’s the main character and having him incased in blue kryptonite the entire time did give this episode a weird feel. The rawness was gone, I think. Rin is always so passionate and intense that to have him out of commission for more level-headed characters helped shake things up and again break out of the monotony.

The Paladin guy I’m not to sure about, at first I thought he was going to be pretty fun and cool, but his personality rubs me the wrong way. I don’t think I like him. The way he speaks to people and his attitude sucks, and it’s just a little too arogant for a show that has quite a few of those types of characters already. At this point Exorcist seems like it could go anywhere, and I’ll tell you one thing…I am interested again. It was a long, hard mid-season slump but I’m prepared to stick with it to the end, when for a while there I wasn’t. So kudos, Exorcist. You got me again. NOW JUST GIVE ME MOAR AWESOME YUKIO AND WE CAN BE FWENDS AGAIN :3

Preview:

While it seems Rin returns back to normal, what is his real fate decided by the Grigori, and what consequences await him?

And because we need a little more Yukio in our lives…Anyways, until next week then~!!