Ao no Exorcist

[Yumano-kun]

looks Interesting
Im gonna watch it! ^^

 

[corocoro]

Spoiler: 15

The animation quality keeps dropping, the cliffhangers keep getting better. :p
Of course, they had to find out about Rin at some point of time and now the cat's out of the back. :p
Naturally they won't tell anyone, since he's their friend. Before that Bon will freak and punch and similar stuff, Shiemi will be shocked, etc...

 

[Kou]

Spoiler: episode 15

They really make Rin more GAR here compared to the manga.

A-1 is doing a terrific job on this series. That was a very impressive episode. It was only a matter of time before Rin's friends found out his secret, and i especially like it was tied into the theme of needing friends, and not going about it alone.

Spoiler: manga comparisons

- Amaimon didn't lose quite so badly in the manga. Mephisto said he was outmatched, but he still had quite a lot of fight left in him.
- Mephisto intervened directly to separate the fighters. Didn't have any trouble manhandling both.
- Rin didn't destroy the Cuckoo Clock. Mephisto just made it disappear.
- The sword didn't show any sign of breaking.

This week also marks the start of the anime diverging from the manga. Aside from Mephisto not stepping in as quickly, they've shown signs of Rin's sword breaking, which is definitely new. I predict that they could go two ways after this arc by either:

A. Have an original arc focused on fixing the sword and incorporate the character development that happens in the next manga arc into this instead. Then, they'll have an original open ending that can still follow the manga story (with slightly different character interaction due to the already occurred development) as we're forced to wait for the highly likely second season to happen.

B. The broken/damaged sword is still an important focus, but they'll go full on original with perhaps scenes, characters and elements of the next manga arc rewritten and incorporated into whatever story and ending they have in mind.

Personally I'd go with A as the most ideal direction they can take the anime. B is fine too if they pull it off well. If they go with B I'd like to see them somehow incorporate some of the yet to appear manga characters at the very least. Their apparent popularity should warrant that much, right?

 

[Kou]

Spoiler: episode 16

With the Kurikara broken, Rin no longer can revert back to his human form and it took Shiemi to calm him down. The rest of the gang don't have their initial display of shock at Rin's revelation like the manga except for Konekomaru. Incidentally he was the only one who needed to be hospitalized in the anime . Also, I was right about there being a sidequest to fix Kurikara. It got resolved really quick though so we're in for a different sort of original plot. Arthur's introduction and the court proceeding was pretty much the same except with Rin being unconscious and sealed, which was a shame cause we never got him giving his "STFU I'm gonna be the best goddamn paladin you'll ever set your eyes on!" speech to the court. The other big change was Amaimon invading the courthouse with his minions. He's even showing signs of his true form =O.

I have to say, as a manga reader I'm still rather satisfied with this new direction the story has gone. Though I am a little sad that the possibility of seeing some of the interactions that Izumo and Shima have with Rin later on not happening anymore due to the changes. Now it remains to be seen whether they intend to wrap things up or leave it open for a sequel. At the very least I'm still hoping for some of the characters in the current manga arc to make an appearance on way or another this season.

 

[Terumi]

should i read manga now or after animu conclude?

hmm hmm

 

[Kou]

Better after the anime conclude, still not sure if they are really going all-out original, preview next episode show scenes from manga. The super long arc still ongoing now, so they can't include it (not enough episodes also).

 

[Coolio]

Umm Kou, I can't seem to find Ep 17 nor 18 for this animu. Maybe you wrote wrongly. Perhaps it's only 16? O_o

Do you have any links to download 17 or 18? If you have just post it. If you don't, don't bother bout it.

But anyways, this animu for me is like one of the best anime so far. :D

 

[Kou]

Mistaken number episodes with Steins;Gate.

 

[Coolio]

No wonder KOU! D: I was like... "Did I miss anything?"

