Somewhere down the line it seems to gone from decent, to confusing, to decent to annoying…to just being there at the end…
What They Say:
The star-crossed teens face devastating loss as the battle between good and evil takes a turn for the worse.
Part 3: The imbalance between worlds is traced back to Sae, and to save them all, the ray of sunshine that lit their hearts must now return to her roots. Rokuro and Benio can barely keep it together, and to make matters worse, the leader of the Twelve Guardians has disappeared. All hands are on deck as the beastly Basara continue to plague the land. When Kuranashi’s sinister plan reaches new heights, even Mayura is pushed to her limits. Time is of the essence as the Twin Stars put heart and soul into saving their city in a battle that brings them closer than ever before.
Part 4: The battle between good and evil comes to its thrilling conclusion! What will become of the star-crossed lovers?
Kuranashi’s sinister plan leads to the decimation of the Twelve Guardians, and a familiar face from the past confronts Rokuro and Benio once again. The Twin Stars learn of their true nature when the origin of the exorcists is revealed, and it all ties back to one man who seeks to level the world at any cost…
The Review:
Audio:
The sound quality has options of 5.1 English Dolby Surround and the Japanese a 2.0 Stereo option. There were no complications of the audio throughout the release and the 5.1 option definitely comes through well with no need to adjust default settings on the audio system I was using. There were no problems with the video synching in with subtitles as definitely acceptable as a Blu-Ray release.
Video:
Similar with the audio, the video is set in 16:9 – 1.78:1 aspect ratio via NTSC transfer to PAL format – the Blu-Ray release is in full screen mode and comes through very powerfully, making it a colourful output, the animation was good overall, and despite the use of CGI during a lot of the attack sequences it isn’t as noticeable as previous releases (perhaps due to the Blu-Ray format compared to the DVD format I reviewed the previous 2 TSE releases) so definitely comes out a lot stronger than in my previous reviews.
Packaging:
There was no packing for this test release.
Menu:
Unlike the DVD menus, the Blu-Ray ones have clips of the episodes of the show in the background whilst below it have your selections in Play All, Set Up, Episodes and on disc 2 of both releases, Extras. Again, the different between DVD and Blu-Ray releases are there to see with how much better it looks and how fluid it is and quick (with the traditional pop-up menu in show as well) but despite this, it is pretty basic and generic at the same time.
Extras:
On part 3 we have the clean opening and ending, and some trailers but with the special edition you get a limited edition collectors booklet. On part 4 we do have the same (trailers, opening, ending, booklet) but we have short mini interview segment called Hanae Natsuki & Han Megumi’s Twin Star Room Vol. 7 which is basically a backstage segment with some of the actors talking about the show, in case their favourite characters throughout – sadly it is only a few minutes long so I am going to assume the rest of these segments were in earlier Blu-Rays so it maybe makes a good compliation overall.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The first half of Twin Star Exorcists was, whilst at times formulaic, did have some bright spots, definitely some progress in character development and the over-ending plot, and did make me interested in what was going to happen.
The second half….felt like they had so much to include that they rushed through it to the point that nothing really stood out, and there were too many characters and plotholes throughout making it more of a hodge podge of a series rather than something that tried to be a little different.
It ended on the first half with Benio and Rokuro’s adopted daughter Sae being added to the show, and pretty much with her powers being a way to help out the two on their own journey. We get Mayura also being added more and more, as she tries to ask Shimon for help in training, who is very reluctant to say the least and here it is a bit amusing. The Twin Stars however have one major problem which hits quite early in the arc….they always have to be saved.
This is a common theme that someone, whether it’s a guardian or a friend or family member, always saves them despite them being the duo who will give birth to the Miko, so therefore despite levelling up last arc, it doesn’t really show much at all to the point of predicting what will happen in battle. Add insult to injury, Sae, who we thought would be a big part in their improvement, actually is forced to ‘die’ to save her ‘parents’ during one battle. And whilst they build it up to be a tearful scenario, because Sae was barely in it, you don’t really feel much for them…
Then they try to make the mascot character a bit more bearable with a back-story episode for him…it doesn’t really work. There are battles with new and returning characters, the twelve guardians also become more involved after their leader was killed, Shimon being acting as a pseudo bodyguard for the Twin Stars, and we get some back-story with some of the characters of the guardian group (Sakura and Miku at least had a decent albeit predictable back-story). They do add some comedy throughout as whilst Benio and Rokuro’s relationship has been improving, there are definitely still moments as well as Shimon not being able to deal with school life (or Mayura). Of course it gets more serious when Chijiwa returns, however Rokuro manages to defeat him after finally showcasing what he can do and not be used as a reason for someone else to save the day.
