Ao no Exorcist: Kyoto Fujouou-hen – 04
Someone didn’t get the memo about the “formal” dress code
After a weekend of partyin’, I’m back to bloggin’
I’m slightly disappointed that they revealed the culprit so darn soon. It was only last week that everyone was pointing fingers at each other and I began wildly speculating who the mole might be. It feels as if they didn’t hold out long enough to build suspense. They just pulled the curtain back as soon as they had the chance. In a way, I suppose it works given that this is a 1 cour show and the strength of a shounen battle show lies in (obviously) shounen battles. Not petty mysteries.
As it turns out, Mamushi is the one responsible for the incident with the eye. It initially seems against her character since she’s so devoted, but apparently she got tricked into thinking that her actions are actually virtuous. It makes sense, and it was a nice surprise, especially after they set Juzo up at the beginning of the episode, making us think that he was the bad guy.
Should have known the snake girl would be such a snake
The episode was mostly theatrics involving this case, and I can’t say it really grabbed me. I found myself much more interested in Rin’s confrontation with Bon.
Okay, so that was overly dramatic as well, but I like how it touches on one of the core themes of Ao no Exorcist: family. It particularly focuses on father figures, and how they influence their son(s). Rin’s father was incredibly kind, and Rin lost him all of a sudden after unfairly shouting some particularly bitter things at him. Shiro had his reasons for keeping Rin’s origins a secret, and Rin didn’t understand that until it was too late to apologize.
There’s a similar dilemma going on with Bon and Tatsuma. Bon used to adore his father, but they became estranged when Tatsuma sullied his reputation by being an overall bum. His view of his father has only gotten worse after visiting Kyoto and unearthing all these half-truths. Tatsuma is suspiciously dodging all lines of questioning to fully explain these accusations, but I feel that he has his reasons. Like Shiro, he may not be at liberty to reveal everything until the time is right. He’s willing to protect Bon from this secret even if it means his own beloved son starts to hate him for it.
Of course, Bon can’t see that in the heat of the moment, so he gets mad. It’s understandable. His own father is just wordlessly shuffling off to chase after a traitor after she accused him of harboring secrets about the spawn of Satan. He doesn’t even try to defend himself. Even worse, he ignores Bon after avoiding him for so long. The two fight, and Rin gets triggered when he remembers how badly yelling at his dad turned out for him. It was a powerful moment when Rin snapped. I like that before he erupted in flames, there was this heavy moment of complete silence. I’m not sure the best way for him to convey his feelings was to punch the living daylights out of Bon, but it certainly made the scene exciting!
I’m more curious about Bon reconciling with Tatsuma that this whole eyeball heist thing, to be honest. This is a much more human side to the story, and I think Rin will be able to befriend Bon if he’s able to properly unite them. Just…maybe less hellfire next time.
About Overcooled
A neuroscience graduate, black belt, and all-around nerd. You'll either find me in my lab or curled up in my rilakkuma kigurumi watching anime.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Ack! It’s happened! Today’s my birthday. Hmmm… I don’t feel any different so I guess I’ll stay in denial for a little bit and pretend that day has yet to arrive. 😛
Hahaha! Dress code? Shura didn’t abide by the Academy’s dress code posing as a student to the unsuspecting main cast in the first season nor after revealing herself as a veteran exorcist, so it’d be inconsistent if she started abiding now out of the blue. Bon’s dad doesn’t seem to mind, though. 😉
Well, this is embarrassing. I ruled Mamushi out as the traitor just last week for certain reasons and now look what happens. It blows up right in my face. Anyway, I’d take the reveal this soon saying it was a means to an end that has served its purpose and the story is on path to more crucial developments. Personally, it’s for the best since this season is single cour and it would be a blemish if the fuss dragged out longer than allowed. With this, 1/3 of the cour is already completed.
In my opinion, what helped Mamushi fall is she was manipulated with her own traits used against her. Her too serious nature and overly strong sense of duty and justice. She believed the words of an authority figure that showed her circumstantial evidence and hearsay, fate unfortunately provided the proof through a series and voila, the end result we have here. Whether she gets off easy or not when the ordeal is resolved will be subjected through point of view.
A parallel between Rin and Bon where fathers are concerned but the former certainly is the one who took a harder hit since he unintentionally helped it along. If Rin hadn’t unnerved Shiro by renouncing him as a father figure, Satan wouldn’t have been able to possess him in the first place. From the day of Rin’s birth until that point, Satan was unable to get a hold of him and that was the core reason Yukio blamed him for Shiro’s death.
I understand Shura meant well restraining Rin but she showed mental weakness letting his “hag” crack get under her skin and took her frustration out on him right there, causing him to pass out. She should have given him a just a little more leeway, even if for 10 seconds more. Sure, not the conventional way of engaging but he was making a point to Bon not to sever his relationship with his father and it seemed like progress was being made until he got interrupted.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
happy belated birthday!
Yeah, I was wrong with my guess too lol. Things are moving so fast now! I already have another episode to blog!
As Shura says in next week’s episode, those who are too uptight tend to be easier to manipulate in the long run because of how easily stress gets to them. Mamushi is like Yukio in that regard.
I actually forgot that the whole reason Satan was able to possess Shiro was because he was so upset after Rin basically denied his role as his father. Thanks for the reminder!
Making him pass out was a little extreme perhaps, but I think everyone else was so freaked out that they’d prefer to see him unconscious.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
@Overcooled: I don’t know if you saw the comment on your birthday post but if you haven’t yet, you’ve got to check out the CGI movie Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV. That and the 5 anime episodes of the sequel story Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV are the events that precede the video game’s story. So basically, you’re playing the very aftermath of what happened in the aforementioned titles, will get confused and won’t understand the whole Final Fantasy XV story unless you watch them to get the bigger picture.
I’ve yet to watch the 5 episodes of Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV (It’s on my “to-do” list once I find some more time) but prior to posting this comment, I’ve just finished watching Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV as part of my rite of passage before playing the game and I can wholeheartedly tell you without reserve, “awesome” barely begins to describe how good it was. Definitely worth two hours of your time.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Yeah, my boyfriend told me to watch those first when he gave me FF15 haha. Definitely a good pointer, otherwise I’d have missed the importance of some key cutscenes.
Brotherhood is…not as good as Kingsglaive but it’s a cute series of vignettes that provide some backstory to the side characters of the game.