 

[Kou]

Spoiler: episode 17

First thing first, I can't say I liked how Amaimon was one-shotted and killed in an extended prologue before the opening even kicked in. Poor guy . Also, the anime staff had a chance to put Rin's speech to the courtroom but instead they chose to have him wake up in a daze, one-shot Amaimon and faint again... I'd say those were the two things that didn't really sit well with me. Mephisto was a hoot as usual though. In the end there was still some tension between the Kyoto trio and Rin over the revelation. Shiemi on the other hand is completely fine with it. Having said that, hooray, the training scene with clothes being burnt off was kept . I was really looking forward to that, especially the facial expressions. More points for putting in Izumo's interaction with Rin. So dere <3.

What got my attention though was a shot of Yukio having some sort of black rash on his body. Wonder what the anime staff have planned? I hope it's not what the cast have been alluding to outside of the anime. Next week's anime original plot gets kicked off this week by Konekomaru who get's possessed by something/someone towards the end. Looking forward to how they'll handle this. What I'm not looking forward to are the outcries of blasphemy by manga purists.

 

[animeluver.com]

^yeah i have to agree, i don't really like the fight against amaimon... i think it was too short D:

i watched ep 17 three days ago and :u i think yukio also have a satan power like rin does

 

[Kou]

Spoiler: episode 18

'm glad they didn't draw his possession any more than this. I think a bit of the dialogue between him and Rin towards the end was from the manga but other than that the episode was full on original. So Bon wasn't really that distrustful towards Rin, just tsun . Konekomaru got his spotlight and managed to accept Rin for who he is after angsting and getting saved. Liked the facial expressions in the emotional scenes. Wonder what significance does the old Vatican research lab hold? It reminded me of the place that was featured during the Blue Night in episode 1. Neuhaus also appears after being out of the story for so long, which probably means that Mephisto has a hand in this anime original arc.

Speaking of Mephisto, he now has a green hamster in his office. Gee, I wonder if that's supposed to imply something?
EDIT: Haha, pixiv seems to feel the same way. I didn't notice since I watched a crappy webcast, but the fanarts (fast!) of said green hamster all have it with a lighter green horn-like stump on it's head. I think that pretty much says everything

Next week looks like a pure filler episode with Shima as the focus, which is perfectly fine with me. So this would mean everyone except Takara will have had a spotlight episode. I hope Rin and Shima's interaction in the current manga arc will make it in. Writers, please do it! Oh, what's this? Paku returns as well. Eyebrows will be delighted.

 

[Terumi]

Spoiler: 19

really fun episode to watch.

everyone getting pumped up by their own to try and celebrate izumo's birthday, leads to a complete chain of mass-laughters and idiotic scenes. watching the preparations was damn funny, as izumo's misconception of paku and shima grew worse and worse through each of their secret meetings to find a present for izumo.

watching the twins get stunned by the difference between a christmas and birthday was hilarious too.

yet, story still underlined some questions, in particular yukio's various black spots on his arm right now. well, skipping that, it is another ordinary episode with the laughs and plot seemingly slipping in.

gundam age trailer was released at the end of the episode, october 9

 

[Kou]

This was a light-hearted and fun episode..

Spoiler: episode 19

... except for the beginning which showed how much Yukio's condition has progressed and the epilogue where they find out something happened to their old monastery D=. Other than that, it was your usual birthday episode with everyone trying to throw a surprise party for Izumo. Seeing her stalking Shima and Paku thinking they were dating was amusing, but the funniest bit was both Rin and Yukio not knowing the difference between a Christmas cake and Birthday cake because they celebrated both at the same time. Izumo gained even more points for suggesting they also celebrate the previous birthdays instead of just hers was really sweet. The cast interactions overall was just really nice to watch. Plus, we get another flashback with Shiro regarding the twin's birthday .

Next week Neuhaus and Mephisto are up to something and what about Yukio's condition? D=

 

[Kou]

Spoiler: episode 20

Anyway, the episode itself was good, if not a bit fast. The character models looked a bit iffy for most of the ep as well. Time for a shot at some speculations. Neuhaus' wife probably survived the Blue Night and was taken into Ernest's cult of Satan haters, all of which was unknown to Neuhaus until later. Since this has to tie into the artificial life laboratory somehow maybe she could even be a homunculus made from Neuhaus' wife's corpse. Either way she's definitely not herself and seems to be under control which is why Neuhaus is trying to stop her.

