Blue Exorcist: The Blue Night Saga

Episode 12

And so this is where we came in, little more than a year ago for Rin and his friends. For some of us in the real world, it's been rather longer, as the story rolls round to the timeframe of the very first Blue Exorcist episodes, animated by A-1 Pictures in 2011.

A few select scenes are redrawn by Studio VOLN, and I found them quite adequate. That's also how I'd describe the episode as a whole, or most of it. As Rin tells Shiro about his attempt at cuisine, it tastes good, but it lacks a certain something. Something that would put the episode on a level with this season's true peaks, which were Shiemi's confession to a sleeping (but aware) Rin in part 7, and Shiro's comparable salvation by Yuri in part 10.

Except, of course, there's the one moment of true magic near the end. Rin can't simply turn the handle in the kitchen and bury his dad forever in the past. Instead – after moments on a threshold that might as well be an abyss to Gehanna – our hero turns around and addresses Shiro as his dad. And rather than the universe exploding from the forbidden temporal paradox, Shiro just narrows his eyes, turns away and raises a hand in farewell: “That was nothing.” Thank you indeed, Shiro. Hail and farewell.

Otherwise, the episode serves to bring Rin and Yukio's relationship back into the fore. Blimey, even in elementary school, Rin pulped any kid who bullied his ten-minutes-younger brother. Are we sure that sword-locking thing ever worked properly?

More seriously, there's a ton of pathos with the brothers' flashback scenes, particularly the image of Rin in his bed, snoring hard and happy, while Yukio studies into the night to learn how he can protect him. As with Eren in Attack on Titan, you're invited to shout out to Yukio, ”Hey, how's that childhood ideal going?”

And yes, it's very sweet to see cooking being brought back into the forefront of Blue Exorcist. (Perhaps it's a clue that the world will end up being saved by that funny cooking demon Ukobach... Whoops, he's anime-only.) Shiro confirms the only reason he didn't want Rin to be an Exorcist was because of the boy's utter lack of self-control, which makes excellent sense. It also adds an extra irony to Shura becoming Rin's most important teacher, given all we learned about her in recent seasons.

I also liked seeing Shiro performing as his old self, bragging clownishly to Yukio that he can take Satan any day of the week, you just watch me, and then an instant transition to the true Shiro, confessing soberly to his superior that he's too old for this stuff. How about Rin, after all he's seen this season? Will he be able to put on an act as the old Rin any more, or will he be utterly changed when he meets his friends again: Shiemi, Bon and the rest?

Assuming he does, of course. His first priority's something else, and the episode ends with Rin coming face-to-face with his flame-eyed brother. To Be Continued… maybe. As of writing, no further season has been confirmed, though of course the manga's still chugging away in Jump Square.

It's been a good season. But it's taken an obvious risk by clearing so many of the regular characters off the screen for a whole cour, barring their brief returns in part 7. I was about to say it's unlikely the anime won't come back eventually... but thinking about it, I'm not sure. These days, Blue Exorcist's continuity-heavy plot asks for a heck of a lot of viewer investment.

If this is the end of Blue Exorcist in anime, then it would be a respectable defeat, with the this-is-how-we-started flashbacks giving at least a tinge of closure. And I'd certainly hop over to the manga if I had to. One way or another, I want to see this through.

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