Welcome to Anime Rants. On January 4th, the new season of Blue Exorcist began. This is the arc that finally explains Yuri and her relationship with Satan. I’m so excited for it! The pilot episode was not stunning, but it was adequate and had many cute moments with Yuri as a little girl. I’ll go over my notes on this installment.
Episode 1: Shiro and Yuri
Episode Rating: 8/10
It’s important to remember that while he is in the world of the past, Rin is not allowed to interfere. Mephisto reminds him that this story will end in tragedy and he would do well to remember that. Although interacting with people from the past would not cause a time paradox in this universe, it would certainly create confusion and trouble for the True Cross Order. For now, Rin seems to understand and respect the rule. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if he tries to interfere with events at some point.
Rin was surprised to learn that Yuri was a homeless orphan being raised by three adults in a junkyard. The homeless family seemed to be made of good people who cared about each other, though the old lady (“Obaba”) was definitely weird. I love weird old ladies, and I wish more time had been given to Obaba. Besides Obaba, there was a man name Oku and a woman named Niko. Because of these people, despite being homeless and hungry, Yuri lived a fairly happy life.
Oku used to be an exorcist, but he stopped in order to raise the abandoned baby he found. Obaba knows a lot about spirits and demons. Yuri loved hearing about them. She always wanted to make friends with the creatures that others found so frightening. Maybe it was because she had no other humans to play with. When it came to playmates, however, Yuri did have at least one she enjoyed interacting with.
Yuri’s playmate was Rinka, a mysterious spirit that manifested as blue fire. This being would eventually evolve its consciousness enough to realize that it was Satan, King of Gehenna. However, at this point in the story, “Rinka” does not know it is Satan. It recently gained awareness and started appearing in random places all over the world. When in Japan, Rinka played with Yuri in the junkyard. Despite the danger of fire, Yuri absolutely adored her spirit friend.
One day, a huge fire spread around the slums and killed Yuri’s family. It was not stated how the fire started, but it could have been Rinka’s fault. Regardless, this event was incredibly sad. Yuri was left completely alone. As winter sets in, the little girl had to worry about survival. She apparently didn’t have a way to start a fire, nor any form of shelter from the snow. Things were really not looking good for Yuri.
Luckily, Yuri stumbled into another person’s shelter. The other person was Shiro, a runaway from the Asylum (which we now know created and experimented on cloned children). Shiro was a shitty little brat who didn’t care about Yuri freezing to death without his help. However, Yuri eventually convinced him to let her stay the night. She did this by promising to help him find porn magazines the next day. Wow. Shiro really was a horrible little shit, wasn’t he?
Yuri called Shiro a “Yuki Otoko,” a term that literally means “Snow Man” but refers to a white-haired, humanoid snow spirit. (In the original Japanese mythology, it was a “Yuki Onna” or “Snow Woman.”) It’s true that Shiro resembles a snow spirit. Despite his cold look and attitude, though, his body was still warm. Yuri told him so as she snuggled up to him by the fire bucket. That was such an adorable moment!
Unfortunately, people from the Asylum found Shiro and cornered him with demon hounds. Yuri could see the dogs even though they were spirits, which meant she had potential to be an exorcist. Thus, the True Cross Order takes both Shiro and Yuri back to the Asylum. Shiro states that the Asylum is a terrible place, but Yuri adjusts well to the new environment. Yes, the daily training was grueling, and the kids were treated like prisoners, but it was an improvement over not having any shelter or food.
The final scene in the pilot episode shows Shiro reporting to Mephisto in his office. Knowing the demon, he probably has some kind of dangerous mission in mind for Shiro. While we’re on the topic of Shiro, it is understandable why he’s such a brat. He’s being raised without moral guidance or emotional support. In addition, due to being a clone of Azazel, Shiro feels like he’s not human. A kid with identity issues is likely to act out in various ways. Anyway, that’s all for today.
~Thanks for reading~
Written by 7Mononoke
Tag: Blue Exorcist: Blue Night Saga
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