Ernest could have been keeping watch over the twins for years and made his move when Rin's lineage got exposed. He could also have been in the dark about it as well and only later found out that his grandchildren were still alive and that one of them was directly connected to Satan. His current goals appear to be simply the elimination of everything Satan and is now trying to turn Yukio against Rin. I really want to know how the artificial life lab ties into all this.

Ernest is totally original char.

 

[Kou]

Spoiler: episode 21

Interesting revelation about their mom and the secret lab.
Artificial life experiments & Negaus's wife. That stuff never works out right.
Shiemi sure has unusual luck of stumbling into trouble. Those Vatican guys are pretty brutal & there is no reasoning with them. Rin trying to save the day just ended up with Michelle saving him. At least she found her peace in the end.

 

[Terumi]

ao exo related materials seen a significant increase since the debut of the animu.
as expected of the sunday 5pm slot, definitely the timeslot for any show to make it top.

nice series till now, hopefully gundam age can do the timeslot proud like its past holders. hmm hmm

 

[Terumi]

Spoiler: episode 22

Nothing goes right for our group of protaganists.

Yukio's shocking promotion to Paladin dropped jaws for everyone, not only Prof. Tsubaki but me too. Head of Japan headquarters too? Thats too fast a ladder up success.

Vatican using vampire-like weapons to go on worldwide demon hunting. Call it crusade or cleansing whatever, i definitely didnt like the way things are done, and our protaganists do realise this isnt right. All is but too late, as Yukio remains deceived by his 'grandfather' and is visually troubled by the spreading black cells, which have turned him sorta demon-like with extended fingernails and at the end of the episode, seemingly casted in blue flames, which can either be, possessed by satan or he awakened his own demon powers like his brother. Ok so i see, you wanna open the gates and send in a crazy nuclear bomb to destroy hell itself. Genius plan? I say no.

The new pope is probably just another man crazed by Satan and desperate to kill him and Gehenna, but the origins of his motives are definitely not as pure and simple as because; Satan impreganted his daughter and she died in the end.

Well, with this original anime ending, A-1 seem to hitting the right buttons i must say, introducing some bad guys with a decent length before the anime closes sound good, tackling the original problem of demon vs human. Just hope that the ending is all-happy though, it may ruin the aftertaste of the series after such a nice build-up and fun in the earlier episodes.

 

[Kou]

Spoiler: episode 22

What?????? That felt like someone was on roller-blades and going downhill.. First it went to this, then 10 seconds later it went to this Still got to the point at least..

Grandpa went insane with his power as the pope and tricked Yukio into believing there was hope for Rin to become human. But it all turned into one huge scandal when Rin was the last ingredient to open the artificial gate for them to launch the nuclear missile on Satan..

So now Yukio has awakened his demon powers. Hope Rin ain't dead. Good thing the others were able to figure out that what they were doing wasn't right.

 

[CirnoIsTheStrongest]

I'm generally uninterested in this level of shounen, but have been surprisingly pleased with the outcome of this series, and am looking forward to more. Am at episode 21 at the moment, haven't had time to watch 22 as of yet.

 

[Terumi]

Spoiler: episode 23

Level up! Yukio : Paladin -> Satan (Last Boss)

Solid episode, showcasing the story behind the twins' mother and the truth behind their birth. Their Yuri looked like everything like straight-forward idiot, whose 'elite' upbringing did not matter as she believe demons are no different from humans, its just a different viewpoint perspective. Her encounter with Satan was one twindled with fate, as Satan could not possess anything on Assiah. While possessing Yuri, he came to know the meaning of 'life', and ended up making Yuri bear his child.

Truth revealed, the stupid Pope did die a horrible death sucked in the Gehenna Gate. Yukio gets possessed in midst of his rage by his father, and things head for a climatic finish next week.


