Thank you for visiting Anime Rants today! It’s time for the next arc of Blue Exorcist. This is roughly the equivalent of season 4. Despite my excitement, to be honest, this first episode wasn’t very interesting. I will certainly keep watching, though, since I’m quite invested in the story and several of the characters. The action and drama should start to pick up in the next few episodes. My notes are below.
Notes on Episode 1: “Ambition”
Episode Rating: 6/10
Ever since the studio change, the art style for Blue Exorcist has been significantly different. At first, I barely noticed the difference. However, now I notice it more than before and it’s a bit distracting. The style is strange. Still, I don’t think the visuals are terrible. Even if they were, visuals alone carry little weight for me. I basically only care about story and characters. So, whatever.
The opening and ending songs for this season are not my style. I’m not fond of either one. Of the two, I prefer the opening, which is “Re Rescue” by Reol. It is an upbeat Jpop song with female vocals and a lot of auto-tune. The ending song is “Tsurara” by Yobahi. I don’t know what genre to call it, but I’m not much of a fan. Anyway, let’s move on to notes that are specific to this episode, starting with the character of Mephisto.
Arguably my favorite character in the series, Mephisto remains an honorary knight in the council of the True Cross. However, Angel and others strongly suspect him of being responsible for the moles who gave information to the Illuminati in the previous season. To discredit Angel’s accusations, Mephisto reminded the council that he is risking his own body to keep the Gehenna Gate closed as long as possible.
To be honest, I don’t completely understand how that works. But Mephisto said he was keeping time at a standstill around the gate, so I guess that means time is also frozen for his own body and his wounds from last season are not healing. Regardless of how it works exactly, Mephisto defended himself well. I still don’t trust that he wants the best for humanity, but he’s clearly cooperating with them for now.
It’s great that this episode took a moment to show us how Izumo is doing. The previous season was mostly about her, and she went through hell. Surprisingly, Izumo is doing just fine. In fact, she feels more certain than ever that she wants to be an exorcist. In her words, now that she’s lost everything, this is the only place for her. That sounds a bit grim, but Izumo is coping well and doesn’t seem distressed.
Much of this episode was focused on Suguro, and I suspect this season as a whole will keep him in the forefront. I actually really love Suguro and his personality. At first, he seems like a cookie-cutter delinquent character with a quick temper. But in reality, he’s very intelligent, and skilled in exorcism for his age as well. I deeply empathize with Suguro’s need to have a “cause.” I’m this way as well. I literally don’t have the motivation to take care of myself if I’m not working for some ideal or cause.
Besides Suguro, this episode was also about Lewin Light, AKA Lightning. I didn’t always like this character. He’s still slightly unsettling to me for some reason. But now I like him a lot more than before. I didn’t realize he was so tolerant of the idea of working alongside demons. I think that’s a good trait for an exorcist to have long-term. Also, Lightning is a goofball. That’s something I love to see, especially in male characters. (Sense of humor is a big part of my attraction to men in both fiction and reality.)
That’s about all for my notes and thoughts on this episode. I look forward to what will hopefully be a more exciting episode next week. Until next time, Sayonara!
~Thanks for reading~
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