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「魔神の落胤」 (Satan no Ko)
“Satan’s Children”
It’s pretty easy to see what cards everyone is holding as we get set for next week’s anime-only finale of Ao no Exorcist, but there’s still a wild card – or perhaps it’s a joker – that’s yet to be played. And I suspect that as he goes, so goes the battle.
This episode was quite a bit different from the last couple. The good? the pacing was manageable, and events proceeded at a much more sensible clip. The bad? Things weren’t quite as exciting as the last couple of eps, and a good deal more predictable. It was inevitable that things follow the path of Rin and Yukio confronting their family issues, though, so I don’t really have any complaints in seeing this week’s climax built around that.
I think any complaints about Satan being presented as a good guy should be pretty well put to rest, as it was clear he viewed his sons as tools to achieve his goal of conquering Assiah. Ernst proved himself a total sucker by giving the top boss of all top bosses exactly what he wanted, a screamn’ big gate from Gehenna to Assiah. There are still hints of affection towards Yuri (legend Hayshibara Megumi, Ayanami Rei – and Pen Pen – herself) that I suspect won’t please everyone, but I think Satan’s view of uniting the two worlds is quite different from what she had in mind. And I’m not bothered at the notion that a demon – even Satan – could have feelings for a mortal woman. It’s hardly the first time we’ve seen that tack used in literature and it won’t be the last.
Some of the drama of the Rin-Yukio confrontation was robbed by the fact that the outcome seemed pretty obvious, but I thought it was handled well. Yukio’s internal struggle with chibi, eyeless versions of himself ranting their jealousy of Rin was creepy, and Shiemi and Shura’s parts in bringing the climax about were in character. Yukio has never been one of my favorite characters and in a sense, I almost feel as if he had this coming – in contrast to Rin, he’s been quite arrogant and in denial about what he is. Hopefully the fact that it was Rin that ended up calling him back and saving him from suicide will teach him some humility.
But with Satan seemingly ready for an all-out war now that he’s been evicted and no signs of the gate being closed, we get back to that joker. Seems to me that Mephisto has to finally choose a side now – I suppose he could play the smiling clown right to the last and stay neutral, but I think his connection with Shiro will finally come into play in the end. Since we’ve only seen a tiny fraction of his power it seems as if he could tip the scales in whichever direction he chooses. But if he’s a joker, maybe Takara is the true wild card – in that we know even less about his intentions and his abilities than we know of Mephisto. And based on his appearance in last week’s ep, Bunny-kun must surely have a significant role to play in whatever happens to close this season out.
Preview
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I like this episode even though it is somewhat predictable 🙂
Bunny guy is sure mysterious :3
though the title of the next episode doesn’t seem to hint any sort of closure…
I know Satan is eveil but he is jus to badass i would love to see Yukio and Rin vs Satan. but that’s pretty hard to do seeing the fact that Satan doesnt have a body. he’s death but he is going about Yuri’s plane the wrong way (Yuri is so cute by the way. but this episode was epic if any thing i dont think it’ll be the end of satan though especially since Rin has to do the job considering in every action anime it is always the main character that must win the battle in the finale. considering everything though knowing how powerful satan is compared to rin it’s a given that satan would win so they might just stop him for now and most likely proceed with a season 2 original probably even a time skip like Naruto Shippuden or just have a small skip where rin can now fight back without just swing the sword aimlessly. he could even use the flames the same way satan wields them
i wonder how many people would complain if it wasn’t the main character who saved the day at the end? For instance, the end of Naruto = Sasuke snaps out of his funk, saves Konoha, and becomes Hokage. Naruto enters a WTF coma and has yet to come out of it.
fan service, fan service, theres gonna be a lot of doujin submitted this week
All I can do is laugh.
Sympathy for the Devil – ahhh… love it <3. I really want to see something die at the end of this series. PLEASE KILL OFF A MAIN CHARACTER A1 PICTURES! PLEASE!
Having said that.. for the king of all demons and demon magic the Devil really sucks at fighting against demons. You'd think that he would just force all demons around him into his control and you'd also think that he would just burn huge amounts of area with his blue flame if he kept missing shots… ah well – it's shounen after all
They aren’t going to kill off anyone they might need for a 2nd season down the line. If they’re alive in the manga and remotely important, they’re wearing mithril.
It would’ve been more interesting if Yukio shot himself. 😀
tokiwo tomare!!
This episode is Great but it makes me want to hate Yuri.
I dont disagree that some demons can coexist with mankind but Satan himself? Satan doesint care about humans that god created and therefore was banished to the deeps of hell.
She’s naive to say the least. I’m not shocked though, girls in shounen action series tend to be brain dead in their actions.
Predictable but good episode in my opinion. Next one is the last one? It will finally be over. At least this episode didn’t feel as rushed as the last two. Still faster than what they did before they went completely into anime original territory. I have to say that I liked this adaptation, though I don’t appreciate the rushing towards the ending. Looking forward to the last episode.
that guy was clearly skull fucked
I love reading your AnE summaries GE, cause you flesh the episodes out well, give good reviews and don’t just fag bash it cause its not following the manga….
Thanks, Tenchi. It’s easier when you haven’t read the manga, but i always try and judge an anime on its own merits.
I really agree with the comment that Mephisto is gonna be forced to choose a side now, and most likely it will have to be the obvious one. One thing I’m a bit miffed at is how easily Satan was defeated in Yukio- that was sure not the case in Shiro’s case, and made it far more anticlimactic (I understand they can’t kill off main characters but really…) Otherwise my favorite performance this episode was of Shura, who doesn’t even lose her attitude or her cool and continues to amaze me…
I don’t really get this episode…
The plot idea was kinda predictable but still, its well executed for now..
I’m not sure if anyone noticed it but what happened to Triple A in the later part? Surely he will have a role to play in this…
And i can’t help to shake this bad feeling about next week’s episode…. Lets see if they managed to wrap it up nicely…
i agree, the bunny guy seems to have some important role since he was shown last episode..
he’s a real mystery right from the very beginning..
Anyone else get Castlevania: Symphony of the Night vibes here?
Let’s see:
Evil demonic being who dreams of world domination falls in love with a human woman. They have children together. The mother is burned as a witch. The children feel like they come from a cursed bloodline, yet fight on the side of good against their father. They fight alongside other demon hunters (Belmont Clan = Exorcists here). Evil demonic being’s minions wonder why children aren’t going along with Evil demonic father’s grand schemes.
See what I mean? Granted, like Enzo said earlier, this is hardly new ground, literary or gaming-wise, so I don’t hold it against anyone in particular. I absolutely love Castlevania and this show.
Here’s to a second season that continues from where the manga left off, or, like FMA, a full reboot that faithfully adapts the manga chapters without filler.
i wanna see mephisto fight. i just wanna see how damn strong is the guy. too bad in the previous episodes that paladin arthur extinguished mephisto’s magic.. -.-
just saw ep 25 it was fire it have to admit