Ao no Exorcist / First Impressions

OP2 Sequence

OP2: 「IN MY WORLD」 by ROOKiEZ is PUNK’D
Watch the 2nd OP!: Streaming ▼

「証明」 (Shoumei)
“Proof”

And so begins the second cour of Ao no Exorcist, with a new OP (straight-up J-rock by ROOKiEZ is PUNK’D, with a few spoilerific frames) and ED (fairly boring techno with a visual focus on Rin, Yukio and the students). It seems fitting that the second half of the series should begin with an episode that strongly recalls the intense emotions of the premiere.

Sometimes in anime, you have a character who, despite their physical absence through death or distance, hovers over the proceedings at all times. Reiko in Natsume Yuujinchou and Kou in HanaIro fit the bill, and it definitely applies to Fujimoto Shiro. Though he’s been dead since the second episode, Shiro continues to reach out and impact the story, as the people he impacted move into Rin’s circle. This time it’s Shura, the busty investigator from the Vatican HQ of the Order of the True Cross. Sure, she’s here to investigate Rin on their orders – but she’s also yet another being whose life was altered forever by her time with Shiro. It was he, apparently, who rescued her from a life in some sort of (literally) Hell. He even asked her to train Rin in the use of the sword – an entreaty she refused at the time, thinking the old man had gone soft. In the head, anyway.

Shura seems quite content to operate under the assumption that Shiro’s plan to “groom” Rin to be a weapon against Satan was folly, and to finish him off. But like Blackie the cat sidhe, her memories of Shiro stay her hand (paw). What a guy for finding and calming tortured, lost souls Shiro was. When Shura sees that Shiro was raising Rin not from a sense of duty, but love, she reconsiders her views on the boy – even deciding to transfer to the Japanese branch and train him in swordsmanship (with a shinai, keeping his demon blade safely out of Amaimon’s way until Rin proves worthy of it) before she reports back to the Vatican.

The strongest scene of the episode was Rin’s flashback to tearing apart his classroom as a small boy, driven to violence by his fury at his classmates for ostracizing him as a monster. Every scene between Shiro and Rin has been great, flashback or otherwise, but when Shiro kept hugging his son even after his ribs were broken… What a guy, that’s all I can say. Being voiced by Fujiwara Keiji is never a bad thing, but Shiro is a fantastic combination of GAR and compassion the likes of which we rarely see – frankly, I would have loved to have read an entire manga with him as the main character, and that’s not a knock on Rin. Every impulse Rin has to be a good person and resist the dark side of his nature seems to spring from his love for his father.

This is not to say, of course, that all is well. Shura managed to provoke Rin (by mocking Shiro naturally) into showing his flames even with the demon sword sheathed, proving that Satan’s powers in him are not truly contained by the blade. That’s a little unsettling. With Shura on board teaching her former classmates it seems she’s pretty well laid her intentions bare (and I do mean bare), but the same can’t be said for Mephisto. His “I abandoned Gehenna to secure peace for Assiah” speech sounded pretty hollow to me. What he and his brother are really after is very much an open question in my book – the Vatican branch is right not to trust him one bit (not that I trust them, either).

And then there’s that last member of the current cast still shrouded in secrecy, Bunny-kun. Now that Hoodie is revealed (and I do mean revealed) he remains the last true mystery among the current cast – he’s there in the OP and obviously isn’t going anywhere, but there have been no clues offered as to his true identity or purpose whatsoever that I’m able to spot. I’ve seen theories, but given that some of them could be manga spoilers in disguise I won’t discuss them here.

And of course, we had another “Baywatch moment” with Shiemi. Is that going to be a weekly occurrence?

 

ED2 Sequence

ED2: 「Wired Life」 by 黒木メイサ (Kuroki Meisa)
Watch the 2nd ED!: Streaming ▼

Preview

57 Comments

  1. At this rate I wonder if the story might be reasonably viewed as having the goal of showing what kind of person Shiro was, through the effect he had on others during his life.

    jay
    Reply

  2. So agree. I would love to read even a 10 volumes manga with shiro as the main character. Bring-the-character-back-to-life is one plot twist I really hate in anime or manga, but for shiro I kinda want that to happen.
    Btw looovee your funny comments like (I do mean bare) etc 😀

    kgfj
    Reply

    1. There are currently 26 published chapters, and this episode covered chapter 10. (Well, the part on the roof is from 11, but that’s not important; works better here anyways.) So it’s a little less than halfway caught up. Without spoiling anything, I’ll say that there is one completed arc that they’ll start next episode and then another one that’s still running in the manga. I doubt they’ll be able to drag this one out for the rest of the show or that they actually know the ending to the current arc (unless the author pulled an FMA and told them), so we’re probably looking an original ending. Make of that what you will.

      Zilla
      Reply

      1. i hope they somehow manage to extend this arc well.

        i don’t like them making up stories which aren’t in the original story. Fillers are ok.. But changing how the story will progress.. I hope not.

        cklaighe
        Reply

      2. Well, the second arc is a bit slow at the start and there is a fair bit of character development during that phase. So it’s possible that they will do part of that arc but end it before it gets really started so to speak.
        Show Spoiler ▼

        znail
        Reply

    2. at first. i thought it was slow because of the filler inserts.. But the last two episodes.. It’s become fast paced with the next episode about the camping already. I was pretty sure that that arc would become the season ender. =/

      cklaighe
      Reply

  4. DVD/BD are very strong with this show – even the TV ratings are good. They may take a two-season break, maybe longer, but I suspect after some sort of anime-original “placeholder” ending they’ll pick up again in 2012 (maybe even 2013) sometime when the manga gets farther ahead.

