Welcome back to Anime Rants. Today we’re reviewing episodes 4 and 5 of Blue Exorcist: Shimane Illuminati Saga. This is the third season of Blue Exorcist, and I’m enjoying it quite a lot. The intensity really picked up with the Illuminati making their move.

Since I didn’t get a chance to comment on Mephisto at all in the actual episode reviews, I want to say here that I love this character more than ever. It’s possible he’s putting on a very convincing show, but to me, it seems like he genuinely wants demons and humans to coexist. I was delighted and inspired when Mephisto asserted that he would never come to Lucifer’s side. And when he’s not having super serious moments like that, I love seeing Mephisto in a more casual context as well.

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Episode 4: Insider

In this eventful episode, the Illuminati declared war on the True Cross Order, vowing to resurrect Satan and end all existence by allowing Gehenna and Assiah to combine. The combination of the two dimensions will apparently result in an equilibrium of nothingness, which is what the demons consider true peace. The bad-guys need Izumo for some reason, so they kidnapped her. They also destroyed the protective barrier around the Academy and released swarms of intermediate-level demons in the city.

The other main events in this episode were Nemu’s secret identity, Shima’s betrayal, and the appearance of Lucifer. But before I respond to that stuff, let me mention Izumo. She has long been a favorite character of mine, but she’s also mysterious. Based on this episode, she has a connection to the Illuminati. It seems they are holding someone dear to her as a captive to make her do their bidding. This would also explain the visuals in the opening song, which show Izumo crying in chains. No wonder she’s angry and stressed all the time if this is what she’s dealing with.

Now onto the meat and potatoes. The narrative tried to convince viewers that Nemu Takara was the Illuminati spy, but this episode revealed the truth. Nemu is a first-class exorcist who was sent into Rin’s group as a “coordinator” to protect and observe them. He was hired by Mephisto to do this. The only thing I don’t understand is why he helped the Illuminati in this episode. He created a diversion to keep Izumo alone so it would be easier for the Illuminati to capture her.

There’s still a lot we don’t know about Nemu Takara. For example, what we knew as Nemu until this point may be another personality or a demon. The real Nemu is almost always sleeping. He woke up briefly in this episode while Shima was roasting him with black soul-fire. When that happened, Nemu actually opened his eyes, and they were both beautiful and terrifying. The puppet quickly urged him to go back to sleep, but the eerie moment still had a strong impact on Shima and Izumo.

The real spy for the Illuminati was, surprisingly enough, Renzou Shima. He used soul-fire to knock Izumo unconscious. He then turned her in to the Illuminati and left with them in a helicopter. I honestly didn’t see that twist coming, and while I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer, I still feel like this was impressively executed. Blue Exorcist has never had some kind of stunning narrative like, say, Attack on Titan – but it’s a creative story. It’s always been entertaining for me, and this is why.

I’ve never liked Shima, nor have I ever found his inappropriate behavior funny. So, it’s tempting for me be like “See, I knew he was a scumbag.” However, that’s not the vibe I’m getting from this narrative. I have a strong feeling Shima will have a redemption arc. In fact, I’m not even convinced that he’s doing this willingly. Maybe he’s being forced or threatened. Despite being annoying and creepy toward girls, Shima probably isn’t cruel or sadistic at all. I can’t see him wanting the demons to win.

Speaking of Demons, this episode introduced us to Lucifer, the King of Light. The elder brother of Mehpisto, he is also the highest authority in Gehenna. Lucifer commands a serious presence – and even Rin could sense his overwhelming demonic power – but he has a weak, sickly physical disposition. The VA playing Lucifer is Kouki Uchiyama, one of my favorite male voices. Even if his voice hadn’t been amazingly cool, I would probably like Lucifer anyway. He seems like an interesting villain. His eyes are also gorgeous.

I’ve already gone on long enough about the fourth installment, and I don’t want this article to be annoyingly long, so let’s move on to episode five.

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Episode 5: Destiny

This episode was rather intense at a few different points, but mainly when we saw Izumo’s mother. She was incredibly torn up, covered in burns, and not mentally “there” at all. The doctor supervising her, Gedoin, is possibly the most hideous character I have ever seen in terms of design. He is also a completely narcissistic, sociopathic scumbag and pervert. Besides her mother, we also know Izumo has a little sister named Tsukumo who is being held captive by the Illuminati.

From what I can gather, the Illuminati is doing some kind of experimentation on the mother – something to do with holding a demon in a human body. Izumo was supposed to help with the research by becoming a tamer-class exorcist, but that’s no longer needed. Now, they need a replacement for the mother, who might as well as be dead. Rather than let the Illuminati use her sister, Izumo volunteers for the job. For unknown reasons, she hates her mother. However, Izumo treasures Tsukumo, and will do anything to save her from fear and pain.

After the horrific meeting with Dr. Gedoin, Izumo had a brief talk with Shima that I found interesting. When asked why he worked for the Illuminati, Shima said he was simply sick of performing a certain way and wanted to betray and defy the people he knew. Izumo found this carefree explanation to be disturbing, and rightfully so – if it’s true, it means Shima is extremely callous. However, I’m not convinced this is Shima’s actual motivation. I may not like him, but I still don’t think he’s evil.

While this is going on, Rin and his group set out to rescue Izumo. At this point, there’s an important bit of info about Nemu Takara, who is supervising the group. He wasn’t actually helping the Illuminati on the night of Izumo’s capture – though he didn’t try to stop them, either. His role was to give the inari doll to Izumo. Anything Nemu summons can work as a tracking device. He will be able to pinpoint its location. That’s how Nemu knows where they need to go: a tiny rural town in Shimane with a prominent inari shrine.

The group of Exwires all have slightly different thoughts about Shima, but they still care about him and refuse to believe he’s truly evil. It was heartwarming when Rin managed to make Suguro cheer up. After reaching the tiny town, the friends explore a small amusement park / festival area and enjoy some delicious local cuisine. It was nice to see them having fun. In an otherwise intense episode, having some light-hearted moments proved to be a good change of pace.

At the end of the day, Nemu summoned the spirit of Mike – one Izumo’s familiars – in the form of a doll. Nemu’s puppet asked for information about the area and the Kamiki family. Thus, Mike begins to tell the story of Izumo and the fateful events that befell her family five years ago. To be continued.

~Thank you for reading~

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PATREON