Blue Exorcist: Beyond the Snow Saga Episode 7 Review

Welcome back to Anime Rants with Mono (7Mononoke). Today we’re continuing the episode reviews for Blue Exorcist: Beyond the Snow Saga. The seventh episode was largely focused on Lightning, but it also featured important moments for Suguro and Mehpisto. Let’s go over it briefly.

Episode 7: Variant Leaves

Episode Rating: 8/10

Lightning and Suguro are interviewing an old man and his two companions, who might have a connection to the Illuminati. The “interview” quickly spirals into a brutal interrogation, as Lightning slices the old man with a blade and threatens to kill him if he won’t talk. Luckily, Suguro stops Lightning from going any farther. But the result was still the same. The old man died from a death contract after trying to confess his secrets. He only managed to reveal the words “Section 13” and “Elixir.”

(Suguro stops the torture of the old man)

This episode was important for understanding Lightning as a character. Later, when he talks to Suguro, he basically admits to being a sociopath. “I’m not the kind of person who can empathize with other people,” he stated. But he also said that he’s improved since he was younger. He used to be cruel and violent, making others think he might be a demon. However, Lightning eventually loosened up and made an effort to be a better person because he genuinely cares about protecting the human world. After all, humans are even more interesting specimens than demons, he believes.

Now let’s go over everything that Lightning and Suguro discovered through their investigations in this episode. Mephisto gave them a hint that led them to wander into a small pocket dimension where “The Asylum” is kept. The Asylum was a facility of the True Cross Order that got shut down after the Blue Night. It was also known as “Section 13.” Here, illegal and inhumane human experiments were conducted with the goal of making human clones for the demon kings to possess.

Flipping through the leftover records, Lightning and Suguro found out that Amaimon got a human vessel from Section 13. However, the facility never succeeded in making a vessel for Lucifer before the destruction on the Blue Night. Just when Lightning and Suguro were being attacked by brainless clones in the ruined facility, Mephisto teleported them back to his room to explain the missing pieces.

(Mephisto calmly enjoying strawberry milk)

According to Mephisto, Gehenna has had two main factions of demons for thousands of years. Lucifer’s side hated humans, while Mephisto’s side wanted to at least keep the human species alive. Thanks to Mephisto and those like him, the True Cross Order was established. Then, about a hundred years ago, Lucifer suddenly said he wanted to destroy the world – Gehenna and Assiah alike – to return everything to a state of “true equality.” To Lucifer, that means absolute nothingness.

Lucifer felt this way because his human vessels could only live ten years at most before degrading into agony. He was constantly in pain and physical decay, and his bitterness got the better of him. However, Mephisto proposed a solution. He would create Section 13 and try to make an immortal vessel for Lucifer. As we already know, this never actually happened. Instead, a vessel for Satan was accidentally produced. Once it gained consciousness, the entity killed everyone with the Blue Night and escaped the lab.

(The enhanced human vessel possess by Satan)

Mephisto wants Lightning to find a traitor within the Order who stole some research from Section 13. Though Lightning immediately says Mephisto is his first suspect, I doubt the demon is guilty. Mephisto encourages Lightning to investigate anyone who was around Section 13 for the Blue Night. This includes Arthur, though he apparently has amnesia and can recall nothing from before the event. There is also an old man with a monocle (Drac Dragulescu) who was at the lab studying the immortality elixir. He is the main suspect right now.

The episode leaves off there, but there are two quick things to note. First of all, it’s been nine months in-universe since the death of Shiro. Yukio and Rin are both trying their best to cope. Meanwhile, Shiemi tells her mother that she’s decided to be an exorcist despite the danger. Shiemi’s mother says she won’t stop her, but she wants to tell her daughter something serious that might impact her decision. We’ll hopefully find out what she’s talking about in the next episode.