    Guardian Enzo
    Reply

  5. I usually hate flashbacks, but Shiro is a great character. I hope to see him again during the Inferno saga, when Rin goes to the freakin’ hell to fight Satan. Shiro will be there for sure. And no, this not spoiler, I’m just imagining how the last season of this anime is going to be, hahaha.

    André
    Reply

  6. ok I skimmed over the manga a long time ago, and i don’t ever remember seeing that blonde hair guy always holding a stuffed animal that shows up at the end of the opening. Was he always a part of the story??

    reyan16
    Reply

    1. She has a japanese thug accent as if she was a member of the yakuza or something. She must have been a tough street person or some other horrible backstory before she joined the order.

      Karmafan
      Reply

  9. I knew this was coming but I still have an issue with the unnecessary fanservice.

    It wouldn’t hurt to put on a shirt, really. You’re detracting my enjoyment of the episode by being an eyesore. X_X

    Hrmmm
    Reply

    1. I got some bad news for you. The only time she will show up in more then that is when she overslept and shows up in her sleeping gown. But she will wear different types of tops, which is good as I don’t like this ill fitting one.

      znail
      Reply

  10. Shiemi’s still hot! >:O

    Shiro’s such an amazing character. Makes me wish I had a real dad all over again. If I ever become a dad [for some godawful reason] I’ll be sure to raise a ninja the way he did.

    ps. I’m loving that Kung Fu Usagi on Mephisto’s desk.

    Shirt
    Reply

  11. With the start of the new season, Mawaru Penguin Drum’s “Dear Future” and NO. 6’s “Spell”, makes me a happy person. Now “Wired” is out [as a tv sized single] and it makes for a great loop song. I wish the Soundtracks and Singles would come out sooner. The music is fuel!

    Shirt
    Reply

  14. finally shura makes her appearance! as in the manga the fight was good. can’t wait for the next episode where it gets more interesting!

    New opening is good ending could have been better preferred Take off to this new end!

    Rayyy
    Reply

  20. This has to be my favourite anime under Naruto. Rin is such a great character and I love seeing how much he has developed and then all of a sudden the big leagues step in in episode 12 & 13 and all of a sudden he’s a kid again. And the best part about it is that Rin doesn’t feel beaten or depressed by it, in fact he is motivated by it. Bon (?)even says that he seems to have changed.

    Probs my favourite part of the anime is the flashback with Shiro and Rin, and his broken ribs. So he can be surrounded by hot nurses ROFL.

    Fox
    Reply

  21. Boy, I LOVED that flashback! Shiro is one of those still all too rare badass male characters with a compassionate side. And one of those also far too few great loveable father (figure) characters. He kinda reminds me of Uncle Iroh from the Avatar: The Last Airbender series ^_^. I would love to see a series with Shiro as main character as well :).
    Too bad we’ll have to wait a few seasons for the manga to get ahead of the anime enough for a second season … Blue Exorcist has by now become my second favourite shonen series, after One Piece of course :D.

    engage
    Reply

  24. When you say “spoilerific frames” in the opening, which are you referring to? The only one I see is the giant sword guy. Unless there are some other character cameos going on behind him in that scene that I didn’t notice. Show Spoiler ▼

    UnknownVoid
    Reply

  26. Are the downloads for this new OP video, and others from this season, going up at some point? Or aren’t you doing that any more? It’s not a massive problem, it’s just that I’m not a fan of streaming and so I’m wondering where the download links went(it’s entirely possible I missed a post or notification somewhere). As odd as it is, I often decide whether to watch a series based on its OP and ED, and if I have the option I’d rather not waste an entire episode’s worth of bandwidth to do that.

    Thanks in advance for any response 🙂

    ZoboCamel
    Reply

  27. No screens of the post-ed scenes? Too bad. Mephisto giving Amaimon an annoyed look while pointing at his headless statue was funny. Amaimon even said it wasn’t his fault. Hehe. Makes one think that Mephisto really treasures his amusement park. These guys seem to be having too much fun in the stay in Assiah. Haha.

    bobon721
    Reply

      1. It’s an interesting theory. I’ve seen it suggested that the bunny is the entity and the boy is the puppet, too, but maybe that doesn’t contradict your theory. But could Satan really sneak into the Academy right under Mephisto’s nose – or would that mean Mephisto knows about it and is keeping quiet?

        Guardian Enzo
        Reply

      2. I think Mephisto has hidden plans which is kinda obvious. He’s testing Rin for some unknown reason and it’s definitely not to be the order’s ‘weapon’.

        I think if Satan wanted to get in then he probably could but I’ve got a feeling it’s kind of a rule that those possessed by Satan are engulfed in the blue flames. (he should patent those incase apple try to use them for iFire LOL)

        Either way, I think the fact we haven’t found out who he is in the manga kinda proves that theres definitely going to be another arc which fills me with enjoy anyway =D I’m just hoping that they’ll animate it all once the manga is finished.

        Kurisu Vi Britannia
        Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *