©加藤和恵/集英社・ 「青の祓魔師」製作委員
“Pink Spider” is a transitional episode. Now that Izumo has been rescued and the incident at Inari is over, Blue Exorcist needs to begin setting up the next phase of the Shimane Illuminati Saga. To do that, the story has to resolve a dangling plot thread that I found unsatisfying last week: What the hell is going on with Renzo Shima?
I haven’t decided how I feel about the answer yet. In short, he’s a double agent who appears to still be working on behalf of the Knights of the Cross by defecting to the Illuminati. Of course, as this episode makes clear, the danger in dealing with a double agent who is open about their willingness to lie and betray their teammates is that no team that agent is on players can actually trust what their representatives have to say. Surname. It has been clearly established that the Illuminati played the long game in orchestrating Lucifer’s war. Who’s to say that Renzo doesn’t just serve as a triple agent who lives to carry out Commander Lucifer’s orders? Unfortunately for the rest of our heroes, it’s in Renzo’s best interests that no one knows for sure.
The reveal of Renzo’s duplicity felt a bit rushed, and I can’t help but wonder if the series skipped more manga content to get to this point. If not, then it seems like Blue Exorcist doesn’t trust audiences to go this long without a respite from the shenanigans, along with reassurances that everything is okay. There’s the inherent suspicion that comes with Renzo’s permission that I mentioned above, but keeping the character’s motivations muddled while moving the story to the next point makes Renzo a character. less interesting object and at least a more interesting plot device, at least for Present. I understand that the show is being very intentional about how much Renzo keeps to himself. Given how he treated Izumo in Inari, it’s odd that the group would accept Renzo’s return, no matter how reluctant it might be.
Then again, the shenanigans on display are quite humorous. The kids have developed enough chemistry over the years that I had fun watching them kick Renzo’s ass and scold him for lying, even if I still felt the punishment didn’t fit the crime. Rin’s attempt to “bring Renzo back” by impersonating him was the highlight of the episode for me.
Less of a highlight is the table setting and back that the episode begins with when Mephisto arrives and starts with the mind games. I can see why the show makes kids question their leader’s motives, and maybe it’s because a lot of the past events they refer to happened years ago in perspective. ours. I couldn’t help but glance at my watch throughout this entire scene. That’s fine and perhaps necessary for what’s about to happen, but it doesn’t make for a particularly interesting half-hour of television.
At least we got a decent cliffhanger to end on. The camera work and cheap shaky effects help sell it in the short term, but Blue Exorcist knows that audiences will sit up and pay attention to any hint that Yukio might be working for the Illuminati . We just have to wait and see if these teases satisfy you or not.
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Blue Exorcist: Shimane Illuminati Saga is now streaming on Crunchyroll. James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop culture, which you can find on Twitterhis blog and his podcast.