Ao no Exorcist 15 and 16

Firstly sorry episode 15 is late. My brother stayed with me last week and he isn’t a massive anime fan, so we spent a lot of time out, so I’ve literally only just seen the episodes.

This episode was (for me) that start of something new and amazing for the show, the part where Rin reveals his powers to the group and we get to see how strong his bonds with the other characters truly are, but enough of foreshadowing lets get back to some thoughts on this episode.

First up, is Shura and if I recall correctly she is a High Class exorcist, with the task of killing Satan’s son so presumably pretty powerful, but she seems to have a problem with disposing of Amaimon’s pet demon and I find it hard to believe that it was a match for her. As excited as I am that Rin is finally revealing his powers meaning no more avoiding the others and dancing around the subject. The fact that she didn’t make it in time just seems a little bit too convenient (but hey I haven’t studied scriptwriting as part of my degree for over a year so what do I know! /sarcasm).

The fight with Amaimon was simply amazing, beautifully drawn and full of action. I thought it was really cool how the others went to Rin’s ‘rescue’ despite knowing they would be no match for a demon king. I hope these strong feelings will carry on, especially now that Rin has revealed his powers. It was a little surprising that this time around Rin completely overpowered Amaimon, soundly kicking his ass and even chasing him to the “cuckoo clock” Mepphy tried to hide him in. However things can never be the same from now on. All of the others have seen Rin’s true form. Mepphy and Amaimon have revealed him as their “brother” and the true extent of his powers is now clear.

Episode 16

This episode has caused the cast to split up into two separate storylines, separate but indeed connected, with Rin, Shura and Mephisto dealing with the church authorities whilst the others head off to Kyoto (via Portal’s), to try and find a swordsmith to repair the cracked Kurikara. Yes that does mean that the peons have overlooked that Rin lied to them about being a demon, never mind the fact that he is the son of satan and instead set out to help him. Shiemi is unsurprisingly the most forgiving and even gets him to calm down before he killed everyone but it’s Konekomaru who’s most resistant to the idea of being on the same team as Rin. (Something Blue Night specific me thinks)

What I did think was a little weird was that the decision to stand by Rin happened very quickly. Bon, especially, reacted differently to what I expected. I was expecting hypocrite speeches and the like, but no, instead he says that Rin must have had a reason for keeping quite and will reserve judgment until he’s heard that reason. Good on Bon, he’s being reasonable but is this going to be grounds to trouble later on?

Bon’s childhood crush has taken over as the Yoshikuni swordsmith. She speaks in a very odd accent and she reveals all sorts of embarrassing things about “L’il Ryu”, including his timely proposal to her in their youth. If she was real I can’t help but feel sorry for her kids, she is literally your bringing home your girl/boyfriend nightmare. The thing that got me here was that no one knows how to makes this Jewel Steel any more so they can’t make new Demon Blades. That seems like a really piss poor job on training apprentices over the generations as it would be pretty useful to have more super-powerful swords in your armoury.

Meanwhile, Mephisto is on trial in front of the Grigori, the top authority of the Church. Leading the prosecution is Arthur Augusto Angel (what a name), the newly appointed Paladin and he is not a big fan of Shiro.
Once again the whole issue of Mephisto and where his allegiance lies is at the heart of the matter. He continues his story of training Rin as a weapon against Satan, and even the Grigori admit they need weapons for that purpose. Arthur is considerably more skeptical and believes Mephisto has betrayed everyone. Just when Mephisto appears to be winning Amaimon destroys the basement, intent on having a rematch against Rin. Mephisto suggests that Rin be released to prove to the Grigori that he can be a useful asset

There’s a lot of uncertainty in the air at the moment. There’s Arthur’s spy at the Academy and a certain puppet wielder whose purpose has yet to be revealed. Mephisto of course seems to be driving events but we don’t know to what end but it does seems likely he gave Yukio the demon sword with the belief that it would get repaired.

/ 5 Commentsleave a comment /

• Foshizzel says:

  August 4, 2011

  Great episodes! Finally some progress into Rin's friends discovering his true powers! Now to sit back and see how things play out with everyone xD As in who wants to be friends with him and who hates him foreverrrr.

  And the blond guy! In the preview I was thinking his name would be Arthur or something cheesy like that and sure enough Lolol anyway hopefully we get some much needed action in the next few episodes.

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• Renn says:

  August 4, 2011

  The anime split from the manga, which annoys me a bit. One, because I liked the manga events a little bit better, and two, if they planned to make it an original anime from the get-go, why all the unnecessary filler beforehand? But the manga is a bit messy, so maybe this is for the best. xD Wonder if they'll pull an FMA:Brotherhood treatment when the manga finishes.

  Lol about the scriptwriting. The convenience bothered me, too, though I haven't studied scripts for a year. xD

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• Kluxorious says:

  August 4, 2011

  It’s hard not to love a good show once it gets serious though there are some things that I am unhappy about. Like Rin’s classmates of being too forgiving

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• BlackBriar says:

  August 7, 2011

  Mephisto is awesome!! He deserves an award for evil genius. Everything that happened after Shiro’s death was to prepare Rin for that trial. He used everyone like puppets, even sending Amaimon to toughen him up. So Mephisto likes to gamble. I wonder what he’s risking if he looses.

  Yikes!! Amaimon is on steroids and he upgraded his fashion for another fight. He won round 1 at the amusement park, lost round 2 in the forest and now he’s pissed off and ready for round 3.

  Possessed Buddhist statues? Well, even priests are tested by temptation, I guess. Not even priests are safe anymore. I’m really surprised Suguro took the news about Rin so calmly and still decided to help him even though he knows Rin is the son of the one responsible for the Blue Night.

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• Mushyrulez says:

  August 12, 2011

  The manga split (note: I haven't read the manga) was probably to prepare for an original ending and a possible sequel. There's not much time left.

  I think Shura merely didn't release her sword for whatever reason in Episode 15 (I'd talk about how the people in Bleach in the Soul Society arc never ever ever went full power just so that the author could pull a Timely Rescue™ whenever). About those Timely Rescues™, I have a feeling Barnaby-chan's going to do just that later on – I was totally expecting him to help the gang against Amaimon, but the fact that he didn't either means that he's so strong he can easily stop Amaimon from killing Rin whenever, he's so weak that he can't do anything, or he planned/knows of Amaimon/Rin's movements in advance and knew that he didn't need to step in.

  Episode 16 does seem hilariously OOC for Bon and the gang, but I think they're just stunned from the shock – I think their emotions bounce back full throttle next episode.

  The Kansai dialect seemed to be translated quite liberally. Were you watching gg's subs? MORNING RESCUE
  My recent post Buyuden 18

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