The mum's proper introduction here have served up quite a number of facts unrevealed. Not touched yet in the manga is it perhaps? Anycase, I will agree that the background story about their birth now was so needed, but the straight face of their telling Shiro in his face that 'Yes, I did it with a demon. His child are inside me now.' was quite.. I cant describe it, but Shiro's reactions definitely tell the story. They sorta changed Satan's role from the ultimate bad-ass bad guy here to some sort of anti-hero, saving his loved one from being burnt to death by her own father.

While we got to see more Shiro this week, the twist that Satan may not be all bad is quite a sting. Now, what are his true motives for still trying to 'invade' into Assiah? Revenge for Yuri is obvious now, but perhaps something else?

 

[Kou]

Blue flame vs. blue flame.

The solution? Bring a huge fire extinguisher.

Spoiler: episode 23

I like this episode more than the previous. The pacing was better without too many events occurring too fast yet making a good amount of progress. It's probably due to the fact we got a long flashback.

Nice that we got to see more of the twin's mother and the truth behind the Blue Night, if Satan is to be believed. I thought it was a really interesting move the writers pulled by making Yuri be Satan's reason for instigating the Blue Night. Though, I recall that the Night occurred globally which wouldn't make sense if he wanted to just save Yuri. I suppose he either got desperate for any vessel or he was pissed at all the exorcists. I'm also unsure about Satan's motivations at the moment. Maybe I missed a crucial part of the dialogue.

Ernest got what he deserved in the end and I'm glad we sort of managed to divert away from a Rin vs Yukio finale (unless you count Satan-in-Yukio as such). Hope the writers manage to resolve this in an acceptable manner in the last two episodes. I'm hoping they get Satan out of Yukio without killing/defeating him cause that would be pushing it.

Finally, HOLY CRAP Takara spoke normally! Looking forward to the writers revealing what his actual role in the series is. He seems to be some sort of observer. Hamaimon also spoke and I don't think anyone didn't see his identity coming a mile away.

For the record Takara is voiced by Tsubasa Yonaga (Mihashi in Oofuri, Aichi in Vanguard and Youji Haneda in Oretsuba) while Yuri is voiced by the prolific Megumi Hayashibara.

 

[Kou]

Spoiler: episode 24

This episode pretty much had the same problem as the Konekomaru arc: it is very difficult to properly portray someone getting possessed, without being overly cheesy. Here though, Rin pretty much ended up talking the monster to death. It worked a bit: the themes of Yukio always wanting to do everything on his own were what saved it in particular. But I have to face it: the suicide scene made me laugh. Just about the opposite effect that the creators intended.

Yukio: if you want to commit suicide: that’s fine. If that happens to kill Satan at the same time, then I can understand why you’d do it… but why the yelling? The thing is that in martial arts, yelling does have a very important purpose: By combining it with breathing, you can really deliver harder punches, et cetera. With Yukio however, he was trying to pull the trigger on a gun. That requires a completely different kind of concentration, so he just looked silly while yelling.

In any case, the final episode: it pretty much was the most cliched set up that the creators could think of.

 

[Kou]

Spoiler: final impressions

They stuck to the source material way too long if they knew they were going to forced into an anime original ending.

It's a completely different series up until Rin's sword breaks. It had the pacing of a weekly shonen series until they decided to make the sharp turn in the story. Even the animation seemed different at the start. The whole mood of the series was different.

Kind of disappointed that the went with the lame "misunderstood monster" trope. It seems like they rushed the ending and went with something cliche just to wrap up the series.

The plot against satan unfortunately is horribly rushed, with in the end Satan magically forgetting to use a lot of his powers in order to actually prevent the main cast from not instantly dying. It’s full of bland twists and unoriginal plot devices that are way too constrained with trying to go for a “by the books”-ending. This series is based on a manga, but decides to go with its own storyline for its final third. While that isn’t immediately a bad thing, it just doesn’t work here.

 

[Terumi]

i am hoping they can put their excellent 'stick to source materials' ability for SAO.

I WANT TO CROWN SAO AS MAJOR SUCCESS