Rin has a lot to learn about being an Exorcist; but does his brother have the patience and maturity to teach him all he needs to know?
What They Say
Episode 9
Fighting together for the first time, Rin and the others barely survive a harrowing attack. Suddenly, Mephisto and the cram school teachers are before them!
Episode 10
After the excitement of being promoted to ExWire, Rin is soon disgusted with his load of homework. Then, Yukio is summoned for an urgent mission! The familiar of the Knights of the True Cross has gone berserk, and Yukio has to deal with the crisis.
Content: (please note that content portions of this review contains spoilers):
Episode 9
After a big battle with demons in the last episode, Rin and his fellow classmate Pages are shocked to discover it was all a pop quiz to see if they qualify for the next level of Exorcist; Exwire. The students are all shocked that it was a test, and some are disappointed with how they performed. Despite the fact this was a planned test, Teacher Noihauss went above and beyond to summon demons more powerful than those that should have been used for this test, and Yukio wants to know why.
Despite Noihauss’ claims that he was instructed to by Mephisto, the school director, to attack Rin with that level of gusto. Yukio didn’t become an Exorcist by the age of 14 by being a dummy. So he sets up a trap to see if Noihauss is lying, and things get ugly! Will Yukio be able to defeat Noihauss if things come down to an all out death match!?
Episode 10
This episode may start out a little slow, but it more than makes up for that with the story development for Rin’s family. As much as Rin talks trash about his adopted father, Father Fujimoto, deep down he really misses his dad. I also think Rin really respects his brother, Yukio, even if he likes to make fun of him.
When Father Fujimoto’s familiar Kuro learns that his master has died, he loses his shit and goes crazy attacking everyone around him. Rin tags along with Yukio to confront Kuro, and learns that he can hear Kuro’s thoughts. Kind of like a demon-to-demon telepathy. It’s a cool new power, and one I expect could come into play plenty of times in this series. But can Rin somehow use this newly realized power to stop Kuro without killing him? I really think it is what Father Fujimoto would want, but can Rin pull it off? Afterall, Rin does use blunt force any time he is confronted with a problem.
I’ve seen many previous episodes in this series in both sub and dub format. Both are good, but I am a dub fan at heart. I think the voice actors in this dub have been doing a great job, and I really like Johnny Yong Bosch’s even-keeled portrayal of Yukio and Christine Marie Cabanos shy yet upbeat portrayal of Shiemi. While Shiemi can be shy and timid, she also has her moments of toughness, which Christine is able to capture while still maintaining Shiemi’s timidness.
In Summary
Things aren’t all shonen-style “let’s fight to see who is stronger” bologna in this series. Episode 9 shows some great character development for not only Rin and his brother Yukio, but also Shiemi, the weakest of the Pages. It was great to see Shiemi become more assertive in multiple ways, and actually decide how she wants to progress in life. Aside from this, I really enjoyed the continued development of Rin and Yukio’s relationship as twins. Yukio has always been weaker than Rin, seeing as how Rin inherited powers from his father and all. But, what I find a great bit of storytelling, is how Yukio dwells on how Rin was so strong when they were growing up, all the while ignoring the fact that he’s pretty badass himself. Yukio became an Exorcist and a teacher at the academy for Exorcists by the time he was 14 years old for crying out loud!
Good character design and potential for development has become very apparent for this series. Throw in the slow development of a love triangle between Shiemi, Rin, and Yukio, and sprinkle in some comedic relief from Rin being Rin, the mystery between Mephisto and why he is trying to kill Rin, and this is a fun series that is a little more mature than many shonen series. I’m a fan!
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Neon Alley
Review Equipment: Panasonic TH-42PC77U plasma, PS3 set to 1080p.