Saturday, October 8, 2011

Anime Reviews: Blue Exorcist Episode 18 - Friends


Introduction
Having regained his confidence, Rin is attacked by a strange black demon spirit. This episode is the first of many in a series of filler.

Editor's Note: Yay...

Plot Summary
The demon attacks Rin as he and Izumo try to fend it off. Rin is saved by Yukio. Mephisto is informed of the attack and orders all exorcists to find out how the demon got past the barrier. Yukio explains that the demon is called Gufu, or Tornado. Mephisto tells the Esquires that he wants them to examine every single one of his barriers to see if there was any sort of breach in them.


Konekomaru is revealed to be the one behind the Gufu incident. The demon tries to tempt him into giving in, but Konekomaru refuses to accept his power and returns back to the dorm. Meanwhile, Rin is being watched by Yukio who suddenly excuses himself. Almost immediately after Yukio leaves, Konekomaru comes into the class room, with the Gufu on his shoulder.


Yukio, Suguro, and Shima hear someone screaming as they run outside of the men's restroom to find Konekomaru cowering in fear. They go to his aid as Rin comes out to tell them to get away from him. The Gufu possessing Konekomaru taunts Rin who shoots his flames at it. Suguro protects Konekomaru as everyone sees Rin as the threat.

This is a case of filler writing I can't stand. How hard would it be to say, "Dude's got a demon on his shoulder." That would avoid all the cliche misunderstandings. - The Editor

Shura and the exorcist teacher Tsubaki both discover a strange van leading to a snowy place. Shura heads off on her own and she discovers an abandoned, burned down building.

You seriously aren't making a Narnia joke? That's it, I'm cutting your pay. -The Editor
I haven't even seen the first movie, how was I supposed to know that? -The Assistant

Konekomaru wakes up in a hospital and asks Suguro if he is afraid of Rin. Suguro tells him he has no reason to be afraid of someone like Rin, even if he is the son of Satan. Konekomaru is taken over by the Gufu before Suguro could leave. Suguro finally learns that Konekomaru is possessed by a demon and goes to find Yukio.


Rin is attacked by the Gufu possessed Konekomaru. He, Yukio, Suguro, and Shima try to stop Konekomaru who wants revenge against Rin. Suguro tells him that what Konekomaru is doing is wrong. Rin reminds Konekomaru that he needs to trust his friends as Rin deals the final blow to the Gufu. After the fight, Konekomaru apologizes to Rin for what he's done.


Mephisto is informed of the Gufu no longer causing trouble but points his concerns to the gateway from the van that Shura and Tsubaki discovered leading to the burned research lab. The importance of this one: artificial life was being experimented there which had been banned by the Vatican long ago.


The Esquires come to visit Konekomaru, but find that he is missing. Rin finds him waiting at the train station to return home. Konekomaru tells Rin that he is only going to be in everyone's way and decides to leave. Rin tells him the importance of having friends, convincing him to stay. The others find them as Konekomaru finds his reason to stay at the school: because his friends are there for him.


My Opinion

I tend to hate filler but this takes the cake. It was boring for me to watch this, at first. To have the episode focusing on one of the most uninteresting characters (to me) was bad writing. I do like Konekomaru, but unlike Shura, he has no way of keeping himself entertaining. Shima was lucky to start getting his character development in the previous episodes, before the filler started.

Really? I didn't mind it so much, it wasn't out of place, so I never would have known it was filler. Konekomaru's actions make sense when you consider his character. I won't disagree that he is one of the more boring characters, but this episode was nowhere near as bad as episode eleven. And no, I won't stop adding comments in your reviews. I have the power!!! -The Editor

I have a feeling that burned down lab will play a role in the future episodes because it would not have caught Mephisto's attention if it weren't important. I do hope that the episode explaining it will be more entertaining than this episode.

Go watch Demon of the Deep again. It'll put everything back into perspective. -The Editor

My dislike of the episode aside, this episode did have some good things going for it. Okay, I lie, it did not. This episode would make some fans stop watching had they not learned it was really filler. That Gufu was more of a stalker than a killer. It continued to attack Rin in every encounter. I understand its reasons is that he's the son of Satan but the Gufu itself was just an eyesore to me. To have it controlling Konekomaru could not have made it any worse for me. I have read the manga and I know Konekomaru's fear of Rin does not come into actual play until this series of fillers has ended. The only reason why I dislike this episode rather than hate it is because Konekomaru apologized for everything he had done. I'll take that apology with every grain of salt I can muster.


If you liked my review, Watch the Episode Here!

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