With his life thrown into upheaval, Rin must now move forward while coping with his losses.
What They Say:
Vowing to become an exorcist, Rin is taken to True Cross Academy by the mysterious Mephisto, a friend of their late father. Later, Rin heads to the Exorcist Cram School, as Mephisto warns: “You must keep that you’re the son of Satan confidential.”
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The first two episodes of Blue Exorcist covered a fair bit of ground and put Rin to the place where he is now in that he’s learned some of what he really is and the way he can utilize it to become something more. The loss of the man that cared for him for so many years has definitely left an impact on him, but one that has him intending to make him proud of him with what he’ll become. On the downside, Yukio has largely gone missing at this point and that’s creating some stress and issues for Rin since he wants to have some sort of closure with him about what’s happened before he goes full on into the True Cross Academy. And it doesn’t hurt that the director of the academy, Mephisto, is keen on personally transporting him there alongside Yukio.
Unsurprisingly, the True Cross Academy is a lush, gorgeous and expansive place where Rin can work hard at his goal of becoming an exorcist so he can find some closure for what happened, but also to deal with the changes to his life that are coming up. The academy is like any school in that he goes through a normal curriculum and has to deal with the usual social issues, but his cram school is where he’ll be working hard to become a page, a necessary step on his path to becoming an exorcist. Having all of this explained by the kind of silly and whimsical nature of Mephisto, who goes by the name of Faust when it comes to all the other students, including Yukio. And amusingly, as ornate as the school may be, the secret cram school within it has a very basic and almost run down look to it, as do the strange array of students that are in there before him.
At this point in time, Rin is going to be continually surprised by things, though he’ll get better at handling it as time goes on. One of the biggest surprises is the introduction of who one of his instructors will be and that adds a bit of good character fun to it but it also alters perceptions a fair bit for Rin as he has to examine the past and what he believed to be true for so long. While much of the show deals with Rin’s acclimation to the True Cross Academy, there is some action brought into it when a class experiment goes awry and some goblin type demons come out. The action works pretty well, though it largely excludes Rin from it so that the teacher can shine a bit, and to really reinforce that the whole judging a book by its cover thing really is something you shouldn’t do. It’s a bit simple in its approach and it’s more just laying the foundation for the series, but it’s done with a good sense of style to it while avoiding anything seriously obnoxious.
In Summary:
With the Blue Exorcist taking its time to get things rolling, it’s definitely an appreciated approach since it lets things move at a bit more of a leisurely pace, but at the same time lets the intense moments feel all the more powerful. Rin’s position is one where there’s a lot of uncertainty in his life as every time he really thinks about it, things that he believed to be true are proven otherwise and lies have been a big part of his life. Rin continues to come across well here though and he’s still the main draw. The supporting cast that’s being drawn in is kept light though, with only Mephisto really getting a chance to put his personality on display, as the other students in his cram school session barely have any speaking lines. There’s plenty of basic archetypes there though, but the series definitely looks like it’s going to be dealing with well layered and interesting characters that will take time to explore. Blue Exorcist definitely has a lot to offer and this episode really cements it.
Grade: B+
Simulcast By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
1 thought on “Blue Exorcist Episode #03 Review”