These were the most intense episodes of Blue Exorcist thus far, at least for me, since I’m most interested in the story of Yuri Egin. In episode 6, she becomes pregnant with Satan’s spawn and is captured by the True Cross Order as a witch. Episode 7 was kind of a break from the pain and intensity, but still fascinating if you care about the lore of this anime and the character of Shiemi. Let’s review some notes.
Episode 6: If It Weren’t for Me
Episode Rating: 9/10
Satan and Yuri decided to leave Section 13 to spend the remainder of their time together before Satan’s body withered away. At some point during their time holed up in Section 13, Yuri became pregnant. The narrative stayed surprisingly far away from showing the sexual relationship between the two. We saw them embrace a few times, but there wasn’t even a kiss on screen. Anime has a weird way of being either prudish or grossly sexually deranged, with nothing in between.
As Satan prepared to abandon Section 13, Yuri briefly reunited with her friend, Jenny, who now worked at Section 13 and saw its horrors firsthand. She told Yuri she wanted to get the clone children out of the facility. Yuri supported Jenny, but had to quickly return to Satan’s side. Shortly after Yuri left, Jenny was shot and killed by the head researcher, who had overheard her planning against Section 13. It was a ridiculously unfair way for Jenny to die. Of course, the Order covered it up.
Yuri and Satan tried to quietly exit the facility, but were surrounded by exorcists from the True Cross Order. Satan collapsed with blood running out of his nose, mouth, and eyes. His body was degrading fast. Yuri screamed and cried, but both she and Satan were captured. After Mephisto announced Yuri’s pregnancy at a meeting, the Order decided to pin responsibility for the Satan incident entirely on Yuri. They deemed her a witch and locked her away in a small white room for the rest of her pregnancy.
Aborting the twin fetuses was not an option because of a protective dark magic called “Cradle Barrier.” Anything perceived as an attack on Yuri’s body would be deflected. This happened whenever a human woman was carrying a demon’s child. Not only was abortion impossible, but any kind of injection – even for pain meds during labor – was not permitted by the over-protective magic. The plan was thus to deliver the babies and immediately exorcise them.
Before we talk about Yuri’s labor, I have a few thoughts regarding her rights in this situation. The True Cross Order has proved itself to be evil, using an attitude of “the ends justify the means.” They completely denied Yuri any bodily autonomy. She wanted to have and keep the babies, but her choice wasn’t considered valid. Now, an argument could indeed be made that different rules apply to women with demon children. Still, I am more on Yuri’s side in this than on the side of the corrupt exorcists.
Shiro’s reaction to Yuri’s pregnancy is also worth mentioning. He was completely flabbergasted at first. I guess he never expected Yuri to be so fully in love with a demon. The next emotion that became obvious was anger. Maybe he was “righteously angry” that she had sex with a demon. Or maybe he was mad because she was making poor decisions for her long-term health. The demon pregnancy was slowly killing her, after all. But I think Shiro had grown to love Yuri. Thus, his anger mostly stemmed from jealousy.
Moving on, it was finally time for Yuri to give birth. There was a huge amount of exorcist ceremony around the event. It looked like a few hundreds exorcists were there, chanting, preparing, and getting ready to destroy whatever came out of Yuri’s body. The labor was insanely difficult and painful for Yuri. Her despair must have been deep, knowing the people around her had unilaterally decided on killing her offspring in addition to keeping her lover – her only support – locked away. It was hard to watch.
(Side Note: It was actually kind of impressive that this anime included so much childbirth horror while staying at the PG-13 level.)
Baby Rin was born dramatically, bathed in blue fire. Yuri was so weak after that she couldn’t continue and give birth to the other twin, Yukio. The midwife and doctors were trying to start a C-section now that the Cradle Barrier was lifted. (Apparently, only Rin was being protected by the magic because only he inherited Satan’s powers.) There wasn’t time to do anything before baby Rin began attacking the exorcists. He slaughtered many of them with blue fire. Even in baby form, this demon was doing an insane amount of damage.