What’s interesting is that the relationship between Benio and Rokuro does slowly develop more from the tsundere phase so in that respect, the show does well – it’s weird as the first half really focused more on the action and whilst there is plenty of that in this half, it feels less connected so the couple part shines a bit more through here. Mayura as well is not the romantic rival and is more of a close friend as she also begins improving herself, both character and skills wise. This comes in handy when the latest threats of the Basara appear, specifically Kuranashi who manages to subdue the 12 guardians and absorb their energy to basically conquer both the real world and the Magano world, and even had captured Yuto to absorb his energy as well. Unfortunately for him, not only does one of the guardians he absorbed be a shikigami rather than a human, but Yuto deliberately allowed himself to be captured and was able to absorb him instead.
The thing is, Yuto is clearly way stronger than anyone in the series and has been since the start…yet he runs away from the Twin Stars after this reveal (and overpowering them to boot). Sure, he does have a plan but it also feels like this is generic shounen jump style syndrome just to make the protagonists get better, you just feel like ‘so why doesn’t he kill them?’ Yuto does seem to lure the two, and blackmail Rokuro into what he truly is…though Benio tries to stop it, she gets nearly killed – which a la Krillin/Goku, or even Naruto/Hinata during the Pain arc, is enough to make Rokuro goes into a rage state and a transformation of increased power, as the secret is revealed that Rokuro is in fact a Kegare….
…and then Arima (who was supposed to be dead remember) rescues them. Uh….plot twist? More like ‘O.K, we need a reason to stop this fight, let’s just bring someone back from the dead with the briefest of explanations…’
After said discussion, it does lead to Yuto taunting and bringing Rokuro out to fight with Rokuro seemingly wanting to break off the relationship with Benio to boot. Rokuro gets more and more powerful and then snaps, seemingly killing Yuto and turns into the Cataclysm King, ready to destroy the human world and forget about everyone. Benio of course won’t have any of that so they come up with a plan to make him human though it has the side effect that the two may never meet again…
Long story short, they do manage to bring Rokuro back to normal but it eventually causes Benio to be sealed using her energy to do so. Of course now it’s on the other foot, Rokuro wants to save Benio, which thanks to Arima helping him and fighting Mikage, they manage to succeed thanks to help from old friends and colleagues, physically and mentally (hey Sae, glad you was so important earlier that they got rid of you and bring you back for the last episode…) to save the day and the world. We get a relationship upgrade (two if you including the wedding of Ryoga and Haruka, who were very likeable in the first arc, but barely in this bar mentioning they were getting married and the wedding) and we live happy ever after…or do we?
…
Well, as you can tell, it’s a long series and a lot happens, but at the same time, not a lot does. There are definitely a lot of battles, and a lot of action, and even some character development, but because there are so many characters and plot lines involved and trying to tie them up and even link them to the Twin Stars, it feels very confusing. We don’t really get a payoff to the initial plot (Twin Stars get together to give birth to the saviour of the world when they kind of did it themselves, maybe setting up for a sequel or spin-off?) and instead we get this big reveal of what Rokuro is, which whilst there were hints of it even right at the very beginning, just comes out of nowhere and does feel like a generic ‘friend/lover gets killed/nearly killed, lead character unlocks potential via rage’ plot. We’ve seen it in many series over the years from DBZ to Naruto that it is quite predictable.
Which indeed, is what this series is in the end as despite the above mentions, the show is very generic and predictable which is a shame as it definitely felt like it had potential during the first half. However what made the show more charming and interesting was how Benio and Rokuro were improving both as fighters and as a couple. Here, they have to be bailed out so many times and even when they do get the strength they need, it screws one or the other over. Rokuro’s fight with Yuto and Benio’s trappage inside the cocoon to save him really meant the leads didn’t get a real chance to shine for the most part, and as a show usually revolves around your leads as the focus to keep the show interesting, when so many others have to get involved that you lose track of the cast, it sadly makes the show more off-putting.
The weird thing is there is nothing different wrong with the show, nothing really insulting, there are some fun moments, good action and animation sequences, the language tracks are stellar in both English and Japanese, etc. It just feels like with what they had, they rushed through and made things more forgettable than I anticipated. And for me, it became a bit of a disappointment.
In Summary:
Twin Star Exorcists whilst had potential, unfortunately, came across as maybe doing too much and not really going back to what the initial plot was, and instead made it a lot more complicated to the point of not caring much about the original likable leads. Whilst there are still moments of enjoyment throughout the finale, it comes across as a rush job with bringing too many characters and plot developments at once, whilst not giving enough focus on where they really needed to. That said, I can’t say anything was truly awful, it was just there in the end.
Content Grade: C+
Audio Grade: B+
Video Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: N/A
Menu Grade: B
Extras Grade: B-
Released By:Anime Ltd
Release Date: December 16th, 2019
MSRP: £29.99
Running Time: 300 minutes (Part 3) 250 minutes (Part 4)
Video Encoding: 1080p AVC
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen
Review Equipment:
Playstation 4, Sony Bravia 32 Inc EX4 Television, Aiwa 2 Way Twin Duct Bass Reflex Speaker System.