Teenage Rin watched his own birth from a high point with Mephisto. It clearly horrified him to know that the first thing he did was slaughter people. Deciding that he should never have been born, Rin started to lose control of his emotions. His demon heart began to take over, telling his true self to die and disappear. Mephisto prevented it from getting worse by temporarily resealing the demon heart. He then threw Rin into a mysterious room to get some rest. To be continued.
Episode 7: The Night Before
Episode Rating: 8/10
At the start of the episode, Yukio arrives at the giant flying airship belonging to Lucifer and the Illuminati. We were also officially introduced to Homare Todo for the first time – (she’s the short female general who serves Lucifer). As for the fateful meeting, Lucifer welcomed Yukio kindly. Nevertheless, the teenage boy made it clear he wasn’t interested in helping the demon’s cause. He only wanted to find the answers to his past and figure out to activate his latent powers.
Meanwhile, the world erupted into chaos as demons covered the earth and humans reacted to the existence of supernatural monsters. While Ryuji delivered important evidence to the Paladin, Izumo stayed home and cared for Shiemi. During their talk, it became clear that Izumo cares deeply about the other girl. In addition, thanks to the talk with Izumo, Shiemi finally realized that she was in love with Rin.
People from the Vatican arrived and took Shiemi away without any explanation. She was taken to a strange but beautiful paradise realm. It was like a giant garden with diverse plant-life and gorgeous golden buildings. The people who took Shiemi were the Grigori Sedes, and their leader was Jeremiah Uzai. Shiemi was apparently one of them – almost like their princess. She was supposed to help her “mother” with sacred rituals. However, Shiemi recalled none of her upbringing with the Grigori Sedes.
Shiemi was the daughter of the woman currently serving as the Grigori for the True Cross Order. This is the secret that Shiemi learned near the end of the previous season. But what are the Grigori? Based on a skim reading of the Blue Exorcist fan wiki, they are the descendants of angels. The garden was essentially Eden, but we will call it Amahara. This place was where the crystallized remains of Shemihaza – one of the original Grigori – were kept. It was the crystals that made Amahara so magical.
Though Shiemi was treated like royalty, it wasn’t comfortable at all. The servants were fussy and intrusive, not even letting her bathe alone. They dressed her up in fancy clothes she didn’t ask for, and there was nothing to do but wait for the chance to meet her “mother.” Now that she had been taken, Shiemi was certain that she wouldn’t be allowed to see her friends from exorcist school again. The loneliness and helplessness were overwhelming.
Jeremiah was not helping the situation. He was lowkey creepy, very condescending and yet constantly smiling. When Shiemi said she couldn’t remember any helpful rituals, Jeremiah said she hadn’t changed since childhood. The Grigori Sedes would be happy to do everything for her, Jeremiah stated. This was the worst thing for Shiemi to hear after trying so hard to develop her confidence and become more independent. Poor girl.
Fortunately for Shiemi, she was soon cheered up. She found Rin in a deep slumber on the bathroom floor. (Mephisto apparently sent him to Shiemi’s location on purpose.) While Rin slept, Shiemi talked to him softly. The demon boy was hating himself and losing control, but Shiemi’s sweet monologue brought him comfort. She said that if it wasn’t for Yukio and Rin, she would never have tried to get outside her comfort zone. To Shiemi, the Okumura boys were “the sun.” Just seeing Rin’s face gave Shiemi courage.
Rin woke up just after Shiemi left the room to handle the fussy servants. (They were literally trying to keep track of her toilet habits.) Without even trying to figure out where he was, Rin used his magic key to return to the past. He felt much better about himself now, though he couldn’t say why. It was time to continue the tragic story of Yuri Egin.
In the last scene, Rin rejoined Mephisto in watching the tragedy unfold. Suddenly, a demonic aura became strongly apparent. It was Satan. Though his brain was barely holding itself together, and his body looked skeletal, he was still alive. As Satan screamed for Yuri and set everything on fire, the Blue Night began for real. Just to restate, these two episodes were awesome.
~Thanks for reading~
Written by 7Mononoke at Anime Rants
Anime Rants 